Rocco Falconeri

Benjamin "Ben" Falconeri (né Westbourne) is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. He is the son of Dante and Lulu Falconeri via IVF.

Background
Ben is the son of Dante and Lulu Falconeri via IVF and was carried by Dr. Britt Westbourne. Britt stole the Falconeri's embryos and her mother, Dr. Liesl Obrecht implanted her with them, in order to win Dr. Patrick Drake back by passing the baby off as Patrick's. When Patrick threatens to take the baby away from Britt, she admits that the baby isn't his. Britt feels Ben kick for the first time on June 7, 2013. On August 13, Britt and Patrick find out that the baby is a boy. Dante and Lulu learn the truth about Ben's paternity on February 18, 2014. On March 24, 2014, Elizabeth Webber shows Lulu a letter that Britt wrote revealing Ben's true maternity. On March 25, 2014, Lulu confronts Britt at her and Nikolas' engagement party, and Britt finally admits the truth about Ben's full parentage.

Storylines
Britt revealed that she was pregnant with Patrick Drake's baby at the Nurses Ball and everyone is shocked and believes she is lying. Patrick and his girlfriend, Sabrina Santiago perform a DNA test and it turns out that he is Patrick's. However, it is later discovered that this test was tampered with by Britt's mother, Dr. Liesl Obrecht. When Patrick threatens took get full custody of their son Britt reveals that he is not the father and claims that Brad Cooper is the father via sperm donation.
 * -|2013=

Ben was born on September 9, 2013 to Dr. Britt Westbourne, after having just revealed the truth to Patrick, that he is not her son's father, Britt is confronted by Sabrina. Britt begins experiencing pains and they soon discover that she is in labor. Nikolas Cassadine, who was hosting Britt at his home, arrives at Wyndemere and finds Britt on the floor and Sabrina tells him the she is in labor. He informs them that the launch will not be back in time to get Britt to the hospital. Britt is forced to deliver her son, without any medication, at Wyndemere with the help of Sabrina and Nikolas.

Soon after the baby is born, Britt realizes that something is wrong with him. Using her experience as an OBGYN, Britt deduces that there is fluid in her son's lungs and he needs to be rushed to the hospital immediately. The launch arrives but Britt is in no condition to be moved, so after some convincing she allows Sabrina to take her son to the. Sabrina rushes the baby to the hospital and he is saved by Dr. Silas Clay. Brad watches through the hospital room window as Silas works to save the baby. Meanwhile back at Wyndemere the launch returns and Nikolas carries Britt out of the house and to the launch. When they arrive at the hospital, Dr. Clay tells Britt that her son is fine and Sabrina got him to the hospital just in time. After Nikolas and Britt leave to get Britt checked out, Sabrina's friend Nurse Felix DuBois comments that the baby looks nothing like Brad and Nikolas also says that he looks nothing like Britt either, adding to the theory that Britt is lying about the baby's biological parents.

When Britt is getting ready to leave the hospital, she runs into Nikolas and tells him she named her son Ben, because her best friend in med school had a son named Ben and she liked the name. He is taken back to Wyndemere, due to Britt not being able to find a place to stay, and is subsequently kidnapped by his estranged and fugitive "grandmother" Dr. Obrecht. Obrecht brings him to Cassadine Island, where she gives him to Dr. Robin Scorpio-Drake, Patrick's wife who is supposedly deceased, being held captive by Obrecht. Robin is led to believe that Ben is Patrick's child with Britt, and takes care of him.

While trying to get her son back from her father, Britt tells Faison that Ben is not her biological son. Faison thinks Britt is lying and refuses to hand "little Cesar" over to her, but he is forced to when Nikolas arrives with a gun and demands that Faison returns Ben to Britt. On their way out to get Robin and leave the island, Nikolas and Britt encounter Jerry Jacks. He forces them all to return to Port Charles with Robin, Faison and Dr. Obrecht so that Robin can synthesize a cure for polonium poisoning from Luke Spencer's blood for Jerry. Ben returns to Port Charles with Britt and Nikolas. Britt admitted to Nikolas that neither Patrick Drake nor Brad Cooper are Ben's biological father. As Britt embarks on a new romantic relationship with Nikolas, she is tempted to tell him the entire truth of Ben's parentage. However she changes her mind at the last minute and tells him that she got pregnant by an anonymous sperm donor instead of admitting the truth.

