I'm glad you did, too--thanks so much for the comment! (Further writings in this and other universes will be posted in my writing journal under the name lit_luminary, if you want to keep track of them.)

That's pretty much what I was going for: bittersweetness and smiles through the tears. As for the lines from the Charge, they came before any of the rest of the reunion scene: the rest sprang up around them. (And what can I say--I like including bits of personal experience.)

And re. the idea that Chase couldn't change Andromeda's behavior, I felt that was an absolutely critical point to include, on as large and emphatic a scale as I possibly could--as your thanks illustrates, not just for the sake of the story.