Phoebe Nicholson
Phoebe Nicholson (2013-2017)
Isabelle Giovinazzo
Episodes: 5882–5917; 5935–6657
Parent: Mark Nicholson
Marital Status: Justin Morgan (2017, engaged)
Occupation: Musician; Waitress; Music Tutor
Phoebe arrived in Summer Bay for the concert intended to build bridges between the Summer Bay and Mangrove River students. John and Tamara saw her dancing wildly outside the surf club but it wasn’t until Tamara encountered her again with Kyle that it was learned she was an ex-girlfriend of Kyle’s. She convinced Kyle to let her band open the concert and invited him on stage with them. She asked to go back to Kyle’s place for a shower, where she made an extremely forceful attempt to seduce him but was turned down, so hooked up with Chris instead.
She remained in town after the concert and asked Kyle for a place to stay, promising she wouldn’t try it on with him. However, she soon did and, when he turned her down, blamed Tamara, having a go at her. Kyle told her to find somewhere else to stay and Chris let her stay at the beach house, despite her making it clear there would be no repeat of their previous liaison. She was quick to get into the swing of things when VJ and Jett held a party in the house but made a sharp exit with her bags when Irene arrived home.
She was thrown when Kyle turned up at her caravan and made a clumsy attempt to sleep with her, again putting the blame for his behaviour on a confused Tamara. Kyle then went to her and told her he needed help. He spent the night on a chair outside the van and they spent the next day together. They went to his place for a music session but she left when he tried to kiss her. When she came round the next day, she was angry to find him playing a song she’d written about him, in which she sang about being left with nothing, having taken the CD from her van. He gave her a CD in which he sang about how hard it was to leave her behind, prompting her to go to his house and kiss him passionately.
They spent the next few days loved up and she offered to move to Summer Bay to be with him but he told her to find out what his life was like first. She was disconcerted to hear him, Heath and Casey discussing getting Brax out of jail and spoke with Bianca about living with the Braxtons’ world. She insisted Kyle tell her the whole truth about himself. She was shocked to learn that he had tried to kill Casey and refused to stay and watch him destroy himself, telling him she was going back to Melbourne and wanted him to come with her. She said he was to meet her at the Diner at midday if he wanted to come. He turned up but wanted her to wait a week, since Brax had just been released and he wanted to sort things out with him. Phoebe refused and left without him.
She returned on hearing Kyle had been in Melbourne looking for her. She was initially uncertain about getting back with him but eventually agree with his plan to move back to Melbourne together. However, when they heard Brax was in hospital in London, she decided they should wait until his brothers got back, and then that they should settle in Summer Bay. She settled into town by taking over Chris’ plan to get the Diner reopened after it accidentally served poisoned risotto, advertising the Diner with a loudspeaker to the people on the beach from a boat, then told Kyle she wanted to worked with him at Angelo’s. It was her first taste of employment and she was soon mixing up orders, taking breaks all the time and trying to convince Kyle to turn it into a nightclub. She confided in Chris, who suggested she deliberately do a bad job so she could get herself fired. She lounged around at home when she should be at work and refused to resign even when Kyle found out what she was up to, making him sack her.
When Andy and Casey got into a fight at Angelo’s, Phoebe called the police. Brax was annoyed at her for breaking ranks and took his temper out on her but, after initially being disapproving, Kyle took her side and Brax apologised. She tried to smooth over the tension from the discovery Casey was Johnny Barrett’s son by inviting Josh and Maddy round for dinner but Kyle was aghast at the idea so the four of them went on a picnic instead. Phoebe convinced Kyle into talking Josh into staying when Andy tried to get him to leave town.
When Kyle made fun of her for relying on money from her dad, Phoebe insisted she could make money herself and put on an impromptu singing show outside the surf club, roping in Chris and Nate to pose as appreciative audience members. Although she made money, one of the crowd, Bazza Douglas, got overly friendly and pinched her bottom, and she was annoyed when Kyle punched him. However, the fallout was cut short when her father Mark came to town, wanting to meet Kyle. The meeting seemed to go well and Phoebe wasn’t even bothered when Mark announced he was staying around for a few days. Mark told her about Kyle’s criminal past, having done a check on him, but Phoebe told him she already knew and it didn’t matter.
