GENERAL HOSPITAL

Shortly after Cam died, Lesley discovered she was pregnant with his baby. In her hour of distress, Rick comforted her and the two fell in love. Monica had always loved Rick Webber and schemed to break up the relationship. However, after she became the cause of Lesley's tragic miscarriage, she promised to stop interfering. Rick and Lesley were finally wed and settled down with her daughter Laura.

David Hamilton, an old buddy of Rick's, moved in with Rick, Lesley and Laura. Secretly he hated Rick because David's late wife had loved him. He made advances to Lesley. When she rejected him, he turned to Laura, a teenager enchanted by the older, worldly man and let herself become entangled in a torrid love affair. When Rick found out about it, he ordered David to leave town. Laura, who had given her body to David, begged him to take her with him. Then she overheard him tell Lesley that he had only made love to Laura to make Lesley jealous. Laura was stunned. Confronting David, she threw a statue at him, causing him to hit his head on the hearth. A horrified Laura fled the apartment. Minutes later Lesley found David on the floor--dead! To save her daughter from Jail, Lesley confessed to the murder and was indicted. Laura was so distressed that she blocked the whole death scene from her mind and later ran away to New York without testifying at her mother's trial. Lesley was sent to prison.

Young Scotty Baldwin had been in love with Laura before her affair began with David and now, frantic with concern for her whereabouts, Scotty and his friend, Bryan Phillips, went to New York to look for her. They found Laura involved in a drug and prostitution ring. Posing as street hustlers, Scotty and Bryan rescued her and brought her back to Port Charles, where she finally confessed to killing David. Lesley was freed.

The whole Webber family suffered unendingly. Unable to rid herself of her guilt over lying to her husband Rick for so many months about David's true killer, Lesley could not have sexual relations with him. And Laura, who was sentenced to six months probation under her mother's watchful eye, felt like a prisoner in her own home. Her only source of comfort was Scotty, who was still in love with her even though he had been having an affair on the rebound with a vivacious but gold-digging student nurse named Bobbie Spencer. To take up with Laura again, Scotty ended his affair with scheming Bobbi [sic], only to be told that she was pregnant by him. That turned out to be a lie.

Bobbi was determined to make Scotty marry her and she enlisted the aid of her brother, Luke, a brash and streetwise young man with underworld connections but who was devoted to his family. In one viscious [sic] scheme after another, Luke helped his sister Bobbi in causing a rift between Scotty and Laura. Before long, however, Luke began to take an interest in Laura himself.

Monica had already married insecure and jealous Dr. Alan Quartermaine, the son of wealthy Edward and Lila. Sensing that his wife Monica had been unfaithful with Rick whom she had always loved, Alan Quartermaine undermined Rick's career at the Hospital at every turn. Meanwhile, Rick Webber, still frustrated by Lesley's frigidity, returned Monica's interest and they had an extramarital affair. But just as he was about to leave Lesley for Monica, Rick learned that Lesley's daughter Laura had been in a serious car accident. Rick saved Laura's life and the emotional experience brought Rick and Lesley together again, while a frustrated Monica was forced to return to the sham of her marriage with Alan Quartermaine.

Monica soon learned that she was pregnant--with Rick's baby, she believed. One day, while Monica and Lesley were trapped by a blizzard, Monica deliriously shouted that the baby was Rick's. A shattered Lesley told Rick that she planned to divorce him. Rick now wanted to marry Monica and start a family with her and their baby. But Alan swore that if Monica ever tried to divorce him and embarrass him in the eyes of the world, he would use the Quartermaine fortune to take her child away from her.

Alan's spoiled and money-hungry sister, Tracy, had wanted nothing better than for her brother and Monica to break up, for she wanted the Quartermaine fortune to go to her own son Ned, not Alan and Monica's baby. Now Tracy began to prove that Monica's newborn baby, Alan Jr., was really fathered by Rick. As brother and sister battled each other, their mother Lila discovered an interesting fact: Alan Jr.'s birthmark looked exactly like Alan's. Monica was stunned! Further medical tests proved that Alan was really the father. At first Monica tried to keep the truth a secret from both Alan and Rick, but the truth came out and Rick, realizing that Monica was a heartless manipulator, went back to Lesley. Again, Monica had to face boredom with Alan.

