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hydrangeas-and-hives · 4 days ago

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Spencer Cassadine x Trina Robinson General Hospital Lore

The following is an imperfectly formatted but comprehensive explanation of everything that happened to Spencer and/or Trina during the 2021 and 2022 storylines.

Here are the important characters and relationships to know:

Spencer Cassadine is the son of Nikolas Cassadine and his late mistress/fiancée, Courtney Matthews, who died shortly after his birth. His paternal grandmother is Laura Collins, the mayor of Port Charles and a board member at General Hospital. The Cassadine family is ultra wealthy/powerful and apparently they’re all trying to kill each other over the family inheritance.

Spencer was conceived during an affair that his parents had while they were both married to other people, so his life has always been messy. Spencer was considered an orphan after his father was supposedly killed by another Cassadine in 2016. Nikolas was revealed to be alive 3 years later. His grandmother, Laura Collins has been his legal guardian since his father's presumed death.

He was “away at boarding school in France” until Nicholas Chavez took over the role as an adult Spencer.

His father Nikolas is married to Ava Jerome, and their marriage is and was full of drama apparently. Spencer DESPISES Ava, mostly surrounding his father’s fake death, apparently she refused to testify against his murderer. He acts like she’s the most vile woman on earth and resents everything she does.

Spencer ends up trying to blackmail his father and stepmother into divorcing, however there are complications regarding money/inheritance that makes his dad not cooperate with the schemes. Spencer makes it his mission to terrorize Ava as much as possible, sending her disturbing/threatening gifts and letters anonymously to “scare” her into divorcing Nikolas on her own, so the family fortune won’t be compromised. Upon graduating from boarding school, Spencer returns to Port Charles but keeps his distance to secretly stalk and victimize Nikolas/Ava. This is how he meets Trina Robinson.

Trina Robinson is the daughter of Dr. Portia Robinson, who is co-chief of staff at General Hospital. Her father is Lieutenant Marcus Taggert. While Taggert was away on assignment, Portia had an affair with Curtis Ashford. It has been hinted that Curtis is Trina's biological father. Taggert at one point was presumed dead but was then revealed to be alive prior to the 2021 storyline. Taggert and Dr. Robinson divorced, and eventually she reconnects with Curtis, which Trina struggles to accept. Trina is passionate about art and is an intern at the Jerome Gallery. She is very close with her boss, Ava Jerome, who treats her like a daughter.

The night of Trina’s high school graduation party, Spencer breaks into the Jerome Gallery while wearing a mask and Trina runs into him. She throws a remote at his head and sets off Spencer's trap of spraying fake blood all over the gallery using the sprinkler system.

Spencer goes to Trina's party, entering the back way and scaring her. However, she doesn’t recognize him as her “attacker” at all. They talk and flirt, with Spencer complimenting her, and claiming his name is Victor and that he's a barback at the nightclub. They continue to “run into each other” and an true flirtmance starts between the two, but Spencer tells half-truths about his backstory to keep his identity a mystery. His deceptions eventually catch up with him when he reunites with his childhood frenemies, Josslyn Jacks and Cameron Webber, who happen to be Trina’s current best friends.

Josslyn is the daughter of a wealthy hotel magnate?? but Cameron’s mom is a nurse and his family situation is apparently messier with some financial struggle, and Cameron works to support his mom/siblings and put himself through school. At one point, Trina and Cameron had a mild crush on each other, but ultimately decided they were better off as friends. By summer of 2021, Josslyn and Cameron have started dating, and Trina is supportive. All 3 of them are about to start their freshman year at Port Charles University (PCU).

Spencer runs into them at Josslyn’s mom’s hotel pool club, and the three immediately start teasing and throwing jabs at each other, with Joss eventually pushing Spencer into the pool. Trina arrives at the club, and Joss initiates an introduction between her and their old classmate Spencer Cassadine, who emerges from the pool and locks eyes with Trina. In a very Grease-like fashion, Trina doesn’t appreciate being lied to and their flirtmance ceases.

Spencer re-enters his family’s orbit, and they welcome him with open arms, having no idea that he’s their stalker/blackmailer. Spencer openly hates Ava though. Spencer’s girlfriend from boarding school, Esme Prince arrives in Port Charles. She immediately rubs his family the wrong way and is cold to everyone she meets. This girl REPELS charm and everyone barely tolerates her. She and Spencer apparently trauma bonded at boarding school because they both believed themselves to be orphans. Esme really butts heads with Josslyn, yet the 5 youths form a frenemy group that constantly spends time with each other. Esme is also clearly jealous of Trina and her connection with Spencer. There’s sexual/romantic tension between them, but they don’t act upon it.

Spencer’s stalking/blackmailing of his father and stepmother gets extreme, I think he does something that puts Ava’s young daughter (from another relationship) in jeopardy, and he eventually gets caught. I think Ava decides to press charges for all of the emotional distress and threats to her life. Spencer is put on trial and despite many attempts to use rich white male privilege to get off, he is sentenced to 30 days in prison as well as restitution, having to work at the Jerome Gallery for free under Trina’s supervision. I didn’t get the full context, but Trina got caught in the crossfires of all of Spencer’s legal troubles, and they aren’t on good terms generally, but Spencer really regrets hurting her. I think he tries to make amends around Christmas time. It also turns out that Esme was helping Spencer pull off the threatening pranks and blackmail attempts, but she did it because she “loved” him and wanted to be supportive. Somehow Esme is not incriminated legally for being an accomplice.

