Nora Hanen arrived in Llanview in 1992 as a high-powered and headstrong liberal defense attorney. Proud of her Jewish heritage, Nora grew up in an affluent Chicago suburb, the daughter of a highly influential judge.

While in college at Midwestern University she met and married Hank Gannon, a black student. For many years, Hank never knew that, while in school, Nora had had an affair with his younger brother, R.J. After Nora gave birth to a daughter, Rachel, her marriage to Hank became strained as constraints on their time and money intensified. When Rachel was five, Hank and Nora divorced. Hank was extremely bitter when Nora was granted full custody of their daughter.

Prior to coming to Llanview, Nora represented her brother-in-law R.J. Gannon against charges of aggravated assault and armed robbery. She lost the case, and a vengeful R.J. was sentenced to ten years in jail. Years later, R.J. got even with both Hank and Nora when, during Hank's wedding to Sheila Price, he blurted out their deep family secret: that he had slept with Nora behind Hank's back while they were in college.

In 1992, Nora moved to Llanview and met her future husband, Bo Buchanan, and helped him in his search to find the hit and run driver responsible for the death of his wife, Sarah. Bo was about to propose when Nora admitted that she might have killed Sarah. Her fears were laid to rest (a drunk driver was the culprit) and she soon moved in with Bo and they became engaged in 1993. Marriage was postponed when Nora underwent surgery for a brain tumor that left her temporarily blind.

In 1993, Nora defended several fraternity brothers, including Viki's son Kevin Buchanan (who was exonerated) and football hero Todd Manning against rape charges leveled by Marty Saybrooke. The trial ended in a mistrial, but Todd was eventually tricked into a confession and sentenced to jail.

Having escaped from jail, Todd stalked Nora, who was temporarily blind at the time, at her beach house. Todd threatened Nora with a knife and tried to rape her, but was momentarily thwarted when Nora hit him over the head with a lamp. Bo rescued Nora and brought her back to Llanview where she was operated on once again and regained her sight.

In 1995, Nora and Bo married in a rock and roll wedding ceremony presided over by Little Richard and they settled into their new home at 912 Greenfield Avenue in Llanview, where Nora proved to be absolutely useless in the kitchen A former tennis champ, Nora was very competitive and enjoyed dancing the jitterbug with her husband.

Then Bo's son Drew was killed, and Nora, wanting to give her husband a reason to live, lied and said that she was pregnant. Believing that Bo was unable to have any more children, Nora slept with Sam Rappaport in order to become pregnant. However, since both Asa Buchanan and Lindsay Rappaport knew the truth, it was unlikely Nora would be able to keep her secret for long.

Bo began to worry that Nora was keeping something from him as the lies were beginning to take their toll on Nora. Early in 1999, the lies stopped when a drunken Lindsay publicly announced to the world that Nora had betrayed Bo by sleeping with Sam. Bo then realized that Nora was carrying Sam's baby, not his. Nora and Bo still had deep feelings for one another, but they couldn't put this incident behind them. Nora vowed to fight for Bo, but he moved out.

Nora gave birth to a baby boy and named the child Matthew, who almost died shortly after being born. Matthew pulled through and Nora and Sam both became devoted to their little boy. Nora, however, later learned the Lindsay had doctored Bo's fertility tests and realized he could be Matthew's father after all. Nora had Matthew's DNA tested, but Lindsay secretly paid off the lab technician to make sure that Sam stayed Matthew's father. The tests revealed that Sam was indeed Matthew's father, but Lindsay was unsure whether the technician had actually changed the tests.

With her marriage to Bo a thing of the past, Nora became involved with Sam. Nora and Sam came close to getting married on several different occasions, but never tied the knot. Nora and Sam, however, did move in together and formed a happy family with their son Matthew.

Nora was always suspicious of Lindsay and didn't trust her as far as she could throw her. One day, Nora learned the truth about Lindsay tampering with Bo's fertility test results. Nora told Sam and was shocked when he said he had already known what Lindsay had done. Sam warned Nora to let this secret stay buried, but she had other ideas. On a mission to expose the truth, Nora interrupted Bo and Lindsay's wedding and told Bo about Lindsay's duplicity. Bo called off his wedding to Lindsay and questioned Nora as to why she chose that time to tell him an unflattering truth about his supposed bride to be. Nora insisted she just wanted the truth to be told, but both Bo and Sam wondered if there was more to it. Nora did admit to having conflicting feelings about Bo, but insisted Sam was the man she wanted to be with. This event caused Sam to move out temporarily, although he and Nora soon reconciled.

