Arabella Carey

Alexa Havins as Babe Carey

**Arabella "Babe" Carey** is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. She was originally portrayed by actress Alexa Havins, from October 13, 2003, to October 8, 2007, and then by actress Amanda Baker from October 8, 2007, to October 31, 2008. Havins crossed over as character sporadically on One Life to Live from November 24, 2003 to February 2005.

Though originally scripted as age 19 in 2003, in a star-crossed romance with character JR Chandler, Babe's birth date was later set by the series as April 10, 1983, upon the character's death. The writers often had the character referred to as "Baby Doll" by her mother, Krystal Carey (Bobbie Eakes), and occasionally as "Bella" when speaking to Kevin Buchanan (Dan Gauthier) on One Life to Live. In addition, the series displayed significant comparisons between her and legendary character Dixie Cooney.

## Storylines

Arabella Carey was named after her mother's aunt, a gesture that her mother hoped would result in her inheriting $2,000 that her aunt kept hidden in a cardboard box. As it turned out, the woman hated children and bequeathed her "fortune" to her two cats. Eventually the pet name "Baby" was shortened to "Babe", and Arabella shed her real name.

On the night of Fusion Cosmetic's announcement of the winner of their Face of Fusion contest, Jamie Martin ended up on the beach where he encounter a young, blonde beauty who'd had a few too many to drink. One thing led to another - including stealing a plastic cow from a local eatery - and Jamie and the still-nameless woman had sex. For Jamie, this was his first sexual encounter.

The following night, J.R. Chandler assembled his extended family at Chandler Mansion for a welcome home celebration. During the festivities, J.R. announced that he'd married a young woman he'd met just three weeks before. That woman, a self-proclaimed fan of the soap opera Dynasty, known only as "Babe", was the same woman who'd had sex with Jamie the night before. J.R. would later reveal that he'd met Babe on night in San Diego at the end of a fog-enshrouded dock. J.R. believed that Babe, who was crying, was going to jump and take her life. Babe, however, said that as bad as things were, she never would have taken her own life.

Jamie wanted to confess to J.R. about the sexual encounter with Babe, but she wanted to keep it a secret. When J.R. asked about the plastic cow she put in their bedroom, Jamie and Babe made up a bogus story to cover their tracks. Jamie and Babe decided to keep their affair a secret, but they certainly didn't hide it very well. Whenever J.R. caught them together, they looked suspicious, Jamie made his emotions for Babe obvious whenever he looked at her, and J.R.'s father, Adam, was breathing down Babe's neck all the time. Adam even offered to give Babe money if she would leave J.R., but Babe refused. Adam vowed to find some dirt on Babe and use it to break up their marriage. Babe fired back at Adam by revealing information to the police involving Adam and longtime friend, Erica Kane, in the murder of Michael Cambias.

Babe surprised J.R. and Jamie by telling everyone that she was pregnant. J.R. was excited, but Jamie wanted to find out if the baby was his. Babe told him that the baby J.R.'s and her and Jamie used protection, so it could not be his child. When Babe went to the hospital, she persuaded her doctor with her charms to lie about the date the baby was conceived. The doctor told the family that Babe was nine weeks pregnant, eliminating Jamie as the possible father.

Soon after the news about her pregnancy, J.R. did some investigating and started putting the pieces together about Jamie and Babe's close relationship. He confronted them at the exact room at The Pine Cone where they had their one-night stand. Of course, Jamie told J.R. the truth about their affair, and Babe lied. Babe told J.R. that Jamie would constantly come on to her and he wanted her all for himself. J.R. was angry with both of them, but in the end, chose his wife over his brother.

It seemed that everyone wanted to get their hands on Babe's medical records to find out who the father of her baby is. Jamie's father, Tad, found Babe's mother, Krystal Carrington, and brought her home to Babe. In private, Babe admitted to her mother about her affair with Jamie and Krystal seemed more upset that her daughter got caught in the lie, instead of actual lying to her husband. Krystal headed to the hospital, where she used her charms on the doctor and saved Adam and Brooke from finding out about the baby's conception date.

