1.) Can Liz just skip over Lucky Spencer and move on with Nikolas or Zander already?
Perhaps…I'm very much a write what works kind of person so I guess I'll see how this settles out. Ironically (or perhaps to add to the drama) Nikolas is currently dating Liz's sister Sarah and Sarah is cheating on Nikolas with Zander. I don't see Nikolas and Sarah as long-term couple but I was likely going to just follow canon and let Nikolas get seduced by Katherine and then actually find love with Emily Quartermaine. I'm not determined to pair Nikolas and Emily I don't consider them an endgame as adults pairing either (I'm a big fan of Emily & Patrick as a more healthy version of "Scrubs") but the age gap between Emily and Patrick can work when he is a neurosurgeon in Manhattan and she is a medical student he bumps into at the gym but is anything but legal when she is a thirteen year old high school freshman so a few years of dating a prince (and then having the courage to follow her own dreams and go off to Columbia University instead of attending PCU so she can be close to him) could be ok. Other possible options for Liz could include Sly Eckert (Lucky's cousin who Allison Quartermaine refers to when Lucky offers his really lame apology), and Joshua Barrington (Allison Barrington's cousin, Derek & Lorena Barrington's son, Amanda Barrington's grandson) although I think I'm pairing Josh with Allison Quartermaine.
I'm not sure how I feel about Liaison. I really didn't watch during the period they were a true couple but I wrote some stuff set in around 2007/2008 where Lucky is floundering around with his addiction, trading sex for drugs with Maxie Jones, and after he hurts Cameron while high Liz kicks him out. He attempts rehab but fails and ultimately ends up committing suicide. In the aftermath of that both Maxie and Liz learn they are pregnant. Maxie is allowing Logan Hayes (Baldwin) to believe he is the father (and perhaps he actually is although Maxie doesn't really believe that during the pregnancy) and Liz is hating life as a single mom. I initially planned to do Liaison but as I wrote Jarly fit so much better so Liz kind of self-destructed with Jason (as she has done before) and then eventually pulled herself together and started dating another PCPD cop, Rob Matthews. Liz also had a lot of chemistry with Prosecutor Kyle Durant (John Durant's son, Carly Corinthos's younger half brother) and Scott Chandler (from All My Children) but I never went beyond friendship with those.
2.) Will Scott Baldwin and Lucy Coe end up back together?
Maybe…I think on PC they were together in 1999-2001 so it could happen. Personally, I think they aren't a healthy pairing so if I can work around them I will. Lucy has really done a lot of hurtful things to Scott so…..[To be transparent, I suppose that on canon GH, Scott Baldwin also pulled a bunch of stuff during the period he was being character assassinated so it could be believable that Laura would divorce him and marry her rapist. Because I think it fits better, I didn't character assassinate Scott so although he flounders a lot in between accepting that Laura is divorcing him to marry her rapist and when he married Dominique, he was a decent just very broken guy. He also spent a lot of time away from Port Charles although he had a ONS with Lucy Coe that resulted in a child in Spring 1989. Lucy wanted to delusionally pass the baby off as Dr. Alan Quartermaine's child (which was more delusional than canon because she and Alan had never had intercourse) but Scott realized it was his baby and asserted paternity. Unfortunately, Lucy had an IUFD in July 1989. So, they do have the connection of losing a child although they never really grieved for that child together so….
3.) How is Dante a Cerullo?
In this story Dante Angelo Cerullo is the son of Vinny and Olivia Cerullo. Olivia married Vinny in June 1986 and Dante was born in April 1987. There is a question about Dante's paternity because Olivia was raped shortly after their wedding but she and Vinny decided it would be easiest to raise what might truly be their biological child if they didn't know the truth. Unfortunately, Vinny was killed by the Zacchara Family shortly after Dante's birth so only Olivia and Sonny Corinthos know there is a possibility that Dante is possibly not a biological Cerullo. Sonny Corinthos is obviously not Dante's father but because Sonny has a stronger relationship with the Cerullo Family (Vinny was truly his best friend at the time of his death) he has been there for Olivia and Dante in Vinny's absence. Dante and Brooke Lynn both call him Uncle Sonny.
