Author's Note: Still at Ovid Outpost. Beware the innuendo!

Smile

Unbirthday.

Unbelievable!

Nadeh's hand slammed open the transparasteel door leading into Kura's office in the back of the medbay, and she stomped inside to see the good doctor sitting at her desk and looking up at her with an expression of mild curiosity on her face.

"Can I assume Maki doesn't know when his birthday is, either?" Nadeh thundered as the door swung shut behind her and Kura leaned back in her chair with a cup in her hand. "And are you drinking?"

Kura shrugged and knocked back whatever paint-thinner it was she was drinking today in a single shot. "I get off shift in five minutes. I'm celebrating the end of the workday." She made a vague wave towards a bottle of amber colored liquor sitting on the other end of her desk, atop of a pile of datapads and flimsiplast before leaning further back in her chair and propping her heeled feet up on the edge of the desk. "I take it you had some sort of discussion with Jir yesterday?"

Nadeh rolled her eyes. She liked Kura, and it was great having a (female) friend on-base, but sometimes Kura was such a Zeltron. Celebrating the end of the workday with liquor that would knock half the men in the outpost on their asses in a single gulp? She pressed a palm to her forehead and breathed in once, reminding herself that it was a quiet day, there were no commanders or Jedi or medical emergencies hanging around, and Gheeaych was in the other room in case Kura did manage to drink half the bottle in the next five minutes and make herself tipsy (which was entirely possible based on the impressive rate in which Kura could guzzle alcohol).

"He doesn't know when his birthday is. I assume this is the same for all of them?"

Kura sighed and set aside her (now empty) mug of liquor. "Nadeh. I know it's not pretty, but we're sleeping with a couple of mass produced men. Kamino probably cranks out at least a few hundred of them a day, and they're given numbers when they're born. They either pick names for themselves or give each other names. You really think the Kaminoans gave them birthday parties when they were little?"

Of course not, that was stupid, but it wasn't right. Nadeh grunted, dropped into one of the chairs across from Kura, and folded her arms across her chest. "No. But I think we should." One of Kura's perfectly plucked lavender eyebrows rose thoughtfully, and Nadeh hoped she wasn't about to go all Zeltron at the idea of a party. Nadeh wasn't sure Jir could handle Kura's idea of a party. He started hyperventilating halfway through the whole "eat cake (and leftover honey) and have sex at the same time" thing, even if it was his idea in the first place. It was cute, but really, he had to take certain things slow or his brain overheated.

"Just a normal lifeday party, Kura. Something like what you'd see in the Core. Nothing fancy, because I don't think we can manage fancy. A big colorful cake with frosting and "Happy Lifeday" on it, some balloons, maybe some fizz drinks and candy or something."

Kura laughed, "They're not turning ten!" and then sobered abruptly as she realized what she just said. Kura rubbed her fingers across her eyes and sighed. "Then again. Damn." She shook her head and let her hand fall back into her lap. "Do you have a plan for all this yet or are you in here to vent more than strategize?"

Well, both, but she did have a plan. Sort of. "I'll get Beefour to program himself with a decent cake recipe, you get Maki to agree to scheduling no one in the mess hall for an evening in about three or four weeks. We both chip in what we've got to afford non-standard GAR ingredients for Beefour, and…" Nadeh trailed off and frowned, leaning forward to prop an elbow on the edge of Kura's desk. This was the part she disliked a bit.

"And?" Kura prompted, pouring herself another mug of paint-thinner.

Opti Lunn was a complete space-head. He was, however, friends with Jir, and would likely be willing to pick up some of the more random items they needed and couldn't easily order in. Balloons. Fizzy drinks. Candy. He had a ship and free reign of the sector. He'd probably even be willing to chip in a bit. The problem was, he was a doddering idiot half the time and the fact he would be going shopping for her made her nervous. She was half afraid to consider what the old Mando might come back with. If he brought the boys a stripper from Nar Shaddaa she'd deck him again. He reminisced about the weirdest things and occasionally seemed to forget she had a temper and might not appreciate being compared to some whore he knew when he was just starting out (even though he seemed to mean it as a compliment in some bizarre way).

"I'll ask Lunn to be errand-boy."

Kura's eyebrows both shot up, and she snorted, then grinned. "You are serious about this."

