May 1992 to October 2, 1998; May 15, 2002 to October 10, 2003 [on The Bold and the Beautiful];

December 1992; February 1993; October 1993; February 28, 1995 to March 2, 1995 [crossovers to The Young and the Restless]

August 5, 2005 to January 11, 2006 [on The Young and the Restless]

Sheila Carter is a nurse from Michigan who relocated to Genoa City, Wisconsin and took a job at Genoa City Memorial, where she became the lab assistant to doctor Scott Grainger. Although Scott was already married to Lauren Fenmore, Sheila developed an obsession with him and drugged him so she could get him into bed. Sheila became pregnant and was thrilled when Scott divorced Lauren for her. Sheila was six months along when she learned that Lauren was also carrying Scott's baby; Sheila and Lauren delivered at the same time, and Sheila was devastated when her baby died. Afraid Scott would leave her and return to Lauren, Sheila bought a baby and switched it with Lauren's so she would have Scott's biological child.

Sheila worked to keep the identity of "her" son, Scotty Grainger, a secret, going so far as to have his telltale birthmark removed. Sheila became possessive of the boy and mocked Lauren's "loss", causing the women to have a vicious catfight in Scott's lab. Sheila panicked when her mother, Molly Carter, found out about the baby switch and made a beeline for Lauren, but Sheila got a reprieve when Molly suffered a stroke that left her unable to speak. Sheila thought she was safe with Molly stashed away at her Michigan farmhouse; however, when Lauren started sniffing around Molly, Sheila kidnapped Lauren and held her and Molly hostage. Once Molly regained enough of her speech to tell Lauren that her son was alive, Sheila was ready to kill them both until Lauren kicked Sheila into a table, which knocked over a lantern and set the farmhouse on fire. Sheila left Lauren and Molly to die; after they were rescued, the body of a man from the gas company, burned beyond recognition, was found, which everyone assumed was Sheila.

Sheila headed to Los Angeles, where she applied for a nursing position at design house Forrester Creations. Sheila became enamored of its head designer, Eric Forrester, who seemed to be having trouble with his second wife, Brooke Logan. Sheila positioned herself to become nanny to Eric's toddler son, Rick Forrester, by threatening Rick's current nanny, Judy, and causing an accident that left Judy paralyzed. Once Eric divorced Brooke, Sheila happily began seeing him and eagerly agreed to model his showstopper wedding dress on the Forrester runway.

Because Lauren, who had a chain of high-end department stores, had come to Los Angeles for Forrester's fashion show, Sheila revealed herself to Lauren and begged for forgiveness. When Sheila couldn't convince the shocked Lauren that she had become a better person, Sheila knocked Lauren unconscious and locked her in a closet to keep her from attending the showing. Sheila modeled the dress, but she made eye contact with Lauren when she lifted her veil and suddenly found herself surrounded by police. Just as she pleaded with Eric to understand, she woke up -- Sheila had been in a car accident on the way to the show and missed the whole thing dreaming in a hospital bed.

Sheila knew Eric wanted to marry her, but she had one final obstacle: Brooke didn't know if the baby she was carrying had been fathered by Eric, or his son, Ridge Forrester. Sheila volunteered at the hospital where Brooke's paternity test was being conducted and was ready to switch Eric and Ridge's blood samples when she was caught by security guard Mike Guthrie. Sheila kissed Mike to distract him, then threatened to castrate him, but was ultimately stunned to see Mike wasn't afraid of her; Sheila blanched when the taunting Mike spun the carousel with the vials before Sheila could label them. Sheila breathed a sigh of relief when Ridge was revealed to be baby Bridget's father, as that left Eric free to propose, which he did.

Knowing Forrester family friend Lauren would be invited to the wedding, Sheila went home to Genoa City and revealed herself to Molly, hoping to find out how amenable Lauren would really be to forgiving her. Sheila was nearly caught visiting Scotty and hid in a closet to avoid Lauren, who couldn't understand why Scotty kept pointing and saying "Mommy." When Sheila found out from Molly that the reunited Lauren and Scott were having problems, Sheila snooped and discovered that Lauren was having an affair with associate Brad Carlton. Sheila snuck into Lauren's suite and took pictures of Lauren and Brad in bed, then had the photo made into a puzzle, which Sheila sent to Lauren piece by piece in the mail.

