Alexis Davis (General Hospital)

Alexis Davis
File:Nlgalexis.png Nancy Lee Grahn as Alexis Davis.
First appearance	1996
Portrayed by	Nancy Lee Grahn
In-universe information
Alias	Natasha Alexandra Cassadine Alexis Davidovich
Gender	Female
Occupation	Attorney
Family	See below.
Spouse	Ric Lansing (divorced) Jasper Jacks (annulled)

Alexis Davis (previously Jacks and Lansing, born Natasha Alexandra Cassadine, raised Alexis Davidovich) is a fictional character on the popular ABC soap opera, General Hospital. Nancy Lee Grahn originated the role in 1996.

Character History

Alexis is the daughter of Mikkos Cassadine (who at one point wanted to take over the world but whose plan was foiled plan Luke Spencer), a Greco-Russian aristocrat, and his mistress Kristin Bergmann, a Swedish opera singer. Her mother was murdered by Mikkos' wife Helena Cassadine. Different versions of Alexis's early years have been presented, but in each version Helena slit Kristin's throat in front of the young Alexis.

Alexis was then taken into Mikkos and Helena's household to be raised as a poor relation. In one version of the story, Alexis was a child of four when her mother was murdered. In the most recent revision of the story, she was nine or ten. Alexis's infant sister, Kristina, disappeared at the time of the murder and Alexis believed she was responsible for her disappearance because Kristin had told her to hide her sister. She hid the baby in the stables and ran back to help her mother, only to witness the murder. When she returned to find the baby, Kristina was gone.

Years later, an adult Kristina Cassadine came looking for her sister and explained that she had been adopted and sought out information about her birth family after her adoptive mother's death. The show did not explain in detail what happened to Kristina or how she came to be adopted.

Alexis developed at least partial amnesia and grew up believing she was Alexis Davidovich, the daughter of Mikkos's dead sister Sophia and her Russian husband Alexei Davidovich. Alexis was tormented by Helena and her half-brother, Stavros Cassadine, but had a close bond with her half-brother, Stefan Cassadine, whom she thought of as her cousin. Stefan protected Alexis from the rest of the family and paid for her to attend boarding school in the United States when she was a teenager.

In the spring of 2006, Alexis revealed that she gave up a daughter for adoption when she was 16 and at boarding school. She said that Mikkos pressured her to give up the child and altered documents to make it appear that the child had died in a car accident when she was three so that Alexis would never be able to find her. Alexis badly wanted to please Mikkos and did as he told her. Alexis has not revealed who the father is, but said he never knew that she was pregnant.

Early years on the show

In return for Stefan's protection of Alexis, he expected loyalty to himself as head of the family. He suggested that Alexis "Americanize" her surname to Davis from Davidovich to make herself more acceptable to American clients. Alexis worked as Stefan's attorney when she completed school. Alexis aided Stefan on the legal side of things when he was carrying out his vendetta against Luke Spencer, whom he blamed for killing his brother Stavros and for preventing Laura from returning to Stefan and her son Nikolas Cassadine.

Alexis has been willing to bend the law when needed to suit her own ends as well. She was in cahoots with Luke Spencer to kill Helena Cassadine, but the plan went wrong and Katherine Bell fell off the parapet instead and was severely injured. Hoping to break up Stefan and his fiancee Katherine Bell, Alexis tricked Stefan into believing that Katherine was actually his half-sister Natasha. Stefan was estranged from Alexis for a time when he learned of the lie. Luke Spencer learned that Alexis was the real Natasha and told her. It was only after Luke gave her the information that she began to remember her past.