On an attempted friends trip up to Josslyn’s family’s mountain cabin before Spencer’s prison stay, Esme literally stirs up drama by spiking Trina’s drink and initiating a game of never have I ever with the intent to drive a wedge between Trina and Josslyn. The game prompts eventually cause a clearly drugged Trina to get upset and admit that she did have some sore feelings about Joss and Cameron’s relationship, mostly how she felt left out of their friend group dynamic. Clearly unwell, Trina excuses herself from the group, and passes out in a bedroom. Josslyn and Esme get into a screaming match over the incident, and Esme convinces Spencer to leave the cabin early with her, saying they’ll come back for their belongings later. However, before she left, Esme set up a phone to record Josslyn and Cameron’s bed with the intent to capture them having sex for the first time. She recorded this using a burner phone she bought from a black market dealer.

Spencer goes to prison for a 30 day sentence in January of 2022. On his last night before leaving, he and Trina have a moment of romantic friendliness and almost kiss before Esme interrupts them. While she’s visiting him in prison, Spencer asks Esme if she’ll return to the cabin to get some personal items for him, and it’s presumed that this errand is when Esme retrieved the burner phone. On Valentine's Day, Spencer secretly arranges for an art book of her favorite artist to be gifted to Trina.

I could not find any clips of the show between February and May 2022, but in that timeframe the following apparently happened:

At some point, Trina meets and develops a friendly rapport with Rory Cabrera, a local police officer. After getting out of prison, Spencer did go to work at Jerome Gallery for at least a little while, and tensions between him and Trina were high. He’s visibly jealous of the budding friendship between Trina and Rory, but his relationship with Esme is technically stronger than ever. Him and Esme are living with his father at the family estate, but his relationship with his family still needs work.

Esme posted the intimate video of Joss/Cameron online and distributed it to the PCU student body, and somehow framed Trina for the crime, setting her up as a scorned friend who recorded/posted revenge porn. It’s convincing enough for Trina to be formally accused by the university and is put on trial under some serious felony charges that could totally destroy her life/ambitions.

Fast forward to July 2022, Esme also apparently slept with Nikolas in a fit of passion, and is keeping a multitude of secrets from Spencer about who she is. She claims to be an orphan who’s adoptive parents ALSO died, and she was raised by a nanny before attending boarding school. However, she’s actually the daughter of a known serial killer, and is doing his bidding in secret.

Spencer’s feelings for Esme were once apparently genuine (trauma bond) but he’s now fed up with her lies and schemes (at least the ones he knows about.) Spencer hatches a plot to help Trina in her legal case, and threatens Esme with an ultimatum and offers to tell her information about her supposed birth mother if she exonerates Trina. Esme, not wanting to incriminate herself, angrily turns down Spencer. Esme goes to her serial killer dad and tells him that Spencer found her birth mother, but he claims that Spencer is lying. During their talk, he promises Esme that they will destroy their enemies and then find her birth mother together.

At Trina’s trials, all of the friends give testimonies that seem to only incriminate Trina further, Spencer included, even though they all know she’s innocent and believe Esme is responsible. Spencer pleads with Esme to exonerate Trina, and lets her know that he doesn’t care about her anymore. Esme at one point says to him “and your precious Trina goes free,” to which he emphatically responds, “yes.” Even though Rory and Trina are embracing mere feet away, and it clearly hurts him, he says he doesn’t care if he can’t be with her, he just refuses to let her go down for something she didn’t do. It’s evident that he loves her, and this is possibly what triggers his good boy arc??

Nikolas admits to Ava that he slept with Esme. She does not take it well. Esme testifies at Trina’s trial, and Trina’s lawyer reads her for filth, which seems to help her case just a bit. Trina prepares to give her own testimony, but Spencer asks her lawyer for the chance to testify again as part of the defense, clearly desperate to save her. He reveals that Trina was with him the night the video was posted, incriminating HIMSELF because this happened during his prison sentence. She wasn’t visiting him in prison, he had arranged for an “off the books” day pass to leave.. Apparently the day he escaped was the anniversary of his mother’s death and he wanted to go put flowers on her grave. He apparently ran into Trina at the cemetery (as far as I can tell, this was never shown on screen.) When Trina’s lawyer asks why he’s admitting this, Spencer starts crying and looks at Trina, saying “at a certain point you have to stop doing the easy thing, and start doing the right thing.” Spencer openly accuses Esme of being responsible for the video, which clearly means a lot to Trina. The prosecuting attorney holds on to the idea that Trina could have scheduled the email, setting up an example for the jury to witness, and it appears that Spencer’s testimony might have failed to absolve Trina and only incriminate himself.

Back at the Cassadine family home, Esme attempts to flee but gets caught by Ava, calling her a “conniving little whore.” They have a full, drawn out confrontation and Ava proves herself to be pretty ruthless, eventually threatening Esme’s life if she doesn’t come clean.

