T.J. Ashford and Molly Lansing

Tajh Bellow and Haley Pullos as T.J. Ashford and Molly Lansing

**T.J. Ashford** and **Molly Lansing** are fictional characters and a popular committed couple on the ABC daytime soap opera, *General Hospital*.

## Casting

The role of T.J. was originated by actor **Krys Meyer**, who portrayed the role for a few months in 2012, until actor Tequan Richmond took over the role on August 16, 2012 until October 19, 2018. **Tajh Bellow** took over the role on November 20, 2018.

The role of Molly has been portrayed by actress Haley Pullos since July 2, 2009. The role was originated in 2005.

## Background

T.J. is the son of Shawn Butler and his ex-mistress, Comr. Jordan Ashford and the legal son of the late, Tommy Ashford.

Molly is the daughter of attorney, Ric Lansing and attorney, Alexis Davis.

The couple have been to three Nurses' Ball's together and counting.

## Storylines

* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015-20
* 2021-present

Molly and TJ met in January of 2012. TJ recently moved to town to live with his guardian, Shawn Butler, whom Molly befriended months prior. Molly befriends TJ after Shawn introduces them at Kelly's. Molly agrees to show him around school after she learns that TJ would attend Port Charles High with her. Molly also becomes TJ's tutor and while she is tutoring him, she discovers that TJ has problems reading. She downloads mp3 audio soundbites of their homework for TJ and starts to teach him how to read. In exchange, TJ sets up a fake MyFace account for Molly, that she names Desdemona. Desdemona is a hit on MyFace, more so than Molly's real account, where she only had her mother as a friend.

TJ becomes very popular at Port Charles High in contrast with Molly who does not have many friends. He decides to show everyone how cool Molly is by throwing a party at her house. He posts a party invite on MyFace and invites everyone over to Molly's house for a party that involved alcohol. Molly is shocked when tons of people that she doesn't know, pile into her house for a party.

The party starts to get out of control, and Molly calls her cousin Michael Corinthos for help. As TJ mingles around the party, he notices a boy trying to take Molly back to her room and stops him just before Molly passes out drunk. He then discovers that Molly's drink had been spiked and he tries to shut the party down. Before he gets the chance however, Michael arrives and shuts the party down. He kicks all of the kids out of the house and has them call their parents for rides.

Michael then finds Molly unconscious and begins yelling at TJ for his cousin's drunk state. Molly awakens to the two of them arguing and Michael goes to call Molly's mom Alexis, but TJ tries to convince him not to because he didn't want to get Molly in trouble. They start to clean the Lakehouse, but before they can finish Alexis and Mac Scorpio arrive. Molly initially takes the fall for TJ and claims that she threw the party to keep him from getting in anymore trouble, but TJ comes clean and admits that he was the one who threw the party because he wanted to help Molly makes more friends, and show the people at school that she really was cool. Nevertheless, Alexis forbids Molly and TJ from hanging out again.

Despite being told that they can no longer be friends, TJ and Molly continue to meet in secret and eventually start dating. Michael finds out about their relationship, but agrees to keep quiet for Molly's sake. Later, Molly's sister, Sam almost walks in on the two of them kissing, but Molly covers by saying they were just studying and TJ quickly leaves. Alexis eventually finds out about their relationship when she catches them together on the Fourth of July. Molly invited TJ over to go swimming at the lake.

While he was changing in Molly's room, Alexis barges in and catches him in his underwear. Alexis was livid, and a screaming match broke out between her and Molly. Molly hurts Alexis's feelings when she tells her she won't end up a pregnant teen like her. A few days later, Alexis drags Molly down to Kelly's to have a talk with Shawn about her situation with TJ. Alexis ends up agreeing to let TJ and Molly date but they must sign contracts, which they agree to do. Molly and TJ later share a first official date at the Metro Court Hotel.

Shortly after, Molly and TJ are both faced with death when Jerry Jacks poisons the town's water supply with a deadly toxin. Molly and T.J. contemplate making love so they would be able to share that experience before they died but decided against it. They spent what they believed were their final hours together talking about everything they would like to do and see in life. When an antidote is finally found, they celebrated together.

In late November, Molly decides to write a book titled, *Love in Maine* and she shares the book with TJ letting him read a couple chapters. TJ is impressed with Molly's book and tells her that he is proud of her. However, in early December just as Molly is about to get her book published, she loses it. In actuality, the book was stolen by Connie Falconeri, who rewrote some of the chapters and was planning on publishing the book under her own name.

Molly becomes suspicious that Connie was the one who stole her book, so she and TJ went to search Connie's *Crimson* office. In order to get daily access to the office, Molly and TJ decide to pose as interns at *Crimson*. Connie hires them and they spend time at the office trying to uncover what happened to Molly's book.

