McCoy saw no good reason to acknowledge his birthday. He'd acquiesce to a drink with Jim but that was it. No-one else needed to know.
So he was bemused to receive a communication from a former patient lauding the date because – "If it weren't for you, I'd be paralysed still."
Messages continued to arrive throughout the day, all on the same theme.
That evening he headed back to quarters confused but with a bounce in his step to find Spock waiting inside.
"Leonard, if it weren't for you, I would be lost still."
McCoy melted.
Perhaps birthdays weren't so bad.
