Laura Spencer

Infobox soap character
name = Laura Spencer
series = General Hospital



first = 1974
last =
cause =
gender = Female
creator = Bridget and Jerome Dobson
portrayer = Genie Francis
parents = Gordon Gray (biological father, deceased)
Lesley Williams Webber (mother)
Rick Webber Sr. (adoptive father, deceased)
Jason Vining (illegal adoptive father, deceased)
Barbara Vining (illegal adoptive mother, deceased)
siblings =Rick Webber Jr. (adoptive paternal half-brother)
Amy Vining (illegal adoptive sister)
spouse =Scott Baldwin (divorced) [1979-1981]
Lucas Lorenzo "Luke" Spencer Sr. (divorced; first time) [1981-2001]
Stavros Cassadine (invalid, deceased) [1983]
Lucas Lorenzo "Luke" Spencer Sr. (invalid; second time) [2006]
children =Nikolas Cassadine (son, with Stavros Cassadine)
Lucas Lorenzo "Lucky" Spencer Jr. (son, with Lucas Lorenzo "Luke" Spencer Sr.)
Lesley Lu "Lulu" Spencer (daughter, with Lucas Lorenzo "Luke" Spencer Sr.)
grandchildren =Cameron Webber (step grandson, via Lucky)
Spencer Cassadine (grandson, via Nikolas)
Jake Spencer (legal grandson, via Lucky)
unnamed child (grandchild, via Lulu)(aborted)
aunts/uncles =Jeff Webber (adoptive paternal uncle)
Terri Webber Arnett (adoptive paternal aunt)
cousins = Steven Webber (adoptive half-cousin)
Sarah Webber adoptive half-cousin)
Elizabeth Webber (adoptive half-cousin)
Cameron Webber (adoptive second half-cousin)
Jake Spencer (adoptive second half-cousin)
romances =Luke Spencer (lovers/married/divorced/engaged)
Scott Baldwin (lovers/married/dated)
David Hamilton (lovers)
Stefan Cassadine (affair/dated)

Laura Spencer (née Webber; previously Baldwin and Cassadine) is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera, "General Hospital". Laura has been portrayed by Stacy Baldwin from 1974 to 1976, and by Genie Francis from 1976-1982, and 1993-2002 (with brief appearances in 1983, 1984, 2006, and 2008). Despite having been raped by a drunken Luke, Laura would later fall in love with him. Though other supercouples came before them, Luke and Laura are the most well known outside of the soap opera realm, and are credited with defining the term "supercouple," which caused other soap operas to copy the successful formula.

Originally, critics of the soap opera genre panned the unlikely pairing, as very few (if any) rape victims fall in love with their rapists. Fact|date=October 2007 However, the duo became wildly popular in spite of Luke Spencer having raped Laura. They wed on November 16 1981, with 30 million viewers tuning in. [http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WolfFiles/story?id=236498] The episode was the highest-rated hour in soap opera history. They were married for two decades and had two children. Even today, their union still has a presence in Port Charles. On internet message boards, the couple is often referred to as "L&L" or "LnL" (for Luke and Laura).

toryline

cotty and Laura

In the beginning, Laura was not paired with Luke, but with Scott Baldwin (played by Kin Shriner). Though Laura loved Scotty, she had been led astray and seduced by a much older man, David Hamilton who was using her to get back at her mother, Lesley Webber (Denise Alexander) and rejected Scott, who took up with the scheming ex-prostitute turned nurse Bobbie Spencer (Jackie Zeman). Discovering the truth about David, Laura had accidentally killed him and fled to New York while her mother took the rap for her crime. Scott eventually found Laura and the two reconciled, much to Bobbie's dismay. Laura confessed to her crime and Lesley was released. Since there were mitigating circumstances surrounding the case, Laura was only sentenced to six months probation...

Luke Spencer was introduced when Bobbie became determined to break Laura and Scotty up by having Laura break her probation and therefore get sent to Juvenile hall. Bobbie claimed Laura had attacked her, but no one believed her lie. As a result, Bobbie felt she needed help and re-established contact with her brother Luke in order to help her with her schemes to break up Scott and Laura. They were successful at getting Laura's probation period extended until she turned 18 or was married. As a result, Laura began pressuring Scotty to marry her and broke up with him when it seemed that he was never going to marry her. Scotty got drunk and Bobbie took advantage of this by making it look like she and Scotty had slept together. A distraught Laura ran off and was injured in a car accident. Luke and Bobbie felt guilty and decided to give up their vendetta against the couple. Of course, by this time it was becoming apparent that Luke was beginning to fall for his sister's foe.