When Mark returned a few days later, Phoebe saw Brax confronting him and learned that Mark had offered Kyle money to dump her. She was angry at being the last to find out, but when she overheard Kyle telling Mark that no amount of money would make him leave her she told Mark to leave them alone. When Mark arranged for the police to search the Braxtons’ homes and businesses, Phoebe briefly worried that they’d find something but then told Mark to stay out of their lives. She quickly regretted it but Mark refused to return her calls.
He eventually returned to town and Phoebe convinced Kyle to have dinner with him, where he apologised. When someone shot at the Braxton house, Phoebe wanted to keep it from Mark but Kyle told him and convinced Phoebe to go and stay with him. However, Phoebe returned after just a few days and refused to leave even when Kyle was attacked and hospitalised by an intruder in the house. She asked to Mark to look into it but was confused when the rest of the family acted as though the problem was over and had a barbeque. She confronted Kyle, realising he was keeping things from her, and he admitted Mark was behind the attacks. Her first instinct was to call the police but Kyle and Casey convinced her she’d regret it so instead she called Mark and cut him out of her life. After spending a few days moping at home, she decided to hold a garage sale to get rid of everything Mark had bought her but Kyle convinced her to cancel it, saying it wouldn’t help her move on from Mark.
She began to feel crowded at the Braxtons’ house after Heath walked in on her and Kyle and she was expected to babysit Darcy, and convinced Kyle they should get a place of their own. She offered to look after Darcy to get out of changing Harley’s nappy and, unaware it was a secret, let slip to her that Heath was applying for custody of her. She encouraged Kyle to lie about his criminal record while applying for flats but when the landlords ran a check and the lie was uncovered she blamed the Braxton name. She got John to put her in touch with a real estate agent he knew, then got Matt to pose as an old landlord on the phone to give them a reference, and stole money from Angelo’s for a deposit. Kyle accused her of flirting with the real estate agent after seeing them together and she explained the truth to him, then received the news that they had the flat.
She felt bad when Heath was denied access to Darcy because of his custody plans being revealed and cooked him an apology breakfast before making an unsuccessful attempt to get Mark to help him. She made a passionate defence of Kyle’s status as Heath’s brother to Cheryl and got permission from Heath to move into his flat after his departure, giving up the flat she had lined up. However, when she and Kyle attempted to move in they found Brax and Ricky already there. Phoebe attempted to claim squatters’ right by moving their things in but Kyle convinced her to back down, mollifying her with the fact that it was just them and Casey in the main house. She was thus annoyed when Casey promptly moved Josh in, but when Casey finally explained that he was protecting him from drug dealers Andy was mixed up with she made him feel welcome.
When she learned Chris had kissed Denny and she didn’t want Casey to know, she attempted to threaten him into keeping quiet. When Kyle got fed up about Brax making decisions without him, Phoebe told Brax that Kyle just wanted his respect but was shocked when Kyle then decided to return all the sound equipment he’d bought to prove a point to Brax. She helped Matt use the mix desk for his business presentation, making sure it was used so much the retailers wouldn’t take it back. She noticed Kyle treating Ricky with kid gloves and wondered if she was pregnant; Kyle explained that she was trying. They then had to smooth things over between Brax and Ricky when she found out they knew.
She tried to get Kyle to write songs with her but he was busy at work so she roped Matt into collaborating instead. However, Kyle was angry to come home and find them working together. She offered Matt credit as co-author on the songs they’d done together but he got increasingly cross and dismissed her work, prompting Kyle to attack him. Phoebe told him he needed to control his temper. She was offered a gig but Kyle wasn’t able to accompany her so she took Denny along. When they returned, they helped Matt out with his school fundraiser by running a second hand clothes stall. Phoebe had a tarot reading from Marilyn and was pleased when it showed her career was going to get a boost.
