in 1994, the character of waverley wilson (claire chitham) was introduced to the soap as a love interest for nick. waverley at first used nick to get to stuart neilson (martin henderson), but it was not long before something more serious developed. in 1995 the couple had a pregnancy scare and nick nervously proposed to waverley before they found out it was a mistake and he retracted his action. waverley was devastated to learn nick had married her cousin rachel (angela bloomfield) during a protest on student allowance and she fled the country. chitham and burnett got on well, something which benefitted the couples onscreen relationship, chitham stated, "karl's lovely. he's very good to work with... i think we've got a really good rapport going – you have to if you're playing a couple on screen." upon returning after 3 years in 1998, waverley hoped that nick had made a substantial change, chitham stated, "waverly wants him to have grown up and sorted himself out, have a respectable job and be a man – a suitable man to be her partner and she won't settle for anything less. she sticks to her morals really strongly and that is one of the aspects in which i think she's grown up a lot." speaking of nick's attempts to meet waverleys demands, chitham said, "he makes an effort to meet her requirements. we get there in the end." the two became engaged but nick was devastated when waverley cut his trademark hair whilst they slept and they broke up.