Tunnel vision refers to a loss of side vision. It's best described as going down a dark tunnel and seeing nothing but the end. Nothing else matters but the light at the end of the tunnel. Harry Morgan had tunnel vision after seeing some disturbing scenes in Dexter and sought advice and help from his best friend Thomas Matthews and a recommended therapist friend Evelyn Vogel.

Together the three of them discussed everything that happened to Dexter as a young child and what these signs mean. The idea of putting Dexter in therapy would have seemed like the best idea to anyone else but the three crime fighters. According to the therapist who has never met Dexter in person and only heard things from Harry was convinced that there was no helping Dexter. That he wasn't some traumatised kid who needed help, but a psychopath and he couldn't be helped only guided away from his dark urges.

Maybe if Doctor Vogel met Dexter in person she would not have seen a future serial killer but a young boy damaged and struggling to make sense of why he sees blood so much in his dreams. Maybe if she did together, they would have discovered that Dexter was not a psychopath and his fascination with blood didn't stem from malicious intent but his brain desperately trying to remember what happened to his mother.

A memory lurking at the forefront of his mind but the connection was forever blocked for his protection. A different life was meant to be lived by the bloodied siblings. They were meant to be happy children growing up together before one joined the police force and the other becoming a doctor, one being a lawyer. They would have been working together to help save lives and make the world a better place.

But destiny... Fate... chance... happened and ripped the siblings apart from each other. They were traumatised beyond help and abandoned into the system without help or guidance growing in resentment. And the younger brother left to try and make sense of his own mind and struggles.

Harry, Tom and Evelyn came together to form the code. The perfect system in which Dexter can channel his dark urges and seek justice against the criminals who have managed to avoid it. To them, the plan as awful as it might have sounded would ensure more lives were saved in the end and Dexter would be protected.

Because to them the young boy was going to kill anyways. Why not use him to take down the people the police couldn't stop.

Only Dexter wasn't a psychopath. He was a damaged little boy who needed help. Something which only Doris Morgan could see. She knew his past and saw his struggles with fitting in with everyone. She was worried about the boy she had adopted leading her to overhear a talk between Harry and Tom about how they are going to shape Dexter.

But instead of charging in and confronting them, she made a plan of her own. Doris knew Harry had tunnel vision when it came to escaped criminals. Knew how it always ate at him. Why he pushed so hard sometimes. Dexter was just a weapon to him to be used against the scum of the earth. A way for him to vent his own frustrations. He wouldn't listen to reason. He had his mind set on something and would do it. Not even proving Dexter wasn't what he thought he was would change his mind. Harry had tunnel vision which swept him, Tom and Evelyn in with him.

But she refused to allow the sweet little boy who adored Debra, herself and her husband to be turned into a monster. She secretly had him but into therapy. They came to understand why he liked the appeal of blood so much. That it was his mind and subconscious trying to remember what happened in that storage container. Once they figured that out, they could move on with helping him to better understand and control himself.

And it was working. At school, Dexter was doing better and making more friends. He still struggled with people, but it was a cute endearing quality rather than people having the sense something was wrong. Dexter even joined some clubs and explored his interests. He wasn't great at most sports but was surprisingly good at soccer. Something he was all too willing to teach to Debra.

Doris wanted to try and prove to her husband that Dexter wasn't the monster he thought the boy was although she doubted it was possible she made a plan. Banjo was a mixed breed puppy from the Milligan's litter. She thought if she could prove that Dexter wasn't interested in killing like Harry kept pushing him to be with all their hunting trips then maybe he would think twice about who Dexter is.

Instead, Harry freaked out and sent the dog back not caring about the effect it would have on Debra. Sometimes she thinks that Harry is more obsessed with the idea of what he wants Dexter to be rather then the two children he is supposed to be raising with her.

By the time both Dexter and Debra were teens Doris saw the way Debra and Dexter were around each other. Harry had always pushed and reinforced this idea that they were siblings but she saw something different. Something she knew would happen between them in the future. She saw the devotion Dexter had towards Debra and how Debra admired Dexter having her first childhood crush and not understanding it.

The best moment of the feelings they carried for each other was when Dexter got himself impaled on a metal rod fence trying to find Debra's ball and was chased away by a dog. Debra was distraught and while Harry was freaking out about where they could find someone with similar blood to help Dexter the boy himself was trying to act brave not wanting to make Debra feel worse.

