[ A very sad and lonely picture. But Wash has long ago accepted that's what he'll be.

That is one difference between them, for all their similarities. Wash has done his fair share of fighting, has powered through so much through raw determination, but in so many ways he's just so, so tired. He fought as hard as he could but he was never good enough. Everyone around him was always better. He never needed to be the best, he just needed to do enough, to make a difference, to carve out something for himself, and he's never, ever been able to.

Wash still has his determination, but where Miles still has his greater goals to hold onto, Wash has given up on all but one. Nothing about making a difference, nothing about wanting to make things better in a war-torn galaxy. All he wants anymore is to pour everything he has left into protecting the few, desperate things he's somehow held onto. Nothing more than that. Not anymore. And when it comes to love, it's the exact same way. Too beaten down, too sure in his belief he's held for most of his life that's only gotten stronger as time went on, that he's dangerous, terrible, undeserving. ]

You've said that before. [ He smiles a little. He does appreciate it, but. ] It takes -- a kind of strength, to go through lives like ours, and come out the other end still more or less in one piece.

I don't think I have that. Not in the same way you do.