Campus Disco

Scott and Laura were married in July 1979 (her bridesmaids were Claudia Johnson Phillips & Beverly DeFreest; his best man was Bryan Phillips), and while Scott was at work and law school, Laura was left at the house, bored. She encouraged Luke, who was now the manager of the Campus Disco, to offer her a job. He did so, and she began to feel more confident about herself. Laura went on a shopping spree to buy Scotty the Law school text books that he desperately needed; Scott was not happy when he found out that she had charged $500 over their credit limit. Scott and Laura got into a fight and she left for work. While Laura was working at the Disco, Luke had fallen in love with her. At the time, Luke worked for mob boss Frank Smith (originally portrayed by George Gaynes of the "Police Academy" film series). Smith ordered Luke to execute a "hit" on senatorial candidate Mitch Williams, who had crossed Smith by vowing to bring down the Port Charles mob. Luke didn't want to, but he knew that if he didn't, he would be fired or possibly killed. Luke also knew that if he did perform the hit, then Mitch Williams' security agents would probably kill him as well. Luke was very depressed, and on the night Laura waited at the Disco for Scott to pick her up, Luke became very distraught and vowed to hold her in his arms before he died. On the floor of the Disco, as the Herb Alpert song "Rise" played in the background, a drunken Luke raped Laura.

Although Laura admitted that she had been raped, she never named Luke as the rapist. Laura stayed with Scott but ended up falling in love with Luke, as well. Since everyone had come to the erroneous conclusion that Laura had been raped in the park, Laura decided to keep working at the disco in order to allay any suspicions that Luke was her rapist.

On election night, the night that Luke was to assassinate Mitch Williams, Laura saved Luke's life by throwing away the keys to his car. This prevented Luke from performing the hit. Luke's best friend Roy DiLucca decided to perform the hit himself (Mitch Williams survived, Roy was presumed dead after Mitch's security agents shot at him, only to "return from the dead" twenty years later). Thus Luke was saved from his predicament, only to fall into another when Smith told Luke he would spare his life if Luke married his daughter, Jennifer.

1980 "summer on the run"

Despondent over Frank Smith's order that Luke marry his daughter Jennifer, Luke ordered Laura to tell Scott that he raped her. Laura flatout refused. Laura became upset every time she saw Luke with Jennifer and decided to quit the disco. On her last night at work, Laura once again saw Luke flirting with Jennifer and ran off to Luke's office crying. Luke followed her, and the two ended up sharing a kiss. Laura slapped Luke and ran off. Later that night when everyone else had left, Laura accidentally locked herself in the office. Hearing voices, Laura hid in a closet and unwittingly become embroiled in Luke's mob activities after overhearing a conversation between Luke and Frank Smith. When Frank realized that Laura had overheard everything, he ordered Luke to keep Laura working at the disco, thus Luke and Laura were now forced to continue working together.

As Laura tried time and time again to convince Luke to back out of his marriage to Jennifer, Luke became increasingly concerned that Laura would tell the truth about everything. Luke wasn't really concerned about being named as the rapist, but knew that if Laura told Scotty the truth then she would also have to explain why she covered it up for months and that explanation would no doubt involve informing the police about Frank Smith's criminal doings. The consequences of this would be severe: both Luke and Laura and their families would probably be killed by Frank Smith.

Luke had to come up with a plan, so he trapped Laura on a sailboat and attempted to seduce her, while Bobbie distracted Scotty and Jennifer. A cat and mouse game ensued as Luke tried everything to get Laura to admit that she loved and desired him. The plan worked, and just as the couple were about to make love, Luke pulled back and told Laura to go and tell Scotty that "the night at the disco was rape". Laura was left stunned and frustrated, but decided to keep mum about everything. Afterwards Luke told Bobbie that he was now more certain than ever that Laura was in love with him, but he could never have her because they were in too deep with the mob.

Eventually, Laura wrote Luke a love letter that Scott eventually found on the day that Luke was to marry Jennifer. He pulled Luke out of the ceremony on Frank Smith's yacht, beating him up. Luke fell overboard and was presumed to have drowned, but Luke eventually resurfaced and told Laura that they could finally be together, now that Scott knew about their relationship. Luke told Laura they could start a new life together if they could decode the black book he had stolen from Frank Smith - which contained the coded names of all of Smith's mob contacts. Solving the codes in the book would allow Luke to send Smith to jail, and he and Laura would finally be free of the mob.

