Disclaimer: All the characters of Law and Order: Criminal Intent belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. No money is being made from this, and no copyright infringement is in any way intended. The original characters of Miriam Sage, Damien Huntley and Serena Huntley are of my creation and therefore belong to me.
Author's Note: Alright, finally, here is the last chapter of Heathenry. I want to say thank you to all of you who have reviewed this story, it has made me so happy knowing that someone has read and enjoyed my first attempt at a piece of CI fanfiction. And thank you to my friend Mia, for being persistent that I finish this. I hope all of you enjoy this chapter as well!


"Serena Huntley?!"James Deakins eyed his two top detectives with a look that suggested that they had taken turns hitting him in the face with a brick. Both the detectives seemed relatively unfazed by that look, they had both seen it several times before.

Taking a deep breath, Deakins steadied himself, trying to make himself comfortable with the fact that this was where the evidence, and his detectives, was leading him in this case. "Alright, so Kaye Kegler, who could very well file charges against one of my detectives for destruction of property, is pointing the finger at the victim's sister. Is there anything I can give the DA, besides Goren's gut instinct, that can back up that accusation?"

The three of them, the captain himself and the two detectives assigned to the case, sat in his office going over the case in as much detail as they had. The Assistant District Attorney, Ron Carver, had insisted they do just that, because as he had pointed out to the captain earlier that day; "I'm going to have a large enough problem prosecuting a family member of Damien Huntley's, without Major Case screwing something up. This needs to go by the book, Captain."

"Kaye Kegler's word got us a warrant. CSU found a sword, similar to the one in Huntley's apartment, with the vic's blood on it, and Serena Huntley's fingerprints on the hilt. Safe assumption that it's the sword missing from the vic's living room."

Alex Eames slid a standard folder across the Captain's desk, containing close-up pictures of the hilt of a broadsword, together with a fingerprint that had been lifted off the hilt by CSU.

"Well, that is something, Eames," said Deakins, "but is it enough? Goren?"

Robert Goren had risen from his chair and was pacing back and forth behind Eames. Slowly, as if he was just now realizing it himself, he said:

"We don't have motive. Why would Serena want her brother dead?"

"Her reason is probably the same as most other people who kill a family member. Usually it's either jealousy, desperation…or mercy."

Goren spun around, facing his captain, suddenly eager.

"That one. Mercy."

"Oh, come on guys…" Eames joined in. "You think this is a mercy killing? Damien Huntley was found in his own living room with a broadsword through his chest! What part of that spells out 'mercy' to you?"

"He was sedated. He probably didn't feel a thing," Goren said eagerly to his partner, quickly becoming more and more confident that they had finally found the reason for the human behavior that the evidence had pointed out to them.

"That's not mercy, Bobby, that's pre-meditation," Eames said, her voice giving away that she was far from as enthusiastic about the motive as her partner was.

"That's what the DA's going to claim," Deakins shot in, "Carver's not going to like us much if we hand him a possible case of euthanasia. He wants someone to prosecute for this."

"There is nothing pre-meditated about this," said Goren, still confident that this had been an act of mercy, and not a pre-meditated murder.

"There were no prints on any of the pill bottles found in the victim's apartment, apart from Damien Huntley's, which isn't strange, considering the fact that he had cancer that was eating him from the inside out. If Serena Huntley planned to kill her brother, and if she wore gloves when handling the pill bottle, why didn't she wear gloves when handling the sword?" He continued in an explanatory voice, trying to convince the two others to see his reasoning.

Silence fell in Captain Deakins' office. Goren had once again brought them into a standstill in a case that had gone in every direction possible, backwards, forwards and apparently also sideways. Serena Huntley had committed murder by definition, but she had little or nothing to gain from it.

"She didn't plan it. He did."

Miriam Sage stood right inside the door, having apparently appeared there so silently that none of the three police officers had noticed her before she spoke.

"Where have you been?" Asked Goren, before he could stop himself, earning a somewhat surprised side glance from his Captain.

Miriam didn't answer straight away. Instead she found a chair in a forgotten corner of the office, and moved it to the desk where Eames and Deakins still sat. Then she pulled out the leather bound book that contained Damien Huntley's life according to himself, and placed it on the desk, open on the last written page. Only now did she speak.