In the process of discovering the truth about Lindsay's test tampering, Nora also realized that Lindsay was pregnant by Bo. Nora kept this news to herself, while urging Lindsay to tell Bo the truth on her own. Lindsay had planned on telling Bo on their wedding night, which never happened once Nora exposed her lie. When Nora threatened to tell Bo about Lindsay's pregnancy, Lindsay became agitated and subsequently suffered a miscarriage. Nora was guilt-ridden, but Sam assured her that Lindsay's miscarriage hadn't been her fault.

Nora accompanied Lindsay's son Will Rappaport on the train taking him to Statesville Prison to start serving his sentence on trumped up embezzlement charges. Nora encountered Bo on the train and asked for his forgiveness for all the misunderstanding between them. Although Bo still had deep feelings for Nora, he couldn't bring himself to forgive her. Tragedy then struck when the train derailed and Nora was presumed to have died when the wreckage was engulfed in an explosion.

Everyone thought Nora was dead, but actually she was saved from the wreckage by Dr. Colin MacIver, who it turned out was Lindsay's brother-in-law. Lindsay convinced Colin to take Nora to his house and keep her there in return for helping him save his marriage to her sister, Melanie. Nora was at Colin's house for several months, injured and unable to walk. Nora knew about Lindsay's involvement in her being held captive, so Lindsay gave her a shot of a mind-erasing drug to get rid of her memories. When Nora was rescued by Todd and eventually returned to Llanview, most of her memories were gone; the last thing she could remember was being married to Hank.

At Llanview Hospital, Dr. Larry Wolek gave Nora a drug to help her regain her memories and she recovered all but the past three years. She remembered being married to Bo, who had to break it to her that they were divorced. Nora was determined to prove that Lindsay was the one behind her kidnapping and memory loss -- so determined that she continued to spend time with Colin, who was obsessed with her and losing touch with reality more every day, to try to learn the truth.

Colin tried to rape Nora, and she pushed him down the stairs where he fell to his death. With Colin out of the way, Nora and Sam's relationship went smoothly. But the calm seas were interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Dr. Troy MacIver, Colin's identical twin brother. Sam disliked him right away, but Nora gave him the benefit of the doubt. When Matthew was diagnosed with a rare muscular disease and Troy cured him, Nora was grateful.

Troy developed feelings for Nora and decided to help her get the truth about what Lindsay did to her. He gave her a pill that restored the rest of her memories, all but what had happened with Lindsay. So Troy came up with another plot. The plan was a dirty one: Troy would seduce Lindsay to get her to confess. At first, Lindsay was very suspicious, but Troy charmed her into his arms.

Nora was hesitant to tell Sam, fearing he would object, and she was starting to have feelings for Troy. The two engaged in a passionate kiss in the cemetery, leaving her puzzled and confused. Things only got worse. When Lindsay discovered she had been tricked, she locked Troy in the funhouse until he would tell her where the tape of her confession was. Sam rescued Troy (an electrical fire had started in the funhouse) but the animosity between the two men was worse than before. Nora and Lindsay got to the tape at the same time, where they had a fight for it, but Nora won.

Afterwards, Nora attempted to cope with the reality that she and Sam were no longer together (Sam had split when he found out her involvement with Troy and how she had not told him their plan.) and went to court to get Lindsay to pay for what she'd done. Not too much later, Nora was shocked when Sam was accidentally killed by Lindsay. Sam left a letter revealing that Bo was in fact Matthew's father, and that he had known all along.

