Olivia lays awake for a long time, but eventually falls back to sleep.

Olivia awakens to the feeling of her bare rump being very gently stroked by Adam's finger tips. As she rouses, Adam says "You're awake. It occurs to me that your best features occur in two's."

Because of his teasing the night before, Olivia leaps to a wrong conclusion. "Really! After all this time thinking you were not just after my body…" Olivia rolls over leaving the blanket down propping herself up on an elbow deliberately giving him a brief glimpse of her breasts before pulling the covers up and taking them away. Adam is surprised and says with a grin "I was thinking of your eyes. But those are nice too." She looks at him closely looking to see if he's being honest. Seeing no dishonesty, Olivia relaxes.

Olivia rolls back onto her stomach and Adam resumes caressing her backside. She realizes that she's approaching the point when she becomes nervous about the future and subtly begins to sabotage the relationship. She puts the thought out of her mind.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready to go to work?" Adam asks. Olivia responds sleepily "No, I'm off today." Adam gets up. "Good. Then I have a treat for you."

An hour later, Adam walks Olivia into a diner. "Why did we have to go to New Jersey?" Olivia asks. "Diner capitol of the world." Olivia shakes her head. "We have them in the city." Adam grins. "You have delis. They are good too. But, we're here for a Jersey breakfast." Adam takes a seat at the counter and Olivia sits next to him a bit skeptically. Almost immediately a waitress hands them menus and Adam watches as Olivia looks through a nearly endless list of options. "I don't see 'Jersey Breakfast' listed in this thing."

Adam catches the waitress' eye as she's refilling a truck driver's coffee. She raises her chin in acknowledgement. "Two Taylor Ham, egg, cheese, on a roll with coffee please." Adam says as he takes Olivia's menu. The waitress nods and Adam gives her both of the menus.

In a quiet voice Adam explains "If you're south of the Raritan River say 'pork roll.' Order it that way up here and you'll get the stink eye." Olivia hears a sizzle and sees some slices of meat being placed on the flat grill where the spatula makes several swift cuts so they will lie flat. Immediately there is the sound of eggs being poured one handed onto the grill sunny side up. It only takes a few minutes for the short order cook to put the meat, egg, and some sliced cheese onto buttered rolls onto plates turn around and place them on the counter. Olivia eyes it with concerns about the amount of calories and cholesterol mixed with eagerness.

Olivia eats and watches other customers who all seem to know the drill. The waitress seems to know everyone. Some customers are served nearly as soon as they sit because she saw them pull into the parking area and called them by their regular order as if it were their nickname to the cook. With a nod their order would be started.

"I'm surprised. I would have thought you would go for something more…I don't know… pate of peacock brains." Olivia observes. Adam grins as he puts his mug of coffee down. "It isn't a matter of seeking out the rare and pretentious. It is a matter of learning what is good. If this was Pompeii, we'd be putting garum on our food." Olivia looks confused and Adam explains "Fermented fish intestines and salt… with various additives." Olivia pales "First time I'm glad to be in Jersey rather than Italy." She mutters. "Catsup?" Adam asks lifting up the squeeze bottle from its spot by the mustard, salt, and pepper.

Olivia tries the catsup on the remaining part of her breakfast sandwich. "Life is about change. But there are some things that change slower than others, a few that may not change at all. All my life people have been adding things to flavor their food, but what they add changes."

On their way back to the city Olivia asks "Have people always done things to kids and the weak?" Adam nods. "That would be one of the things that don't change. I was once one of those who did." Olivia says "You told me that before. What I want to know is why you changed." Adam continues driving for awhile before answering. "I tired of it. I no longer craved making people afraid of me. It had lost its challenge. After I stopped, I heard a man speaking and later saw some of his followers executed by beasts in the Coliseum. I was impressed by their faith. That played a role as well."

As they wind down the helix from Weehawken into the Lincoln Tunnel, Olivia says "You met Jesus?" As they enter the tunnel, Adam explains "No. I heard him speak. That is hardly the same thing." Unwilling to let it go, Olivia alters her question to be more general "You were present at the Sermon on the Mount?"

As they drive through the tunnel, Adam casually responds "I don't know. I think there were a series of sermons which were written into the Gospel of Mathew as one. I didn't figure out who I'd heard until much later."

As they emerge into the light on the New York end of the tunnel, Olivia sits staring at Adam trying to wrap her mind around what she has just heard and its implications. One thing for sure is that she can barely wait to tell the deeply Catholic Stabler what her boyfriend had witnessed. "My partner is going to go crazy when I tell him." Adam shrugs. "If I'd known what I was listening to, I'd have paid more attention. They say history is decided by those that show up, but it takes more than just being there. I was more interested in trivial things like some of the women there and where I could get some food. Stabler is likely to be disappointed that I can't tell him much."

Adam changes the disk in the player and the soaring tones of Waylon Jennings' "Wild Ones" begin. At first Olivia is lost in her own thoughts, but by the third stanza she tunes in to the lyrics.

