Nicole Franklin
Nicole Franklin (2008-2011)
Tessa James
Episodes: 4620–5322
Date of Birth: 23rd February 1992
Parents: Roman Harris and Natalie Franklin
Children: George Franklin
Occupation: Student; Fashion Design Undergraduate
Nicole Franklin first showed up on her father’s doorstep. She was instantly attracted to bad boy Aden Jefferies, who was moving into Roman’s house at the time. She wasn’t exactly thrilled that the town was so un-hip.
Nicole made a bet with Aden that she could get Geoff into bed within two weeks. After this secret was out in the open, Belle and Geoff played a prank on Nicole which led to her being humiliated.
From then on, Roman was trying to figure out why Nicole had moved away from her mum in the city. Nicole then came clean about the situation and told Roman that her mum’s husband, Roy, made a move on her. Nicole told her father that her mum didn’t believe her so she kicked her out of the house.
She continued with her bad attitude, copped a serve from Kirsty about it and got into trouble when she hooked up with an older guy at science camp. She took a liking to new guy in town Elliot, despite her father’s disapproval and disappeared for a few days, only to be found by Roman and Charlie at Elliot’s house. Elliot decided to move to the bay and things hotted up with Nicole with him taking her diving. He eventually kidnapped her but Geoff realised something was wrong and got in the boat with her.
Elliot took Nicole diving but Geoff was suspicious when Nicole didn’t surface. He threatened Elliot with a spear gunand jumped overboard to look for Nicole as Elliot shot him in the leg with the gun. Geoff found Nicole at the bottom of the sea, but he lost his grip and they separated. They were washed up on an isolated island and Geoff found nicole and revived her. They kissed and slept together.
After being rescued they found things difficult with each other and after realising they both wanted different things from their relationship, they split up. Geoff was shocked to realise Nicole might be pregnant but she took a test which came back negative. She tried to win him back after becoming jealous of Melody and ran for school captain in order to stop Melody from winning. She won, infuriating Geoff. Soon after, her mother Natalie phoned her asking for Nicole’s help and she went with Geoff to her house and heard that Natalie had kicked out her husband Roy. Natalie held a party for Nicole and invited her exs but he told Nicole that Roy ahd left Natalie, not the other way round and Nicole asked Geoff to take her home.
Natalie came to town a few days later to build bridges but Nicole wanted nothing to do with her. At Roman’s instigation she gave her a chance but a drunken natalie let Nicole drive home, despite her having no license and they were pulled over by Charlie. Nicole escaped with a cuation and Natalie left the bay but not before making paece with Nicole. She and Geoff reunited soon after but Melody set her sights on Geoff and tried to steal him away from Nicole. She lost Nicole her school captaincy and manipulated him into taking her to the formal and a furious Nicole invited an older boy as revenge. On the night they were both stood up and made up. As the formal caught fire Nicole and Geoff teamed up to laed the resvue and Nicole was later handed back her school captaincy.
She interfered in Aden’s life by applying on his behalf to Uni and turning down the job he lined up but a furious Aden made her help get his job back. She was offended when Freya made ‘Hot list’ of attractive school students that listed Nicole as knowing she was hot. When Nicole confronted Freya, Freya planted a kiss on Nicole and they became friends, much to Geoff’s disgust. They clashed again when Nicole voted for Trey’s idea over his own for Dan’s memorial and Geoff accused her of flirting with Trey. They had further rows after a Liam Murphy concert after Geoff wanted to leave and Nicole wanted to stay and when Trey tried to kiss Nicole, she pushed him away but geoff refused to believe she hadn’t led him on.
Nicole planned a surprise trip for her and Geoff and they headed off for a few days on the island where they had been stranded 6 months previously. However, their happiness was soon shattered when they met a strange man, Derrick, who started talking about killing people. They tried to escape but Derrick chased them. Geoff managed to knock Derrick over the head with a log which caused him to fall onto his knife. In the morning they were rescued by Roman and Hugo but the experience drove a wedge between Geoff and Nicole and they eventually split up.
