Well, who else was surprised when General Hospital’s Carly and Jason agreed to just be friends? Anyone? It couldn’t have just been us! With the way they’d been building them up from the moment of Jason’s return, only to learn he’d given up his life to protect Carly, it seemed like the two were downright fated to get back together in an explosion of romantic bliss!

But then after Carly opened up about thinking it might’ve been better if they’d stayed in love and stayed married, Jason made it clear he likes them as friends. And she agreed. And that, we guess, is that. Except nothing’s really ever over in the daytime world, and we know the fans have more to say on it. But we’ll get to that later.

Because right now, there’s a new man in Carly’s life — or at least, we’re pretty sure there will be soon! Because that night she spent watching over John Cates after his attack, just about screamed “turning point” in their relationship.

They were kind and courteous to each other, their arguing was more playful and flirty than angry and at the very end there, they acknowledged how nice it was to be friends for once. Except it seemed like there was the potential for so much more — despite John’s insistence that he doesn’t get to have friends while on the job.

Still, there was an honesty as they said farewell that, Adam J. Harrington told Soap Opera Digest, was very intentional.

“The one moment they actually show how they feel is when they know there’s an escape hatch,” he mused. “They know they’re about to walk away. So, it’s almost safe in that moment to do it.”

But you really wouldn’t need an escape hatch if all you were talking about was being buddies. That may be slightly complicated, what with all John’s done, but it’s not exactly a wellspring of deep emotions you’d be afraid to confront. Plus, as Harrington admitted to Digest, “Who Carly was to John on paper as just a tool to be used as bait is starting to get very complicated.”

Complicated, indeed. And fans are very much sitting up and taking notice. When we asked viewers who they’d like to see Carly with, we ended up with almost a three-way tie. But the most surprising thing was that newcomer John (at least this iteration of him) was just barely in the lead!

So yes, folks very much still want to see Jason and Carly get back together (not to mention Sonny and Carly), but there is absolutely no denying the sparks between her and John. (Sorry, Drew, but maybe you and Nina will have better luck.) But if Jason and Sonny are both on hold right now, we may soon be seeing the virtual three-way tie broken, and John and Carly taking off.

“The reality right now,” Harrington pointed out to SOD, “is all kinds of stuff is going down with Sonny, Jason’s back, she’s recently broke up with Drew… and they do grow somewhat closer.”

If they’re getting closer now, when things finally start to calm down — at least as much as things ever calm down in Port Charles — who knows how far this budding relationship could grow. We’ve all been so focused on Sonny and Jason for years, we never could have imagined there might be someone who could be an even better fit out there waiting to sweep Carly off her feet!

Then again, this is Carly. We know how much she’s drawn to dangerous men. Once things cool down, she and John could too.