[ That does land. A flicker of something, bitter and angry in his eyes, he knows it wasn't his fault, and they're fine, they made it out. He wouldn't have been able to do anything if he'd been there, he might've died if anything, and yet. He should've been there. ]

I didn't think you had a choice in leaving her behind, Byerly. [ There's more anger behind the words than Wash actually wants there to be. Wash himself had a choice. He chose to leave them behind. ]

Were you really disowned at all? You've no love for your family, that much's obvious, but you still chose to leave her. Even if Richars wasn't a threat anymore, you must've had a reason to leave her -- or did you do something? Something that meant you had to keep away from Nadine, for her own good.