Much later that night Olivia and Adam lie in bed asleep. Suddenly Adam awakens with a start from a bad dream. Olivia wakes as well "What's the matter?" she asks. Adam looks at her as if he didn't know who she is or where he is as he swivels to sit on the edge of the bed. "Shhhhhhh" She says as she caresses him as he come fully awake. "It's okay. What is it?" Olivia asks.

"Nothing" Adam says as he gets out of bed and gets some water from the kitchen.

When he returns she says "It didn't look like nothing."

"Just a memory"

Adam slips back into bed and Olivia snuggles up to him. "A bad memory from long ago?"

"Not so long ago…but far away…"

"What happened?"

"Nothing for you to worry about. It's over."

"Talking can help."

"Not in this case. Go back to sleep."

"You helped me; I'd like to return the favor."

"It is my burden alone." Adam says as Olivia wraps herself around him.

"It doesn't have to be."

"I dreamt of a real situation, but the outcome was reversed. I was killed instead of surviving."

"Sounds like posttraumatic stress disorder."

"Pretty much every immortal over one hundred years old is a poster child for that disorder."

"Who tried to kill you?"

"Lots of people….. You mean in the dream?"

"Yes….. Lots of people?"

"In the dream it was just two, a woman named Cassandra and a friend named Silas. She had me defenseless and the only reason I'm still here is Duncan pleaded for her not to kill me."

"Why would she do that?"

"Why not kill me? I guess she valued Duncan's opinion. She had her reasons for wanting me dead and I understood them. I have some hope she had her own…for not"

"What were they? Why were you helpless?"

"Go to sleep."

"All right, but I wish you would open up to me."

Just about when Adam figured Olivia was dozing off she asks "Your friend tried to kill you?"

Adam sighs. "Silas was a friend… I considered him a brother in all but blood and bath. But I had to prevent him from killing Cassandra. When we kill another of our own kind we're incapacitated for several minutes. Now go to sleep."

Again just as he thinks she's fading off to sleep. "You killed Silas?"

"Oh for the love of…"

"I'm sorry."

Adam gets out o the bed and goes to the kitchen. Olivia hears cabinet doors opening and closing. "Do you have anything stronger than wine?" Adam asks.

"There's a half full bottle of vodka…." Olivia starts to respond before Adam says "Found it." Adam returns with the bottle and a single glass which he places on the night table and half fills it.

Olivia watches concerned. "That's quite a blast. I hope I haven't driven you…"

"It's not for me. It's for you." Adam says handing the glass to Olivia. "Do you have a Bible?"

"On the case over there." Olivia says pointing with one finger while holding the glass with the others.

Adam retrieves the Bible and begins searching. "Go ahead and down that." He says and Olivia takes a small sip. "To the bottom." Adam says in Russian.

"I used to ride with three other guys…. They are dead. I favored a pale horse." He says to a mystified Olivia searching for a passage as he sits on the bed. "Revelations 6:8" Adam hands the Bible to Olivia and rolls onto his side to sleep.

Olivia looks at the passage and reads out loud:

"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

Olivia reads, her eyes open wide, and she downs the remaining vodka without thinking about it. "We have to talk about this." She says.

"No, we don't. We really don't. What is there to talk about? I'm not like that anymore. You wanted to know; now you do. It was written after the actual events, as a metaphor for events to come, not as a history of what happened. It isn't literal. But we may…may have been the inspiration… Still, for some, myth has replaced fact. If you let anyone know, it may cost more deaths… perhaps mine….perhaps yours…perhaps Melinda's student already… It doesn't matter what is real…only what others think is real."

The next day in the squad room Olivia is called into a meeting with Captain Cragan, ADA Cabot, Elliot, and Doctors Melinda Warner and George Huang. Cragan lays down the rules. "1 PP wants what we discuss here to never leave this room. Olivia, your friend Adam has created one hell of a mess. Ms. Cabot was asked about the situation surrounding the plea and we provided the tape of the discussion with Adam. They took it to a professor at Hudson University for translation and then it hit the fan."

"Are they cleared…?" Olivia asks concerning ADA Cabot and FBI Doctor George Huang.

"They are now." Cragan reassures.

The ADA takes the floor. "The last part of their conversation was in Latin as Elliott recognized from his alter boy days. But the first part of it was in a language the existence of which, until yesterday, has been only a theory. The linguistics professor nearly had a canary when he realized they were speaking Proto-Indo-European."

"Excuse me, but how can a language be theoretical?" Elliott asks.

The ADA answers. "I'm a bit fuzzy on that myself. Apparently there are enough similarities in ancient languages that they are familiar with to theorize the existence an earlier parent language."

"Okay…" Elliott says not quite satisfied.

"They then created a theoretical language which could be that ancestor."

"So couldn't these guys have learned it like geeks learn say Klingon?" Elliott asks before glancing to Olivia and adding "Sorry, but…."

Ms Cabot explains. "That's a good question, but no. You see the conversation included some words and syntax that were previously unexpected, sort of like in the movie 'Jurassic Park' where they learned some things about dinosaurs only after recreating them. That conversation filled in gaps that people had argued about for years with little hope of ever having proof of what was correct. Careers might be in shambles because of that conversation if it were circulated among academics. Fortunately, it has been classified. There was also one word believed to be a name."