Outside of the courtroom, Spencer admits to his father that his previous support of Esme in all of this was an act to try to get her to slip up and confess to him. He says he never believed Trina would hurt her friends that way. He gets very worked up and it’s obvi he’s spiraling.

Trina preps to finally give her testimony as court goes back into session, and she shares some longing looks with Spencer. She tells everyone that she was at the cemetery that day to work on an art history project, and never expected/was shocked to see Spencer there, as he was supposed to be incarcerated. When asked why she kept that alibi a secret, she emotionally shares that she hoped there would be enough evidence to prove her innocence without having to jeopardize his future/harm him. Her lawyer openly suggests that this was an act of love. At this point Trina and Spencer are both visibly emotional. She asks some more clarifying questions about how Trina was feeling during that trip, and after confirming that Trina did not have romantic feelings for Cameron, Trina confesses that she DID feel that way about Spencer, which puts a smile on his face for the first time this whole episode.

Meanwhile, Ava and Esme have gotten into a full blown physical altercation over a mysterious letter Esme was attempting to take with her. This results in Ava pushing Esme off the balcony. Nikolas arrives just afterward, and goes looking for Esme and/or her body, and she has DISAPPEARED. Ava and Nikolas scheme to make themselves look as innocent as possible.

Trina continues her testimony, and recounts the details of how they met, claiming that nothing ever happened between them, she no longer has romantic feelings for him, and how she figured he only ever saw her as a friend. She shares that Esme knew how Trina felt and was suspicious of their friendship, and gives some details about Esme’s history of shady behavior/her involvement in the stalking/torturing of Ava Jerome. She also reiterates how much Joss/Cam’s friendship means to her and that she’d never do anything to hurt them, especially something so heinous and violating as revenge porn. The prosecutor asks about how much she had to drink, and Trina shares her experience of feeling awful after just one drink. It’s so painfull obvious that Trina was roofied idk why people aren’t coming to that conclusion. Apparently Trina did go visit Spencer in prison once while Esme happened to be there interning, and shares that her purse was out of her sight at one point and Esme possibly planted the burner phone in her bag at that time. When Trina finally leaves the stand, Spencer gives her an encouraging nod.

After the trial is over, Rory tries to comfort Trina while Spencer lingers. Trina tries to say she owes him an apology, but he responds with “You owe me nothing, I should have spoken up from the start.” Spencer is promptly put under arrest for breaking out of prison, to which Trina tries to defend him. He tells her it’s ok and looks back at her as he’s taken away.

Rory takes Trina to the pool club to unwind after the trial (lol) and she attempts to talk through her complicated feelings about what Spencer did. Apparently she was under the impression that he was on Esme’s side this whole time, so now she’s confused about him. She word vomits to Rory about how she’s convinced he’s not into her anymore, and Rory is very nice and tells her clearly that he’s into her and is just trying to be supportive. They share a kiss and low key establish that they want to be together.

While being questioned at the police station, Spencer recounts his motives for breaking out of prison, sharing his emotional turmoil at the thought of not being able to put flowers on his mother’s grave. When asked why he confessed now, he says “for Trina.” Nikolas arrives and the two debrief on how to proceed, and Spencer asks his father to make sure Esme doesn’t leave town. Nikolas confesses that she disappeared, but doesn’t share the details.

Many episodes go by and we’re still waiting to hear the jury’s decision on Trina’s trial. Spencer is offered a plea deal but denies it so he won’t have to name names in who helped him escape. He’s going to opt to do 3 months in prison instead.

Spencer shows up to Trina’s sentencing and they have a conversation about the whole situation. He basically insinuates he did all of it for her to have a chance to be free.

Backin it up a second, Esme bought the burner phone from this guy named Oz or Ozzy that Trina and Joss tried to get info from many many episodes ago. He got spooked and confronted Esme, and she drugged HIM, making him slip into a coma. He was found by Trina’s dad and was being treated at GH, and Dr. Robinson found a way to wake him up so he could testify against Esme in court. His testimony immediately absolves Trina and the charges are dropped. Everyone takes a moment to congratulate Trina on her victory, and Spencer is the last to talk to her. The flirtmance is back for a moment, and he tells her how happy he is that she’s exonerated. She asks him to finally tell her what “changed”(bc she still didn’t believe that he was truly on her side until recently) to which he responds, “everything.” He starts to try to tell her something that seems important, saying he’s waited for this moment for so long but now he’s tongue tied. Before he can say it though, Trina’s parents interrupt them. When they get back to talking, he tells her that’s he’s going to prison for 3 months, that it’s what he deserves, and that it’s worth it because he was able to help her. Tragically, she’s still hung up on the fact that he ever appeared to be on Esme’s side, and Spencer asks him to hear his explanation, but RORY walks in and he loses his chance. She tells him she’s sorry he has to go back to prison, but she wishes he’d realized who Esme really was “sooner.”

