Gordon Burrows was not the only victim who died from his wounds that night. Out of the twenty-five people that were hospitalized from the fire, two more souls were lost the following morning. The tragic news came as quite a shock to the people of Brainerd, their once-peaceful town disturbed by the sudden and unexpected fatality. Marge Gunderson was called in to investigate the scene of the incident, but due to the lack of evidence of who or what started the fire, the case left her baffled just as much as it did the other officers. There were no witnesses to report.

"You didn't find anything?"

"We couldn't find nothing, El. I had Lou and Olson search around and asking people questions, but so far, we haven't found nothing."

"You haven't had any witnesses come forward?"

"I told ya, El. We're still looking into it."

"So keep looking!"

Marge grabbed hold of her cousin's shoulders and said in a calm voice, "Elena, calm down. I know you're upset, and so am I, but now is not the time for us to loose our heads over the whole darn mess." Which was true. Despite her being able to maintain a deep sense of authority and optimism, Marge Gunderson could not deny that there was some part deep inside of her that was screaming over the heartbreaking situation.

"Marge, how can you be so calm about all this?" Elena questioned her.

"I'm not", Marge answered. The stoic expression on her face matched the grief in her voice.

Both women looked at the television just as the news came back on. The voice of a male newscaster was overheard, as footage of the burned-down Catholic church was shown on screen. The premise surrounded by police tape. People gathering around and talking among each other, asking what happened. An announcement was made about the three people who lost their lives, as a display of three images were shown. One of them was Gordon Burrows.

"What kind of monster would do such a thing?" Elena asked herself.

Marge shook her head. "I don't know, El, but whoever it was, we sure got a nasty fella on our hands."

Elena and Marge walked back into room 17 and found Sophia had fallen asleep. Anton was sitting in a chair next to her bed, while Marge's husband, Norm, stood by the window with his arms crossed. Both men looked at the two women.

Elena walked over to Anton, who rose up from the chair and asked her, "Are you all right?"

Elena did not answer him. She looked at Sophia and put the back of her hand to the little girl's cheek, which was damp with tears.

"Has she said anything?" Elena asked him.

"She's hasn't spoken a word since last night", Anton answered.

Marge went over to the window and stood next to her husband, grabbing onto his right arm and leaning her head against his shoulder. "Howya doin', hon?"

"Fine", said Norm, wiping something from his eye. "It's a darn shame, ain't it, Margie?"

"Yah", said Marge, sadly. "It's a horrible mess, it is."

The Gundersons stayed for two hours before Marge had to return to the station. Anton continued to watch over Sophia for the day, until the hour of 5:30 when Elena had finished her shift. Although she did not want to leave her daughter alone in her time of need, Elena was strongly encouraged by her coworkers, as well as Anton, that she should go home for the night. If any emergencies occurred, Dr. Benedict would call her right away. Elena obliged, though she still felt a twinge of guilt for "abandoning her", as she put it.

Things were different the next morning, for when Elena woke up and walked into the kitchen, she found Anton was already making breakfast for the two of them. Surprised as she was to see him cook for the first time, Elena did not protest and sat down at the table without saying a word.

Anton must have know she was there, for without even looking, he asked her, "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yes, thank you", Elena answered.

With skillet in hand, Anton turned around and walked over to the table, scraping some eggs onto Elena's plate in front of her. He added some onto his own and went back to place the skillet on the stove, exchanging it for the coffeepot. He filled two mugs and walked over to the table with them, handing one to Elena and taking a seat opposite of her.

Neither one spoke to each other as they ate, and for once, Elena was grateful for it. As per usual, Anton did not care much for conversation himself that morning, as it was painfully obvious to them both what the other one was thinking. Though neither one of them was responsible for the death of Gordon Burrows, the hitman and the nurse both knew that they now shared the same responsibility of taking care of his daughter.

Elena sipped the last of her coffee and said, "Thank you for the eggs."

"You're welcome", said Anton.

