Chapter Four: ELQ
Monica and Alan had lost none of the fiery sparks that burst to flame whenever they would allow their love for each other to eclipse their need to one up the other. Score cards ever at the ready the battling lovers continued to rack up affairs and conspire against each other even as the rest of the family made their marks on Port Charles.
Tracy managed to get her hands on a tape of Ned & Monica by having Decker Moss pose as Ward and seduce it from an attendant named Wendy from the spa. Lucy decided if Alan wouldn’t divorce Monica, she would get Monica to divorce Alan and hired a private eye to take pictures of Alan and her. It worked. They were divorced and Alan married a fire engine red clad Lucy, but typically neither he nor Monica was happy. Wendy showed up following “Ward” and decided to blackmail Monica. Monica had reason to believe that Lucy was the blackmailer and allowed the newlywed couple to move into the mansion. Monica moved to the Port Charles Hotel with Dawn, hoping that giving Lucy the house (in theory) would prevent Lucy from revealing her secret affair with Ned to her daughter. Lucy magnanimously gave Dawn the use of the mansion for her wedding to Ned, anticipating the social event of the season would cement her as the new social scion of Port Charles.
Wendy took a job at the health club Body Heat and continued to turn the screws on Ned & Monica. Ned tried to neutralize the threat by having an affair with Wendy and even convinced Monica it was a necessary evil when Monica discovered them. On Dawn & Ned’s wedding day, Wendy turned up dead and Dawn found out about her mother and her groom, running off with Decker, the prime suspect in Wendy’s murder. Dawn married Decker after having her marriage to Ned annulled. Dawn was involved in a mystery concerning a tainted water supply that played out her condominium and ended up with her being beaten to death. Tracy & Monica worried about their kids and Monica and Alan grew closer again when AJ got in trouble at boarding school. Lucy faked a pregnancy when she felt she was loosing Alan.
Desperate to make her lie true, Lucy got knocked up by Scott Baldwin and reined triumphant when the tests proved to Alan there was a baby on the way. Scott wanted Lucy to leave Alan and come back to him. When she would not, he used Jerome’s locket to be appointed ELQ’s Chief Legal Counsel. Alan capitulated, but then legally withdrew from ELQ to prevent Scott from further manipulating him. Alan was sick of Lucy and her greed, but trapped in the marriage by the impending birth of his child. The Quartermaines were about to hit on hard times again as ELQ began to fail under Ned’s leadership. Dawn was murdered and Monica moved back in to her mansion.
In 1991 ELQ was taking losses that concerned the family but CEO Ned assured them that their ship was coming in; literally. The “SS Tracy” was docking with machinery that would revitalize the cannery and rebuild the Quartermaine coffers but it wasn’t going to be smooth sailing. An environmental group called the Greenbelts was rallying to protest the arrival of the ship which they claimed was carrying unsafe chemicals. The ship exploded in route to dock and Robert Scorpio led the rescue effort that fished his hither-to-fore unbeknownst brother Malcolm from the wreckage. Alan helped Monica through her glaring grief when her daughter Dawn was beaten to death and they reconciled. (1990) Ned was furious with Jenny Eckert who was suspected of sabotaging the ship, and fired her from her job at the cannery. Jenny decided to crash a “party” at the Quartermaine mansion that turned out to be a wake for Dawn. Ned disliked Jenny even more.
Ned had really screwed ELQ up, he hadn’t insured their ship, the machinery to revamp the cannery was at the bottom of the harbor and he had not informed the EPA that the ship was carrying dangerous PCB’s. Harlan Barrett, Barrett Enterprises, came to town to salvage the SS Tracy. Jenny Eckert hired Mac Scorpio to dive for salvage as well. Bill Eckert invented a machine that raised the ship. Tracy was attracted to the boisterous Harlan who made a play for her big time. Alan and Monica could no longer pretend that Ned or Tracy could run ELQ. They hired Paul Hornsby to save ELQ. Bill Eckert suggested Harlan buy the cannery. When the Q’s refused the sale the cannery mysteriously burnt and it looked like the Quartermaines would be accused of Arson for Insurance benefits. Thus forcing the sale to go through.
Tracy and Scott teamed up to break up Lucy and Alan and ended up in bed together, literally. Lucy convinced Alan to set up a generous trust fund for the baby and promised Scott that he could loot it liberally as long as he kept his mouth shut about being the real baby daddy. Tracy was not happy with Scott and Lucy’s closeness and proved to Scott that Lucy was double crossing him. In retaliation, Scott told Alan the truth and Alan forcibly threw Lucy out of the mansion. Lucy went into premature labor and the baby did not survive. Lila sent Lucy on a world cruise to help her recover from losing everything all at once: Scott, Alan, her marriage, her baby and her home. Upon her return, she was divorced from Alan and given 25% share in ELQ in the dissolution.
Paul was falling for Jenny. Ned didn’t approve because he was after Jenny for himself. Lucy pissed Tracy off by setting her sights on Harlan. Harlan brought his daughter Julia to town. Bill Eckert and Julia bought the cannery but Julia resented that Bill was being groomed to take over and not her. Hornsby, as it turned out, was not the savior of ELQ but had hired a man named Harlan Barrett and Robert Scorpio’s brother Mac to help him sabotage the company so that they could buy up the ELQ stock at bargain prices.
Our favorite divorced couple had a guilt trip laid on them when high school aged AJ ran off again after getting into trouble at boarding school. The couple bonded trying to help their alcoholic son AJ and was quietly remarried at City Hall. Another era was over but the intrepid lovers were far a far cry from done. Tracy and Monica teamed up with Lucy to neutralize a threat to ELQ by Harlan Barrett when they each apparently seduced him and then collectively plastered him in to a full body cast.
The quarreling Quartermaines stepped out of the spotlight as AJ and Jason were SORAS'd and came back to the show as front burner teenagers. The second generation of Quartermaines was poised to capture the hearts and imaginations of yet another generation of viewers.