"I have spent all of last night and the better part of this morning trying to convince myself that I'm not reading this wrong. I've been in contact with all the people I know who know anything about runic script. And there is no way I've gotten this wrong. Damien Huntley planned this himself."

"Alright, Miriam, walk us through this." Deakins said with a note of exasperation to his voice. There had been too many unsubstantiated theories flying around on this case, and even though it was usually on target, Goren's gut instinct couldn't bring a case home with the prosecution. Now he was hoping that Miriam would have better luck.

Leafing through several pages in the journal, Miriam found a page a little more than halfway through. Resting her index finger on the page, she started her explanation.

"It starts here, with the death-rune. My guess is that this was the day he found out that his cancer was terminal. You would obviously have to check his medical records to confirm that, but it appears to me that he is confronted with his own death. The next weeks are a bit back and forth, lots of ups and downs, but reading from the runes he was going through the five stages of grief,"

Miriam was turning more of the pages over, until she had almost reached the end of the book.

"…before finally reaching acceptance, here." She pointed to the page again.

"After that he made his choice. The next rune he wrote means 'destiny'. What I'm going to say next is my own opinion, but I think he was ready, as ready as a twenty three year old man faced with his own death can be. For him this was a matter of going out in style, in a way that meant something to him. And for that he used his sister…"

The room was silent for a while before Deakins spoke.

"Ok, so it's fairly clear that we're talking about a case of euthanasia here. It doesn't change the fact that it's illegal in the state of New York. As far as the law's concerned we have evidence to prove that Serena Huntley murdered her brother…"

He sighed.

"Alright, bring her in. See what she has to say for herself. And get a hold of the vic's medical records. We'll need to confirm that he really was dying from the cancer.

Late that afternoon, Miriam Sage found herself standing on one side of a two-way mirror, looking into one of Major Case's interrogation rooms. The darkness around her made the glaring light of the room she was looking into all the more bright, so she sometimes had to squint her eyes to see clearly what was happening in there. Beside her stood Captain Deakins, and on the other side of her another man, the Assistant District Attorney, an African American who had introduced himself as Ron Carver. He struck her as somewhat imposing, with a rather strict appearance and a no-nonsense manner about him. On the other side of the glass, detectives Goren and Eames were questioning Serena Huntley, or, to be more exact, Serena Huntley's legal representation. Serena Huntley herself wasn't saying much, and she was certainly not admitting to murder.

"Mr. Chadwick, your client's fingerprints were on the weapon used to murder Damien Huntley."

Miriam heard Eames' voice clearly through the glass. So far she had done most of the talking, together with Mr. Chadwick, Serena Huntley's lawyer. Goren hadn't said a word so far, but his eyes were on Serena Huntley. Only occasionally would the latter meet his glance.

"Which only proves that my client handled the sword at some point," the lawyer countered.

"That sword was exhibited in a glass case in the victim's living room, together with another of the same kind. Why would your client have touched the sword?"

The lawyer didn't say anything, and Eames leaned back in her chair with an almost triumphant glare across the table at him.

Miriam's eyes changed from Eames to Goren again. He was now sitting hunched on his chair, still peering across the table at a now equally hunched Serena Huntley, fighting a battle of wills to keep eye contact between them. Suddenly Serena Huntley straightened, and, with a voice that was surprisingly strong, almost cried:

"Stop!"

Her lawyer half turned in his chair, and six pairs of eyes, three inside the room and three outside, were on her. Only now realizing that she herself had caused the attention, she crept silently back into her invisible shell.

But now Goren was there, and Miriam realized that this was the moment he had been waiting for.

"Stop what, Serena?"

He had straightened up now, and it was strange to see him across from the frail, almost fairy-like Serena Huntley.

"Stop looking at me like that! Like I'm some sort of…criminal. I'm not! I'm not a criminal"

"What are you?" Goren asked quietly. The young woman across the table didn't answer him, but her expression showed bewilderment, like she didn't know what she was.

"Your brother was dying from acute leukemia. That must have been hard for you to watch…"

"It was," she said, with a voice so low it was barely a whisper.