Luke and Laura went on the run from Frank Smith's men, stopping on the way to have some fun dancing at Wyndham's Department Store and falling deeper in love during the process. The pair took refuge in the rural town of Beecher's Corners, posing as newlyweds Lloyd and Lucy Johnson, and staying with Whit & Agnes Whittaker on their farm. Unfortunately Two of Smith's hit men, Hutch and Max, pursued them. Hutch located the couple, but bided his time before carrying out the hit. He soon found himself befriending the pair, and his feelings were too conflicted for him to complete the contract. Max, disguised as Sally, found them and was about to kill Luke, but was killed by Hutch first. Eventually Luke and Laura found the evidence they needed to have Frank Smith put away for his mob activities. Celebrating their success, the two made love. However, upon their return to Port Charles, they were met by a bunch of journalists who quizzed the two on their details of their personal relationship. Laura, who had been attacked by the press previously during the storyline where she had accidentally killed her former lover David Hamilton, found the hounding of the press again too much to take and flipped out. She told the press she still considered herself to be "Mrs. Scott Baldwin". Luke was heartbroken and immediately rejected Laura. In the months before their summer on the run, Luke had spent months trying to get Laura to admit her love for him. Now the tables were turned as Laura tried for months to get Luke to admit that he loved her.

Ice Princess saga

Laura attempted to find Scotty, who had run off to Mexico, in order so that she could get a divorce and marry Luke. However Luke remained hostile towards Laura, even as Laura made several maneuvers to remain in Luke's life. Laura decided that she had to show Luke that she had matured and thus moved out of her parents' home and into an apartment, which just happened to be conveniently located in the same building as Luke's apartment. Since Luke lived on a floor above Laura, he was forced to walk past her apartment everyday. This ensured that the two kept bumping into each other.

Luke eventually went to work for Edward Quartermaine and his niece Alexandria Quartermaine, who were in search of the Ice Princess, the world's largest uncut diamond that had been spray-painted black and mounted on a base to be displayed as a statue. Luke promised the Quartermaines that he would get the statue before their rivals, the Cassadines could.

Eventually, Luke and Laura reconciled and decided to get married. Around the same time, World Security Bureau (WSB) agent Robert Scorpio had arrived in town and warned Luke that the Ice Princess mystery was far more serious than previously thought. Hidden inside the base of the statue was a formula that could create a substance called carbonic snow. The Cassadines planned on using carbonic snow in their sinister plot to take over the entire world. It was revealed that Alexandria was in league with the Cassadines and after the Ice Princess had made its way into the hands of several Port Charles citizens, Alexandria and the Cassadine brothers (Victor and Tony) finally got their hands on it and prepared to take it to Mikkos Cassadine, the eldest Cassadine brother (portrayed by sci-fi actor John Colicos).

Alexandria, Victor and Tony invited several guests on an ocean cruise aboard the Titan (Later the Haunted Star). As the Titan left Port Charles, Luke and Robert sneaked on board and were surprised when they found that Laura had also stowed away. Eventually, they arrived at Mikkos' island in the Atlantic. Luke and Laura found the island a rather passionate setting and made several attempts to make love, only to be interrupted by Robert. Laura soon fell sick with a fever, and when Robert attempted to make Luke leave her behind, he refused and let Robert know that Laura was more important to him than their mission. Eventually Laura recovered and the three set about finding a way to stop the Cassadines.

Meanwhile, Mikkos unleashed his ultimate plan: he planned to hold the world to ransom. If world leaders did not accept his demands for total world domination, he would use his carbonic snow in his weather machine in order to send the Earth into a new ice age. In order to show that he was capable of doing this, he selected Port Charles as a test subject and soon the city was plunged into a blizzard -- even though it was still summer. As temperatures in Port Charles continued to plummet, Mikkos managed to capture Luke, Laura and Robert. When his brother Tony and Alexandria Quartermaine expressed doubts about the plan, Mikkos had them killed.

Eventually Luke, Laura, Robert and B-movie actress Tiffany Hill managed to defeat Mikkos, and Luke was able to figure out the password in order to turn off Mikkos' machine. In the course of the struggle, Mikkos was killed. Luke, Laura and Robert were thus hailed as heroes by the citizens of Port Charles. There was one more obstacle that Luke and Laura had to face after Lee, Scott's father, drunkenly burned Laura and Scott's divorce papers. Lee was anxious to make it up to Luke and Laura and Luke, Lee and Joe Kelly went to Mexico to get another copy of the divorce papers. However, upon their arrival in Mexico, they learned that the original divorce papers had been lost. When Luke, Lee and Joe failed to find Scotty, Lee suggested that Laura get a Mexican divorce. This was a risky venture, because if Scotty ever contested the divorce after Luke and Laura were married, then Laura would be a bigamist.

