1989: Duke Isn't Dead
Anna was devastated when her husband, Duke, was killed in a fiery explosion after testifying against a group of mobsters — including Victor Jerome. Duke, however, wasn't dead after all: He was hiding in an underground bunker after Federal marshals had convinced him that faking his own death was the only way to protect Anna and her daughter, Robin, from further danger. The next year, Duke returned to Port Charles and Anna with a new name and a new face after having cosmetic surgery.

1996: Laura Has Another Son — Nikolas
Laura gave birth to daughter Lesley Lu in 1994. Two years later, Lulu became sick with a rare disease that could only be cured by a bone-marrow transplant. After Lucky, Luke and Laura were proven incompatible donors, Laura was forced to admit to Luke and Lucky that she had another son, Nikolas, whom she had bore while held captive by Stavros Cassadine. Nikolas arrived in Port Charles with his uncle, Stefan, and saved his sister's life after he was proven to be a match.

1999: Lucky Is Alive
Estranged from his parents, Lucky resided in a room above Jason's bike shop in a building owned by Sonny. One night, a fire broke out in the shop and a body was found in the upstairs room with the necklace that Liz had given to Lucky. This led everyone to believe that the body was Lucky's. Luke blamed Sonny's mob ties for the fire that killed his son, but viewers quickly saw that Lucky was alive and being held captive by Helena and Cesar Faison — who had set up the fire and faked Spencer's death. The denizens of Port Charles had to wait a year, however, until they discovered that Lucky hadn't perished in the blaze.

2002: AJ Is Courtney's Stalker
Although AJ originally married Courtney as part of his plan to get custody of his son, Michael, he fell in love with his new wife. AJ continued drinking, however, which led to his driving his car into Coleman's strip club. To keep Coleman quiet and pay off the damages, Courtney agreed to strip at his club...but she kept it from her husband. Meanwhile, Court began being followed and received harassing phone calls. At one point, someone even attacked her in her own home. AJ came to the rescue and exposed Coleman as Courtney's stalker. But eventually, it was revealed that AJ had paid Coleman to take the fall so that the Quartermaine son would look like the hero.

2002: Brenda Is Alive — And Isn't Dying
Brenda was revealed to have survived the car crash that had presumably killed her and was sailing around with Luis Alcazar on his yacht. Unbeknownst to Brenda, Luis was manipulating her and had become Sonny's enemy. When Brenda learned that Luis was going to kill Sonny, she decided to return to Port Charles to warn her ex-lover. Brenda had someone place an anonymous call to Sonny to meet her at the church, St. James, where they were to be married years earlier. When it looked like he wasn't going to show up, Brenda exited the church and she and Sonny came face-to-face. Later, when Skye became jealous of Jax and Brenda's renewed relationship, she flew to Switzerland and found out that Brenda wasn't dying. Skye realized that Brenda didn't know and used the information to try to get Brenda out of town. It didn't work: Jax divorced Skye when he found out the horrible truth and gave Brenda the wonderful news.