Upon Lauren's receipt of the final puzzle piece, Sheila stunned Lauren by showing up on her doorstep and asking her to put the past aside. When Sheila's pleas fell on deaf ears, she stopped Lauren from calling the police by asking how she enjoyed the puzzle. Though Lauren figured out that Sheila came to make things right because of a man, Sheila returned to Los Angeles knowing the photo of Lauren and Brad would keep Lauren quiet. But Sheila didn't count on Lauren arriving for a Forrester fashion show -- for real this time -- a visit that saw Sheila and Lauren playing cat and mouse with each other at a Forrester family dinner. Sheila scoffed when Brad came to L.A. demanding the negatives to the puzzle photo, but ultimately Sheila handed them over.

However, Sheila snuck into Lauren's guest room at the Forrester mansion and glued copies of the incriminating photo all over its bathroom. Sheila thought she had the upper hand when Lauren confronted her but wound up on the losing end of a violent catfight while in her wedding dress. Walking down the aisle to find Eric's children and first wife Stephanie Forrester wearing black in protest of the ceremony, Sheila was about to exchange vows with Eric when Lauren stood up. Sheila left the church before Lauren could expose her, later getting Eric alone and feeding him a line about how she couldn't go through with the wedding knowing how hurt Eric was by his family's resistance. Sheila married Eric privately, then rubbed it in Stephanie's face, referring to herself as the new Forrester matriarch.

When Brooke, who had been battling the Forresters over the rights to her wrinkle-free fabric BeLieF, took control of Forrester Creations, Sheila agreed to be her liaison, initially assuring Eric it was her way of keeping an eye on Brooke but coming to enjoy running the company with her. Sheila was on top of the world until Mike threatened to blab about her involvement in Bridget's paternity test if she didn't give him a job; Sheila sicced a Doberman on Mike but conceded defeat when he demonstrated control over the animal. Upon hearing that Scott had been hospitalized in Genoa City, Sheila went back to visit him and realized that her being alive meant they were still married.

Meanwhile, Sheila's unwittingly bigamist marriage to Eric was deteriorating over her secrecy and siding with Brooke. Sheila stalled Eric's request for a divorce by taking him to Catalina Island, hoping to reconnect; instead, Sheila found Lauren staying in the same hotel with Scott and struggled to keep Lauren from telling Eric about their shared past. Sheila was relieved when Scott pretended not to know her and tried desperately to help him when she learned his diagnosis was terminal. Together with Lauren at Scott's side, Sheila was profoundly moved when Scott's dying wish was for Lauren to remain silent and give Sheila a chance.

Though her marriage to Eric had improved, Sheila became uncomfortable over Eric's friendship with Stephanie, who taunted Sheila with her suspicion that Lauren knew something incriminating about Sheila's past. Hoping to head Stephanie off, Sheila confronted Jay Garvin, a therapist she had seen upon first moving to L.A., and demanded he refuse any inquiries about her; the discussion became heated, and when Sheila pulled her arm away from Jay, he fell off a high-rise balcony to his death. Sheila stole her file, then had Mike steal a copy of Eric's will, after which lawyer Connor Davis advised Sheila that having Eric's baby would secure her future. Sheila got a resistant Eric to make love to her, but bedded Connor to be on the safe side, only to have her pregnancy lie refuted by Eric's announcement that he'd had a secret vasectomy. Sheila promised not to sue Eric if he stayed with her, but Eric's stipulation was that Sheila had to start therapy with noted psychiatrist James Warwick.

Sheila shut down on James, who took her to the Forresters' Big Bear cabin for an intensive session. When James started piecing together Sheila's ties to Lauren and Genoa City, Sheila was ready to kill him with a fire poker until they were interrupted by a phone call. Later learning that James had contacted Lauren, Sheila went to Wisconsin and reminded Lauren of Scott's dying wish, but Sheila was forced to have the fed-up Lauren as a house guest when Lauren wanted to see Sheila's marriage for herself. Furious that Lauren had decided to tell all to James, Sheila brawled with Lauren and thought she'd successfully drowned her in a hot tub, only to find that Lauren had escaped to James' office. Sheila and Mike kidnapped James and held him prisoner in the dungeon basement of her house, which had been owned by Harry Houdini.

