Shepard gave him a little smile. "Thanks. But if that hadn't happened to them, I wouldn't have gone into the Naval Achadamy. And I might be susy homemaker instead. And the galaxy would have been fucked." Maybe it was arrogant to think that way. But she'd earned it damnit. And no one else had stepped up. "Just like if I hadn't fucked up when I was your age. My fuck up lead to a really great man taking me under his wing, getting that fuckup expunged from my record, and pushing me to become more than a private. It might feel like your fuck ups are going to break you. But your stronger than you think."
She leaned over to bump his shoulder lightly. "You just have to take one day at a time. Even if that day sucks worse than the day before, don't look at the day before or the day after. Just that one day is what matters, keeping your head above water that one day, is what counts." She really wished she could do more. How could this kid, such a shining, literally, star, fall through the cracks? "But do me a favor, don't look at so many pills or a pile of spice, like it's a life raft. Because it's not."