Rafe Kovich, Jr. (Jimmy Deshler)


 * Rafe redirects here. For other uses of the name, see Rafe (disambiguation).

Rafe Kovich, Jr. was a fictional character on the American daytime soap opera General Hospital. He was the son of the late Stephen Clay and the late Alison Barrington. He arrived in on January 30, 2013 with his mother and died on July 16, 2014.

Background
Rafe's mother, Alison Barrington, was pregnant at the conclusion of Port Charles in 2003 with the child of either Stephen Clay or Rafe Kovich. In 2013, it was announced that Alison and her son Rafe would be coming to General Hospital. It was confirmed that Caleb is Rafe's biological father. Rafe Kovich, Sr. was said to have left Alison after he found out that the baby was Caleb's, supposedly to find Caleb and get revenge on him; however, he was never seen alive again.

Deshler was on a contract status with the soap until February 7, 2014 when he was lowered to recurring.

Rafe was in a bad car accident and ended up brain dead.

Storylines
Rafe arrives in, and his mother Alison says she is there because she wants to contact Lucy Coe. They have been bouncing from one city to the next in fear that someone (most likely Caleb Morley aka Stephen Clay) will take Rafe away from Alison. When Alison leaves to go find Lucy, she gives Rafe a spear to attack anyone who comes by Pier 52, where she leaves him.
 * -|2013=

Soon after, Molly Lansing-Davis comes to the pier with her nephew, Danny Morgan. Rafe asks to eat the stale bread Molly was planning to use to feed the ducks, and Molly instead offers to buy him a bowl of chili at Kelly's. Rafe agrees, and accompanies Molly & Danny there. He leaves soon after, and is found standing over his mother's dead body by Detective John McBain. John arrests Rafe for killing Alison. However, at the station, Rafe tells Commissioner Anna Devane that John was the one who killed his mother. Uncertain about his statement, Anna has Rafe placed in lockup, where he tells Molly that he didn't kill his mother. Later, John comes to the cell, insisting to Rafe that he didn't kill Alison, and he doesn't think Rafe did, either. John goes over Rafe's statement, and helps Rafe remember that the man who killed Alison was wearing a distinctive ring. John leaves, and then Caleb shows up, pretending to be John.

He takes Rafe out of his cell, and back to Pier 52, where he kills a police officer who accompanied them. Rafe runs away from Caleb. After Rafe escapes, he hides out in Molly's room. While Molly is making breakfast and Rafe is watching Danny, Heather Webber comes in dressed as a nurse and takes Danny. After Molly tells Alexis that Danny is missing, Rafe turns himself in. John is also arrested for the murder of the police officer, and while in lockup, Rafe starts to realize that John and Caleb are two different people. John realizes that Caleb is after Sam Morgan, Molly's sister and Danny's mom. By the time he and Rafe realize this, though, Anna comes and tells him that Sam and Danny are missing.

With the help of Molly, Rafe later escapes custody with John and Lucy. The three of them break into PCU to get information about Caleb. There, they find out that "Caleb" is actually Stephen Clay, a former rock musician who went insane after the death of his wife, Livvie Locke. The three of them then go to Wyndemere to find "Caleb". Rafe stays in the living room to hold onto Danny while John and Lucy go after "Caleb".

In the time that John and Lucy are in the tunnels and rescuing Sam, Rafe is visited by Heather and a ghost form of his mother Alison. Heather tries to take Danny again, but Rafe refuses this time, telling Heather he knows who she is. After talking with Rafe, Heather then decides to turn herself in. Alison tells Rafe that "Caleb" is indeed the biological father of Rafe. John & Lucy rescue Sam, and manage to kill Stephen Clay.

The three "fugitives" then turn themselves in and later released due to Mayor Lomax wanting her image to not falter. Rafe is subsequently put in a group home. He shows up at John's motel room after getting into a fight with the other foster kids when they started making fun of his mother. Sam and Molly also show up out of concern, and John decides to let Rafe stay with him. However, Alexis tells them that Social Services won't allow John to take guardianship of Rafe, and he is brought back to the group home.