She was devastated to hear that Geoff had slept with his new girlfriend Claudia and faced more trouble as Roman suffered from blindness after a car accident and took his feelings out on Nicole and Aden. With both feeling vulnerable, they slept together twice but were caught in the act by belle and Roman threw Aden out. He rejected Nicole, laeving her feeling more isolated than ever.
She befriended Trey Palmer and started a relationship with him. He supported her as she struggled to cope with Roman’s friend Gardy making advances towards her. He convinced her to tell Roman but Roman ignored her concerns, taking Gardy’s side and a gutted Nicole moved out.**She tried to deal with the situation by sleeping with Trey but instead ended up hiding in his bedroom as Gardy raided the house. Roman rescued them without revealing to her Gardy was responsible and she was shocked when he still refused to let her move back in. She went to the house to have it out with him but, finding the place empty, she decided to sleep with Trey in her room instead. Just as they were coming downstairs afterwards, Charlie arrived and Nicole learned Roman had actually been blackmailed into helping Gardy with a series of robberies and was now missing. She was relieved when he turned upmostly unharmed but he insisted on speaking to the police. She was devastated when he was sent to jail for killing a fellow soldier in Afghanistan and moved in with Miles and Kirsty.
She leaned heavily on Trey for support, sneaking him into the house at night against Miles and Kirsty’s instructions. She was initially disgruntled when Roman let Aden look after the house instead of her but recovered enough to help him choose an engagement ring for Belle. She was horrified when Ruby told her Trey had filmed them having sex and confronted him about it, slapping him when he admitted he had considered showing it to his friends. He retaliated by humiliating her by showing the tape in front of the entire town.
Nicole agreed to let Trey apologise to her in front of the school but found the experience unrewarding when Jai turned it into a riot. She began to sympathise towards Trey and allowed him to come along on the school trek but slapped him when he made a pass at her. When Trey subsequently trapped her and the rest of the students on the bus, fitted with a landmine set on a timer, Nicole was guilt-ridden that she could have stopped him if she’d handled the situation better. The party were eventually saved thanks to Hugo, Martha and John Palmer.
After a few days in the city, Nicole returned to town for Aden and Belle’s wedding, altering Belle’s wedding dress and being surprised and touched when Aden invited her to be his “best man”. Then she found out Belle had been missing her drug counselling and accused her of being back on drugs only to learn she was actually dying of cancer. She was horrified that Belle planned to marry Aden without telling him, refusing to go to the wedding, and after Belle collapsed Nicole took her to hospital and then told Aden, although she also helped persuade him to go through with the wedding. Left to cope with the news on her own while Aden and Belle were on honeymoon, Nicole got drunk at a party on the beach before trying to hitch-hike to the city to see Roman. She was picked up by Sid Walker, who took her back to Miles. She kissed Geoff in an attempt to get some comfort, then accepted an invitation to a party from Indigo, where she got drunk again. Geoff and Indigo were trying to persuade her to go home when Constable Watson arrived to break up the party and Nicole was sick over her shoes.
Nicole did her best to support Aden as per Belle’s dying wish but he rejected her and she ended up sleeping with Liam Murphy. She was upset when she found Indigo with a drunk Aden, accusing her of taking advantage of him, before admitting that she was jealous that he had taken comfort from her. Even though the two girls repaired their friendship, her isolation caused her to become obsessed with Sid to the point of stalking him. Things worsened when she was forced to celebrate her 18th birthday on her own, with only a card and present sent from Roman, and ended up having another fight with Aden when he learned Roman had signed the house over to her. She went to Sid for comfort, even though he insisted nothing could happen between them. She made a fuss about some superficial coffee burns to her leg so she could go to the hospital to see him, then sent Indigo and Dexter off to the movies so she could ambush him at home. Indigo walked in on her kissing him and although Nicole tried to take responsibility, it led to her and Dexter leaving town. Nicole continued to pursue Sid, booking a holiday for them which he refused to go on and turning up in his swimming pool in a skimpy outfit, before he shook her out of her obsession by letting her catch him with another woman.