Cameron and Josslyn yell at Spencer for not explaining the full story to Trina and not coming forward sooner. He explains that he “needed to be the one that saved Trina because…” and hesitates. Joss pushes him to explain and assumes selfish reasons, and he responds, “no because I LOVE HER.” Spencer walks out of the court room just in time to see Trina and Rory kissing and confirming that they want to be together. Spencer sulks back into the room with Joss and Cam and they ask him how it went to which he regails what he just saw. They tell him that Trina deserves to know the truth and he responds that she “deserves to be HAPPY. For god sake, I haven’t been able to give that to her. The only thing that I’ve given her is lies and grief.” He goes on to say that he shouldn’t step on what she and Rory have and mess with her head by confessing his feelings for her, especially since he’s about to go to prison. Joss continues to push him to tell her the truth and he gets upset, saying “Why does she need to know that I’ve always believed in her and that I love her? Don’t put that on her, it doesn’t matter.” He makes them both promise not to tell her anything.

Spencer goes to apologize to his friend Brit that he mistreated long ago to make amends before he goes to prison. He explains the whole Trina situation to her and she questions why he doesn’t want to try to get her back. He tells her “She was never mine to lose. I never had her. I never deserved her.”

Spencer runs into Trina and Rory at the pool club and she asks for an update from the DA, expressing outrage at how harsh his sentence is for only escaping for a few hours. His only response is “I’m only sorry that I didn’t defend you sooner.” Rory offers to try to help him look into some sort of alternate assignment, and Spencer is very humble about it. He says to her “it’s good to see you happy Trina” before excusing himself. Later, he’s getting emo on the stairs when his dad finds him, and Spencer shows some emotional maturity about the situation. He feels like a failure for not doing enough for Trina sooner, but he thinks not telling her the full truth will preserve her happiness. He’s finally becoming a soft boi.

Spencer overhears Ava calling out Nikolas for having sex with Esme, much to his horror. He literally breaks down in tears, and he has a very emotional confrontation with Nikolas. They go through the greatest hits of all their betrayals and Nicholas acts his ass off. Spencer gets schwasted and starts confronting every family member he comes across.

Ava is hospitalized and unconscious I think due to an attempted murder by a mysterious figure. When Trina finds out, she’s upset ofc and makes her way to the hospital to show support. Coming off his own drunken stupor, Spencer finds out about Ava and is immediately worried about Trina being upset and dashes off to the hospital to make sure SHE is ok. “I’m sorry that Ava got hurt, mostly because it hurts you.” “I figured you’d be here.” “You’re here for me?” “Always.”

Spencer vaguely opens up to Trina about his dad’s betrayal, and she CARESSES HIS ARM and tells him they can talk about it if he wants to. He grasps her hand for just a moment before forcing himself to pull away.

When he gets home from the hospital, Spencer takes a nap and has a nightmare where Esme antagonizes him about sleeping with his father and framing Trina. Nightmare Esme also antagonizes him about how Trina will never choose him, which greatly upsets Spencer/sends him spiraling.

The night before he goes to prison, Spencer decides to write Trina a letter telling her the truth about how he knew she was innocent, and that he has always believed in her.

Trina’s family throws her a party to celebrate the charges being dropped, and Spencer shows up to deliver his letter to her, but changes his mind. Trina notices that he’s arrived and goes to talk with him alone. He’s so clearly down bad for her, but Trina maintains they can’t be friends after everything that’s happened, but she does appreciate the sacrifice he made for her. She wants to move on from the whole experience, and that means distancing herself from Spencer. She does give him a hug and tells him to take care of himself in prison. As Spencer goes to leave the party, he drops his letter and Trina picks it up before he can snatch it back. She demands an explanation, and they start an argument that ends with a heart to heart where they clear the air a bit, and Spencer apologizes formally for all the damage/pain he caused her.

Trina goes to visit Ava in the hospital. Ava can see that she has some complicated feelings about Spencer, and shares that Spencer confessed to her that he always believed Trina was innocent, and was only staying with Esme to try to get her to confess. She also tells her that Spencer has “carried a torch” for Trina for a long time, and in his own “boneheaded” way, was trying to protect her by keeping her at arm’s length. He was also afraid that showing her his true feelings would cause Esme to hurt Trina more. While Ava expresses that she by no means wants to advocate for Spencer, it’s clear that he genuinely loves Trina and she can’t deny that. Trina, clearly reeling from this information, remembers that Spencer is set to go to prison that day, and rushes to the police station to see him off, but by the time she gets there, it’s too late.

Spencer is on the struggle bus in prison bc everyone is bullying him for being a privileged white man. His Uncle Victor comes to visit him and can tell he’s not doing well, and offers to get a message to Trina, which Spencer denies, adamant that letting her move on is what’s right. He has a job at the prison library and one guy attacks him bc apparently Spencer was given HIS job after he worked 12 years to get it. The guy is on the verge of crushing Spencer’s hand when an old guy comes in and gets all spiritual, and intimidates the mean guy with the power of the Lord? Idk turns out this old guy is actually Spencer’s Uncle Cyrus who tries to convince him to seek religion in exchange for his protection

Esme discreetly comes back into town and is creeping around. She confronts Nikolas about all that has gone down, and reveals to him that she is pregnant with his child. He thinks she is the mysterious serial stabber terrorizing port charles, who has coincidentally murdered/attacked people who were involved in Trina’s trial. She swears she’s not the killer, but Nikolas locks her in a storage wing of the family estate to be cautious.

