Shaken by her first WSB kill (well, it was something of a team effort, as Josslyn shot the man trying to strangle Vaughn, and Vaughn finished him off by smothering him with a pillow), rookie Joss accepted comfort from her handsome handler. One thing led to another, and the agents wound up making love in the villa at the Five Poppies in Croatia where they are working undercover, posing as newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Nash. Soap Opera Digest checked in with Joss’s portrayer, Eden McCoy, about her new General Hospital love interest and what lies ahead in her character’s increasingly dangerous overseas mission.
Close Encounter
In McCoy’s view, “The romantic part of Joss and Vaughn’s relationship happens in the heat of the moment. I don’t think it’s anything that was preplanned or had already been [brewing] there. I think the nature of their relationship is that they didn’t really like each other in the beginning or were friends from the start. So that kind of naturally grew. They both naturally and slowly gained respect for one another — enough to be able to stand each other, at least. They’ve always had kind of an edgy relationship, more of a guarded relationship with each other. But that really started to change when they kissed [back in Port Charles], and it changes even more on this mission.”
Even so, the actress says, “For Josslyn, the job is first — she wants to do her job well. And I don’t think she really even understands how she feels towards Vaughn. I think for her, it’s just confusing. He’s, like, this brooding guy that makes fun of her, but then he kisses her and we’re back to square one … I think she’s trying to stay out of [a personal relationship with him], but then, she’s curious at times.”
But walking in on and ultimately thwarting Vaughn’s near-murder accelerated things. “If Joss killing someone and Vaughn comforting her hadn’t gone down, I don’t think [their lovemaking] would have happened,” McCoy assesses. “At least then. Probably eventually, it would have, because in their line of work, something similar would happen at some point, I’m sure, and one thing would lead to another. But I don’t think Joss would have taken the initiative to have sex with him. Vaughn opened up that door with going in for the kiss and him comforting her.” In that moment, McCoy notes, “She wanted connection, I suppose, and to get out of the headspace she was previously in. But clearly, neither one of them was thinking about what would happen after, or the consequences of it.”
McCoy views how the lovemaking unfolded as “a very human moment,” but chuckles, “I guess there’s just something about traumatic events that gets Josslyn very horny! Which is interesting. It seems to be a theme throughout the years. We’re very different that way. I don’t think that’s how I would have reacted! But maybe I’m being too judgmental [laughs].”
Too Hot To Handle?
Given the heightened circumstances in which the new lovers find themselves — the presence of an assassin in their quarters is, after all, proof that their cover has been blown — Joss has good reason to want to delay any big discussion of what their impromptu sex session means for their future. “I think that she will ignore it as long as she can,” McCoy professes. “She’s not like, ‘Let’s open up a conversation immediately, we need to figure out how to handle this.’ I don’t think they have that type of communication.”
Besides, McCoy continues, “I’m sure she’s got shame around it anyway, because he’s the first person she’s slept with since Dex,” her policeman beau, who was murdered by Cyrus Renault last December. “So I think there is just so much going through Josslyn’s head and I think suppressing it is kind of her emotional response. She’s just choosing not to deal with it until it becomes necessary. It’s like, ‘Okay, that happened. Let’s go back to our job and move on.’ Whether or not that happens is another thing, but I think immediately after, that’s how she’s responding: ‘Let’s just move on, let’s not talk about it, let’s go do our job.’ I don’t think she wants to wallow in that feeling.”
Business As Usual
Knowing that their covers are blown and that the back-from-the-dead Britt is at the resort and somehow involved with the dangerous activities the WSB is investigating, Joss turns her focus back to the mission at hand. “They haven’t gotten any information yet, this guy died, and we have to leave the premises, but at the end of the day, Josslyn just wants to do her job,” McCoy says. “She feels like the job should be to stay and try to get information and she’s like, ‘We may never get this opportunity again.’ Even if the WSB sends in other agents, Britt may be gone by then — and even if she’s not, no one has a relationship with Britt like Joss does.”
So even though the WSB wants her “scrubbed from the mission,” as Vaughn put it, Joss has other ideas. Reasons McCoy, “She understands that she’s not in a position to defy authority — and I don’t think she would if it wasn’t such a big deal to her.”
But if Joss does go looking for Britt, how long can it be before she finds out that Jason is also at the Five Poppies?
