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Nick D'Amato is a police officer and the personal driver to his paternal half-brother of Bobby Novak, the mayor of Chicago.
History[]
- "For conversation's sake, if it's about family, I say do whatever you gotta do."
"It doesn't matter what lines are crossed?"
"No." - ―Nick D'Amato and Jessica Pearson
Nick D'Amato is the half-brother of Mayor Bobby Novak and officially works for his brother as a driver, although he operates as his fixer. Nick first ambushes Harvey Specter in the airport, knocking his files over and giving Harvey a dire warning. He also followed Jessica Pearson with his car, with Jessica believing he worked for Pat McGann. After Jessica had a photo which made it seem that McGann was bribing her, which she planned to use to force McGann to back off the case, Nick approached Jessica and informed her that he worked for Novak and that he wished to meet her. Jessica was hesitant to get in his car, although Nick notified her that he was using a company car, was officially on duty, and was aware that her personal photographer was watching them, which assuaged her worries, although he stipulated that he would only drive her to Novak if the photographer didn't follow them, which she agreed to.[1]
A few days later, Nick drives to pick up Novak outside of his house. Novak mentions that his wife Stephanie told Nick to come inside, although Nick claims he likes the fresh air. As Novak prepares to enter the car, Nick tells him not to get involved with "the Pearson woman." However, Novak tells him that he hired her due to the way she handled Pat McGann.
Nick meets up with McGann in a secluded location, where McGann hands Nick with the money he owed him to intimidate Jessica, even though Nick failed. Nick refuses the money, and McGann tells him to consider it as a retainer, telling him to do his job and inform McGann on what Novak is doing with Jessica. Nick refuses to spy and inform on Novak since they are brothers, only for McGann to retort that they are half-brothers and that Nick is the bastard half-brother that Novak would never publicly acknowledge as he cares more about his political future. McGann adds that while Novak does care for Nick, because Nick is not publicly part of the Novak family, if Jessica exposed them all, Nick would not be taken care of. McGann tells Nick that if he does not want to spy on her for Novak, to at least do it for himself, and gives him the money before departing.
As Nick drives Novak back home, he notifies his brother that he met up with McGann earlier in the day. Novak insults McGann, claiming that McGann is trying to divide them, although Nick replies that he needs an ally and asks where he would be if the truth were to ever come out. Novak replies that he has looked out for Nick ever since he found out they were brothers and that Nick, as a cop, has received the detail every other cop in the city wants because they are family, adding that Nick is the one who chooses not to enter Novak's family home. As Nick remains silent, Novak informs his brother that he loves him before walking into his house. The next night, Novak pays Keri a visit at her apartment, and Nick waits in the vehicle outside waiting for his brother to finish.[2]
The next day, as Jessica is ambushed by reporters as she attempts to leave City Hall, Nick comes to her rescue, escorting her to his vehicle while informing the press that she is late for a meeting. He then drives her to a secluded area nearby, where she thanks him. He offers to let her back into City Hall through the secret mayor's entrance, although she asks if he could drive her to Avalon and 81st Street. Nick is initially hesitant as it is a bad neighborhood, but eventually agrees to do so.
Nick drives Jessica to Avalon, although he refuses to leave her alone. Jessica claims that she is surprised he can wait for her, believing that his job was to be available to the mayor 24/7, although he replies that he has some autonomy. She then asks him if he could drive her places, calling her current assigned driver an idiot, but he politely declines and says he would find someone else for her. He waits outside the vehicle for her, and is soon confronted by Jessica when she asks him whether he knew about the "blue flu", a term denoting the lack of an active police force. Nick admits that knew and thus was the reason why he refused to leave Jessica alone in such a bad neighborhood; Jessica asks if Novak knew that the police force would go off duty, and Nick informs her that he does. Nick also adds that the Avalon neighborhood is not a priority for the city during the blue flu, which angers Jessica as her family lives there.
The next day, Nick goes to Novak's office to bring him lunch, and mentions having driven Jessica the day before as well as Jessica's request be her driver. Novak refuses, reminding Nick that his job is to drive him only, only for Nick to ask whether staying outside Jessica's apartment all night was part of the job, adding that the last time he was stayed outside all night waiting for someone was for Novak's father.[3]
The next morning, Nick waits for Jessica outside her building, having taken her up on her offer for him to be her driver. In his vehicle, Jessica realizes that Nick is driving away from City Hall, and Nick responds that he is driving her to McGann since Novak wanted her to take a meeting with him. As he drives, Jessica responds that her rules from now on would be that Nick is to check in with her and get her permission before driving her someplace on someone else's orders. Jessica goes to meet McGann in a public area, where he is surprised to see her and not Novak. He informs her that he wants Novak to appoint his friend, Betsy Sullivan, to take the empty alderman seat in the 54th ward, which had been vacated following Coates' resignation. Jessica replies that she would have to do her due diligence on Betsy before recommending her to Novak, to which McGann replies that she should finish her vetting by the end of the day as he does not want the alderman position to remain vacant.
Nick brings Jessica to a public playground, where Novak is watching his son play. Jessica notifies him about McGann's order to have his friend placed in city council, to which Novak responds that he cannot die on every hill and that it is one alderman out of fifty. Jessica wants permission to say no to McGann, especially after what McGann did to her family, and reminds Novak that the night before, during the press conference, he had informed the public that the 54th ward was important, although Novak merely replies that "yesterday is yesterday."
Later that day, after Jessica's lunch with Betsy, Jessica calls McGann and notifies him that Betsy is racist and thus she would not be hired, as she would alienate most of the mayor's base. She instead offers to come up with a list of candidates that she believes they would both find applicable, with McGann claiming that he could simply go straight to Novak himself. As Jessica gets in the vehicle, Nick amusingly reminds her that McGann does like being told "no", to which she replies that McGann would have to get used to it.