While Matthew and Bo began working on their relationship, Nora began moving forward with her life, although it all could have been put on hold when Troy MacIver, desperate to get someone to believe he wasn't the Music Box Killer, kidnapped Matthew. Luckily they were able to get him back safely. Although Bo and Nora discussed reconciliation, they soon realized it wasn't in the cards, and Nora began moving on with Daniel Colson, the new district attorney in town. Despite Bo's rather vocal dislike of Colson, Nora married him, and was shocked not long after to learn he was gay, and the main suspect in the murders of both Paul Cramer and Jennifer Rappaport. Not long after, Nora had a stroke and spent months in a coma at the hospital. She opened her eyes for the first time in months in April 2006.

Feeling ready to return to work, Nora started working again as the District Attorney. She started with a strong case against Spencer Truman but eventually realized that she wasn't quite ready to be on such a big case and asked Evangeline to take over the case and become an ADA. Evangeline eventually agreed and took over and the two became a strong team.

An arsonist then began wreaking havoc in Llanview and Nora got involved in the case as a man was murdered. The arsonist struck again and this time, it was Nora's home. She was able to get out safely with Matthew with only a big of smoke inhalation but it still ruined their home. The two moved into the Buchanan Mansion temporarily and, after having difficulty with her insurance, Nora and Matthew are invited to move in indefinitely. Unfortunately, Nora again was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the arsonist hit Cristian's loft, this time using carbon monoxide, and rendering Cristian, Evangeline, Nora, and Talia unconscious. They all got help and recovered except Evangeline who was in a coma. This caused Nora to really go after the arsonist and eventually prosecute Tate Harmon for murder and arson.

Nora's next case became Miles Lawrence's case of attempted murder, kidnapping, theft, and blackmail against Marty Saybrooke. She stood by her friend, Marty, even though Marty was in jail for the murder of Spencer Truman. Nora even took in Marty's son Cole to care for him while his mother was in jail and eventually became his legal guardian when Marty was believed to have died in a van explosion in Ireland.

After Asa died, he left the mansion to Nora in his will. During their time in Texas for the will reading, Nora and Clint Buchanan begin a relationship, which soon blossomed into love.

History repeated itself when Lindsay was named Llanview's Woman of the Year and Nora was selected to present her with the award. Lindsay feared that Nora would ruin her night as she had ruined Nora's years ago, when Lindsay had drunkenly revealed Sam and Nora's one night stand and ruined Bo and Nora's marriage, but at the award ceremony Nora played nice and presented the award in a way that honored Lindsay. Sadly, as Lindsay was accepting her award, John McBain arrived and arrested Lindsay for the murder of Spencer Truman. During her arraignment, Lindsay collapsed into a catatonic state and was remanded to St. Anne's psychiatric hospital for evaluation. Lindsay later awakened from catatonia and Nora arranged to have criminal proceedings reconvened, convinced that Lindsay has been feigning mental illness to avoid prosecution. Once in court, a judge found that Lindsay was insane at the time of the murder and ruled that Bo would become her legal guardian.

In July 2008, Nora discovered a letter in her files from R.J. Gannon to Lindsay in which RG revealed that Lindsay had indeed faked a breakdown to avoid prosecution for Spencer's murder. In the middle of Lindsay and Bo's wedding, Nora brought up the letter and forced Lindsay to reveal her secret. Bo called off the wedding, and the next day Nora showed up at Lindsay's gallery with the police and had her arrested. Lindsay pled guilty to the charges and was carted off to Statesville Prison, and Nora struggled to make peace with both Bo and Clint for how the revelation came about.

In June 2008, Clint lost control of Buchanan Enterprises to Dorian in a hostile takeover that also led to the death of Clint's son-in-law Nash Brennan. His ex-girlfriend in London, Dallas Jones, then showed up in Llanview under the guise of providing Clint with emotional support. But Nora suspected that Dallas really was interested in rekindling her relationship with Clint and made it known that she wasn't going anywhere.

Nora and Clint's relationship was later tested when Clint hatched a plan to win back the company by threatening to take away Dorian's foster daughter Langston Wilde. Nora found Clint's actions reprehensible, especially since his plan relied on bringing to town Langston's uncle Ray Montez, who was in a Columbia prison serving time for murder. Clint called off the plan at the last minute, however, and Nora used her leverage as the district attorney to convince Dorian to give back the company.

