1985

Steve arrived in town bent on revenge against his ex best friend Bo, who had knifed Steve's eye out years ago. Steve worked for Victor Kiriakis .

1986

In 1986, Kayla was scared back to Salem by what she believed was a stalker (it was Steve, who was working for Emma and agreed to scare the nurse back to Salem). Kayla soon started up a free waterfront emergency clinic.

Kayla found Steve on the docks and cleaned him up- she was the first person Steve allowed to see under the patch.

Steve and Kayla traveled to Stockholm along with Roman, Bo, Hope and Shane, in an attempt to rescue Marlena who had been kidnapped by Orpheus.Steve and Kayla shared some close moments, including their first kiss; they began developing a close bond.

1987

Adrienne started to work with Kayla at the emergency center. Steve learned Adrienne was his little sister, whom he had never known. Steve saw his mother Jo, a battered wife, for the first time since she gave him up for adoption at age 5. Duke raped Adrienne and she shot him in self defense. Steve tried to cover for her, since she had no memory of the traumatic event. Eventually he was cleared.

Kayla slowly learned how tragic and lonely Steve's childhood had been, and they grew closer.

Kayla's old friend Jack Deveraux arrived in town with his father, Senator Harper Deveraux and stepmother Anjelica. Jack was suffering from Hodgkin's Disease and his father hired Kayla as his private nurse. Jack fell for Kayla.

Steve and Kayla went on the run after he was set up for shooting Harper Devereaux.

As he was about to be cleared of all charges, Steve and Kayla made love for the first time, on the rooftop of her loft. Steve admitted to Kayla how much he loved her.

Right before Steve was going to propose to Kayla, Jo and Steve learned Jack was actually Jo's other son, but didn't tell Jack. Steve knew Jack needed incentive to fight for his life and encouraged Kayla to spend time with him.

Steve dumped Kayla so that she would give Jack a will to live. Kayla married Jack out of sympathy, and because she thought her relationship with Steve was really over this time. It worked- Jack got better.

Thinking she had found the adoption papers that proved Jack wasn't his biological son, Harper poisoned Kayla. Steve discovered the crime, and kidnapped her from the Deveraux mansion. She ran away when Steve tried to convince her that Harper had done it. She collapsed on the docks, but was found and saved by a quirky scientist. Marcus and Steve found her and made sure she recovered.

Steve told Kayla the truth- that he had given her up to give Jack a will to live. They agreed that she would go back to Jack until his run for political office was over, and then she would ask for a divorce.

1988

When Jack was sent pictures of Steve and Kayla kissing, he was forced out of denial: Kayla still loved Steve. Enraged, Jack raped Kayla and had his goons beat Steve up.

Steve and Kayla went off to the mountains to be together. They had a symbollic wedding in the snow.Later, Kayla told Steve that Jack had raped her. Jack had his goons beat Steve up again, and they left him for dead in a ditch. Meanwhile, Jack kidnapped Kayla and took her back to the loft (where he had raped her). Steve made it out of the ditch, and tried to rescue Kayla. He fought with Jack on the roof.  During the struggle, Jack fell from the roof. In order to save Jack's life, Steve donated a kidney.

Kayla pressed charges against Jack, but accepted a settlement. She then filed for divorce, though Jack would not sign on the dotted line. He wanted to make Steve and Kayla as miserable as possible. He even tried to take down the Community center where Steve and Kayla worked.

Kayla was attacked by the "Riverfront Knifer" in the basement of her apartment building. When Kayla tried to escape, the killer tripped over a can of gasoline, causing the basement to explode. Steve came to the rescue. Kayla was left deaf and mute and had no recollection of what had happened. She and Steve learned sign language.

Kayla had surgery to repair her hearing,but she still
couldn't speak. After surgery, she accepted Steve's
proposal. During their wedding ceremony, Kayla regained
her speech in time to say, "I do."

Steve and Kayla honeymooned in the Orient and found a lost deaf boy named Benjy. When they couldn't find his parents they brought him back to Salem. Steve received a message from Benjy's mother, Ellen, telling them to hide Benjy from his evil father, Stefano. She was later found dead. Benjy was returned to his grandfather, Orion, and they left for Europe.

Steve found Nick Corelli, who had been badly burned in an accident and was unrecognizable. Steve took pity on the burned man, because he knew what it was like to be isolated from the world because of physical scars.

1989

Nick appreciated Steve and Kayla's kindness so much, he gave them an old mansion he owned. When Steve and Kayla moved to the mansion, they found an old chest of civil war uniforms, and a previous tenant's diary...the diary of Emily Matthews. It told of her love story with a man named Gideon Wyatt during the civil war.

The two were on opposing sides of the war, but fell in love anyway. As Steve and Kayla read the diary, Stephen and Mary Beth played the parts of Emily and Gideon in *flashback* scenes.

Steve's best friend Marcus started having flashbacks of his childhood in South Carolina and was drawn back to find out what happened there. When a religious revival troupe came to Salem, Marcus knew they had some connection to his past. Steve and Kayla traveled with Marcus (on location scenes) to South Carolina to find out the truth about his past. They brought along the Emily and Gideon diary, and the love story continued on location in South Carolina.

They discovered that the religious revival troupe was a scam, and Steve went undercover to investigate the organization.

To do this, he had plastic surgery to put in a glass eye. He took on the identity of Daniel Lucas.

Not long after his work there was done, Steve's ex-wife (who Kayla did not know about) came to Salem. Marina Toscano made it clear she wanted Steve back, but she also wanted a secret treasure her mother had left behind.

Steve and Kayla were estranged when she found out about Marina. Steve agreed to help Marina find the key that would lead her to the treasure if she would leave him and Kayla alone. They went to Italy to find the key.

Meanwhile, Kayla found out she was pregnant. She went to Italy to tell Steve,caught in what she thought was an intimate moment with Marina. She returned home to Salem.

Steve got in a fight aboard a yacht in Italy, a fight over the key for the Toscano family treasure. In the fight his eye was re-injured. This time the glass eye could not be replaced, and he put the patch back on.

Steve and Kayla's marriage went through hard times, but slowly they found their way back to each other.

1990

Kayla was kidnapped by Victor, who also wanted the key, but was soon rescued. Steve and Kayla planned to remarry. Marina was found murdered. During the ceremony, Kayla was arrested for murdering Marina.

During the trial, Kayla gave birth to Stephanie Kay. Soon after giving birth, Kayla was convicted and sent to prison.

Stephanie was kidnapped by the nanny Steve had hired, and Kayla escaped to search for her. Isabella remembered killing Marina, her sister, accidentally in self defense. Steve and Kayla, along with Bo, found Stephanie in Australia and returned to Salem. Kayla was freed.

Steve and Kayla remarried.

Steve was caught in an explosion meant for Bo. He was badly injured, but recovered. Someone put something in his IV, and he flatlined. But at his funeral, the coffins were switched.

Kayla went on to have a failed romance with Shane Donovan, her ex brother in law, and then left for California with Stephanie Kay.