Nicole Browne

*"Money isn't the root of all evil. The lack of money is the root of all evil!" - Nicole Browne*

**Nicole Browne** is a female homeless person who briefly lived in Ashford Falls. She possibly has a criminal record in Philadelphia where she learned to survive on the street through robbery, thievery and slight-of-hand sidewalk confidence games. Not much is known about her past, but she is known to be a former lover of Ty Hedison and a known opportunist.

Not much is known about her past or her origins as she has given several different often contradictory accounts of her past. According to one account, she was an orphan who had never known her parents, later telling Carter Hedison that she was once a military brat with an abusive drunk father who was frequently discharged across the country. In yet another fabrication, she once lived with her grandmother who died, leaving her without any means to support herself. In yet another story, she was a Canadian in origin, the illegitimate daughter of a Canadian businessman who refused to accept her as his daughter.

Wily, opportunistic and given to criminal means to support herself, Browne was living illegally in the derelct remains of a Philadelphia mansion when she encountered Ty Hedison. Attracted to him, she showed Ty how to hustle cards and help her in shop-lifting, but when he revealed he was heir to the Hedison Family fortune, she began working to boost his ego to fight for his inheritance. Four years after they met, Ty and Nicole headed to Ashford Falls and broke into the Hedison Mansion, briefly holding Carter Hedison prisoner captive in his library study. During the ordeal, Nicole found the wardrobe left behind by Ty's mother and wore her dresses in the house. However, Carter was rescued by Edward Ashworth, the family manservant, who smacked a dinner tray over Ty's head. In the preceding police involvement, Nicole slipped away.

With Ty's return, his mother, Monica Hedison, returned from England to take care of him with Rachel Hedison, Ty's step-sister. The blow to the head gave him amnesia, but Nicole visited him several times at Ashford Falls Community General Hospital trying to restore his memories. She presented herself to Monica as Ty's girlfriend in order to ingratiate herself into the family and Ty was sent to attend counseling at Ardmore Sanitarium in Mill City.

Over the following months, Nicole stayed in Ashford Falls, making a home in the former Patio Cafe. She stayed around Ty often trying to get him to remember her, but her efforts were often being hampered by Rachel manipulating Ty into helping her break up her brother, Blake Hedison's engagement with Caitlin Featherstone. In one of these schemes, Ty found himself attracted to local girl Amelia Warren, which frustrated Nicole and lead her to develop an enmity toward Rachel. From there, Rachel and Nicole clashed against each other, leading Rachel to entice Nicole into wooing Blake to ruin his engagement with Caitlin. This effort was only partially successful. Although Caitlin cancelled their engagement, she and Blake made up a few weeks later.

Unable to handle being manipulated, Ty had an emotional breakdown and had to completely committed in Ardmore. Nicole followed him to the hospital still convinced he would remember her, but many of Ty's memories never returned. In retaliation, Nicole tried to ruin Rachel by marring her looks to ruin her reputation. She often sneaked in and out of the Hedison Mansion, impersonating Rachel with her wardrobe and sunglasses and shoplifting while using her identity. By committing such public crimes as Rachel, Nicole hoped to ruin Rachel, but she actually ended up providing Rachel an alibi while she was framing Caitlin's brother, Danny Featherstone, for the death of Amelia Warren.

Remaining in town, Nicole impersonated a nurse to visit Ty at Ardmore several times while committing small crimes in Ashford Falls and Winchester. Sheriff David Carmichael eventually picked her up as a vagrant near the Patio Cafe and placed her in the Women's Rescue Center in Winchester, but she disappeared just after getting her police record from the Philadelphia Police Department.

Under unknown circumstances, Nicole became a member of the Children of the Sun and convinced them to move to Ashford Falls where they took over the old Hathaway Mansion. Once again, she tried to get back together with Ty, who had since been returned to Ardmore, and she instead began making advances toward Danny Featherstone herself, trying to get him to marry her. At this time, Danny was dating Dr. Elizabeth Freeling, and although he cared about Nicole enough to help her get off the street and into a legitimate lifestyle, he failed to fall for her advances. Nevertheless, Danny and Liz's relationship eventually came to an end, and he began dating Janet DuBois romantically.

Not much is known of Nicole's activities afterward. Five years later, during Ty's relationship with Patience Worth, enough of his amnesia had broke that he recalled her, but he no longer had the emotions he had for her.