As Jamie continued to profess his love and faithfulness towards the child that he claimed was his, J.R. stuck by Babe and believed he was the father of the baby. J.R. and Jamie even got into a fist fight over Babe! One night on the docks, Babe told J.R. that she knew she was pregnant before they got married. J.R. asked her if she did it to trap him into a marriage. Babe admitted she was scared he would leave her and if she had his baby, she would always have a part of him to love, no matter what. After that, J.R. and Babe seemed to reconnect.

For Christmas, Adam hosted a party, with special guests, Dorian Lord and her nephew, Paul Cramer. Adam hoped his plot would let Babe know about her other secret, forcing her to confess to J.R. Babe became frantic and confided to her mother that before she met J.R., she and Paul got married. She said they were drunk and woke up with a marriage license, but she never got the marriage annulled, like she told Paul she would. Krystal asked her why she never got the marriage annulled and Babe responded that she never got around to it.

Tad was walking by Babe's bedroom and overheard Krystal telling Babe that she was going to keep something safe, which was her marriage license to Paul. Tad tried to get the paper by seducing Krystal, but he found her bank statement instead, prompting him to continue his investigation about Babe's secrets.

Babe chose to tell J.R. about Paul by saying her and Paul were married, but then got it annulled. J.R. was angry that she lied and more importantly, that she took her marriage to Paul so lightly. He was upset that she got so drunk, she married some stranger, and then lied about it. Babe assured her that the marriage and relationship was over with Paul. When J.R. asked her if she had any more secrets, she told him that she didn't.

Meanwhile, Jamie still wanted prove to J.R. that he could be the father of Babe's baby. He broke into his grandfather's medical office and looked up her medical records, which proved that he could be the possible father. He went to J.R. immediately with the news, and again, J.R. dismissed his claims. Jamie told them that he wanted a paternity test before the baby was born. Babe and J.R. were opposed to the test because of the potential harm to the baby. Jamie agreed and told Babe that he would wait until after the baby was born to have a test done. He even threatened to take her to court if she didn't comply.

To set his mind at ease, J.R. made an unexpected appointment for Babe with her doctor. When J.R. and Babe arrived for the appointment, Babe had a sonogram and J.R. asked the doctor when the baby was due. Babe nodded to the doctor and the doctor revealed the real due date and apologized for his incorrect information. The doctor left and Babe was forced to tell J.R. the truth. In the end, J.R. admitted that he never believed her and wanted a paternity test when the baby was born.

Babe became desperate and wanted to make sure that the paternity test would reveal J.R. as the father. She asked Paul to fly the paternity test results to Pine Valley and fix the results to make J.R. the father. She tried blackmailing Paul with their quickie marriage because it would cut him out of millions of dollars from his aunt's will.

However, Paul refused to help her, knowing that she had just as much to lose as him. After all if he lost his spot in the will, he would turn her in for bigamy. Later, however, Paul did agree to fly the test results to Pine Valley, and the DNA test showed that J.R. had fathered Babe's child. But he never said if he had changed the results or if those results had been true in the first place.

As Babe's due date approached, she found herself trapped in the middle of nowhere with Bianca following a storm, Babe called Paul and asked that he fly his medical helicopter to take her and Bianca to the hospital. Paul initially agreed, but later agreed. When he arrived, he helped Babe deliver her baby. He then administered an unknown medicine to Babe leaving her groggy.

During this time, Paul staged a chopper crash. When Babe awakened, Paul told her that he baby had died during the crash. However, when help arrived and Babe's family threatened harm to Paul if anything had happened to babe's child, Paul changed his story and said that Bianca's baby had been thrown from the chopper. He had hid Babe's baby in a nearby cabin and planned to give the baby boy to Kelly so that she could pass the baby off as her own. Bianca's babe was then given to Babe, leaving Bianca and her family to believe that her child had been killed.