She found herself in the surprising position of playing agony aunt for Ruby about her feelings for Geoff and Xavier. When Liam returned to town, Nicole initially refused to see him and their first conversation was awkward, with her telling Aden she wanted Liam to apologise for all the hurt he’d caused her. She was shocked to find Aden had punched him however and after giving him a serve about it, she spoke to Liam about her recent behaviour and they cleared the air. She ended up defending him to Colleen after which they kissed on the beach and then spent time together at her place. When he serenaded her in the surf club, they started dating, although she refused to sleep with him. Although the relationship caused her several distractions, she made it through her HSC and began to become close with Aden again, trying to maintain a relationship with him despite his hostility towards Liam, but continued to support Liam when he insisted on Aden taking Romeo to hospital after he overdosed instead of calling an ambulance.
When Liam was unable to stay on at his house because of a wiring problem, she let him move into Roman’s old house with Aden. After finishing her exams, she spent the afternoon and evening having fun with Aden, only to arrive at the house to find Liam had cooked a celebratory dinner for her. She was shocked when Liam told her he loved her after they had spent the day arguing and didn’t know how to react, admitting to Aden that she didn’t love Liam. When Liam refused to accompany her to the school formal, she invited Miles as her date but instead ended up dancing with Aden. She was confused when he ran out on her but was unable to follow him because Liam turned up. She admitted to Ruby that she realised she loved Aden, not Liam.
Aden then told her Liam had cheated on her with one of his students, Poppie, the night of the formal. She broke up with Liam and stormed off into the night, running into Aden who persuaded her to go for a drive. However, it turned out he had stolen Poppie’s car in revenge and they were both arrested. In the lock-up, Aden admitted he had feelings for her and they shared a kiss. She was disappointed when Aden backed off and didn’t seem to want a relationship with her and tearfully confronted him about the mixed messages in the Diner. Liam approached her, wanting to get back together, but she told him about the kiss before admitting to Miles that she was worried she’d pushed Aden. However, she and Aden then kissed again and he told her he wanted to be with her. She felt guilty though when Liam responded to the news by turning to drugs again and told him she still wanted to be friends. However, he quickly moved out of Aden’s house to avoid getting in the couple’s way.
Nicole was upset when her uni application was rejected, meaning she wouldn’t be able to study fashion for another year, and worried she would have to repeat Year 12. Aden cheered her up by arranged a first date for them, a romantic meal at the bait shop. When Miles commented on how fast the relationship was moving, she started to worry again and managed to get Aden thinking it was moving too fast for her until they finally agreed they were both happy with the relationship. Then she told him she loved him and, when he looked shocked, was worried she’d ruined everything, trying to take it back. She was reassured when he told her he cared about her and hoped to be able to say it back to her one day. She felt uncertain when Aden backed out of a kiss, saying he had to work in the morning, and decided to let him set the pace in future. She was therefore frustrated when they spent an uncomfortable evening sat at opposite ends of the sofa. She was upset when he told her he only wanted a serious relationship and wasn’t sure how he felt about her but reassured when he told her she was worth it.
Nicole was very reluctant to go back to school, especially when Mink teased her about being a mature student, but after talks with Aden, Miles and Romeo she eventually decided to go for it. When her idol, fashion designer Britt Hobart, began working at the school, Nicole spent an evening working back to prepare some special designs for her and managed to impress her with one of them, winning an internship. She was disappointed when she discovered the job mainly involved making her coffees and listening to her relationship woes. When Britt’s new collection was rejected, Nicole showed her her swimwear designs and was delighted when Britt agreed to use them, until she passed them off as her own work and refused to give Nicole credit. She confided in Ruby about what had happened and later Marilyn but was unable to tell Aden, especially when she saw him arguing with Justin. Marilyn encouraged her to confront Britt on neutral ground at the Diner but she found herself fired and threatened with a defamation suit if she repeated her claims, with Britt also saying she would tell everyone else in the business that Nicole was a lying thief. After talking it over with Aden and Justin, she considered taking legal action but realised she couldn’t afford it and it would be almost impossible to prove. Romeo encouraged her to stand up to Britt so she told the rest of the class what had happened and led a walk out which resulted in Britt resigning. Nicole took comfort in the fact that Britt had thought her designs worth stealing and had very little influence remaining in the industry.
