Morgan Braithwaite

Morgan Braithwaite
Portrayed by	Bonnie Soper
Introduced by	Jason Daniel
First appearance	5 February 2008 Episode 3912
Last appearance	18 December 2009 Episode 4400
Cause/reason	Hit & Run
Classification	Past; Regular
Profile
Alias	Lily Scorpion (alter ego)
Date of birth	October 15, 1983
Date of death	18 December 2009 (age 26)
Occupation	Theatre Nurse at Shortland Street Hospital
Family Husband Gerald Tippett (2009) Mother Elizabeth Braithwaite Half brothers Eric Miller Half sisters Nicole Miller Sons William Watson Daughters Catherine Watson Elizabeth Watson

Morgan Braithwaite (formerly Tippett) was a fictional character in the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. She was portrayed by Bonnie Soper since February 5, 2008. Morgan died on December 18 2009 after Kieran Mitchell accidentally ran her over with Rachel's car.

Character

Morgan Braithwaite was quiet, polite and slightly geeky. In fact, she spent a lot of time worrying that she is too bookish and nerdy. She is a very capable and resourceful nurse who has quickly ascended through the ranks; at only 24 she is already trained as a theatre nurse. Morgan is fascinated by surgery and has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the cases she has worked on.

A little dreamy and awkward in her private life, Morgan spends a lot of her time admiring potential suitors from afar. Despite being coy and self-conscious, those who take the time to get to know Morgan will find that she was warm and loyal with a quirky sense of humour.

Relationship with Joey

She knows Joey Henderson from their days in nursing training together, it appears they share a love for gruesome complicated surgeries and they also seem to be quite smitten with each other. She has had a crush on Joey since they first meet at Nursing School but was always too shy to ask him out.^[1][2]

Morgan and Joey had lunch at the I.V after being setup by Joey's flatmates/friends Gerald Tippett and Kieran Mitchell, during this time she told Joey about how she draws graphic novels about her alter ego Lily Scorpion. Later on at El Rancho while showing off her drawings she sadly mentioned that her mother had died in a car accident, but she closed up when he asked how long ago it happened and rushed out of El Rancho saying "I'm not gonna talk about this stuff with you, quit trying!" leaving a bewildered Joey behind. Meanwhile the next day they made up, and Joey nervously asked Morgan round to his place that night. Later at El Rancho, Morgan showed Joey more of her drawings and Joey even got up the courage to show her some of his anatomical sketches (while getting his sketches he struggled against his inner-thoughts to strangle her with the piece of rope he had in his grasp, but he stopped himself) she expressed her love of the sketches and Joey was flattered. It become obvious that Morgan expected Joey to make a move, and he kissed her and she innocently said "I really want us to make love", Joey then seemed to panic at the thought.

On the night of the 13/14 February, Joey and Morgan almost had sex however Joey was quite reluctant about it and got angry afterward. The next day she was thought to be missing when her flatmate revealed she hadn't been home for a few days, Lara Wade was called to investigate the disappearance and she interviewed Joey, Kieran and Gerald but nothing was to come of this as Morgan turned up at the hospital and revealed that she'd gone away for a short break at a holiday Bach for her days off work. Shortly after Joey ended their relationship but insisted he still wants them to be friends.

On February 27, 2008, Lara Wade questioned Morgan about her date with Joey before warning her to be careful around Joey and to not be left alone with him. Two days later she tried to get Joey to reconsider ending their relationship while they were out nightclubbing with Tania, Alice and Shanti.

