"Are you sure? It isn't a pleasant story…" Adam asks and Olivia nods nervously.

"I could tell you about walking down what is now Broadway with the Lenape when it was only a trail through the woods." Olivia responds "Some other time." Adam defers "I could tell you about crossing the Atlantic with Brendan and some Irish monks." Olivia just stares.

Adam continues about Melinda "She was used by her master for his pleasures. She didn't know what she was or her true potential. She was trapped. That existence was all she knew. Ironically, she had cared for him when she was a young and he younger. His parents died in some contagion or another and he was just old enough to inherit the plantation. That's when his cruel streak came out.

"He abused her regularly, but one day, she fought back. Do you really want to hear this? Olivia's eyes have teared up, but she nods. "Her master took her one last time and then hung by the neck naked."

"They hung her with her toes barely touching the ground so she could struggle trying to survive. He and his friends gambled on how long it would take for her to die. They watched and mocked her." Adam continues as a tear runs down Olivia's cheek.

"I'd heard about it in town and was on my way out when I passed by her grave. We can sense the presence of others of our kind. I realized what she was, and after dark I went back and took her body, hid it in the wagon and continued on my way. It was her first death and it took a long time before she recovered. I was washing her off in a stream nearly a day later when she regained consciousness. She thought I was molesting her and put up one hell of a fight. I had to kill her again and bind her before continuing away from the area where she might be recognized and returned. It took days before she was convinced not to runaway, and much longer for her to accept what I told her about what she was and that I was helping. Even then she reacted with fear any time I brushed up against her."

"A natural reaction."

"Of course… Eventually, I learned to ease her nightmares as I did with you. Months later, by the time we reached Canada, we were lovers. A few years later she met somebody, another former slave, and they married."

"Good for her." Olivia says.

"She's strong. She has her scars, but she'll never be a victim again. She has been my only student. When one of us takes a student straight from their first death, it is a deep connection. We can't have children. But taking someone from death to immortal life is something akin ….. I know there are some who have had many students, but I won't…. I've been married seventy times, but I won't marry an immortal. Perhaps I'm too selfish."

"You are possibly the least selfish man I've ever met."

Adam smiles a sad smile. "You say that because you don't really know me."

"Perhaps I don't. I know, until a few days ago, I didn't…."

"People change Olivia. Life is about change. Mortals change over their lifetimes; imagine how much someone who has lived multiple lifetimes can change. Yet what they once were is always a part of them."

Olivia nods trying to grasp what she's being told. "What are you trying not to tell me?"

"Just that the man you know is not the man he once was."

Adam's massage works its way to the back of Olivia's thighs.

"How are you coming along with your investigation?"

"I can't talk to you about that."

"All right, has the name Willis Ryan come up?" Adam feels for the involuntary tells Olivia might give as he senses her heartbeat and respiration. There are none.

"Why?"

"I can't tell you that, but it has a high level of confidence."

"How?"

"I can't tell you that either. I'll come in and make a report on what was seen as if I saw it. What do they call it… confidential informant?"

"I can't take a false report."

"The report will only be false in who saw it."

"Adam, you can't do that. If someone saw it, they must come forward themselves."

"That won't happen. They will not interfere….

"Consider the alternatives. This guy will be going after Sadie… Melinda. If I have to, I'll kill him. She's good, but she's not a killer..."

Olivia feels ill. "…like you?" She asks filling in the unspoken.

Adam gives a nearly imperceptible nod.

"My God…" Olivia sighs.

The next day, Olivia and Stabler have a man in the box. He had been seen on a store security camera leaving Central Park shortly after the estimated time of death. They have little to go on, because he refused a DNA swab, but he felt 'wrong' but that was immaterial to the legal system. He did not request an attorney but seemed immune to pressure with a patience that eerily reminded Olivia of Adam. Stabler and Olivia excuse themselves to go discuss their next move in the observation room.

"We've got nothing to base a warrant on. Maybe he'll take a coffee or something and we can get his DNA." Stabler says looking through the one way glass.

Olivia has her back to the glass. She responds "Adam scared the hell out of me last night. We're already running out of time. He seems to think some guy named Willis Ryan did it. I think the guy we have gave us a false ID. There is nothing under that name except in the last few years. Let's run a facial recognition on his driver's license photo and see what comes back."

"I agree, be right back." Stabler leaves to be replaced by Cragan.