A run-away bride and a platonic marriage

Alexis had a long affair with her fellow "gatekeeper" Ned Ashton, but lost her nerve at the altar when it came time to marry him. They met in December 1996. They began dating the next spring and shared their first kiss while dancing on a rooftop after The Nurses Ball. It was nearly a year later, on Valentines Day, that they consummated their relationship. During this time they broke up numerous times, but managed to find their way back to watch each other. In the summer of 1999, she married Jasper Jacks, but she continued seeing Ned. Ned asked Alexis to marry her, and she reluctantly said "yes." While Ned was on tour singing as Eddie Maine, Alexis was caught posing for Ned in a black teddy with a rose between her teeth. What started out as harmless, blew out of proportion, and Alexis couldn't show her face in public without being mobbed by admirers and reporters, simply because she was "Eddie's Angel." They planned a huge wedding in the hopes of discouraging the reporters from following them around. She had images of what her life would be like as Ned's wife and ran the other way.

On July 5, 1999, she married her best friend Jasper "Jax" Jacks, while Ned had a platonic marriage to Chloe Morgan. Ned, Alexis and Jax were helping Chloe to fulfill the conditions of an inheritance, but the wrong couples ended up married. They explained their sudden relationship on the helicopter crash in the Sahara Desert, where they were stranded for days due to a sandstorm, though the crash was caused by Helena Cassadine. They were only married for eight months, but both of them refer to their time together as their most successful relationship. They are one of the few male/female friends whose relationship has always been platonic.

The Sonny Saga

First they were attorney-client, then they were friends - and then they were lovers - if only for one night.

In February 1999, Sonny approached Alexis to aid Jason Morgan retain custody of Michael, a proposition Alexis would ultimately agree to. Upon overhearing Assistant DA Dara Jensen questioning Sonny about the disappearance of Jason and Michael, she reluctantly stepped in to aid and protect Sonny's rights - thus becoming his "mouthpiece".

The following year, Sonny discovered that Carly was pregnant - with his baby. Not wanting the child to grow up with the Quartermaines, he enlisted Alexis' services to make sure that he would have a role in his own child's life. However, before the baby was born, Carly fell down the stairs at the Quartermaine mansion and lost the child. During a depression that followed, Sonny was approached by Sorel with an opportunity to look the other way while Sorel stepped up on his drug dealings. Sonny decided to accept the meeting, and unknown to him, Carly hid in the closet and taped the entire conversation. Taggert received an "anonymous" tip regarding the meeting, and with a team of officers, busted into the office and arrested Sonny. The only way Alexis could keep him out of jail was to convince him to marry Carly.

Sonny convinced Alexis to move into the vacant penthouse across the hallway from Sonny's place after Carly expressed an interest in moving in with her son Michael. The move allowed Sonny and Alexis to get to know one another as people, rather than attorney-client. After Alexis and Ned were officially engaged, she talked of her fears and apprehensions to Sonny, much to Carly's chagrin.

Alexis agreed to defend Zander Smith on kidnapping charges, which caused a rift between herself and Ned, though not enough to make them call off the wedding. Sonny and Alexis both found themselves growing attached to the kid, and she took him to live in her penthouse after being freed on bail. Alexis worked out a deal in which the charges would be dropped in exchange for Zander's testimony against Sorel in the latter's drug trial.

Following the successful deal and subsequent $2 million bail agreement, Sonny, Alexis, Zander and Emily Quartermaine left the PCPD with the intentions of celebration - but didn't make it very far. Just outside the precinct, two of Sorel's men, disguised as police officers, opened fire on the four. Sonny pushed Alexis out of the way of the bullets, getting hit himself; Zander was also hit, though it was a superficial wound.

Later, Sorel threatened Zander's life once again. Seeing no alternative, Sonny decided to make Zander "disappear", and did not tell Alexis. Panicked by his disappearance, Alexis asked Roy DiLucca for help, and then visited Sorel in jail and threatened him. Sonny brought Zander back just in time to testify against Sorel, and Alexis discovered what had transpired - and was not pleased.

Sonny: No matter how much you or anybody else tries to change me, it's not going to happen. You want to resign? Do it. I am tired of explaining myself to people who should know me. Alexis: Well, all right. Then we're just clear on how we stand then, aren't we? (walking out) We're over. We're through.