As Eric had moved out on her, Sheila was touched by James' compassion and began falling for James, especially after he made love to her. But Sheila's bubble burst when Stephanie arrived unexpectedly and James banged on a pipe to attract Stephanie's attention. Sheila lunged at James with a knife and was astounded when James got it away from her, locked her in one of Houdini's devices, and escaped. Sheila broke free and hid out at Mike's, where she mixed up a batch of poison; she rounded up Eric, Stephanie, Ridge, Brooke, James and Lauren at the Forrester mansion and trained Mike's gun on them. Seeing that Brooke was willing to take a bullet for her adversary Stephanie, Sheila ingested the poison, but before it could kill her, her stomach was pumped and she was sent to a prison for the criminally insane.

In jail, Sheila worked with prison doctor Brian Carey and willingly gave Eric a divorce. But the newly docile Sheila was beaten and sexually assaulted by two other female prisoners. Sheila's hopes for parole were dashed when Stephanie, Eric, and Lauren testified against her at her parole hearing, though when Sheila saved Stephanie from being choked by her cellmate, Sarah, the parole board reconsidered and Sheila was released under James' care. Sheila was disappointed when a romance with Forrester designer Grant Chambers stalled out and when Brooke chose not to resume their friendship; soon after, a letter surfaced from a doctor who claimed that Brooke had rigged Bridget's paternity test. Sheila claimed innocence when the doctor was killed and suspected Mike of the crime. Angered that Stephanie was lobbying to put Sheila back in jail, and that Stephanie had used Brooke's troubles to take Rick and Bridget away from Brooke, Sheila befriended Eric's former sister-in-law, Maggie Forrester, so she could get into Stephanie's house and switch her calcium supplements with mercury pills, which would make Stephanie slowly go "insane."

Sheila testified at Stephanie's custody hearing, where Stephanie tried to strangle Sheila before being committed to a hospital. Feeling closer to James because of his support, Sheila left clues for him that allowed him to help Stephanie before it was too late. Meanwhile, Sheila planted mercury pills in Maggie's bureau, surprised when the placid Maggie showed up enraged about being framed. Sheila attempted to choke Maggie, but was impaled by a fire poker after Maggie shoved her. Sheila was allowed to recuperate in James' house, pleased she was causing a rift in James and Maggie's new relationship. But when James revealed he knew Sheila had poisoned Stephanie, Sheila revealed a rare vulnerable side and admitted how suffering abuse at the hands of her father taught her to keep one step ahead of her enemies.

Sheila comforted a drunken James when Maggie took off on him; she later found out that Mike had kidnapped Maggie to clear the way for Sheila. Upon learning she was pregnant, Sheila interrupted James and Maggie's wedding with the news. But James wed Maggie anyway, so Sheila tried to tempt the down-home Maggie with regular-guy plumber Curtis Love. Ultimately, Sheila agreed to give James and Maggie her child; only momentarily getting to finally feel the joy of holding a baby in her arms, Sheila tearfully named her daughter Mary, after James' mother, handed her over to James, and took off for parts unknown.

Sheila moved to Furnace Creek, California, where she was taken in by her diner co-worker, teenager Amber Moore. Sheila built an altar to Mary in her closet, then took Amber to Los Angeles and installed her as Mary's babysitter so Sheila could visit her baby when James and Maggie weren't home; Sheila went so far as to breastfeed Mary, to Amber's horror. Unable to bear being separated from Mary any longer, Sheila changed her mind about the adoption within the allotted six-month period and reclaimed her child.

Sheila couldn't believe it when James divorced Maggie to be a family with her and baby Mary. But after Sheila and James exchanged vows, she discovered that it was all a ruse to catch her doing something inappropriate so James could claim she was an unfit mother and get Mary back. The heartbroken bride threw herself off a building in her wedding dress, skeptical at first when a repentant James stayed by her side in the hospital. Just as Sheila settled into married life with James and Mary, Sheila was kidnapped by Mike and his brother, Martin Guthrie, who held Sheila at the Psycho house under the directive of Maggie, who wanted Sheila out of the way to win James back. After James rescued Sheila, she began having visions of Judy, the nanny she'd crippled, and continually heard babies' cries, not knowing that Lauren, Maggie, Stephanie and Judy were working together to gaslight Sheila and drive her back into the institution. Sheila briefly left town to pull herself together.