Sasha and Matt asked her to play at the school formal but she felt Matt should do it instead. She got Sasha to bring him to the restaurant then tried to get him to go on stage with her but he walked out. Instead, she and Kyle prepared to play, but when Brax turned up and dragged Kyle away Matt took his place with Phoebe on the stage. Phoebe then heard that the incident Brax and Kyle had been involved in had resulted in Casey being shot dead by Jake Pirovic and pointed out to Kyle that it could have been him. Ricky confided in her that she was pregnant. At the wake, she dropped heavy hints to Kyle until Ricky told him as well. She begged Kyle not to join Brax in going after Jake for revenge and was extremely uncomfortable with the fact that Brax and Andy intended to find and kill Jake, trying to get Ricky and Kyle to see what that meant. She was equally disgusted when the Braxtons all sat around at the hospital hoping an injured Jake would die. When someone murdered Jake by turning off his life support and she realised Kyle knew who it was, she moved out.
She acted as Maddy’s confidante after she had stolen from Roo. She slept with Kyle when he turned up at the caravan upset but saw it as evidence they should stay away from each other. When she was offered a touring job in Melbourne, she first confided in Matt before telling Kyle, leaving them to think it was over between them. However, after performing together at open mic night, Kyle asked her to come back to Summer Bay after going on tour, promising they’d get their own place together. On her return, she gave Josh romantic advice about winning back Evelyn. She tried to organise another open mic night but was ready to call it off when she had no takers until she found herself competing with John’s movie night downstairs. When Jett claimed Angelo’s had a rat problem, Phoebe retaliated by stealing the data cable from the projector but returned it in time for the movie to be shown. However, she was frustrated that Brax took all the profits from the night, as well as by Ash’s presence in the house, although she soon warmed to him when they worked a shift together at Angelo’s and convinced Ricky to let him stay.
She joined Denny, Evelyn, Sasha and Chris for a girls’ night in before being approached by record producer Neive Devlin and offered a contract. Kyle warned her it gave her no say in anything so, after Kyle had failed to negotiate with Neive, she had a go herself. When Neive refused to budge, Phoebe dunked the contract in someone’s milkshake. Neive then came back to her and offered her all the terms she’d wanted. She returned from the city with Neive on top of the world but was deflated when Kyle was unhappy with her pop princess look, the generic pop song she had recorded and her redesigned website. Kyle backed down and tried to spend the day with her but Phoebe kept having to do things for Neive. Brax advised her to think about what was best for her.
She was delighted when Neive agreed to record her song, All or Nothing, but Neive mixed in Kyle’s song The Best Part of Me, which Phoebe had accidentally given her on a demo CD. When Kyle was reluctant to let it be released, Neive told Phoebe to break up with him. Phoebe refused and Kyle agreed to sell the song to Neive. Phoebe drew everyone’s attention to the fact her song was being played on the radio and Kyle threw a party at Angelo’s to celebrate. Neive told her that she had booked her to do a tour of Asia, but Kyle couldn’t go because he was on parole. Phoebe tried to cancel the tour rather than have him miss it but Neive told her the contract stipulated she had to go. Kyle said the contract could only be ended by mutual consent and suggested she try to buy her way out by giving Neive back all the money she’d spent on her; Ash gave her $35,000 which she gave to Neive.
The experience left her wanting to give up music but Kyle convinced her to keep at it. Neive then turned up with a new offer, returning her money and giving her a domestic launch tour and control over publicity and her support act. She chose Matt as support and was pleased when Ash and Andy came with him to keep an eye on her at the launch. However, Neive drugged her drink, causing her to fall and cut her hand. She was left alone in her dressing room with Neive’s assistant Grant Masters and a camera set up to record them together.
She was saved by Ash and Andy before Grant had had a chance to do anything other than partly undress her, then headed to the hospital where Kyle was critically injured after being in a bus crash. When she found out a video of the incident, which made it look like she and Grant had had sex, had been posted on the internet, Neive tried to convince her to spin it for the publicity. Brax, Ash and Ricky helped her see Neive was behind the video, and with their support Phoebe told Neive to stay away from her and threatened to involve the police. When the incident was reported in the papers, Chris and Spencer gathered them up and delivered them to her.