Nora was speechless when she learned her dear friend Marty was actually alive and living with Todd Manning, who used her amnesia to his advantage to keep Marty from her friends and family. When Marty discovered she had slept with the man who had raped her in college, Nora consoled her and convinced her to take the "morning after" pill to ensure she didn't get pregnant. Nora then represented Marty in court in her case against Todd, but wound up losing when Todd's attorney Tea Delgado successfully argued that Todd hadn't raped Marty as Nora alleged and had even encouraged Marty to leave his house. Nora was so consumed with the case that she failed to see that Cole was turning into a drug addict to deal with the loss of his baby and the rejection of mother, who didn't remember being Cole's mother. When Nora found a joint in her son Matthew's backpack, she and Bo figured Matthew was getting high, although he only bought the joint to try to fit in with other kids in school. Cole later smoked the joint outside the Buchanan mansion, and Matthew lied to impress his schoolmates and told his parents he smoked it. Bo said he was going to send Matthew to military school, over Nora's objections, but he later reconsidered after having a heart-to-heart with Matthew. When Cole got into a car accident while under the influence, Matthew was riding shotgun and got thrown from the car. He became paralyzed from the waist down as a result, and Nora lashed out at Cole for driving while high and at Marty for failing to be a proper mother. But when Matthew asked Nora to go easy on Cole, Nora complied and dropped criminal charges against him in exchange for Cole agreeing to enter drug rehab. Nora and Bo, meanwhile, got closer as they struggled to help Matthew cope with the loss of his legs.

As Matthew returned to the Buchanan mansion for the first time following his accident, Nora was pleasantly surprised when her ex-husband Hank Gannon arrived with their daughter, Rachel, who had decided to relocate from Chicago to help her mom through this latest ordeal. Nora wasn't happy to learn that Rachel was Cole's new drug counselor and confided to Bo that she wasn't ready to forgive Cole for what he had done. While sitting in a car after dropping Matthew off at school for his first day back following the accident, Bo and Nora nearly shared a kiss before Marcie McBain interrupted. Later Nora wanted to ignore what nearly happened, but Bo forced her to own up to their feelings for each other. When Clint spotted them in an embrace and demanded to know what was going on, Bo told Clint that he nearly kissed Nora. Clint was upset at Nora for not confiding in him, and Bo blamed Clint for bringing this on himself by deciding to date his ex-wife!

That night, during Natalie's bachelorette party at UltraViolet, Clint stunned Nora by showing up and proposing marriage. Despite her misgivings about the timing of the proposal, Nora accepted Clint's proposal. Rachel accused Nora of hiding her attraction to Bo by accepting Clint's proposal, but Nora told Rachel she was wrong. While dining together at the Palace Hotel, Nora and Clint were shocked to learn that Viki and Charlie were engaged as well. When the couples realized that they had picked the same wedding date, Renee suggested a double wedding, and they hesitantly agreed. Clint surprised Nora by presenting her with an engagement ring while having breakfast with Matthew and Bo, and then by announcing that he had found a doctor who said he could help Matthew walk again. Later, Bo confided to Nora that he didn't trust Dr. Greg Evans, since he only came to town because Clint paid him, and said Clint should have come to them first. After reviewing Matthew's tests, Dr. Evans told Nora, Bo and Matthew that he could help Matthew walk again. But when Nora learned the surgery could be life threatening, she told an angry Matthew that she refused to let him have the surgery. Nora was shocked when Matthew said he would rather be dead than stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Matthew then hired Tea Delgado to represent him in a lawsuit against his parents, in which he would attempt to get permission from the court to have the surgery. Nora told Clint she wanted to postpone the wedding because of the lawsuit, but Clint said a wedding could be just the thing that was needed to bring the family back together.