Upon returning, Sheila's idyll with James began to collapse when she threatened James' superior who had revoked James' psychiatry license over his involvement with a patient. Sheila further slipped back into insanity when she saw the warmth between Stephanie and James; after spying a kiss between them, Sheila tried to drown Stephanie in the Forrester pool, then clipped a lock of hair from Stephanie's grandson, Thomas Forrester, and promised to kill the infant if Stephanie didn't leave James alone. Sheila felt betrayed when she confided to James what she'd done only to find out he was wearing a wire; as her threats were a violation of her parole, Sheila was sent back to prison. But her rage over Stephanie raising Mary inspired Sheila to switch identities with fellow inmate Sybil Weller, who was being released; Sheila got out of jail in Sybil's place and went to Stephanie's house with a gun to take Mary away. Sheila shot Stephanie once, but was prevented from killing her by an attacking Amber. Sheila knocked Amber out and drove off with Mary, leaving Stephanie to die.

Years later, it was revealed that Sheila had renamed her daughter Erica Lovejoy and constantly moved to avoid detection, winding up in Mystic, Connecticut. When Erica, who had been fascinated by Sheila's mysteriousness over the Forresters, ran away to L.A. to be near her idol, Amber, Sheila followed and demanded that Erica stay away from the designing family, at least until Erica revealed she was sweet on Amber's estranged husband, Rick Forrester, and had become a nanny to their son. Wanting Erica to have her old life as a Forrester, Sheila coached Erica on how to seduce Rick, then went to work getting recovering drug addict Amber hooked again. Lance Day, the man Sheila tasked with getting Amber drunk and taking her to bed, wanted to come clean, so Sheila took advantage of his allergy to bee stings and unleashed a swarm of bees in his apartment, killing him.

Sheila met a man in a bar and had a quick fling with him, the enticement being that neither would tell the other their name. Feeling her attempts to frame Amber for drug use and vandalism weren't enough, Sheila kidnapped Amber and planted drugs in an alley so people would think Amber died of an overdose. But Sheila's plan to have her daughter get pregnant by Rick was foiled by Ridge, who discovered the true identity of Mary and her enigmatic, unseen mother. Sheila got away when her mystery date, Ridge's biological father Massimo Marone, showed up with Stephanie to rescue Amber; Sheila ran to Eric to affirm her undying love but pulled a gun on him when he scoffed at her admission. Sheila nearly allowed herself to be talked down by Ridge's psychiatrist wife, Taylor Hayes, but when Brooke's arrival startled her, Sheila accidentally shot Taylor in the heart struggling over the gun, then put a bullet in Brooke as Eric tried to take the gun away from Sheila. After being punched by Eric, Sheila again went to prison, where she descended into madness over Mary's refusal to have anything more to do with her.

Sheila and her cellmate, Sugar, managed to break out of jail and headed to South America, where the widowed Ridge was marrying Brooke. Sheila kidnapped Ridge and held him for ransom in a foundry, demanding $100 million from shipping tycoon Massimo. Sheila and Sugar overpowered Ridge's half-brother, Nick Marone, when he arrived to rescue Ridge, and also imprisoned Brooke for trying to free them. After Massimo crashed the foundry doors with a motorcycle, Sheila brandished a baby she called Diana and claimed it was her child with Massimo. A free-for-all broke out during which Sheila brawled with Brooke; when Ridge fell into the foundry fire trying to save Brooke from it, Sheila raced over to help him, but escaped into the jungle with Sugar when her effort proved futile.

Sheila turned up in Toronto, where, under the alias Brenda Harris, she connected with Lauren's son, the grown-up Scotty Grainger, in a college creative writing class. Wanting to be Scotty's mother again, "Brenda" gave him an idea for a novel in which a seductress steals a woman's husband and baby -- it was Sheila's story, only with Lauren in the role of the villainess. Sheila hoped to turn Scotty against Lauren, who was about to marry reformed criminal Michael Baldwin. Having forced Sugar to have plastic surgery to look like Sheila then turn herself in to a psychiatric prison in Hemet, California, "Brenda" felt safe enough to accompany Scotty back to Genoa City. Sheila took on another guise as British "Jennifer Mitchell" and worked as a server at the Genoa City Athletic Club to spy on Lauren, almost giving herself away when she saved Michael's mother, Gloria Baldwin, from choking.

