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There’s a visceral reaction deep within Frank when he sees tears start to build up in Amy’s eyes.
The same kind of knee-jerk response he used to have seeing his kids fall to the ground in a heap of wobbly limbs and shouted cries after a particularly nasty fumble. The way he’d hold his breath waiting for them to stand back up, to try again like he’d aimed so hard to teach them.
He didn’t expect to feel the same way towards Amy in such a short amount of time spent together. She’s mostly infuriating, never listening to his commands, the smartest mouth he’s ever come across, and yet the thought of her getting hurt in the crossfire nauseates him, filling his throat with terror and grief.
She’s just a kid, certainly not a completely innocent one, but a kid nonetheless, and he feels a sense of accountability over her. Curtis would laugh and say he has a knack for picking up strays, but Frank knows the truth. Knows that he needed Amy just as much as she needed him. The way that she can rile him up and then in the next moment have his cheeks splitting from the smiles she manages to drag out of him despite the situation.
Amy’s something special, just a kid getting through life, even after all the terrible things she’s experienced. Frank doesn’t ever want her to give up, to give in to the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks, and he knows from experience that your aim being at its best is the difference between life and death. And hell, Frank knows that that’s probably a shitty thing to be teaching a kid, but his teeth clench and his heart races at imagining someone hurting her when she’s vulnerable like that.
It’s why he continues to train her, keeps installing that knowledge into her head day after day, because Frank isn’t leaving this earth until he’s sure she’s ready. It’s why he’s okay when she gets pissed at him for thinking he doesn’t understand her, he’s okay with the frustration thrown his way, because he knows it’s going to save her life one day.
And Amy having a full and happy life is all Frank fights for now.