Alec was sitting in the car with his former partner Ellie Miller, who had reluctantly chauffeured him around for most of the morning, when he got a text alert. He read the text over a few times, beaming, before tucking the phone back in his pocket, the smile fading away.

"Who's that from?"

He smiled again, just for a moment. "Daisy."

"Oh. How nice."

"Aye. Just wishing a happy birthday to her old man. Nice, since I seem to annoy her constantly now that she's a teen."

There was a long pause as Ellie stared at him.

"..Wait. It's your birthday?" she asked in surprise. "You never mentioned it."

"Yeah, well, I don't celebrate it." he muttered. "I never did before Tess and Daisy, and I certainly don't now."

"Oh no you don't. You're not pulling that card, the 'I don't celebrate it' card. That's not fair, not to tell me something like that." Ellie argued, sounding miffed.

He rolled his eyes. "Miller, I already pulled 'that card'. I'm not celebrating it, we're not celebrating it, nobody is celebrating it. That's final." he huffed, getting out of the car.

….

Ellie is using the car for a lot of the day, which gets on Hardy's nerves, because it means she isn't driving him anywhere. He winds up looking through Sandbrook files again, reading glasses perched crookedly on the bridge of his nose. He isn't exactly content, but he's too tired to harass her to come drive him somewhere right now.

He falls asleep on the end of the couch, head slumped over on his shoulder. He's woken by a rap at the door, and he sighs, giving a muffled "come in" because he knows it's her. And it is. She pushes open the door and tries to move through the hallway as quickly as possible, and that's when he freezes.

A package.

Under her arm.

What did she not understand about 'I don't celebrate it?'

He pulled himself to his feet immediately, striding after her. "MILLER!" he called out in irritation, his Scottish accent thick with sleep and annoyance.

He was surprised to see her looking at him completely calmly in the kitchen. This threw him off. She should be trying to hide whatever she had gotten.

Alec ran a hand through his hair. "Ehm. What's that?" he asked, gesturing towards the package.

"Oh. Something for Tom." she said breezily. "He's been really down in the dumps lately, and 'm afraid I've been too tough on him."

"No you haven't been," he grumbled in halfhearted reassurance, trying to feign indifference to the package. No, he was most definitely not disappointed she hadn't gotten him anything. He'd never wanted her to get him anything anyway!

Ellie was having a hard time restraining a giggle at his childlike shoulder slump. "Why, were you expecting something for you?" she asked innocently.

He crossed his arms. " 'Course not." he replied with a glare. "I told you. I don't want presents, I don't bloody celebrate! It's not that hard to understand!"

She rolled her eyes. "I wasn't planning on getting you anything, I knew you'd wind up being a pain in the arse about it."

"Good, so we've both agreed-" he stopped, stiffening. "I smell cake."

Ellie said nothing.

"You got cake," Alec continued, in the voice of one who had been deeply betrayed, "didn't you?"

"Chocolate," she admitted. "Will you eat it?"

After a reluctant sigh and a pause, he caved. "Yes, fine. Sure."

"Happy birthday."

"Don't push it, Miller."