After learning Joey was the Ferndale Strangler she was seen looking at a drawing of Joey in the hospital staffroom . After Joey's death on March 5, 2008 she began to believe that she could have been able to save him if they had started dating when they first meet while training to become nurses. Morgan abruptly left Ferndale to forget about Joey on 5th of March. In May Morgan made a surprise return to Ferndale when she turned up at El Rancho to buy pictures drawn by Joey that Kieran had been selling on the internet.^[3]

Relationship with Gerald and Hunter

After a rocky start back, Morgan settled back in Ferndale and bonded with Gerald Tippett. On May 16, 2008, during a conversation with Gerald she made an embarrassing mistake by suggesting they should have no-strings-attached casual sex. Morgan was paired with Gerald by Kieran when he invited them to join him and Libby at rave where ecstasy was consumed by Kieran, Morgan and later Gerald. Morgan and Gerald were on a high and kissed passionately that lead a relationship. In early June Gerald lost his virginity to Morgan and dated for some months. Gerald decided he's asexual (doesn't like sex) suggested Morgan find someone else, so she had a one night stand with Hunter McKay following the supposed death of Justine Jones in September, Morgan comforted Hunter and the two ended up kissing. Later Gerald dumped Morgan in August when he learnt of a group for asexuals. In September Morgan met a guy called Jesse at the I.V. and was left feeling humiliated when she found out that he was asexual like Gerald. On the 19th November, it was Hunters birthday. It was also the same day Morgan dumped Hunter because he couldn't stop talking about Morgan being broke and buying him things. An angered Morgan told him she was put up a Level on the recommendations of Maia and Ethan, making her a Level 3 Nurse, which meant she could stay in New Zealand and ditch the job offer in Dubai.

Surrogate Pregnancy, Marriage - Separation

In 2009 Morgan became an illegal surrogate for her infertile friends, Cindy and Trent. Cindy had previous IVF treatments in Auckland which failed and along with her Trent persuaded Morgan to fly to Wellington and to impersonated her for IVF treatment as the Wellington staff wouldn't know what she looked like. The IVF treatment was successful and Morgan had staff members at Shortland Street hospital trying to guess the father's identity - Gerald or Hunter (as they do not know anything about her surrogacy). New Zealand law prohibits a woman who has not had children before from being a surrogate mother.

Hunter and Gerald both know about the illegal pregnancy, they got in a little fight with Cindy and Trent (baby's parents) when Morgan had an ultrasound, and sent all out of the room. Morgan learnt she was expecting triplets. When they found out that Morgan was having triplets, Cindy and Trent wanted to abort one of the babys, which Morgan found this highly Immoral and decided she would have to keep the babies and raise them with Gerald.

Gerald and Morgan on their wedding day.

Following the demand terminate one of the babies on April 6 Morgan proposed to Gerald witnessed by a shocked Hunter. They planned to marry on May 1 in a ceremony organised by their friend and flatmate, Libby. The two wed in an impromptu ceremony at their wedding rehearsal on the 29th of April, much to Libby's disgust and to the surprise of Hunter who thought Morgan would return to him.

The babies were delivered by caeserian and placed in incubators and later sent to Hamilton with Morgan who decided that the triplets belonged with Cindy and Trent after all much to the annoyance of Gerald.

Morgan made friends with local trouble maker Aroha and like Gerald did to her months before, Morgan has promised to help her sort out a budget. Despite protests from Gerald, Aroha moved into El Rancho and couldn't understand Morgan and Gerald's marriage arrangements. Later Aroha introduced a guy called Matt to Morgan saying they were made for each other although they kissed nothing happened. Morgan and Gerald had a romantic evening but next morning Morgan said they should separate. Morgan decided she needed time away.

