1 & 13 for Claire/ Adler, Nadia/Woods and Elizabeth/ David
1. Do they actually love love each other? Has it changed over time?
For all three of them the answer is an resounding yes, but there have been significant ups and downs and it's all a little weird.
For Claire and Adler there was a period they didn't speak and he was more or less indifference to her presence due to some...things that occurred. As they say, the opposite of love is in indifference. But honestly, both of them were dealing with a very unique form of heartbreak/betrayal during that period. I don't think they ever stopped caring about one another, and they definitely never stopped respecting one another.
In the case of Nadia and Woods, their relationship is very unusual and snuck up on both of them. They did not always love each other. Honestly, for a lot of their relationship neither of them actually knew whether or not they were friends or not, and for a while they both wanted to not like one another. Although neither of them would actually say it, they do genuinely love one one another. And they trust each other more than anyone else (in the case of Nadia, Woods is one of the only ones she trusts...in the case of Woods, she's right behind Mason until the latter's death.) As odd as it is, they're probably the most stable out of this lineup considering Claire and Adler's history.
Elizabeth and David are probably the second least stable out of these three, but again, they do love each other. They met around 2005 and David developed a bit of a crush on her during the joint operation they were part of, but Elizabeth was convinced she had something to prove and was a little bit...mean. Or at least difficult, but she's kind of always difficult. About ten years later, after the death of her brother Elizabeth ended up blowing off everyone from their team and that included David, and she also became very self-destructive and hostile. When she was back in the field, David was fed up with her behavior and she was fed up with him (and felt guilty that her behavior was affecting those around her) and honestly he thought she was a liability and wanted her gone (or at least out of the field.) Eventually, though, she snapped out of it and David stayed with her for the fallout. You've gotta love someone if you stick with them through the worst of things like that. Besides, he's stupidly sappy like his dad. Once the Masons are head over heels you're stuck with them.
13. Are there any regrets or unresolved issues between them?
Claire regrets pretty much everything that led up to her and Adler's initial divorce. She regrets not telling him the truth sooner, she regrets not getting the courage to defect sooner, she regrets hurting him, she regrets essentially leading a double life...she regrets a lot of mistakes she made. And Adler, to some degree, regrets doing what he did because on some level he knows he crossed a line. He also knows he didn't handle the aftermath very well either, and he regrets the way things ended and how long he essentially punished her. They've never said this out loud to one another, so this could count as unresolved, but they still worked through these issues in their own way. They've both atoned enough at this point.
I don't think Nadia and Woods have as many regrets or a lot left unresolved. Nadia might regret not being able to save Mason and not being able to protect Woods and David from Menendez considering how much misery that all caused Woods (and, well, David.) Woods might regret not telling her he loved her more (or properly...or like, at all) before she died (she died in 2022 at 72, she was doomed from birth to have a shorter lifespan...she hung on as long as she did out of spite, tbh.) He was pretty lonely once she was gone and I think he probably regretted not telling her how much he appreciated her/cared about her while she was still around.
David and Elizabeth are good on the unresolved thing, though. They actually know how to communicate like normal people. At best, I think David might regret not being able to save William (Elizabeth's brother) since that's what caused an end to her military career and some life long disability, not to mention her downward spiral. Elizabeth might regret being such a pain and miserable person to David specifically, but she regrets the way she treated everyone back then.