4.) What is up with Karen & Jagger? Are they still married?
At the time this is set (October 1997) Karen and Jagger are still married (and I think on cannon GH they technically were as well although Joe and Karen were all but dating, Jagger's own infidelity had already been revealed, and the divorce was in process). In contrast to what happened on Port Charles, I will not be destroying Jagger and Karen's marriage just so I can flirt with Joe and Karen but never actually try to make them really work either.
What I am doing is working from the original GH canon where Karen matches for residency at PCGH and Jagger is working Vice for San Francisco PD. She comes to Port Charles to start residency and Jagger is wrapping up some cases and theoretically planning to join her and transfer back into the PCPD. This isn't completely implausible because of the way the match works medical students really don't have any control over where they actually match (other than they can not rank programs but once they do then if you match there you are obligated to start work on July 1st or face a match violation). So, it is plausible that if Karen matched in March and moved to PC in June to attend orientation her husband could still be wrapping things up. That story sounds less plausible as more time passes and suggests that it is a bit more complicated than that.
There was a scene on GH where Karen and Brenda were talking at the Nurse's Ball in 1997. They're talking about Stone, his death, and the guilt they both carry. Karen admits that Jagger also carries so much guilt which he assuages by going after drug dealers. They are struggling in their marriage and she honestly doesn't know how it will work out. Brenda says she believes that they will work it out. I guess that remains to be seen. I'm honestly still figuring it out as I write.
5.) Can Robin Scorpio just stay far away in medical school?
Technically Robin is supposed to be attending Yale for medical school which isn't too far from Port Charles but I don't really plan to use her in much of this. I partly brought her back for Rex & Lucy's wedding to show how out there, their guest list was. I mean I realize that Robin is always on everyone's guest list, at least in her mind, and I do think she had enough connection with Lucy that she should have been invited. But if she was invited then why wasn't Brenda invited, or Karen?
As far as sharing paternity secrets? Right now, I don't see her doing that because it won't advance her own interests where Jason is concerned. IMO, that was exactly why she told AJ and it was a calculated risk that didn't pay off for her. Now I can still see her being a Tony apologist (and I might even understand it more if she was away at school and just getting updates from Mac and Felicia).
6.) Is Dr. Mark Henry Quartermaine an OC?
Yes, although his father Dr. Henry Quartermaine was a mentioned character and Edward Quartermaine's baby brother.
Mark was only four when his father deployed to Vietnam where he was killed by the Viet Cong in October 1967. His family spent Christmas 1967 with his Uncle Edward and family and all subsequent Christmases. His mother was diagnosed with Stage IV Large B-Cell Lymphoma in December 1975 and they moved in with Lila and Edward Quartermaine after Christmas 1975. After his mother died on Easter Sunday 1976, he remained with the Quartermaines and graduated from PC High in 1980. Edward was disappointed but mostly understood when he opted to go to medical school and paid his tuition at NY Medical College. He graduated from medical school in 1988 did residency in PM&R at Kessler Institute and was an attending there after residency. In June 1995 he married Beth Kensington in Port Charles, NY. He returned to Port Charles in December 1996 (along with his wife and new baby daughter) and officially started as the Medical Director for the PCGH Inpatient Rehab Unit on 1-6-97.
Mark's Sibling(s):
**Dorothy Lynn Quartermaine [DOB 12-31-55] is Mark's older sister. She graduated from high school in 1974 and attended college at Bryn Mawr from 1974-1978. She became distant from her family during college and then actually estranged when she refused to cut ski holiday short over Christmas 1975 after her younger brother called her in a panic stating that their mother had cancer. Laura Willis Quartermaine died 4-18-76 and Dorothy never reconciled with her mother or attended the funeral. In January 1977 she sold ELQ stock back to her Uncle Edward Quartermaine. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
7.) Is Beth Quartermaine an OC?
