Nick Holden

State of New York Identification

ID #31 Jul 2020 21:26

Summary

Name Nicholas Emil Holden Aliases Compliant Yes Gender Male Birthdate September 28, 1987 Age 33 Height 6' Build Lean Eyes Blue Hair Dark Brown Residence Brooklyn, New York Employment Private Detective Parents Sophie Ruskin, mother Gregory York, biological father Ethan Holden, adoptive father Siblings Eileen Holden Marital Status Single (Dating Gillian Childs) Children N/A First Scene Last Scene Profile Private investigator and wanna be novelist

portrayed by Colin O'Donoghue

Background

Nick Holden's childhood was fairly normal, if not as picture perfect. He never knew his father, but when Sophia Ruskin became pregnant with another man's child, that man, Ethan Holden, married her and adopted Nick. They were a fairly happy, fairly functional family unit, though Ethan was a little harder on Nick than he was on Eileen — either because he was a boy, or because he was artistic and sensitive and a boy, or because he wasn't Ethan's child, Nick wasn't sure. Nick was bright and skipped a year in school, and so he decided to get away from the family by going abroad to school, NYU, on a scholarship.

Young and alone, he had a chance to explore; he dated casually both men and women, lying about his age (and those he dated didn't seem to care often). Among these flings were ironically both Thalia Ashford and John Logan, met at separate parties. He had no idea what Thalia did for a living or that she worked for Logan. Eventually, she opened up to him — their relationship lasting weeks rather than the one night Nick expected it to, and he tried to help her get out of it, offering her a place to stay, money, protection. She refused, and a week later she was dead. The news was devastating — and made worse when first he learned the murderer was Logan, and later when Logan went free.

The reality of the world he lived in made Nick turn inward, away from the social life and drugs and parties. He focused on school, changing majors from literature to criminal justice, but once he graduated, he had no desire to work for the police, feeling a general distrust of the system that had failed Thalia — even if people he trusted now, such as Isa, who he had befriended at Thalia's funeral, worked there now. He did odd jobs for a while, before finally getting a job as an assistant to a private investigator. A few years later, his boss retired, and he took over the job. The work is hard and often nonfulfilling — how many photos can you take of cheating spouses? — but the bright side is that his hours are often his own and he has a reason to pester a certain records clerk who he's now dating.

Psych Profile

Nick is little sensitive and charming if he wants to be. While he didn't know Thalia long, her death was something that he feels he could have stopped if he'd tried harder, so he blames himself. Most of the time, that's beneath the surface, but now and then it rises up — especially if he's reminded of that past.

Appendices