The words are difficult, and Herc isn't sure what to do with them and the reality they present. He doesn't deserve the gratitude, bit he's not going to throw duty and that in Anders face. Especially when he has come to appreciate that he is a good man, that he deserved more time.

Herc exhales a quiet laugh - not a real laugh, bot a hearty one, but the kind of one that comes even through grief and takes the form of a long, slow exhale with a quiet shake to it.

"You try to make an impression and people just talk crap."

Still. His hand drops from Anders' held out in offering. "Make your time count, Anders. Give Nate my best."

The first and the only time he's ever called him that - it always seemed presumptuous. A smile, wry - "don't let that cat of yours give Max a hard time."