2001 was a year of great change for Alexis. She officially resumed the role of "mob mouthpiece", as well as lost her best friend Chloe - and discovered that her presumed dead sister, Kristina was, in fact, alive and well, though it was a well-kept secret that she only told Stefan and her now official "friend" Sonny. After the Cassadines escaped Helena and Stavros' plot, it was Sonny Alexis leaned on when she finally needed to vent her feelings of anger and sadness. And from there their friendship grew and deepened.

Soon enough, though, duty called, and Alexis and Sonny were on a plane to Puerto Rico to handle a labor situation at his molasses refinery. They stayed at Sonny's casino, and what started out as purely business turned into one of the most special nights in either of their lives--moonlight, dancing and "four, black."

Sonny: Go ahead. Say it. You can say anything tonight. Tonight is yours. You can do whatever you want.

Unfortunately before the magic could overwhelm them, Sonny was called back to Port Charles to deal with another "Carly" situation, one that revealed the existence of his half-sister, Courtney Matthews. Alexis was instrumental in trying to help Sonny build a relationship with his new sister, drawing on her own experience with having Kristina in her life to help him. But A.J. Quartermaine had other ideas - he determined to seduce Courtney and use her to force a deal with Sonny - his sister for A.J.'s son.

As Sonny began to wonder about Alexis' romantic feelings for him (following a slip of the tongue by her sister), the flirting and the deep connection between the two both intensified. But tensions between Sonny and his sister continued to escalate over the subject of A.J. during the early months of 2002, and finally, the young woman ran off with Sonny's sworn enemy. Alexis tried to keep Sonny from doing anything he'd regret during this time, prompting a lot of questions from her sister Kristina regarding their relationship. Finally, pushed to her breaking point, Alexis admitted her feelings to her sister in a rush of anger.

Alexis: I never said I was "OK" with my feelings, Kristina. I never said I was "comfortable" with my feelings. I said I didn't want to share them with you or Ned or Jax or anyone else. Shouldn't that be my choice? Shouldn't that be my prerogative? Is that so hard for all of you to understand? You know what I think? I think that --- that you don't care at all about my relationship with Sonny. In fact, I don't think you give a damn about my feelings at all. I think you're all so damn mad at me because I'm in love with a man you can't stand!

Alexis continued to try to hide her true feelings from Sonny - and everyone else - as they searched for Courtney. When they finally did locate Sonny's sister, they discovered she was now Mrs. A.J. Quartermaine. A.J. then made his sickening offer of an exchange of Courtney for Michael, to Sonny, and the mob boss, terrified for his sister's future, made a huge decision - he would have A.J. killed. He didn't, however, count on Alexis knowing him well enough to figure out his secret, and when she confronted him, she fought to save him from this disastrous situation. And Sonny - forced to choose between his revenge, his need to look strong before the code of "the mob", not to appear weak and Alexis - chose Alexis.

Sonny: You know what you are to me now? Someone who matters, someone I need too much to push away. What am I to you? I mean, what are we to each other? You're like a dance, Alexis, and I'm not talking about drunk on rum in Puerto Rico. You -- you -- you like to dance around me, and that's fine because I -- I like to dance with you, too. But not tonight. You forced me to choose, and I -- I chose you. I wonder, if the positions were reversed, would you choose me?

The moment erased whatever barriers had stood between them, and Sonny and Alexis finally gave into their passion for one another and made love. But the happiness they both seemed to have found with each other was not meant to be. The next morning, they learned that Carly had disappeared and had possibly been in a car accident - and then they discovered what the audience already knew - Carly had seen them in bed together and run off into the night, devastated by what she'd seen.