She let slip to Kyle that Brax had been arrested for Dean Sanderson’s murder. When she tried to cheer Kyle up with a duet, she learned the accident had left him unable to sing and decided to stop herself until he recovered. When she found a tiara left outside the house, she assumed it was a present from Kyle, then met Ryan Kelly, a fan who was disappointed to hear she wasn’t singing at that time. She then learned the tiara wasn’t from Kyle, and while he was away in the city having an operation, Ryan turned up at the house and tried to get Phoebe to come away with him. John chased him off and Phoebe took out a restraining order. She kept it from the rest of the family until Brax blasted her for talking to Kat, then was annoyed when Kyle tried to attack Ryan. Ryan later surprised her in her room and chloroformed her. He kidnapped her and took her to a motel, where he forced her to change into a white dress and cleaned off her make-up. After locking herself in the bathroom for a while, she agreed to sing for Ryan as a ruse to get close to him and knee him in the groin, then got the door open just as Kat, Kyle and Ash arrived. Although Ryan was arrested, Phoebe decided to give up music. She refused to let her song be played in Angelo’s and kept checking the locks at night. She was calmed somewhat when Kat told her Ryan had been sentenced to seven years in a psychiatric institute in another state and wouldn’t be allowed out without passing an assessment.
She threw herself into work at Angelo’s, taking it upon herself to train Josh and also forcing Ash to talk to Denny. However, Marilyn reminded her that she was supposed to be destined for greatness. Kyle convinced her to perform after the colour run, then joined in with her to reveal he could sing again. However, she was shocked when he publicly proposed to her and walked away, spending the night in Ricky’s flat. She was reluctant to commit, her view of marriage having been soured by her own parents’, and conflicting advice from Denny and Kat didn’t help. Ricky ended up offering to let her stay at the flat for longer so she and Kyle could have space. Her messiness soon got too much for Ricky though. She talked to Kyle and was shocked to learn he wanted children, which they agreed to put on the back burner. However, seeing him with Ricky made her realise how much family meant to him and she moved out. Kyle told her to come back to Angelo’s but when she did they just ended up bickering. After getting drunk with Kat, she rushed to the house to tell Kyle she wanted him back only to find he had gone away. She blasted him, Ricky and Ash on finding out he’d been on a job, only for Kyle to end up threatening her when he saw her talking to Kat. She covered for him with Kat when he went again and decided to leave town for a bit after advising Matt over alcohol counselling.
When she returned, she overheard Kyle and Billie talking about the fact they’d slept together. She considered leaving town but Chris convinced her to stay. When Denny told her Ricky was having trouble getting ready for motherhood, Phoebe suggested they throw her a baby shower and also advised Hannah and Kat on their relationship issues. The baby shower largely went well, although Ricky was left upset at not being able to share it with Brax. Phoebe visited Ricky after she gave birth but was upset to see Kyle and Billie together at a celebratory barbeque and rejected Kyle when he tried to get back with her. She tried to restart her career with a gig in the city and was pleased when Hannah, Denny, Ash and Chris came along to support her. She was less pleased to see Kyle, especially since he had Billie with him. She reluctantly spoke to him after the gig but refused to get back with him. She started giving guitar lessons to earn money, with Chris as her first client. Chris told her that Billie had told Kyle they were an item; Phoebe angrily confronted Billie, who accused her of not letting Kyle move on. Phoebe told Ash to sort it out and accused Billie of manipulating him when she threatened to leave town. Billie explained her actions to Phoebe but refused to apologise.
Billie later told her Brax was missing after his prison vehicle was run off the road into the river and she went round the house to offer her support. She was left to break the news that Brax was assumed death to the townsfolk while Kyle went to tell the family, and worried that Ricky wasn’t grieving properly. She and Ash bet on the outcome of the surf carnival while Kyle asked to get back together. She went skinnydipping with Ash to prove she could have fun and stole his clothes. Back at the caravan park, he tried to pull her towel off her, resulting in her falling on top of him and them sharing a moment. She refused to discuss it with him the next day but admitted to Hannah that she had feelings for two people. Hannah advised her to go for the safe option and she reunited with Kyle. She also encouraged Denny to get back with Ash. Ash insisted they talk and ended up locking them in the storeroom overnight. They discussed their relationship history, with Phoebe revealing she and Kyle had dated in high school and she’d spent years looking to get back with him. They nearly kissed but were interrupted by Kyle. Phoebe admitted there was an attraction but told Ash they were just friends.