Of course she was. It was about Jir. He was an idiot, but he was her idiot, and he was about the nicest, sweetest, most unbelievably good-hearted man she'd ever met. It also helped that when he wasn't hyperventilating, he was damn good in bed and a hopeless snuggler.

The sound of Kura's light laugh brought her out of her thoughts, and the Zeltron leaned back in her chair with her mug of liquor with a knowing smile. "You have it something awful, don't you?"

Nadeh sighed. Maybe she did.

"I've got a job for you."

Lunn turned away from his ship with a surprised look on his face, blinked at her once, then smiled. "You're Jir's little woman, aren't you?"

Nadeh tried not to twitch. Lunn was practically radiating "sweet old grandpa" vibes and blowing up on him for referring to her has Jir's 'little woman' would not be appropriate, especially when she was about to ask for help. She settled for a scowl. "I'm Jir's girlfriend, yes. Nadeh. It's about Jir I need help with, actually."

Lunn paused for a moment, and the doddering-grandpa look faded and was replaced with something more concerned. Nadeh tilted her head to the side, considering. He was Jir's friend, for all his kookiness. She sighed and glanced across the flight deck, to where Jir was putting away some tools, then back to Lunn, who still looked oddly serious. "Doctor Rou and I are planning a life day party for the men on base. I can't pay you much, but it can take months to get anything ordered in, and orders for party favors aren't something we can sneak past Captain Maki anyway."

The old bounty hunter looked at her in surprise for a moment, then beamed. "A surprise party! Well, now that I can help with! Don't need to pay me for picking up a few things on my route, neither. What's it you need, Miss Nadeh?"

Nadeh gripped the datapad in her hands tightly for a moment, then began pressing buttons. If this was going to work, they needed help. Jir. Think of Jir. "I'll send you the list."

The droid was trying to tell her no.

"All recipes included in my databanks are –"

"Bland and tasteless."

"GAR approved with appropriate nutrients for –"

"It's a life day party, Beefour."

"Healthy and active bodies. The recipe you have provided grossly exceeds the daily recommendation for sugar, and provides a negligible amount of nutrition. I am unable to –"

"Beefour, I realize I'm a mere mechanic, but I know enough about slicing to hack your databanks and include a recipe for buttercream frosting and sweetcake that doesn't taste like sawdust. Also, I'm fully capable of taking you apart and using you as replacement parts in starfighters. You ever want to go to space, Beefour? No one will find your remains, I promise."

The service droid's pair of glowing round ocular arrays seemed to flicker for a moment while it processed her threat as well as reassessed her request. Nadeh yanked a hydrospanner from her tool belt and twirled it between her fingers, casually.

"You may send the selected recipe for buttercream frosting and sweetcake to my memory banks."

Nadeh smiled at the droid. "Good choice, Beefour."

Three Weeks Later….

She could kiss him. So she did. On the cheek. Once. Very quickly.

"Aw," Lunn said, grinning down at her, and Nadeh scrounged up a wry smile for him.

The mess hall looked like a mooka had molted all over it – there were red balloons and green streamers everywhere, as well as a big blue flimisiplast banner Kura printed that said "HAPPY (UN) LIFE DAY!" in all capital letters. There was a giant sheet cake with about an inch and a half of yellow frosting with orange dollops all over it and more blue letters declaring a HAPPY LIFE DAY to anyone who took a moment to look at it. Nadeh grinned a little; the sweetcake was nearly as large as her bed – there had to be enough food for the entire compliment of the outpost. Kura had made some sort of fizzy drink and blumfruit juice pink-punch concoction that filled a massive bowl at the end of the food table (no spiking – half the compliment of the outpost would be on-duty and if she poured any of her precious White Ambrosia in there, they'd all be in a stupor – or throwing up – for the next three days). There was an assortment of shurrafruit glazed Bama bars, a bowl of ossberry cream with honey sticks, and even a platter stacked with a tower of juicy purple meiloorun slices (Beefour insisted on something at the party having nutritional value).

And there wasn't a stripper in sight. Or hiding on Lunn's jalopy of a starship (she made sure when she had to replace the power converters near his sublight engines when he arrived).

It appeared the party was actually going to be successful. Nadeh looked around the room one more time with a grin. Gheeaych was buzzing by overhead, using her repulsors to attach a final knot of green streamers in a corner while Beefour fussed behind the serving counter about people taking over his cafeteria without his permission. Most of the long, rectangular tables were pushed to the sides of the room, leaving two out closer to the center for people to sit at or mingle nearby.