Heather schemed to get her son back from the Taylors by driving Diana insane! Without realizing the danger, Diana had named Heather and Jeff baby P.J.'s legal guardians should anything happen to Diana and Peter. Heather began by making anonymous threatening phone calls to poor Diana. Peter hired private detective Joe Kelly to discover the caller's identity. At the same time Steve Hardy also hired Joe Kelly to locate Steven Lars (P.J.!), who was, after all, his grandson. Still trying to drive Diana crazy, Heather spiked her drink with LSD, but accidentally ingested the drug herself. Now Heather went insane! Unable to bear Heather's cruel deceit any longer, her mother, Alice Grant, told Peter that his son was none other than Steven Lars. The shock was too much for Peter, who suffered a heart attack and died. Dreadful Heather, now institutionalized, was responsible for the tragedy.

The widowed Diana became frantic that she would lose P.J. to his real father, Jeff Webber, and so began a campaign to try to marry him, Meanwhile, Heather, coming out of her LSD-induced psychosis, became suspicious that her husband was involved with another woman and fled the asylum. She spotted Jeff kissing nurse Anne Logan, Audrey Hardy's pretty young niece, and swore to get even.

Diana Taylor was found murdered! On the floor beside her, written in her own blood, was scrawled the name "Anne." Jeff believed that unstable Heather had committed the heinous crime, intent on framing Anne. At first Jeff refused to let Heather near their son, and then finally he divorced Heather and left Port Charles with Steven Lars.

Heather was being investigated by detective Joe Kelly, who found strong evidence connecting her to Diana's murder. Finally Heather admitted to killing Diana the night of the murder, but she couldn't remember actually pulling the trigger of her gun. Joe Kelly, who was falling in love with Heather, now believed her innocent and eventually discovered that Heather's mother, Alice Grant, had killed Diana. It turned out that Alice had followed Heather to Diana's that awful night, saw Heather point the gun at Diana, then saw Diana pull out her own gun. Fearful that her daughter would be killed, Alice shot Diana. That judge sentenced Heather to six months's [sic] probation for attempted murder and, citing extenuating circumstances, set Alice free.

Teenagers Laura Vining and Scotty Baldwin were wed, but Laura soon realized that she had made a mistake. She was really attracted to the far more interesting Luke Spencer and his unconventional life-style and offbeat friends. Luke, too, was drawn to Laura and her wholesomeness and innocence. Taking a job at the Campus Disco, which Luke managed for the mob, Laura had at first become wonderful friends with Luke. But soon their story took a dramatic turn when the mob elected Luke to perform a hit job on Tracy Quartermaine's new husband, Mitch Williams, the corrupt assistant D.A. who was now running for Senator and campaigning to crack down on organized crime. Luke surmised that he was soon about to die himself; if he didn't assassinate Mitch Williams the mob would kill Luke, and if he did kill Mitch he would hang for it. Tormented by his fate, Luke confessed to Laura the secret of his love for her and began kissing her passionately, tearing at her clothes, until she resisted. Then, on the floor of the disco, he raped her.

Laura became personally implicated in these underworld doings. She was spotted overhearing a conversation between Luke's boss, Frank Smith, and his henchmen. Laura now knew too much and was being watched by Frank's men. Meanwhile, Frank's daughter, Jennifer, was attracted to Luke, who, pressured by Frank, was forced to propose marriage. Disheartened, Laura decided she had to make the best of her marriage to Scotty. But on the day of Luke and Jennifer's wedding aboard the Smith yacht, Scotty read a letter Laura had written to Luke and found out who her rapist was. Minutes before the wedding ceremony, Scotty beat up Luke, who fell overboard and was presumed drowned. Later Laura discovered him on shore and the two fled Port Charles.

Frank Smith found out that Luke and Laura, before they left town, had stolen Smith's coded black book which, once uncoded [sic], would detail all of his criminal activities and put him in jail for good. Frank became desperate to get the couple back into his clutches and tried one scheme after another to force them to return. He even severely beat Luke's kind-hearted aunt, Ruby Anderson, but failed to bring Luke out into the open. Finally, Frank sent a hit man named Hutch after him. Meanwhile, Luke and Laura were having a glorious time while running for their lives. Although he was ready, she wasn't sure whether she wanted to break her marriage vows and make love to him, so Luke good-naturedly agreed to hold off.