She was with Kyle and Marilyn when they found out Ricky had run away and was teamed with Ash to search for her. After getting into an argument with Kyle, she nearly kissed Ash, and was confronted by Denny. She admitted she had feelings for Ash but insisted she loved Kyle. However, when Kyle found out he broke up with her, and she immediately had sex with Ash in the back of his car. When she heard Billie was in hospital, she immediately ran to support Ash. They kissed and got together. When Denny found out, they got into a shoving match during which Phoebe hit Denny. Ash advised her to give Kyle a wide berth but when Ricky told her he was leaving town she chased after him to say goodbye. She encouraged Ash to visit Billie and arranged to move into the farm with Hannah, Denny and Kat.
Shortly after telling Ash she loved him, she admitted to Hannah and Denny that she was pregnant and didn’t know whether Ash or Kyle was the father. She told Ash but he walked away from her. She confided in Ricky who got her and Ash talking and convinced her to tell Kyle…only for them to learn he was in hospital on life support. She helped bring him back to Summer Bay but didn’t tell him about the pregnancy. However, he overheard her talking to Casey about it. She explained the situation and Kyle tried to insist she keep the baby. She told Ash she was going to go ahead with the pregnancy but didn’t tell Kyle, going away for a while instead. She returned to find Kyle back in hospital and needed prompting from Ricky to visit him and tell him about the baby. She went for an ultrasound and showed the DVD to Kyle and Ash. When Ash was found to be a match for Kyle, who needed a kidney donor, she tried to stop him going through with the donation, worried something would go wrong. In the end, they both recovered and Phoebe admitted to Ricky that she thought it would be best if Kyle was the father. She upset Kyle by trying to ban him from her next appointment and tried to hold a meeting to discuss the issue, but it descended into an argument until Phoebe had stomach pains; they turned out to be cramps brought on by stress. She then received news that the paternity results would be ready in the morning. They showed Kyle was the father and Ash told her he wanted to break up with her. However, they soon reunited.
She volunteered Kyle and Ash to look after Casey while she and the other girls went out to say goodbye to Denny. However, the next morning she experienced cramps and spotting and feared she was miscarrying. She was told she had been expecting twins and had miscarried one, with the other having a heart defect and other abnormalities; the doctor suggested she terminate. When she saw that Kyle and Ash had put a cot together, she was initially unable to tell them, waiting until the next morning. She agreed with Kyle that they should give their baby every chance possible and a scan showed that things seemed to be improving but then she miscarried. She locked herself away in her bedroom, gave Kyle and Ricky short shrift when they came to see her, and then threw herself at Ash, before admitting she felt guilty that she couldn’t be a mother. However, when she ran into Kyle she blamed him for forcing her to go through with the pregnancy. She felt bad afterwards and tried to call Kyle. She met up with him the next day and passed on Ash’s suggestion that they have a memorial ceremony. After planning a big speech, she eventually spoke off the cuff from the heart about how they’d made her feel special.
She asked Ash to move in with her but was soon criticising him for his habits and eventually accepted he had moved in too soon. She acted as Kat’s confidante when she worried about Nate and Ricky’s growing closeness and Ricky’s when she and Nate were on the verge of getting back together. When Nate and Kat did break up, Phoebe asked Ash to keep an eye on Kat and also asked Nate to talk to her. She found herself on the sidelines while Ash worked to repair Kat’s car but suggested he get a job as a mechanic. She applied for the job of a music tutor at the school. Despite arguing with Greg about the rock chick outfit she wore to her interview, she got the job. Worried about her first day, she insisted on giving Ash a guitar lesson so she could practise but it descended into an argument. After a disastrous first day, she focused on preparing for future lessons until Ash distracted her with a strip tease.
When she found a suspicious e-mail on Ash’s phone, she suspected it was from Brax and he was still alive. Ash initially denied it but later confirmed it was true. Phoebe was furious and wanted to tell Ricky but Ash asked her to let her be happy with Nate. Phoebe discovered Nate was planning to propose and Ricky told her she was going to say yes. When Ash missed breakfast with her to look for Billie, Phoebe decided he would always put his friends before her and broke up with him. She was concerned when she saw him and Kat coming out of his caravan, leading him to believe she didn’t trust him. After receiving the news of Denny’s death, she went to Ash for comfort. She saw Billie, who ran off, and told Ash. She tried to get Kyle to join her in performing at Leah and Zac’s reception, then insisted she and Ash tell Ricky about Brax. When Ricky threw them out, they also shared the news with Kyle.