Nicole was confused when Justin approached her, saying that he felt Aden needed discipline and focus in his life, such as that provided by the army, and asking her to look out for him if anything happened to him and to try and persuade Aden to follow his advice. Although she had her doubts about the army being the best environment for Aden, she was shaken by his words. She got a better idea what it had been about when she found out about Aden and Justin hiding their father’s body and managed to get a solicitor for them to temporarily keep them out of custody. She unsuccessfully tried to talk Charlie out of charging them and played a minor part in resolving the matter by collecting Aden’s phone, which contained the message that proved their innocence. However, Justin continued to insist that her and Aden’s relationship was going nowhere and she was holding him back. Although she pointed out to him that she had been there for Aden when he hadn’t and would never have let him get into trouble the way Justin had, she was worried he might have a point, especially when she saw how unhappy Aden was looking. Even though he assured her it was nothing to do with their relationship, she broke up with Aden and, when he tried to get back with her, asked him if he loved her. She was disappointed when he was unable to say that he did and instead left town without seeing her, sending her a goodbye text message.
She received comfort from Ruby and Liam and bounced back by helping Romeo out with his scheme to get Miles reinstated at the school and reassuring him about his problems with Jill. She gave Angelo advice about his relationship with Charlie, telling him to play hard to get, before realising she was probably wrong and, on finding an engagement ring Elijah had dropped, returned it to him in front of Leah, assuming he was looking after it for someone and not realising he’d bought it for her. She was horrified that she’d caused difficulties in their relationship and asked Miles to speak to Leah. She quickly picked up on Ruby’s crush on Liam, trying to convince her it couldn’t go anywhere and advising her to take a lot of cold showers, and also twice letting it slip to Liam, on one occasion trying to reassure him by claiming they were talking about how Ruby didn’t like his music. She also tried to place peacemaker between Ruby and Xavier after their split. When Penn Graham moved into the caravan park, she was instantly taken with him and ended up skipping a morning of school to spend time with him, missing an important test in the process. She was furious with herself but quickly forgot about it when Penn kissed her. They continued spending time together but she was thrown when she saw Sid was back in town. She shared an uncomfortable reunion with Indigo, which nevertheless let them put aside their differences, and then told Penn about their history.
Nicole tried to play peacemaker between Xavier and Romeo and also joined in the fun of hiding Mr. Oddly around the town. She comforted Ruby when she admitted she loved Liam and after she had kissed him and she and Penn later collected Ruby when she turned up drunk at Liam’s. She slept with Penn when he showed her a drawing that he’d done of her in his caravan. Romeo told her that he’d seen Penn with another girl but she assured him that she and Penn were only casual, although she was pleased Romeo was looking out for her. However, she admitted to Miles she wasn’t happy about the idea of Penn seeing other people. She went to the hospital to see Penn when he injured his hand and was disturbed when Penn told her that Sid, who had been treating him, still had feelings for her. Miles, Marilyn and Sid tried to convince her that Penn was lying to her but she refused to believe them. She did quiz Penn but he claimed Sid was simply getting back at him for threatening him. She believed him and told him she wanted a serious relationship with him. When Penn was evicted from the caravan park, Nicole went to see him to apologise but instead he insulted her and told her he wasn’t interested in her. When she told Marilyn about it, Marilyn suggested they have a cleansing ritual to get rid of Nicole’s relationship woes and had her burn two rulers with Aden and Penn’s names written on them along with Mr. Oddly.