Historic 1981 Wedding

Luke and Laura were married on November 16, 1981, in a lavish, public ceremony officiated by the mayor of Port Charles at his official residence. Dozens upon dozens of residents from Port Charles and Beecher's Corners were in attendance. Originally Laura's former rival for Scott's affections, Bobbie, was none too happy with the marriage but eventually declared an unofficial truce with Laura. The two have since become close friends. Similarly displeased with the prospect of the couple's marriage was Mikkos' widow, Helena Cassadine (portrayed by legendary film actress Elizabeth Taylor in a highly-publicized appearance). She arrived in Port Charles days before the wedding, blaming Luke and Laura for her husband's death. Unknown to anyone, she placed a curse on the two lovers during the wedding reception. Since then, Helena has been the Spencer family's most ruthless and consistent enemy (and perhaps the most notorious villain in "GH" history).

The one outward blemish on the wedding festivities was the unexpected arrival of Scott, who caught Laura's bridal bouquet and proclaimed that he was contesting his divorce from Laura. Luke was enraged by Scott's appearance and the two began to fight, in a scene reminiscent of Luke's aborted wedding to Jennifer Smith over a year earlier. This time, however, it was Scott who was soundly beaten by Luke.

*When: November 16, 1981
*Where: Grounds of the Mayor's Mansion, Port Charles, New York
*Maid of Honor: Amy Vining
*Best Man: Robert Scorpio
*Bridesmaids: Bobbie Spencer, Tiffany Hill, Claudia Johnson
*Groomsmen: Slick Jones, Joe Kelly, Brian Phillips
*Song of First Dance: Fascination
*Bride Given Away By: Dr. Rick Webber

Laura's presumed death and return

While Scott was talked out of contesting the divorce, happiness for Luke and Laura proved to be short-lived, for early in 1982 Laura went missing and was eventually presumed dead. Luke tried desperately to move on with his life and entered into a love affair with Holly Sutton (Emma Samms), but the romance was short-lived and ended when Holly fell in love with Luke's best friend, Robert Scorpio, after Luke was presumed dead in an avalanche. Increasingly lonely as the second anniversary of his marriage to Laura approached, Luke ran for Mayor of Port Charles, and won. On his inauguration day, Luke received the surprise of his life when Laura appeared. Laura revealed that she had been kidnapped by the Cassadines as revenge for Luke thwarting Mikkos' plot to freeze Port Charles. Laura revealed that Stavros, Mikkos's son had fallen in love with her and spared her life in return so that she would marry him. Luke told Laura that none of this mattered and that her marriage to Stavros was invalid because Laura was still married to Luke. Soon afterwards, Stavros arrived in town, and after holding Luke and Laura hostage and attempting to rape Laura, he was attacked by Luke and knocked down a stairway to his death (although he would be revived in cryogenic freeze in 2001). Luke and Laura then settled into their respective roles as mayor and mayoress. However, the free spirited duo soon found the roles stifling, and decided to leave Port Charles in order to see the world.

In 1984, Robert helped Luke when he was accused of murder in Mexico so that Luke would be free to be with Laura. When Luke was finally cleared, he returned to Laura, who announced the joyous news that she was pregnant. The Spencers immediately shared their news with their friends. With the revelation, Luke and Laura made what seemingly would be their last appearance on "General Hospital". In the following years, passing references to the couple would be made by several characters.

Luke and Laura in the 1990s

While Luke and Laura were off-screen, the couple had a son, Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, Junior (nicknamed Lucky). Amidst much fanfare in both the real world and the fictional realm of Port Charles itself, Luke and Laura returned to Port Charles in 1993, with their son Lucky, played by Jonathan Jackson. The catalyst for their return was that Frank Smith had renewed his old vendetta against the couple. Frank Smith's men found Luke and Laura at the Triple L Diner in Canada and attempted to kill them by blowing up their truck, an act which led to the death of one of Luke and Laura's Canadian friends.

In August 1994, Luke and Laura had a daughter, Lesley Lu (Lulu), named after Laura's mother, Dr. Lesley Webber and "Lu" after an alias Laura had assumed while she and Luke were on the run from Frank Smith. They had to deal with Frank Smith for several more years, and then, when the character of Frank Smith was killed off, his son Damian and daughter Jennifer (portrayed by comedienne Roseanne Arnold, and later by "All in the Family" actress Sally Struthers).

But even though Frank Smith was safely out of their lives for good, Luke and Laura's life did not calm down. In 1995, Laura resented Luke's growing friendship with mobster Sonny Corinthos (who would eventually inherit Frank Smith's organization). After an enemy of Sonny's attacked Spencer Family home, she and Luke separated for a while because she could not stand any more danger and knew Luke would bring that to their family. They later reconciled on their 14th wedding anniversary.