She realised Billie was planning to do a runner before her court appearance and alerted Ash, prompting Billie to try and get the two of them back together. After Billie was cleared, Phoebe let her move into their spare room, then slept with Ash but refused to get back with him unless he earned her trust. She provided Ash with an alibi when he was questioned over the killing of Charlotte, but when she was brought in for questioning again, she admitted she and Ash had been apart for some of the night. However, when Ash was cleared, they reunited. She took her class down to the beach for a tuition, which ended up with a fight between VJ and Hunter, but helped smooth things over by indicating they were only fighting because they still liked each other. She suggested Ash and Andy start up a new garage instead of buying one and ended up being asked to put her name on the license, since they couldn’t with their records. She drove Andy and Ash to distract with ideas for the business, like offering a car wash or installing a coffee machine, until Ash told her to leave it up to them. She acted as a go-between for Ricky and Nate when they had trouble spending time together. She was concerned when Kat started spending time with Dylan Carter, her abusive ex, and tried to keep them apart, even warning Dylan off.
She set to work organising the Pink Hope fundraiser but was too distracted to ask half the people she needed to help out and annoyed when Ash chose to meet a friend instead of attending. She tried to get Kyle to stay away from Isla Schultz, creating further friction with Ash. Although she tried to make up with him, when Alf mentioned finding photos of Ash with his “cousin”, Ash admitted to her that she was a barmaid he’d got drunk with and he thought he’d slept with her. He later learned that he hadn’t but Phoebe felt that the speed with which they both believed it meant they should break up anyway. She realised Ash was sleeping around but believed him when he suspected that Dylan was behind the garage being vandalised. Aware that Kat was seeing Dylan, she and Hannah staged a clumsy attempt at an intervention. She was bemused when Ash ignored a customer who was trying to chat him up while she was at the garage signing papers. She worked with Chris to organise a surprise joint stag and hen do for Ricky and Nate, but afterwards Ricky admitted she was having doubts about getting married. Phoebe told Dylan that Ash had driven Kat home, unaware Kat had already lied about taking a taxi. She acted as a bridesmaid at Ricky’s wedding where she got chatting to photographer Dom Loneragan. At the reception, she learned that Kyle had been charged with an armed robbery actually committed by Isla and accompanied him to the trial. When he was sentenced to 10-13 years, she visited him to say goodbye.
She began receiving messages from Dom, which she ignored, and, when he was hired to photograph the hospital fundraiser she was MCing, she accused him of only being there to see her. Nevertheless, Chris and Hannah attempted to matchmake between them. She suffered only minor injuries when the event was hit by an explosion and was the first to realise Ricky was there. When Hannah and Oscar were found to have died from the explosion, she did her best to comfort Billie and Chris. She also learned that Billie had been raped and was refusing to report it. When she learned Billie was pregnant, she asked if it was the result of the rape but Billie insisted it was VJ’s and Phoebe tried to convince her to tell him about the rape. She spent a day with Dom and kissed him. She then heard him on the phone to someone, who he explained was his daughter Bella. After taking advice from John, she asked to meet Bella and won her over by assuring her she just wanted to be a friend rather than a mother. Afterwards, she and Dom slept together. She cancelled dinner with Ash and Kat to go and see Dom and Bella, and assured Dom she saw them as a couple. Dom showed her some photos he’d taken of Hannah and Oscar at the fundraiser, but when Bella realised the pair were together she deleted the camera’s memory. Phoebe and Dom argued over punishing her and Phoebe went home, only to walk in on Ash and Kat about to have sex on the living room floor. She walked out but eventually gave them her blessing and also made up with Dom, although he told her he needed space to deal with Bella.
She helped search for Bella when she went missing and found her at her home, where she apologised and said that Dom was happier with Phoebe than with her mother. Phoebe had Dom over for lunch only to find Ash and Kat already there. They shared an awkward but civil meal together, where she was amused that Ash and Dom got on. Ricky confided in her that she might have made a mistake marrying Nate and she was forced to tell him when he saw a message on her own. When Ricky left town with Brax, Phoebe and Ash resolved not to tell anyone about Brax being alive. She spent time with Dom while Bella was at summer camp but when she turned up she had her mother Tess with her and Phoebe was left feeling like an intruder. Dom admitted that while Tess had cheated on him their marriage hadn’t entirely ended but tried to get Phoebe to continue the relationship. However, she broke up with Dom on seeing him and Tess together with Bella.