It did look like a ten year old's life day party, with the giant sweetcake and all the pastries and sweets, and it set her and Kura back a paycheck or two, but considering that none of the boys had experienced something like this before, it was worth it.

Nadeh held up her comlink. "I think we're good to go, Kura."

"On my way."

Nadeh straightened herself out as Gheeaych floated down towards her and got in line. A moment later, the doors to the cafeteria opened, and Kura emerged, trailed by a somewhat puzzled Maki – who stopped in the middle of the doorway to stare around the cafeteria. Jir was a step behind him, first looking at the Captain for his abrupt stop, then into the room, to see what Maki was staring at. He blinked several times, looking around, and his mouth fell open with that awed look he got when he was surprised.

Then the smile started, and Nadeh grinned in return. When he finally spotted her, she gave a small wave, and his smile somehow managed to up its brightness several hundred watts, and she laughed.

Was it wrong to find a 1.8 meter tall musclebound mechanic cute?

The heads of several more clones were crowding the space behind Maki and Jir, and with more men came more jostling, and Maki finally began to move forward, drifting towards Kura while still gaping at the explosion of color dancing all over the usually drab grey cafeteria.

Then Jir was there, scooping her up and swinging her around so that her feet left the floor. "Kura said this was for us!" He stopped and stared at the food table. "That is a lot of cake."

"We'll be eating it in here, not my quarters," she said, poking him in the abs (damn the boy had muscles…) with a finger. "No hyperventilating."

Jir promptly flushed bright red.

More troopers were beginning to fill the room, each of them drifting in with looks of surprise as they passed through the doors. It didn't take long for them to spot the giant cake and start huddling around it, while Beefour wheeled over brandishing cutting knives in two of his appendages, while he waved the men off with the other two so he could begin cutting.

Nadeh felt a hand pressed squarely into the middle of her back, then a gentle push forward while Lunn laughed. "You two go get some cake before it's all gone. Not really a life day party without cake, is it?"

At the prospect of having sugar, Jir lit up into another grin, and whipped his head back towards the bunk-sized rectangle of frosting, then looked at her with an expression he must have learned from a hungry mooka-puppy, because all she could do was smile and sigh, then nod farewell at Lunn, and let him lead her over to the line for cake.

It took twenty minutes for things to go wrong. That was apparently the length of time it took for Lunn to push them towards the cake, leave the cafeteria, get something out of his ship, and return.

Nadeh leapt when she heard the sound of a hand slamming hard onto the surface of something metal, and she turned along with everyone else in the room to see Lunn, standing just inside the room, with a hand on what had to be the biggest damn barrel she'd ever seen – the thing was hovering on a repulsor lift beside him.

There was a burst of feminine laughter that was not her own, and Nadeh groaned. Kura was happy, there was a giant barrel, and Lunn was grinning so hard his face looked ready to split from his smile. There was only one thing that could be inside.

"What is that?" Jir asked.

Lunn beamed. "This here, boys, is what you call a keg!"

There was a murmur of curiosity, and a general convergence on the keg. "What's in it?" someone asked.

"Phibian beer, straight from Nar Shaddaa!" Lunn clapped a hand against the side of the barrel proudly. "Got you boys a present myself. Can't call yourselves men if you've never had a drink, I'd say."

Nadeh sighed. At least it wasn't Zeltron in origin. Phibian beer was alcoholic, but at least it was distilled with humans in mind. A beer or two wouldn't have the entire outpost knocked out or puking for days. And Lunn had a point – if the purpose of this party was to give the guys a chance to feel normal, then having a drink was certainly a normal activity. It could be worse. Much worse.

And then Kura snapped, "WANNA BET?" in tones loud enough to be heard through the room.

There were few things for the guys to do other than work (except for Jir and Maki, who had Nadeh and Kura to do, respectively). Cleaning weapons, sleeping, gossiping, and playing sabacc were the most common down time occupations, and gambling on sabacc was quite common. Seeing as there was no sabacc game ongoing, but there was a giant keg of beer in the room, it didn't take much to guess what this particular bet was going to be about.

Nadeh sighed again and tugged Jir along so they could get a better look at the unfolding drama. Kura had, of course, pushed herself to the front of the milling crowd waiting for beer, and was now standing with her arms folded across her chest and her hips tilted at an angle, in a pose of cocky confidence. She was grinning wickedly.

