Nick

If I were around I would have been on those cops every single day, Castiel. But I was out of my head with grief. I said yes to Lucifer. I was a coward, and now -- – Nick, 14.02 Gods and Monsters

History

Nick is a solemn widower living in Pike Creek, Delaware. He was married to a woman named Sarah, and together they had a child named Tate. One night a criminal crept into their house and murdered Sarah and the baby. After the home invasion, Nick still resides in the house, and has kept some objects that were connected to Sarah and his son. Nick is used as a "Plan B" vessel for Lucifer. However, because he isn't the "true" vessel, over time Nick’s body slowly becomes more and more degraded. The longer he continues to be occupied by Lucifer the more his body suffers, due to the inability of Nick's body to handle Lucifer's essence. Castiel tells Sam that Nick would be drinking gallons of demon blood in order to be able to host Lucifer. Nick is dispossessed when Lucifer possesses Sam instead at which point he dies from being burned out by the possession.

Despite no longer using Nick as a vessel, Nick appears to be Lucifer's favored form to manifest visually in. Additionally, when Lucifer was expelled from Castiel by the Darkness, an image of Nick briefly overlaid Castiel. Several years after Nick's death, his body was found by Crowley's demons and it was repaired and improved so that Nick's body could be a suitable permanent vessel for Lucifer. Nick himself was also resurrected at this time. Following Lucifer's defeat, he was returned to Nick's unconscious body when Crowley altered Rowena's spell, causing Nick to once more become Lucifer's vessel. Nick remained Lucifer's permanent vessel for the next year and a half until Dean killed Lucifer with an archangel blade while powered by the Apocalypse World Michael who Dean was acting as a vessel to.

Nick survived Lucifer's death, theorized by Sam to be because the archangel blade was designed to kill the possessing archangel while leaving the vessel unharmed. Haunted by Lucifer's possession, Nick took up residence in a makeshift bedroom in the dungeon of the Bunker. After being reminded of how he came to be possessed, Nick became determined to solve the murders of his wife and son which remained unsolved after nearly a decade and to get revenge upon their killer. He also began displaying signs that Lucifer's possession had damaged his psyche more than had been previously realized.

Episodes

Lucifer takes the form of Nick's deceased wife, to convince him into becoming his vessel.

5.01 Sympathy for the Devil

Nick's wife and child have been murdered during a home invasion. As he grieves, he starts hallucinating. Lucifer appears as his wife Sarah and tells him that he is a vessel, and that Lucifer wants his consent to possess him. Lucifer says he is misunderstood, that he was punished for "loving God too much." He says that he will help Nick get justice for his family. Nick assents to possession.

5.03 Free to Be You and Me

While talking to Sam about him being his true vessel, Lucifer told him that Nick was an improvisation or a "Plan B" and can barely hold him for long without spontaneously combusting.

5.10 Abandon All Hope...

Castiel notices that Nick's body is beginning to deteriorate and Lucifer told him that his vessel is "wearing a bit thin" and cannot hold him forever, increasing his need to gain consent for possession by Sam.

5.13 The Song Remains the Same

Nick is briefly mentioned by Anna who says that he's "burning away as we speak" while meeting with Castiel in the warehouse.

5.19 Hammer of the Gods

Nick's body appears to be deteriorating even more when Lucifer appeared in the Elysian Fields Hotel.

5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight

Castiel told Sam that he would have to drink an enormous amount of demon blood before he could let Lucifer inside him when they were discussing Sam's plan on imprisoning him along with himself. All the while, mentioning that Lucifer is drinking gallons as they speak so Nick's body can continue to contain him as it can strengthen the vessel.

5.22 Swan Song

Dean and Sam meet up with Lucifer at an abandoned apartment in Detroit, Michigan where Nick's body appears to be more run down than their last encounter. When Sam agrees to be Lucifer's vessel, Nick's body is seen motionless on the ground after the dispossession, burned out from Lucifer's possession.

