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

Ashley’s been going through a lot right now, what with Alter Ashley running around trying to destroy Tucker — and Audrey in the process! Everyone’s more than a little baffled by her behavior (including us), but one this is virtually guaranteed: This isn’t going to go down like she wants. Sooner or later folks are going to figured out what’s going on with her and we don’t see many people wanting this faux Ashley personality running around wreaking havoc.

What if, after this all blows up and folks realize that there are two different Ashleys and they want theirs back, Alter Ash runs off… to Los Angeles! It would be somewhere she has ties to reestablish her life, away from the prying eyes of her family. And if Alter Ashley remains in control, she could be just the villain Bold & Beautiful needs now that it’s down Sheila.

This time around, she could come gunning for Ridge after how he’d hurt her, Storm and even Katie. And the perfect man to do that with? Rick. There’s never been any love lost between him and Ridge, and just by bringing him back to Los Angeles, Ashley would put Ridge on the defensive, and make him all the easier for her to take down… and maybe take his company! What do you think? Should Ashley return to Los Angeles and bring some new(ish) blood to the show?