Howl was having problems focusing on Kura's face, but that was nothing new. Nadeh wasn't sure exactly what emotion he was trying to convey, other than discombobulation at Kura's proximity, but it was probably an attempt at cocky confidence too. He kept trying to shove his chest out and puff himself up.

"You couldn't possibly drink more than one of us – you're half our size!"

Nadeh groaned at the announcement, and Jir looked down at her when she smacked a palm into her forehead. "What?" he asked.

"Jir, were you all ever taught anything about Zeltron physiology?"

Jir blinked once, looked thoughtful for a moment as he tried to remember what he knew about Zeltron physiology, then nodded. "They're near human, emit pheromones, are identifiable by reddish skin pigmentation, and have approximately equal levels of strength, flexibility and speed as an average human. I don't know what that has to do with beer, though."

Nadeh patted him once on the arm. "Jir, a little bit of conventional wisdom for you: never, ever get into a drinking contest with a Zeltron."

"Why?"

Kura was grinning ferally, and Howl was starting to look vaguely uncertain, like he'd just realized maybe Kura wasn't bluffing her confidence. (She wasn't.) Kura stomped her way towards one of the tables and sat down, then smacked a hand on the table. "Bring on the beer! First one under the table loses…and the loser streaks naked through the outpost."

Howl's eyes bugged out, then shot straight down to Kura's chest as a series of whistles rose up around them as the men converged around Kura and began cheering Howl on.

Maki was standing off to the side, looking vaguely amused by it all. He took another bite of cake.

Nadeh shook her head and said to Jir, "Kura can drink everyone on this base under the table. And I don't mean one at a time. Zeltrons have two livers. If Howl miraculously manages to win, it'll be because he has a bigger bladder, not because he's less drunk."

"So Howl's going down, huh?"

Though it was Jir's voice that said it, it wasn't Jir. Nadeh turned her head to see Cutter ambling up to them, polishing off the last few bites of cake on his plate. He was smiling easily.

"Hello, Cutter," Nadeh greeted flatly. Damn lazy ass. He'd better not try to get her to clean up his dirty plate for him the way he did his tools.

If Cutter recognized any irritation in her tone, he ignored it and shoveled in another mouthful of cake. "Not that I really want to see Howl running naked through the outpost, but I've got a couple cleaning duty shifts I'd like to get rid of. Either of you in for a betting pool?"

He was smiling expectantly now, and receiving a pair of frowns in return (though Nadeh's involved a bit more of a glare than Jir's).

Cutter just continued smiling contentedly and stuffed a final forkful of cake into his mouth as he turned towards the huddle around the two drinkers, Lunn cheerfully bringing the first round towards them, a mug in each hand. Cutter got two steps closer to the group before he turned halfway back and hefted his empty plate at them, and gave Nadeh a small salute with his frosting-coated fork. "And hey. Nadeh. Thanks. For all this." He glanced around the room, at the streamer decked walls and the half-eaten cake. Then he turned away with a shout of, "Place your bets on a brother or the lovely doctor!" and merged into the huddle of identical men.

Nadeh and Jir stood, watching the crowd in disbelief.

"Nadeh?" Jir asked.

"Yeah?"

"Was Cutter just nice to you?"

"Is he capable of that?"

The fact Jir needed to think it over was enough to make her laugh, and as usual, when Nadeh laughed, Jir started smiling.

A startled murmur went up from the crowd, just as the sound of a mug hitting the table was heard, followed by Kura calling for round two. The two drinkers could just be seen past all the clones – Howl was barely halfway through his first beer. Cutter was doing good trade in bets, with a small huddle around him as well.

"Shouldn't we warn them Kura has an unfair advantage?" Jir asked, looking at the group with concern.

She didn't particularly feel any need to help Cutter win a bunch of bets, but…Nadeh shrugged and folded her arms. "You know, I think there are some things people have to learn on their own. Including not to get into drinking contests with Zeltrons who have the drinking capacity of a bantha."

At the mention of the word 'bantha', Jir's eyes glazed over, and his grin got adorably lopsided. He had the strangest fascination with anything bantha related, but judging by the fact he was giving her the glazed-eyes and adorably-lopsided-smile, he was thinking of a particular 'tactical intimacy maneuver' involving that name.

This was as good a time as any. She took his hand and fought back the little bit of nervousness in her stomach. This was Jir, he liked everything. He was going to be thrilled. Probably. "Come on. I got you something."