The FBI physiologist takes over. "Olivia just before and when your boyfriend enters the room the suspect reacts. It is almost as if he anticipates the entrance…."

"Adam said they sense the presence of others of their kind…"

"That explains part of it. He hides it well, but when he sees Adam, his anxiety level shoots up and he utters the first word of their conversation under his breath which might be a name…. 'Methos.' Do you know what that means?"

Unnoticed in the corner Melinda's own anxiety level skyrockets and she shifts in her chair.

Olivia explains "He's had other names… Nathan, Remus…but no I don't know."

"Well we'll let the language expert worry about it. It is irrelevant anyway. What concerns our office was the content of the rest of their conversation before they switched to the exchange in Latin. Olivia, did Adam explain why the suspect chose to plead guilty?"

"He said he owed Adam a huge favor from a long time ago and twenty five years is no big deal for someone like him."

Cragan speaks up. "I'm afraid he told you a fairytale."

The ADA slides a printed transcript to Olivia. It is clear that while much is left unsaid between the two men, the suspect agreed to plead out in fear. "We need to build a case and win it in court. I can't in good conscious accept a plea that was obtained essentially at gunpoint. I also can't reveal what we know about…. I still can't believe this stuff."

"Well you didn't see him take four rounds through the chest at point blank range in a New Jersey swamp and then get up." Olivia growls. "It made a believer out of me and took a year off of my life." Stabler nods.

Cabot gets the investigation back on course. "Miranda, what can you tell us about the victim? I understand you had a personal connection. So you're here as a witness rather than as a Medical Examiner."

All eyes turn to Doctor Warner, but she sits troubled and says nothing. Olivia comes to her defense. "Leave her alone."

"Don't you want to solve this case Melinda?" Cragan asks.

"You don't understand what you're asking of her." Olivia counters. Cragan does know, but was leaving it up to Melinda how much to reveal.

"Perhaps you are also too close to this case Olivia." Cabot cautions. All wait for an answer.

Melinda breaks her silence and to Gragan's shock she says barely over a whisper "I'm nearly two hundred years old." Alex and Huang's eyes open in shock and Alex inhales suddenly. "I could tell you a long story about how I found him shortly after his first death in Chicago in the 1960's and how we became lovers but it would be pointless. Officially he's only had this identity for about ten years and the motivations aren't the same as for the cases you are used to investigating and nothing you could use in court." Melinda falls silent again.

"I'll interview her alone." Olivia offers.

"I'd like to be there. I'm curious…from a professional standpoint." Doctor Huang says.

"IF Melinda agrees AND you will maintain conformance with 1 PP's policy – nothing gets written down or recorded in anyway." Cragan commands. "There is no discussion about this."

The room slowly clears out. ADA Cabot approaches Melinda as she gets up "I'm sorry for your loss and for pushing you to reveal yourself. I didn't know you are…. I still don't know what to call you."

Melinda looks her in the eyes and says "You call me Melinda or Doctor Warner. I'm the same person you've known." The ADA starts to say something. "I know. As a group, you could refer to us as immortals."

"I'll look forward to what Olivia has to report about your friend." The ADA retreats.

Doctor Huang approaches Melinda like she's a specimen, but he was watching the conversation with the ADA and is more cautious. "Melinda, I would like to talk to you…some time…at your convenience. I've never had the chance to talk to … someone like you."

"You mean someone who was murdered? Someone who was a slave? Someone who lives in secret in a world where they may have to fight for their lives to the death just for being what they are? You probably have without knowing it. We're good at hiding what we are. Be grateful you're having this conversation me and not Adam." Melinda says as her eyes narrow. Doctor Huang nods and bows out.

"You smacked them down pretty hard." Olivia says with a smile when they are alone. She motions for Melinda to sit but she doesn't.

"They had it coming. I'm not talking to you here. I don't trust them." Melinda growls. "For what I am, I'm very young. But they would do well to remember the saying about meddling in the affairs of dragons."

Olivia is puzzled and wondering what else is real. Melinda sees her confusion and giggles a bit. "No Olivia." Olivia breathes a sigh of relief.

About an hour later Olivia finds herself sitting with Melinda on a bench in a cemetery. Melinda had been pleasant but slightly agitated until they reached the cemetery.

Olivia begins her interview but before she gets out more than the first few words. Melinda cuts her off. "You've got to understand, I didn't know who he was. He was always so good to me."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Adam. I didn't know who he was. I'm sorry." Melinda's eyes begin to tear.

"It's okay…."

"No. It's not. At least I know now why he never answered my questions."

"You're not making sense."

"Methos, he's the oldest living immortal. He's part myth part legend. He's not two thousand years old; he's more like five thousand, maybe more. The guy you have locked up must be nearly as old if he recognized him and spoke that language."

"I still don't get why you'd be sorry to have introduced us."

"Not much is known and conjecture has spun a thousand webs… Facts…nothing is certain…smoke and shadows…myths… Olivia, one of them is that Methos was one of the Four Horsemen."

"Well, he did have us riding horses in the dreams." Olivia says, not revealing what she learned the previous night.

"No, everybody rode a horse, if they had one. No I mean from the Bible, the Book of Revelations. You would know him as the rider of the pale horse… Death. If that's true… he may killed more people than you can imagine."