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Credit: John Paschal/JPI (2), Aaron Montgomery/JPI, Howard Wise/JPI

Exactly 15 years later, it’s the perfect time for a Los Angeles return.

Eileen Davidson was at a crossroads as 2007 began. She’d just been let go from The Young and the Restless after a nearly nine-year run as Ashley and was trying to figure out what to do next. Fortunately, she didn’t have to spend too much time wondering before she got a call from The Bold and the Beautiful‘s executive producer Bradley Bell. He asked if she’d like to join his sudser. Her response? Yes!

They got the ball rolling in no time, and on March 9, 2007, less than two months after her final Young & Restless airing, Ashley showed up in Los Angeles.

The tease in her first appearance was epic even by soap standards. All we saw at first was a woman walking across an expensive carpet in designer shoes, picking up her phone and giving Rick Forrester a deliciously seductive call. The show didn’t reveal her full face, but the voice was just so darn familiar.

Eventually she got through to a surprised Rick, then shocked him further by walking right into his office. And that’s when we got our first glimpse of Davidson. Even better? Rick’s stunned “Ashley… ” made clear that she had brought her beloved Young & Restless character over to Bold & Beautiful to play.

The two of them, it turned out, had hooked up off screen while on a plane returning from Paris, then had a fling in Mexico. Ashley was in Los Angeles thanks to Rick’s dad. Eric had put a plan in motion to launch a fragrance line for Forrester Originals, so who better to poach for it than Jabot’s cosmetic queen, Ashley Abbott?

Her attempt to reconnect with Rick went nowhere, though, as he was moving on with Phoebe. Being the genuinely good person that she is, of course, Ashley wished him well and the two agreed to leave the past behind them. After that, she fell for and got engaged to Rick’s stepbrother, Ridge, only for him to break it off the same way he does all his relationships — by reuniting with Brooke.

Ashley then moved on to Storm until a jealous Ridge turned her against him. That mess culminated in Katie being shot through the heart while struggling with her increasingly unstable brother and a devastated Storm taking his own life to save her.

In other words, Ashley may not have had a long tenure in L.A., but it was one heck of an eventful one! And that got us wondering: What would happen if she went back?

Ashley’s Triumphant Los Angeles Return

Eric, Ridge argue B&B

Could we soon be facing a void that needs to be filled?

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI

We’ve speculated that someone might be dying on the show, which would surely fulfill the “upsetting fans” part of the tease — especially if it was someone huge like Eric or Ridge. That, though, would leave some extra space on the canvas… space that could be filled with Ashley’s return to Los Angeles.

If Ridge were to go, it seems like Bill would have to return to the frontburner, and when that happens, he’d need a new love interest. Brooke would likely have turned to Deacon even further for comfort, and Taylor, well, she’s tried to kill Bill a few times — and not in the fun, Uma Thurman way.

Ashley would be the perfect foil, as both a powerful businesswoman in her own right and a member of the Abbott clan. Those kinds of connections would be sure to catch Bill’s attention. Plus, we know that Davidson and Don Diamont have loads of chemistry seeing as how his Brad was married to Ashley over on Young & Restless for six years! That’s an eternity in the soap world.

If John McCook decided to retire, on the other hand, and they killed off Eric, Ashley could step in as a power player as the Forresters squabbled over who took over the company. She’s worked at Forrester and been CEO of Jabot and Abbott Exchange over in Paris before it was merged with Jabot, so she’d be a brilliant twist to step in as a “neutral” party.

She could keep the peace at Forrester amidst the power struggles that would be sure to follow Eric’s unexpected demise. Maybe we could even learn that while she was gone, she’d hooked back up with Rick again. He could return with her, backing her new Forrester role. He’d claim it was to help keep the peace, but really it would be because he’d think he could use her to slip into the company’s top position through the back, knowing that Ridge would never let him take over outright.

The possibilities are endless, even if Bold & Beautiful doesn’t end up killing anyone off. This would be the perfect time and Ashley the perfect person to shake things up in completely new ways.

What do you think? Should Ashley return to Los Angeles and bring some new(ish) blood to the show? Share your thoughts, then take a look at a gallery full of some of the most successful crossovers in daytime history. Ashley isn’t the only character who’s gone back and forth between Los Angeles and Genoa City!