Jessica goes to see construction union leader Frank Cramer, offering him a payout to turn a blind eye to McGann's union violations. Cramer, a caring leader with integrity, refuses to sell out his workers and refuses. As Jessica leaves, she is confronted by Tyler, Cramer's son, although Tyler is quickly subdued by Nick. Jessica questions Nick for being extremely physical with Tyler, although Nick responds that he was merely doing what Jessica wanted him to do, electing not to explain why he treated Tyler the way he did, having revealed that Tyler was once incarcerated.
That night, Nick pays Jessica a visit at her office. Jessica is indecisive about hurting Cramer to save her family, and Nick tells her that crossing a line is something he would do for family, which leads to Jessica using Cramer's son to get Cramer to cave.[4]
The next morning, Nick drives Jessica to North Park so that she may pay Lillian a visit, and observes her conversation with Reverend James Thompson from afar. That night, McGann meets up with Nick on a street. Nick urges McGann to get it over with as he's on the clock, prompting McGann to wonder how he could be as Novak is out of town when Nick reveals he is also driving Jessica around. McGann insults him for doing so, and Nick justifies the decision by claiming Novak thought it was a good idea so that he could keep an eye on Jessica, to which McGann replies that he should keep his eyes open then. Nick tells him that Jessica is at her aunt's, and McGann reminds him that Lillian lives in the same North Park neighborhood Carl Jeffries did and that she is investigating his murder. McGann then offers to hire Nick to be a driver for Albert Chan, an important VIP coming into town, although Nick declines. Nick then drives to City Hall, running into Jessica as she is about to leave. Nick tells her that if she wants to know stuff about him, she should ask him directly. Nick then admits that he did indeed pay Carl $50,000 to drop the lawsuit but that he had nothing to do with his death, adding that if Jessica thinks him to be capable of murder, she should find another driver.
The next night at City Hall, Jessica sees Nick reading a newspaper by himself and approaches him, notifying him that she knows Carl's death had nothing to do with him. To her surprise, Nick admits he feels some responsibility for it, divulging that Carl had been passionate about the suit and refused to accept the money, but that Nick, having discovered his financial worries, convinced him to accept the $50,000 and move someplace far away where local trouble could not reach him, believing he was doing Carl a favor, only for Carl to stay and buy a vehicle. Nick leaves City Hall and heads to a cathedral, walking into the confessional and tearfully admits he is struggling with his remorse and participation in the murder of Tommy Diehl.[5]
Novak soon returns to work, and Jessica enters his office that morning, seeing Nick sitting there. She questions Nick as to why he did not drive her to work that morning, to which he apologizes and claims that Novak needed his coffee and doughnut first thing back. Novak tells Jessica to handle digging into longer-term projects for him. Noting that the files Novak is handing her are for technology and manufacturing, she realizes that he wishes to have Chicago house Ickaris' second headquarters, and asks him if he really wants a headache at the moment. Novak mentions that the headache would be worth it as it would bring half a billion dollars in construction, to which Jessica reveals that she knows the truth regarding Novak's absence and thus reiterates whether he wants this particular headache. Novak looks at Nick to see whether Nick had told her, and he indicates that he did not. Jessica then claims that she understands what he is going through and offers herself as someone he can talk to, although he dismisses her and tells her to start on the project.
As Jessica prepares to go home that night, she sees Nick waiting outside the mayor's office and asks him how come he hadn't left yet, with Nick replying that he clocks out when Jessica does. Nick is still irritated at Jessica's suspicion of him for the murder of Carl Jeffries, despite Jessica's assertion that he is cleared of any doubt in her mind, as Nick is upset that she believed he could do such a thing. As Jessica tells Nick to lower his walls and let him in, he points out that she has not done the same, and asks her what she meant by her earlier statement to Novak when she claimed she understood what he was going through, also adding that she may as well be someone programmed to write checks and issue sound bites. Jessica then retorts that Nick doesn't know anything about her, to which Nick replies that therein lies the problem; he does not know anything.
The next night, Jessica exits City Hall to see Nick waiting by the vehicle, and as she approaches him, she divulges that the reason she told Novak she could understand what he was going through was because her ex-husband, Quentin Sainz, had ALS, and that despite all her power, she was powerless to help him fight against his affliction. Nick asks her why she didn't tell Novak, and she replies that the story ended with Quentin dying, which she felt Novak wasn't ready to hear that yet; additionally, she tells Nick that she couldn't truly understand what Novak was going through because Quentin was diagnosed after they divorced and that she didn't know how she would have handled it if they were still married. An emotional Jessica tells Nick that she doesn't know why she is telling him this, although Nick commends her for it, stating that she is a better person than she thinks she is.
Suddenly, a car approaches. As Jessica and Nick watch, the car stops at the curb and its driver gets out, revealing himself to be none other than Jeff Malone. Jessica tells Nick that she won't need a ride home from him tonight and goes to Jeff, kissing him. Jeff tells her that he flew down from Miami to see her, and as Jessica enters the car, Jeff looks at Nick, with the two exchanging glances.[6]
Appearances[]
Pearson, Season 1 | |||
#01 | "The Alderman" | #06 | "The Donor" |
#02 | "The Superintendent" | #07 | "The Immigration Lawyer" |
#03 | "The Union Leader" | #08 | "The Political Wife" |
#04 | "The Deputy Mayor" | #09 | "The Rival" |
#05 | "The Former City Attorney" | #10 | "The Fixer" |