Betsy Kensington was at least a mentioned canon GH character. I wasn't watching then so I'm not sure if she appeared onscreen or not. Her father, Jack Kensington Sr. was a US Senator and she and Jenny Eckert were purportedly childhood friends. When Jenny was eighteen, she and Senator Kensington had a tryst which resulted in an ectopic pregnancy. As I understand the story, Jenny professed to Ned that she was a virgin and he respected her need to wait until after they were married. Later the Senator Kensington scandal broke and Ned realized that Jenny lied about her sexual history around the same time that he was catching her sneaking around with Paul Hornsby (who in actual canon GH was married to Ned's mother who was pregnant with his child) and had just had enough and divorced her.
For my purposes, the Senator Kensington scenario happened as above but it was mostly kept quiet. Betsy did know about Jenny's pregnancy but it never became public and Jenny and Betsy remained friends. In 1992, Jenny was dating Ned and Paul Hornsby (who was ELQ Pro-Counsel) at the same time. Paul knew she was dating Ned but Ned was unaware that she was seeing Paul. Tracy Quartermaine was uninvolved in the triangle because she had married Dr. Ryan Grabler in 1985 and they were truly monogamous. In spring 1993, Edward Quartermaine caught Paul Hornsby bribing a zoning official to advance ELQ interests and fired him. Ned was about to graduate law school and was supposed to be joining the ELQ legal division so Paul claimed that he was fired to make way for Edward's grandson which wasn't really true. Shortly after that Ned and Jenny got engaged and then married on 5-1-93. Betsy Kensington was Jenny's Maid of Honor and she met Dr. Mark Henry Quartermaine (the son of Edward's late brother, Dr. Henry Quartermaine) one of Ned's groomsmen at the festivities. Coincidentally they were both living in West Orange, NJ as Mark was an attending at Kessler Institute and Jenny had just taken a job as an attorney with a nonprofit there. Jenny gave Mark her number and agreed to a date once they returned to NJ.
One of Ned's first official ELQ legal battles was a patent interference hearing with Barrett Industries which had him and cousin Celia Quartermaine facing off against Julia Barrett [unbeknownst to any of the three of them Paul Hornsby stole ELQ Patents and gave them to Bill Eckert who resubmitted them as Barrett technology] since at that time US patent law was not applying the file first doctrine it triggered a patent interference hearing. The court ruled in favor of ELQ Enterprises and Ned flew home to celebrate with his wife only to find her in their bed with Paul Hornsby. Jenny demanded a divorce to marry Paul and Ned granted it. Bitterly Ned tells everyone about Paul Hornsby "I got his job, he got my wife!"
Meanwhile Ned met and then married Lois Cerullo 2-14-94. Betsy Kensington (who started going by Beth short for Elizabeth) showed up at that wedding as Dr. Mark Henry Quartermaine's date and they subsequently married in Port Charles 6-17-95. Ned and Lois separated in September 1996 and finalized their divorce in December 1996 right before Mark, Beth, and baby Kensington Quartermaine moved back to Port Charles so Mark could become the medical director of the new PCGH Physical Rehab Hospital.
Beth's Siblings:
**Jack Kensington Jr. [DOB 4-12-66] Jack is the son of Senator Jack Kensington and his late first wife Lillith Fowler Kensington. Jack was born while his father was a law student at Yale University. After his father received his JD in May 1968 the family moved to his mother's hometown of Port Charles, NY. His father clerked for a federal judge for two years and then was an Assistant US Attorney in the Northern NY District based in Port Charles, NY. In 1973, after his younger sister, Elizabeth's birth his father joined his maternal grandfather's law firm—Fowler & Forbes. In 1980 when Jack was almost 14, his mother died from respiratory failure due to Influenza A and chronic Benzodiazepine use. His father was actively campaigning for his first state senate race so he swiftly sent Jack Jr. and Betsy (who was 7) off to boarding school at Ethan Allen Academy and Briarton Griggs respectively. His father won his senate seat but then fell into an affair with PCU student, Marlena Moore who interned in his Port Charles Office. They married in May 1982 after Marlena learned she was pregnant. Jack never approved of Marlena and considered her an interloper. This incited some tension in his relationship with Betsy as she thought Marlena was kind and she was quite happy to have an opportunity to not return to boarding school which she had hated. Jack ultimately graduated from Ethan Allen Academy in May 1984 and then from Princeton University in May 1988. He claimed that Jennifer Eckert was also hitting on him around the same time she went after his father in 1990 but he was uninterested. I haven't fleshed him out as much but he is a businessman and is married with at least one kid (who apparently hates green vegetables).