Sheila poisoned a necklace Scotty bought for Lauren, which caused Lauren to have hallucinations. Sheila appeared as herself while Lauren was out of it and tried to goad Lauren into jumping off a building; Sheila ducked out when Michael arrived to pull Lauren back from the edge. Hearing that she hadn't actually killed Taylor after all, Sheila decided to get Sugar-as-Sheila out of jail and reclaim her life -- but first she needed to do away with Lauren, who was keeping her from Scotty. Sheila followed newlyweds Lauren and Michael to the South Florida coast, where they were honeymooning on a yacht. With Michael ashore, Sheila planned to kill Lauren as well as accomplice Tom Fisher, whom she'd dallied with as Brenda/Jennifer, because she no longer felt Tom could be trusted. Sheila planted a bomb aboard the yacht, but the next thing she knew, she woke up in an abandoned bomb shelter.

Sheila was shocked to learn that Tom had drugged both her and Lauren before the boat exploded and was now holding them prisoner. Sheila and Lauren blamed each other for their troubles, but Sheila was surprised when Lauren protected her from Tom, who was furious to learn the police had found bomb materials that Sheila planted in his garage. Sheila and Lauren soon realized Tom had left them in the shelter to die and got into another catfight, during which Sheila's ankle was broken by Lauren. Sheila softened when Lauren gave her first aid and guided her to fresh air because their escape attempt caused a gas leak. Finding a radio, the enemies learned that Tom had been killed, meaning no one knew they were trapped in the shelter, so Sheila helped Lauren attempt a second escape, which caused the ceiling to start collapsing just as help arrived. Sheila pushed Lauren through the hatch to freedom but was buried in a cave-in.

Initially everyone thought that Sheila had died, then that she had returned and attacked Scotty with a knife, but it turned out Sugar-as-Sheila had done the deed trying to get revenge on Sheila for tampering with her face. The real Sheila, however, approached a plastic surgeon, gave him a photo, and asked him to "make me look like this."

Indeed, it was revealed that Sheila had undergone plastic surgery to make herself look like Lauren's best friend, Phyllis Summers. Sheila learned that Lauren was having a baby and created a replica of Lauren's nursery in a warehouse cell with the intention of imprisoning Lauren there, but Sheila was imprisoned in it herself by Lauren's ex-husband, Genoa City chief of police Paul Williams, who caught Sheila-as-Phyllis buying baby items. At gunpoint, Sheila posed for death photos because Paul wanted to assure Lauren that Sheila had died while in Argentina. Sheila was secretly held in the cell for months until Paul's police officer girlfriend, Maggie Sullivan, followed Paul to the warehouse; Sheila pretended to be Phyllis to trick Maggie into letting her out, then shot Maggie with her own gun and left her to bleed to death.

Sheila-as-Phyllis confronted Lauren and tied her up; then, dressed as an old woman, Sheila kidnapped Phyllis, Phyllis' baby girl Summer Newman, and Lauren's infant son Fenmore Baldwin, taking them to a retirement village. When Lauren burst in with Paul's gun, Sheila took advantage of Lauren's confusion over there being two Phyllises and tried to get Lauren to shoot the real Phyllis. But Sheila took the bullet when Phyllis revealed information only Phyllis would know; as she lay dying, Sheila-as-Phyllis sneered that Lauren shot the wrong one, then took her last breath.

By 2009, lawbreaking twins Daisy and Ryder Callahan arrived in Genoa City to cause trouble and were said to be the grown-up offspring of Sheila and Tom Fisher. Eventually, in 2010, they helped Sarah Smythe, who had plastic surgery to look like Lauren, kidnap the real Lauren; Sarah claimed she was Sheila's sister and wanted to avenge Sheila's death. Yet around the same time, in Los Angeles, a more criminal Mike Guthrie reappeared to sell Brooke's father a gun and hinted that Sheila may still be alive.

