Nicole got pregnant to Lincoln Kimiora, but decided to give him and his boyfriend custody of the child. However, their daughter, Kiri died not long after being born. A few weeks later, Nicole got in touch with her mother's son Eddie who she had to give up when he was born. Eddie moved to Ferndale to reconnect with Leanne and Nicole. On July 2, 2019, Nicole kissed her colleague Zara Mandal (Nivi Summer) after having a night with their friends, which also lead them to having sex. Zara was unsure of their relationship until she kissed Nicole in the cafe, where later that day Leanne expressed her support for Nicoles relationship. A few weeks later they broke up due to Zara ending it. In December, she meets new Doctor Marty Walker, and she develops a crush on him, not realising his wife Lisa is dead, and in February 2020, she saves him from a blind date he didn't like by kissing him. It turns out they both like each other, but Marty said that he wasn't ready for another relationship. Because the hospital apartments were sold, she had to live with Drew and Harper, which didn't work out after Pele bit Billy, so she moved into a flat with Leanne  In March 2020, a new nurse arrives name Maeve Mullens, and the two take a liking for each other. They have since been going out, and In April, there was a bingo night and Nicole, Marty and Maeve were in one team. Bridget (Lisa's sister who had a crush on Marty) grew jealous over Nicole, thinking she still liked Marty. Marty tried to make Bridget jealous by kissing Nicole, and Bridget calls her a slut, and Maeve reveals to Bridget and Marty that they are a couple. Nicole's housing problem was solved when she moved in with Maeve. An episode that saw Nicole refer to Tauranga as not being as gay friendly as Auckland proved highly controversial. Bay of Plenty Tourism general manager, Tim Burgess believed the show was establishing a "negative stereotype," and that the, "only positive thing I can say is they were pronouncing Tauranga and Mauao correctly." In response to the episode he referred to the writing team as "disappointing and lazy." Burgess also requested an apology. The storyline that saw Nicole marry herself was heavily criticised, and was singled out by script writer Lynette Crawford-Williams as the single biggest regret she had whilst working on the soap for 13 years.