Joss and Cam go to visit Spencer in prison, and he finds out that Trina was told the truth about him believing her innocence. However, he was hurt to know that she found out the truth and didn’t come to him, but Joss explains that Trina found out the day he was transported to prison. They give him details about what she’s been up to, and though it’s obviously killing him, he expresses that he’s happy that she's living her life. The three friends end up having a heart-to-heart moment about their various life mistakes, and it’s clear that Spencer needed some emotional support.

Rory and Trina go on their first overnight trip together to a comic convention in NYC. Trina likes Rory, but she’s been hesitant to take any big steps with him, and had to convince herself that she wanted to go on this trip. When they arrive at their hotel room, they’re surprised to find that there’s only one bed when Rory booked 2 doubles. While they wait for an extra cot to be delivered, the two start making out. Things start getting a little heavy, and she suddenly hears SPENCER’S voice say “Do you want me as much as I want you?” and looks up to see him hovering over her instead of Rory. He smiles down at her and says “Tell me you feel the same way.” Trina is petrified and pushes him off, only for it to snap back to Rory looking worried that Trina has suddenly gotten so upset. Later that night as they’re falling asleep in their respective beds, Trina’s phone lights up with a call from a NY state correctional facility, and it’s SPENCER trying to call her. Even though she doesn’t pick up, Spencer still smiles as he walks away from the phone.

Trina and Joss are having girl time, and she admits to Joss what happened during her makeout with Rory. Joss openly tells her that her thinking of Spencer while making out with someone else is a sign that she still has feelings for him. Trina gets defensive, reiterating all of the reasons Spencer isn’t right for her. Then Joss shares that she and Cam went to visit Spencer, and that all he could talk about was Trina and wanted to know how she was. Joss also shares that he was hurt that Trina hadn’t reached out now that she knows the truth. Trina is still adamant that she put her efforts into a relationship with a good guy like Rory.

The police commissioner stops by to let the girls know that their is sufficient evidence to link the Hook Killer with Trina’s legal case, as they have been going after those involved in the trial, and apparently Josslyn is possibly next on the killer’s hit list. The girls will have to be under close supervision for the foreseeable future to keep them safe, which will include moving back home from college temporarily.

Some days go by, and Trina finds out from Cam that Esme is back in town, much to her horror. Her and Cam also discuss Spencer’s mysterious letter and its contents. She asks him specifically what he really “confessed” in his letter and Cam tells her she’ll have to ask Spencer herself.

Spencer gets a visit from his grandmother in prison, and it seems to lift his spirits a bit. He’s confused when he’s called back in to the visiting room, and is STUNNED to see Trina waiting for him. He IMMEDIATELY gets all bashful and starts messing with his hair and smiling like a FOOL. Neither of them say anything for a hot second, they just make googly eyes at each other. They come back to earth and start talking, and Trina says that she hopes that she’s not too late, to which he responds “for what?” looking very concerned. Things are a little bit tense, but Trina shares that she wants to find a way to salvage their friendship. “Are you offering me the chance to fix things between us?” Trina demands that he tell her what he confessed in his letter. In that moment he decides to tell her to her face that he knew she was always innocent. They start arguing about how he lied to save her, and Trina expresses frustration at people not thinking she can take care of herself, and lying to her to “protect her,” to which Spencer retorts, “I have a lot to apologize for Trina, but protecting you? I’m not going to apologize for THAT.” She tells him that she understands why he did what he did, but that she would have felt MORE protected with him by her side. “It hurt that you thought so little of me, when I thought so MUCH of you.” They keep fighting and Trina accuses him of never being clear with her about his feelings and never tried to tell her. He says how this whole conversation would’ve been much easier over the phone, and how he DID try to call her, but she didn’t pick up. Trina tells him that she was at a comic convention, to which Spencer replies, “You? Since when are you interested in X-Men?” She says “I’m not. Rory is.” and Spencer is pissed. Clearly jealous, he presses her further. “Did you and Officer Cabrera have FUN in New York?” When Trina reminds him they’re not talking about her and Rory, Spencer quickly says “we might as well, Cabrera’s a good guy, better than most. I’m glad for you, you deserve a good guy.” He gets out of his chair to leave, telling the guard they’re done, to which Trina yells, “No, we’re NOT.” As they’re made to say goodbyes, Spencer does drop the anger for a moment and tells her to be careful with Esme back in town. Trina starts crying and asks to tell him one last thing, that she’s grateful for what he did for her, and that she knows what he meant by it.”

At the beginning of December 2022, Nikolas and Uncle Victor go to visit Spencer, who is now rockin a nice new hairdo. Nikolas expresses his sorrow for being a terrible father to Spencer, and begs to have a place in his life when he gets out of prison, to which Spencer responds “I would settle for not having to listen to another one of these disingenuous speeches.” Nikolas leaves, and Uncle Victor and Spencer get into a spat about some grand plan he’d cooked up for the family idk. He brings in Uncle Cyrus for backup. I think Uncle Cyrus is Spencer’s grandmother’s brother? And Uncle Victor at one point was involved in a murder attempt on her and their other brother. Spencer is horrified at this accusation, but doesn’t seem to believe it. He’s clearly a game piece in this duel between these two old men.

