Given how twisted family trees can get on soaps, it’s no wonder that some viewers found themselves wondering how Sam and Lucas are

related on General Hospital. Lucas and Sam are brother and sister, but of course, being a soap, they weren’t raised by their birth parents, so

it’s totally understandable that their relationship isn’t immediately apparent!

Lucas Jones was actually born on GH back in 1989, the son of mobster Julian Jerome and Cheryl Stansbury. But things were complicated right from his birth as Bobbie Spencer, desperate for a child, bought an infant on the black market which turned out to be the one Cheryl thought had died. When the truth was revealed, Bobbie returned the baby, but after Cheryl died in a car accident, her sister, Tiffany Hill, and her husband, Sean Donley, took Lucas in. But Cheryl’s will gave custody of her son to Bobbie and Tony Jones, and the couple made the adoption official in 1993.

When Sam McCall arrived in Port Charles in 2003, she was already an adult and it wasn’t until a few years later that she found out that she was adopted and was further stunned to learn that Alexis Davis is her mother. When Jason and Sam’s son, Danny, was diagnosed with leukemia, media mogul Derek Wells was found to be a match. And it was soon revealed that his true identity was Julian Jerome, the father of the baby Alexis had given up as a teen!

Julian had been presumed dead but resurfaced in Port Charles in 2013 as Derek Wells. Of course, the truth eventually came out and after finding out Sam was his daughter, he also realized Lucas was his son. But given Julian’s criminal past — and present! — his kids didn’t really want to have anything to do with the guy. Their relationships softened over time but Julian was ultimately sucked back into a life of crime and forced to do horrible things that ultimately led to his death.

Sam and Lucas were connected through Julian, and that’s why the doctor was reluctant to perform the transplant surgery on his own sister. She insisted, however, and after she died following the operation, Lucas was left wracked with guilt and blaming himself for killing his own sister.