A comatose Nick about to be repossessed by Lucifer.

12.13 Family Feud

A few years after Nick's death, Crowley and his demons find his body and Crowley has it repaired and improved to act as a suitable permanent vessel for Lucifer. He also resurrected Nick for himself for this purpose. After Crowley corrupts Rowena's spell to send Lucifer back to the Cage, he is instead sent into Nick's unconscious body where Lucifer is restrained with chains. Due to Crowley's improvements upon Nick's body, he shows no signs of degrading from the possession like he did previously and like Lucifer's other vessels aside from Castiel and President Jefferson Rooney.

12.15 Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

Crowley revealed that he not only improved Nick's body to act as a permanent vessel for Lucifer, he also had the runes and spell-work from the Cage carved into every molecule in order for Crowley to effectively torture him as well as rendering him powerless and preventing him from vacating his vessel.

12.17 The British Invasion

A demon named Drexel was inspecting Nick's body to make certain that it and the security system are both completely intact, in an attempt to help Lucifer by shutting down the security system in Nick's body. Drexel told him that a demon named Spivak designed everything planted in Nick's body, however Crowley had him and the other eleven demons in the Cage Project killed to safeguard its secrets.

12.21 There's Something About Mary

Upon further examination while attempting to power down the spellwork, Drexel discovered that the security system in Nick's body was beginning to power up in the opposite direction, giving Lucifer control over Crowley rather than vice versa. After showing off his newfound puppet-like abilities over Crowley's meatsuit, Lucifer powers himself up, possibly destroying the security system in Nick's body.

12.23 All Along the Watchtower

After inspecting the surveillance photos Sam had taken from Dr. Hess from the British Men of Letters, Sam confirms to Dean and Mary that Lucifer is back and that he returned to his old vessel.

13.23 Let The Good Times Roll

After granting consent to Michael for possession, Dean is able to kill Lucifer with the archangel blade. Nick's body is left lying on the ground with Lucifer's wings singed onto the ground around him.

14.01 Stranger in a Strange Land

While Sam was talking with Jack, Mary interrupts and tells Sam that "he's awake." When Sam enters the Bunker's dungeon, where Nick, still alive after Lucifer was killed, is sitting on his bed. Sam goes on to clean the wound Nick sustained when Dean stabbed Lucifer with the archangel blade. As Sam dabs some hydrogen peroxide on the wound, Nick questions why he is still alive, leading to Sam theorizing that when an archangel blade is used to kill an archangel, the vessel is somehow spared. Nick feels guilty for giving Lucifer his consent to possess him and notes that it's weird how Sam can still see Lucifer when he looks at him. Despite that, Sam and Nick are both glad that Lucifer is dead. When Sam questions what Nick remembers, Nick says that he only remembers bits and pieces from when he was possessed. He tells Sam that while he doesn't remember much about Dean, he remembers something about Michael's plans: how he said "he wanted to do it right this time."

Trivia

• The name "Nick" is possibly a reference to "Old Nick" which is a nickname for the Devil.
• Nick's status was unclear following Lucifer's return to his body in 12.13 Family Feud, whether he had been resurrected to act as a vessel again or whether or he was like Jimmy Novak: a dead vessel restored to act as a permanent vessel for their possessing angel. 14.01 Stranger in a Strange Land confirms Nick's resurrection.
• Nick being alive at the time of 12.13 Family Feud makes it unclear how Lucifer was able to repossess him as it has been previously established that when an angel leaves their vessel, they need permission once again to reenter, prominently seen when Gadreel's vessel reconsents after Gadreel is cast out by Sam in 9.10 Road Trip. At the time Lucifer reentered Nick, he was unconscious in a chair and did not appear to have reconsented. He was also not catatonic like Donnie Finnerman in 5.03 Free to Be You and Me when Raphael apparently didn't require his consent a second time.