In 2017, Eric's most recent wife, Quinn Fuller, was shot at by an unknown assailant; Brooke's sister, Katie Logan, was a suspect. When Quinn investigated Katie's house, she discovered a very much alive Sheila, with her original face! Sheila explained that rumors of her identity change and death had been exaggerated and hoped Katie would act as a liaison with the Forresters so she could make amends. Sheila told a shocked Eric that she had done jail time and emerged a rehabilitated woman, but she found herself behind bars again for violating a restraining order she had no idea was still in effect, and for trying to kill Quinn. Sheila was released when it turned out Quinn's ex-husband, Deacon Sharpe, was the gunman; Sheila was happy to get a chance to apologize to Brooke for her behavior, and especially Eric, for whom Sheila still carried warm feelings.

Sheila accepted Quinn as Eric's wife, but when she overheard Forrester security guard Charlie Webber intimating that something untoward had happened between Quinn and Ridge, Sheila pumped Charlie for information. Sheila's fishing expedition with Quinn sparked a touch of her old anger as the exasperated Quinn tried to show Sheila out physically. When Charlie let it slip that Ridge was one of Quinn's only friends, Sheila solidified her theory that Quinn was fooling around with Ridge and went on a mission to protect Eric, telling her one-time love that his wife and son were betraying him. After Ridge and Quinn couldn't deny they'd kissed on several occasions, Sheila was surprised to find Eric checking in down the hall in the same hotel where she was staying.

Sheila tried to extort money from Charlie in exchange for keeping quiet about his role in exposing Quinn and Ridge. At Eric's request, Sheila went to his home to retrieve his electric razor and ended up getting into it with Quinn; Sheila was stunned when Eric's granddaughter, Steffy Forrester (whose mother, Taylor Hayes, had been shot and presumed dead thanks to Sheila), burst into Eric's room and shot Sheila when she tried to produce the razor from her purse. Seeing Steffy's bullet had only grazed her arm, Sheila helped cover up the incident when the authorities came investigating a gunshot. Sheila was happy that Eric thanked her for her loyalty and asked for a kiss as payment; later, Sheila cried as Eric told Ridge he no longer had a son in him.

Sheila commissioned a portrait of herself to replace Quinn's over the Forrester family mantel and was upset to learn Eric had taken Quinn back. After being called a bitch by Quinn, Sheila brawled with her rival and nearly killed Quinn before sustaining a head injury. Diagnosed with a concussion, Sheila hid her joy when Eric had her recuperate at the house to keep the press and police away. Sheila exaggerated her symptoms to extend her stay and was surprised to find her ex-husband James had been brought in by Eric to examine her. Sheila told James she'd stayed in touch with their daughter, Mary, and learned that he had illegally written himself prescriptions while addicted to painkillers; Sheila threatened to go public with James' crime if he didn't maintain her lie about not getting better. However, Sheila slipped up when Quinn caught her walking around normally; Sheila was asked to leave the Forrester mansion after she attacked Quinn to keep her from telling Eric.

Convinced Quinn would again betray Eric with Ridge, Sheila watched Charlie's security feed and got him to trap Ridge and Quinn in the Forrester elevator, snapping a photo of them in a clinch. Later, Sheila scoffed at Quinn's demand that Sheila leave Los Angeles and engaged in a third brawl with her, after which Sheila swore she would expose Quinn and win Eric back for herself. Instead, Sheila discovered that Mateo, Eric's new estate manager, was also a masseur and offered Mateo money to seduce Quinn. Though Mateo was reluctant at first, Sheila was thrilled when he called reporting the deed had been done; Sheila couldn't believe it when Eric said he was through with Quinn and replaced her portrait with Sheila's. But Sheila soon found out she had been duped by Eric and Quinn and was asked to leave; Sheila still smiled to herself standing outside the Forrester mansion's closed door.

Sheila ran into Charlie's girlfriend, Pam Douglas, and tried to strike up a friendship, even offering to go with her to visit the grave of Pam's sister, Stephanie. Later, Sheila blabbed to Ridge's brother, Thorne Forrester (who never knew Sheila had once pushed Thorne's alcoholic wife, Macy Alexander, off the wagon by spiking Macy's drink), about Ridge's "affair" with Quinn. Sheila was surprised when Ridge approached her and suggested she should shoot his nemesis, Bill Spencer, Jr.; when Bill was actually shot, Sheila denied she had taken Ridge's directive seriously. It was assumed after this final appearance in 2018 that Sheila was still living in L.A. and working at Il Giardino as a waitress.