Sonny and Alexis were both distraught over this and later when Carly turned up alive and well - after faking her own death to deliberately punish Sonny - Alexis told Sonny he should go back to his wife, which he did. Alexis had originally planned to tell Sonny about the pregnancy, but chose not to after overhearing Sonny discuss his willingness to kill Zander Smith, a young man she had befriended. Soon afterwards her sister, Kristina, was killed in a warehouse explosion that was intended for Sonny. Kristina had learned that Sonny was the father of Alexis's baby and had gone to the warehouse to look for him. Sonny questioned the dying Kristina in the hospital about what she had wanted to tell him, but she chose to keep her sister's secret. Alexis promised to name the baby after her sister, whether it was a boy or girl. At Kristina's memorial service, the devastated Alexis lambasted Sonny and his fellow mobster Jason Morgan and reminded Sonny that her Cassadine ancestors were ruling countries when his were toiling in the fields with the other peasants. She hated Sonny for a time and went to great lengths to keep the truth from him. Ned, who had been engaged to Kristina, offered to lie that he was the baby's father. Ned helped Alexis alter documents and assumed paternity of baby Kristina for the first year of her life. Ned was granted custody of Kristina when Alexis was on trial for murder in the death of arms dealer Luis Alcazar, the man who set off the warehouse explosion that killed Kristina Cassadine. Luis had threatened Alexis and her daughter. When Alexis went to his hotel room to confront him, he ended up taking a dive out the window. Alexis later said that the death was accidental and Luis had threatened her, but she knew a jury was unlikely to believe her. Alexis faked multiple personality disorder and received a verdict of innocent by reason of temporary insanity. During her probation, she was allowed only supervised visitation with her baby daughter by Ned. Alexis dressed up as a male butler named Dobson and obtained employment in the Quartermaine household to be closer to Kristina. Eventually, she regained custody of Kristina and barred Ned from further involvement in the baby's life. Alexis was forced to ask Sonny for help when her daughter Kristina became ill and needed a bone marrow transplant. Kristina was ultimately saved by a transfusion of stem cells from Sonny's stillborn daughter with Samantha "Sam" McCall, who a few years later turned out to be the daughter Alexis gave up for adoption. Up until very recently, Alexis has had a contentious relationship with Sonny, but with the discovery that Alexis is facing a serious health crisis [stage 2 lung cancer] Sonny becoming more and more involved with concern for her well being

Recent stories

She also has an infant daughter, Molly Lansing, by her husband Ric Lansing. Ric is also Sonny's half-brother. Ric originally tried to get close to Alexis after he learned that Sonny fathered Kristina. The manipulative Ric thought he could use this to his advantage. Later, Ric realized that he truly cared for Alexis. Their educational backgrounds, intelligence, wit, and similarly screwed up childhoods gave them much in common. Though Alexis tried to draw back from Ric and even told him he should go back to his ex-wife Elizabeth, Ric was the one man in her life who refused to go away. He gently pressured her until she agreed to give their relationship a chance. However, their marriage has not been without its tensions. Ric's obsession with Sonny Corinthos continues to be a source of conflict. His one-night stand with Reese Marshall nearly ended his marriage, though he and Alexis were reunited just before the stressful birth of their daughter. Alexis nearly died giving birth to Molly and later both she and Ric were near death during an epidemic that struck Port Charles in the winter of 2006.