Later, Uncle Cyrus is chatting with Spencer about repentance and redemption, and gives him an early christmas present of two turtle dove figurines, and tells him to give one to Trina as a token of his affection. Spencer grins and remarks that Trina would love these, but he can’t give it to her, because Trina has her life back “the life she deserves” and he can’t get in the way of that. When his uncle presses him he says “All I’ve brought Trina is pain and heartache, so the best gift I can give her is to stay as far away from her as possible.” Uncle Cyrus compels Spencer to take the doves anyway. Uncle Victor returns to let Spencer know he’s arranged for his EARLY release, much to his shock. Before he departs, Uncle Cyrus tells Spencer to let him know if he decides to give half of the gift to the “one who has his heart.”

While out Christmas shopping with Ava, Trina runs into Rory and he reminds her that it’s their 3-month anniversary. This brings up some weird emotions for Trina, who confesses to Ava how she knows that Rory is a great guy, but can’t stop thinking about Spencer.

Spencer is taken home and reveals to his father that he’s on a conditional release where he must be under supervision. Uncle Victor’s plan was to keep watch over him at the family estate, but Nikolas, who is still hiding Esme in the storage wing, tells them they can’t stay there, prompting yet another screaming match between father and son. Spencer and Victor storm out to go to dinner.

Rory and Trina are having a fancy anniversary dinner. During their lovey dovey chat session, Rory asks Trina if she’ll join him for his family’s upcoming Christmas festivities. Trina seems apprehensive about meeting Rory’s parents, and he tries to assure her it’ll be good and not too serious. She ultimately decides that she’ll go with him, much to Rory’s delight. Over dessert, Rory admits to Trina that he is in love with her, and at first she “doesn’t hear him,” making him repeat himself. She looks at him in shock, just as SPENCER walks in and looks at them in distress. Trina doesn’t know what to say to Rory’s love confession, and Rory goes into more detail about his feelings for her. Spencer overhears this and says to his uncle, “I think I’ve lost my appetite.” Rory presents Trina with a present to represent his love for her (I think a perfume???) and just as Trina looks up to thank Rory, Spencer is standing right behind him, with a smirk on his face. Trina is stunned to see Spencer, and he explains about his early release from prison, coming over to her side of the table. Ho owns up to the fact that his family connections made it possible. Spencer lets them get back to their dinner, but not before pulling out the gift box with the doves in it and contemplating it for a second. Uncle Victor makes Spencer sit down at their own table, but he cannot stop staring over at Trina, clearly distraught that he overheard Rory tell her he loves her. Rory gets a work call and has to excuse himself, to which Uncle Victor reminds Spencer that opportunities must be seized. Spencer gets up and sits down in Rory’s place and asks Trina “can we start over?” Trina, frustrated, tells him she doesn’t know if that’s possible, which Spencer admits is fair. He says that he knows her and Rory are in the middle of something special, and if he’d known she was going to be here with her boyfriend he would’ve have had his uncle take him elsewhere “especially after I heard what Rory said to you. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, he practically announced it to the entire restaurant. Not that I blame him, if I was in his place, I’d want to tell everyone too.” Trina weirdly tells him it’s not what he thinks it is (bby girl then WHAT is it??) to which Spencer responds, “When a guy takes you out to one of the best restaurants in town, and he tells you that he loves you, what else could that mean?” Rory walks back in as Trina is rattling off all of his positive attributes to Spencer, clearly a bit defensive. Spencer gets up to rejoin his uncle, telling Trina is was great to see her.

Spencer gets home and is in a TIZZY, having flashbacks of his convo with Trina and trying to get himself drunk to forget. Also his hair is super floppy. His dad finds him raiding the liquor cabinet and tries to have a conversation, but Spencer is being his typical contrary self. He does end up opening up to his dad a bit about what happened, telling him that Trina doesn’t want to be friends and “Deputy Do-Gooder” told her he loved her. “You should have seen her, so content and at peace, adored by someone who is worthy of her.” Spencer starts recounting all the ways he’s hurt Trina, including that “my ex-girlfriend DRUGGED her and then FRAMED her for filming that video.” (he gets real upset at that one) He says he understands why Trina rejected him, “because she’s finally found someone with the courage to confess that he loves her.” Nikolas tries to suggest that it’s not too late but Spencer doesn’t believe it, thinking Trina must love Rory back. His father implores him to hold out hope.

Trina is also home from her date and reeling from Spencer’s words. Ava comes over and she asks her to stop her from “making a big mistake.” She expresses to Ava that what her heart wants could lead to more heartache, and Ava is empathetic. She tells her to follow her heart, and she’ll support her no matter what. After Ava leaves, Trina pulls out her phone and texts Spencer, “welcome home.” Spencer receives the text, smiles, and immediately puts down his drink telling his dad, “I won’t need that drink anymore.” His dad asks if there’s good news to which Spencer replies, “hold on to hope.”

