What Nikki’s dealing with on Young & Restless these days would be enough to drive almost anyone to drink. But it’s been especially challenging for the Newman matriarch, who blames herself for Jordan’s latest criminal caper. As the Newmans and Abbotts team up to bring an end to the kidnapping, Nikki is about to go rogue — and when she does, she’ll be locked and, erm, loaded!

Sip happens, as Nikki will be the first to tell you, and that certainly was the case approaching Nikki and Victor’s 40th anniversary celebration. La Newman was nipping from the flask on the regular to “get herself through”, knowing that Jordan was on the loose and that part of the reason for the shindig was to lure her out of hiding.

Happily, Nikki found herself strengthened by the show of love and support from family and friends at the bash, and told Jack that she’d nipped the sipping problem in the bud. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long.

Nikki’s next downward spiral begun the moment Summer walked into the ranch and revealed that Harrison had been kidnapped and that Claire was involved. Shaken to her core, Nikki instinctively knew that the notorious Jordan was behind it. We’re certain the drinking will start up again, and as seasoned soap viewers understand, the on-and-off the wagon stuff is the writers showing us that Nikki is unstable at this point in time.

Frankly, the foreshadowing is painting a dark picture of what’s to come. Nikki is blaming herself for allowing Jordan to live at the end of their last showdown, and will almost certainly take it upon herself to rectify the situation should the opportunity present itself — and we’re positive it will.

Young & Restless spoilers indicate that as Victor and Jack work together to deal with the kidnapping, Nikki will go rogue. “Going rogue” is literally definied as “leaving your group and doing something dangerous” by the Cambridge Dictionary. Since it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Nikki will have been hitting the bottle when she decides to go off on her own accord, undoubtedly to deal with the madwoman at hand, it’s guaranteed to be nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.

With Genoa City-ites pointing out left, right, and center that Crazy Aunt Jordan needs to be dealt with “once and for all”, it’s clear that we could be heading directly into a situation where there’s a murder — or attempted murder — with a drunken Nikki leading the charge.

Whether Jordan is traced to the motel by Claire’s cellphone or Nikki manages to goad her into a meeting, it seems probable that there will be a shooting. But if Nikki’s inebriated, her bullet may miss the mark. Might Claire or Harrison end up hurt in the crossfire?! What family drama that would cause moving forward!

We’re not the only ones who feel certain we’re headed for catastrophe. At least one Young & Restless fan sees the writing on the wall as well.