Ellen's Perspective

After their bath together, Ellen was not exactly sure what happened. Duncan became distant for a few days and then two days before the surgery, out of the blue, told Ellen that she should just stick to the plan and head to Florida with Brian and the kids. When Ellen tried to reason with him, Duncan just left and shut her out. From then on he only spoke to her about the plan for the President's surgery. If she tried to change the subject, he just left, and with them still trying to keep their romantic relationship a secret, she couldn't exactly chase him around, trying to get him to really talk to her; she was supposed to hate him.

Ellen had become resigned to her fate as she left Burton's house after giving Nina the bone marrow she had gotten from the successful, yet partly improvised, surgery on the President. Saying goodbye to Duncan had been so hard, she had almost cried in front of him, but she managed to stay composed until she was in her car where then and only then did she let the tears flow. She was just so confused because Duncan had still kissed her on the cheek. Would a man who told a woman days before they could no longer be together, still kiss her on the cheek as they said goodbye? Thinking back, Ellen also thought she saw tears mirrored in Duncan's eyes too.

Duncan's Perspective

"Thanks for everything Burton," Duncan said with a sad smile. He was just about to open the door and get out when he noticed someone sitting on a nearby bench.

"What is she doing here?" Duncan questioned, exasperated.

"I called her," Burton said quietly behind him.

Duncan reared on him. "Why did you do that?" the anger evident in his voice.

"Because I think you're making a mistake and Ellen Sanders seems to be the only person you may still listen to these days."

Duncan sighed heavily, "You should have just left this alone," he finished as he started to open the car door.

Burton put his hand on Duncan's shoulder. "You can't blame me for caring about whether my son-in-law goes to jail or not."

Duncan just gave him a sad look and then exited from the car. As he turned from closing the car door, his eyes fell upon Ellen. She was sitting on the bench with her hands folded in her lap. She looked nervous.

'Is she nervous about the possibility of people still coming after her or is she nervous to talk to me?' he wondered, as he approached her on the bench.

She sat on one end of the bench, so he sat down at the other end.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be with your family."

"Well…I was…" she started off slowly, "but then Burton called, so I sent them along ahead without me…"

Duncan couldn't help but sound sarcastic as he said, "Oh, I'm sure Brian took that well."

Ellen looked down at her hands as she said, "I told him it was the First Lady calling, asking to see me..."

"Huh, maybe I was wrong about you. Maybe you did lose yourself a little bit in all of this," he exclaimed in a bitter tone and then sighed heavily, already regretting his words. 'Why do I keep trying to push her away?' he thought.

At the sound of his bitter tone, Ellen raised her eyes to meet his, defiantly, stubbornly. "I lied because it sounded like you needed someone. I agree with Burton. I think you're making a mistake turning yourself in."

"But I'm trying to do the right thing! The moral thing! I'm trying to find myself again!" he exclaimed, exasperated.

Ellen's eyes softened as she quietly said, "I don't think you ever really lost yourself…"

The fact that she pitied him was actually starting to piss Duncan off. "How can you say that?" he asked sternly. "After all that I did to you?"

"I know! I know!" Ellen was starting to get flustered, "But I've been thinking…" she paused to move closer to him on the bench, his spine stiffened at her proximity. She put her hands on top of his as she said, "If Morgan or Jake were in the same condition as Nina, I probably would have done the same thing. I'm not saying your actions are excusable, but you had a good reason behind them. Yes, you started off as a cruel captor, but that was just a façade you thought you had to put on. Then you changed and you started to help us, you changed your plan for us!"

Duncan moved his hands to the tops of hers and gave them a gentle squeeze. "But people still got hurt, people died: Angela, Brian, your sister, Boyd, Archer, Blair…"

"But none of those were entirely your fault! You only killed Archer and Blair in self-defence. Boyd and Angela were tragic accidents you weren't directly involved with. My sister was unexpected and we got rid of her the best way we could have and Brian…well, he was being stupid. Again, I'm not excusing you from any of it, you did play a part, but we all did. Why should you take the fall for the rest of us?"

Duncan didn't respond, he only looked down at his hands in his lap.

"Also, how do you plan on surrendering without implicating the rest of us?"

"I don't know!" Duncan exclaimed, clenching his hands into fists, "I just want to right the wrongs I've done."

"I agree with you, but I think you can do that in other ways. You're clearly a good FBI agent, I think you can do more good saving people than being locked up in a jail cell somewhere."

Duncan lifted his hands to rub his face. "Now I'm so confused…"

Ellen put one of her hands on Duncan's knee. "Don't rush this decision. You don't have to decide now. Take some time to really think about it."

"But I can't go back to Nina and Sawyer. She could barely look at me without disgust."

"You can come back to my house with me. I told Brian and the kids I could need a couple of days."

Duncan looked at her warily. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Ellen?"

"Well as I see it, you don't have many options. I don't think you should be by yourself right now and you can't stay with Burton because of Nina, so unless you can think of another relative or friend who won't find you just showing up on their doorstep, out of the blue, late at night, suspicious, I don't think you have another option."

Duncan thought for a moment and then sighed, "That's all true. I guess you're right. Let's go."