A/N – I love bron/broen so much and I thought it needed more fics so here you go

I'm really sorry if either of their reactions seems off, I'm not really sure what Saga's limitations are socially and I may have missed something from series 3 as my Swedish isn't amazing and I don't speak Danish at all really, so watching the new series without English subs wasn't a great idea ;A;

But yeah, I hope you guys like it, and of course if I've got something wrong tell me and I'll correct it if I can : )

Saga had never celebrated her birthday. She had memories of teachers announcing the day to the class, as they did to all of the other students, and the children singing in disinterested monotone; her parents didn't do much more than acknowledge the anniversary with a few shallow words.

She remembered when she was new to the police force, and someone had noticed it was her birthday from her file and bought a cupcake to her desk.

"I know a cupcake's not the same as a cake, but it was quite short notice. You should have said something!" her well-meaning colleague smiled. It looked genuine. Saga didn't know how to respond, so she didn't.

In all, she had managed to avoid or ignore around forty year's worth of celebrations. Why should this year be any different?

o0o

It was Henrik that made the call from the office. The familiar, uniformly spoken "Saga Norén, Länskrim, Malmö?" answered the phone; he smiled, as if he had expected anything at all to be different today.

"Saga, some paperwork's come up, and I know you're at home right now but-"

"I finished all of mine before I left." She replied, cutting him off.

Henrik threw a glance at John; he just shrugged back.

"Okay, but you're the only one that'll be able to do it properly." That was a sure way to get her to turn up. "Just, come in, please?"

The call ended.

"She's gonna be pissed when she finds out there's no paperwork." An intern commented.

o0o

Really, he didn't know what he expected to happen. In fact, Henrik kicked himself on the inside, this wasn't a good idea at all.

She didn't like surprises, or being the centre of attention, if she hadn't prepared for it. Why the fuck did he think throwing a surprise party was a good idea at all?!

And that was why he was sitting outside in the cold, wearing a cheap party hat, next to the subject of celebration. Man, it was cold. They'd been outside for a while, not talking, just existing.

At first, it looked like a typical surprise party. Saga walked in, everyone cheered, and she looked surprised. She stood there with the same expression momentarily too long. She tried to imitate the smiles of everyone else in the room. And then she turned around and left.

"I'm sorry. I should have thought-"

"Yes, you should." She pressed her fingertips against her closed eyelids, "I've never had a birthday party before. Did everyone expect me to be happy? Should I go back?"

"You don't need to go back if you don't want to. That was entirely my fault, and I'm sorry, really."

There were no clouds in the sky. The winter air was crisp. The stars shone bright. They sat quietly and watched the lights, each naming constellations in their heads, not knowing if the other knew about the stars.

The beat of the music could be heard even from outside. They abandoned the idea of the party and stayed outside.

Henrik could feel himself falling in love.