Mr Hughes and Nicole Miller

In July Morgan nursed a heavily alcoholic man. She found out he was the man who killed her mother by drink driving. She also found out that he was sorry. Morgan decided to set upon collecting money for Mr. Hughes. The money was to go towards a rehab clinic. Morgan showed the man the money but got a phone call from the clinic. She answered and turned around to see Mr. Hughes had escaped with the money. Morgan later found him, he had spent all the money on booze and refused to let her help him. She got in the car and for a moment considered running down the drunk man. He looked at her and Morgan realised what she had done, she reconsidered her occupation as a nurse, someone who is supposed to be saving people, not considering killing them. Eventually Morgan got over it and Mr. Hughes never appeared again. In September, a new bisexual nurse called Nicole arrived. She took an immediate liking to Morgan which Maia thought was sexual. None of Morgan's friends liked Nicole and Morgan, Gerald, and Hunter all drifted apart over Nicole. Morgan confronted Nicole; Nicole eventually shockingly told Morgan she was her half sister. Morgan's father didn't die when she was little. He had really only had an affair with Morgan's mum. He died in 2008. Nicole had only just found out about Morgan and was trying to fulfill her father's wishes by inviting Morgan to the laying of the headstone. Nicole's siblings didn't want Morgan to come and in the end, Morgan and Nicole didn't go.

Sean Mitchell a.k.a. Sid Mitchell

Since his debut in Ferndale, Sean has set his sights on Morgan. They first meet in the elevator in the hospital, when Sean tries to advertise freebies at the IV later on in the evening, She tricks him by saying that she was heading a floor up but she had actually pressed the ground floor button (Where Sean had actually caught the elevator from) and takes the advertisements from him but she does go as advised by Nicole. The next day Sean advertises a Ladies Night followed by a raffle and tries to offer a present to her as well as asking her to come over at the IV, she refuses, knowing his advances on her, though she does go with her again advised by Nicole. But when she unexpectedly wins a dinner for two voucher at the Ladies Night Raffle and Sean offers to have dinner with her and kisses her, she reacts in disgust and tells Nicole this, who agrees that he is a sleaze. Sophie tries to warn both Nicole and Morgan about him and his wicked ways but they simply ignore her seeing how she had ignored everyone else's warnings about Kieran. Though the next day, she considers her thoughts on Sid and Nicole tells her that he does really like her and that she should go for it. Morgan visits the IV later on and tells Sean that she does really like him but does not want to enter into a relationship quickly, thus explaining little of her past with men, though Sean tells her that he will take things slowly with her. Sid's intentions of wanting to see Morgan more has not been revealed at all. During a party at the IV, Sean spikes up Morgan's drink but Nicole accidentally drinks it and get's dizzy. Later on, Sean tries to apologize to both Morgan and Nicole, but they don't accept well and they no longer trust him.

Death

Morgan attended the staff Christmas party with Nicole on 18 December 2009. Tania Jeffries got very drunk and made a fool of herself. Yvonne told Morgan to look after Tania to make sure she did not do anything stupid. Whilst following Tania around the party, Sean started a conversation with Morgan and after a while Morgan realised she had lost Tania. Tania had left the party and was walking down the dark highway. Morgan, staying true to her promise, decided to follow Tania to make sure she was okay. Meanwhile Kieran Mitchell and Sean got into an argument and Sean rushed off to set the IV on fire. Kieran tried to get to his car but it was blocked. He then spotted Rachel, who was now comatose, in her car with the door open and drove off in that with Rachel still inside. Whilst driving dangerously fast, Kieran tried to light a cigarette and took his eyes off of the road, only to hear a huge bang on the car. He brought the car to a halt and, panic-stricken, called out to see if anyone was there. Kieran was seen to be traumatised by something he saw in the undergrowth and ran back towards the car. Sensing an opportunity, he dragged Rachel into the driver's seat and fastened her seat belt before returning to the side of the road, visibly upset. As Kieran ran from the scene, the viewer was left with the eerie final image of Shortland Street 2009 - the expressionless face of Morgan who lay dead in the undergrowth. Her body was found the next day by her closest friends, Gerald, Hunter and Nicole.

References

1. ^ Episode 3912 » Street Talk: Shortland Street fans
2. ^ What's happening this week? « SHORTLAND STREET EPISODES « tvnz.co.nz
3. ^ Coming up in June « SHORTLAND STREET FEATURES « tvnz.co.nz

External links

• Street Talk Profile