Stefan Makes His Move!



It's been 15 years since the much-heralded wedding of Luke and Laura. Now daytime's most super supercouple prepares to celebrate their anniversary (November 15).

When their characters exchanged their vows, did the actors have any idea that they would still be together all these years later? Since most marriages made in daytime don't survive, the answer is a resounding no.

"I sure didn't," chuckles Anthony Geary (Luke). "I had no concept. I don't really think 15 years in advance, but the marriage seemed like a good idea at the time. Luke had wanted Laura for a long time, so it was a great relief to him."

But these days, Luke may not have much to celebrate. Viewers just recently learned that early in the couple's marriage, during a time when Laura had been spirited away, she had a son, Nikolas, and developed romantic feelings for Stefan Cassadine. Now Stefan is back in the picture and poses a threat at every turn to the Spencer family.

"I think there are all kinds of underlying feelings there," explains Genie Francis (Laura) of her character's attraction to Stefan. "At one time, she genuinely loved him because she thought Luke was dead."

The audience has been able to relive Laura and Stefan's passion through flashbacks -- which may be as close as this twosome comes to a re-pairing.

"I don't think anyone wants Luke and Laura broken up, so to go back in time when Laura wasn't with Luke is about the only possibility for now," says Francis, who adds that she's happy that Stefan has entered Laura's life. After all, just as in real life, passion can wane when characters have been married for a long time.

"You can lose your ability to play romantic scenes," she says. "At least in this case, with Stefan, I get to play them in flashback."

As the anniversary looms, Stefan is duped into believing that Luke and Laura are splitsville, and he hangs on to the possibility that something might change. "Stefan thinks there might be a chance with Laura," says Stephen Nichols (Stefan). "The thing that's been haunting him for all these years is: Does she still have feelings for him?"

But it's not like he's pining away, either. While Stefan plays cat-and-mouse with Laura, he still has time for a tryst with Bobbie in the Dominican Republic, where she's getting her divorce.

"Bobbie is a feminine influence that Stefan's been seeking for [Nikolas]. Now that Laura has sort of abandoned him again, in a way, Stefan likes the fact that Bobbie's around."

But Stefan isn't spending all his free time with Bobbie. He's also vowed to get back at Luke for planting drugs on Nikolas. And he drafts a begrudging Nikolas into his plot for revenge.

"Nikolas wants Luke to pay for what he's done, but because Lesley Lu is his sister, he really just wants the whole thing to go away," says Tyler Baker (Nikolas). "To hurt Luke would be to hurt her, so he holds back."

While Luke may be spared, Lucky isn't going to be, well, as lucky. Stefan draws the teen further into the Timoria game until Lucky finds himself in a life-or-death dilemma.

Francis says that Lucky's situation may shake her character into reality. "I think in Laura's fantasy world, she would stay married to Luke, he would accept her son, Nikolas would become friends with Lucky, and Stefan would drop by the house for dinner," jokes the actress. "But [that's] unlikely."

But Geary, for one, wouldn't mind seeing her try. "The conflict that the Cassadines brought up in the marriage is something that we need," the actor explains. "It's a soap opera. If you have two people without problems, you don't have a story anymore. Luke and Laura have been classically, romantically and eternally linked. It's difficult to find something that can shake them, and this is doing it."