The hit man Hutch found Luke and Laura and befriended them, secretly waiting for the right moment to dispatch the two. The three secured jobs in a local tavern, little suspecting that the owner of the tavern, Sally, was really a hit man in drag, sent by Smith to kill all three of them.

Luke decoded the black book--at last he had the goods on Smith and he and Laura could return to Port Charles. Suddenly, Laura was kidnapped by Sally Max, the hit man in drag. A shootout took place in which Hutch was critically wounded and Max Killed [sic]. The black book was turned over to the police, the organization was broken up and Frank Smith was jailed. With the nightmare over, Luke and Laura returned to the farm where they had spent their happiest moments. Luke made advances to Laura and this time, sure of her feelings for him, she made love to him.

They returned triumphantly to Port Charles, but the sight of the reporters brought back the David Hamilton affair all over again. Pressed for a statement about her involvement with Luke, Laura blurted out that she was still Mrs. Scott Baldwin and had been unfaithful to her husband. Laura regretted what she said and was ready to ask Scotty for a divorce, but Luke, destroyed by her outburst, decided to part with Laura.

Edward Quartermaine's shrewd, beautiful niece, Alexandria, arrived in town to work on a business deal with her uncle. However, she was really interested in locating an ugly little abstract black statue known as the Ice Princess, and she hired Luke Spencer to find it. Luke certainly didn't know the Ice Princess was not only the world's largest uncut diamond, but also contained the secret formula for the manufacture of synthetic diamonds. At the same time Laura began working as a receptionist at Edward Louis Quartermaine Industries, where Luke also worked, although he wasn't ready yet to resume their affair. As Luke started digging for information on the Ice Princess, he was thwarted at every turn by several sinister characters, including Tony Cassadine and Robert Scorpio. Soon Luke and Robert Scorpio, who secretly worked for the World Security Bureau, became good friends. Robert told Luke the truth about the statue and the formula and that if the formula for synthetic diamonds fell into the hands of the infamous Cassidines [sic] they could control the world. Luke also learned that Alexandria Quartermaine had been in cahoots with them. A second Cassadine brother, Victor, arrived in Port Charles, and it was Victor who finally wound up with the statue.

Robert Scorpio found out that the Cassadines were about to set sail with the Ice Princess, and he and Luke stowed away on their yacht, the Haunted Star. Once on board they found another stowaway--Laura! She would not be parted from Luke. The yacht brought them all to the Cassadine's lush, tropical private island. The Cassadine brothers and their guests were lodged in a huge underground cavern, where they were joined by the eldest Cassadine brother, the evil genius Mikkos. The stowaways, meanwhile, managed to find a hiding place on the island. Mikkos revealed his master plan: with the formula now in his possession, he could manufacture a substance with the ability to alter climates of the world! Back on the surface, Luke and Laura were enjoying their tropical paradise, while Scorpio found his way underground with the help of Victor's mistress, beautiful actress Tiffany Hill. She was horrified by Mikkos's plan. As the four concocted a way to stop the Cassadines, Mikkos gave the head of the World Security Bureau an ultimatum: surrender to him now or he would freeze the major cities of the world, starting with Port Charles! To do just that, Mikkos had invented a terrifying machine. In the end, Luke and Scorpio were able to turn the evil freezing machine back on Mikkos himself, freezing Mikkos, Alexandria Quartermaine and Tony Cassadine all to death! Victor was jailed, and the world was now safe from the Cassadines.

Dr. Noah Drake arrived at General Hospital. He quickly became known as a ladies man, dating several of the nurses, including Bobbi Spencer. Their romance progressed to the serious stage swiftly.

Robert, Luke and Laura returned to Port Charles as heroes. Laura flew to Mexico to obtain her divorce from Scotty. He agreed. The wedding took place with everyone attending. But, Scotty interrupted the affair by catching the bouquet and vowing to cause trouble.

Joe Kelly proved that Heather didn't kill Diana, but she had died accidentally in a struggle with Alice Grant. Both Heather and Alice were set free.

Noah admitted to Bobbi that he wasn't ready for a commitment. She left town to start a new life.

Laura modeled for Miss Star Eyes and put a strain on the marriage. Suddenly, Laura disappeared without a trace. Will Luke find his one and only love?

