General Hospital hasn’t just painted a target on Ava’s back, it’s painted one on her front, too. At this point, who isn’t gunning for the femme fatale, who the new writers seem hell-bent on making pay for past sins (even as free passes continue to be handed to Sonny and Jason)?

Avery’s father has suddenly remembered that Ava snuffed out his old flame Connie and played a starring role in the death of son Morgan. Ex-BFF Nina blames Ava for widening the chasm between her and former husband Sonny. Kristina is ticked because Ava got her and girlfriend Blaze cancelled. Natalia’s furious because Ava exposed her to the world as the homophobic harpy that she is.

The list of potential suspects is still growing, too. When it comes out that Ava knew that Sonny’s bipolar medication had been messed with — and that she tampered with the Rx even further! — his onetime moll Carly is going to be out for blood. So is Jason; even at odds with Sonny, Stone Cold has his back.

Would General Hospital really kill off Ava and lose Maura West, if not daytime’s best actress, certainly among the best of the best? “You’ll have to watch and see what happens,” the Emmy winner tells Michael Fairman TV. “That’s all I can tell you.”

Heaven — hell? — knows that Ava has found herself in this sort of dire predicament before and lived to tell. Our hope is that the cat has a few of her nine lives left so that she can survive this threat, too… and maneuver herself into yet another tight spot. That is, after all, one of her special skills. “One of the things I like about her, that I’ve always liked about her, is that one of her major character defects is that she’s reactive,” West says. “She doesn’t take a pause and think. She reacts out of anger, passion, whatever it is. She’s very quick to react.”

It gets her into untold trouble, and we wouldn’t have it any other way — provided, that is, that she can get herself back out of trouble as well!