Rafe shows up weeks later at Alexis' doorstep, looking for Molly. Alexis' boyfriend Shawn Butler tells Rafe that Molly's with her boyfriend. Alexis leaves Shawn and Rafe alone, and Shawn tells Rafe that Molly's boyfriend, TJ Ashford, is someone he cares about and also cares about Molly a lot. Rafe gets the hint, and leaves before Molly comes home.

He is seen again on April 17, when Lucy Coe petitions the court for guardianship with Kevin Collins also being a guardian. The court finds that Lucy is not a suitable guardian, and Lucy suggests Sam could be his guardian. On April 18, Sam is granted temporary custody of Rafe, and she takes Rafe home. On April 29, Sam and Alexis are talking at the penthouse and Sam decides that Rafe and Molly should head out. Rafe and Molly go to Kelly's and he reminds her that the last time that he was there was the day that his mother died. They talked and Rafe decides to kiss Molly. Molly rejects the notion that she has feelings for him and decides to head inside Kelly's, whereas Rafe goes back to Sam's.

Rafe texts Molly but TJ responds pretending to be Molly. Rafe goes to Kelly's to meet Molly but finds TJ who punches him for kissing Molly. Rafe tries to cover for TJ but TJ confesses to Molly that he punched Rafe. Molly is furious, and breaks up with TJ. Rafe later comes by Molly's house, saying he wanted to apologize and he admits that though he loves her, he'd rather be friends with her than lose her forever. Molly agrees, and they hug just as TJ comes by. TJ gets the wrong idea, and Molly rejects his offer to take her to the prom. Later, she and Rafe decide to go to the prom as friends.

Sam finds out that Stephen has a brother, Dr. Silas Clay, who shows up at Sam's place after expressing no interest in Rafe. He says he wants to meet Rafe, but Sam refuses, saying Rafe will react badly because of Silas' resemblance to Stephen. As he's leaving, Rafe comes back with Molly, and sees Silas, mistaking him for Stephen. Sam explains who Silas is. However, Silas steamrolls past Sam and tries to introduce himself to Rafe, who tells Silas he doesn't want anything to do with Stephen or Silas, running away from him. The next day, Rafe tells Sam and Alexis that when he sees Silas, he's reminded of the man who murdered his mother, and doesn't want to be around him. Sam acknowledges his pain, and tries to assure him about Silas. However, when Alexis and Rafe come to Kelly's, they find Sam there with Silas, who reveals that he petitioned the court to obtain custody of Rafe. He is horrified, and becomes even more upset when Silas says that Rafe should not be ashamed to be connected to Stephen.

Rafe reminds Silas that Stephen killed his mother, and makes it clear he would rather stay with Sam & Danny. In court, however, Silas railroads Sam and wins custody of Rafe and wants to take him home back to Manhattan. This conflict and Molly's nephew Danny getting diagnosed with leukemia strengthens the relationship between Rafe and Molly. Her boyfriend, TJ Ashford, gets suspicious of the budding relationship and acts out by punching Rafe, which Molly doesn't respond well to. Molly punishes TJ by saying that Rafe is the one taking her to the prom. However, this partially backfires because a new girl, Taylor DuBois, overhears and uses information to get TJ to ask her out to the prom.

Since prom got cancelled, Molly and Rafe decide to go to the park and spend some time together before Rafe has to leave. They start slow dancing and the two share a goodbye kiss which, unbeknownst to them, TJ witnesses the kiss and thinks the two are together and ends up sleeping with Taylor. However, Silas later changes his mind, and lets Rafe stay with Sam in Port Charles while he takes a job at General Hospital. In September 2013, Molly gets back together with her boyfriend TJ Ashford after being broken up for nearly four months. This upsets Taylor and Rafe and they begin scheming ways to try to come between them, they start pretending around Molly and TJ that they are dating.