"But the worst was seeing how our parents started to treat him, especially our father. He was going to send him away."

"Where?"

"I don't remember the name. Someplace far away, someplace he could die. Die a quiet death, and not cause a stir."

"That's cruel thing to do," Goren added calmly. From the other side of the glass, Miriam saw that he was slowly getting her to open up to him. Some sort of confidence was bridging its way between the two of them. The young woman's legal representative now sat on the sideline. He knew that if she wanted to talk, there was little he could do to stop her.

"To my father all disease is a form of weakness. So you can imagine the horror that must have gone through his head when his only son was diagnosed with a form of leukemia that comes from a genetic pre-disposition. That couldn't be allowed out into the public…"

Serena Huntley paused for a while to survey her listeners, in particularly the one sitting straight across from her. This was the first time during the course of the interrogation that Miriam saw her make eye contact with Goren. When nobody said anything to interrupt her, she continued:

"And when Damien got the news that there would be no going back, my father started to plan things…but so did Damien. He didn't want to waste away in a hospital bed until there was nothing left of his life but pain, clinging to a hope that he had realized long ago would never come. That wasn't my brother's personality.

When Serena Huntley stopped her tale again, she was fighting to hold back tears. And yet she spoke of her brother with an odd sort of pride present in her voice.

"I knew he'd ask me. But I didn't think I could go through with it…he was my brother, after all."

"You knew he'd ask you to do what?" Goren asked.

Now the defense lawyer was awake again, and with a warning not to his voice, he said his client's name. His client looked at him, but paid no heed to the warning, and answered the question.

"To finish the job, and end what the cancer had started. To help him make his death the way he wanted it to be. To make it mean something.

There was silence, both in the interrogation room and on the other side of the looking glass.

It was getting late, and darkness had enveloped the city of New York, when Robert Goren could finally breathe in something other than the stale office air of One Police Plaza. The A.D.A had been surprisingly silent about whether or not any charges would actually be filed against Serena Huntley, but knowing A.D.A Carver, Goren assumed that there would be.

He was ripped out of his thoughts when he became aware of a movement beside him. He turned and saw Miriam standing there, her face half hidden by shadow. Even though he couldn't see her face, he could make an educated guess as to what went through her mind. After years in Major Case, there were few cases that could surprise him with their outcome, and this had not been one of them. But for her, who was used to deal with life and not death in any form, except on paper, these past few days must have affected her quite differently. But, he thought, she had handled herself well.

Careful not to approach her too suddenly, he walked over to her.

"Hey."

Her eyes that had been looking at something out on the street, changed their focus and rested on him. She smiled gently at him.

"Oh, hey… Didn't see you."

"Are you okay?"

She looked at him, as if to see if he really meant it, then said;

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm ok. I guess I'm just…surprised. I just though it would take more time to close the case, and then suddenly…everything untangles right in front of my eyes. And it's over."

"Sometimes that's just the way it goes. And other times it stays with you for years. And you can't tell which is which. Some cases are obvious, others aren't."

Silence fell, and each looked at the other, a form of understanding showing in the glances they sent each other. Finally, Goren smiled.

"What?"

He shrugged.

"Nothing. It's just…you did a good job, helping us out with this. One phone call and you were thrown into something that you had no experience with. You did good, Miriam."

She was silent for a moment, but then she smiled, and cocked her head slightly to one side to look up at him.

"Thank you, detective."

The way she emphasized the word 'detective' made him smile again. There was something playful, humorous, in her voice that told him she was ready to shed some of the professionalism. She, like him, was off the clock.

"Can I buy you a drink, before you go back to Washington?"

Surprisingly enough, his voice sounded more confident than he really felt at that moment. He wouldn't like a rejection, especially not from her, because although he had denied it to his partner, he did like this woman. There was something about her that made him want to smile when she was close, without him being able to put his finger on what it was.

Luckily for Robert Goren this night, now it was Miriam's turn to shrug and with a raised eyebrow proclaim:

"Yeah sure. Why not?"


A/N II: I would really like your opinions on how this story turned out. Is the Goren/Miriam storyline one I should continue, or are the two of them just best left as is? Again, thank you for all feedback, it's very much appreciated!