Cragan looks through the glass. "I thought you said he didn't attorney up."

Olivia turns to look and gasps slightly. "That's Adam."

Cragan's eyes widen. "What the hell is he doing in there?"

They turn up the sound to pick up the quiet conversation as Stabler returns. He's startled to see Adam talking to their suspect.

"What language is that?" Olivia asks.

"I recognize some from my alter boy days. It's Latin." Stabler observes. "Atone, student, debt, retribution…."

"Tell me there is a tape on this?" Cragan asks. "Only two types of people converse in Latin, scholars and people old enough to have spoken it a living language."

Olivia responds "It's recording. But let's get him out of there before he incriminates himself."

"Too late." Stabler says as Adam gets up out of his chair and starts to leave.

The three rush to the entrance of the box where they run into Adam casually walking out. "Hello Olivia. Have you eaten yet?" Adam asks.

"What were you doing in there?" Olivia asks.

"Reacquainting with someone I knew a long time ago." Adam explains with a shrug.

Stabler goes into the box where the suspect looks at him with some amusement. "I'd like to confess… no allocution though."

"Why?" Stabler asks.

"Let's say it was on the advice of my attorney." Stabler stands puzzled.

Outside the room, Adam says "If you recorded my conversation with my client, you' need to destroy the tape or whatever it is. The confidentiality of attorney – client conversations is sacrosanct."

"You're an attorney?" Olivia asks.

"I've been a great many things. Shall we get lunch? The Italian place across the street looks good." Adam says.

"It is." Olivia responds.

Moments later, seated in a booth looking over the menu, Olivia asks "You probably won't explain, but I'm going to ask anyway. What the hell just happened?"

Adam takes a piece of bread from the basket on the table and butters it. "The funny part is…. Is it possible that I'm still legally an attorney since I passed the bar under another name over a hundred years ago?"

"Don't play with me." Olivia warns unamused.

"Okay." Adam takes a bite of the bread. "Good bread, a good indication that the meal will be good as well. I'm a doctor too… really … Heidelberg, class of 1453."

"Be serious."

"I am, but I'm sure I'm out of practice now. The use of leaches is making a come back."

"Don't mock me."

"I'm sorry Olivia, the last thing I want to do is to mock you. It's just that I'm relieved we got out of this thing with nobody else getting killed."

"How?"

"I gave him a choice. He could plead guilty and do his time, or I'd get to him before he could get to Sadie."

"He is that afraid of you?"

"No. Long ago we were friendly. I helped him out and I guess he felt obligated to return it. Gotta love the good guys."

"He's going to do serious time. That must have been a big favor."

"Did you ever notice that when you were very young, year seemed like a long time and as you as time went by it didn't seem so long anymore?" Olivia nods and Adam continues "Imagine you were two thousand years old…."

"The minutes, hours, and days don't seem to change though." Olivia observes.

Adam smiles. "You are wise beyond your years."

The waiter arrives and asks "The usual Olivia?" and she nods. "and for the gentleman?"

"I'll have whatever she's having." Adam responds, handing back the unread menu and noting the amused look on Olivia's face.

"Two petite salads." The waiter says as he walks away. Adam pouts slightly.

"So what was the favor?" Olivia asks Adam who is watching the waiter walk away longingly.

"Huh?"

"The favor, what was it?"

"We were gladiators and were paired against each other and we came up with a plan. I won, they voted for his death, I executed him, but I recovered his body from the pile so he could escape." Adamd train of thought wanders. "I've see Christians fed to the lions. Some were happy to be martyrs. In the end, only the lions were happy."

"You killed him?"

"I helped him escape."

"But if he was going to go after the doc, you'd…?"

"Yup. What you must understand is that there are few rules and one of them is 'in the end, there can only be one' so we are all always both hunters and prey."

"What do you mean?"

"It is simple. What is the question?"

"In the end there can only be one. What does that mean?"

"Exactly what you think it means."

"You people kill each other until only one remains?" Olivia asks in horror and Adam nods casually. "So you might kill Melinda?"

"I'd prefer not to, but if it were her or me, I'd prefer to win."

The salads arrive and with them bottles of oil and vinegar. Adam takes the oil and pours a bit on his plate and dabs the bread into it. As Olivia prepares to eat her salad, Adam rips a piece of bread in half and dips it in the oil before handing it to Olivia. "Now we have broken bread together." He says as she takes it.