When Molly got proof that Connie stole her book, she and TJ went to Connie's boss, Todd Manning, and demanded that he make Connie return the book. Todd denied any involvement in the situation and was skeptical of Connie's insistence that the book was hers, but he made no move to force her to hand it over. When Todd is unwilling to help them, Sam attempts to break into his safe to find out what really happened to the book, but she is stopped by Todd and Carly Jacks before she gets the chance.

In early 2013, Molly meets Rafe Kovich, Jr., who was on the run with his mother, Alison Barrington. Molly runs into Rafe while on the docks with her nephew, Danny Morgan and she invites Rafe to Kelly's where she buys him lunch. Rafe tells Molly about his sad life living on the run from his father, Stephen Clay. A few weeks later, Molly is spending time with TJ at Kelly's and she tells him about meeting Rafe.

Shortly after Sam and Danny are kidnapped by Stephen. Rafe gets caught and is arrested again when he leaves the house to try and find them. Later, Molly breaks John and Rafe out of jail, so they could help find her sister and nephew. However, Molly is caught for this and arrested. TJ visits her in jail and is disappointed that she let herself get so involved in Rafe's drama. John, Rafe and Lucy Coe track Stephen down to Wyndemere castle and Sam and Danny are rescued.

With Sam and Danny safe, Molly and TJ refocused on trying to get her book back. They visit her uncle, Sonny Corinthos, with hopes that he could convince Connie to give her the book back. Molly and TJ then crash Connie's book launch and TJ gets up on stage to tell everyone that Molly is the real author of *Love in Maine*. Connie finally admits that she stole the book and tells everyone that Molly is the real author.

In late March, Molly and TJ start attending rehearsals for the Nurses' Ball and they save the day for Lucy when they agree to write the song and put together the music for the Nurses' Ball opening number. In early April, Molly and TJ attend the Nurses' Ball, walking the red carpet together and later performing on stage.

In May, TJ surprises Molly with a date at Kelly's where he asks her to attend prom with him. Molly happily agrees and they begin planning to attend prom together. Rafe begins to develop romantic feelings for Molly and tries to make their friendship into something more.

Molly becomes conflicted over her feelings for TJ and Rafe. TJ, however, is jealous of Rafe and Molly's friendship and he warns Rafe to stay away from Molly. When Rafe refuses, the two get into a physical altercation and TJ punches Rafe. When Molly finds out what happened, she is furious and breaks up with TJ. During TJ and Molly's time apart, she grows closer to Rafe, supporting him when his cold uncle, Silas Clay comes to town and tries to force Rafe to live with him.

Prom is cancelled due to a shooting at the Metro Court Hotel, where the event was scheduled to be held. Molly and Rafe, already all dressed up for the evening decided to have a prom of their own. They go to the park and dance, ending the night with a kiss. TJ, who was now dating the new girl in town, Taylor DuBois in an attempt to get over Molly, witnessed the kiss. He became sad and jealous and got drunk with Taylor in the back of their limo. In their drunk state, the two end up having a one night stand. Unbeknownst to TJ, Molly's kiss with Rafe made her realize she didn't have any romantic feelings for him, not like she did with TJ. She explained this to Rafe and let him know that she would like them to continue being friends.

Molly goes to TJ a few weeks later with her new-found revelation about her feelings and wants to work things out with him. The two get back together, but their reunion is quickly crushed when Taylor tells Molly that she had sex with TJ on prom night. Molly is crushed because she and TJ agreed the year before to have their first time with each other. Hurt and saddened she breaks up with TJ again.

Rafe sees the break up as an opportunity to get Molly to be with him, so he continues trying to get close to her, despite her telling him that she only has romantic feelings for TJ. Molly supports her family as Danny battles leukemia and Rafe sticks close as a friend. Molly and Rafe work together to figure out who Sam's father is because he could be a potential bone marrow donor for Danny.

In early September, Molly and TJ try once again to make their relationship work. He apologizes for the one night stand with Taylor and she makes it clear to TJ that she only has feelings for him. They eventually get back together and Molly dedicates her next book to him. Rafe is jealous of the two because he still has romantic feelings for Molly but she doesn't reciprocate them. Molly and TJ's relationship grows closer and stronger as they spend the following months together rebuilding their relationship.

Rafe starts pretend dating Taylor in an attempt to make Molly and TJ jealous. When the four of them end up together at Sam's place a week before Christmas, they all get into it, arguing about all the games that Rafe and Taylor have been playing. Molly and TJ even confront each other about actually being jealous over Rafe and Taylor's game, but in the end, they work things out, reassured in their feelings for each other.

In late December, Molly worries about TJ after he witnesses a warehouse shooting between the Corinthos and Jerome organizations. TJ went to the warehouse where Shawn was holding, Carlos Rivera and let Carlos go because he didn't want Shawn to get in trouble for killing anyone. Carlos is caught trying to escape by Shawn, Sonny and Max Giambetti and Carlos holds TJ at gun point to make his escape.

