badboy nick was accused of stealing a boat and fell out with best friend, stuart (martin henderson) when their mutual friend miles lucas (hamish macfarlane) committed suicide and the two struggled to withhold their emotions. nick started to date punk girl, serena hughes (willa o'neill) to anger his mother jenny (maggie harper). however the plan backfired when serena and jenny got on famously and nick fell for her. however the two eventually broke up and nick developed unrequited love for rachel mckenna (angela bloomfield). nick grew jealous when rachel got together with stuart and got in a serious accident when he stole stuart's motorbike in a fit of rage. whilst nick dated a girl called olivia, he learned that he may not be jenny's real son, with the possibility of being swapped at birth with adam brady (jeremy brennan) arising. undergoing an identity crisis, nick nicknamed himself "slash" and took up smoking. however adam was soon revealed to be mentally ill and was sent to a psychiatric ward, and nick realised how much he loved his mum, dropping his bad boy persona. nick cleaned up his act and developed a crush on new girl, waverley wilson (claire chitham) after he broke up with olivia. waverley used nick for sex but the two eventually started to legitimately develop feelings.