Anton took care of cleaning the dishes while Elena went to change into her nurse's uniform. After putting her hair into a high ponytail, Elena met Anton in the living room and went to say goodbye to him.

"Well, I guess I'm off", said Elena.

Anton dared himself by placing a gentle kiss on her forehead and said to her, "Take care."

Elena gave him a slight smile, her eyes twinkling due to his act of affectionate, and said to him, "I'll see you tonight." And then she left.

As soon as she got to the hospital, Elena went to check on Sophia and see how she was doing. Although she was awake, Sophia looked as though she was in a trance. When Elena sat down on her bed and tried speaking to her, the brokenhearted child looked at her with glossy eyes and refused to utter a word. Before attending to her nursing duties, Elena asked Sophia if there was anything she needed, and with mild success, she managed to get an answer out of her.

"I have to tell you something before you go home today", Sophia told her, speaking in a low, monotone voice.

"You want to talk about it right now?" Elena asked her.

Sophia thought about it a minute, a blank look on her face. "No."

Elena sighed through her nose, looking sadly at seeing the child in her emotionless state. "Okay", she said, rubbing Sophia's head. "I'll see how you're doing later, okay?"

Sophia said nothing, as she turned over on her right side and looked away from her legal guardian, the only family she had now.

Elena and a couple of others were assigned with taking care of the Catholic church victims. One man nearly died on them, but the staff was quickly able to revive him. At the end of the day, Elena went back to check on Sophia again. The seven year old looked to be more alert this time, as she was keeping herself busy by throwing Quincy up in the air and catching him in her hands. The child saw that her nurse was standing in the doorway and purposely tossed the plush shark over to her. Elena caught Quincy in her hands and walked over to Sophia with him, putting on a brave smile. She sat down on the bed and placed the plush shark onto Sophia's lap.

"How are you feeling, baby?" Elena asked her.

Sophia shrugged her shoulders and said in a soft voice, "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Elena asked her.

"I have something to tell you."

"What is it, sweetie?"

Sophia hesitated for a minute, feeling powerless to stop the impending doom of what was about to befall. Finally, she said, "It's about Anton."

Elena paused for a minute and asked her, "What do you mean?"

Sophia lowered her eyes, a look of guilt written all over her face. "I know I promised him I wouldn't tell anybody, but I think I should tell you before something else happens."

Elena looked at Sophia with a raised eyebrow of suspension. "Did he do something to you?"

Sophia blinked and brought her eyes back to meet with Elena's. "No", she answered. "But if I tell you something personal about his life, will you promise not to get mad at him?"

Elena gave her a serious look and asked her in a stern tone of voice, "Sophia, what are you talking about?"

At that moment, Anton was busy changing the sheets on Sophia's bed. He just got done smoothing out the wrinkles on the bedspread when the flashing of headlights outside caught his attention. Looking out the window, Anton could see the blue 1975 Volkswagen pull up to the front of the house. When he saw a furious-looking Elena step out of the car and slam the door loudly, he should have known right away that things were about to go from bad to worse.

Soon as he walked out into the living room, Anton saw Elena walk through the front door and greeted her with a friendly smile, but Elena ignored him completely and walked right into the kitchen. His smile faded upon this act of rudeness.

Elena took out a bottle of milk from the fridge and drank deeply, letting the white liquid drip off of her chin.

Anton stood in the entrance of the kitchen, placing his hands on his hips, and asked her, "Rough day at the hospital?"

Elena lowered the bottle and glared at him with killer eyes. "You have a lot of nerve talking to me like that", she said, coldly.

Anton's expression gave off a slight confusion. "Like what?"

"You can drop the act anytime now, Anton", Elena told him. "And don't try to play innocent with me."

Anton rolled his eyes at Elena and said to her, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Elena shouted, throwing the milk bottle at Anton, who reacted quickly by moving out of the way. The bottle shattered against the entranceway. "I know exactly who and what you are, contract killer!"

Anton looked at her with fear in his eyes, wide as they were upon hearing what she had just called him.

