With the death of Sebastian in early May, Ellen is left with emotions of not having done enough for him. Matt tells her that she was a good friend to him while he was alive. As Matt comforts Ellen in her time of sorrow, Chris offers his condolences to the mourning Ellen.

Afterwards, Chris catches up with Matt at the nurse's station and ribs him about eliminating the competition. Chris tells him, "You can't tell me you're not glad he's gone," to which Matt replies, "I guess friendship is a very difficult concept for you to grasp." Ellen is also left with the details of Sebastian's burial and when the airline screws up she must deal with the problems alone, until Matt offers to help her in any way that he can.

Once again, Julie, who is in an insane asylum after being discovered as the serial killer, is on the loose to prowl in PC. Who knows what will happen next? Matt goes to the Recovery Room to inform Courtney and Frank of Julie's escape saying, "No one is going to sleep well tonight in Port Charles." But, Julie, who is ready to have her baby, is intent onseeking Chris' help to deliver her baby and help her escape the country. Julie had effectively hidden her pregnancy (by Frank) from everyone except Chris.

In their first attempt at reconciliation after Sebastian's death, Matt and Ellen plan for an evening together for talking and perhaps dinner. When Ellen's doorbell rings, she opens the door and lets Matt in. They are both obviously nervous and ill at ease as the evening begins. "Sorry I'm late - I almost didn't make it at all," Matt says as he moves into her apartment. "Emergency at work?" asks Ellen. "Yeah, car crash victim came in when my shift was ending," Matt says. "Happy ending?" asks Ellen. Matt smiles, "Yeah, she's gonna be fine." Ellen smiles back at Matt, "Good - for her and for us. I'd have hated putting on hold our first official date in - I don't
know how long." "Yeah, me too," Matt agrees with her. Ellen asks him, "Do you want something to drink?" "Well it depends," says Matt. "Did you want to go out for a quick bite?" "I don't know if I could eat anything right now," Ellen smiles nervously. Matt is curious, "Why?" "Well, I have the same sort of butterflies in my stomach that I had the first time we went out," Ellen tells Matt. Matt laughs and says, "I know what you mean."

The phone rings and Ellen goes to answer it. She speaks to the person calling and then, putting the person on hold, she tells Matt that it's the airline that she used to ship Sebastian's body back to New Orleans - they are calling because some problems came up. Matt tells Ellen to go ahead and speak to the caller and find out what happened. Ellen leaves the room to talk on the phone, while Matt patiently waits. When Ellen returns, Matt asks her if everything's ok.

"No," says Ellen. " I have to go to the airline shipping office to fix a problem with 'the freight' - Sebastian's body." Matt looks at her unbelievingly, "The airlines called Sebastian's body 'freight'?" Ellen says indignantly,"Sebastian - he was this person - he had a life, family, friends. Now he's been reduced to a parcel - it's just so insensitive." Matt asks hesitantly, "Ellen are you going to New Orleans for the funeral?" "He wanted us to go together. It just wouldn't seem right going to New Orleans after he died,"Ellen tells Matt. Matt, making an effort to understand Ellen's thinking, says, "I see." Ellen moves around Matt to sit on a chair and Matt turns to face her. "You know," Matt says, "There's an elephant in the room here, and neither one of us wants to mention it." Ellen puts her head down and whispers. "No." "You see," Matt says, "The truth is that things have changed between us, and if we don't figure out why, then there's not much of a future for us." Ellen looks up at Matt and says, "Things changed because I wasn't honest with myself or with you from the very beginning about the effects that Sebastian was having on me." "Well there must have been something wrong between us before Sebastian ever got here - he
wouldn't have been able to break us up," Matt tells Ellen. "Maybe in retrospect we held too much back?" Ellen asks him. Matt looks intently at Ellen and says, "Well, I never kept anything from you, Ellen. What were you holding back."

