Joe's pov

(A/N: flashback in italics, the two first flashbacks are ideas from ancilla89)

I was still recovering from the adrenaline from the Los Lordes attack on me and my kids, taking deep breaths as I held them close. I started to recall what transpired in my first few weeks with the Reagans as my new family, and which later was instilled successfully in my own kids. The Family Code. Please don't hurt my family.

I had attended my second dinner with my newfound family around four years ago, when my Grandfather said

"It's time."

I looked at him in confusion, and curiosity

"Time for what?"

Smiling, my great-grandfather replied

"To teach you the family code. Observe."

So, I turned my attention to all of them, and Uncle Danny asked his son youngest, Sean

"If I or any one of us says 'please don't hurt my family' what are you gonna do?"

Without hesitation, he responded, the other kids echoing his reply

"Hit the ground."

Nodding, my fellow Detective replied

"Why?"

His oldest, Jack, replied

"Because Dad's gonna shoot the bad guy."

I was a bit taken aback

"You actually have a code for that?"

My Aunt nodded

"Dad used to drill it into us every time we went into the city."

Giving credit where credit is due, my Grandfather spoke

"Pop invented it, not me."

Nodding, Pop spoke

"Yeah, but I've never actually had to use it. Hopefully we won't have to use it again."

The next memory that flooded my mind was from a few weeks ago, around the time the kids first met my side of the family. When it was time to pass down the code to them, should we ever need it. Today, we did. As usual, Em had been the first to speak back when we were teaching them

"What's this code? Like Morse?"

How and why my seven-year-old daughter knew about Morse Code, I had no idea. Her guess sent a few chuckles around the table at family dinner, and I spoke

"No, Sweetie. Like a secret phrase to keep you and your brothers safe. If you hear any of us grownups say it in a dangerous situation, you hit the ground and hide in a safe place until there's no danger anymore. That goes for you too; Dan, Will, Jojo. You hear 'please, don't hurt my family', you go for safety. And expect gunfire."

Wanting to prove to us that they understood, my kids begged for drills, and they excelled, just like today, when it was not a drill.

A bit of a melancholy feeling creeping over me, I let my mind wander off to Taylor, my high school sweetheart and mother of our perfect children. If I hadn't been so hasty to go off to college... I smiled as I recalled the first time we met

She was in my Economics 101 class in freshman year when we were 14, and sat in the seat next to me. Guess jeans, black because she did not care for the classic blue. Knicks loose T-shirt, doodling in her notebook. We struck up a conversation over basketball, her sharing my love for Larry Bird. I told her my family was just Mom and me, and she told me about losing her parents and being raised by her brothers, though she had not named them at the time. They were a conundrum, she had said, because even though they had detailed plans to lock her in a tower, they also taught her a wedding waltz so she would know how to dance properly at her wedding. She had shrugged and said they explained it as hoping for the best, in this case her being single, but preparing for the worst, giving her away and having a wedding. They sounded like the classic older brother cliches. From then on, we were inseparable, becoming an item the very next year. By the time we were seniors, Prom rolled around and we spent the majority of the night away from the party, or making our own party. Thus, our kids.

If only I had known, maybe they could all still be alive right now. If I hadn't left so quickly for college and the Academy... Nothing I can do about it now other than honor her by raising our beautiful kids the best I can. To no one in particular, I whispered

"Love you, Tay."