But the moment Harry took Debra away to get something to eat Dexter broke down crying in pain begging her not to punish Debra for anything and how he was scared because people looked at him as if he was about to die. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to leave Debra, her and Harry behind.

If Dexter was truly a psychopath, would he have said and done that. Would he have pleaded with her to hug him and reassure him everything was going to be ok. When Harry and Debra returned she watched as Dexter tried to act brave again so as not to worry Debra. But she saw through the mask and for a moment she thought Harry had to. Until she heard him praise Dexter for acting human and real. The poor confused boy just nodded not sure what he was on about.

Harry had tried to officially adopt Dexter but that would mean that Dexter and Debra would be siblings back when he was seven, but she argued against it. Not because she didn't see Dexter as her son. But something about the two kids being siblings didn't sit right with her. So she said no. And if she had more time, she could have better protected the two kids.

But the cancer came on so quickly that by they caught it, it was far too late. Dying was a terrifying thing for Doris to handle. Never mind the effect it had on the kids. She spent as much time with them as she could. And during one alone moment with Dexter she made him promise her something that would stop him from becoming the murderer Harry wanted him to be. "I know what my husband wants you to do. What he thinks you want to do." She starts off and Dexter drops his head in shame.

The teen seems scared of her, and she hates that. Hates what Harry is doing to him. "I don't want to hunt animals. I don't want to stalk people. But Harry keeps telling me it's for the best. That if I don't follow the code, I'll get the electric chair and destroy Debra's life." It's moment like this where she wonders what happened to her husband to turn him into this.

He believes Dexter to be a monster yet at the end of the day it's him trying to his own son into a serial killer and using Dexter's weakness of Debra to push him into a life he was never meant to have.

"Dexter." She wheezes out making the young man look back at her. "What Harry wants you to do is wrong. You know it's wrong. He believes you to be something you're not and won't see the truth as to what you are."

"And what am I."

"A kid who is hurting and saw something awful and is still looking for the truth. You are not a killer. You are not a monster. I've seen you, Dexter. Seen how you are at school. How you are with Debra. The man you are, and the one Harry wants you to be don't coexist. You wouldn't feel the way you do for us and Debra if you did." And she doesn't mean that in the attraction way regarding her daughter. Not yet at least. Now when both of them are so young. She reckons it will take years before the two finally figure it out. It's a shame she won't see it. "You Dexter Moser are a good person. I need you to promise me something."

"Anything." Dexter immediately agrees leaning closer and taking her hand in comfort.

"Don't let Harry turn you into something you're not. I'll try talking to him again, but I don't think he will listen. Not to me and not to you. But do not let him shape you into a monster. You are not a killer. Do not become one. Don't let him twist you into doing something like this."

Dexter nods but she can see he doesn't fully believe her. Years of Harry telling him he is something and she and a therapist telling him he is another rage inside of him. "I promise." He nonetheless promises. "I Promise I will not become a serial killer. I will not hunt down bad people. But I won't promise never to kill."

She sighs. "Dexter."

His grip on her hand tightens as he stares down gaze filled with determination. "If someone ever tries to hurt Harry or Debra and I need to kill them to save I will. Or they hurt them I hurt them back" Dexter explains. "That is the only time I will do something like that. I promise."

She smiles softly at him. "That is acceptable." It's not ideal but she knows if anyone else was in that position they would do the same. "Look after Debra Dexter. She is going to struggle with this and will need you more then ever." He nods again swearing to be there for her always. Something which she expands on knowing both of them will struggle with their feelings in the future. "I know you love Debra, and she loves you more than anything. And I know in ten years, maybe fifteen you will still love each other, and it will scare the two of you. But I want you to know that I've always known, and I am happy for both of you. I love both of you and I want you to be happy. So be happy together and fuck what everyone else thinks. You are not blood siblings. You share no DNA. It's not a bad thing. Strange yes. But not bad. I love both of you and want only what's best for you."

Doris knew Dexter was confused as to what she meant. That he would be for years until one day it hits him, and he questions everything. But she needed him to know that she always knew and accepted them. That she could think of no one better for Debra.

She set Dexter on a different path to what Harry wanted. And that changed everything. Dexter didn't turn into a serial killer. He didn't kill anyone and didn't even think about it outside of his hunting trips with Harry. Until his brother came back into his life and made him question everything.