Nicole Walker
Nicole first appeared in Salem as a waitress at the Java Cafe. Sami soon decided that Nicole was just the new face to launch her "New Faces" campaign and Eric was convinced to become her photographer. Eric began to fall for Nicole, but Nicole had secrets that could destroy any chance of a happy relationship between the two of them. She was often contacted by Jay, an ex-lover who demanded money from her on orders from a mystery man in prison. The only person who seemed to know all of Nicole's secrets was her sister Taylor, but she was persuaded to keep silent.Nicole took time in between photo shoots to find true love with Eric Brady. Yet her fear of Eric discovering the truth about her past kept her from becoming fully committed to their relationship. Nicole's insecurities steered her toward Lucas and his continuing temptations of money, power and fame. When Lucas proposed to Nicole, her greed was ignited as she envisioned those things falling effortlessly into her life.
Although torn between her heart and her checkbook, Nicole accepted Eric's engagement ring and adamantly refused Kate's clandestine $5 million sum to marry Lucas. However, while on a personal appearance trip in Chicago, Nicole was threatened by her prior transgressions when two thugs violently approached her, demanding revenge. Unable to live with her fears, she quickly cashed Kate's check and married Lucas -- trading love for the security and safety that Lucas promised. This marriage proved not to last long, though. She helped Lucas gain custody of Will, but was eventually persuaded by Sami to drive Lucas back to drinking so that he would lose custody. She and Lucas eventually divorced and she set her sights on bigger fish -- Victor Kiriakis, her boss at Titan.
She landed Victor, but their relationship was not all sunshine and roses. She started working with Austin Reed on the Permalash account and ended up falling for him. This, in turn, made her question her relationship with Victor and whether love wasn't more important than wealth and security. After Austin left and her engagement to Victor was definitely called off, she started a relationship with Colin Murphy. When that ended, she even considered killing Victor to get him out of her life, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. In fact, they got back together, because Victor knew Nicole had thought about killing him but couldn't carry through. This convinced him that she truly cared for him.
Nicole stayed busy, trying to fight her attraction to Colin Murphy, stealing accounts from Kate Roberts at Basic Black and renewing her relationship with Victor. He scared her with his warnings about being faithful, but she was convinced that she could control herself. As she went to a dinner where she and Victor were to become engaged, though, a bullet that was intended for him hit her instead. She was in a coma for some time and when she recovered, she and Victor became officially engaged. As a wedding present, he promised her he would destroy both Sami and Kate.
Victor surprised Nicole with a wedding one night at Tuscany. Unfortunately, Kate stopped this wedding at the last minute with papers that proved Nicole was still married to Lucas. When their divorce is final, she and Victor will be married. They planned a New Year's Eve ceremony. What Nicole didn't know was that Victor knew all about her affair with Colin. And he knew that she murdered Colin on their wedding night to keep that secret from getting out. Victor had Nicole over a barrel, with all of the evidence against her secured in his safe, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Nicole was Victor's prisoner. He forced her out of her job at Titan, telling her she had to stay at the mansion and cater to his every whim. Her life was hell, until Victor's grandson Brady moved in. Nicole was at first unhappy about this – she thought Brady would uncover her plot to murder his grandfather – but she soon found herself attracted to the young hottie. Her plot to kill Victor involved breaking Larry Welch out of jail; unfortunately, the plot failed and Larry ended up dead, instead. Nicole was terrified he would name her as his accomplice on his deathbed, but he did not.
While Nicole fought her attraction to Brady, she also wondered how she would get out of her marriage to Victor. She also found herself a suspect in the Salem Stalker's killing spree. She managed to use this to her advantage. She handcuffed herself to Brady – to provide an alibi – then had her new partner in crime Jan Spears kill Victor. Of course, the suspicion was still on her; the police were sure she must've had an accomplice, but they couldn't figure out who. No one else, except Marlena, knew Jan was in town. And Marlena had seen Jan and Nicole together. Nicole now had to get rid of Marlena. After the good doctor was arrested as the serial killer, Nicole got a friend who was also in jail to set her up. It looked as if Marlena was killed during a failed escape attempt. In reality, neither she nor any of her "victims" is really dead.
With both Marlena and Victor taken care of, Nicole felt free to try to seduce Brady. It wasn't going to be that easy, however. Brady was still hung up on Chloe. That wasn't too big a barrier for Nicole. She planted items and got Chloe's assistant on her side to make it look like the young diva was cheating on Brady. He wasn't sure whether he believed it and was ready to head to Europe to confront Chloe when he got a surprise visit from Nancy Wesley with some terrible news. Chloe had been killed in a traffic accident. Brady held a heartfelt ceremony for Chloe, but the truth is, she's still alive. She was just seriously injured and never wants Brady to see her in this condition. Nicole used all this to her advantage. Comforting Brady in his loss led to them making love and continuing to grow closer.
When evidence came out that the "dead" Salemites were still alive, Brady's father John Black went off on a rescue mission. His plane crashed, so heroic Brady went to rescue him. Nicole wasn't about to let Brady out of her sight; she stowed away. Brady wasn't too happy to discover her on the island, but Nicole made a shocking discovery of her own -- Colin Murphy! Her first "'murder" victim was still alive! She wasn't off the hook yet, though; Victor still intended to get his revenge on her. And since Victor was discovered alive, Brady thought Nicole and his grandfather would renew their relationship.
Nicole has more lives than a cat. In the escape from Tropical Island Salem, Victor was taken hostage by Tony – again – but everyone thought he had died. She and Brady were free to be together when they got back to Salem, and they were. Unfortunately, he was still hung up on Chloe. It took all of Nicole's wiles to reel him in. Then, she made a shocking discovery. Chloe Lane was still alive! With "Stan's" help, Nicole schemed to keep Chloe out of the picture. The plan involved botching an experimental surgery. When Brady left to help Shawn, Rex and Lucas rescue Philip, he made a promise; when he returned, they would be engaged.Once Nicole realized Stan was Sami, she attempted to blow her out of the water, but Sami knew about Nicole's big plans. When Brady discovered Chloe was alive, he accused Nicole of masterminding her 'death', and kicked her out of his life. Heartbroken, Nicole plotted to destroy Chloe and Brady's wedding, but Victor managed to stop her. Later, Nicole and Kate bonded over their mutual hatred of Sami. Nicole dropped the bomb that Sami was "Stan," which eventually lead to Lucas calling off his upcoming wedding to Sami.
Nicole then set her sights on her old friend, Austin, who had come back to Salem for the wedding that didn't happen. Though Sami still pined for Lucas, she was not ready to give up Austin to Nicole! Things got further complicated when both Sami and Nicole went to work for Austin, and Nicole moved into Sami's apartment with the two of them to start the business. Both were instrumental in the hostile takeover of a Los Angeles company, but Austin discovered too late that the company's CEO was none other than Carrie. Sami was thrilled that the couple's chances for a reunion were destroyed. Nicole, on the other hand, had grown tired of her complicated living situation and the direction her life was going.
After a stint of being drunk and depressed, Nicole finally agreed to be transferred to Austin Reed and Company's Los Angeles office. Before she left town, though, Nicole found time for a boozy one-night stand with Roman.
Two years later, Nicole has returned to Salem, ready to cause trouble for Victor, Sami, and Chloe - just to name a few