Steve Burton might have finished taping his last scenes as Days of our Lives' Harris Michaels last December, but he remained a part of the Salem landscape through the first half of this year. Thanks to DAYS' long lead time between taping and airing, Harris didn't say his goodbyes to Ava Vitali until June 24.
After finally capturing Clyde Weston, Ava paid a visit to her son in China before returning to Salem. She was stunned when Roman told her that Harris was still out of town, but he soon appeared in their Brady Pub room to tell her goodbye. Hope had a lead on Megan DiMera but she didn't want to leave Bo's side. It was up to Harris to track down Bo's crazy high school sweetheart.
Ava was devastated, but she and Harris made love once last time before he took off. While he didn't break things off with her for good, Ava felt it could be the end.
"She hears the words he is saying, but because Ava hasn't been so lucky in love she doesn't really believe that they will find their way back to each other," Tamara Braun told Soap Opera Digest. "He's leaving. It can be in the guise of needing to find Megan, but at the end of the day he is leaving, and therefore leaving her and their chance of being able to be together. So it doesn't matter if they are different kinds of people or not."
Since March, soap fans have been seeing double if they watch both DAYS and General Hospital, as Burton reprised the role of GH's Jason Morgan in March. Both Braun and Burton worked together on GH when she played Carly from 2001 to 2005 and later Kim Nero from 2017 to 2019. While Braun enjoyed reconnecting with Burton on-screen, she understands that all good things must come to an end.
"Of course, I was sad to see Steve leave," she said. "I enjoyed working with him again and building this relationship between Ava and Harris. It seemed the powers-that-be were invested in the characters, so it was a bummer that he left because the couple couldn't continue. But Steve needed to go. He's back at GH where he wants to be and that's important for him. I want people to be happy. Life is short."
Will Braun's Salem alter ego ever find happiness now that another romance has bitten the dust? After already losing Rafe and Jake over the last few years, losing Harris so soon is a bitter pill to swallow.
Are you happy to see Ava and Harris split, or were you rooting for them? Who should be Ava's next Salem conquest? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
