Ciara was conceived in the spring of 2006, but there was a catch – Hope didn't know if the baby's father was Bo or Patrick Lockhart. Hope had been with Bo but, shortly afterwards, they separated. One night, while upset, she fell into Patrick's eager arms. Initial tests showed that Patrick was Ciara's father. Despite the results, Bo decided to support Hope and they reconciled.

Over time, Patrick became increasingly unhinged because of Hope's decision and kidnapped her. He took her to an abandoned warehouse. Bo was able to find her and showed up just as Hope went into labor. Ciara was born in the warehouse on December 29, 2006.

Upon Ciara's birth, Patrick confessed that he had paid the doctor to lie. Bo was really Ciara's father. Patrick was arrested and the Brady family was safely reunited. Bo called his new daughter "Doodlebug" for the first few weeks of her life until he and Hope were finally able to find the perfect name.

In July of 2009, an aged Ciara was stalked by an unknown man. The stalker eventually introduced himself to her on her birthday (which was changed from December 29th to July 16th). He gave her a heart-shaped lollipop. He also said it was his birthday too and called them "Birthday Buddies." He left before anyone else could see him, and Ciara simply said a friend gave her the lollipop when Hope asked her about it. Given they were at her birthday party, surrounded by friends, Hope didn't suspect a thing.

In August, the stalker decided to make his move while Ciara attended the Salem Carnival. Coincidentally, Bo and Hope had decided to let her go under the guardianship of her friend Tracy's mother Ellen. Hope was worried when she arrived and saw that Ellen had brought several other neighborhood children with her, but Bo assured her she was just being overly concerned. He also pointed out that Ciara's "best boyfriend," Theo, was there with Abe and Lexie. Hesitantly, Hope agreed to let her stay and Bo and Hope left.

Ironically, Ellen did become overwhelmed and, when her daughter was hurt, she and several other adults lost track of Ciara while attending to Tracy's injuries. During this time, the stalker, Kyle, a registered sex offender, told Ciara that Bo and Hope had been in an accident and he was sent to take her to the hospital to see them. Since he was her "Birthday Buddy" Ciara trusted him and followed. Unbeknownst to Kyle, Theo saw them leave together and would later pinpoint Kyle because of a unique angel tattoo on his arm.

Kyle took Ciara to a remote cabin in the woods where she was bound, blindfolded, and given an MP3 player so that she couldn't hear what was going on around her. Although, at several points, Ciara did manage hear someone making a unique metallic clicking sound. At the cabin it was revealed that Kyle was not working alone. His sister Brenda and, her boyfriend, Dean Hartman, a corrupt Salem police officer, were all working together. In fact, it was also revealed that Dean was the mastermind behind the kidnapping. He had told Brenda and Kyle that Hope was wealthy and they could ransom Ciara then skip town once they collected the money.

After a few weeks, things fell apart for the kidnappers. Dean, who was actually working the case, knew the force was closing in on them. To ensure Brenda and Kyle wouldn't finger him he shot and killed them while Ciara lay blindfolded nearby. He then shot himself in the right shoulder, but blamed Brenda when Bo and Hope arrived at the cabin moments later. To them, Dean looked like the hero and they were thrilled to be reunited with Ciara.

Because of her abduction, Ciara was traumatized and began having nightmares. Hope took her to a child psychologist, Dr. Hancock. But nightmares turned into realty when Dean showed up at Ciara's home to ask for the reward money. Ciara once again heard the unique metallic clicking sound and realized it came from Dean's Zippo lighter as he had a nervous habit of randomly opening and closing it. Hope tried to protect her daughter, but was knocked out by Dean. Justin also tired to help when he showed up, but was shot. Finally it was Bo who rushed in and saved the day. Dean was arrested and Ciara was finally safe.

Unfortunately, after Dean was arrested, Bo and Hope's marriage began to fall apart. Hope took Ciara and left Bo. At first they stayed with Doug and Julie, but eventually moved in with Victor. But Ciara's nightmares continued and she began to resent Hope for taking her away from her father. With Justin's help, Ciara began to ease up on Hope and she developed a close bond with him and called him "Uncle Justin."

Much to Ciara's chagrin, Bo and Hope's separation continued through the spring of 2010. Ciara became increasingly disturbed when she witnessed Bo and his new girlfriend, Carly Manning, sharing a tender moment on a webcam that had accidentally been left on after Bo and Ciara had a webcam chat. When she arrived at Bo's house later that day, she took a pair of scissors, opened Carly's suitcase, and cut up her clothes. Bo comforted his daughter who admitted she did not approve of his relationship with Carly.

In late April, Ciara would act out again, this time stealing stickers from her teacher Mrs. Youngblood's desk. Hope tried to talk with Ciara, but she remained upset over the situation, made worse because Bo was in Los Angeles donating bone marrow to his sister, Kimberly. Ciara was further upset when Hope made a comment that Justin might be her daddy someday. Ciara didn't know that Hope was taking pills and didn't remember her remark and Hope thought Ciara was making things up or confusing her dreams with reality. Ciara swore she wasn't lying, but Hope remained concerned about her daughter, unaware that she had made the comment under the influence. Afterwards, Ciara found a box under Hope's bed and, after looking inside she proclaimed her mommy has a secret.

It took months for anyone to believe that Hope had a secret. Finally, "sleeping pill" Hope confronted Bo and he captured the whole thing on tape. Hope was arrested and sent to jail for attacking at least 5 different men in Salem. Ciara wrote letters to Hope and was thrilled when Hope was released from jail.

Later, Bo left town to look for a cure for Caroline's illness, leaving Ciara and Hope alone. Over the many months of his absence, Ciara began to act out - bullying other kids in school and blackmailing people like Sami.

Hope was called into the principal's office about one bullying attempt on a boy named Chase. After a while, Hope and Chase's dad Aiden started a relationship. Ciara softened toward Chase and was excited when Hope and Aiden decided to marry. However, the night of their wedding, Andre swapped Aiden with an imposter, who tried to kill Hope.

Miraculously, Bo returned home the night of the wedding and saved Hope, killing the fake Aiden. Ciara was thrilled to have her father back. However, his return was not long as he had a terminal brain tumor.

After Bo's death and fake Aiden's death, Chase began to spiral out of control. Hope tried to reach out to him, but he was acting out. He bullied Theo, whom he thought had a crush on Ciara. Chase had grown feelings for her too. When she rejected him, he raped her.

Later, the real Aiden escaped DiMera custody and returned home. When he learned what Chase had done, he had him committed to a mental hospital. Ciara went to therapy to deal with the trauma.

Ciara tried to put her life back together. She focused on her friends (Claire, Theo and Joey) and took a job as a nanny for Chad DiMera's son Thomas. Ciara developed feelings for Chad. Despite him making it clear nothing would happen, Ciara retained her feelings, rebuking Theo's advances when he had feelings for her. However, nothing ever happened between Chad and Ciara.

Theo moved onto Claire, which unsettled Ciara. But, Ciara tried to fight her feelings, event helping Claire pick out gifts for Theo. Eventually, she told Claire of her feelings, but promised not to interfere in their relationship. She broke that promise by writing a note to Theo telling him how she felt. Claire intercepted her letter.

Happy with Claire, Theo wanted to see Ciara find someone. So, when his friend Wyatt mentioned he was looking for a girlfriend, Theo fed Wyatt information about Ciara so Wyatt could impress her. It worked. Ciara and Wyatt began dating. When Theo learned that Wyatt was borrowing money from Ciara, Theo came clean about his role in helping Wyatt fake their relationship. Furious with Theo, Ciara left town.