Laura and Scotty: Their Story

Scotty Baldwin propped himself on one elbow and looked down at the girl sleeping beside him, his beautiful bride Laura. They were in a hotel in Los Angeles, on their honeymoon, and it was morning.

Was it possible, he wondered, that Laura was really lying beside him, and not alone in some jail cell? Really, they had been so lucky.

He leaned down and kissed his bride gently. She looked all of her seventeen years, so young and full of life -- and yet so vulnerable. Scotty felt a sudden wave of deep tenderness sweep over him.

He remembered his wedding vows, spoken only yesterday, promising to love, honor, and protect. He would keep those vows no matter what.

Now Laura awoke and opened her eyes. A radiant smile crossed her face, and without a word, she embraced Scotty.

Scotty meant everything in the world to Laura. His arms were the only place she had ever felt safe. She had grown up an unhappy girl, mistrusting the world, not even knowing who her true mother was until she was 14 years old…

It was only a few years since Lesley had sought out her real daughter, Laura, who’d been raised by the Vinings. And it wasn’t until Lesley married Dr. Rick Webber that Laura really became part of their family.

At the same time, Scotty Baldwin had just come to town. Scotty was in his last year of college, and planning to enter law school when he met Laura. It was his gentleness and honesty that most impressed her. They soon became lovers, and dreamed of the day they would marry.

But that beautiful dream shattered into a thousand fragments when David Hamilton, a friend of Rick’s, came to stay at the Webber house. He seemed, at first, decent enough. But behind his open, friendly smile, David was plotting to swindle General Hospital. And he was out to seduce Lesley, too -- the vey wife of the man who’d befriended him.

One day David cornered Lesley alone. He made a pass, but was rejected. Lesley told him to pack up and leave. He did. But he was already plotting revenge. He would seduce Laura -- use her to destroy the Webber household.

David’s plot succeeded. Troubled and insecure, Laura thought she was the cause of her mother’s marriage problems. And so she was vulnerable to David’s attentions.

Soon, she dropped Scotty and began an affair with David. On the rebound, Scotty fell into the welcoming arms of student nurse Bobbie Spencer.

Meanwhile, David Hamilton was in trouble. Unmasked as the spy at General Hospital, he got set to escape Port Charles. When Laura came that evening, she saw the packed suitcase on the bed. “Where are you going?” she wanted to know. “Didn’t I tell you,” smirked David, “I’m leaving town.” “Let me come with you!” Laura pleaded. David only laughed at her. Silently, and in humiliation, she heard him say he’d never loved her, only used her.

Then Laura couldn’t listen anymore. There was a rushing sound in her ears, and she was filled with pain and rage. Blindly, she struck out at David, sending him stumbling back toward the fireplace. His head struck the marble surface. Laura knew he was dead.

Frantically she called Lesley for help. But when Lesley came, she found Laura in a near-catatonic state.

To put Laura through the trauma of a police investigation was out of the question, Lesley knew. Instead, she took the blame for killing David, pleading self-defense.

The truth almost came out when Laura was put under the care of psychiatrist Peter Taylor. Through hypnosis, he gradually took her back to the moment of David’s death. But Laura still kept denying that she could remember anything.

Lesley was convicted and sent to prison. Then, worst of all, her own stepfather, Rick, began investigation to clear Lesley. And each new clue seemed to point more and more toward Laura. At that point, Laura panicked. Scotty, she remembered, had once told her about his hippie days in New York’s Greenwich Village. That very aftenoon she fled Port Charles.

Wandering alone and frightened in New York, Laura was found by a pimp, locked in his apartment and threatened with violence. She had escaped one prison only to find herself in another.

Meanwhile, Scotty and Bryan arrived in New York. Scotty, who knew the Village, posed as young dope dealer. Soon he and Bryan rescued Laura; and once in Port Charles they convinced her to confess to killing David. At the court hearing, Laura’s age, and the fact that David’s death had been accidental, were taken into consideration. She was released into her parent’s custody on a one-year parole.

With Laura free, Bobbie Spencer felt more than ever that she’d lose Scotty. If only she could find a way to get Laura out of the picture, to get her thrown in reform school for violating her parole!

With her brother, Luke, Bobbie put together an evil scheme. What if Luke fixed Scotty’s car so it would run out of gas when he and Laura were far from town? Wouldn’t Laura’s curfew be over before they got back?

Bobbie’s plan worked. Laura was brought before the juvenile court and things looked black. But Scotty, eloquent in Laura’s defense, convinced the judge to be lenient. When Bobbie Spencer heard that, she vowed that next time, she’d be more careful.

Next time came when Laura was lured to the disco where Luke worked. She talked to a strange man who ordered a drink, and then disappeared. A mysterious phone call brought her parole officer, who found Laura sitting at a table with a drink beside her. But, again, Laura was given the benefit of the doubt by the judge and released.

Then, just when it seemed Bobbie had played her last card, her luck turned. She found Scotty alone one night at the disco, drinking too much because of a fight with Laura. At that very moment, Laura showed up with some friends. Bobbie waited until Laura was in eye range, then she threw her arms around Scotty and rubbed herself sexily against him.

“Is this what you do when I’m not around?” she cried.

Defiantly, Laura moved onto the dance floor, danced wildly with a stranger; then, with tears burning in her eyes, she fled. Outside, she met Scotty’s friend, Brian. Tearfully, Laura told him the whole story, but Brian had no sympathy for her. He made her realize how foolish she was.

She went back in, but Scotty was no longer at the disco. She learned that he had gone home.

Meanwhile, Bobbie felt Scotty sag against her as she fumbled for the keys to his apartment. He’d had several more drinks after Laura had left and now he was barely coherent. Gently Bobbie led him to the sofa, covered him with a blanket. He quickly fell asleep.

“Now for Laura!” thought Bobbie, hearing the doorbell ring. “Coming!” she chirped. She unbuttoned the top of her blouse, mussed her hair and smeared her lipstick. “Oh, it’s you!” she said cheerfully to Laura. “Scotty didn’t know you were coming over. Shall I call him?”

Laura stared past Bobbie into the apartment. Then, with her voice choking in her throat, she whispered, No. It was a moment of triumph for Bobbie as she watched Laura run down the hall.

Laura reached her car and leaped inside. She had lost Scotty now, forever. Her only thought was to get away from the horrible knowledge that he had been making love to Bobbie the very moment she rang the doorbell. She drove off recklessly into the night, up a winding mountain road until, losing control of the car she went hurtling into a ditch.

She almost died. Only her stepfather Rick Webber’s brilliant surgery saved her life. But, a conscience-stricken Bobbie Spencer came forward and took the blame for what had happened. And Laura even found it in her heart to forgive her.

Best of all, Rick and Lesley finally gave their permission for her to marry Scotty. And even offered an expenses-paid honeymoon!

Laura would always treasure her beautiful honeymoon memories. But her suffering was not over yet. The emotional rollecoaster she’d been riding all her life would take its biggest dip yet.

While working as a waitress at the disco to help earn some extra money, she was attacked and raped. Now the very thought of any man, even Scotty, made her skin crawl.

Scotty let out a long, shuddering sigh as he sat with his head in his hands. Why had Fate singled out one girl for so much punishment? he wondered bitterly. Would he ever be able to take Laura in his arms again?


(Laura and Scotty's early story was written by Michael Denis in Daytime TV, January, 1980)