Lucky, furious that Nikolas broke into their house to see Lesley Lu yells at his brother, accidentally pushing him down the stairs. Laura immediately goes with Stefan to emergency. Nikolas is in a coma, and Stefan goes somewhere for a minute. Laura feels too guilty for what she's done to Nikolas. Bobbie grabs Laura and breaks the rules, telling Laura to get in there and see Nikolas! Bobbie was on Laura's side!
Laura leans down, tells Nikolas that she hasn't watched him sleep since he was a tiny baby. She tells him she's here, and that she loves him. Nikolas reaches for his mother's hand, opens his eyes, and speaks. Lucky and Luke join Stefan and Laura, hold Laura and tell her Nikolas will be fine. They leave her there to be with her son.
Nikolas would only wake up and see his mother, he loves her.
Laura calls for help when Nikolas wakes up and Stefan comes in, frantic, thinking something's wrong. Laura tells him happily that Nikolas moved, spoke, and woke up. Stefan is overwhelmed and grabs her and hugs her.
She hugs him back, their son is going to be fine. This was a very surprising, contraversal moment. Stefan and Laura jump into an embrace...hmmm...
Laura sees Sonny watching them hug through the window and breaks free of Stefan. Sonny is after all, Luke's best friend. However, Sonny the Prince stands by Laura, he loves Laura and admires her.
Stefan sees Laura's fear and let's it go, he goes to his son.
After Laura made the mistake of telling Nikolas she couldn't see him anymore because of the war starting and how many people have already been hurt, Stefan calls her to see her one "last" time. She tells him no and he reminds her of their love on the island. Not that they were lovers at all, just that they cared. Laura of course goes then.
They remember touching moments of the island together, not a physical romance in any of them though, so we are unaware they were lovers.
Laura is touched by his love and remembers their passion.
He tells her he loves her, and asks her if there was no Luke, or impossible choices, could she have loved him.
She tells him he answered his own question. If there wasn't impossible choices. She is completely affected and you feel the love she does feel, but she does love Luke, and that's it. Stefan accepts it, though of course it kills him. It hurts her just as much. He tells her he's taking Nikolas back to Greece and she says that because of Stefan's love, she will believe in him.
She doesn't want to hurt him and tell him that on the island she loved him, because then it would hurt him all the more now because she couldn't be with him.
She is still fascinated beyond words by his love. His passion.
He tells her he came to Port Charles and tried to hate her, but he couldn't. She was still strong, and passionate, and beautiful beyond words. He tells her that Nikolas was the greatest joy of his life because he was her son. She gives him a kiss goodbye, expecting never to see him again...
Stefan has found the perfect way to manipulate Laura! He knows she loves GH more than anything, and all the people there she loves. Alan, Monica, Bobbie, Amy, Audrey, Steve (who just died) her mother who worked there, everyone! Stefan can save the hospital with his money, but he must stay in Port Charles should he save it. He calls Laura to GH and tells Alan that he will save the hospital on Laura's say so. She wanted him to leave, she must ask him to stay. (Stefan, you devil) He knows it will be all the more uncomfortable now that she knows he loves her.
Alan takes a trapped Laura aside and begs for her help, knowing what he's asking of her. Knowing Stefan Cassadine is doing something to her, but doesn't know what.
"Alan..." she says breathlessly. Alan has no idea what he's asking her to do.
Alan leaves her alone to make up her mind. Save the hospital, or have Stefan and Nikolas leave. Laura can't take selling her soul to the devil, and having a son she has now screwed over twice! How could she ask her son to love her again?
"I'm sorry to put you in this position," Stefan says to Laura, Nikolas standing beside him helping his "uncle" manipulate her. "Are you," Laura replies in a tone showing she knows he's doing this on purpose.
She knows her son and Stefan are plotting against her to control her, but she can't let the hospital go.
As Stefan gives Alan the money, Laura is terrified knowing she has now sold her soul to the devil.
Afterwards, Laura watches her beautiful son and says to herself with Stefan behind her, "I should've done things differently...I wasn't strong enough." Stefan replies, "No, I wasn't strong enough." Laura turns to him, a little confused about what that means. Stefan meant that he should've been strong enough to get Laura off the island and give her freedom himself. It wasn't all her fault. He tells her that he knows what Stavros and Helena did to her, how could she not take ANY way out of that hell? That was kind of him, even abandoning her son he saw her side.
The next day Nikolas and Stefan call Laura to GH to manipulate her some more by offering her a job. Stefan wants her to make sure that the people who keep the hospital so different from all other institutions are not fired by the staff cuts they will be forced to make. She thanks him but says there are far better people for the job. He replies, "Oh not so. You have an intimate relationship with this hospital, your mother worked here, you practically grew up here. And I for one, have first hand experience...of your compassionate nature. (She gives him this evil look, another hint that they were once seriously lovers) One of my favorite scenes with them!