Trina and Joss are hanging out and discussing her date with Rory, and Trina ultimately confesses that his “I love you” scared her and made her realize that while she likes him a lot, she’s not in love with him, at least not yet. Joss suggests that it’s not time holding her back, but her feelings for Spencer. Trina rejects that notion, but admits that everytime she looks at Spencer, she gets this feeling she can’t describe, and a part of her “wakes up.” Trina says that while she’s drawn to Spencer, she wishes she wasn’t, and she doesn’t have that same pull with Rory that she wished she did. She starts to question if Rory’s general goodness is enough for her, and is it fair to string him along if she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings. She tells Joss “I don’t want to date Rory just because I can’t have Spencer, I don’t even WANT Spencer.” To which Joss responds, “but you do.” Trina then admits, “yes I do.” Trina ultimately decides that she has to be honest with Rory about how she’s feeling and goes to the police station looking for him.

Rory is out investigating a lead on the Hook Killer, and gets HOOKED BY THE HOOKER. Another guy investigating finds him bleeding out. Back up arrives and they take him to General Hospital to be treated.

Spencer went to visit Cam at work and they discuss the details of his early release from prison and his plans for the future. Spencer has it in his head that he should go back to Europe because “nothing is keeping him” in Port Charles. He gets into an altercation with this guy Dex who’s one of his uncle’s henchmen upon learning that he’d put Joss in danger. As he’s leaving, he runs into Trina, who’s been out looking for Rory. She can tell that he’s upset/frustrated and tries to comfort him, telling him that at least his heart was in the right place this time. He tells her he’s thinking about leaving Port Charles for good, because he feels like everyone hates him here and it no longer qualifies as home. Trina yells at him that there are people here that DO care about him. Spencer has convinced himself that he is nothing but a disappointment, which Trina finds sad and untrue. It seems that Trina is about to confess her feelings to him, when Curtis shows up telling them there’s been another attack and that it was Rory.

They all rush to GH to see if Rory’s ok, but he’s lost a lot of blood and is not doing too hot. They roll him out of surgery and Trina cries and runs over to him, distraught and apologetic. Rory removes his oxygen mask to tell her that it was too soon to tell her how he felt, but he’s not sorry that she knows. Rory then immediately flatlines. They rush him back into surgery, and Trina is hysterical, and Joss and Cam’s attempts to comfort her are failing. Dr. Robinson comes out and shares that Rory didn’t make it, and Trina is devastated. Everytime they pan to Spencer he looks like he can’t stand not being able to comfort her. Trina tells her mom she wants to be alone and goes to the hospital chapel to sob.

Back out in the lobby Spencer confesses to Cam that he feels like an asshole for being so envious of Rory a few days ago, to which Cam tells him, “it’s not your fault that you love her too.” Some other convos happen throughout the night, but ultimately Spencer tells Cam he’s going to stay to support Trina, and he’s not going anywhere until Esme is found.

A week or so later, Spencer comes home and his dad asks him how’s feeling, and he expresses that he feels totally useless and helpless because he wants to support Trina but knows his presence would just cause more pain right now. Nikolas confesses that he’s serving Ava divorce papers and that he slept with someone else, Cameron’s mother, Elizabeth. Spencer is disgusted with his father for taking advantage of Elizabeth’s many personal struggles. Nikolas admits that they are full on seeing each other, and Spencer tells him he didn’t think it was possible to think LESS of his father, but here we are. Spencer continues to go in on his dad, shaming him for being “A man who would use a woman’s emotional problems to try to move in on her.” He tells his dad that he has proved time and time again that they’re family bond is unsalvageable. He vows to get as far away from his father as possible as soon as his sentence is fully up. He tells Nikolas that the one good thing about this is that it’s made him determined to be a better man than him.

Trina’s family tries to lift her spirits with Christmas festivities. Her and Joss have a heart to heart by the fireplace and Trina expresses her guilt over how responsible she feels for Rory’s death. Josslyn is very supportive but makes sure she knows that she is not to blame, and that it’s ok to live her life. While making ornaments with her mom, Trina makes one in Rory’s memory and seems ready to look forward while honoring what she lost.

Spencer is invited to a christmas eve get together with some extended family, and he asks who I think is an aunt how he can distance himself from the Cassadine drama/toxicity. She gives him some great advice about finding his own way in the world, and seeing a healthy family dynamic seems to move him. He graciously departs, telling them he has someone he needs to go see. Trina is shown going towards her door and finds Spencer, who tells her merry christmas and smiles.

Spencer goes full love actually vibes on Trina’s doorstep. She thought he was leaving town but he tells her, “I was going to because I thought there was nothing here for me anymore, and I was wrong. But if you want me to go, just say the words and I’ll leave you alone.” Trina doesn’t say anything for a beat, and so Spencer starts to back off when Trina simply says, “shoes off,” inviting him in. For reference, Trina very much has shoes on in her own house.

She opens up to him about how her family tried and failed to lift her spirits, and he listens very well. She shares that her actual christmas wish is for the last few days to just be a bad dream, and Spencer expands that to the last few years on his end, saying he’d change everything. Trina asks, “everything?” to which he responds, “everything except coming back to Port Charles, because then I never would have met you.”