In February 2014, Rafe sees Molly and TJ getting a room at the Metro Court Hotel. Rafe tells Alexis what they are doing and also meets Ric Lansing, Molly's father. When Molly sees Rafe at the house watching Danny, she yells at him and calls him a little weasel.
 * -|2014=

Rafe wasn't seen again until June 3 when he was picked up by the cops and brought back to Sam's place. Rafe stayed behind while Sam went to Danny's birthday. While she was gone, Rafe stole money from Sam and used it to buy drugs. On June 6, Rafe met Nina Clay, Silas presumed dead wife. Nina later catches Rafe about to snort coke and she correctly calls him on his drug habit. He pleads with her to keep his secret. She initially refuses, but later agrees after he promises that he's done using cocaine. On June 16, Rafe goes to baby Gabriel's funeral but does not go in. Rafe appears to be racked with guilt over the accident and believes he is responsible. He's haunted by the sound of tire screeches and the vision of head-lights.

Rafe turns to drugs even more to help deal with his inner turmoil. When his cousin, Kiki realizes something is wrong with him and presses him to confide in her, he only tells her half the story. Rafe tells Kiki about stealing Sam's money and she encourages him to go to Sam and explain everything, reassuring him that Sam would be forgiving. Rafe takes her advice and goes to Sam's place, only to run into Molly. He and Molly also have a long talk and he apologizes for his behavior in the months prior. Molly forgives him and is open to resuming their friendship, as long as he accepts the fact that she is in love with T.J. and only wants to be Rafe's friend, which Rafe accepts. After talking with Molly, he visits the site of the accident and places flowers down for baby Gabriel.

Patrick Drake hires Sam to investigate the accident and figure out who is responsible for running his family off the road. Patrick and Sam investigate together and find out that Silas's car was responsible for running Patrick off the road. They go to the hospital to confront Silas and discover that he did take his car into the shop to repair some damage, but he wasn't the one driving that night. This left only two other suspects who could have been driving Silas's car -- Kiki and Rafe. Kiki arrives at the hospital and is ruled out as a suspect, which only left Rafe. Sam remembered Rafe's suspicious behavior in the park when they talked about Gabriel's death and realized that it could have been him.

The entire time that Patrick, Sam, Kiki and Silas were talking, Rafe was right around the corner listening in. He was devastated and afraid as they put the pieces together and figure out he was responsible. He hurried home, where he caught Nina up and out of her wheelchair and plotting to destroy Silas's relationship. Nina and her nurse Rosalie Martinez give Rafe $500 to skip town and go on the run to avoid being sent to prison, and so he would keep quiet about their plans. Rafe eventually takes the money and decides to leave for Canada. Just as he is about to leave, Molly arrives and tries to talk to him about his drug use. She gets in the car with him and refuses to get out. Sam and Dante Falconeri arrive and order Rafe and Molly out of the car. Rafe doesn't comply and speeds off with Molly in the car, leading the police on a high speed chase.

While in the car, Rafe admits to Molly that he is responsible for running Patrick and his family off the road. He tells Molly that he wasn't high when it happened and it wasn't an accident, but someone (later revealed to be Victor Cassadine) forced him to run the Drake family off the road. Whether he was forced to do this to pay back a drug debt or because he was being threatened is unknown. Just as Molly was about to ask who put him up to this, Rafe and Molly crashed into a road block. They were both seriously injured and rushed to the hospital.

At the hospital, Patrick confronts Rafe about the accident and Rafe tries to tell him something but has a seizure before he can. Rafe is in dire need of brain surgery, but the only doctor who could do it was Dr. Patrick Drake so Patrick scrubs in. The surgery goes well until he starts hemorrhaging and then he ends up brain dead. Patrick breaks the news to Silas and Sam, and Silas blames Patrick for Rafe's condition, believing that he put Rafe in that state as revenge for causing the accident. Patrick denies these claims and Sam believes him. Kiki comes to visit Rafe and is distraught when Silas breaks the news to her. Kiki tells Morgan Corinthos about Rafe's condition and Tracy Quartermaine overhears. Tracy expressed her condolences but then asked Kiki if Rafe was an organ donor, because the Quartermaine maid, Alice Gunderson suffered a heart attack and was in need of a transplant. Kiki confirmed that both she and Rafe were organ donors and while initially shocked, she agreed to approach her dad on Alice's behalf. When Kiki told Silas about Alice's need for a transplant, she learned that both Rafe and Alice were B+ in blood type.

