Spencer Cassadine (Nicolas Bechtel)


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

Spencer Stefan Nikolayovich Cassadine (né John Michael Jacks) is a character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. Born onscreen on February 20, 2006, Spencer has been aged to accommodate storylines for the show.

Background
Courtney Matthews first finds out she's pregnant soon after divorcing her husband, Jasper "Jax" Jacks. She and her current boyfriend, Nikolas Cassadine, are overjoyed as Courtney thought she was infertile. Jax finds out, though, and demands a paternity test be done. It comes back saying that Jax is the father. Courtney and Nikolas still decide that they will fight to keep the baby with them once it is born.

Nikolas's grandmother, Helena Cassadine, also finds out about Courtney's baby. Trying for years to control the Cassadine empire through Nikolas, Helena finally sees the means to gain access to the Cassadine money by taking Courtney's baby to raise as the Cassadine heir. Courtney decides to leave town to give herself some space to think. Helena kidnaps her just as she gets out, but Courtney eventually overpowers her and escapes. With the help of her father, Mike Corbin, Courtney goes into hiding.

Birth
In Febuary 2006, Port Charles is hit by a deadly encephalitis plague. Both Nikolas and Courtney contract the virus. They end up getting engaged, but Courtney goes into labor shortly after due to the virus. Courtney tells the doctors to save her unborn baby, as she fought to keep him alive. She gives birth to a severely premature baby boy via c-section, and doctors are able to keep him breathing. Jax and Nikolas, who has recovered from the virus, keep an eye on the baby for Courtney. Courtney tells Jax she wants to name the baby John, after Jax's father. Overwhelmed with guilt, Jax confesses to Courtney that Nikolas is the baby's biological father, and that he had the test changed so that it would look like he was the father. Courtney tries to tell Nikolas this, but by the time he arrives, Courtney is severely weakened and dies without telling Nikolas the truth.

Baby John, as he is called, is able to fight despite being premature. He is infected by the virus, but luckily, he recovers. While he is in the hospital, Nikolas visits John to fulfill Courtney's wish of wanting to take care of her baby with him. Unfortunately, Jax keeps him away by ordering doctors not to allow Nikolas to see him, then getting a restraining order placed against Nikolas to make sure he stays away from John. When John recovers and leaves the hospital, Jax raises him with the help of Carly Corinthos, Courtney's best friend who he is now dating.

Paternity revealed
A doctor becomes suspicious of Jax and Carly's behavior and has another test done on John, which Nikolas becomes aware of. In June 2006, Jax holds a baptism for Courtney's son, naming him John Michael Jacks, after his father and Courtney's, and naming Carly the godmother. Dr. Robin Scorpio finds the results of the paternity test that Nikolas knew about, and believes Carly was responsible for the lies. She tells Nikolas the truth at John's baptism. Nikolas doesn't believe her, saying that he figured the test would only prove that John was Jax's son. Jax, however, intercedes and tells Nikolas that he is John's father, and that he tampered with the test to keep John and Courtney safe from Helena.

Jax gives John back to Nikolas, who, though upset over Jax's manipulations, resolves himself to be a good father. He is also able to heal his relationship with ex-wife Emily Quartermaine, who divorced Nikolas when she found out he and Courtney were having an affair. Nikolas decides to rename John so that he will stop thinking about the time his son was kept away from him. John is renamed Spencer after Nikolas' brother and sister, Lucky and Lulu Spencer. Emily is named Spencer's godmother.

Kidnapping
Nikolas hires Colleen McHenry as a nanny to Spencer. She becomes obsessed with Nikolas and falls in love with him, but Nikolas is falling back in love with Emily, who is also becoming a part of Spencer's life. Nikolas fires Colleen after finding out that all the fathers she previously worked for ended up dead.

Unfortunately, that doesn't stop Colleen. She kidnaps Spencer right before the Christmas manger in 2006, and Nikolas and Emily go after her. They find Colleen, but Spencer has already been taken by Helena, who followed Colleen, wanting Spencer to herself. Nikolas and Emily follow Helena to St. Petersburg and ambush her at a cathedral, where she is trying to baptize Spencer under a different name. She holds a knife to Spencer, threatening to kill him unless Nikolas lets her go. Fortunately, Nikolas and Emily reverse the tables and manage to get Spencer back, while Helena escapes in January 2007. Nikolas and Emily baptize him at the cathedral as Spencer Alexi Nikolayovich Cassadine.

Nikolas' struggles to be a good father
Nikolas and Emily, back together, raise Spencer with help from Spencer's extended family. Nikolas proposes to Emily on October 31, 2007, who promises to help him raise Spencer, but Emily is killed that same night by the Text Message Killer, Diego Alcazar. Nikolas goes into a depression, not looking after Spencer. He finds out he has a tumor in his brain, which is making him see Emily in hallucinations. Initially, he won't let go of her, but she tells him to let go of her for the sake of Spencer, so that he has a father. Nikolas agrees, and has the tumor removed.

Spencer is shown rapidly aged later on when Nikolas is dating Nadine Crowell, a nurse who helped him get treated for the tumor. Nikolas and Nadine break up, and Nikolas starts seeing Rebecca Shaw, who is later revealed to be Emily's twin sister. After he introduces Spencer to Rebecca, he tells Rebecca that he doesn't want Spencer to get to know someone, only to have them disappear from his life, which is why he held off introducing them. Lucky later tells Nikolas that he doesn't spend enough time with his son, worrying about Rebecca more and leaving Spencer with a nanny. Nikolas later breaks up with Rebecca, unable to shake his feelings for Elizabeth Webber.

Elizabeth finds out she is pregnant in February 2010, and both Nikolas and she believe the baby is his. When he tells Elizabeth he wants to start a relationship with her and raise their child together, Elizabeth refuses and reprimands him for leaving Spencer with his nanny often and not spending enough time with him. Nikolas resolves to be a better father to Spencer, spending more time with him than before and bringing Elizabeth's sons, Cameron and Jake, over to Wyndemere to play with Spencer.