Kaidan had always been better at rolling with the punches.

He seemed to handle everything with a level head, with the patience of a saint. If the children were sick he cooked soup and wiped runny noses. If bad dreams caused his wife to toss and turn all night, keeping him awake, he didn't escape to the couch. Instead he endured sleepless nights with Shepard wrapped safely in his arms. He was the rock of the family, a steadfast councilor in all matters of the heart.

That's why it had been such a surprise to Shepard when a seventeen year-old Ash had asked to speak with her alone.

There was concern written all over her eldest child's face and her normally charismatic demeanor was subdued, hesitant even.

It gave Shepard the kind of feeling she was used to getting on the battlefield; the kind that made her skin twitch as she went on high alert. "What is it, sweetheart?"

"Mom, I have something I need to tell you. I don't know how you're going to take it," Ash said, her hands twisting together nervously.

At that moment Shepard wasn't sure how Kaidan handled everything with such an air of calm. It was probably from putting up with her all these long years. Her mind was racing through all the possibilities. What if Ash was about to tell her she was pregnant? What if she was about to say she had run someone over with the car, or gotten in trouble with the authorities? What if she had joined a gang?

Shepard didn't let those thoughts show on her face. Her military training had paid off for more than her years as a soldier. She covered her daughters hand with her own. "Just tell me what's wrong," she coaxed gently.

"Nothing's wrong. At least I don't think it's wrong…" her face trailed off as she paused, her dark hair falling in her face as her blue eyes—the one feature that she had surely gotten from Shepard—went wide. "Oh God, what if it is?"

Crazy ideas were pushed aside as Shepard settled her hands on her daughter's shoulders, trying hard not to laugh all the while. "Why don't you start with just telling me and we can go from there?" she suggested.

Ash hung her head, "I don't want to join the Alliance."

"What?"

Her daughter's eyes were tear-filled as she looked up at her mother, "I mean, I still will! I'll join the Alliance! I—"

Shepard did laugh then and she smoothed the hair back from her child's face, "Who told you that you have to join the Alliance?"

"Well no one told me but I've heard what they say about you and dad… you're heroes…legends. Both of you are two of the great. Being a soldier should be in my blood."

Shepard knew that feeling. She had grown up with it just like her Ash had. How many stories did she hear about her own parents when she had been growing up? How many expectations were laid before her simply for being born?

She hadn't minded those expectations because being a soldier had been her calling. Every piece of armor she had donned, ever rifle she had cleaned, every salute sketched had been a part of her. It had been as natural as breathing.

But she had never expected that of her own children.

"Sweetheart, you don't have to join the Alliance."

"I know you and dad would never make me join, but you did so much to save the galaxy it seems only right that your kids would—"

Shepard did something her mother had rarely done in similar circumstances. She pulled her child against her and hugged her tight, interrupting her. "What do you want to do, Ash?"

Ever since her child had come into the world Shepard had imagined her doing various things with her life. When she was a child, wading through a field of golden flowers she had pictured her as an artist, a free spirit that went wherever the wind took her. As Ash had grown older and developed a love for the ocean Shepard had found herself wondering if she would show a love for science and discovery that she could share with Liara. There were worse fates. She could be a musician or a scientist or an actress.

She had imagined all of those things and more. Curiously she had never pictured Ash as a soldier. Not because she didn't think her daughter was capable but because she seemed suited to better things. Happier things.

"I don't know."

That was the best answer. She was young with a full life ahead of her. She had time to try things and decide if she liked them or not. She had time to experience love and heartache and triumph.

"Good. That's how it should be." She kissed her daughter's forehead. "We didn't save the galaxy so you could have your path decided for you. We saved the galaxy so you could do everything you dreamed of and then some."

"You're not mad?" Ash asked.

"Not even a little," Shepard assured her.

Ash breathed out a sigh of relief and smiled up at her. "Thanks."

Just like that she was out the door, off on another whim, her troubles forgotten now that she had escaped from beneath the weight of them.

Shepard smiled. Her daughter had much brighter things in her future.

"Way to save the day, mom."

Kaidan was standing in the doorway, smiling, and Shepard shrugged her shoulders as she turned to him. "What can I say? I've learned from the best."

"Really?" He folded her into his arms just like he had done for the past twenty-odd years. "And here I thought I'd learned it from you."

He kissed her then and she relished in the fact that her little family had become everything she had dreamed of.

Yes, this was definitely why they had saved the galaxy.