He looked up sharply; her beautiful face was bland. “Yeah, you can ask,” he said. “I might not answer, if it’s none of your business.”

She tapped her pink nails on the table. “Well, I’m guessing you two are – intimate, am I right?”

Alex held back a snorting laugh and took another bite of spaghetti. If Kara thought he was going to discuss his sex life with her, she was insane.

“Okay, fine, don’t tell me,” she said. “But what I’m getting at is, aren’t you worried about angel burn?”

He let out a groan and dropped his fork. Kara went on before he could say anything. “I mean, all right, she’s not on the side of the angels; I get that. But that doesn’t mean being close to her won’t physically hurt you somehow. I’m not saying she’d do it on purpose, but—”

Alex gritted the words out. “Listen carefully and I’ll say it again – she is not like them. She doesn’t feed. How could she give me angel burn?”

Kara shrugged, her expression arch. “I don’t know. Who the hell knows anything about a half-angel? She doesn’t even know, so how can you?”

“Yeah, well, thanks for your concern,” he said, picking up his fork again. “I feel fine.”

“Good,” she said. “Glad to hear it.” She picked up the sheet of paper with Juan’s writing on it, turning it over thoughtfully. “Course, you don’t always know these things, do you? Some of those cancers, for instance, can take a real long time to start showing themselves—”

He glared at her; he would have happily smashed the plate of spaghetti in her face. “Kara, I’m serious – shut the hell up.”

A strained silence fell. “Hey,” she said eventually, touching his shoulder. “Don’t be mad at me, Al. I mean, just put yourself in my shoes – I really hope that if I came strutting in here with some half-angel boyfriend, you’d start asking a few questions.”

He managed a smile at her old nickname for him, and knew she was right. If he had been in her place, he’d have been saying the exact same things. He shook his head. “Kara, Willow is...she’s the kindest, most unselfish person I’ve ever known. She’d die before she hurt me, or anyone else.”

Kara lifted a hand. “Okay,” she said, and he knew she was holding back from repeating what she’d said before – that it might not be something Willow was doing on purpose. “Just keep it in mind, all right? That’s all I’m asking.” She changed the subject adroitly. “You know, I really cannot get over how much you look like Jake now – you’ve actually grown into those shoulders of yours. What a difference a couple of years makes, huh?”