Their Story

(I’m currently in the process of watching the entire story again, so some of this is just off mere memory, and will be updated and/or corrected as I get farther into the old DVD’s.) If anyone is interested in adding to or writing something I haven’t completed yet, let me know.

Steve came to Salem bent on revenge against his former best friend, Bo Brady. Bo and Steve, along with a Swedish girl named Britta were the best of friends during their days in the Merchant Marines. The three got matching dagger tattoos, their motto "three together, together forever." Britta was in love the Steve and Bo was in love with Britta. Little did any of them know Britta was a spy for the Communist government, the KGB.

Bo was hesitant to start anything with Britta because Steve was his best friend and he knew Steve had feelings for Britta. She convinced him to run away with her and meet her on the pier in Stockholm with a package. Then they would leave together and start a life. Bo was hesitant at first, still worried about betraying Steve, but Britta made some very good nonverbal arguments in favor of them being together (i.e., she was seducing him) and he agreed. It was a trap.

When Bo went to the pier in Stockholm with the package Britta wanted him to bring there was a sting. (Led by none other then Roman Brady) The package contained information for the KGB. Once Bo realized it was a trap that Britta had put him in it was too late. He ran back to the hotel where all three of them were staying to confront Britta and Steve. He was convinced Steve was part of this too. (He wasn’t.)

When Bo entered the hotel room, enraged that he’d been set up by the woman he loved and his best friend, he found Steve and Britta in bed together. Steve and Bo fought and Bo knifed Steve’s eye out. Soon after, Bo left Stockholm and the Merchant Marines. And Britta was presumed killed during the event.

6 years later a woman named Savannah Wilder contacted Steve, now going by the name "Patch", and told him she had a job for him, smuggling drugs for Victor Kiriakis. Steve took the job and looked forward to returning to Salem and terrorizing Bo and his wife Hope.

Steve did various jobs for Kiriakis and even got arrested a couple of times. During this time Shane Donavan got arrested for some espianage work that had been done in Stockholm Sweden in 1979. Shane had no idea what this was even about, but Bo did. It was because of Bo that Shane was blamed for this. Bo took the blame for what he’d done and was sent to jail.

Hope was desperate to clear Bo’s name and went to Steve for help. Steve was reluctant to help her, but eventually agreed after Hope begged him. They left for Stockholm, where Steve said he knew of something that would help Bo, Britta. Britta was not dead, and Steve was the only one who knew this. Britta had come to him in the hospital after he’d lost his eye and told Steve she was going into the witness protection, and as far as anyone else knew she was dead.

Bo got wind of Steve and Hope leaving for Stockholm together and broke out of jail and caught the next flight to Stockholm. Some very tense moments ensued between Steve and Bo, but you could also get an occasional glimpse of their old friendship. They concoted a plan, they were going to get Britta and force her to clear Bo’s name.

They discovered that Britta had a contact and was supposed to be meeting this person on a train to Norway. Bo boarded the train (in disguise, since he was a wanted man for breaking out of jail) and confronted the contact. They got into a scuffle and Bo realized it was actually Britta. She returned to Salem, cleared Bo’s name, and started a very rocky relationship with Steve.

Britta was confronted by Victor Kiriakis one day and told she had to leave Salem or he would kill both Steve and her brother Lars, who was now in Salem as well. Right after this Steve asked Britta to move in with him, presented her with a key and they kissed. That night Britta and Steve made love, but Steve could tell something was amiss. Britta told him nothing was wrong. She left Steve and Salem the next day.

Emma Marshall had a job for Steve now, she wanted him to go to Cleveland and scare Kayla Brady back to Salem. (It had to do with Emma wanting to kidnap Kimberly Brady’s baby, a long unrelated story). Steve took the job, happy to bring more grief to Bo and his beloved sister Kayla. Steve went to Cleveland, broke into Kayla’s apartment and hid in a closet as she came home from work. He watched her change and then fall asleep. Afterward he left her apartment and went to a payphone to call her and tell her what she was wearing, scaring Kayla. This was the first appearance of the yellow rose, where Steve left it by her phone after leaving her apartment trashed. The next day Steve went back to Kayla’s apartment, trashed it and graffittied the wall, and left. This did the trick; Kayla came home to Salem.

Kayla arrived just in the nick of time, it seemed. Marlena had just discovered that John Black was actually Roman Brady (at least for the next 6 years he would be) and Bo had discovered that he was actually Victor Kiriakis’s son. In light of Caroline Brady’s infedelity, Shawn prepared to leave her, and Bo was now pulling away from the family, confused about his heritage. Kayla came in and helped patch up her parent’s marriage and was there for support for Bo. (Bo and Kayla had a special realationship.)

Britta had returned to Salem to help Roman Brady with a case he’d had in Stockholm in 1979, involving some hidden bonds. She was also working as a double agent for the KGB again. She was informed to get pictures of the three tattoo’s because they held the missing clue to finding the bonds. She tried to hook back up with Steve, but it was too late. Steve was not only still furious at her for leaving him, he was starting to fall for Kayla. This made for some cute moments with Steve and Kayla where Kayla became jealous of Britta and Steve was jealous of Kayla’s old boyfriend Chris Kostichek.