In 2021, Sheila interrupted the wedding reception of Steffy and her new husband, John "Finn" Finnegan, with the claim that Finn was Sheila's son. After being thrown out by the Forresters and told not to return, Sheila prepared to leave L.A. and texted Finn with a goodbye. When Finn replied with a heart emoji, Sheila determined to have a relationship with him and made a demand of Finn's father, Jack Finnegan, that she be allowed to see Finn's infant son, Hayes, or Sheila would tell Finn and Jack's wife, Li Finnegan, that Finn had been born through a long-ago affair between Sheila and Jack -- not only that, but Sheila would spill that Jack was not Finn's adopted father as Finn believed, but his biological father. Sheila got her moment of triumph when she was able to hold Hayes in her arms, but she was caught by Steffy, which earned Sheila a slap in the face.

Sheila appealed to Finn to be a part of his life, but when he stonewalled her, Sheila pretended to faint and feigned a malady to gain Finn's sympathy, which ultimately didn't work. Sheila blamed Steffy and saw her as her only obstacle. Soon after, Sheila met Hope Logan's ne'er-do-well, ex-con father, Deacon Sharpe, who was similarly being kept away from a child. Sheila offered the homeless Deacon a place to stay and did her best to convince him that they should work together to force access to their kids, Finn and Hope, respectively. Sheila initially got Deacon to pretend a romance with her for Hope and Finn's benefit, but Sheila was surprised when Deacon changed his mind and moved out of her hotel room. Changing her own mind, Sheila convinced Jack to tell Finn the truth about being Finn's biological father, but Sheila still couldn't get anywhere near Finn. Sheila received a shock when a forgiving Taylor returned to town and allowed Sheila to spend a few moments with Finn and Hayes at Christmas.

When Brooke vowed she would do everything she could to protect Steffy's family from her, Sheila got revenge by switching alcoholic Brooke's alcohol-free champagne with the real thing. Sheila couldn't be sure if she had successfully pushed Brooke off the wagon, especially since her attempts to get information from Deacon and Taylor came up empty. But when Sheila found out that Ridge had left Brooke because Brooke had drunkenly kissed Deacon, Sheila was so pleased with herself that she slipped in front of the grown-up Thomas, who figured out what Sheila had done. Sheila menaced Thomas into keeping quiet even as she promised the visiting Finn that she wouldn't let him down.

Sheila found herself confronted by Steffy, who had overheard Thomas and learned what Sheila had done to Brooke. When Steffy promised that Sheila would never see Finn or Hayes again, Sheila whipped out a gun and aimed at Steffy, but Finn raced in, and Sheila accidentally shot him instead. Desperate and cornered when Steffy wanted to call the police to help Finn, Sheila shot Steffy as well and stole the Finnegans' belongings to make it look like they had been robbed. Sheila was haunted by the fact that she had taken her son's life and fell deeper into despair when Li refused to let Sheila have a last moment with Finn. Accused of the shooting by Thomas, Sheila readied to commit suicide by jumping off the hospital roof only to end up saving Taylor, who went over the ledge trying to prevent Sheila from hurting herself. Sheila dreaded the moment the unconscious Steffy would wake up, but when Steffy did come to, Sheila was relieved to discover that Steffy had no memory of the double shooting.

Once Steffy started remembering details of what happened to her, Sheila twice contemplated doing away with Steffy. Sheila was overjoyed when the recovering Steffy invited her to the house to see Hayes, but soon found herself ambushed by Steffy and her parents about the shooting. Angry that she had been tricked, Sheila tried to weasel out of the accusation but soon confessed; Sheila went to jail after it turned out that Steffy was wearing a wire supplied by the police. After Li referred to Finn in the present tense during a prison visit, Sheila escaped with the help of the returned Mike, who was now a guard at the facility; confronting Li, Sheila discovered that Li had smuggled the barely-alive Finn out of the hospital and was caring for the comatose man herself.