She promptly went out for a drink with Justin Morgan and then slept with him. She shared breakfast with his brother Brody the next morning before she and Justin awkwardly agreed to forget about it. She was left managing Angelo’s but was late back after helping Justin summon help when Alf had a heart attack and found the chef had walked out, meaning she could only offer charcoaled pizzas. Brody offered to help out and she offered him a job, although she was thrown to realise there were three Morgan brothers. When Kat mentioned that Irene’s son Mick Jennings had come to town just before the fundraiser and had a history of sexual assault, Phoebe suggested to Billie that he was her attacker and was proved correct, but Billie still refused to go to the police. Brody, who had just bought Angelo’s, had a go at Phoebe for walking out of her shift but eventually allowed her to check on Billie. She tried to arrange a job for Justin at the garage and was delighted when Brody announced he wanted to rebrand Angelo’s, working with him on ideas.
She accepted VJ as a housemate after being won over by his cooking but agreed with Billie kicking him out when his attempt to have some friends over escalated into an out of control party. She was left handling the newly relaunched Salt alone when the Morgans all left town abruptly and tried to contact Brody when Blaine Varden turned up looking for him. When she found Justin sleeping on the beach, she offered him a place to stay and tried to broker peace between him, Tori and Brody. She and Justin were then threatened by Spike Lee and Justin was forced to admit that he and his family were in witness protection, hiding from a drug syndicate. She helped Justin search for a book of records that Spike was after and get past an officious storage clerk. When the plane carrying his family and several other residents crashed, he confided in her that Spike was responsible and she failed to stop him and Ash going out to look for those onboard.
Phoebe was annoyed when Justin brushed her aside when she tried to stop him rejecting his handler, Atticus Decker, prompting her and Kat to ask Chris to find them some dates the opposite of Justin and Ash. He set them up with a pair of accountants, Derek Badcock and Brian Dyson, and the evening went well until they arrived home: The pair tried to interest the girls in a game of strip poker and Phoebe ordered them out. She got Kat a trial shift at Salt but it ended badly when Kat was accused of assaulting a drunken customer who had been harassing them. She tried to help Matt out by chatting to his sister Ellie at school and convinced her to go in for a history test, only for her to go into meltdown when she did badly.
She arranged a date with Justin but he left quickly and told her he was having more trouble with Decker, prompting her to decide to keep her distance. However, Decker then approached her and gave her an address that Justin had refused to take. This resulted in her agreeing to look after Hope and Raffy, who Justin found at the address, but she soon began to regret it when Hope started borrowing her things without asking and Justin failed to smooth things over. Her annoyance increased when Hope made a play for Justin and when she witnessed her trying to scam money from John. She arranged a date with Damien Grogan, a man whose car had broken down, but had difficult remembering his name so wasn’t too bothered when Justin replaced him. However, she was then carjacked by Burt “Simmo” Simmons. After dropping him off, she drove off in a panic and ran over Billie but Justin defended her against Ash’s anger. She continued to feel awkward around Justin but joined him for a duet in Salt.
She tried to dissuade Matt from pursuing Evelyn, believing she wasn’t interested, and agreed to take Raffy in again when Hope turned her against the Morgans. When Justin revealed Raffy was their half-sister, Phoebe was frustrated at being out of the loop but agreed they should put their romance on hold. She was irritated at having to work with Hope when Justin gave her a job at Salt, especially when Brody ignored her taking money from the till. However, when Hope locked her in the store room while she robbed the place, Phoebe called the police and Hope was arrested. She tried to get Justin to join her at a charity volleyball match and her worst fears came true when she was instead partnered with John, only for them to win when he turned out to be better than she expected. She helped arrange for Hope to visit Raffy one last time before sentencing.
