More Reader Questions:
1.) Is Jax a stalker?
I think if you look at Jax's relationships he does definitely have a controlling vibe and I think there were canon actions towards Lois, Brenda, Miranda, and maybe even Skye that could have met the legal definition. I don't think it stands out in the PC collective as much because GH has so many "supercouples" with very unhealthy dynamics. This is after all the show that had Laura marry her rapist. I just can't write that way so I do call this kind of stuff out.
2.) Introducing Narly?
Sure…LOL! Did Ned & Lois ever have a couple name?
3.) Who knows Lois is Dr. Lois Cerullo?
Her family (including Sonny who helped her extricate herself from Dr. Kinder in the first place). I'm not sure if Brenda or Miguel does. Jax and Ned definitely do not. Ned will eventually figure it out face to face in a real time story reveal. I kind of think that Dr. Eve Lambert could have crossed paths with her when she was a 4th year medical student at HSC-Brooklyn. I also think Dr. Karen Baldwin-Cates should know because of their Sonny connection.
4.) Lucy Coe heroine or villain?
I think at her core Lucy at least in the beginning was always focused on advancing her own self-interests and a bit oblivious to and unbothered by who she hurt in the process. In spite of this, she was never a completely cold calculating villain because she was also so desperate for acceptance so it was more a scenario where she just wasn't capable of caring or being a good friend than that she was a true sociopath, I think. Purportedly Dominique Stanton Baldwin made her a better person and she genuinely came to love Serena and then perhaps Kevin.
In this story Lucy has legitimately done directly and indirectly a lot that has/will hurt Serena and Scott. Much of this is because she has somewhat blindly followed Rex's lead and been a bit blind to who he really is. I do think some of her blind trust is a testament to wanting to connect to Dominique (Rex is a Stanton, Dominique's uncle) but some of it is being enamored with his purported wealth so it isn't as altruistic as Lucy might want to believe. I also think it fits because lashing out is (and I think always will be) Lucy's mechanism when hurt. Lucy just had a second pregnancy loss at the end of July [her first loss was the baby she and Scott conceived which she tried to pass off as a Quartermaine baby-Scott learned the baby was his, tried to stand by her and she pushed him away initially to try to continue her scheme and then even after the truth was out for everyone she still pushed him away and claimed that she only was able to love the baby if she pretended it was a Q baby she could never love his baby-that sounds heartless but maybe it was grief?] and she and Kevin just split up again (and Kevin left town in Mid-August).
5.) Are Melissa McKee Murdoch and Carly Ashton basically the same?
I think they have a lot of common ground (relatively poor growing up, insecurity, kind of on the outside of PC society until they married their upper-class husbands, hated by Luke Spencer). I haven't quite figured out if that will make them BFFs or mortal enemies. While Melissa acknowledges that they both broke up one of Bobbie's marriages, Melissa did it much more indirectly (ie she didn't sleep with her stepfather she just dumped a lot of extra stress onto a marriage that was already struggling) and unintentionally. Plus, she was fifteen and her mother had just died from cancer. I think it can be argued that Carly aimed to destroy Bobbie's marriage (sleeping with Tony always seemed like much more of a means to an end than true romance IMO). I'm a big fan of just kind of writing what fits so my current plan is that they will spend some time together and we'll see where that goes. I do think Carly needs a PC female friend so maybe that is Melissa or maybe not. Brenda Barrett, Keesha Ward, and Caitlin Hornsby would be other options. Reader suggestions could also be welcome.
6.) Who is Mark Carlin?
Mark Carlin is a canon character from the mid-80s. His original claim to fame was breaking the Evan Jerome murder in 1987. He led the press to storm Duke Lavery's club on the day he was due to wed Anna Devane. He was somewhat discredited when he set up Duke to assault him but Jake Myers got one of the other paper employees to admit that Carlin set the whole thing up. I think he got fired by the Herald at some time after that but would have been well suited to working for a tabloid of some sort. I am working with the premise that he was unemployed for years when he happened to be in Llanview and witness Todd Manning blowing up the Armitage Yacht. Todd slipped him money to keep quiet which he used to launch a Port Charles based tabloid similar to the Sun called the Port Charles Intruder (the Llanview paper Todd purchased from Dorian Lord in 1995 and renamed the Sun was originally called the Intruder). In 1997 under the guise of this paper he covered Brenda Barrett's impending nuptials to Sonny Corinthos. When the Barrett and Corinthos wedding didn't happen, he lost face and ran out of capital. His second issue never came out but then Rex Stanton offered another infusion of capital which enabled him to cover Scott Baldwin's arrest in October 1997.