Babe named the baby Elizabeth "Bess" Charlotte Chandler. While Bianca was mourning for her child, she became confused and kidnapped Bess from the hospital. Bianca returned Bess to J.R. and Babe, apologizing profusely for her behavior. Of course, Babe forgave her and even asked Bianca to be her Bess's godmother. Babe also asked J.R. if she could change Bess's middle name to Miranda, in honor of the baby Bianca lost. J.R. was a bit hesitant about the idea, but agreed to make Babe happy.

Pretty soon, Babe and J.R. became stronger than ever. J.R. even asked Babe to remarry him so she could have the wedding she always dreamed of. As Babe was planning the wedding, J.R. found out from Liza Chandler about Paul and Babe's marriage never getting annulled. When J.R. confronted Babe, she told him the truth and also said that the papers were sent to the court, making the annulment official. Babe thought that J.R. would leave her instantly because of her betrayal, but he didn't. Instead, he forgave her and told her he still planned to wed her.

Babe was so overjoyed with J.R.'s forgiveness that she told Krystal she was going to tell him the truth about the paternity test. She wanted J.R. to know the truth about what Paul had done, but Krystal begged her to keep silent. She was worried that J.R. would not forgave Babe for deceiving him again, ruining her happy family. Although Babe wasn't keen on keeping the fixed paternity test a secret, she told her mother she would.

Babe also could not escape the dreams that she kept having about Bess. The dreams always involved Bianca holding Bess, claiming it was her baby. Babe confronted Paul about the crash, but he didn't change his story. He told her to leave him alone and that "as easily as he gave the baby to her, he can take it away." When she asked Paul about who the real father of her baby was, he wouldn't say -- he told her that she got the results she wanted. In a last attempt to get his point across, he grabbed Babe by the neck and threatened to harm Bess if she didn't leave him alone.

After having another nightmare, she rushed to the hospital to find Paul, even though Krystal begged her to leave him alone. Instead, she ran into Tad, who told her that after Bess was born, he had a DNA test performed which confirmed that Babe was the mother.

Babe and J.R. wed, but Babe eventually began to remember more of that night and realized that the baby she was raising was not hers, but really Bianca Montgomery's. Babe couldn't stand the thought of devastating J.R. with the news that his child was dead and decided to keep quiet about what she knew about Bess's true maternity (and paternity), but made sure that Bianca was very much a part of the little girl's life. Babe also discovered that the man she had always believed was her father wasn't when David Hayward threatened to tell Bianca the truth and Krystal exposed the fact that they had conceived Babe during a drunken one-night stand at a party, years earlier. After a DNA test, David agreed to keep the secret.

Babe ended up in the hospital after a drug overdose, having no idea what had happened (J.R. had actually drugged her) David tried to convince her of the truth, but Babe couldn't believe that her husband could do something like that to her. Jamie also tried to convince her of the truth, but Babe just couldn't believe it.

After Jamie ended up in the hospital, stabbed in prison while trying to get the goods on J.R., Babe's faith in her husband began to falter and Babe finally realized what J.R. had turned into. Just as all this was going on, Babe ended up stuck in Llanview after a storm and met little Ace Buchanan, whom she learned was Paul's nephew. She felt an instant connection to the boy, and after realizing the connections, knew that Ace had to be her son. With David's help, she had a DNA test performed that confirmed that the little boy was her son with J.R.

Confronted by Jamie, Babe admitted the truth about everything, and was shocked when Jamie wanted to help her reconnect with her son. J.R. had attempted to blackmail Babe into giving up custody of Bess with a video proving that she and Jamie were out to kill him and she agreed, signing full custody of Bess over to J.R. She and Jamie left town, but before she did she sent both J.R. and Bianca letters telling them the truth. The two of them kidnapped Little Ace and went on the run together, Babe assuming that Bianca had her daughter back.

On the run with Jamie and Ace, whom they renamed James, Babe soon learned that Bianca didn't know the truth and J.R. was still raising Bess. With Bianca's help, Babe arranged for J.R. to bring Bess to Florida, where Babe planned to tell the truth to Bianca. Babe was finally able to tell Bianca the truth, but a furious Bianca slapped Babe for her deceptions. Jamie and Babe were determined to flee with the baby and after he ended up sick in the hospital, they ran into Kelly Buchanan, the woman who had been raising him. Initially she was prepared to take the baby back until she realized that the baby belonged with his mother, and gave Babe and Jamie her blessing.