Sheila nearly believed Li when Li suggested they could nurse Finn back to health together, but Sheila became enraged when she caught Li trying to call the police. Sheila brawled with Li, then gave chase in Mike's car, running Li off the road and watching as Li's flame-engulfed SUV sank into a body of water. When Finn's heart stopped, Sheila managed to bring him back to life using defibrillator paddles, which Li had supplied at Finn's bedside. With Finn regaining consciousness and strength, Sheila tried to convince him to stay and let her attend to him despite his increasingly desperate pleas to free him so he could reunite with Steffy. Sheila drugged Finn with a sedative when he tried to choke her and escape, but soon a not-dead Li brought help to rescue Finn, and Sheila was tied to Finn's hospital bed to await the arrival of the cops.

However, Sheila was freed when Mike knocked Li unconscious and untied her. Sheila tried and failed to get Deacon to harbor her, so, while on the run, she cut off her own toe and staged her death by bear mauling. Having procured an elaborate mask and a red wig, an in-disguise Sheila seduced a drunken Deacon and shocked him when she revealed herself. But when Deacon's parole officer arrived on the door, Sheila begged Deacon not to give her away. Sheila implied she had a lot of money and promised Deacon a share if she could stay with him. Going around town in her "Lina" ruse, Sheila snuck into Steffy's house and held Hayes, only to have Deacon pull her away before Steffy could see her.

After months of hiding out at Deacon's and occasionally venturing out in her mask, Sheila was advised to make a break for it after Deacon reported that Finn had figured out Sheila was alive. Sheila made the mistake of wearing open-toed shoes with her disguise and ran into Steffy, after which Sheila stole a car and evaded police. Sheila soon showed up on Steffy's doorstep with Bill on her arm; Sheila had followed a dejected Bill one night and bonded with him, and now Sheila had a champion in Bill, who threatened to turn Taylor in for her long-ago shooting of him if Steffy and Finn testified against Sheila. With the aid of a judge whom Bill had bought off, Sheila became a free woman but had to face each of Bill's loved ones, insisting that what she and Bill had was real.

Sheila rebuffed Deacon, who wanted her to leave Bill for him; protecting her freedom, Sheila told Deacon he was a loser and that she never wanted to see him again. But not long after, Sheila admitted to Deacon that she hadn't meant any of it and thought of him all the time, especially since Bill was tame in bed and always asking her to open up about her emotions and her past. Sheila and Deacon started a steamy affair, though Sheila was afraid that Bill would send her back to jail if he found out about it. When Bill proposed to her, Sheila was initially suspicious but accepted. Feeling vulnerable, Sheila admitted to Bill her part in the long-ago accidental death of Jay Garvin and her murder of Lance Day. But Sheila caught Bill gloating to the FBI about having gotten the goods on her; Sheila tried to escape but fell over Bill's two-story balcony in the attempt. Uninjured, Sheila ran to Deacon only to learn he was in on the sting with Bill and Ridge. Sheila suffered a heart attack and flatlined; once Finn resurrected her, Sheila returned to prison.

No one was more shocked than Sheila when she faced trail and was released from jail on a technicality: Bill had entrapped her using improper methods. Sheila stalked Finn while he was on the beach with his stepdaughter, Kelly, and ended up earning Finn's gratitude when she saved Kelly from drowning. Sheila learned that Deacon had convinced the judge in her trial, who was a friend of his, to pave the way for Sheila's release, and Sheila began seeing Deacon again. Sheila was hesitant to accept Deacon's proposal of marriage because of how it would affect his relationship with Hope, but ultimately she accepted, despite Hope and Finn's disapproval. Inspired by Deacon's love and support, Sheila wanted to change; Sheila held it together when Li smashed her face into a plate of pasta to goad Sheila into retaliating in an illegal way. Sheila also refused to react when Steffy punched her.

Sheila kept a low profile while working for Deacon, who had bought Il Giardino; when Sheila began making unexplained, off-screen disappearances, Sheila told Deacon she had merely been visiting with a long lost friend. After Steffy punched Sheila again for serving Kelly at the restaurant, Sheila blew up in front of Deacon and vowed to herself that Steffy would die. Sheila lurked in Steffy's bushes and snuck into her house, menacing her as she reached into her pocket for something. Before she could reveal what she was concealing, Sheila was stabbed by Steffy and fell to the floor coughing up blood. Paramedics who soon arrived on the scene declared Sheila dead, and a devastated Deacon paid his respects to Sheila in the morgue.