…
"She was a lady
When a lady wasn't easy to be
Hangin' in limbo
She started hangin' with me
We were the music
Cause we had a song we could sing
We were the wild ones
And we had the world on a string

"We were the wild ones
The ones they couldn't control
We were survivors
Good hearts, body and soul
We were the winners
Cause we didn't know we could fail
We were the wild ones
And we had the world by the tail"

Olivia says "We don't have the world on a string and I know we can fail." Adam looks confused. Olivia continues "I wasn't hanging in limbo before I met you either." Adam nods – it is sometimes easier to just agree if you don't understand. He may be five thousand years old, but he's a guy, so in a discussion like this he's bringing a knife to a gun fight and he's now engaged in a game where he doesn't understand the rules.

As they ride on, Olivia breaks the silence. "Where do you go during the day?" Adam shrugs "Various places." Olivia pries "Show me."

He nods and takes her to a nondescript building in a rundown warehouse district. He unlocks the roll up door and pulls the car inside. He turns on the lights and closes the door. Olivia looks around warily. The air is cold, enough so that her breath is visible. There is a humming refrigerator in the corner of the large space with a sofa near it. Adam walks to the refrigerator and gets out two beers and tries to hand one to Olivia. She shakes her head. It is too cold for a cold beer.

"What is this place?" Olivia asks. "A place to practice." Adam says quietly. "Practice what?" Olivia asks. Adam puts both beers back unopened and responds "The skills I need to survive when I can't avoid a fight." Olivia looks around and notices exercise equipment and a heavy bag.

Olivia asks "How much do you normally tell the women you've been with?" Adam grins slightly. "Mortals? Nothing" Olivia gets a shiver. "Why me?" Adam explains "Because of Melinda." Olivia ponders. "So if her student wasn't…?" Adam nods confirming her conclusion that she would not have been told anything.

"You treat me very well. I guess I should be honored that you opened up as much as you have about what you are. But I feel that I don't know the real you. I don't mean the places you've been. I don't mean what you are. I mean what you feel…how you think."

Adam shrugs. "You don't tell me much about what you are doing every day."

"I can't discuss active cases."

Adam nods. Olivia frowns. "We're at the point where my relationships usually fall apart." It is the point where she must decide to really break her pattern or not. Everything before this has been prologue. It is time to take a leap of faith or be consigned to a long list of former women in his life and add him to her list of exes. After a long pause, Olivia says "I started going out with you because I wanted to break that pattern." After another long pause, she continues "You've had your hands all over me, but I guess I haven't opened up that much myself either. I'm afraid."

"Don't be."

"I can't control how I feel."

"You can control how you react to it. It is that simple."

"It isn't that easy."

"I said it was simple. I didn't say it was easy."

There is a long silence broken by Adam. "What is your first memory?"

Olivia thinks awhile. She recalls her memory. "I was little, only a couple of years old. I thought my mother was dead. But she'd just passed out from drinking vodka. I was scared…Yours?"

"I had just taken the head of an immortal. I don't recall having a family. I was already an adult. I don't recall my first death."

"Nothing seems to worry or frighten you."

"Seems is the operative word there. But I learned a long time ago what to do when faced by challenges."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"So when those guys in the bar were trying to intimidate you…"

Adam laughs. "They thought they were snakes teasing a mouse; but they were teasing a mongoose. Mind over matter… I didn't mind because they didn't matter. None of them were like me; none of them were going to threaten you."

"They wouldn't… Didn't you…demonstrate your skills to that class to get even with the instructor for trying to intimidate you?"

"No. That instructor didn't know what he was talking about. The officers taking the class needed a demonstration that might save their lives someday. So you've never had anyone you could count on before…outside of the SVU?"

Olivia shakes her head. Adam nods. "Now you do."

"How do I know I can trust you? You just told me that I would have known none of this unless Melinda called you about her student. How many times have you been married? How many other women like me? Who never actually knew you? Do you just suddenly leave them?"

"You're right. I've been married about seventy times and there have been more lovers than I can remember. But I am loyal to each while I'm with them and I don't leave unless they don't need me anymore, or I'm my presence is putting them in danger. Sometimes, I'm forced to leave because they begin to notice I'm not aging... But you already know…"

That night Alex and Elliott are staking out Duncan's place until they are sure he's in for the night. Alex begins to make her way to the subway alone after refusing a ride home. Unseen Kyra follows. Stabler calls Olivia and finding out she's still out, asks for her to discreetly check on Alex.

After driving the last part of Alex's route home from her subway station Olivia and Adam approach an alley which can be used as a shortcut to a locked "tenants only" service entrance to Alex's building. Olivia begins to relax knowing that Alex has likely arrived safely, but Adam is becoming more anxious.

"Slow down so I can get a look down this alley as we go by." To her surprise, he speeds up and turns into it. At the far end she sees Alex being accosted by a guy about twenty years old next to a van and he's trying to wrestle her into it. Adam punches the throttle. Olivia sees a blond woman step from the shadows near some dumpsters and withdraw a large automatic. Olivia recognizes her as Kyra. She unhooks her seatbelt as Adam stops the car.

