Timeline

Timeline – Jason’s Death & “Return” (2012-2015)

In October of 2012, Jason (as played by Steve Burton) brought the infant Danny home to Sam at the penthouse. He then left the penthouse to meet business manager Bernie Abrams at the docks. He arrived to find Bernie shot and dying.  Jason was then shot and pushed into the harbor by Cesar Faison, who was then posing as Duke Lavery, trying to get control of Sonny’s territory. He had hired Joe Scully, Jr. to get control. This storyline was dropped that fall, and we never learned why Faison wanted Sonny’s territory. Jason was believed to be dead at this point.

In February of 2014, after Robin had returned from the dead, Victor Cassadine arrived to convince her to bring Helena and Stavros back from the dead. To get her cooperation, he told her he had Jason and offered her the chance to bring him back to his family. Robin agreed and left Port Charles without telling anyone, except Patrick, why. Patrick kept it to himself. He began a relationship with Sam later that summer. In August, Robin and Jason escaped from the clinic and made it to Port Charles. Robin went to talk to her mother, but Helena’s men kidnapped her before she reached Anna. Jason went to Sonny, but was hit by Ava (and Jordan later took blame for it because she was still undercover at this point). The viewers at this point were told this was Jason. We had zero evidence that he was not Jason.

Jason was badly hurt and taken to the ER where he briefly came into contact with Elizabeth. He woke up after reconstructive surgery with amnesia. He and Elizabeth connected immediately, and she offered him support and friendship as he recovered. He took the name Jake as it felt familiar to him. He also connected with Carly and Michael. This was the period when Michael discovered Sonny and Carly’s coverup of AJ’s murder.

In December, Helena ran into Jake Doe on the docks and told him he was Jason Morgan. She used a chip in his head to get him to break into the PCPD and free Faison. In the midst of this, he took Sam hostage and shot Nathan West. Nathan recovered, but Sam and Patrick soon realized Jake Doe was behind it. Elizabeth didn’t believe them until Jake was caught setting a bomb on the Haunted Star In February. Elizabeth stuck by him and learned about the chip in his head. It was removed and he was free.

He and Elizabeth had also developed feelings for each other, but Ric Lansing returned from the dead around Christmas, and Elizabeth returned to him — she had briefly dated him earlier that spring before he was believed to be dead. After a few months, Elizabeth realized her feelings for Jake Doe were stronger than for Ric, so she broke up with Ric to return to Jake. Ric hired Hayden Barnes to pose as Jake’s wife, and Jake reluctantly returned to Hayden. Carly was suspicious and revealed the truth at the Nurse’s Ball, interrupting Ric’s proposal to Elizabeth. She was furious and broke up with him, but while looking for Jake, she ran into Nikolas who told her that Jake Doe was Jason Morgan.

Elizabeth was shaken and nearly told the truth, but ultimately decided to keep the truth from everyone. Everyone else had stolen their happy ending, why couldn’t she? She even kept silent after Hayden Barnes learned the truth and was shot in the head just as she was going to tell Jake and Sam the truth, putting her into a coma. Even after her son Jake returned from the dead in July of 2015, Elizabeth kept the secret. She and Jake Doe grew closer and were going to get married that fall.

Carly, with Spinelli’s help, did a facial reconstruction that revealed Jake Doe was Jason Morgan and stopped the wedding. The truth came out, but initially Elizabeth’s knowledge of the secret was kept. I don’t remember how it came out, but Jason learned that Elizabeth had known for months and left her angrily. He eventually got his memories back and reunited with Sam, leaving Elizabeth as the town pariah and vulnerable to the serial killing psychopath, Franco.

Helena also died in November 2015.

Timeline – 2016-2017

I know this time period way less because I stopped watching when I knew Elizabeth would be the villain (August of 2015). Basically, after Jason and Elizabeth broke up, Jake tried to get his parents back together. He did some things that made Sam suspicious and she confronted him. She fell down the stairs, Jake fled and got hit by a car. Sam accidentally blew up Elizabeth’s house trying to escape. At this point, Franco and Elizabeth connected over Jake being in the hospital and her issues.

Also that year,  Nikolas died in Greece at Valentin’s hands but no body was found. Jason and Sam got remarried that summer, Elizabeth nearly died when serial killer Paul Hornsby pushed her down the steps (he also killed Sabrina Santiago), and she found out Hayden Barnes is her half-sister. Then that fall, her rapist Tom Baker was let out of jail, but the show royally fucked up that storyline. She and Franco started seriously dating, and he moved in with her and the boys in the spring of 2017. Jason and Sam had a daughter in February 2017, Emily Scout. Sam got sick with toxoplasmosis and nearly killed Sonny.

As for Sonny and Carly, they remarried in 2015 after Sonny was pardoned for AJ’s murder (FUCK YOU GH). Morgan was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He started dating Kiki again, and Ava was convinced Morgan needed to go back to Shadybrooke, so she switched his meds to force it. Unfortunately, this put Morgan into a tail spin that led him to steal a car with a bomb in it, meant for Julian (and set by Olivia Jerome). Morgan died in October 2016. Carly and Sonny were destroyed by this.

Nelle Benson had come to town, revealed as the actual donor of the kidney that saved Joss’s life as a child. She basically played the Carly playbook, getting close to the family, and tricked everyone into thinking she and Sonny had slept together shortly after Morgan’s death. Carly and Sonny nearly divorced. By the summer of 2017, they’re back together but shaky and Nelle has convinced Michael she’s sorry and they begin dating.

Timeline – Fall of 2017

At the opening of the story, Jason (Jake Doe) has just emerged from a coma. He was shot by one of Sonny’s enemies after Sam rushed into and messed things up. He decided to leave the business and told Sam he had bought her father’s media company. Julian is in jail for what happened the year before.  Sonny and Carly have wallpapered over their issues, but things are still difficult since Nelle exists and Michael is, you know, dating her. Elizabeth and Franco are living together with the boys. He has an art show, displaying a portrait of himself as a child with another boy. It’s a memory from his his childhood, and he goes to talk to Betsy about it.

Nikolas is dead, and Spencer is in boarding school in London. Valentin is living in town, having married Nina West as part of his custody battle with Lulu over Charlotte (born from one of the embryos that Britt and Liesl stole from Lulu back in the day). Laura and Kevin are dating. Patrick and Robin moved to Berkley in the fall of 2015 with Emma, and had a son in the summer of 2017, Noah Robert Drake.

Changes

I’ve made a few small changes to the show.  One, Audrey dies in June of 2017 — a few months before the opening of this story. This is mostly because Rachel Ames has retired and we need to acknowledge it. Two, I aged Cameron earlier than the show did. All of the teens are sixteen — Cameron, Joss, Oscar, Trina, Spencer, and Emma. Jake is ten, Aiden is eight, and so is Charlotte. Outside of that, I don’t think I’ve made any other big changes.