Present: Not Your Concern

Piggyback rides ended when Kate tripped and collapsed in a heap on the ground with Arthur. Both children sprang back up immediately, forestalling Shepard, who'd half risen when they fell. Now Kate and Arthur spun in circles with their arms flung wide. Every so often, they would stop and stumble around the lawn. Kate stopped more often than her brother, checking to make sure he hadn't hurt himself.

"So," Ashley said finally, when it became clear that Shepard wasn't going to speak. "What have you been working on for the last seven years?"

"You're looking at them."

"You're just a stay-at-home dad?"

"Just a stay-at-home dad." Shepard crossed his arms, and Ashley realized that he crossed them right over left, as though he were still trying to hide the scars from Mindoir that had long since vanished. "You sound like Red," he said accusingly.

"Does she not approve of your life choices?" Ashley teased.

"Apparently not, but—No, I'm not having this conversation. Not with you."

"Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?"

Shepard turned to face Ashley; the resentment in his gaze took her aback. "Why are you here, Williams? What do you want?"

"I don't want anything. I told you I just come—"

"You don't have any ties to Mindoir. It's not your family whose names are on those pillars. It's my family. Mine! Not yours!" Kate and Arthur turned puzzled faces towards the sound of their father's raised voice. Without taking his eyes off of Ashley, Shepard forced the tension out of his shoulders, and tried to smile. He lowered his voice. Reassured, his children went back to playing.

"Am I supposed to believe that you've maintained radio silence for seven years—almost eight, if you don't count those two minutes at Anderson's retirement party—but that you come here every year? That's a load of—It's bunk, and you know it. What do you want? Does the Council want something? The Alliance? I'm done with that life. I live on a tiny ranch on an insignificant colony, and I raise my children. Why is it so hard to believe that that's all I want?"

"Someone thinks highly of himself," Ashley hissed, her temper flaring. "You're the one who was gone when I came out of the bathroom at that stupid party."

"After your retreat made it clear that you didn't want to talk to me!"

"You were introducing me to your baby and hitting on me at the same time! Don't you dare try to make me the bad guy here!"

"Who's flattering herself now? Trying to tell you you're still important to me isn't the same thing as hitting on you. It was nothing! I—I was—"

"Please tell me: what were you thinking? I'd like to know!"

"I don't know what I was thinking!" Shepard glanced towards his children and took a deep breath.

"Bull. You had to have been thinking something."

"I was thinking—For a minute, I just thought—" Shepard could feel himself blushing. He remembered exactly what he'd been thinking. For a minute, he'd pretended Ashley was Red, and he had wanted to stretch out that moment for as long as possible. "It doesn't matter what I was thinking. It was nothing," he repeated.

"Oh really? Did you tell Kathy you talked with me? I bet she wouldn't have thought what you said was nothing."

"Don't you bring Red into this."

"Why not? One of us should try to remember that you're married."

"Go to hell, Williams."