She accompanied Justin to the city to look for Raffy when she ran away. There, he confided in her that he had a daughter Ava who was two years old when he went into witness protection. They slept together and she thought it was the beginning of a relationship but he quickly distanced himself again. Nevertheless, she helped him shut Raffy down when she nearly told Kat about the witness protection, angrily telling Raffy she was putting her family at risk. Afterwards, she told Justin she loved him but he walked away. She ended up yelling at him in Salt and accused him of being afraid of his feelings. When he later tried to sound her out on getting together, she decided they weren’t in the right head space for a relationship, even when he told her witness protection could be over soon. She convinced Nate to trust the Morgans and gave Tori, Brody, Mason and Raffy somewhere to hide out while Ranae was after them.
She demanded Matt and Evelyn help her re-invent her life and ended up taking over Evelyn’s plans for a fundraiser for the youth centre, insisting they hold a concert. She realised Ash knew about Billie’s rape and nearly let slip who was responsible. Billie admitted to her that Mick was the baby’s father but insisted that no-one could know. She attended a celebration with the Morgans after the drug syndicate were convicted but Justin avoided her. Behind in the concert organisation, she brought Leah and Marilyn on as sponsors and tried to get a front page advertisement in the Coastal News but it was bumped in favour of the Morgans’ story. Justin confided in her about not being able to see Ava and she defended the family to a group of locals who were stirring up trouble and had vandalised Salt. She focused on writing a song to sing at the festival, neglecting her actual organisational duties, and found Justin had done them for her. He told her he loved her and she told him to listen to her song but saw him driving off before she performed. She refused to go on stage and perform the song but after a talking to from Brody she performed a different set.
She was alerted by Kat to a bushfire near the festival and helped evacuate the music-goers, before sheltering from the fire in a shack with John, Zac, Hunter, Evelyn and Matt. After making it to safety, she learned Justin had been stabbed and went to the hospital to see him. She sang the song she had been intending to sing to him at the festival and he told her he loved her. She nursed him when he was discharged from hospital but began to feel uncomfortable with it happening so early in the relationship until Justin promised not to rely on her so much. However, she was left waiting for him to call until he eventually invited her round for a romantic meal. She arrived to find him being taken away in an ambulance, having developed an infection, but they made up at the hospital. She went back to the scene and was shocked to find a jewellery box that she assumed was an engagement ring; however, it was just a guitar-shaped necklace.
She went to the hospital to support Billie on learning she was dying of cancer and supported Justin as he tried to track down Ava again. She contacted Nina on Facebook, which resulted in her agreeing to a meeting. However, Justin accepted he had to let Ava go. She helped Tori get ready for a date with Riley, then learned she and the others would have to leave the farm house when their lease ended. She and Justin briefly considered getting their own place before he invited her to move in with his family. She managed to charm them over but nearly moved out straightaway when she was excluded from talk on Mason accidentally bringing drugs into the house: Justin talked her into staying.
She convinced Ellie to accept Matt and Evelyn’s offer to be her guardians and worked with Justin to get Nate and Tori back together…then Justin proposed to her. Her response was to shut herself in her bedroom, then go and rant to Matt and Evelyn, and told Justin they might be over. However, after confiding in Brody and Kat, she admitted she was more sure about Justin than she’d been about anyone else and, on learning marriage was important to him, she accepted the proposal. She acted as Evelyn’s bridesmaid in her symbolic ceremony and asked Tori to help her plan her engagement party. She was worried it would be a damp squib but then received a visit from an old friend, Donna Fields. Donna wasn’t entirely pleased about Phoebe’s new life and convinced her to sing at the party. She then offered Phoebe a chance to open for her in LA. Despite being worried of the consequences for her and Justin, Phoebe accepted the offer although Justin had to stay behind because of family commitments.
On her return, she told Justin that she’d been invited to tour with Donna for a year. Justin initially offered to go with her but then admitted to her that Brody was taking drugs. She planned to turn the tour down but Justin decided to go with her after all and gave her an engagement ring. Shortly after she got her itinerary, Ava turned up at the house, having worked out Justin was her father. Phoebe worried about taking Justin away just as they were starting to re-connect. She was there when Ava was run over by Patrick Stanwood and looked after her until she was taken to hospital. She quickly saw through the Morgans’ attempt to arrange a surprise farewell party but went along with it. After she sang to the crowd, Justin sang to a visiting Ava. Phoebe realised he had to stay and she had to go and suggested they do long distance but Justin felt they needed to break up, saying she wasn’t coming back and shouldn’t waste her life on him. She tearfully gave him the ring back before she left.