The following year, Laura was accused of murdering Frank Smith's son, Damian. Although she was exonerated, she was soon shocked to learn that the true killer was her attorney Justus Ward (portrayed by "Cosby Show" actor Joseph C. Phillips), who agreed to represent Laura in order to prevent her from going to prison for his crime. Justus' father Bradley was the son of Edward Quartermaine and the recently-deceased Mary Mae Ward (portrayed by Rosalind Cash). The Ward family previously owned the Spencer home, and Mary Mae had become a surrogate mother to Laura upon her return to Port Charles. While the Spencers (and the Quartermaines) agreed to remain quiet about Justus' guilt, Luke and Laura never forgave Justus, and his close friendship with the Spencer family came to an end.

Luke and Laura immediately faced another crisis when their daughter Lesley Lu was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. Lesley Lu desperately needed a bone marrow transplant, but none of the Spencers, including Laura, Luke, Lucky, and Bobbie were a match. Eventually, Lulu got her transplant from a totally unexpected source. It turned out that when Laura had been held captive and married to Stavros Cassadine, she had had a son by him, Nikolas. Nikolas' bone marrow was a match and the transplant was performed that saved Lulu's life. However, the revelation that Laura had borne a son that she never told Luke about was a great shock to the Spencer marriage, particularly since that son was a Cassadine. Furthermore, Nikolas and his uncle, Stavros' brother Stefan, moved to Port Charles, and acted as a continual reminder of Laura's concealing of the truth. Stefan managed to take advantage of Bobbie's loneliness after her divorce from her husband Tony and turn Bobbie against Luke and Laura for a period of time. Bobbie and Stefan even married, but Laura knew that he only married Bobbie to make Laura jealous.

Luke and Laura soon discovered that back in the year 1984, Stefan had been ordered by his mother Helena to murder Laura's mother Lesley to avenge the deaths of Mikkos and Stavros. Stefan had gone against his mother's wishes however and had rescued Lesley from the car accident that had been presumed to be the cause of her death. Lesley was now in a catatonic state and after being reunited by Stefan, Laura and Lesley were presumed dead in an explosion. However it was soon revealed that their deaths had been faked by Luke in order to hide from Helena (and discredit Stefan at the same time). Upon their return in 1997, Luke and Laura were met with unexpected hostility from the citizens of Port Charles, and particularly Bobbie, Nikolas and Stefan.

Stefan decided to drive Laura out of town with the one piece of information that he knew would destroy her marriage to Luke. Stefan reminded Laura that years before, Stefan and Laura had been lovers behind Stavros' back when Stavros was holding her captive, and that Stefan could possibly be Nikolas' biological father. This was enough to get Laura to pack her bags, and she fled to Switzerland, giving the excuse that her mother would get better treatment over there that would help her come out of her catatonia. She spent the next year in Switzerland, not returning until May 22, 1998.

eparation

Early in 1998, Luke and Laura were forced to revisit their past again when Lucky learned of the long ago rape incident at the disco, from Nikolas of all people. Luke and Laura were estranged from Lucky for months, as their son's romantic illusions about his parents had been shattered. Lucky did not know which was worse, the idea of his father raping his mother, or the fact that his mother had lived with her rapist for all of these years (Lucky's disgust was heightened by the fact that he had fallen in love with Audrey Hardy's granddaughter Elizabeth Webber, who had been raped herself). Even though Luke and Laura were eventually reconciled with Lucky, their own relationship was in bad shape. Luke hit the roof when he realized that Stefan and Laura had been lovers and that Stefan was possibly Nikolas' father. At the end of 1998, Luke and Laura separated.

Luke and Laura would be further driven apart by the presumed death of their son Lucky in a fire the following year. Both were devastated, and separated during the tragedy. When it was revealed in 2000 that Lucky was indeed alive due to a plot by their nemesis, Helena Cassadine, Luke and Laura did not reconcile and instead divorced. Laura would consider reuniting with her first husband Scott Baldwin for a while but eventually she realized that she would always love Luke. By 2002, Luke and Laura had reconciled and made plans to remarry.

In 2002, a mentally disturbed Laura killed her stepfather Rick Webber, during a psychotic episode shortly before she and Luke were to remarry. She was sent to a mental hospital near Port Charles. While Luke was Laura's original guardian ad litem, Nikolas successfully petitioned the court to have himself appointed in Luke's stead. Luke mourned over the loss of Laura's mental stability for several years, while dealing with their reckless daughter, Lulu. Laura "appeared" in episodes after her breakdown as a motionless figure, seen from the back, staring off in a catatonic state, though in one scene shortly after Luke left the room, Laura's hand was shown to move.