J.R. inevitably caught up with Babe, and she was arrested for kidnapping while J.R. attempted to take the boy home, only to be thwarted by Kevin Buchanan. As the legal father, Kevin still had some rights where the boy was concerned. Babe offered proof in court that she and J.R. were the biological parents to cement her own custody case, but it was Kelly who convinced Kevin to withdraw his bid for custody. J.R. won custody of the boy (renamed Adam Chandler III), with Babe receiving limited visitation per week. Kelly also saved Babe from a kidnapping charge by claiming she let Jamie and Babe take the baby, and Bianca (who was now raising her daughter, renamed Miranda) testified on her behalf, with Krystal taking the blame for everything.

Jamie and Babe were happy in their new relationship together and planning to spend their lives together, even dreaming of someday raising Little Adam as a family. With J.R. blocking Jamie's attempts at living his life at every turn, Babe realized that as long as she was with Jamie, he could never fulfill his dreams. She arranged to have Jamie find her in bed with Josh so that he would be free to live his own life, as well as free to inherit the money his aunt Phoebe had promised him would be his if he dumped Babe.

Babe was then determined to get custody of her son back, and embarked on a plan to get J.R. to marry her so she could take Little Adam from him. What she didn't plan on, though, was falling back in love with her husband. Babe began to experience a series of little 'accidents', which she blamed on Amanda Dillon -- whom she had befriended when she was with Jamie only to later learn she was out to get her. J.R. and Babe were back on track when Babe was kidnapped by Amanda's mother, Janet Dillon. She tried to convince Janet she would take Amanda's place as her daughter, but Janet wasn't buying it. Luckily for Babe, she was rescued, and J.R. begged her to marry him. After making him grovel for a bit, she agreed.

Babe and J.R. remarried in a beautiful, private ceremony, which also included Adam and Krystal renewing their wedding vows. Unfortunately, Babe's happiness wouldn't last. When a pregnant Kendall Slater was seriously injured in an accident at Fusion, Babe realized that J.R. had been trying to kill her. She turned him in, but once J.R. finally saw the light as to how wrong his actions were, she lied in court to save him, insisting that he had not been trying to kill her at all.

This earned her the eternal enmity of all her co-workers at Fusion, who were furious that she had helped to free the man who had nearly killed both Kendall and her son Spike. And J.R., while committed to her, was unable to accept her platonic friendship with Josh Madden. Babe, at first, was revealed to have died as a result of The Satin Slayer attacking her. However, she was really alive and being helped by Josh Madden in an effort to catch the killer. When she revealed herself to be alive, J.R. and Krystal were relieved.

Babe became smitten with the new bartender at The Comeback, Wes. Everyone soon learned that Wes was actually Annie Lavery's brother, Richie Novak, who had just been released from prison after serving seven years. People warned Babe about Richie but Babe saw good in him. It was around the time that J.R. claimed Richie set him up with a hooker that Babe started to have doubts of Richie's good natured charm. Babe went undercover as a hooker to get the goods on Richie and figured out that Richie set up J.R. to make it look like J.R. slept with a hooker. Babe blasted Richie for this and told him she wanted nothing to do with him.

Right before Richie was murdered, he kidnapped Babe to a cabin in the woods and asked her to give him another chance. Babe said no and several of her friends from Fusion came to her aid. Babe and her friends overpowered Richie and he wound up dead soon after this happened.

Babe, while working at Fusion, decided to launch a new perfume called "Bella" (after her legal first name, Arabella) when Bella was placed on the market, several people started to have allergic reactions to the perfume and Fusion faced lawsuits.

It was around this time that J.R. proposed marriage to Babe and she accepted. They moved out to California, with Little Adam, and planned to get married there. Adam had J.R. and Babe come back to Pine Valley after he issued them both subpoenas regarding the Bella scandal. When J.R. and Babe returned to Pine Valley, several tornadoes came crashing down on the town.