"A present?" he asked, startled. "I've never gotten a present."

Which was exactly why she got him something. Of course, it wasn't much – she'd spent most of her pay on the cake and the rest of the food, but Jir deserved something. And this was pretty much the best – and biggest – thing she could offer him.

Nadeh pulled him along out of the cafeteria by the hand, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek once they reached the hallway. He needed to shave; he was just a little prickly. She smiled a bit as she leaned against him while they walked. Jir had fabulous abs, but his arms were pretty nice too, all rippling with muscles.

They walked hand in hand down the hallways, passing the occasional trooper who hadn't yet made it to the cafeteria for cake, snacks, and apparently now beer. Nadeh led Jir down the familiar path to her quarters, keyed in the passcode, and entered the room as the door slid open.

She let go of Jir's hand and took an extra couple steps in while Jir hovered just inside the doorway. The door slid shut behind him as the lights flickered on. Everything looked the same as usual in the little living space. Her wall locker was closed, there were a few framed flimsiplast pictures of family and friends from Iridonia propped up inside a niche in the wall, the door to her refresher was open. There was only one thing that was changed – well, there were a couple little things, but without opening the sliding storage lockers under the bunk or going into the fresher, there was only one thing that was currently visible.

"Notice anything different?" Nadeh asked, and Jir glanced around the room. Jir could be unbelievably clueless at times, but there were moments – frequent moments – when all that training he went through growing up became apparent. Like noticing little changes to her quarters.

His attention finally settled on her bunk, and his brows drew together as he tilted his head slightly to the side. "You got another pillow?"

Nadeh smiled, fighting the little twist of nervousness in her belly. She nodded once, then reached out and picked it up. It was standard issue, too hard to be considered squishy, but it was comfortable enough for sleeping. She fluffed it a little and the fibers inside resisted, springing immediately back into their usual form. "I got a razor and a toothbrush too, from storage. And made some space in the drawers."

She squeezed the pillow a little more tightly, waiting. He wasn't getting it yet. Okay. No one had probably ever suggested something like this to him before. She'd have to spell things out. Nadeh sucked in a breath and extended the pillow to him. "I got it for you. To sleep on. The space in the drawers is for your things, if you want it. The toothbrush and the razor for you to use, in the mornings."

For all that Jir spent time in her quarters, they were Nadeh's quarters, not Nadeh-and-Jir's-quarters.

She was offering him the opportunity to make her quarters his, too.

Nadeh waited, watching his face slide from expression to expression as he worked it out – the offer of a pillow (confusion), that she was doing something nice for him (happy), that he had his own pillow, razor and toothbrush in barracks already (confusion again), and that she was suggesting he have a pillow, razor and toothbrush in her quarters to use every morning (shock). The moment it clicked in his brain, his eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

"You want me to stay here every night?"

Nadeh smiled a little, one side of her mouth curving upward. Jir still hadn't taken the pillow, so she stepped forward and pressed it against his chest. "I don't know if you're really allowed to move out of the barracks, but you're here most nights anyway. Might as well make it permanent." She hesitated, looking down at the pillow, then added, "If you want. Happy life day?"

She knew the answer was yes approximately two seconds into a hug that took her feet off the floor and nearly crushed the breath out of her. "Jir, I love you too, but air. Air!"

The embrace eased in intensity and her feet returned to the floor, but she was still bound up in a tight grip, with her arms, tucked between them at the moment he reached out for her, smushed into the pillow. Jir's face was in her neck, and though he wasn't nibbling at her skin, he was breathing her in, and she could feel the smile on his mouth.

"I don't know if I can move out of barracks either, but I'll ask the Captain."

Which meant Nadeh needed to have a chat with Kura before that happened to smooth things along. First thing tomorrow morning, then. She smiled and wriggled her arms free so she could wrap them around his neck, before putting her lips to his ear. "You know, there is one more part of the present."

That got his attention, and he turned his head enough for her to press her mouth against his for a long moment. "But I think we should move to the bed for that part. Unless you prefer the wall again?"

Jir flushed red, but grinned.

Approximately an hour later, they were rudely interrupted by someone running past the door, screaming.

There was a pause, and then Nadeh said, "Sounds like Howl finished losing."

"I think we need to finish some things too."

And then his mouth was on hers again, despite her laugh.