Dusty Donovan and Lucy Montgomery

Dustin "Dusty" Donovan and Lucinda Marie "Lucy" Montgomery are fictional characters from the long running CBS daytime soap opera As the World Turns, and have been deemed a very popular couple during their time together.^[1][2] Dusty, a character who's been with the show on and off since 1983, was the older bad boy on the show, and Lucy, daughter of legacy characters Craig Montgomery and Sierra Esteban, was the spoiled younger brat. These aspects made them very popular among the fans.

Casting

Dusty was first seen on the soap in 1983, when Brian Bloom originated the role, where he was thrown into a love triangle with Holden Snyder and Lily Snyder, who’s also coincidentally Lucy's aunt. Bloom was extremely popular during his time on the show, becoming the youngest winner ever to win the Emmy for Oustanding Younger Actor.^[3] Bloom remained with the show until 1988, after he grew tired of the scheduling involved in that field and eventually left the series to star in several television movies and myriad guest appearances. Dusty would not be seen on the show until 15 years later, when in 2003, Grayson McCouch, who was already familiar with daytime due to his role on Another World, took over.^[4] In 2006, McCouch got nominated for this role in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category. McCouch briefly left the show in early 2008, when his character was supposedly killed off, but returned in the fall of the same year, and remained with the show until it’s last episode on September 17, 2010.^[4]

Though Lucy has been seen as a baby during the nineties, in 1999, Amanda Seyfried was the first to portray Lucy as a teenager. Seyfried portrayed the role for only a month and then left due to difficulties between her and the creators. In 2001, Peyton List stepped into the role and quickly became an overnight sensation, especially after her pairing with Dusty. List opted not to renew her contract, and thus left the show on January 25, 2004. The character returned almost two years later, in 2006, now portrayed by Spencer Grammer. Grammer only remained with the show for 6 months, and was then let go because the fans never came to accept her the way they did with Peyton, and due to lack of chemistry between her and McCouch. Her final airdate was December 14, 2006. As of December 24, 2008, newcomer Sarah Glendening took over the role of a completely grown up Lucy.^[4] She departed from the role on January 7, 2009,^[4] but then returned to the role on February 26, 2009, and left again May 13, 2009. She returned to the role once again on July 22, 2010,^[4] and left on August 13, 2010.

Storyline

Dusty Donovan and Lucy Montgomery already knew each other via Aaron Snyder, Lucy’s then-boyfriend, who occasionally worked for Dusty. Months later, Dusty and Craig Montgomery, Lucy’s father, decide to go into business together and become part-owners of the nightclub ‘’Metro’’. When Lucy has decided to leave town for college, she stops by at Metro to say goodbye to her father, but is suddenly attacked by two men. Dusty arrives and steps in, beating up the two men, thus saving Lucy’s life. Lucy once again makes an attempt to leave days later, but Dusty then spots a tattoo on the arm of her driver, and realizes he’s the same man who attacked Lucy earlier. Dusty chases them and pulls the car aside, getting Lucy out in time, and flees with her into the woods. He takes her to an abandoned cabin, where the two bicker and argue a lot, and Dusty ends up tying Lucy to a chair when she refuses to believe him, and even accuses him of being her kidnapper. When Dusty heads out the next day to contact Craig and Hal Munson, head of the Oakdale PD, Lucy is once again attacked by the two men, who now pretend to be a Sherriff and Deputy. Dusty arrives just in time to save her, and then flee the cabin. They spend the night at an abandoned warehouse, where Lucy is now slightly nicer to Dusty, having realized he was telling the truth all along.

Throughout their days there, they bicker and argue a lot, although it has now come to amuse them doing so. Dusty teases Lucy with being a spoiled little princess, while Lucy keeps referring to Dusty as a criminal. Although they both don’t admit it, they have come to respect each other and enjoy each others company. Days later, Dusty contacts Nikki Munson, an agent at the Oakdale PD, and tells her to meet him at the warehouse, and not mention it to anyone. When she arrives, Dusty tells her he believes someone in Lucy’s family is responsible for the attacks made on her life. Dusty explains he only just informed Lucy’s family and the Oakdale PD of their whereabouts, when the attackers showed up at the cabin in the woods, which means someone must’ve told them. When Lucy finds out Dusty’s keeping something from her, she becomes upset, thinking Dusty doesn’t feel like she could handle it. Before they can discuss anything, a truck with two men arrive at the warehouse, ready to take its products away. Dusty and Lucy hide in one of the crates, where they almost kiss for the first time. Back in Oakdale, Hal Munson has discovered clues regarding the pair’s whereabouts, and he sends his team to find the truck. Once they do, they only find Lucy, who tells them Dusty left her long before the truck drivers arrived at the warehouse. Lucy returns home safely, while Dusty is out looking for more clues. He eventually returns back to Oakdale, intending to stay away from Lucy, who can’t stop thinking about him. When he sneaks into her bedroom one night, she’s beyond happy to see him, and she gives him a necklace that belonged to her once. Realizing she’s having feelings for him, Dusty decides to stay away from Lucy, but he can’t help himself being drawn to her over and over again. When she stops by at Metro to confront him, she kisses him and he responds back with passion, but later breaks apart again, explaining they could never be together, not only because of the age difference, but because Lucy’s entire family does not approve of Dusty. However, Lucy’s grandmother Lucinda has noticed the growing bond between her granddaughter and Dusty, and has come to like Dusty quite a bit.