"Sophia told me everything", Elena explained to him. "And I really don't appreciate what she had to say." Elena turned away from Anton and went to open a drawer, pulling out a roll of money wrapped in a rubber band and holding it up for him to see. "You know what this is? This was all I found on you that day when I rescued you in Odessa. No driver's license. No identification. Nothing! Just a bunch of fucking blood money!"

Elena threw the wad of cash at Anton, who caught it in his hand and calmly stuck it into his pocket. His expression slowly went back to his usual stoic demeanor.

"Now I understand everything", said Elena, bitterly. Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears. "All those stupid antic of yours. You not wanting to tell me anything about your life, let alone your job. How could you lie to me like that, Anton? After everything I've done for you!"

Anton walked over to her and said, "I never lied to you about anything."

"You didn't tell me nothing because you knew I would call the cops if I found out, is that it?" Elena questioned him.

Anton stopped himself two feet away from her and said, "If you knew what was good for you, you would have left me to die there on the side of the road. You made the choices that brought you to this, that brought you to meeting me. You've harbored feelings for me ever since the day we met. You weren't certain at first, but now that you see for yourself the true face of the angel of death, you don't want me anymore."

Elena shook her head, hardly believing a word he was saying. Her face became red and wet with falling tears. "I don't understand", she said.

Anton took a step toward her and grabbed her hands and said, "I think you do, Elena. You just don't-"

Elena pulled herself away and yelled at him, "STOP IT! Stop talking to me! Just stop talk-" In the midst of her outburst, Elena put her hands to her face and cried softly, her body shaking.

Anton looked at her without so much as a scrap of remorse, though his heart told him something entirely different. It hurt him to see her like this, to see her find out the ugly truth about his once-proud occupation that he was now personally ashamed of. To him, it was the car accident all over again, only worse.

Elena lowered her hands and managed to pull herself together enough to speak to him. "Do you have any idea how badly this affects me?" She asked him.

Anton did answer her right away. Just as he was about to reach out to her again, Elena slapped him hard across his face. A strangled sob burst from her trembling lips.

Angered over her resentment of him, Anton slowly looked at Elena with calm, but dangerous eyes and said in a low voice, "Sophia warned me this would happen one day."

Elena held her arms across her chest and shook her head and looked at him with disgust. "How dare you", she whispered. "How dare you use my own daughter against me."

With all that said, Anton Chigurh saw only one way out of this situation. He did not want to do it, but seeing how his life was at stake again, he reached into his pocket and pulled a quarter and flipped it into the air. He caught it in the palm of his right hand and set it down on the counter next to him. "Call it."

"Call what?" Elena asked him. "You're still not making any sense!"

"You need to call it, Elena", he said, softly. "I can't call it for you. Heads or tails?"

Elena shook her head, defiantly. "No!"

"This is the only way I can offer to help you save yourself", said Anton. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will do what I have to if necessary...Call it."

Elena thought it over a minute, her lips tightening in anticipation, knowing that her life was in danger at the hands of this man, someone who thought he was an agent of fate. "I'll play your stupid coin toss one last time then", Elena told him. "But this time, we play by my rules."

"Name them", said Anton.

"Heads, I call the cops and you can go to Hell for all I care. Tails, you walk out of here and never come back."

Because of his love for Elena, this was the only time he would ever allow for someone to decide their fate based on their own rules instead of his. Despite the stoic, expressionless mask he used to hide his weakness, he could not decide who felt more vulnerable in this situation: himself or Elena.

Anton uncovered the coin hiding under his hand. For a moment, he didn't speak. Finally, he looked at Elena. She couldn't be too sure, but there looked to be a glistening in his left eye, as though a tear was starting to form.

Without saying another word, Anton Chigurh turned around and walked out of the kitchen and went into the living room and walked out the front door, slamming it behind him.

Elena stood there for a minute, a silent tear falling from each of her eyes. She turned her head left and looked at the coin lying down on the counter. It was tails.