Laura's 2006 return

In mid-September 2006, a new storyline was introduced, whereby Dr. Robin Scorpio (Robert's daughter) announced a potential alternative treatment called LS-49 which might bring Laura back. It was an experimental drug being tested by a doctor in Paris that Robin knew from medical school. She told Luke that they were patients who were responding to the drug but others who had not been responsive outnumbered those who did. Dr. Patrick Drake was wary of the drug, saying it was too big of a risk and might send Laura into permanent catatonia. Luke indicated he did not want to cause any further lack of dignity to Laura via failed treatments, but later changed his mind due to their daughter Lulu's distraught condition after her recent abortion. After flying out to Paris to meet the medical doctor who was studying LS-49, Luke arrived back in Port Charles and gave his consent to Robin to administer the experimental drug to Laura with Patrick Drake protesting the entire time. Luke failed to give prior notice to Lucky, Lulu or Nikolas and they were outraged that Luke had no right to give his consent. Nikolas made it clear they were her children and Luke and Laura were not even married anymore.

On Thursday, October 26 2006, the experimental drug touted by Dr. Robin Scorpio surprisingly brought Laura back from her catatonic state after four years, as Genie Francis returned to "GH" as "Laura Spencer". On November 16 2006, the show aired a 25th anniversary episode celebrating the 1981 wedding of Luke and Laura. Thus far, the producers of "GH" have said that Francis' return is only a 6 week stint, intended to coincide with the anniversary of the highly-rated wedding episode.

The re-marriage storyline was complicated by the fact that Luke was already married to Tracy Quartermaine (after a series of events involving alcohol, gambling, and one of Luke's attempts to obtain large amounts of money Tracy stole from him). Luke told family and friends that he and Tracy had gotten a quick divorce in the Dominican Republic. Yet unbeknownst to anyone (except Tracy), there was no such divorce. However, Tracy fully realizes that Laura will always be Luke's one true love, but she refuses to divorce him, because -- improbably -- she has fallen in love with Luke herself.

When Laura overheard Luke and Lulu discussing her condition, Laura began having vague memories of the attack where she killed her stepfather. Curious, she went to the attic and remembered everything. When Luke discovered that she must have overheard, he rushed to the attic to make sure Laura was OK. Upon his arrival, Laura told Luke she remembered everything. Not wanting to take chances with her sanity, Luke took Laura back to Shadybrook to make sure she was fine. After a session with a psychiatrist, Laura was cleared, though Luke still worried about her mental state.

Luke and Laura returned home where Lulu, Lucky, Nikolas, and Lesley were waiting. Laura apologized to her mother for killing Rick, but Lesley said it was all water under the bridge. She was just happy to have her daughter back. Laura announced to her family that she remembered everything and didn't want anymore secrets kept from her. Lucky began by telling his mother about his addiction to pain killers and his marital problems. Laura gave Lucky her support and told him that she was proud of him.

Meanwhile, Luke had known all long that Laura's recovery was only temporary and she would soon return to her catatonic state. He was warned by Robin early on that if the medication did work, it would allow Laura to come back for only a short period of time. He kept this information to himself (without Laura's children or the viewers at home hearing those bits of conversation) clinging to a glimmer of hope that Laura would be an exception to the after effects of LS-49. Devastated, Luke was determined to make Laura's remaining days as happy as possible.

Luke and Laura's wedding anniversary

When Lulu found the invitation to her cousin Carly's wedding to Jax, which was to be held on the same day as Luke and Laura's wedding, she immediately called Carly. When Carly and Jax arrived, everyone found out about the scheduling dilemma. Carly graciously stepped aside to give to her uncle and aunt their day and even offered them her and Jax's entire wedding, flowers, caterers, and all. Laura and Luke thanked Carly and Jax and took them up on their generous offer.

On November 16 2006 (exactly 25 years after their first wedding), Luke and Laura were ostensibly remarried in front of all their friends and family in a lavish ceremony in Lila Quartermaine's garden. [http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-06-26-general-hospital_x.htm] The festivities were enjoyed by all except Tracy, who was visibly intoxicated and had to be physically removed before the ceremony was completed. However, the minister officiating the ceremony was actually an actor hired by Luke. Thus the marriage had no legal consequences, and Luke did not commit bigamy.

The wedding guests were composed of a mixture of long-time family and friends who were present for the first wedding (e.g. Lesley, Bobbie, Robert, and several of the Quartermaines) and newer relatives and acquaintances (e.g. Carly, Elizabeth, Emily Quartermaine, and Laura's three adult children). It was a particularly festive occasion, with Luke and Nikolas surprisingly demonstrating family affection for one another.

Just as the original reception was marred by the arrival of Scott Baldwin, a minor cloud was cast on the anniversary reception when Bobbie's niece Maxie Jones ingratiated herself into the festivities. Maxie had recently had an affair with Lucky (where she purposely enabled his drug addiction by supplying him with the drugs herself), and claimed to be pregnant with Lucky's child (although, as Lulu correctly suspected, Maxie was lying). In an odd example of déjà vu, the unwelcome Maxie caught Laura's bridal bouquet, just as Scott had done 25 years earlier.

