I appreciate all thoughts, suggestions, and feedback. It helps so keep it coming!
More specifically:
-With the caveat that I am not done with this story yet, and if my muse ends up deciding that a certain couple really does or doesn't work I don't override that, at this point, I do not anticipate that Carly and Ned will be married long term. However, I do anticipate that Ned/Carly will both be changed by their marriage and both walk away with a different appreciation for each other. For the Ned/Lois fan(s) I could see them reconciling (perhaps after reconciling with Jason, Carly might even use her scheming powers for good and try to hasten that reconciliation).
-I believe that actual GH canon is that Jax was originally very into Lois and oblivious to Brenda. Brenda actually started hanging out with him to keep him away from Lois (as a favor to Ned and to an extent Lois who was not interested). I think she also did that to distract herself from Sonny & Lily who were embarking on marriage. I twisted canon and had Brenda date Miguel until Sonny was ready to leave Lily (and in Brenda's very naïve mind she thought that Miguel and Lily would give things another chance and it would all be fine) and then being found in the rain by AJ (who is sober and a bit more stable) after Sonny decided to stay in his marriage due to Lily's pregnancy. After Lily died Brenda and AJ spent a lot of time together and dated until Brenda returned to Sonny again. They got engaged and then Sonny left her (and Port Charles) to keep her safe. Now she is rebounding with Jax (who had a clandestine affair with her sister a few years earlier-which is also I think supposed to be GH canon).
-Jax and Katherine's scheming is not GH canon (and in this Ned and Katherine were never married and Ned was never a bigamist) but I think it fits. Obviously Ned and Lois divorced but neither of them were open to starting new relationships out of the embers of their marriage. Katherine decided to cut her losses and move on with Stefan but Jax is still trying to play the long game. I guess we'll see if that works for him.
-Jason will be making an appearance in the next few chapters. He isn't as involved in the first part of this because he is kind of staying away to keep his child safe and running the PC mob. He has some scenes and there are several Ned/Jason, Ned/Carly, and Jason/Carly flashbacks that explain how Ned and Carly's marriage came to be.
-Robin is away at medical school for the majority of the story. She appears in a flashback (or possibly two) but I don't see her and Jason being together again especially since in this Michael is a biological Jarly baby.
-Liz is perhaps a little less wild than I think she was on canon in 1997 although Audrey is extremely hard on her and thinks Sarah is the perfect grandchild. She is pretty secretly crushing on Lucky who is pretty openly into her older sister who is officially dating Nikolas but sneaking around with Zander Smith (who is dealing drugs at the raves she and Alli Barrington sneak off to). I'm not sure exactly where all of that is going but if you're looking for some early sweet Liz & Lucky it will probably happen.
Please comment with other questions or ideas…