Silas agrees to the transplant and he and Kiki tell Alice's family. Silas and Dr. Monica Quartermaine compare the hearts and determine that Rafe's heart would be a good candidate for the transplant. Chief Obrecht signs off on the transplant and everything is a go. Silas and Monica inform Tracy, Michael, Morgan and Kiki that the transplant is a go, and Tracy excitedly tells Alice. However, Dr. Obrecht returns with the results of Rafe's toxicology scan and informs them that they cannot give Rafe's heart to Alice, because not only did they find cocaine in Rafe's system, but they also found traces of heroin. On July 16, Rafe's family and friends gathered at his bedside to say goodbye. Silas turned off the life support machines and Rafe passed away with Silas, Kiki, Molly, Sam, Alexis and TJ in the room.

Crimes Committed

 * Hid from the police and Stephen Clay (aka Caleb Morley) at Molly's house [Feb 11-12, 2013]
 * Escaped from a jail cell with Molly's help [Feb 2013]
 * Fugitive; fled police custody with Lucy Coe and Det. John McBain [Feb 21, 2013; charges dropped Mar 4, 2013]
 * Driving without a license [Apr 2014; revealed Jul 2014]
 * Purposely ran Patrick Drake and his family off the road because Victor Cassadine put him up to it, which indirectly caused the death of Gabriel Santiago [Apr 24-25, 2014; Gabriel died on Jun 4, 2014; revealed Jul 2014; revealed Aug 7, 2014]
 * Attempted to steal five dollars from Franco in the park [Jun 3, 2014]
 * Stole money from Sam Morgan's purse [Jun 3, 2014]
 * Possession/use of cocaine and heroin [Jun 11, 2014; revealed Jul 14, 2014]
 * Sucker punched T.J. Ashford [Jun 11, 2014]
 * Tried to con his uncle Silas out of $400 to support his narcotics addiction, claiming the money was for a camping trip (failed, Silas didn't have the money on him) [Jul 1, 2014]
 * Obstruction of justice; went on the run to elude the police [Jul 2-3, 2014]
 * Almost ran over Sam [Jul 3, 2014]
 * Led the police on a high-speed chase [Jul 3, 2014]
 * Hit a road block set up by the police which caused him and Molly to crash [Jul 3-7, 2014]

Health and Vitals

 * Witnessed Stephen Clay (aka Caleb Morley) kill his mother [Jan 2013]
 * Was found kneeling over his mother's dead body, holding a bloody knife [Jan 31, 2013]
 * Considered a suspect in the murder of his mother, Alison Barrington and was arrested [Jan 31, 2013; innocent]
 * Taken out of his jail cell by Stephen Clay (aka Caleb Morley), who was pretending to be John McBain and witnessed him stab Officer Bud Carlson, who later died [Feb 8, 2013]
 * Beat up while living in a group home [Mar 2013]
 * Suffered a black eye after T.J. sucker punched him [May 2013]
 * Punched a wall and injured his hand [Dec 23, 2013]
 * Addicted to cocaine [Jun-Jul 2014]
 * Became a nervous wreck once he realized he killed Gabriel Santiago and learned that Silas, Sam, Patrick, and Dante were after him [Jun-Jul 2014]
 * Rendered unconscious in a car accident [Jul 3-7, 2014]
 * Suffered a severe laceration to the back of his head in a car accident [Jul 7, 2014]
 * Suffered a seizure due to fluid build up on the brain (a traumatic brain injury) [Jul 8, 2014]
 * Hemorrhaged during surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain [Jul 9, 2014; revealed Jul 10, 2014]
 * Brain dead [Jul 10-16, 2014]
 * His blood type was B+ and he was an organ donor [revealed Jul 11, 2014]
 * Taken off life support after being declared brain dead [Jul 16, 2014]