Ellen immediately becomes defensive, "I couldn't articulate what I was feeling because I didn't understand things until now." "Understand what?" Matt asks her. Ellen tries to explain to Matt, "That I never completely got over the loss of my husband. Sam's death - it was so sudden, so
unexpected, that I - I was so completely overwhelmed that I think a part of me just shut down." "And Sebastian touched that part of you? Matt whispers. "I think maybe he did," Ellen replies.
Matt turns away, obviously confused and hurt. Ellen leans towards him, "You want me to be honest." Matt nods, "I want the truth." Ellen tells him, "The truth is I needed time with Sebastian to gain closure over my loss of Sam." Matt looks at her, "No one expects to be widowed before the age of 25 and I know that that will always be with you - but I thought that I was the person you had chosen to help heal that." "You are - but I needed Sebastian, too - maybe it's because he had a perspective on death that only someone who's dying could have - I never meant to hurt you," Ellen's voice breaks. "If you understood what was going on, you would have explained it to me," Matt says as he attempts to reassure her. "Thank you," replies Ellen. "I'm sorry I let Sebastian come between us. It's the last thing I wanted to happen." Matt shifts in his chair, "You still have to fix that shipping snafu, don't you?" Ellen sighs deeply and says, "I do - I am really sorry." "Would you like me to come along - for a little moral support?" Matt asks her. "That would mean a great deal to me," replies Ellen. Matt smiles at her and says, "Then lets go." They turn towards the door to leave.

They return later, and as they are coming into the room Ellen says, "I do not understand how the airlines could get the paperwork so screwed up." "It's bureaucratic foulups," mumbles Matt. Ellen turns to him and says, "You know it would have taken me twice as long to sort thru it all if you hadn't been with me. Thank you for coming. I can't imagine that it was any fun for you." Matt looks at her intently and says, "Any relationship worth it's salt is about going thru the bad as well as the good. - sit down, Ellen. See, if I had remembered that when you were trying to tell me how important it was for you to take care of Sebastian maybe we wouldn't be in this position." Ellen sits in a chair and Matt moves next to her. "You know," Ellen says in a low, sincere voice, "the only bad mistakes we make are the ones that we don't learn from. I learned a lot - the thing is, I know I love you and I want to be with you." Matt reaches out to stoke her face as he says, "I love you too." They smile at each other and embrace.

As Matt and Ellen seek reconciliation, Joe and Karen deal with their breakup, and Karen seeks Matt's counsel on what she should do. Matt tells her that trust is a big part of any relationship, but he doesn't know what he would have done if Ellen had slept with Sebastian. Knowing that Ellen slept with Sebastian, and knowing that Chris knows about it, this disclosure by Matt leaves their fans cringing at the future of Port Charles' favorite couple.


With that ominous conversation with Karen and Matt left hanging in the air, we don't see Matt and Ellen together again until Victor and Mary's wedding. Lucy and Scott announce their impending marriage to them when Lucy shows Matt her incredible engagement ring. As Mary and Victor recite their vows, Matt takes Ellen's hand in his and silently reassures her of his love.

It's that time of the year again! The Nurses Ball is rocking Port Charles. We have not seen Matt and Ellen for a couple of weeks, but it was well worth the wait. We see them in background shots of both General Hospital and Port Charles, but they truly shine when the Port Charles residents do their rendition of Robert Palmer's "Bad Case of Lovin You". The doctors steamed up the stage with great dance moves and great singing. Matt of course stole the show with his wheelies and facial expressions. The stars were definitely out that night. (See additional pictures of Matt on stage under Honors & Accolades, Webmasters' Award)

Karen and Matt are the doctors on duty as Neil is brought in with a nose-bleed after the nurse's ball. They are afraid that Neil's leukemia has returned and must run some more tests to make sure. Matt comforts Neil as he performs the procedure of taking some blood. Life goes on in Port Charles, and we see no more of Matt and Ellen through the remainder of the month of June.