7.) Did Mac Scorpio really blow up the Jacks Family mine?
In a word, yes. The details of this were always a bit sketchy even on GH canon but both John Jacks and Jax Jacks made reference to this and when Miranda arrived to the GH canvas in November 1996 Mac was shocked but happy to see her (because he believed she was dead and he had killed her). He spent a lot of time trying to atone to her (which didn't exactly thrill Katherine). For my purposes: Miranda Jameson-Jacks was presumed dead in a Jacks mine explosion on 8-11-89. Behind the tragedy is the truth that Mac Scorpio was paid by John & Jerry Jacks to rig the mine as part of an insurance fraud plan. Dominique Stanton (who had a tryst with Mac in late 1988) returned to the US prior to this happening and was unaware that Mac was involved.
8.) Does Rex know Katherine?
Good question, I think on GH/PC canon the two never shared a scene. I will concede that, Rex and Katherine scheming to take Serena's inheritance does seem so much more plausible than the whole scheme with Danielle as the unwilling and duped participant.
9.) Is Justus Ward a Quartermaine Grandson? What is the Ward-Quartermaine Connection?
In short, no Justus is not a Quartermaine Grandson. Justus is the son of the late US Attorney Bradley Ward Jr and Isabelle. His paternal grandfather was Bradley Ward Sr who was the Reverend of Grace Episcopal Church in the Waterfront area of Port Charles.
There are a few Ward-Quartermaine connections:
-As consistent with canon, Edward Quartermaine was an officer in the navy and went off to serve his country in WW II. He and Mary Mae Ward did cross paths while he was in training but it is presumed they were more friends than lovers. Lila and Edward had met before he left (and she wrote him all those letters) but she was still legally married (although estranged from) to her abusive first husband Crane Tolliver. WWII ended in September 1945 and Edward returned to the US that October. After his attorney older brother, Abbott petitioned the court Lila was granted a divorce summary judgment and she and Edward were free to marry which they did in June 1946. Edward completed his engineering degree while working at ELQ Enterprises (originally in UT and NV). In 1950 Edward and Lila moved to Chapparal County in NY when ELQ purchased a granite quarry in Kemp Falls (outside of Port Charles). In the mid 1950s Edward did an MBA at Columbia University and he and Lila bought a townhouse in Manhattan. They returned to Port Charles afterwards and ELQ incorporated in New York with Edward at the helm.
-The Wards themselves (or at least Bradley Sr & Mary Mae) came to Port Charles in early January 1979 when Reverend Ward was slated to take over as minister of Grace Episcopal Church. In early January 1981 Grace Episcopal Church was firebombed by a KKK offshoot group. Reverend Ward was trapped inside the church and died. The arson was investigated by new PCPD Detective, John Quartermaine, Edward & Lila's younger son. The Quartemaines and many other members of Trinity Episcopal were involved with the rebuilding efforts of Grace Episcopal and in the course of this Edward and Mary Mae's connection was recognized. Much of the Grace Episcopal Congregation attended services at Trinity Episcopal until Grace Episcopal was rebuilt.
-Bradley Ward Jr. and his wife Harriet moved to Port Charles with their sons Isaiah and Justus in early 1981. Their youngest child Faith was born in Port Charles in 1982. Bradley was a US Attorney at the time and transferred to work NY Northern District Office in Port Charles. Years later in 1988 Abigail Donely-Quartermaine (niece of Sean Donely, who had just married John Quartermaine) took a job in this office after spending two years clerking with NY Northern District Federal Judge Paul Murdoch. Bradley was her mentor and trusted colleague. Although she left the office in summer 1993 (because the family moved to DC so John could attend law school at Georgetown) to take a job with the Justice Department when Bradley Ward was shot by Damian Smith in March 1994 she returned for the funeral and then later prosecuted and convicted Damian Smith for his murder in December 1994.