"How old are you?"

"Old enough to recall when that was part of each meal."

"Really, how old are you?"

"That knowledge carries great danger and I would not want that for you."

"Danger? Why?" Olivia asks, but Adam only shakes his head.

Later that afternoon, Olivia meets with Melinda and informs her that her student's killer would be pleading guilty and how that came to be. The reaction is not what Olivia expects. "So he protected his friend did he?" Melinda growls.

"You called us. What did you think would happen?" Olivia asks.

"I'm sorry; I don't want to sound ungrateful."

"We would have had a hard time getting warrants for his DNA or apartment if Adam hadn't talk to him. All we had was a low quality security cam video of a guy leaving the park." Olivia says and Melinda nods.

"He taught me that a fight avoided is as good as a fight won." Melinda consoles herself.

"Melinda, how old is he? He said it would be dangerous for me to know."

"He always told me the same thing. Don't dig. I know you'll want to, but don't. Just accept what is before you. I did."

"Can we go up on the roof? I want to talk to you privately." Olivia asks.

A few minutes later they emerge on the roof and naturally look over the parapet wall. "What is it like…. to live as you do?" Olivia asks.

"Not so different from you. I do my job, I get paid, I pay my bills, and I go on dates. I don't have to worry about disease. There is a chance on any given day I'll have to fight for my life… Unless it is another of my kind, I like my chances of survival."

"When you got shot in the morgue?"

"I knew I'd live ultimately. My biggest fear was that I would die and recover in front of witnesses."

"When Elliot and I shot Adam he was hit four times and recovered in minutes. But you took a lot longer…"

"We don't know why the time varies, but one factor is likely the number of Quickenings we have."

Olivia is puzzled. "The number of children you've had…?"

"No. Each one of us has a Quickening; it is what makes us immortal. When one of us decapitates another, they get the loser's Quickening and all of the others they have taken. I've never seen it happen, but…."

"The plasma burns at the park…" Olivia observes and Melinda nods. "So the difference could be because he's killed more…." Melinda nods.

"Keep in mind that he's much older." Melinda explains as Olivia scowls.

"There was a huge difference." Olivia insists.

Melinda nods. "There is a huge difference in our ages…"

"….and a huge difference in the number of people he's killed." Olivia sighs. "What is it that you aren't saying?"

"Olivia, don't ask questions. Accept him how what he is now. I don't know much about him beyond he's been alive since Roman times."

"But you suspect something…"

"My suspicions are meaningless." Melinda says as Olivia watches. After a moment, Melinda smiles. "You think if you wait, I'll volunteer more information. I'm close to two hundred years old and I'm not aging…. pretty sure I can out wait you."

"Yeah, I think you have a point there. He told me how he met you. I had no idea. I'm so sorry."

"It happened before your great grandparents were born."

"But you aren't over it…"

"I still have nightmares sometimes…"

"But he saved you and eased your pain. I can see why you'd be loyal. But why did you leave him?"

"What did he tell you?"

"That you met another former slave and fell in love."

"That's half of the story."

"What's the rest?" Olivia urges.

"I wanted him to go back and kill him…. and he refused. He said what is done is done and nothing would change it. I got so angry…. But he'd already done so much…. I had no right…. What had happened to me…. was legal."

"He told you it was legal?"

"He didn't have to, I already knew it. I should have done it myself. But I wasn't skilled enough and there was the war… A white man could have…" Melinda smashes her hand onto the parapet. Olivia holds her.

"That's why you left him…" Olivia urges and Melinda nods.

"I was mad at him; I didn't want him to leave. He introduced me to the man who became my husband and then suddenly he was gone."

Later that night Olivia confronts Adam. "After all she'd been through, how could you just leave her?"

"I gave her the tools she needed, introduced her to someone with whom she shared a background and someone to continue her training."

"But she was still vulnerable and you were all she had."

"No, as I just said, she had others before I left."

"Still you abandoned her."

Adam sighs. "She's a good woman. She wanted me to do something she would have felt guilty about and it would not have lessened her pain. There's no profit in vengeance. I gave up vengeance millennia ago."

"What about justice?"

