Fanon:Nicki Grande

Nicola "Nicki" Kat Grande is a Sim who resides in Pleasantview with her wife Kaylynn, her twin children Brandon and Britney, and her adopted daughter Bianca.

Early Life
Nicki Grande is the daughter and only child of Venus, a politician, and Vernon, a businessman. Nicki was raised in luxury, though she didn't care much about school and seemed to rebel against authority. As a young teenager, Nicki was sneaking out at night with various boys, and nearly got kicked out of private school. Around the age of fourteen Nicki discovered she was pregnant, with the father of the baby absent, Nicki had no choice but to turn to her parents. Vernon was supportive, but Venus was livid, knowing the scandal of her unwed teenage pregnant daughter would likely ruin her political career. Venus took Nicki out of school and forced her to hide her pregnancy. Nicki gave birth to a daughter, named Blair, and fell in love instantly. Venus however, decided to pass herself off as Blair's mother to keep up appearances, and soon enough the facade was regular in the household, with Venus and Vernon raising Blair as their own daughter and Nicki was forced into pretending to be Blair's older sister. Pained from seeing her own daughter being raised by her parents, Nicki became cold and distant and never established a proper bond with Blair. As a result, Nicki's relationship with Venus became filled with hatred and resentment, but she remained close to Vernon as it was clear he wasn't happy about being part of this lie.

Adult Life
As Blair grew up, Nicki got a job so she could bring some extra money into the household and support Blair. Nicki almost moved out of the family home as tensions with Venus grew higher, but she stayed so she could watch Blair grow up. As Blair got into her teen years, fights between Nicki and Blair became a regular thing, most being orchestrated by Venus manipulating Blair into believing Nicki is a freeloading slacker who's only living with the family for money as a bid to guilt Nicki into moving out. When Blair turned seventeen, Nicki decided to start taking back control and finally start being an actual mother to her daughter, starting with calling the headmaster to get Blair into private school. When Venus discovered Nicki's plans, she slapped her and forced her to stay out of it. Nicki complied, but made the decision to start working up the courage to tell Blair the truth and break free of Venus's control. Nicki tried to get Vernon to agree to help her, but Vernon's own simultaneous fear and unconditional love of Venus shut that plan down.

Finding Love and Trying to Bond with Blair
Nicki tried on many occasions to tell Blair the truth, but Blair's own disinterest in her "big sister" stifled any attempt at conversation. Nicki realised that she had zero connection with Blair, not as a daughter or a sister, and wondered whether it was time to give up, recognizing she'd never have a chance at being a proper mother. Nicki told the truth to her close friend Dina Caliente, who encouraged her to be honest but not to expect a lot of happiness from the situation, warning that she could lose a relationship with Blair rather than gain one. Nicki found an opportunity to get closer to Blair when she asked Venus to go clothes shopping, and Nicki volunteered to take her under the guise of "sisterly bonding". Initially, the outing went well and the "sisters" bonded a little, however Nicki ended up meeting Don Lothario and finding herself smitten by him (not knowing of his relationships with her close friends Dina and Cassandra). After Nicki spent a lot of the evening talking to Don, Blair felt ignored, and once they got back in the car she told Nicki all she ever wanted was a big sister and Nicki was never there for her, devastating Nicki. Realising Blair would likely be better off without her, Nicki decided to focus on building a relationship with Don and let Blair believe she's Venus and Vernon's daughter.

Relationship with Don
Nicki built up her relationship with Don and fell deeper in love with him, unaware that he was already playing four other women and two of them were her best friends. She also worked on her relationship with Blair after deciding to be the big sister she wanted rather than be the mother she didn't need, and celebrated with Blair when she got her first A report card and comforted Blair when she was fired from her job. Nicki supported Cassandra when she learned that her fiancé had left her, not realising that Cassandra's Don was the same one as Nicki's Don. When Venus was struck down with an illness, Nicki stepped up and helped Vernon care for Blair. Venus died while still in a rift with Nicki. Nicki and Vernon debated telling Blair the truth, but after seeing how devastated she was, decided against it and let Blair mourn Venus as her mother and not her grandmother. After Venus's death, Nicki took more charge of the household, openly bonding with her father and finally gaining a close sisterly relationship with Blair.