Penn later approached her to apologise and told her about his hard childhood, during which she injured her hand on a needlestick. Penn took her to hospital to get checked over and comforted her, but a comment he made left her worried that she had HIV so she insisted on a test and anti-viral medication. When she failed an economics test, Penn offered to take her out to dinner to take her mind off things, then revealed that he’d planted the needle himself but refused to confirm that it wasn’t infected. She went to see Sid and told him she now thought Penn was unhinged.
She found Ruby after she’d got drunk again, taking her to Liam’s to sober up. She took her mind off things by accompanying Charlie, Angelo and Paolo to the races and entering herself and Charlie in the Fashion on the Fields contest. She also encouraged Ruby about taking driving lessons and helped her persuade Charlie to give her a lesson and gave advice to Sid when he and Marilyn fell out over Mitzy. She spent a lot of time helping Romeo and Indigo out with their relationship, reassuring Romeo when he worried about being a virgin, advising him to stop expecting Indigo to be like Annie when he briefly broke up with her and trying to smooth over Indigo’s paranoia about Annie.
When Penn disappeared, Robertson treated her as a suspect and, after questioning her about their history, turned up at the house with a search warrant for her closet although she assured him she wouldn’t use the metallic sequins he’d found at the scene. She did receive some good news when she got the all clear on her HIV test. She listened to Ruby’s ravings about Alexander but then saw him with another girl and told her. Seeming distracted, she refused to accompany Ruby to the end of school parties. She advised Ruby against attending the students’ informal behind Charlie’s back but did persuade Liam to attend and handed out some awards at the event. She agreed to design Bianca’s wedding dress even though she thought she and Liam should be together. At John and Gina’s wedding reception, she admitted to Marilyn that she was pregnant with Penn’s child.
Nicole went to the city to have an abortion but couldn’t go through with it and instead decided to have Marilyn and Sid raise her child. Her mood wasn’t helped by the negative reaction from some of the Bay residents, including Morag, who felt it gave Alf a motive to kill Penn, and Ruby, who was horrified at the idea of her having Penn’s child. She had to endure a mock interrogation from Morag, who wanted to use the fact her pregnancy gave her a motive to kill Penn to clear Alf when he was accused, and questions from Sid about the arrangement. She admitted what was going on to Romeo and admitted to Marilyn that Sid’s questions about what would happen if they moved away or split up had left her confused. Getting a serve from Indigo over the plan didn’t help, even though they soon made up. She admitted she needed time to think and Sid told her to take as much as she liked. She endured a disastrous first day at university when her lecturer Simone Boland dismissed her for being pregnant and a boy she liked, Evan, also backed off when he learned the truth and when she got to the farm to find Marilyn and Sid looking at other options told them they had to take the baby because it was ruining her life. She was initially annoyed when Marilyn and Sid asked her to sign a contract but agreed, feeling overwhelmed by the details and willing to sign anything, only for Morag to reveal such a move was illegal. She was annoyed with Morag for getting involved, saying she couldn’t look after the baby herself and insisted she wanted Marilyn to have the baby by whatever means possible, learning she could make her the legal guardian for seven years before adopting.
She acted as Indigo’s confidante when she planned to sleep with Romeo and shared the information with Ruby and was shocked when, next morning, Ruby told her she’d slept with Romeo instead, which she kept secret from Indi. She was annoyed when Romeo revealed Indigo knew about him and Ruby and admitted to Indi that she’d already known. She tried to stay neutral in the argument between Indi, Romeo and Ruby but ended up in an argument with Ruby when the latter claimed she’d learned her behaviour from Nicole, saying at least she’d learnt from her mistakes. She helped reassure Colleen when she was reluctant to move back home after her abduction by Brodie Upton and was amused to find Miles and Roo had spent the night in the same bed.