Julian Jerome and Morgan Corinthos arrive as back up for Carlos and a shootout begins and quickly ends with Morgan accidentally shooting Max. Shawn gets TJ away from Carlos and back to safety. Molly worriedly waits for TJ at Kelly's and is relieved when TJ arrives with Shawn. TJ tells Molly about everything that happened, but reassures her that he is safe for now, because neither side wants the police to know that Morgan was Max's shooter.

In early January, Rafe overhears Molly and TJ talking about what really happened during the warehouse shooting. They discussed the trouble TJ could be in with the police and the danger he could be in with the Jerome mob family for witnessing the shooting. TJ then told Molly that he would have to leave town for a little while, because Shawn thought it was the best way to keep him safe. Molly was sad and they were forced to share a quick goodbye.

Armed with this information and wanting TJ away from Molly, Rafe went to Commissioner Anna Devane and told her that TJ was a witness to the shooting of Max Giambetti. Right as Shawn was about to get TJ out of town for his protection, they were called down to the PCPD for questioning, but both denied knowing anything about the shooting. Molly began to feel uncomfortable with Rafe's friendship because he continually pushed for more between them, while she only wanted to be his friend. When Molly and TJ learned that Rafe was the one who turned TJ over to Anna, they were furious. Molly blasted Rafe for putting TJ in danger and broke off their friendship.

In early February, the situation with the warehouse shooting cooled down and Molly and TJ were able to relax and breathe easy. They took Molly's nephew, Danny Morgan to the park where they spent the day together. While at the park, they also ran into Robin Scorpio-Drake. A week later, Molly and TJ spent Valentine's Day together studying for the SATs. They almost made love, but decided to wait, to make sure the experience was special and safe for them when it did happen.

In late February, Molly and TJ decide they are ready to take the next step in their relationship. TJ books a room for them at the MetroCourt and Molly meets him there after covering with her mom by saying that she was staying the night at a friend's house. On their way up to their hotel room, they run into Rafe, who questions them about their intentions, but they both blow him off.

When Molly and TJ get to their room, TJ asks her one more time if she is sure and she reassures him that she is ready. The two share a dinner together, while Rafe hurries over to Molly's house and tells Alexis what Molly was really planning for the night. After Molly and TJ have dinner, they prepare to make love, but are interrupted by Alexis and Julian. Molly and Alexis get into a huge fight, that ends with Alexis ordering Molly home. Julian stays behind and discreetly threatens TJ by urging him to go to the police and tell them all about the warehouse shooting.

When Molly and Alexis get home, she is still furious, but they are both shocked to find her father, Ric Lansing in the living room. Molly reunites with her father, who takes her side in the argument. She later discovers that Rafe was the one who ratted her and TJ out, and she yells at him before kicking him out the house. Alexis forbids Molly from seeing TJ again and they fight some more. Molly later sneaks out to meet TJ at Kelly's. She soon decides that she wants to move in with her father, so she could see TJ whenever she wants. She later makes up with Alexis and decides to continue living with her mom, when Alexis decides to be less strict regarding her and TJ.

In mid-March, TJ's mother, Jordan Ashford comes to town and Molly meets her for the first time. In late April, TJ learns that he was accepted to Port Charles University for the fall and spring semesters and Molly is the first person he told. TJ is sad that he won't be able to share this good news with his father and Molly comforts him. At the 2014 Nurses' Ball, Molly and TJ compose the song for the opening number for the second year in a row. During the event, Molly and TJ are in various acts individually, but they also perform together to *Just Can't Get Enough.*

As a present for TJ's recent accomplishments, his mother gifts him with a car, which he takes Molly joy riding in. After TJ's mom is arrested for drug trafficking, he goes to meet Molly at Kelly's. An upset TJ fills Molly in on what happened with his mother and she comforts him. TJ sadly tells Molly that everyone in his life either leaves him or lies to him and Molly comforts TJ by telling him she would never lie to him and she's not going anywhere. In July, Molly and TJ are set to watch the fireworks but are interrupted when TJ tells Molly that Rafe has been doing drugs and she gets in the car with him but ends up in a car accident. A couple of days later, Molly is released from the hospital and goes home with her mom, TJ and Danny.

On April 2, 2020, Molly goes to Brando’s garage and ends up having a one night stand with him. She thought T.J. had left her but she found out he was actually kidnapped by Cyrus. Brando and Molly agreed that it could never happen again and T.J. couldn’t find out.

On December 28, Molly confesses to T.J. that she slept with Brando. He calls off the commitment ceremony they had planned but decides to stay with Molly.
On February 22, 2021, T.J. and Molly had their committment ceremony to become domestic partners.