Adam shrugs. "What about it?" Olivia is exacerbated and Adam continues. "Perhaps, I went back. Perhaps, I buried this man in what had been her grave. Perhaps, he was alive and conscious as I shoveled dirt onto him. Would that take away her pain? Would that make it all right? Would knowing that had been done in her name make her happy? Not the Melinda I know. My presence was a reminder of what happened to her. My leaving allowed her to turn the page."

"Did you…..?"

"I said perhaps."

"I know what you said. But did you kill her master?"

"Good question. I'm getting a cold one. Want a beer?"

"I'd like an answer."

"He was mortal. Like all mortals who experienced the American Civil War, he's dead now. Adam answers while retrieving two cold long neck beers in one hand while opening them with the other.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know." Adam hands one to Olivia before sprawling into an easy chair. "If I killed him, would you think more of me or less? If you were killed, would you want me to commit murder to avenge you? Melinda told me you have been harmed and the guys that did it were jailed. Would you prefer that they were killed without trial?"

Olivia thinks a long time as Adam swigs his beer. Finally Olivia answers "I honestly don't know."

"When you know, I'll answer your question."

"Will it be the truth?"

Adam smiles a devilish grin "Perhaps"

"What is it like? To be so old and to have seen so much…"

It is Adams turn to ponder. "The men who went to the moon and saw Earth from that distance were impressed by how much of what people worry about is irrelevant. I suppose an immortal's perception of time is similar. So much of what mortal's spend their limited time on is irrelevant only they don't see it. They also don't see how short their lives are."

"What is relevant to you?"

"Surprisingly simple things…" Adam smiles and deliberately lowers his gaze from Olivia's eyes to her blouse making sure she notices. Olivia glares back. He shifts his eyes to the beer she's holding "Good beer." Adam says holding up the bottle. "The willingness of a good mortal woman to spend some of her precious time with me" Olivia blushes, "a good book, a fine horse, a sunrise on a day with just the right clouds…"

"What do you think of how I spend my life?" Olivia asks hesitantly.

"What I think is irrelevant. What matters is how you perceive it."

"I'd like your perspective."

Adam thinks and swigs his beer and picks at the label. "The things you try to stop will always exist. You are like Sisyphus trying to roll a boulder to the top of a mountain only to have it roll back every time." Olivia looks devastated, but Adam continues. "But to those you help you have made a permanent positive difference. It is all a matter of what scale you use." The timer on the oven sounds off. "The bread is ready." Adam goes to the oven, beer in hand.

"I can't remember a man cooking here for me." Olivia observes.

"Remus aims to please my Lady."

"Huh?" Olivia asks.

"That was my name when I was a slave chef." Adam says casually. "It was in Rome about two thousand years ago, shortly before I was sold to become a gladiator. It was good to be a chef, not so good to be a gladiator. But I can tell you, both were popular with the ladies."

Olivia ponders. "You don't seem like a player."

Adam chuckles. "When it is a woman I care about, I'm as nervous as a school boy." He completes the cuts of the garlic bread. "Dinner is served my Lady."

"I can't imagine how much you've seen in your life. It is fascinating and a bit frightening."

"I live in the present, the same as you do, perhaps more so."

Olivia moves to the table. Things are going well and she feels like she is a part of a family, which is something she's wanted all of her life. She's not going to risk upsetting it by asking questions, at least not tonight. In a moment, Adam sets the meal on the table and serves her.

Do you see your life as having an impact?" Adam asks.

"Sometimes, but there is always another creep, like you said. I try to focus on the victims."

"See? Pretty smart for a kid, you don't need me to tell you these things."

Adam puts a plate containing what looks like road tar in front of Olivia who eyes it suspiciously. "It's lentils and chestnuts. Don't let its look fool you." Olivia tries a bit and finds it to be good. "Things often are not what you would think."

"Like you?" Olivia asks.

Adam nods. "I guess so."

"Really. I thought you were a nice guy, but boring." Olivia swigs her beer nervously. "But now I find you fascinating. I could spend the rest of my life learning about you."

"You might not like what you find. I'm just a guy."

"But the things you've seen…" Olivia smiles and Adam nods.

"Never under estimate the invention of toilet paper." Adam observes wryly.

"Melinda says I should not ask questions. But it is what I do…."

"Olivia, I'll answer your questions on anything within the last two thousand years."

"You…. are older than…." Olivia starts to ask and Adam nods. "Never mind, I shouldn't have asked.

"Stabler thinks you have military training."

"No"