Charlotte Cassadine (Scarlett Fernandez)

Charlotte Cassadine is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. She is the daughter of Valentin Cassadine and Lulu Spencer-Falconeri via IVF and was carried by Claudette Beaulieu. She is the Cassadine heir right after her father.

She was formerly believed to be the daughter of Det. Nathan West and then of Dr. Griffin Munro due to Claudette's lies. She was also formerly believed to be the daughter of Claudette Beaulieu, who is still her legal mother and the only mother Charlotte has ever known.

Through her mother's marriage, she gained Det. Dante Falconeri as a stepfather. Through her father's marriage, she gained Nina Reeves as a stepmother.

In March 2017, Valentin (and Nina) and Lulu (and Dante) started a custody battle with both wanting sole custody and joint custody not being on the table. The battle ended with Valentin getting sole custody and Lulu supervised visitations rights. It was also mentioned that in 6 months custody will be revisited.

Casting
Charlotte made her first appearance in a picture on September 21, 2016.

The casting of Scarlett Fernandez as Charlotte was announced in an issue of Soaps In Depth.

Fernandez made her first appearance on October 13, 2016.

Background
On September 21, 2016, Claudette revealed to Nathan that she had given birth to a daughter, whom she named Charlotte, soon after their relationship ended. Claudette believed Nathan was Charlotte's father, as they never used protection, but knew there was a small chance her former lover, Griffin Munro could be the father.

Immediately after getting this news, Nathan tells his fiancée, Maxie Jones, who encourages him to get a paternity test done. Claudette had a lock of Charlotte's hair in a necklace and they used it to conduct the DNA test. Nathan sent the samples to a private lab. On September 29, the DNA test showed that Nathan is Charlotte's father. Nathan wants to see his "daughter" as soon as possible, but Claudette is afraid to reveal "their" daughter's whereabouts.

When pushed, Claudette tells Nathan that she is trying to protect her daughter and herself from Valentin Cassadine, with whom she had a prior romantic entanglement. After things went south between Claudette and Valentin, she claims that he began threatening her and Charlotte, so they went into hiding.

On November 9, 2016, it was revealed that Charlotte was hiding with Claudette's mom, Amelia and it was also revealed that Valentin is actually her true father. On December 6, 2016, Laura and Kevin are astonished by how Charlotte seemed incredibly well adjusted for a girl in her age who had been through a tremendous amount of upheaval in recent months. Laura agreed and added that Charlotte also seemed to adore Valentin and must be completely unaware of what he was capable of. On December 8-9, it was revealed that Claudette was just the surrogate and that Lulu Spencer-Falconeri is her biological mother.

On January 11, 2017, it was revealed that Claudette is dead and Valentin tells Charlotte on January 13. With Claudette dead, Valentin becomes her sole legal parent and the only person she trusts, although she has begun to get close to her stepmother Nina and has apparently begun to trust her. Unlike her biological mother, Lulu, who she has begun to hate and detest after being told during her grief of Claudette that she is her real mother. After her first supervised visit with her mother, Charlotte starts to soften towards her.

She seems to like her half-brother, Rocco and her stepfather, Dante. In addition, she has befriended Emma Scorpio-Drake and as of now is known to be her only friend.

Storylines
On October 13, Charlotte arrived in town with her "mother" and finally got to meet her "father" at the PCPD. She also met her "father's" fiancée, Maxie.
 * -|2016=

Maxie still had her doubts about Charlotte's paternity and unbeknownst to Nathan or Claudette, ordered a second DNA test, using a juice box Charlotte drank out of as a sample for comparison to Nathan. On October 18, the second DNA test returned and proved that Nathan is not Charlotte's father, which means the first test was tampered with somehow. Nathan was shocked at this news, but Maxie was not surprised that Claudette lied. Later on, Nathan gets Claudette to admit that she used his mother's hair for the DNA test and that Griffin is in fact the father. Afterwards, Charlotte meets her "real" father.

On November 7, it was later revealed that Valentin Cassadine is actually her father. Valentin revealed to Anna and Griffin a copy of her birth certificate, on which he was listed as the father and her name was listed as Charlotte Cassadine. Charlotte was finally reunited with her father after so long. During the custody battle, Charlotte reveals she only called Griffin "daddy" because Claudette told her to and that she knew all along that Valentin was her "papa" and that she adores and loves her father Valentin more than anyone. In the end, Valentin eventually wins custody of Charlotte and they move into Wyndemere Castle on Spoon Island. Soon they start hanging out with Nina.

In December, Charlotte sees Santa Claus and tells him that the only thing she wants is her mom. Afterwards she meets Lulu and Rocco and Lulu feels a very deep connection to her. On December 8, it was revealed that Claudette was just the surrogate.

