Laura Collins (Genie Francis)

Laura Spencer (née Williams; previously Vining; previously Webber; previously Baldwin) is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera, General Hospital. Laura was portrayed by Stacy Baldwin from 1974 to 1976, and since then has been played by Genie Francis, first from 1976-1982, and then from 1993-2002 (with brief appearances in 1983, 1984, 2006, and 2008). Laura is one half of "Luke and Laura," one of the most well-known couples in soap opera history. 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. Laura was actually raped by Luke; as very few (if any) rape victims fall in love with their rapists, this relationship was actually offensive to some of the public. However, the duo became wildly popular in spite of the origins of their relationship. They wed on November 16, 1981, with 30 million viewers tuning in. 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&amp;L".

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 marry 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 her 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. He was briefly growing closer to nurse friend Nadine Crowell, who was there for him after Emily's death, but the relationship ended. Most recently, Nikolas has been pusuing a relationship with Emily's twin sister, Rebecca Shaw.


 * 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 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 though 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 stepmother 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 stepbrother 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 started to date her mother's ex-husband Scott Baldwin's son Logan Hayes, but broke up with him. He became obsessed with her, but she liked Johnny Zacchara and was dating him. Lulu murdered Logan in self defese, but Johnny took the blame for it. She was put in Shadybrook for having a nervous break down. He was tried and found not guilty and Lulu got out of Shadybrook soon after. She and Johnny moved into an apartment with Lulu's long-time rival, Maxie Jones, who she had become friends with. Johnny broke up with Lulu, thinking he was protecting her. Lulu, Maxie, and Damian Spinelli have recently teamed up to discover why Lulu and Maxie's boss, Kate Howard, has been giving away designs from their magazine, Crimson.

Laura's 2008 Return: First Awakening
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.

Laura's 2008 Return: Second Awakening
In October 2008, overhearing a lethal injection threat issued by Scott Baldwin to her daughter, Lulu Spencer, who killed Scott's son in self-defense, Laura reawakens to protect Lulu. She is kidnapped by Scott Baldwin, who takes her to California to relive their honeymoon in hopes of rekindling their relationship. While in California, Laura continues to tell Scott that she has come along with him only so he will not prosecute Lulu. She lets Scott know that though she cares about him, she will always love Luke Spencer and reminds him that she is also married to Luke. Scott eventually tells Laura that Luke is and has been married to Tracy Quartermaine for the last 3 years and that the wedding two years before between her and Luke had been staged by Luke.

Luke, after finding out at Shadybrook that Laura has been taken by Scott, catches up with Scott and Laura in California. Seeing Scott and Laura in a car, Luke steals a taxi and pursues the couple in a high speed chase. On November 3, Scott and Laura's car crashes along the edge of a cliff. During the rescue attempt, Luke drags Scott from the car, but in his attempt to save Laura, the car goes over the cliff with him and Laura in it. Though bruised up, Luke and Laura live through the crash, but find that they are in the wilderness. They eventually find a cabin, where they discuss Luke's marriage to Tracy and the outlook of their own relationship. On November 10, the Spencer children find their parents safe at the cabin. They all reunite with Scott and Tracy at a hotel in California and decide to return to Port Charles.

In Port Charles, after catching up with her children's lives and dealing with the fact of Luke's marriage to Tracy and that he has moved on with his life, Laura decides she also needs to move on with her life. She announces to her family on November 12 her intention to go to France, where the clinic for her treatment with LS-49 is located. Her decision to continue treatment in hopes of having a permanent recovery and live her life are based on a discussion she has with Tracy Quartermaine. During this discussion, Tracy indicates that Luke has changed since being married to her and is happy with his new life; he can be himself and doesn't have to play the "hero".

At the airport, Laura tells Luke she wants his happiness and if Tracy Quartermaine can bring peace to his life, she is happy for him. Luke replies that she and he still have a close bond, as she had indicated to him earlier that day, and he will go with her to France if she wants him to. He tells her he feels he owes her for all that he has put her through during their life together. She turns down his offer, saying she is going to try and learn to do things for herself without him. She tells him she loves him, kisses him, and walks away to enter the plane. However, Luke asks her before she boards that if the treatment works, will she return to Port Charles. She gives him a puzzled smile and a hurtful, unknowing shrug and climbs aboard the plane. On the plane, as it is lifting off, without Laura's knowledge, Scott Baldwin is behind a curtain looking out at her. =References=