On the night before the wedding, Nora and Bo shared a kiss at Asa's lodge. Matthew witnessed the kiss, and told his parents he would drop his lawsuit in exchange for not telling Clint. Nora and Bo called Matthew's bluff, and Matthew ultimately decided not to tell Clint because he didn't want to hurt his uncle. On the day of her wedding, Nora confided in Rachel that she wasn't sure what to do, but in the end she decided she wanted to be with Clint and they were married. Nora and Bo hired attorney Elijah Clark to represent them, and were devastated when the judge ruled that Matthew could have the surgery without his parents' consent. Matthew's plans were derailed when Greg refused to perform the surgery because his brother, Shaun, fell into a coma while Greg was operating on him. Matthew was determined to have the surgery, however, and found a doctor in Seattle who was willing to operate. Nora and Bo pretended to go along with Matthew's plans but, after getting him on the Buchanan jet, told Matthew that they were taking him instead to London and enrolling him in a private school. Matthew wanted nothing to do with his parents, and while in London Bo admitted to Nora that he was still in love with her and wanted to be with her. They shared a passionate kiss, and Nora said she wanted to be with him too, but not until she broke things off with Clint. Nora kept finding excuses not to tell Clint, however. After Matthew escaped from the London school, Bo and Nora tracked him down in Seattle but were too late to stop his surgery. They were relieved that the surgery went well, however, and were overjoyed when Matthew began to regain feeling in his legs.

While Nora and Bo were off visiting Matthew in Seattle, Clint learned that Nora and Bo were having an affair from the butler at the London compound, Nigel's cousin Neville. Kimberly Andrews, Clint's new assistant, had arranged for Neville to tell Clint about the affair and urged Clint to get even with Nora. Clint then arranged for Nora to walk in on him and Kimberly in bed together. Nora couldn't believe it when Clint told her that he had been having an affair with Kim, but as Clint started filling in the details, Nora realized that Clint was really talking about her and Bo. Clint told Nora he only staged the dalliance with Kim so she could feel the betrayal he felt. As Nora prepared to leave the mansion with Bo, Clint drew a rifle on them and berated them for carrying on behind his back. Nora and Bo accepted newly elected Mayor Dorian Lord's invitation to the mayoral ball on New Year's Eve, unaware that Dorian and Clint had set a trap for them. Clint secretly provided journalists with details of Nora and Bo's relationship and they put Dorian on the spot during the mayor's ball, giving her an opening to fire Bo. Clint served Nora with divorce papers and asked for $42 million in damages. When Nora's attorney threatened to sell the mansion, which was in Nora's name, Clint agreed to drop the request for damages in exchange for Nora signing over ownership of the mansion to him, which Nora agreed to do. Nora and Bo moved back into Bo's old apartment. When Dorian fired Bo's replacement, who had been handpicked by Mitch Laurence, Dorian asked Bo to take back his old job and Bo agreed.

Nora prepared for the worst after Bo was shot in the line of duty, but he pulled through and then proposed marriage. Nora at first was afraid to say yes, but Bo assured her that this time they were going in with both eyes open and nothing would tear them apart again. Nora and Bo hesitantly told Clint, who informed them that his quickie marriage to Kim had ended.

On their wedding day, Nora and Bo persevered despite a series of comical obstacles and made it to the alter, only to be interrupted by a shotgun-wielding Clint, who had learned that David Vickers was responsible for Kim leaving town and was prepared to shoot him. Cooler heads prevailed however, and Bo and Nora exchanged their vows before friends and family.

Nora returned from her honeymoon and immediately got involved with building a case against Eli Clarke, who was suspected of killing Melinda Cramer and others to keep the truth about his other identities from getting out. Nora seemed jealous when she learned Bo had hired as his new assistant Inez Salinger, a beautiful younger woman who had recently come to town, although she tried to play off her insecurities.

When Clint told Matthew he wanted him to begin interning at Buchanan Enterprises so he could learn the family business, Nora thought it was a great idea and was surprised at Bo's resistance. Nora also detected that Bo was jealous when he learned that Clint had invited Inez out on a date. Bo said it felt that Clint was worming himself into their lives. But Nora dismissed Bo's objections, telling Bo it was a good thing that Clint had gotten over his anger with them and was trying to get on with his life. Nora also encouraged Inez to get to know Clint better, hoping to ease her guilt for having left him for his brother.

