was cast in the role of Scott "Scotty" Baldwin to play opposite Francis's Laura. Scotty and Laura would eventually be paired together in a romantic story. Francis said "We did a first-love story with real-life sex, romance and heartbreak. ... It's every teen-ager's story." According to Shriner, "Laura was the big love of Scotty's life." Their end leaves Scotty "jaded" and screwed up. Scotty was Laura's first kiss, and Shriner was Francis's first kiss. Francis said, "I'd been pecked before, but this was a real kiss!" With a new love in her life, Laura inquires about birth control. "It was the first time I was nervous" Francis admitted. Laura and Scotty have a year long courtship which includes "parental disapproval," Scotty supporting Laura during the David Hamilton murder trial, and the interference of Bobbie Spencer (Jacklyn Zeman) who wants Scott for herself. Finally, in July 1979, over the course of six episodes, Scotty and Laura are married. Francis and Shriner became quite close during their onscreen romance. Though Laura did love Scotty, their marriage also helps to "improve her social standing" and allows her to rise above her tragic past as a murderer. At some point, art imitated life and Francis and Shriner dated for nearly a year. Beginnings of Luke and Laura In 1978, Bobbie enlists her streetwise brother Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary) to help her break up Scotty and Laura. Luke was expected to be a short term role as he "was supposed to wreak havoc" on the young couple on his sister's behalf. The character was supposed to be killed off rather early, but Geary's popularity gave the character a "reprieve" and Luke began falling for Laura. To satisfy viewers' hopes for an eventual Luke and Laura romance, the writers planned to have Luke die in Laura's arms at the end of the arc and then reunite her with Scotty. In 1979 when Pat Falken Smith – known for her work on Days of Our Lives – took over as head writer of General Hospital, Laura had just married Scotty and everyone was happy. "And the thing to do was immediately get Laura unhappy" Smith declared. Smith penned the controversial rape storyline in which a drunken Luke rapes Laura on the floor of the campus disco in October 1979. Francis characterized the incident as "an acquaintance rape" because it was "by someone Laura knew and had been