-Mary Mae Ward invited the Quartermaine Family to Kwanzaa in 1981. Edward is inspired by Bradley Ward II's words about collective works and responsibility and cooperative economics which motivates the initial formation of the Charles Street Foundation. (This event and the foundation are GH Canon but they happened thirteen years later after Bradley Ward Jr.'s murder trial.) Years later in 1992 Jason Morgan flirted with Mary Mae's granddaughter Keesha at the Kwanzaa Karamu and they started dating (at this time Jason was a college student at PCU and Keesha was a high school senior).
-In June 1982 Mary Mae Ward and Lila Quartermaine opened the Chapparal County Children & Family Center with significant funding from a Charles Street Foundation Grant. They opened a second home in 1990. After Bradley Ward Jr.'s death in March 1994 the home was renamed Ward House as a tribute.
-Faith Ward and Allison (and later Emily) Quartermaine were friends. In 1997 Allison and Faith are doubles partners on the PC High Tennis Team.
-AJ Quartermaine was there for Keesha Ward after her relationship with Jason Morgan imploded after his accident. They officially started dating Summer 1997.
10.) Kiefer Bauer from kindergarten jerk to partner violence?
Yes, the Kiefer Bauer who is tormenting Serena is meant to be the same guy who beat Kristina Davis-Corinthos repeatedly. I don't usually SORAS though so perhaps the almost ten-year age gap will spare Kristina, at least during her high school days.
11.) What about Celia?
Celia has been mentioned quite a bit throughout this but hasn't actually appeared. She divorced Jimmy Lee Holt (who is not a Quartermaine at all) after she learned he was cheating with Charity Gatlin in 1986 and has been an executive at ELQ-West since she finished her masters in environmental engineering in 1992. Her mother Betsy Quartermaine (I believe on canon Betsy might have been a stepmother but I wasn't watching then and it is unclear and it works so much better if she is her biological mom so I'm going with that) has been admitted at Rose Lawn (in Shepherd, NY outside of Port Charles) since January 1988 when she attempted suicide moments before the police were about to arrest her for Herbert Quartermaine's murder. (So ostensibly Celia comes to Port Charles to visit her mother with some frequency.) Herbert Quartermaine had terminal cancer so Celia (and some other members of the Quartermaine family believe it was a mercy killing and although that may not fit their ethical framework/approach they don't believe she is evil). Celia's father Quentin divorced his wife after her arrest but is paying for her long term private psychiatric facility and considering it alimony. I have some great ideas for Celia but I don't think they will end up in this story.
Now I have some questions...
1.) As I understand it; in cannon Carly came to Port Charles with only a high school education, managed to get into nursing school with some help from Bobbie Jones. She subsequently failed out of nursing school and then got a job as a PT assistant (which in some cases doesn't require formal training so that may be possible). She lost (or maybe quit) that job sometime in 1997 when she was pregnant with a baby Tony thought was his (and to be fair to Carly, I think Tony liked the idea then of Carly being a stay at home mom). Obviously, Carly could certainly be a SAHM married to Ned (and probably even a SAHM with a full-time nanny) but if Carly was going to do something career wise what do you see her doing? Answers can be specific or just a more general field.
2.) What original character or resurrected canon character is your favorite/ or one you would like to see more about?
3.) Would you want Chloe to come back to Port Charles more long term? [Theoretically she flew back to Milan on October 6th, the morning after the lunch scene with Amy, Ned, & Carly.]
4.) Carly needs at least a local female friend or two. Given this variation on canon could she and Brenda be friends? Would she and Keesha be friends? Or what about Melissa McKee Murdoch (who is Bobbie Spencer's former foster daughter now married to Ned's best friend ADA, Chase Murdoch IV)?
5.) If we follow PC canon, then Danielle Ashley will die in less than 2 months (in a car accident set up by her Uncle Rex). Does anyone want her to live?