Monica Woods

*"You think I'm weird? Have you met my sister?" - Monica Woods*

**Monica "Nikki" Woods** is the daughter of Elizabeth Woods of Thornewood Hall in Ashford Falls, New York; her biological father's identity has never been revealed. Born in 1975, she is the half-sister of Carolyn Woods and niece of Robert Woods.

The complete circumstances of Monica's birth are unknown. Elizabeth was known to be a fairly vivacious teen who dabbled in acting and modeling in the years after high school. In 1975, she found herself pregnant and returned to Thornewood Hall with an infant for whom she was completely unprepared to be a mother. Her parents, William and Judith Woods came up with the cover story that Monica was an orphan from the Hammond Foundling Home in New York; she was named after a close friend Liz knew in high school. A nanny named Maggie Winters was hired to help Liz take care of her, but in 1986, the cover story was outed by a reporter covering the closure of the old foundling home.

Caught in difficult situation, Liz was soon matched by her parents with Thomas Pritchett, the scion of another prominent New England family, who she soon married. Thomas and Liz soon had a daughter of their own, Carolyn Pritchett. Carolyn and Nikki grew up together as sisters, but Thomas had no desires to be a father and felt restricted by the confines of the remote Woods Estate and abandoned Liz and his daughter. A spiteful Liz destroyed all images of him in the family history and had Carolyn's surname legally changed to "Woods."

Largely home-schooled by Maggie for her early years, Nikki and Carolyn both attended Ashford Falls High School as teenagers with Nikki growing up responsible and rational, and Carolyn growing up carefree and irresponsible. After college, Nikki returned to Thornwood Hall and became the governess and tutor for her cousin David Woods in 1966. Completely uninhibited and resentful of his father since the death of his mother, David was initially dissatisfied with Nikki when she assumed the role of his protector, but over time they bonded together as if they were brother and sister.

During her time as David's governess, Nikki met and was romanced by Frank Latimer, an associate of her uncle at least ten years her senior. Frank had reportedly been sent to prison some years before because of Robert and had a deep hatred for the Woods Family, but in wooing Nikki, he changed his attitude for all of them except Robert, even becoming an ally for Liz against Carter Hedison trying to seize several of the Woods business franchises. Nikki became extra concerned when she learned that David had attempted to kill his father; however, David stole the evidence before she could present it to Liz.

During this period, Nikki also found herself at odds or being harassed by Liz's nephew, Watson Pritchett, the nephew of Liz's ex-husband, who had come to Thornewood years before and worked as a general caretaker and handyman. Believing he was meant for so much more, Watson often verbally attacked Nikki and Carolyn for being being elitists. He could only be controlled by Liz or Robert, but his lack of self-worth exacerbated his relationship with the family.

After having dated Frank intermittently for over a year, they started dating seriously after Frank and Robert ended their feud. Eventually, they made plans to marry, but Frank was soon killed in a plane crash near Hainesville, California while doing legal work for Hedison Pharmaceuticals.

Distraught, Nikki went into a deep depression, but Joe Baldwin, who had been dating Carolyn on and off for several years, grew tired of her antics and began chasing after Nikki, taking her on trips to get her out of her depression. A fan of the horror movie genre and interested in paranormal research, Joe often plied her about details about the reports of paranormal activity at Thornewodd over several years, particularly, the ghosts of Sara Woods and Jessica Du Val. Having grown up with these tales for years, Nikki responded indifferently toward these tales until she met Barclay Woods, a distant relative from England. As the self-syled historian of the family, Barclay became Nikki's guide to the family history as he came between her and her relationship with Joe. In researching more about Jessica Du Val, Nikki became fascinated by her and even thought she was Jessica's reincarnation. It was during this period she was reportedly being visited by the ghost of Sara Woods, imploring her not to start a relationship with Barclay. Following a séance at Thornewood to discover why Sara was haunting the estate, Nikki fell sick by a mysterious disease and was taken to the Duffy Medical Center in Albany for almost a year.

When she returned, she met and encountered Barclay's estranged wife, Victoria Luckweather, seeking to revive their marriage, but Barclay was still in love with Nikki and wanted to be with her. For a brief time, Nikki took on several of Victoria's character and personality traits just as Barclay was pushing for an engagement. Nikki also reportedly started exhibiting mystical abilities and sudden memories of another life which she kept secret, but Joe still pursued her romantically and these quirks and abilities soon evaporated.

Due to still longing for Frank and her friendship with Barclay, Nikki decided to stretch her relationship with Joe much longer. By this time, she was also the governess of Amanda Hackett, the younger sister of Chris Hackett, a distant relative from another branch of the family. She and Joe began encountering two new ghosts in Thornewood, that of Quentin Woods and Bridget Collins. The ghosts seemed very interested in David and Amanda, and during the height of the activity, the Woods briefly had to leave Thornwood. Working with Dr. Samantha Oh and Professor D. B. Moore, Barclay was able to seemingly exorcise the ghosts or at least decrease the velocity of the activity for the family to return to Thornewood Hall.

By 1997, Nikki and the family were joined by another relative, Quentin Woods, a descendant of the first Quentin Woods. When David and Amanda now attending public school, Nikki began teaching at Elizabeth Edwards Elementary where she met Samantha Strickland, who prodded her for stories of the paranormal activity at Thornewood. Joe has been prodding her toward an engagement, but as yet, no announcement has yet to be made.