Lulu and Maxie are caught after they find the paperwork that proves Claudette was just the surrogate. Dr. Bellamy calls Valentin, who later arrives just before Dante and Nathan. Valentin confirms to the group that Lulu is Charlotte's biological mother. He explains that Helena promised Stavros a child with Lulu, but after Helena discovered that Stavros could not father a child, she sent Daphne to seduce Valentin and recover a sample. Daphne brought Valentin's sample to Helena, and by the time Valentin figured out what had happened, the embryo had already been created, so he stole it from Helena and recruited Claudette to carry it. However after giving birth, she betrayed Valentin and kidnapped Charlotte from him.

On December 14, Lulu received DNA results that prove she is Charlotte's mother. On December 19, after receiving permission from Valentin to take Charlotte to the Christmas Tree lighting, Lulu remarks that Charlotte has Nikolas's eyes. She also meets and befriends Emma Scorpio-Drake.

In January 2017, Valentin and Nina tell Charlotte that they got married and Charlotte at first appeared emotionless on the news and then surprises Nina ecstatically on how happy that she is her stepmom. She also watches the two exchange wedding rings. A little while later, Valentin tells Charlotte that Claudette is dead, she mourns for the only mother she has ever known and in a few short moments she suggests that maybe Nina can be her new mommy. On January 17, 2017, Charlotte is seen at Nathan and Maxie's wedding with her father and stepmother.
 * -|2017=

On January 19, 2017, after Charlotte runs off, Lulu goes after her and finds out that she misses Claudette so Lulu tells her, against Valentin's wishes, that she is her real mommy. To which she reacts very badly too and accidentally locks Lulu in a linen closet. Charlotte runs over to Nina and relays what Lulu said. Nina tells her not to worry about it. Valentin joins them and Charlotte tells him Griffin says he killed her mom. Valentin says that’s a lie and vows to her that he would never harm anyone that she loved. Also she told him what Lulu told her, and he told her not to think about it for it's unimportant, and promises to explain the matter to her when she gets older and when he figures out a way to explain it properly.

Charlotte is later seen at the Crimson offices as she came to work with Nina. When Nina is called away Maxie calls Lulu, who comes by and she hangs out with Charlotte. She gets upset at Lulu for touching her drawing and goes off on her. She gets traumatized by this confrontation to the point that she detests Lulu.

In March 2017, Valentin (and Nina) with their lawyer Nora Buchanan and Lulu (and Dante) with their lawyer Diane Miller started a custody battle with both wanting sole custody and joint custody not being on the table. The battle ended with Valentin getting sole custody and Lulu supervised visitations rights (one hour a week) to ensure a smooth transition for Charlotte to accepting Lulu as her mother, for it was believed through the evaluation of Charlotte done by Dr. Andre Maddox that Charlotte will be severely traumatized if she was taken from her father and put in an environment that she felt uncomfortable in. It was also mentioned that in 6 months custody will be revisited.

In March 21, Nelle Benson was hired as Charlotte's new nanny.

During her first visit with Lulu, the two have fun making scones, going on an Easter egg hunt, seeing bunnies and they also agree to have a tea party during their next visit. It is clearly seen that Charlotte is starting to soften towards Lulu.

Later on at the Metro Court with her papa, Charlotte expresses that she misses Claudette and how confused she is about how Lulu is mother. Valentin explains that she was created in a very special way and that he and Nina will explain it to her when they get home. Charlotte also tells her papa that she had fun with Lulu but feels guilty because it's not fair to her mommy, Claudette, her papa or Nina. Valentin tells Charlotte that although he and Lulu don't get along, he wants Charlotte to form her own opinion of Lulu.

In May, Charlotte is seen at the park with Nelle, Michael and Avery.

A few days later, Charlotte is left at school by Nelle and they couldn't get a hold of her father so they called her mother and Charlotte ended up spending the night at her mother's house. She also sees Griffin at the Metro Court.

Crimes Committed

 * Accidentally locked her mother, Lulu in a linen closet [Jan 23, 2017]

Health and Vitals

 * Weighed 7lbs 3oz and was 19ins long at birth [revealed Dec 8, 2016]
 * Kidnapped by Claudette Beaulieu [pre-2016-Oct 24, 2016; revealed Dec 12, 2016]
 * Put into secluded and hidden locations by Claudette, unknowingly to keep her hidden from her father. [pre-2016-Oct 13, 2016; revealed Sep 29, 2016]
 * Abandoned by Claudette, the only mother she has ever known. [Oct 24, 2016]
 * Traumatized after an encounter with Lulu after being told that she was her real mother [Jan 17, 2017]
 * Traumatized again after an encounter with her mother at Crimson [Feb 8, 2017]
 * Pushed by Jake Spencer [May 25, 2017]