**Madison Michelle Kensington [DOB 3-5-82] Madison is the daughter of Senator Jack Kensington and his late second wife Marlena Moore Kensington. Marlena let Betsy stay home and attend Chapparal Country Day school starting in September 1981 so Betsy and Madison grew up together and are quite close. Madison is currently a sophomore at Chapparal Country Day School (ironically along with Suzy Hornsby) herself. Madison hates her father's 3rd wife political commentator, Patricia Ashley who he married in December 1996. This is a sentiment that her half-sister, Beth Quartermaine, shares although as she is more mature, she doesn't actually hate the woman but finds her petty and judgmental.
*Chapter 62 covers some of Beth and Mark's story and back story.
8.) Can you promise you won't kill Dr. Alan Quartermaine?
I hesitate to promise anything since I really kind of write into and out of situations and go with what fits. That said, I think Alan is going to be healthier in this than in canon GH. He and Monica skipped the multiple affairs and all the animosity so there is that. Yes, they are currently coming out of a dark place (Monica put a lot of protective distance in their relationship during her breast cancer and then there was the strain of Paige's death and Emily's assimilation but Monica never slept with Dr. Dorman and Alan never hurt his hand years earlier so he never had the surgery and he won't be getting addicted to pills) but they have twenty years of experience working through the dark places of their marriage so I think they will be ok.
9.) Is Lois a bad mom?
I think Lois is a very human mom who has made her mistakes. I definitely agree that ideally, she would have supported and perhaps even facilitated a better relationship between Brooke and Ned. I think that it isn't really as vindictive and malicious as it is coming across to some readers and perhaps that will come out in later chapters. I think she's a mom who lost a child and isn't grieving well. Also, since part of burying her grief involved resurrecting her former life, she is now working 80 hour weeks and some 30 hour days and I think she is just trying to survive. To be fair, at this point I also think it is less that she is actively saying Ned can't visit but that she isn't bringing Brooke to Ned (and given her time constraints that just may not be logistically possible). You can also argue that she should have never filed for primary custody and perhaps she shouldn't but I think that Ned seriously never expected she would do otherwise and perhaps didn't even want her to do otherwise. So, I kind of think that perhaps Ned needs to actually step up a little more for Brooke himself but I think that is also hard for him because he is actually actively grieving for the child they buried.
10.) Is Jason Morgan just a jerk?
To be fair, I think Jason definitely has had periods of being a jerk. He was horrible to Keesha (attempted rape is never ok) and I realize that people write that off because they ship J&R or Jarly or Liaison or JaSam and Keesha was just in the way of their pairing. I also think that some of how he reacted and treated her back then may have truly been at least somewhat TBI mediated. I'm not saying that to excuse it and I'm really glad that the writers broke the scene with Brenda wandering in and Keesha extricated herself and finally accepted that she and Jason were just done. I could have done without all of the "Keesha just pushes his buttons" stuff but regardless at least they were over. That was good.
That said, I actually think him asking Ned to claim his child (which he did because it was one of Carly's "wacky plans") is lower on his transgression list.
11.) Were Ned and Monica ever together?
No! Because the Quartermaine Family has more of a connection, Monica first met her nephew Ned when she was dating his Uncle Alan. At the time Ned was around five and he was the ring bearor in their wedding shortly before he turned eight. Because Ned and Tracy lived with Edward and Lila and Lila took care of Ned while Tracy contended with college and law school Alan and Ned (and even John and Ned although they are only 6.5 years apart so the Uncle/Nephew dynamic is sometimes off) were very close then and Ned continues to turn to Alan for things he might turn to his father if Lord Larry were less of a loser. Since marrying Alan, Monica has become part of the package deal and she and Ned have a very special relationship but there was never a hint of romance.
