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Most people were able to put two and two together and conclude that La’an was not someone who celebrated birthdays. And thus, more years than not, her birthday came and went blissfully ignored.
But Uhura had never been particularly good at taking a hint, and scolding her for trying to be nice felt a lot like kicking a puppy. Or at least, like what La’an thought kicking a puppy would feel like, because she did try to not be a complete monster most of the time.
Still, not doing so took every ounce of self-control she had when she walked onto the bridge at 0800 exactly and was met with a cheerful “Happy birthday, Lieutenant!”
A long moment passed and La’an managed, just barely, to keep her face schooled into an expression of perfect impassivity as she took her station. It was only Una’s meaningful glance, eyebrows raised, that prompted her to force out a terse “Thank you” before immediately settling in to work.
The rest of the bridge crew mercifully seemed to get the message, but she did see Ortegas pat Uhura on the back sympathetically and say, “Hey, you tried. That’s more guts than any of us had.”