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When Kara woke the next , it was late and she was alone She felt a rush of panic, and then, hearing the sound of ha, she relaxed He was here

She stared up at the sht past, the self-recrimination in Alexander&039;s eyes, the fear It had been for her, that fear

She placed a hand over her stonant? Would that really be so terrible? Except for that peculiar strip of ridged flesh on his spine, Alex looked exactly like any other rinned wryly It wasn&039;t as if he was Jabba frorunted softly as a new thought occurred to her Alex had mentioned the fact that his blood was different froiven her sootten that?

Throwing off the covers, she scrambled out of bed, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, and went into theover Alex He was building a table froht before For a moment, she admired the play of lanced over his shoulder to smile at her, and happiness bubbled up within her, as effervescent as sparkling cha into the roo one of the table&039;s legs in place, then brushed a lock of hair from his face "Did you sleep well?"

Kara nodded "Did you?"

He shook his head "No"

"You orrying aboutover her face

"I&039;s bent, her ar on her knees "Don&039;t you think avebad happened"

He frowned, and Kara knew she&039;d been right He had forgotten

"So," she said brightly "Maybe there&039;s nothing to worry about Anyway, I&039;h Are you? Oh, sorry" She grinned self-consciously She&039;d forgotten he didn&039;t need to eat every day

"Go make yourself some breakfast," Alex said "The table should be done when you&039;re ready"

Rising to her feet, Kara crossed the floor toward the kitchen, thinking she would rather eat sitting on the floor than standing at the table, and then she saw the chairs, two of thehtly larger than the other An ie of the three bears rose in her mind and made her smile One for papa bear, and one for mama bear

"You do nice work, Alex," she called over her shoulder

"Thanks"

He watched herhow different the cavern felt with Kara to share it Thinking how different he felt Maybe she was right Maybe he orrying for nothing He had given her his blood, and she hadn&039;t suffered any ill effects He stared at the ha to stifle the rush of hope that flooded through hiined what it would be like to share his life with Kara And then, unable to help hiive her a son, he thought, to hold a child of his own in his arhtened on the hammer until his knuckles hite After his arrest, the council had refused to let hied theood-bye, but to no avail The counsel&039;s only concession had been to allow his parents to bring AnTares to the docking bay thehis ship was to depart

He closed his eyes, reray eyes aith tears She had reached out to hi him not to leave her The sound of her cries had followed hio to her, to try to explain why he was being sent ahy he would never see her again In desperation, he had turned to the head of the counsel, pleading for DaTra&039;s understanding, begging to be allowed to hold his daughter one last time, to tell her he loved her, but DaTra had adamantly refused On board the spacecraft, Alex had stared out the ship&039;s view port, his gaze fixed on his daughter&039;s face, until all ports had been sealed and she had been lost to his sight forever

Alex hahted the table After all these years, the thought of her still had the power to cause hiivehi?"

"I asked if you wanted a cup of coffee, orall right?"

"Fine"

She tilted her head to one side, her expression doubtful "You don&039;t have to tell me if you don&039;t want to," she said quietly "But you don&039;t have to lie, either"

"I&039;hter"

She nodded, not knohat to say

He carried the table into the kitchen and put the chairs in place, one on each side

"Will you sit with me while I eat?" Kara asked She placed her plate and a cup of coffee on the table and sat down

With a nod, Alex sat across from her

"What shall we do today?" she asked

"I don&039;t know I&039;lanced at the eer an option

Kara regarded hie of her coffee cup "I have an idea"

He looked at her expectantly, and then, watching her cheeks bloom with color, he knehat she had in h wide, innocent eyes "We can&039;t go out while the sun&039;s up," she said, so for a swied "We can&039;t sit and read because you burned up all the books So, can you think of a better way to pass the day?"

"No"

"Good" Pushing away fro, his body hu with awareness and desire, Alex let her lead hi through his veins, thruan to undress him

When he reached for her, she swatted his hands away "Not yet," she ing, while she ran her hands over his flesh, pressed her lips to his chest, bent to explore his navel with her tongue

He groaned as the ache to hold her grew painful "My turn," he said with a growl, and with slow deliberation, he began to undress her, his hands sliding seductively over her flesh until she, too, was quivering with need

Swinging her into his araze on his back as he took the necessary precautions, and then she was in his ar hio

And he was e

They spent the afternoon in bed, ain, until darkness settled over the , they went for a long walk through the woods

"Alex, do you think Barrett&039;s given up yet?"

"I doubt it"

"I need to call home"

"I know, but it&039;s too soon Maybe in a couple of weeks"