Nora began to feel that Inez was spending too much time with Bo and reaching out to him too often for help with her sons and her ex-husband Eddie Ford, who showed up in town in November 2010. Nora politely told Inez to focus less on showing her gratitude to Bo and instead just do her job, but Inez assured Nora she had no designs on her husband. Todd and later Clint warned Nora that Inez was getting too close to Bo, furthering Nora's insecurities. When Bo personally had Eddie arrested after provoking an altercation at Dorian's house on Thanksgiving Day, Nora complained that Bo was taking Eddie's case too personally and trying to be Inez's hero. Nora learned from Clint that he and Inez had broken up, and Clint told Nora he suspected it was because Inez had feelings for Bo. After learning that Inez had run to Bo as soon as she and Clint had broken up, Nora warned Bo that Inez was trying to break up their marriage. Bo lashed out at Nora and said that she was the one who had been unfaithful in the past, not him, causing Nora to run out in despair.

Nora was kidnapped by Inez's husband, Eddie Ford, and taken to a motel on the outskirts of town. Eddie sent text messages from Nora's phone to Bo, pretending that the messages were from Nora, telling Bo that he should sleep with Inez to even the score over her affair years earlier with Sam Rappaport. Nora wondered how Eddie knew about her affair with Sam and figured that Eddie and Inez were plotting together. Eddie came close to raping Nora but was called away to take care of some family business. While he was gone, Rex busted into the room and found Nora tied up. On their way to the police station, Rex swerved to miss an oncoming car and ran off the road. When he woke up, Nora was gone. Bo went looking for her hours later and found her emerging from the woods, with no recollection of what had happened. Nora told Bo what Eddie had nearly done to her, and Bo told Eddie that someone had murdered Eddie in his hotel room after she had been rescued by Rex.

Weeks later, Nora was stunned when Matthew accused Bo of cheating on Nora with Inez. Bo admitted that he and Inez had a one-night stand the night Nora was kidnapped by Eddie. Later, however, Inez admitted that she had been forced by Clint to make the whole thing up. Nora and Bo reconciled and confronted Clint, who admitted the truth. Bo and Nora agreed not to say anything to the family about Clint's actions until they could get enough evidence to arrest him, but they ordered Matthew to quit his internship at BE.

Nora and Bo suspected that Clint was responsible for murdering Eddie Ford and then planting the gun at Inez's apartment. Joey told Nora that he saw Clint with Eddie at the mansion the same day Nora was abducted, but they still lacked any concrete evidence. As Nora continued to search for evidence, she began having flashbacks of the night Eddie was murdered. Nora remembered stumbling from Rex's car after the accident and ending up at Eddie's hotel room door, but her memory went blank after that. Rex tracked down video footage that showed Clint leaving Eddie's hotel room with a gun, which was enough for Bo to arrest him. Before his arraignment, Clint stunned Nora and Bo by revealing that Matthew killed Eddie and then called Clint in a state of shock. Matthew admitted that he was guilty, and Nora later remembered that she had seen Matthew in the hotel room after he shot Eddie but had left without saying a word.

Nora and Bo struggled over what to do about Matthew. Matthew told his parents that he would turn himself in, but Nora and Bo stalled as they tried to figure out a way to keep him out of jail. After learning that TV reporter Blanca Morales was threatening to expose Matthew as the killer, Bo and Nora went to confront Blanca and were shocked when Clint confessed to the murder on live television. Bo and Nora returned home, where Matthew was about to tell them that someone else knew he was the killer when he fell to the floor unconscious. Bo and Nora rushed Matthew to the hospital, where doctors detected a small bump on his head and decided to run some tests. Matthew awoke but was confused, thinking he had just been in the car accident with Cole and was paralyzed. The tests revealed Matthew had suffered a serious head trauma and needed immediate surgery. Matthew made it through the surgery but had only minimal brain activity.

The doctors urged Bo and Nora to take their son off life support and allow his heart to be donated to Clint, whose heart was failing, but Nora refused to even consider such an action and lashed out at Clint before realizing that he had no clue about Matthew's injury. While Destiny was visiting, Matthew opened his eyes and squeezed Nora's hand when she asked him to, giving everyone hope that he would be alright. Matthew said David's name when he visited, and later acknowledged Bo's presence. But when Bo tried to question Matthew about the accident, all Matthew could get out was the word "Eddie" before he began having a seizure.