Olivia pulls out her cell phone to call for help. Adam grabs it from her. He hisses "This isn't for outsiders." Olivia tries to grab her phone back, but Adam throws it into the backseat. His eyes are hard and intense. She withdraws her weapon and gets out. Adam doesn't stop her. He draws his sword and follows.

Kyra glances back at them, but quickly returns her focus to the gang member using Alex as a shield waving a gun in her direction. Olivia gets side by side with Kyra. She sees that the guy is nearly entirely behind her. Olivia identifies herself and commands him to drop his weapon and release Alex.

He responds "She sent by brother to prison. She's gonna pay. Drop yours."

Weapon at the ready, Olivia moves to the side so that the guy has to contend with two different lines of attack.

To her horror, Olivia hears Kyra cock her forty-four and glances over to see her put her finger on the trigger. Kyra calmly says "I have a shot."

Olivia yells "No! Even you aren't that good."

"I know something you don't know." Kyra whispers.

Alex sees that Kyra is getting ready to shoot and the gun is pointed directly at her. She struggles frantically. "No! NO!" Her face shows pure panic.

Adam puts an arm around Olivia's waist from behind and pulls her back and then he pushes her to the side of the alley behind a dumpster leaning into her hard. He pushes her against the wall hard as she struggles. He growls into her ear "Remember, the boundaries of reality aren't where you thought they were." Olivia's mind whirls trying to understand.

He yells "Kyra! Are you sure?" There is no answer; only a single gunshot reverberates down the ally..

Adam releases Olivia. She runs out to see Kyra lowering her weapon and both the kid and Alex on the ground. Olivia checks Alex and quickly sees that Alex has been hit in the center of her chest, she makes a few gulping sounds, frothy blood coming from her mouth and looses consciousness. Olivia feels the large exit wound in Alex's back. The kid is even more of a mess as he was hit with a round which has already mushroomed and was tumbling upon entry. He's gone.

Olivia points her gun at Kyra. "I told you. You are under arrest. Drop it." Kyra smiles. "I guarantee you, I'll win."

From behind her she hears Adam "And I guarantee you'll lose the next." The voice is calm but ice cold and full of threat. Olivia looks back to see Adam with his sword leveled. Kyra lowers her gun.

Olivia gets out her cuffs.

"What you just saw isn't what you think. Put those away. We have work to do."

Kyra grabs Alex by the back of her coat and starts dragging her to the rear of the car. Adam pops the truck and Kyra heaves Alex's limp body in. Olivia is stunned. Even more shocking, Kyra gets in the backseat. Adam gets behind the wheel.

Olivia stands rooted to the spot. "Well, get in. Or do you want to get left here with a body?" Adam commands and numbly Olivia complies.

Adam backs out of the ally as quickly as he pulled in. The whole thing took only a little over a minute. There is nothing left behind except for the gang banger's body and van, with a mangled bullet in his chest, and a blood trail to where Alex had been thrown into the trunk.

Once on the street, Adam drives normally. Olivia stares at him. Kyra rides casually looking out at the store fronts and restaurants.

Raising his voice a bit, Adam says to Kyra "That isn't what I had in mind when I hired you." Kyra shrugs. "No extra charge. Drop me at the corner."

As Kyra gets out, she reaches forward and puts her hand on Olivia's shoulder and gives a light squeeze. "Breath Olivia. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Olivia begins to put it all together as Kyra exits.

"She killed him in defense of another, but…" Olivia says and Adam nods. "But she shot Alex deliberately." Adam nods again. "At first, when you asked if she was sure, I thought you meant shooting him without hitting her or the gun out of his hand. But you meant shooting through her, didn't you?" Adam nods and drives in silence.

They drive another block in silence. "So Alex is…?" Adam shakes his head. "She's not like you?" Olivia asks in panic that she's wrong. She recalls the look of abject terror on Alex's face. "So she's dead?" Adam nods. "Kyra murdered her!" Adam cocks his head quizically.

"Oh God. Alex." Olivia says to herself.

"Alex wasn't like me, or Kyra, or Duncan, or Melinda." Olivia's heart sinks as her head pitches forward. "Alex was what we call a pre-immortal." Olivia's head pops up. "She didn't know what she was." For a moment Olivia forgets about what is back in the ally.

"What happens now?" Olivia asks. "We take her to a safe place. She will need your support. I know you have been working with other officers who know about us. For her sake don't tell them what happened." Olivia nods.

"You hired Kyra to protect Alex?"

"I did. Not from guys like that…from other immortals. In the end there can only be one. She was defenseless. Melinda asked me to keep an eye on her until she could do it herself could again."

"Kyra is also protecting Elliott's daughter. Is she?" Adam shrugs.

"Kyra knows who you are." Olivia admits and Adam nods.

"What do you think?" Olivia asks. "Kyra?" Adam asks and Olivia nods "Some immortals have underestimated her. I don't." Adam replies.