Ric recently resumed his manipulative ways and was attracted to Alexis's long-lost biological daughter, Samantha "Sam" McCall, another of Sonny's former lovers. He complained to Sam that Alexis favored Kristina, her daughter with Sonny, over Molly, her daughter with Ric, and accused Alexis of not spending enough time with him or the girls. Alexis has been trying to get to know Sam as a daughter and has been determined to separate Sam from her fiance Jason Morgan, Sonny's right-hand man. Sam deeply resents Alexis's efforts to keep them apart. Alexis recently had a bitter fight with Sam after she overheard Sam tell Ric that she is a "bitch." Alexis said she can't understand Sam's reliance on a man for her identity and her determination to be with a mobster. She ordered Sam to leave her house before she poisoned Kristina and Molly with her pitiful attitude. Sam proceeded to get drunk and slept with Ric, an affair Alexis subsequently discovered. She kept silent about her knowledge for a time out of a desire to protect her younger daughters in the event that she dies or becomes incapacitated by her recently diagnosed lung cancer. She asked Sonny to permit Ric to raise Kristina in the same household with Molly in case she dies. Sonny, who was also aware of Ric's affair with Sam, refused to consider the idea and said that he will raise Kristina if that happens. Alexis also continued to want to keep Sam away from Jason. However, after beginning chemotherapy to treat the lung cancer, Alexis blew up at both Ric and Sam, kicked Ric out of the house and said she will fight Ric if he attempts to take custody of Molly. Sadly, Ric got custody of Molly. Alexis was furious and upset. She asked Ric how he could keep Molly away from her mother the way they were away from their's. She said to him that she has already given up one child and wont let that happen again. Nikolas offered her a plane ticket to Switzerland and to live there with Molly and Kristina. She said no because she couldn't take her girls away from their families. She plans to rest and then she will fight Ric for custody again, soon.

Character

Alexis is an intelligent and witty character whose quick, sharp tongue often hides considerable vulnerability. Her outer persona is the tough as nails, feminist attorney. At her inner core is the little girl who saw her mother murdered by her evil stepmother and was raised in a psychotic, emotionally abusive household. Ned and Jax, discussing Ned's engagement to Alexis's long-lost sister Kristina Cassadine, concluded that the quirky, free spirit Kristina was attractive to Ned because she was "Alexis without the baggage" of her emotionally damaged childhood. Other characters have found Alexis similarly frustrating. Alexis is often neurotic and high strung, traits that are sometimes used as comic relief by the show, and still finds it hard to let anyone get too close, even though she has had a successful marriage in recent years. Her life is currently about loving and protecting her three daughters. There is nothing she would not do for them.

Alexis and Sonny Corinthos's friendship is back. They are willing to raise their duaghter with Alexis's custody agreement. Alexis and her oldest duaghter Sam McCall don't always get along. Alexis does not like the fact that Sam is dating a mobster. But with Sam and Jason's relationship ending, Sam is turning to her mother for help and they are becoming closer

Alexis learns what Richard Lansing is doing in the DA and exploses him for it. Alexis regains custody of her baby daughter Molly Davis-Lansing.

Aliases

• Natasha Bergman (birth name)
• Alexis Davidovich (name she was raised with)
• Dobson ('male' name) (when she was impersonating a Quartermaine butler)

Family & Relationships

Parents

• Mikkos Cassadine (father; deceased)
• Kristin Bergman (mother; deceased) {real name Kristin Nilsson}

Sibling(s)

• Stavros Cassadine (paternal half-brother; deceased)
• Stefan Cassadine (paternal half-brother; deceased)
• Kristina Cassadine (sister; deceased)

Children

• Samantha "Sam" McCall (daughter, with unknown man) {born May 11, 1980}
• Kristina Davis (daughter, with Sonny Corinthos) {born November 19, 2002}
• Molly Lansing (daughter, with Ric Lansing) {born November 10, 2005}

Marital Status

• Single

Past Marriage(s)

• Jasper "Jax" Jacks (Annulled)
• Richard "Ric" Lansing (Divorced)

Aunts & Uncles

• Victor Cassadine (Paternal Uncle, deceased)
• Tony Cassadine (Paternal Uncle, deceased)
• Sophia Cassadine-Davidovich (Paternal Aunt, deceased)

Nieces & Nephews

• Nikolas Cassadine (nephew, via Stavros)
• Spencer Cassadine (great-nephew)

Romantic Entanglements

• Edward "Ned" Ashton (lovers/engaged)
• Michael "Sonny" Corinthos Jr. (affair)
• Ric Lansing (lovers/married)
• Jerry Jacks (flirtation)