Ned did still work at Green Meadows Spa during his Ethan Allen Boarding School days in Vermont and he did have a tryst with a slightly older woman when he was barely eighteen. The consequences of that may come back at a later date but likely not directly in this story.
12.) MIA Mac Scorpio?
On GH canon, Mac Scorpio was fired by Mayor McClintock after he arrested Dr. Pierce Dorman and that happened in this variation as well. I think on canon he hung out at the Outback for awhile and then got his job back sometime in 1999. In this version he is resurrecting his PI career and he and Felicia are taking an out of town assignment that coincidentally lines up with where Bobbie decided to take travel nursing gig so they are sharing a duplex. There is more to that story but a lot of it isn't relevant to the Narly/Jarly plot so it won't be introduced in a lot of detail.
Mac Scorpio fans can expect him to return to canvas before the end of 1997 (and if you dislike Felicia and or Bobbie brace yourself because they will be traveling in the same Scorpio Family Minivan back to Port Charles).
13.) Did the PCPD plant a receptionist in Chandler Enterprises?
Although not mentioned by name, I envision An Li Chen as the helpful receptionist. No, she isn't a confidential informant but perhaps she couldn't be more helpful if she was. If you are not familiar with this character, she was very briefly on AMC from 1991-1993. The premise was that she and her mother (who was a Cortlandt Manor Maid) were undocumented immigrants from China. She graduated from PV High along with Hayley Vaughn Chandler and Brian Bodine in 1991 and started college at PVU in Fall 1991. Adam Chandler threated to turn An Li into immigration and convinced her that she should marry Brian Bodine to secure a green card (which would also get Brian away from Adam's daughter Hayley). Brian and An Li were friends and Hayley was being a brat, getting into alcohol, and sleeping with Will Cortlandt so Brian went along with the plan. They consummated their marriage the night that Hayley married Will Cortlandt. An Li ended up pregnant. Brian was charged with Will Cortlandt's murder (although Will was actually killed by Janet Green with a crowbar) and went on trial. The stress of the trial took it's toll and An Li had a miscarriage. After he was acquitted in early 1993, Brian and An Li separated and divorced. On AMC I think both characters kind of vanished. However, for my purposes:
**Brian Bodine transferred to Clarkson University in Fall 1993. There he buckled down and completed an engineering degree. After graduation in 12/95 he briefly returned to Pine Valley to ensure that Chandler Enterprises was holding up their end of the deal with An Li's green card and remind himself how immature Hayley Vaughn Chandler still was. He moved to Port Charles, NY in January 1996 and took a job with ELQ Enterprises. Hayley mentions him in her conversation with JR (and he was the one who got JR to the airport) in Chapter 16.
**An Li Chen divorced Brian Bodine in June 1993 but they remained friends. Brian arranged for Adam Chandler to hire her at Chandler Enterprises and sponsor her greencard before he left town. She is stuck working at Chandler until her greencard processes (and unfortunately for her this may take a decade or more) but she isn't exactly happy about it.
14.) Should we nominate Ned Ashton for husband of the year?
Perhaps…Aside from the whole marrying Katherine/Lois at the same time (which didn't happen in this variation on canon) I think Ned was a pretty decent husband to Lois (and to Jenny who really did break his heart). Perhaps more relevant to Carly's situation, Ned was very sweet and kind to Chloe during their farcical marriage so I think he does compassionate cohabitation well. Also he stepped up a lot when Chloe was dealing with her brain tumor and he is about to need to step up a lot once Michael is born. (So perhaps 1998 is a better year for the husband of the year than 1997.)
15.) Who is Abby Donely Quartermaine? How is she related to Sean Donely?
