Bobbie provides a safe haven for Ethan after Kristina accuses him of assault (2010).
There were few and far between times when the Brownstone stood eerily quiet at dusk and Bobbie had learnt to cherish them wisely. Her home was a sanctuary to solitary souls, four walls within which anyone without blood family could find their chosen ones, but she relished in the rare moments she could truly relax in her own company.
A sudden sequence of noises from the front of her property abruptly interrupted Bobbie's ascent up the stairs. Curiously, she peered out the window and squinted to identify the form hunched over at the top of the stoop. "Hello," she cautiously opened the door, "Can I help you?" The intruder reluctantly craned his head around and waved a pathetic hand. "Ethan, hi."
"Hi, Bobbie."
The slur of alcohol emphasised his Australian drawl and Bobbie raised an eyebrow with a sympathetic smile. "You okay?"
"Perfect. Just perfect," he exclaimed in a sadistic, sarcastic tone. "The whole town thinks I beat up young girls for sport, Sonny Corinthos wants my head and Luke's vanished into thin air as usual. "
Bobbie carefully perched on the step above him and stroked the back of his head tenderly. Earlier that day, Lulu had frantically burst into her home with desperate hope that their father would, at least, answer his own sister's call. In spite of herself, Bobbie searched her contacts for Luke's number and feigned surprise for her niece's sake when the dial tone forwarded to voicemail. "Luke will be on his way home as soon as he hears what's happened." She prayed Ethan didn't interpret his absence as intentional and internalise the perceived rejection. After all, they were almost one and the same; free birds liable to fly the coop at any moment. "Until then, you'll have to make do with me."
"I didn't hurt her, Bobbie, I swear to you."
"I know you didn't," she affirmed, any ounce of humour in her tone abandoned. "Ethan, I know you," Bobbie supportively squeezed his shoulders. "I have also known all kinds of men in my life - violent men - and I know you are not one of them." True, Ethan reminded her of Luke in his youth. He had the same wild look in his eyes, and the dilemma Ethan found himself in was eerily similar to Luke and Laura's history with one major exception; he was innocent of his accusation.
"Kristina knows that, too." Ethan muttered, and malevolently kicked the dirt beneath his shoe. "Why did she lie, Bobbie?"
Careful not to allow his understandable frustration to infect her own perception, Bobbie visibly bit her tongue in an effort not to pass judgement on Kristina. What little she knew of Michael's half-sister offered no explanation and Alexis' parenting style didn't exactly promote deception. "I don't know, honey, maybe she was scared."
"Of what?"
"Not what, who, " his aunt corrected him, sensitive to his sense of persecution. "Whoever really attacked Kristina must be someone she truly cares about, or someone who can instil enough fear in her to protect them - - maybe both," Bobbie sympathised with Kristina's position, one she had experienced many years before in her marriage to Brock.
Ethan's entire body relaxed somewhat for the first time since Kristina had been admitted to General Hospital; Bobbie wholly believed in his innocence. "Luke was right about you," he remarked with a smile of admiration, and Bobbie eyed him with curiosity. "He said you were the most dependable person he knew - - that even if the whole world somehow turned against me, you would be on my side." At the time, Ethan had assumed Luke's words were mere bluster.
"Always," she smiled proudly. "You're a Spencer, you're family."