Summer '80

And they're off! On the day of Luke's wedding to Mafia princess Jennifer Smith, Scotty found out Luke was the "man in the park" who had raped his wife, Laura. He showed up at the Smith yacht and got into a brawl with Luke (far left), which resulted in Luke going overboard and disappearing. As Laura was running on the docks to catch up to Scotty she felt a hand on her ankle: It was Luke. She fished him out of the water and they went on the run, trying to crack the mystery of the "left-handed boy" (the key to Luke getting out of mob boss Frank Smith's control). The left-handed boy turned out to be a statue (near left) in which gold was hidden.

Fall '80--Summer '81

When Luke and Laura returned from their summer on the run they didn't live happily ever after. She pretended nothing had happened between them and attempted to get back with Scotty. When she realized that was a mistake, she moved into her own apartment, got a job as a receptionist for ELQ and tried to win back Luke's love. A new mystery began when Alexandria Quartermaine (above with Luke and Edward Quartermaine) came to town with talk of the Ice Princess (which turned out to be one of the world's largest diamonds; above left). Of course, the story didn't really heat up until the summer, when Luke, Laura and Robert Scorpio stowed away on the Cassadine yacht (Alex's boyfriend was Andre Cassadine). They ended up on the Cassadine island and eventually saved the world from the crazy Mikkos and his weather-control machine. ("Ice Princess" was the code to the computer that stopped the machine from freezing Port Charles.)

Fall '81

Laura didn't make the mistake of pushing Luke away after spending the summer of '81 on the run. They got engaged almost immediately upon their return, and married on the Nov. 16 and 17 episodes. The mayor of Port Charles let them use his mansion for the wedding as thanks for Luke having saved the town from Mikkos. But what would one of Luke's weddings be without Scotty picking a fight? When he surprised guests and viewers by suddenly turning up back in town--at the wedding, and catching the bouquet (below)--Luke jumped from the balcony and pummeled him. The Spencers rode off into the sunset but the honeymoon wouldn't last forever: Genie Francis announced she was leaving the show, and Helena Cassadine, Mikkos' widow, put a curse on the couple at their wedding. Sure enough, several months later Laura disappeared off a foggy pier.

Fall '83

In the two years following Laura's disappearance (everyone thought she had drowned), Luke had fallen in love again (with Holly Sutton) and had "died," too, (he was thought to have been buried in an avalanche). When he returned to town he discovered that Holly had married his best friend, Robert (because she was pregnant, and was going to be deported). Luke recovered from this betrayal, opened a casino and became mayor. After his inaugural party Luke became nostalgic as he walked the grounds of his new digs. As he was looking out over the balcony, reminiscing about his wedding day, he saw what he thought was a mirage (or a hologram, which was the case once before): It was Laura! Luke ran into the mansion and down the stairs (rather than jumping off the balcony as he did at his wedding) and stopped just short of touching her. When she started crying and saying it was really her, they embraced and were finally reunited. Luke resigned as mayor and the Spencers took off on a trip around the world, eventually settling in Texas.

Fall '84

Frisco and Felicia took over as Port Charles' new super couple when Luke and Laura left. Robert got involved in Felicia's search for her Aztec treasure, and brought Frisco and Felicia to Texas to enlist Luke's help. (Laura was shown, but mainly hung out at the hacienda with Felicia's grandmother, Maria.) The story was hardly a return of Luke and Laura; it was more an excuse to get Robert and Luke (pictured) involved in some high-adventure situations.