Laura's disappearance drove Luke frantic with worry. She was seen on the docks near the yacht and seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth! Jackie Templeton, an investigative reporter from New York City, arrived in Port Charles seeking a different Laura--her sister who disappeared with her boyfriend, Mel. Eventually Luke and Jackie discovered that both disappearances were engineered by David Gray, a mystery man who intended to steal the treasures of Malkuth from the Port Charles Museum. Laura Templeton appeared unharmed, but Luke discovered that David had had his wife killed. David was killed in a fight with Luke soon afterwards. Jackie and Robert fell in love.

Rick Webber was appalled by the conditions on the waterfront. His clinic was helping somewhat, and he had adopted Mike, a waterfront orphan. But there had to be something he could do. A young boy, Blackie Parrish, helped crystallize his plans, he founded a Sports Center, on land owned by George Dernly (and later taken over by Scotty Baldwin when Dernly was arrested). He hoped that it would give kids a place to go, instead of banging around on the streets.

The Sports Center became the training camp for a young boxer, Johnny Morrissey. Rick helped train the young man, and Johnny and Amy Vining soon fell in love. Despite attempted interference by the Mob, Johnny won his first fight, and went on to New York to further his career, leaving a heartbroken Amy behind.

Noah and Tiffany began a love affair--Noah confessed that he was in love, probably for the first time in his life. Their happiness was almost destroyed by the return of Bobbi Spencer to Port Charles.

While hiking in the mountains, Luke met Holly Sutton. Holly claimed to be an orphan, and that she'd inherited some land in Port Charles. Luke and Holly seemed to find oil on the land, and began urging people to invest. Luke and Scorpio didn't realize that it was all a scam set up by Holly and her family. After a long struggle with her conscience, though, Holly told Luke the truth and the two recovered the money that the Corsos had stolen.

Luke and Holly spent a few happy moments together before a big fight separated them with Luke going off to the mountains to think. Danger immediately befell him when he was mugged, then the victim in an avalanche. Paralyzed, Luke learned the people of Port Charles believed he was dead, so he decided not to return. Natalie Dearborn, alias Natasha, a member of the DVX spy organization, posed as a therapist to gain Luke's trust. Holly found she was expecting Luke's child and Robert marries her to save her from deportation.

Holly miscarried and after some time, she fell in love with Robert and consummated their marriage. Luke chose that time to return to Port Charles, almost cured of his paralysis. When he found Holly is wed to Robert he severed their friendship.

As part of her settlement with Alan, Susan Moore became a millionairess. Scotty Baldwin, despite Heather's advances, became interested in her for financial reasons. After Susan was critically injured in a car accident, Scotty and her were married. Then Crane Tolliver came to town with papers proving the Quartermaines were illegitimate. He was Lila's first husband and their divorce was never finalized. He conspired with Susan to blackmail the family, but the plan backfired when Susan was murdered by Crane and he was later found out. On his deathbed, he gave the papers to Jimmy Lee Holt, Edward's illegitimate son. Jimmy Lee used them to his advantage, securing a home for himself and Jason.

Celia Quartermaine arrived in Port Charles engaged to Grant Putnam, an orthopedic surgeon. Grant was in reality, a DVX operator, in cahoots with Natalie. They were to get hold of an energized disc for their Motherland. In the process Luke. [sic] Holly and Celia were kidnapped, but Grant later turned state's evidence and saved them from death. In England the real Grant Putnam regained his memory after seeing an article in the paper.

Bobbi met D.L. Brock, a financier from New York. They fell in love and she became pregnant. When Bobbi miscarried, and learned she could never have children, she married Brock anyhow.

Laura returned after two years. Luke, who had been elected Mayor of Port Charles could not believe his eyes. However, Laura was wed to Stavros Cassadine, the man who kept her prisoner in Greece. He followed her to the U.S. and later met his death in a fall down the stairs at Luke's home. The happy couple left town.

[Ed. Note: Pages are missing here.]

Luke and Laura resurfaced in Canada, and were living the idyllic life with their son, Lucky, when Frank Smith's henchmen finally caught up with them. Luke and Laura made a hasty exit, and left Lucky to find his own way to Port Charles, where he was taken in by Luke's aunt Ruby, until Luke and Laura arrived soon after.

Holly found out that Bill was two-timing her with Victoria, so she set out to teach him a lesson. She stole all of Bill's priceless art collection, and bid Port Charles good-bye. Bill was later killed in a terrible case of mistaken identity, when Frank Smith's goons thought he was their nemesis, Luke Spencer.