Nicole was asked out by Angus McCathie, a fellow student, and, although she had severe concerns about dating whilst pregnant which weren’t eased when Marilyn also proved unhappy with the idea, they shared a fairly comfortable first date that ended in a kiss. Angus offered to cook her dinner and she didn’t realise until afterwards she had an antenatal class that night. He gave her a lift when they were running late and was shocked to learn she was planning to give the baby to Marilyn, which she’d concealed from him up to then. She received a further kick when Roo learned of her pregnancy and assumed she was keeping the baby. After receiving encouragement from the Walkers, she met up with him again but was bothered by his attempts to convince her to keep the baby. When they got into another argument with Marilyn over spending time together before an antenatal class, he broke up with her, saying it was bound to end in disaster, and she was annoyed when Marilyn said it was for the best but Roo helped smooth over their differences.
She accompanied Indigo to a party some agriculture students had organised but spent the entire evening listening to one of the hosts, Pete, comparing her to a pregnant cow. Nicole took a job designing new costumes for the surf club and roped Angelo and Indigo in to act as models but the viewing was a disaster, with John objecting to their being in hot pink among other things. She offered her resignation and was disappointed when Roo accepted it without argument but after a chat with Marilyn she persuaded her to rehire her and her second set of designs went down well.
She became closer to Roo when she helped her through some Braxton Hicks contractions and asked her to be present at the birth but Roo told her to run it by Marilyn first and she was against the idea. Nicole didn’t press the point when she saw all the things Marilyn had bought for the baby but admitted to Angelo she wanted to keep the baby. She was horrified when Marilyn insisted on keeping an eye on her until she gave birth and slipped out of the house to go on a boat trip with Romeo and Angelo. When Angelo assured her she could be a good mother, she seemed to be on the verge of telling Marilyn but didn’t feel able to when Marilyn apologised for her recent behaviour and said it was okay for her to have Roo at the birth. However, Roo said she couldn’t be there. Three days overdue, she asked Angelo for help in bringing on the labour and eventually went into labour on the beach, where Angelo delivered the baby. When she handed him over to Marilyn, she felt empty, abandoning a plan to stay with the Walkers and moving in with Roo and Angelo instead.
Nicole got closer to Angelo and was concerned when he came home after being attacked by a dog. She was reluctant to see her baby, admitting she would have named him Ben rather than George as Marilyn had, and arranged to go and see a band with Indigo instead. She ended up getting drunk and chatting up the bartender so Indigo and Kieran had to take her home. She found herself lactating when she saw George in the Diner and reluctantly went to the farm to see him, where he stopped crying as soon as she held him. During another visit, she started lactating whilst alone with George and breastfed him, angering Marilyn who told her she couldn’t see him again. When Sid came round to collect her breast milk and reiterate the ban, Nicole angrily replied that Marilyn saw George as her baby and no-one else’s. At the urging of Morag and Angelo, she arranged a meeting with Marilyn and Sid and persuaded them to let her see George again.
She and Angelo admitted their feelings for each other and slept together and was shocked when he disappeared soon after while investigating a drug crop. She confronted Heath about the incident and provided Charlie with a threatening note he had sent Angelo. She was relieved when an apparent shallow grave turned out to be an asbestos dump site and, when Angelo turned up in a hospital in the city, she went to see him and met his mother, learning Angelo had told her about her but not about giving up George. She went to George’s naming ceremony but the experience left her even more deflated. When Angelo regained consciousness, she realised he was lying about not being able to remember who attacked him and tried to encourage him to tell the police. She was briefly held hostage by Brodie when he escaped from the hospital but the experience convinced her to do things Angelo’s way and get some proper proof. She provided some minor help in his investigation into Brax by distracting him. Angelo used the information he gathered to blackmail Brax and suggested the two of them use the money to leave town with George.
She felt increasingly guilty and uncomfortable about leaving George with Marilyn, especially when she went to the house and found Marilyn and Sid arguing while George was crying, even though Marilyn assured her George was their priority. When Penn’s grandfather Douglas arrived in town, Nicole pretended she was looking after George in case he wanted custody but when she admitted the truth Douglas told her George belonged with her. She asked Marilyn for George back, saying they were going to leave town together. She was furious when Marilyn responsed by running off with him and even more so when Sid delayed getting the police involved but declined to press charges when George was returned safely. She moved away with Angelo and George but later met Marilyn to resolve their differences.