Sean Donely is Abby's Uncle. Her father, Patrick, was his brother. Abby grew up outside of Boston, MA. Her mother was a nurse and her father was a county prosecutor who eventually became a judge. She attended U Mass Amherst undergrad (where she was in Chi Omega) and then went to Harvard Law and graduated in 1986. She initially clerked for Federal Judge, Paul Murdoch in Port Charles from 1986-1988. Her Uncle Sean introduced her to PCPD rising star John Quartermaine. It wasn't exactly love at first sight but they found they were better together than apart and they married 7-16-88. After returning from her honeymoon, Abby, transitioned to the Northern NY District AUSA Office in August 1988 worked closely with fellow AUSA Bradley Ward. She left PC in August 1993 when her husband started law school at Georgetown University. She took a job as a DOJ trial attorney in the OC/gang section of the criminal division. In November/ December 1994 she was back in PC to prosecute Damian Smith for the murder of Bradley Ward Jr. In January 1997 she became section head for the OC/gang section.
16.) Where is Taggert?
Before he departed the PCPD, Mac Scorpio acknowledged that the Garcia and Taggert pairing was a bit toxic so he took advantage of Taggert's suspension to shuffle the Detective teams department wide. Taggert returned from suspension in April 1997 and was paired with Detective Andy Capelli. He headed the Pierce Dorman murder investigation and butted heads with newly returned PCPD Lieutenant Joe Kelly so newly installed Captain Ryan Carter reassigned Taggert and Cappelli to report to Lieutenant Leon Tagglione. So, Taggert is still around, lurking and ready to pop up in annoying fashion when you least expect him.
17.) Is Jax a stalker?
I feel like this question came up before as well so now I will offer the caveat that I haven't watched GH in many, many years so perhaps Jax has grown up but IMO in the later 1990s and early 2000 Jax wasn't exactly a prize. It was common for him to confuse control and love. I also find it interesting that the majority of his girlfriends/lovers were with Sonny before (and sometimes also during and after) the period they were with him. So, did he really love Brenda, Sam, Carly, Angel etc or did he just view them as conquests to be taken from Sonny. I suppose since I have written Lois as being very much connected to Sonny even she might fit here (I have seen people argue that Alexis did fit even though he never wanted anything romantic with her he did want her to pledge to him above Sonny and did want her away from Sonny and on his side). The only exception of someone who had no Sonny ties might be Miranda (or possibly Skye although I feel like Jax and Skye's relationship emerged out of some fight she was having with Sonny or something although I wasn't really watching and am not clear on that). Interestingly I can draw similar parallels of conquest/ one upsmanship with Ned Ashton for several of these women so who knows.
18.) Does Jax have a dark side?
I would say, yes! This may be more just working with the whole control angle and just being really unkind at times (he was pretty merciless with Brenda, Skye, and Sam when they were in their own desperate and dark places) but I think that is where I am going. This is still something I'm writing through but there has always been the view that Jerry is the dark brother and Jax is white knight. Now Jerry is obviously a bit of a sociopath but what if Jax is also but just takes advantage of getting Jerry to do a lot of his dirty work? Whether Jerry does it because he thrives in the darkness, because John Jacks decrees his will be done, or because of some what of a twisted symbiotic relationship is not completely clear. Some of these thoughts also pull from some of the conversations between John, Jerry, and Jax after their arrests. I do tend to agree that it was a bit off for Jax to be so self-righteous when he certainly profited from their ill-gotten gains.
I feel like I should also add that so far in this story, Miranda Jameson Jacks is still presumed dead. I know on canon Sonny brought her back to Port Charles and crashed Brenda and Jax's "wedding" (which was actually a vows renewal I guess since they married in the clink boom episode) in November 1996. In this Brenda was dating AJ Quartermaine in November 1996 and never got together with Jax until after Sonny called off the wedding about 48 hours ahead of time with the integrity of explaining himself to Brenda face to face rather than standing her up at the altar. Brenda and Jax will be getting engaged and Miranda will be coming to Port Charles but Sonny will have nothing to do with that.