Meanwhile, Dante and Lulu are going through the heartbreak of losing their daughter, Connie, the child they thought was theirs carried by their surrogate and friend, Maxie Jones, but turned out to be Maxie's biological daughter with Damian Spinelli. Dante and Lulu are forced to give Connie back to Spinelli. Dante suggests they use their other embryos and try for another child. However, at the hospital, they find out that the embryos have disappeared. The lab tech, Ellie Trout, asks for answers from her boss, Brad Cooper, who claims to know nothing about them disappearing, and says he'll go ask Britt.

When Obrecht is arrested for Robin's kidnapping, she blackmails Britt into helping her by threatening to reveal the truth about Ben. Britt visits her mom, and there, it's revealed that Obrecht used Dante and Lulu's last remaining embryo to help Britt get pregnant, and Ben is actually Dante and Lulu's son. Britt goes back to Wyndemere, and finds Brad there, who tells her that Dante and Lulu know their embryos are gone, and they're probably going to find out Britt has their son. Lulu travels out to Wyndemere to question Britt in person, but Britt isn't there.

However, this gives Lulu the opportunity to meet her son for the first time, though she is still unaware of their connection. Ben meets his biological father for the first time when Lulu invites Nikolas to spend Christmas with her and Dante. Britt and Ben accompany Nikolas to the Falconeri's loft and here Dante is able to meet Ben. Lulu and Dante spend Christmas day bonding with Ben, still unaware that he is their child. Ben also spends time with his father at the hospital and gets to see his biological mother.

In the following weeks, Lulu visits Nikolas more often and as a result, spends a lot of time bonding with Ben. In early February 2014, when Lulu is watching Ben for Nikolas she notices a rash on his arm. When she brings this up to Nikolas, he tells her that Ben is allergic to latex and certain fruits. Lulu is astonished that Dante shares the same exact allergies as Ben. Later, Nikolas goes to the hospital to get a refill of Ben's allergy cream, when he runs into Elizabeth Webber. He tells Elizabeth that Britt used an anonymous sperm donor to get pregnant and she wonders who Ben's real father could be. Elizabeth becomes suspicious of a connection between Dante and Ben when Lulu's cousin, Lucas Jones arrives at the hospital needing a refill of the same allergy cream for Dante.
 * -|2014=

Elizabeth shares her suspicions with Felix and he agrees to help her run a DNA test on Ben and Dante. Elizabeth gets her hands on Ben's hairbrush, while Felix is able to get a bottle that Dante drank from, and they took these two items to the lab to run the test. Elizabeth and Felix received the results of the paternity test on Valentine's Day and they proved that Dante is Ben's biological father. Elizabeth then went to Wyndemere and confronted Britt about stealing Dante's sperm. The two got into a cat fight and Elizabeth advised Britt to tell Nikolas the truth, because she was going to tell Dante that Ben is his son.

As Elizabeth heads to Lulu and Dante's loft to tell them the truth, Britt tells Nikolas that Dante is Ben's father, right after Nikolas proposes to her. Britt leaves out the fact that Lulu is also Ben's biological mother, and when asked if she knew all along, she lies and says she had no idea that her mother used Dante's sperm to impregnate her. Nikolas and Britt then head to the Falconeri loft to tell Britt's side of the story, unaware that Elizabeth has not yet told them the news. Nikolas blurts out to Dante and Lulu that Britt had no idea Dante was Ben's father. Britt explains that it was all her mother's idea to use an existing sperm sample from the lab. She denies knowing that the sample was Dante's, despite Elizabeth's disbelief. Dante asks to see his son, but Nikolas and Britt convince him to wait until the morning. Elizabeth leaves Dante and Lulu with the paternity test and when alone Lulu congratulates Dante on becoming a father. The next day, Dante tells Sonny that Ben is his son. A few days later, Dante spends time with his son. On March 20, Elizabeth discovers the letter Britt wrote to Lulu that says she is Ben's mother. On March 24, Elizabeth shows Lulu the letter. The truth comes out to everyone on March 25, 2014.

Health and Vitals

 * Had fluid in his lungs when he was born. [Sep 9, 2013]
 * Kidnapped by Liesl Obrecht [Sep 2013]
 * Allergic to latex and has latex fruit syndrome; uses special cream (revealed on Feb 3, 2014); this is the same condition his father, Dante has.
 * Threatened with a dagger by Liesl Obrecht [Mar 2014]
 * Kidnapped by Liesl Obrecht again [Mar 2014]