The mesmerizing beat of the music floods the room.  Luke and Laura begin to dance, looking into each other's eyes, swaying slowly.  But soon Laura is struggling to get free of Luke, whose grasp has become urgent and demanding.  "No, Luke, no," she cries, but he pushes her to the floor.  The rape scene is from General Hospital - viewers have seen it countless times in the last few months.  It's a powerful performance because, even while hating Luke for his crime against Laura, it's impossible not to see his love for her and the strong bond that draws them together.  "Luke didn't want to rape Laura," says Tony Geary, who plays Luke on the show.  "He wasn't in touch with reality.  "He'd spent months fantasizing and dreaming about Laura," he explains.  "And no matter how many times she denies it, Laura had been subtlyencouraging Luke during that time.  For a few moments, Luke thought the rape was part of a dream.  Only the ringing phone brought him back to reality.  He said, 'Oh, my God.  What have I done?'  On the show, the rape is described as brutal, but I don't believe it was brutal.  At the time I didn't think it was brutal.  It was sex without consent, which is rape."

Tony Geary has been cast as a rapist several times before.  On Barnaby Jones he played a rapist who murdered his victims, and as the psychopathic George Curtis on The Young and The Restless, his sexual attack on Chris Brooks was violent.  Only Luke Spencer, Tony believes, truly didn't want to violate his victim.  Gloria Monty, the show's producer, wanted the rape to be more of a seduction, and revised the scene's original blocking.  She eliminated the strong language and violence.  "They had me grabbing Laura and her slapping me," Tony says.  "Gloria said, 0h, no, no, no.  You put your hand out."  Consequently, Luke has evolved into the anti-hero Gloria wanted to create.  It was an incredibly demanding scene to play, and Tony feels his professional relationship with Genie Francis was enriched by this experience.  The 32-year-old actor admits he felt protective of his 17-year-old leading lady, and that his emotions added another dimension to his performance and to the character.  "It was a sensitive scene.  Luke was protective of Laura."  Both Tony and Genie saw a social worker before performing the rape scene.  "I had played this kind of scene enough times to know that they are hard for the guy, and even harder for the woman.  I wanted to be sure we were protected from laughter or any other inappropriate responses on the set.  It's important for the actress to feel totally safe."  Tony speaks with great admiration of Genie's ability.  "I don't know Genie as a little girl. I think of her as an actress, and I respect her.  She goes to college and she's 17, but I've never thought of her as a child.  She's a peer, a hell of a good actress, and I love to work with her."

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