They start discussing the whole serial killer situation, and Spencer fully believes it’s Esme. He wants to offer himself up as bait to lore Esme out of hiding and Trina is NOT ok with that. She can’t deny that there’s potential to his idea, but she thinks it’s missing one thing, herself. Trina suggests that the two of them together would enrage Esme the most, so they should seem as if they’ve turned to each other following Rory’s death. Spencer says “absolutely not” because it would put Trina in danger, and she calls him out on that double standard of risk. Trina insists that they would be “stronger together” and asks if he’s in or not, and they shake on it. As he goes to leave, snow is falling, and Trina brushes snow from Spencer’s nose.

The day after Christmas, Spencer and Trina put their FAKE DATING scheme into motion, letting themselves be photographed by the press with his grandmother. Everyone notices that they’re suddenly cozy, and when his grandmother asks him what’s going on, Spencer tells her, “When you said that I’m a better person than I think, I vowed to live up to those words. I wanna be worthy of your faith in me.” She reminds him to be the good man she knows he is and he says, “that’s exactly what I’m doing.” Spencer and Trina make conspiratorial eyes at each other. Spencer’s grandmother also reminds him how he’s hurt Trina in the past to which he responds, “I haven’t forgotten about what I’ve done in the past. But I swear to you that I will never hurt Trina again, and neither will anyone else.”

Trina and Ava have a meeting at Kelly’s, and Spencer walks in. Spencer pulls Ava aside and makes an honest, earnest apology to her, letting her know his reasons for acting the way he did. He also assures her that just wants to “help Trina get through this.” Ava departs, and Spencer and Trina discuss their grand plans for this fake dating scheme. They’re going to attend a friend’s new years eve party to be seen publicly together. The flirtmance is back in action for the first time in many moons.

That night at the party (which is being held on a boat) Spencer is waiting for Trina to arrive, and tells her she looks beautiful when she does. Their primary plan is to make Esme jealous enough to come out hiding, and when Trina reminds him of this he says “one look at you and mission accomplished.” and they take a selfie together. They run into Spencer’s Uncle Sonny and they express condolences to Trina for Rory’s death. Spencer openly praises Rory’s character, saying that he was a good support system for Trina when she needed it. She thanks him for those kind words and for helping her bring his killer to justice, to which he says “I’d do anything for you, you know that.” He does acknowledge that because he brought Esme to Port Charles in the first place, he feels a responsibility to get rid of her once and for all. Trina has a moment of revelation, and starts to wonder if Esme is really the one behind the killings. Seeing as it’s cold outside on the deck, Spencer puts his coat around Trina’s shoulders and arranges her hair out from underneath it very tenderly, and softly whispers “there ya go.”. She tells him he doesn’t have to do that since noone is watching and he says “can’t I be a good friend while also being a gentleman?” Trina tells Spencer that she didn’t mean when she told him they couldn’t be friends at her party, explaining that she was just upset and hurt at the time. Spencer says he’s glad to hear that they can still have a chance to be friends.

They start to go inside and Trina wants to develop a story for why they’re together, and they go back and forth suggesting ideas. Spencer suggests that the buzz can be that they “stole some time alone together” to which Trina says people will assume she got emotional and needed some air to which Spencer says “yeah and I had to come out and check on you,” and Trina “leaned on you for comfort.” Spencer starts playing with her coat buttons and says “something about heightened emotions and twinkling lights…” “and waves and stars and the warmth of your arms as you held me…” “brought back all of those old feelings…the ones we never acted on.”

They snap out of writing their own fanfiction to finally go in to the party, and Spencer takes her hand to lead her inside, but someone is watching them. This picks up in the following episode and the scene cut is different, with Trina saying they should go inside and Spencer asking for “just a little longer, we want people to miss us” while grasping her hand. Trina reminds him that they’re playing a dangerous game, and Spencer caresses her hand and says, “it’s not all a game.” She convinces him to go back into the party, but the Hook killer is right behind them on the deck. Right as they’re about to attack, Zenon finds them and calls to them, asking what they’re doing outside. They give their nonchalant reasons while Spencer puts one hand on Trina’s back and the other on her arm, “casually” keeping her close to him.

Inside the party, Spencer introduces Trina to his friend Brit (who the party is for) and the exchange is very sweet and wholesome. Spencer then twirls Trina on to the dance floor like a goob. Spencer is a terrible dancer but it’s actually adorable. As the clock strikes midnight on new years, Spencer seems like he’s going in for a kiss but blows a party kazoo in Trina’s face, making her giggle.

Back at the Cassadine estate, Esme develops a grand plan to escape from the wing Nikolas is keeping her in by setting her small Christmas tree on fire. Her plan works and before Nikolas can stop her, she jumps over the balcony YET AGAIN despite being very pregnant.

#nicholas alexander chavez #nicholas chavez #spencer cassadine #sprina #spencer x trina #general hospital #grotesquerie #father charlie mayhew #charlie mayhew #monsters netflix #monsters the lyle and erik menendez story

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