Laura and Luke have now decided to plot against Stefan just like he's plotting against them. Laura has a huge fight with Luke in front of everyone about the fact that Laura had a baby with another man. Though it was a fake fight, Laura is hurt deeply because the fight has so many real thoughts and she knew Luke was thinking them. Bobbie comforts her.
Stefan has taken Laura to her ALIVE mother, telling her he's married Barbara Spencer. Laura says, "That's insane! You don't love her." "What I love, I can never have!" "So what...you married her...for revenge," Laura asks. "You think I would," Stefan replies. "In a HEARTBEAT!" Laura says harshly. Smart woman, Laura. Laura, who is plotting against him and planning to take her mother somewhere out of Helena's hands and away from Stefan, looks back at him before she goes to her mother, knowing how much he loves her. She knows what he's done for her.
She kisses him very tenderly on the lips to say thank you. She wants him to know that she does love him.
He loves her...
Laura loves him too. Laura is unaware that when she walks into the building her mother is in, she will blow up and die. (Not really die, it was a setup of Luke's he didn't tell her about) Laura would've protested but when she saw her mother, alive, and in TERRIBLE condition, her mother is all she can think of. But Port Charles thinks their beloved Laura is dead.
Stefan feels of course that he killed the love of his life because he sent her into the building. He mourns her death deeply, as does the town.
Stefan mourns Lasha. I must admit I love the name Lasha. There's a reason Laura allowed him to call her that from 98 until now. It's so...seductive.
When Laura can't stay dead anymore, the first person she calls is Bobbie, the woman who has been on her side from the beginning. Well, Bobbie Spencer is now Barbara Jean Cassadine, so Stefan in her eyes can do no wrong, and Luke and Laura are the enemy. Bobbie hates Laura, Nikolas hates Laura, Stefan hates Laura, and Bobbie hates Luke!
Bobbie sees Luke who doesn't defend what he did, but defends the need to protect themselves. He tells her the truth, Stefan is using her for revenge. Bobbie won't listen to the brother that took care of her all her life, the only man to be her constant.
Luke was an ass hole, to fake Laura's death, particularly without telling Laura that part of the plan! Of course the whole town hates Laura more than Luke.
She hates what Luke did, making her think Laura was dead.
She can't believe Luke's gull.
He tries to force her to listen but she tells him to go to hell.
Laura (who in real life is VERY pregnant with her second child, who was a daughter, Elizabeth Francis) goes to Stefan after she's faked her death, apologizes knowing how much she hurt him. She tells him she didn't know exactly what the plan was and that she was going to die. He plays the guilt trip on her, which she deserves (if she only knew he would do it in 2000, only instead of for a few days, he's dead for months) and he frightens Laura. He tells her the cruelest thing she did was kiss him before she died. It was not a kiss of thank you (even though it was) she did it to hurt him, a kiss of farewell.
"Kinda like this," he says grabbing her and kissing to punish her.
She pushes him off of her, doing the cutest little frown Genie always has...
Awww, little frown...
Laura, though knowing faking her death was COMPLETELY wrong, knows that Stefan was no innocent in this. He screwed her over as much as he did her. This was one of the most powerful scenes I've ever seen between Stefan and Laura. Stephen Nichols and Genie Francis were AMAZING! Stefan is banning Laura from the country, threatening to tell Luke that Nikolas is his son if she doesn't leave. He tells Laura, "It's not which Cassadine fathered Nikolas, it's how many of us, had you." OW! Kick him in the balls! Laura says, "That kiss was no performance, you left me no choice." Stefan replies, "I suppose you'll tell me next you had no choice in conceiving Nikolas either." This face is her reply.
"Promise me you won't tell Nikolas the truth," Laura says. "The truth? The truth about what," Stefan says, making her admit that they made love. Laura's eyes narrow, "God I hate you." "Say IT, Lasha! I wanna hear you say the words!"
"That you're his father," Laura hisses at him.
"You know, I gotta hand it to you," Laura tells Stefan. "The more I struggled, the more trapped I was. I couldn't make a move, I couldn't speak without betraying someone and finally everyone! But if YOU betray me THIS TIME, and you make it all for nothing, in other words if I find out that Luke has been told ANYTHING...other than Nikolas's father is DEAD, I will have a revenge on you, the likes of which you can't possibly imagine! It will make what you've done to me seem like a KISS, on a summer day."
"Save your bedtime stories for your daughter, Lasha." "You know I'm telling the truth, because you know what you've turned me into. I was a Cassadine too," and Laura makes her exit! Yowza, powerful scene!