The Truth Comes Out
After a while, Nicki and Don became engaged. Soon, Cassandra figured out who Nicki's fiancé is. While she wasn't angry at Nicki because she didn't know who Don was, she realised she couldn't allow Don to marry her and have Dina, Nina, and Kaylynn on the go too. At Nicki and Don's wedding, it all blew up. As they exchanged vows, Cassandra, Dina, Kaylynn, and Nina all interrupted and revealed their relationships with Don. Nicki was shocked and heartbroken and immediately broke it off with Don. Blair got into an argument with Nicki during the chaos, and during the argument Nicki revealed that she is Blair's mother. This sends Blair into an existential crisis and she runs off. After all the guests leave, Cassandra, Dina, Kaylynn, Nina, and Nicki confront Don, and the confrontation gets physical. Blair gets involved when he sees Don attacking Nicki, and charges at him. In the ensuing chaos, Blair and Cassandra finish Don off. The six women ponder what to do, and Nicki tries to make sure Blair is involved as little as possible. Blair uses the knowledge she gained while working for the police to cover up the murder, and forged a letter from Don saying he skipped town after being exposed. This leaves everyone involved to carry on as normal.

A Second Chance
After the Don situation is sorted, Nicki talks to Blair and explains what happened to her as a teenager and how neither she nor Vernon had no say in the lie that Venus forced them to be part of. Blair accepted Nicki's explanation, and slowly their relationship elevated from sisters to that of a mother and daughter just as Nicki always wanted. A few weeks later, Nicki discovered she was pregnant with Don's child, and decided to keep the baby knowing that this could be a second chance for her to be a mother. Vernon moved out and retired, leaving Nicki and Blair to finally live their lives as mother and daughter, and later he died of old age during Nicki's pregnancy.

A New Love and New Babies
While on a night out with her friends, Nicki and Kaylynn found themselves growing more attracted to each other. They fought back their feelings, but by the end of the night Kaylynn ended up back at Nicki's house and in her bed. They tried to move past it, finding it too soon after the Don situation to move on, with Nicki still pregnant with Don's baby. After some time they decided to give their relationship a go, with Kaylynn breaking off her fling with Daniel Pleasant and Nicki coming out as bisexual to Blair. A few months later Nicki gave birth to twins, a boy named Brandon and a girl named Britney. Happy to have her three children by her side, Nicki proposed to Kaylynn to complete their family, and Kaylynn accepted and they married. After a medical checkup with Blair and the twins, Nicki discovers that Blair shares the same DNA as Don. After pondering how this could be possible, Nicki realises that Don must have been the boy at the party that got Nicki pregnant eighteen years earlier and they didn't recognize each other upon meeting again in the store (although it's possible Don still recognized Nicki but that's open to interpretation). Not wanting to hide any more secrets from Blair, Nicki told her what she'd found out. Overwhelmed and needing time to be on her own and discover herself, Blair took off for college after an emotional goodbye with Nicki. While she knew she'd miss Blair deeply having only just gotten her back as her daughter, Nicki knew she had to let Blair follow her own path and she focused on raising the twins with Kaylynn, though she still spoke to Blair on the phone every day.

Tragedy Strikes
Nicki is ecstatic but confused when a clearly agitated Blair returns home from college. While she attempts to get Blair better, Blair snaps and confesses to killing her exes Ryan Hogan and Tori Jakobsons, as well as Don. Nicki's heart is broken when Blair blames Nicki and the lies she grew up with for her anger issues. Nicki is distraught when she finds Blair dead in the pool the next day, though later finds a note where Blair apologizes for yelling at her and tells her how much she loves her. Nicki felt like after losing her eldest daughter that she didn't want to go on, though Kaylynn convinced Nicki to keep going for the sake of the twins.

A Fresh Start
As time went on Nicki's wounds from losing Blair started to heal, but she still felt the pain of her daughter's death, describing it to Kaylynn as feeling like a piece of her heart was missing. As the twins grew up, Kaylynn suggested that she and Nicki adopt a child around the same age as the twins and give a home to a child that otherwise would have gone without. Together, they adopted Bianca Grande, and she fit in right away with the rest of the home. The addition of Bianca helped Nicki move on from Blair's death, filling the hole in her heart that Blair left. Though Nicki will always miss Blair, being her first born child, she has at least found peace with the situation.

Trivia

 * Nicki's story with Blair is inspired by the storyline from Eastenders featuring Kat Slater and her daughter Zoe, as well as the storyline from Hollyoaks featuring Leela Lomax and her daughter Peri.