On November 20, Luke revealed to Laura that their happiness would be short lived and that her catatonia was now a physical illness. Laura wanted an early Christmas because she feared she would not make it. While talking to Lulu, Laura told Lulu about their excitement about her birth and made the Spencer Family complete. Lulu was flooded with guilt about her abortion, and Laura sensed something was bothering her daughter and pressed her to tell her what was wrong. Lulu then tearfully told her mother she had an abortion because she didn't want to bring a baby into this world who wasn't loved or wanted, just as she felt she had never been loved or wanted. Laura comforted her daughter, telling her that she was wanted and loved, and supported Lulu's decision about the abortion. When Luke brought in the Christmas tree, Laura asked why there was a Christmas tree in the house, proof that she was relapsing. On November 22nd, after saying tearful good-byes to her children, Laura slipped back into catatonic state in front of Luke's eyes. After Luke realized that Laura had left him, he exited the room and broke down.

After Laura's return to catatonia

In her last conversation with Lulu, Laura expressed her belief that she was not the person who killed Rick Webber, a distinct possibility since there was no known witness to the actual killing. As a result, Lulu began investigating Rick's death, aided by her stepbrother Dillon Quartermaine and teen computer hacker Damian Spinelli (both of whom have crushes on Lulu). Among those that the trio have suspected of being the true murderer were Monica Quartermaine (with whom Rick had a torrid extramarital affair), Alan Quartermaine (who attempted to kill Rick and Monica on more than one occasion), and Scott Baldwin (Laura's first husband). On March 5, 2007, Lulu and Dillon intercepted a letter that Alan had sent to Luke upon his death. In the letter, Alan identifies Scott as Rick's killer.

Claiming that he could better safeguard Laura's interests than Luke or Nikolas, Scott petitioned the court to have himself appointed as Laura's guardian ad litem. Under a subpoena to testify, Nikolas was forced to admit in open court that -- many years earlier -- Luke had raped Laura. Learning of this for the first time from her brother's testimony, Lulu struggled to accept (as Lucky had done years earlier) that her father raped her mother, who decided to remain with him anyway. In the midst of this turmoil, Scott was awarded guardianship of Laura. Before he could make any meaningful decisions, however, Tracy helped Luke to take Laura away from Port Charles. Luke and Laura eventually returned and charges against Luke were dropped. Laura returned to the hospital and, thanks partially to Lulu, Nikolas now has custody over his mother.

Children

Laura is the mother to three children: Nikolas Cassadine by Stavros Cassadine, Lucas Lorenzo "Lucky" Spencer Jr. and Lesley Lu "Lulu" Spencer both by Lucas Lorenzo "Luke" Spencer Sr.. Laura has been absent from much of her children's lives.

* Nikolas Cassadine was born while Laura being held captive by the Cassadine family. Laura was forced to married the oldest Cassadine son Stavros Cassadine and was forced to produce an heir, Nikolas. While Laura escaped she was forced to leave Nikolas behind and Nikolas was raised by his uncle Stefan Cassadine. Nikolas grew up to believe that his mother didn't want him and chose Luke and half-brother Lucas Lorenzo "Lucky" Spencer Jr. over him. Nikolas came to town to save his half-sister Lesley Lu "Lulu" Spencer's life by giving his bone marrow. Nikolas and Lucky disliked each other at the beginning but became real brothers. Nikolas and Lucky has a close friendship with Elizabeth Webber and Emily Quartermaine as teenagers. Nikolas's love life has never been easy, although he has been married three time. First was an arranged marriage to Lydia Karenin, second was an invalid marriage to Mary Bishop who thought that he was he husband Connor Bishop and the last marriage was now deceased true love Emily Quartermaine. Nikolas has one child, a son Spencer Cassadine with deceased ex-fiance Courtney Matthews. Most recently Nikolas has been growing closer to nurse friend Nadine Crowell, who was there for him after Emily's death.

* Lucas Lorenzo "Lucky" Spencer Jr. is the oldest of Luke and Laura's two children. Lucky was born while the couple was on the run from the mob. Lucky spent the first ten years of his life on the run with his parents. Once the family settled back in their life in Port Charles, the couple welcomed Lucky's little sister Lesley Lu "Lulu" Spencer, who Lucky has always been very protective of. When Lucky learned of his half-brother Nikolas Cassadine, disliked him from the start, but the two ended up becoming very close. Lucky and Nikolas formed a close friendship with Elizabeth Webber and Emily Quartermaine. Lucky dated Elizabeth on/off for years. Lucky and Elizabeth have married twice. The first divorced was because of Lucky's drug addiction and an affair with Maxie Jones. The second was was because Lucky found Elizabeth had a one-night-stand with Jason Morgan during their first marriage and that their son Jacob "Jake" Spencer was really Jason's child. Lucky begun having an affair with Jason's ex-fiance Samamtha "Sam" McCall to get back at Elizabeth and Jason, but Lucky and Sam fell in love. Lucky is father to Elizabeth's two son Cameron Webber and Jacob "Jake" Spencer, even throught they are not his biological children.