When Dusty is out looking for clues again, he is shot by an unknown criminal, and he ends up in the hospital. He warns Lucy not to come and visit him, but Lucy then receives a call from the hospital, telling her Dusty’s condition has worsened. When Lucy arrives at the hospital, she gets a call from Dusty, who says his condition did not worsen at all, and he instantly realizes someone set Lucy up. He then hears how Lucy is drugged and kidnapped once again, and by the time the security arrive at the parking lot, they only find Lucy’s purse. A few hours later, Lucy’s family receive a video tape that shows Lucy being buried alive. Lucinda allows Dusty to see the tape, and he recognizes the place, and heads over there with Nikki. He digs up the coffin and after performing CPR on her, Lucy is revived. Dusty, knowing he almost lost her, promises he will never leave her again. A strain is soon put on their growing relationship, however, when Dusty finds solid evidence that Craig was behind Lucy’s first few kidnapping attempts, and after discussing it with Lucinda, Dusty hands over the evidence to Lucy, letting her deicide what to do with it. After confronting her father, a heartbroken Lucy returns to Dusty’s hotel room and spends the night there. After waking up, she and Dusty have a deep conversation, after which they declare their love for each other and make love for the first time.

Now a solid couple, Lucy and Dusty enjoy spending time together, ignoring all the warnings from her family and friends. Several weeks later, an old friend of Dusty, Dom, arrives in Oakdale, looking for someone to fight against his boxing champion. Aaron Snyder signs himself up, and Dusty decides to partner up with Dom to split the money they’ll receive after the match. They soon meet Dom’s champion, Rafael Ortega, and Lucy is surprised to see him, as he is a childhood friend of hers. While Dusty and Dom go into business together, Lucy helps Rafi settle in and make friends in Oakdale. Things go awfully wrong when, during the match, Rafi knocks Aaron out, putting him in a coma and paralyzing him from the waist down. Rafi soon discovers Dom has put lead in Rafi’s boxing gloves, to ensure his victory in the match. Rafi shares this news with Lucy, who in turn tells Dusty about it. Furious about what Dom has done, Dusty confronts him, and tells him he’ll go to the cops. Dom retaliates by having Lucy and Rafi kidnapped, and puts them on a place, from which he then parachutes down, but not before letting them know the plane will crash in an inhabited area. The plane crashes several minutes later, somewhere in the middle of nowhere of Alaska, but Lucy and Rafi survive. They find an abandoned cabin and take shelter there, hoping the snowstorms will soon calm down, so they can go out for help. In Oakdale, everyone believes Lucy and Rafi to be dead, but Dusty and Lucinda know in their hearts they’re still alive, and so with the help of Lucinda and her money, Dusty sets out to find Lucy, knowing the plane crashed somewhere in Alaska. While Dusty is out looking for clues, Rafi finds himself drawn to Lucy, and after another freezing night, they ends up sleeping together after trying to warm each other. Lucy immediately regrets this decision, and fears Dusty will never forgive her, but Rafi is now convinced he and Lucy will be a couple one day. After a few more days, Dusty arrives at the cabin, and he and Lucy joyfully reunite. A helicopter soon comes to pick them up, and although Lucy hasn’t said anything yet, Dusty notices the way Rafi looks at her, and realizes something happened between them. When back in Oakdale, Lucy doubts about whether or not to tell Dusty, until Dusty confronts her himself. She then tearfully admits she slept with Rafi. Dusty then breaks up with her, although unbeknownst to Lucy, not because she cheated on him, but because he still feels like he’ll never be good enough for Lucy, and thinks she deserves better. Not knowing what to do with her life now that she and Dusty are over, Lucy starts to think about what she wants for herself in the future, and realizes she wants to go back to school, like she had intended to before she got attacked at Metro. In the meantime, Lucinda has a serious heart-to-heart with Dusty about Lucy, and Dusty realizes Lucy is the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with, and so he heads out to buy an engagement ring. When arriving at Lucy’s house, however, she tells him she has chosen to go to college in Montana, where her mother resides. Knowing how much she loves college, Dusty hides the ring from her, and tells her to go and live her life. After confessing their love for each other once more, they share a tearful goodbye, and Lucy leaves for Montana. Lucinda later tells Dusty she has never known he could be so selfless, after realizing he did not propose, but instead sacrificed his own happiness, so Lucy could have hers.

