General Hospital spoilers: Heather freed from prison and tries to kidnap Ace?

In the world of General Hospital , Heather Webber (Alley Mills) has been a menace in Port Charles for decades. Her rap sheet includes assault, illegal drugging, extortion, kidnapping, attempted murder and murder. In actuality, her criminal behavior may rival any one of the Cassadines.

However, this year, Heather finds herself going through a bit of a metamorphosis. Once she was taken from prison to the hospital, it was discovered that she was suffering from medical complications due to a hip replacement she had years ago. The complications led her to develop a mental imbalance which could explain a lot of her criminal behavior. Or at least, that’s what some medical professionals in Port Charles and even Laura (Genie Francis) as mayor tend to think.

Focusing on Laura, she’s developed quite a compassionate heart and sympathetic ear for Heather these days. While Laura feels for Heather’s victims, she also feels bad for Heather if she has to spend the rest of her life locked away in prison for behavior she may not have been able to stop due to her illness.

When Laura talks to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) in the General Hospital episode airing on June 12, the ladies chat about the odds of Heather appealing her convictions due to her medical history, and what that could possibly mean for Heather moving forward. Although she’s not currently a practicing attorney, Alexis advises Laura that Heather has a good case for appeal, and should she win, there’s a chance she could be released from prison.

The notion of Heather being out and about the streets of Port Charles is a terrifying thought. We don’t tend to believe all of Heather’s villainous decisions are due to issues she’s had because of her bad hip replacement. Additionally, we can’t rule out the possibility that Heather is faking her present congenial state of mind.

With all that being said, we tend to believe Heather will soon be released which could spell bad news for Laura. The Port Charles mayor is currently the legal guardian of Esme’s (Avery Kristen Pohl) and Nikolas's (Adam Huss) son Ace, which makes sense as Laura is the paternal grandmother and Nikolas is in prison while Esme is presumed dead. Given Heather is Esme’s mom, making her Ace’s maternal grandmother, Heather may set her sights on bonding with the only connection she has left to Esme.

We assume Laura will be a bit reluctant to let Heather spend time with Ace once she’s freed, at the very least, one-on-one time with the baby is probably out of the question. If Heather feels pushback from Laura, we can imagine Heather taking matters into her own hands and opting to kidnap her grandchild so they can be a family away from town.

If our theory proves true, Laura is about to have a miserable summer, one that consists of her desperately trying to find her grandchild. However, will a missing Ace bring Nikolas back on the soap canvas?

New episodes of General Hospital air on weekdays on ABC. If you miss an episode, you can catch up on Hulu .