Nicole Walker

Nicole DiMera  (born Mendez, née Walker, formerly Layton, Roberts, Kiriakis) is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives, portrayed by Arianne Zucker from February 27, 1998 to February 8, 2006 and April 2, 2008 to present.

Storylines
Nicole is one of the two daughters of Paul Mendez and Fay Walker. She first appeared in Salem in February 1998. Nicole had a traumatic puberty, being forced by her father to appear, while underaged, in a pornographic film. She later tried to put her past behind her and began a successful modeling career. Nicole was romanced by Eric Brady and the two quickly became engaged. She was simultaneously pursued by the wealthy Lucas Roberts, who decided that he needed to be married in order to gain custody of his biological son Will Roberts. Although Nicole was in love with Eric, she took an offer from Kate Roberts to marry Lucas for $5 million as she was hungry for wealth and power.

After a cancer scare and a brief rekindling of her relationship with Eric, she divorced Lucas and schemed her way into the arms of Victor Kiriakis (much to the dismay of Kate). Nicole and Victor married, but the honeymoon period was brief. It wasn't long before Nicole plotted Victor's death, and her subsequent inheritance of the Kiriakis fortune. She paid Larry Welch to assassinate Victor, but it ended up not happening. She then teamed up with Jan Spears, and Victor's death was linked with the Salem Stalker killings.

Nicole then turned her pursuit to Victor's grandson, Brady Black. Thinking she had finally found her true love, she was ready to settle down. But Nicole was unable to stop her manipulative and deceptive behavior and when she found out that Brady's long-time love Chloe Lane was still alive, the web of deceit started once again. When Brady eventually found out what Nicole had been hiding from him, he ended their relationship. Before Nicole left town for Los Angeles in February 2006, she allegedly had a one-night stand with Roman Brady, although it was never seen on screen.

EJ DiMera
In 2008, Nicole returned to Salem claiming to still be married to Victor. However, Nicole found out that she was still married to her first husband, Trent Robbins. She had thought that their marriage had been annulled; as a consequence, her marriages to both Lucas and Victor were invalid. Nicole hired E.J. Wells to represent her in her divorce from Victor. When Trent was murdered in September 2008, Nicole became a prime suspect. While working together, E.J. sometimes used Nicole to make Sami jealous. After being dumped by Sami, E.J. and Nicole had sex in an elevator (during which time he called out "Sami"). Soon after the elevator romp, Nicole discovered she was pregnant. Sadly, Nicole went into preterm labor with their daughter, and she died. Saddened Nicole didn't tell E.J. about it, and pretended she was still pregnant. In January, E.J. proposed to Nicole.

In January 2009, Sami Brady gave birth to her and EJ's second child together, a baby girl. Nicole, who was angry at Sami because she was pregnant with EJ's baby and Nicole was not, switched EJ and Sami's baby with the baby she was going to adopt from a teenage girl named Mia. Mia returned to Salem from Japan and headed to the DiMera mansion. She asked to see Nicole, but she spoke to Tony instead. Mia accidentally revealed that Sydney was "her daughter." Tony then confronted Nicole about it, but he was killed before he could tell EJ that Sydney was not his daughter. EJ and Nicole were married on April 21, 2009. Her secret was safe until EJ became suspicious of her and sent someone to follow her. After he hears the recording of Nicole and Brady's talk where she admitted she lost their baby, he kicks Nicole and Sydney out of the mansion. She told Mia that EJ knew Sydney is not his daughter, but Chad overheard and wants custody of Sydney. Nicole flashbacks to the baby switch and says Sydney is not their baby, but Mia misunderstood since she given up Grace the second she was born, and said Nicole and EJ acted like Sydney's parents. Nicole tried to leave Salem so that nobody would know that Sydney is really Sami's daughter, but Stefano stops her. The truth about baby switch comes out with Sami getting back Sydney, but Nicole tries to flee with her and is arrested and charged with kidnapping. Brady posts Nicole's bail, and she then kidnaps Sydney again, this time taking her to Cleveland. At the bus station, Nicole is knocked unconscious and Sydney is kidnapped from her. Nicole is later arrested and charged with kidnapping. She was found guilty and is sentenced to 20 years in jail.