 The day after her dinner with Sebastian, Ellen brings Matt a gift - a book of herbal Chinese remedies. Matt chuckles as he opens it, "You brought me a present ... so are you gonna tell me how your dinner with Sebastian went, or should I assume that it was so good that you had to bring me a present - out of guilt?" "First of all," Ellen tells him, "I would never give you a gift to soothe my conscience. And secondly, I was very upfront with you about having dinner with Sebastian, so why would you imply that I feel guilty?" "What can I say?" Matt tells her, "I've been on for 30 hours, I'm kinda cranky - so, how was dinner?" Ellen says, "Uneventful." "Ellen, a dying man follows his desire to find the woman of his dreams - you?" "Matt, the dinner was just a meal - it meant nothing. I have to sign in." Matt follows her to the reception desk, "After all these years, the guy gets his big chance and you say it meant nothing? This whole thing is starting to sound like a fantasy out of one of those romance novels." Ellen turns around, faces Matt, and reaches for his hand, "Matt, I am not interested in having a man sweep me off my feet - unless he's you." "So you're telling me that you didn't have a good time with Sebastian." "He asked me about my life - I was polite - end of story. You're satisfied?"  Matt later apologizes to Ellen and asks her out for a memorable evening with him. He later discusses his and Ellen's situation with Eve. Matt shows Eve the book and tells her that Ellen bought it for him as a guilt gift. Eve asks how the dinner with Sebastian went. Matt says, "Well, she says it was no big deal." "You don't believe her?" "No, I believe her. To survive in the Mancusi family you had to lie from birth. I never wanted to be like that. Once I met Ellen, I knew I didn't have to be. You see, the woman doesn't keep secrets. Everything with us is out in the open, the way a relationship should be ... A relationship dies on the vine if a person's only telling half the truth." Ellen discusses her situation with Kevin Collins. She says that she is
violating every principle by not telling Matt the truth. Kevin convinces her that she is not under any obligation to tell Matt the truth if she doesn't want to, or if she thinks it might hurt him. Matt and Ellen go to the Karaoke Bar, Johnny La La's, that night, where Matt takes the stage on Comedy Night. There is one other contestant, and Matt is the runner up. He and Ellen have a great time, in spite of the fact that Chris Ramsey is there, and he and Matt exchange a few barbs. Later, Matt and Ellen are seen in his apartment. Matt is lying on the sofa, with Ellen lying against him. In this most sensuous scene, they appear very close and very much in love with each other.They discuss their evening out and Matt says that he's gonna take her back to the Karaoke Bar some time when he can hear Ellen sing. Ellen gets up and grabs the tv remote. She adopts a sexy pose and performs for Matt - "I wanna be loved by you, just you, and nobody else but you." She seductively leans her body over his - "Poo-poop-e-do," he answers, as his arms envelop her and they kiss.
Matt replies, "Well, first of all, I never accused you of having feelings for him - second, who are you trying to convince of all that - me or you?" Ellen becomes angry, "Do not try to patronize me by telling me that I do not know my own mind when it comes to Sebastian. I am perfectly clear about what I want." "And what's that?" Matt asks. "I want you," says Ellen, "can't you get that through your thick skull? As long as it took us to get together, as long as it took me to trust my feelings about any man, I would never throw away what we have." "Ellen, as far back as I can remember, my father was a criminal, a member, and then a head of an organization.To protect himself from the cops and other criminals he had to live this secretive life, and so did his family. My brother and I - we couldn't even have friends come over after school and play." "Your life isn't hidden anymore," says Ellen. "The people who care about you - and I put myself at the top of the list - know who you are." Matt looks intently at Ellen and says, "That's the second best thing that happened to me since moving to Port Charles. Ellen, it's made me want to live honestly, with no secrets, no hidden agendas - I want the Brady Bunch, you know, and the Waltons, and Ozzie and Harriet, all wrapped up in one crazy, beautiful, trusting family. I don't know how to get there, but I know that you're the key to it for me." Ellen smiles at him and says, "We can have that." Matt tells her, "Well, Sebastian showing up, it's like a curve ball. But you know, I could hit that out of the park if I know that's what you want, too. One thing's for sure, Sebastian is not gonna give up without a fight." "As far as I'm concerned," says Ellen, "there is no fight. You won me a long time ago." Their love for one another is written on their faces as they look deeply into each other's eyes.
Copyright 1999 by Barbara Allen & Alayna Proffit |
"Is it safe to say hello?" Ellen asks Matt. "Sure," Matt replies, and Ellen sits down at the table with him. "Matt, we never tiptoed around anything, so can we just deal with this?" "Yeah, feel free to jump in with both feet, Ellen." "I understand that you're not thrilled that I went to the ice sculpture exhibit with Sebastian, but I didn't do anything wrong." "Wrong is you standing me up, Ellen, can we agree on that?" "Absolutely. I explained what happened - I apologize - but it's not like Sebastian flew me off to Paris or something - it was one lousy exhibit." Matt smiles at Ellen, "One lousy exhibit, one lousy dinner - going out with this guy must be a drag." Ellen laughs sheepishly and says, "First lets get something straight - I visited with the man, I didn't go out with him. He's a very nice person who happens to be very ill. Call it pity, call me a sucker, but I have no feelings for the man - and I definitely have no interest in taking things any further." 
Ellen is drying the dishes. She calls out to Matt and receives no answer. She moves to the bedroom and finds Matt sitting in a sexy, seductive pose on the side of the bed, dressed in just his pajama bottoms. "So, this is where you disappeared to," Ellen tells him. "This is what the doctor ordered, Ellen," Matt says. "Doctor, I hate to burst your bubble, but we have to go to work," Ellen says. "Ahhh, this bed, it's so cushy," Matt tells her. "Cushy?" "Yes, what's wrong with cushy? That's exactly what this bed is." Matt gestures to her to join him on the bed. He takes her hand and kisses it. "That," says Ellen, "Is not the bed." "Oh," says Matt, "that's my mistake. Feel here." He takes her hand and places it on his bare chest, over his 
heart. "I don't know," says Ellen, "wait a minute - I'm on to you - I know your game. I'm not falling for it. You want me to crawl into bed with you and get so cozy that I won't want to leave." "Oh, Ellen, I'm shocked at the accusation." Ellen, all the while making circles on his chest with her finger, says, "Ooooh, that's not all - then, once you have me in bed, you start to kiss me, and who knows where it will lead." "Oh, all right, you found me out - curse you Detective Burgess. So the problem with my dastardly plan is ..." "No problem," she says. He begins kissing her, and she says, "OK - cushy,"
as they fall back on the bed and continue kissing.