A little over two years later, Dusty is at the hospital to check up on Johnny Munson, Jennifer Munson’s son, and also Lucy’s little brother. He is surprised to see Lucy there, who’s taking her inturn ship at the Oakdale Memorial. They have a warm reunion, and catch up about what the both of them have been up to. Lucy tells her she is almost finished with her study and wishes to get a fulltime job at the Memorial after doing so, and Dusty, while happy to see her again, lets it slip he is now in a relationship with Jennifer. Lucy acknowledges she never expected him to be alone forever, and tells him she’s happy for him. Much to Jennifer’s dismay however, this does not stop Lucy and Dusty from renewing their friendship and meeting each other from time to time. Things change when Jennifer falls ill with pneumonia, and is ordered to stay at the hospital to get a proper treatment. Jennifer ignores these warnings, however, as she wishes to be with her newborn son, and so she gets herself discharged and goes home. Dusty finds her unconscious on the floor when he arrives hours later, and rushes her back to the hospital. There, it is stated through several blood tests and scans, that the pneumonia has spread and has now infected Jennifer’s heart. The damage is irreversible, and Lucy tells Jennifer she only has hours to live. The family gathers and each say goodbye to Jennifer, who then dies in Dusty’s arms.

After her death, Dusty is inconsolable, but mostly angry with Lucy, whom he blames for Jennifer’s early discharge and ultimate death. He remains angry with her for weeks, but the two grow closer again after Lucy starts visiting her little brother Johnny, who has been adopted by Dusty. A strain is temporarily put on their possibly reconciliation, when Craig returns from prison, who was put there months earlier for Lucy’s kidnapping. Lucy feels that her father is allowed to see Johnny, but Dusty strongly disagrees, and even threatens to sever all ties with her if she keeps helping her father. Lucy then decides to side with Dusty, and he eventually allows himself to fall in love with her again. However, Craig plans to fight the adoption and files for sole custody over little Johnny. Any chance of a new relationship between Dusty and Lucy is gone when Lucy is called to the stand, where the Judge decides that, based on Lucy’s testimony, Craig is allowed to see Johnny a few days a week. Dusty then files for sole custody once again, hoping to make sure Craig will never see Johnny again, and the fight between the two men gets uglier and uglier. Sick of all the fights and threats, Lucy, in collaboration with her grandmother Lucinda, takes Johnny and flees Oakdale. When he discovers what Lucy has done, Dusty vows to Lucinda he will find his son, and he will never forgive Lucy for betraying him like that.

More than two years later, Alison Stewart, and old friend of Lucy, and now a good friend of Dusty, receives a mysterious text message, asking her to meet them outside a café in Oakdale. Alison goes to the meeting, and is shocked to learn it’s Lucy who send the text message. Lucy then tells Alison that things went well for two years, but recently, Johnny’s been feeling ill, and after having some tests done, it was revealed he had leukemia. A bone marrow transplant could save his life, but the chance of Johnny’s body excepting the transplant would be significantly larger if it was from a family member. While Lucy and Johnny hid out at the Lakeview, Alison made up a story about an unknown girl who needed a bone marrow transplant, and went around town asking Johnny’s family members to get themselves tested. Dusty started to suspect something when a friend of his, Josie, who looks a lot like Jennifer, told him she was approached by a little red-haired boy in the Lakeview, who thought she was his mother. When Dusty sees Alison frequently visiting the Lakeview, he confronts her, and follows her up to the room booked on her name, where he comes face to face with Lucy. He lashes out at her for taking Johnny with her, betraying his trust and not letting anyone know if they were safe. Dusty then sees Johnny for the first time in two years, and finds out about his illness. He calms down and decides not to press charges against Lucy for the time being, when he sees how close she is with Johnny. Several days later, Alison brings them news that someone was tested positive; Johnny's aunt Katie Peretti, and she has agreed to do the transplant. However, when Alison lets something slip, Katie discovers there is no sick girl, and the transplant is really for Johnny. She immediately tells Craig about this, who then confronts Lucy and Dusty. He later calms down, and promises Lucy he won’t report her to the cops, as long as she won't run off again. However, Dusty overhears Craig talking on the phone later that day, and discovers Craig plans on turning Lucy in as soon as Johnny's discharged from the hospital. Dusty and Lucy make plans to flee town as soon as Johnny’s feeling better, but Craig finds out, and, having renewed their friendship, Lucy and Dusty kiss, before Lucy skips town just in time, while Johnny stays behind with Dusty.

Lucy makes a brief return a month later, to make amends with her father, and to support Johnny, who misses his sister, but leaves again after a few months.

She returns for the final time in July 2010, along with her mother Sierra Estaban. She reunites with Johnny, but also with Dusty, who at that moment is on the outs with his ex-girlfriend Janet Ciccone. Dusty and Lucy start spending time together, until one night, after diner, they can’t contain their feelings anymore and sleep together. They become a couple again for a brief period, but after realizing that Dusty still has feelings for Janet as well, Lucy decides it's time to let go of him once and for all, and she makes arrangements to leave Oakdale with her mother. She has another tearful goodbye with Dusty, and tells him she will always love him, and then leaves in tears, but not before giving him the necklace she gave him years ago, that had always been a symbol of their love.

References

1. ^ [1], Oakdale after Dark
2. ^ [2], ATWT: The Quad
3. ^ [3], Daytime Emmy: The Winners
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} [4], McCouch Takes Over