Bo and Nora searched for clues in their apartment and found a gum wrapper that they later linked to Nate Salinger. Nora was furious with Bo when she learned that Bo had decided not to press charges against Nate, but Bo explained that the truth about Matthew's crime would come out if Nate was brought to trial. Nora confronted Nate, who offered to turn himself in and tell no one that Matthew had killed Eddie, but Nora backed down. After Clint recovered and was brought to court to face sentencing for all of his crimes, Nora withdrew the charge of murder to prevent Clint from being convicted for a crime she knew he did not commit.

After Matthew suffered another seizure, the doctors told Nora and Bo that Matthew needed to be transferred to a rehabilitation center in Philadelphia where he could be looked after properly. Nora and Bo reluctantly agreed but grew frustrated when Matthew showed no progress at the rehabilitation facility. When Nora overheard Destiny tell Matthew that she was pregnant, Nora pleaded with Destiny to keep the child because it could be her only tie to Matthew. Destiny reversed her decision to have an abortion and decided to keep the baby, sparking a rift between Nora and Destiny's mother.

Bo and Nora were visiting Matthew on Thanksgiving Day in November 2011 when Matthew suddenly flatlined. It seemed that Matthew was dead, but the doctors managed to revive him and Matthew opened his eyes for the first time in months. Nora and Bo were grateful beyond belief to have Matthew back. Destiny came to visit and Matthew realized that she was pregnant, but he didn't realize the baby was his until Destiny told him. When Matthew learned that Nora had pressured Destiny to keep the baby, he was livid. Matthew had lost months of his life and didn't want to be saddled down with a new baby. He told a devastated Destiny that he would support her and the baby but didn't want to be a father and didn't want to be tied down to her. Nora was angry at Matthew but hoped he would come around eventually.

On New Year's Eve, hundreds of inmates escaped Statesville Prison during a major blackout and an armed Troy MacIver stunned Nora by showing up at her home. Troy was still in love with Nora and wanted to start a new life with her. Nora tried to protest, explaining that she was married to Bo, but eventually decided to go along with Troy until Bo could arrive. When Troy realized that Bo was on his way, he bound and gagged Nora and drove to a secluded mountain cabin where he planned to inject her with the same memory erasing drug that Lindsay had given Nora years earlier. Just before he could administer the injection, Lindsay burst into the room and claimed to have just killed Bo.

Nora was devastated but then stunned when Bo appeared and tried to get the jump on Troy. The two men fired shots and Troy fell to the ground, wounded. Bo explained that Lindsay had realized what Troy was up to and had warned Bo, and together they rescued Nora. Nora was grateful to Lindsay and realized that she had changed while in prison. Bo gave Lindsay the keys to his vehicle and told her to send an ambulance for Troy. As soon as she left, Bo collapsed and Nora realized that he had been shot as well. Nora pleaded with Troy to save Bo's life, and he reluctantly agreed. Troy tried to revive Bo but when he couldn't get a pulse, he told Nora that Bo was dead and fled the cabin. As Nora sobbed over Bo's lifeless body, Bo suddenly stirred and awoke, telling Nora that she couldn't get rid of him that easy.

Bo and Nora were gathered at the Buchanan mansion for the final airing of soap opera "Fraternity Row" when Destiny suddenly went into labor. With no time to get to the hospital, Vivian began to deliver the baby in the Buchanan family living room as Matthew showed up, ready to take responsibility for the child he had helped create. Matthew raced to Destiny's side and helped her deliver a healthy baby boy, which they decided to name Drew after Matthew's late older brother.

To Nora and Bo's dismay, Matthew did not follow through on being an involved father to his son. Regardless, Nora and Bo gladly accepted the role of grandparents and offered support to both Drew and Destiny. Nora also found time to return to her college passion of doling out advice as a disc jockey. With Bo's encouragement, she began hosting a radio call-in program and called herself the Nightbird. Through the radio, she and Matthew had a heartfelt conversation in which she realized that she needed to allow Matthew to make his own decisions regarding Destiny and Drew.

Nora's marriage to Bo remained strong and she stood by Bo when he was forced to arrest his brother Clint for an assault he had committed while intoxicated. The charges against Clint went viral and the Llanview Veterans' Organization stripped Clint of his honor as "Man of the Year." Bo was asked to replace Clint and Nora encouraged Bo to accept.