* Lesley Lu "Lulu" Spencer is the youngest of Luke and Laura's two children. Lulu is the only child of Laura's that was born and raised in Port Charles. Lulu was raised mostly by Laura until Laura went into a catatonic state in 2002. From 2002-2005, Lulu was raised by her grandmother Lesley Williams Webber, until Lesley sent her to live with her father and step-mother Tracy Quartermaine Spencer. The Quartermaines became a second family for Lulu, often caring for her during Luke's absence. Lulu soon fell in love with her step-brother Dillon Quartermaine moving into the Quartermaine house. She ended up getting pregnant by Dillon. She had an abortion, a decision she knew was right but still troubles her. Lulu found out that her "nephew" Jacob "Jake" Spencer is really Jason Morgan's son. At first she wanted to tell Lucky, but seeing the way he has been acting, she thinks he will go back to pills. She also understands that Jason and Elizabeth want to protect Jake from the mob. She has become a close friend to Elizabeth and even thinks of her as a sister and has also become a close friend to Jason. Lulu was heartbroken when she found out her dad raped her mother. She was angry at first but forgave her dad. Lulu has started to date her mother's ex-husband Scott Baldwin's son Logan Hayes, but is falling for mobster Johnny Zacchara. Lulu is currently residing at Shadybrook, attempting to recover from a mental breakdown because she killed Logan in self-defense after he tried to attack her. There are however, unidentified forces at work attempting to make that recovery as much of an uphill struggle as possible.

Laura's 2008 return

Laura returned to "General Hospital" on August 25, 2008, at a time when Lulu needed her the most. When Lulu is admitted into shadybrook due to her failing mental health, she goes to Laura's room to talk to her. While Lulu is talking to her, Laura appears to wake up and tells Lulu that a few months after her relapse, the doctors were present as she began 'waking up' again infrequently but with greater periods of lucidity as time progressed as a side-effect of the experimental drug Luke initially gave her in 2006, LS-49. While she was still coherent and voluntarily checked herself back into Shadybrook last year prior to her most recent relapse, she signed paperwork originating from the French clinic the drug hailed from, which for legal reasons expressly forbid her doctors at Shadybrook from alerting Laura's family of any LS-49 related changes in her condition. Laura signed these papers, in an attempt to prevent her family from gaining what could be false hopes, should she wake up. Which it seemed she had. Apparently, the French clinic has been having a string of publicly-suppressed cases where patients on the drug have been coming back from their comatose states after the initial relapse... but it's on a case by case basis and the doctors simply have no certainties about whether the progress is potentially either temporary OR permanent. If Luke were there, he'd have translated it as "a complete crapshoot" situation. Where it could go literally either way. Because of the unknown case-by-case variable in the situation, the French clinic as well as Shadybrook has, according to Laura and later her doctor, adopted a sensible, "however inconvenient" closed-ranks position on the drug, pending further study of the affected patients. Mainly, to protect both facilities' derrières until more is known about the LS-49 on a long-term basis. Laura warns her daughter up front that she still slips away from time to time, but she also asserts she's 'feeling stronger' now. Lulu then tells her about Logan's death and Laura helps her stop the hallucinations that she was having. On September 19, 2008, Laura tells Lulu to tell Nikolas and Lucky that she had woken up. However, when Lulu attempts to do so, Laura remains catatonic. Nikolas and Lucky talk to Dr. Winters about this and she tells them that Laura's condition hasn't changed, and Lulu was seeing her as a coping mechanism. It's even claimed that Laura's doctor from the French clinic was a hallucination. Given the aforementioned closed-ranks policy story however, there is credible room for speculation on how valid Dr. Winters' assessment IS. It would be, under the circumstances, highly easy to place doubt on Lulu's sanity in front of her own family. On September 23, 2008 Lulu came to her mother and told her, that she won't end in catatonic state and she will be fighting for her own health. Lulu kissed Laura on the forehead and left, as Laura gave maybe the first real sign of sanity - she moved her head and smiled.

ee also

*"Rise" (1979 song by Herb Alpert)
*Luke and Laura Spencer
*supercouple

References

* [http://www.soapcentral.com/gh soap.central.com]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/UNRevised/history/index.html Luke and Laura UnRevised history pages]
* [http://abc.go.com/daytime/generalhospital Official ABC Page]