Favorite Fictional Character --- Jesse & Angie Hubbard

I can't believe there are only 3 episodes left for me to watch of my favorite soap opera of all time.  I think on Friday, I will be crying as the closing credits close on All My Children.  One of the most important couples to ever grace the show were Jess & Angie.  I loved them then and now.

One of the most important super couples of the 80s, Jesse and Angie were two of my favorite characters growing up.  Born on the wrong side of the tracks, Jesse Hubbard quickly falls in love with his fellow teen Angie Baxter, a well born society girl.  Naturally her father doesn't approve and when Jesse is accused of raping Liza, he flees to New York City with his best friend Jenny.  Once Liza recants her story and tells the truth, he returns back to Pine Valley and quickly takes up again with Angie.

Things aren't all sunny for our two love birds though, this is a soap opera after all.  They eventually get married and Angie becomes pregnant with their first child, Franklin, Frankie for short.  Through various misunderstandings the two of them divorce (before the baby is born), kidnap their baby from his adoptive home, get remarried, Jesse cheats on Angie because of his brother, and then the two reconcile.

Through many more years of drama the two of them have their issues but their loves remains as strong as ever.  As they got older, Angie finished medical school and Jesse joined the police department.  He is eventually killed in the line of duty, and after a few years Angie takes Frankie out of town.

This is where is gets interested, Angie ends up on the shows Loving then The City where she eventually meets and marries Jacob Foster, a distant relative of Jesse (the character was played by the same actor.)  The two adopt a young girl named Cassandra and everything seems to be going well for them.

Years later, the two divorce and Angie doesn't return back to Pine Valley until her experience as an infectious disease specialist is needed in a mysterious illness afflicting two patients.  It's not clear until she gets their that one of the patients is her son Frankie, who returned to Pine Vally after spending time in Iraq.  It's around this same time that we find out Jesse didn't die and that he has been in hiding all these years to protect his family from the criminals who tried to kill him.

Over the last few years the family has reunited, and I will admit to shedding a tear when Angie sees Jesse for the first time.  They have gotten remarried and suffered a few setbacks along the way, including blindness and a stillborn child.  Through it all, they have remained a deeply devoted couple that protects their family at all costs.  As a young kid, they taught me that true love can be found and that it will survive the ups and downs.  As an adult, they have reaffirmed that idea for me and in small part, have made me believe in love again.