Kayla hated Steve at first, he was always around to bug her and made rude comments to her. But there were a few instances where she began to see Steve in a different light. Bo was now working for and living with Victor Kiriakis. He was the manager of Allied, a company owned by Victor. The people he worked for didn’t like him all that much so they plotted to trap Bo in some crates and crush him. Steve came into the room just as the forklift was closing in on Bo and pulled him out, only Bo’s leg being crushed. Steve however fell off the top of the crates and bumped his head. Undeterred by his own injury, Steve took Bo to the Emergency Center and helped them nurse him to health. Steve collapsed though and Bo told Kayla that he must have hit his head when he fell. Kayla realized that Steve was too busy worrying about Bo to care about his own injuries. Even though Bo and Steve weren’t friends anymore, Steve still put Bo first. Kayla bandaged up his head and sent him to the hospital for his cuncussion.

Steve had been beaten up by Victor’s thugs and left for dead on the pier. Kayla had found him and took him back to his apartment. (He refused to go to the hospital.) Kayla cleaned him up and told Steve she’d have to take off his patch to help him. Steve refused, but was too weak to fight her. Kayla removed the patch as Steve shook visibly. She cleaned him up and told him she had to go to the drug store to get more stuff to help him. Once she left Steve, still trembling from having Kayla see under his patch, said "She didn’t even flinch."

While Kayla was leaving the Brady Fish Market one day a teenage punk came and grabbed her purse. Steve was there and caught him and returned the purse back to Kayla. Steve saw the same kid again on the pier with a wallet and when he fought the kid his little brother came and bit Steve in the leg. Instinctually Steve shook the kid off, and into the water where the young boy struggled to stay afloat. Steve jumped in and pulled the boy out and preformed mouth to mouth to get him breathing again. He took the boy to the Emergency Center with his teenage brother in tow. After a while Steve realized that these two brothers, Frankie and Max, didn’t have any parents. Frankie begged Steve not to tell a social worker because they would separate them. This is the first time we get a glimpse into Steve’s childhood, and Steve says he would never do that because he was in the same situation. Kayla however found the boys and did tell a social worker. Steve was angry and told Kayla about his own experience with losing his baby brother when he was adopted and nobody took Steve. Kayla told him this situation would be different, and the social worker came. Kayla was told the boys wouldn’t be seperated, but when the lady came to get them she said she only wanted Max. They took Max and Frankie and Steve were furious with Kayla.

Eventually Kayla rectified the situation and convinced her parents to take in both Frankie and Max. It was rough going for a while for the boys, but they eventually became part of the Brady clan.

Bo was becoming more distant with his family and Hope as well. He went on a business trip to Italy and Hope moved out of their house and in with Kayla. She was also pregnant. While mulling over Bo and her future she started cramping on the pier and fell in agony. Steve was there and picked her up and carried her to the Emergency Center.

Kayla watched as Steve calmed Hope down and even made her smile, soothing her in calming tones and telling her how pretty she was. He sat by her bedside when Bo didn’t call her back and even cried when they told Steve, Kayla and Kimberly that Hope had lost the baby. Kayla was beginning to see the softer side of the rough "Patch".

Steve and Britta, Steve is looking at Kayla, Britta is not amused.

This is just the Steve/Kayla version of Stockholm. So much happened in that city and most of it involved Roman and Marlena. To read the complete storyline (though with not much Steve and Kayla in it) go to Beth's description.

Stockholm Sweden was the setting for one of my favorite storylines. It’s long and complicated, but here’s the gist. Marlena had been kidnapped and Roman was looking for her. It all had to do with missing bonds worth 25 billion dollars and the three tattoos of Bo, Steve and Britta. So Roman, Hope, Steve and Kayla go to Stockholm to find the bonds and give them back to the ISA before Victor Kiriakis could get them. It was in Stockholm where the foundation of Steve and Kayla’s relationship formed.

Steve was walking on the pier fantasizing about Kayla when Britta came along. They talked, Britta wanting to rekindle old flames, and Steve refusing. That was when Steve saw a body floating in the river. He dove in and fished it out. It was Gregory, he was dead.

Roman was on his way to his reception when he saw the commotion on the pier and came to check it out. Needless to say he was MAD when he found out who the dead man was and demanded Steve tell him everything he knew about Gregory. Steve told him, but it wasn’t what Roman was looking for. Still mad Roman left to go to his reception.

Steve and Britta returned to Steve’s apartment where Britta insisted they need each other that night to help them both forget about Gregory. Steve refused her yet again, but she persisted and he gave in.

The next morning Britta woke before Steve did, pulled out a small camera and took several pictures of Steve’s tattoo before he woke up. She played it off to Steve, telling him she wanted to be there for him, but Steve wanted her to leave. As she was getting dressed Kayla came over to ask Steve to help her find Frankie. Kayla got a little jealous at the situation and stormed out.

Britta went to report to Kiriakis, who wanted the bonds as well, and who was working with someone named Orpheus to get them. Kiriakis told Britta he’d leave her alone and take his hit off her and Steve and Lars if she helped him solve the mystery of Stockholm. Her next task was to get a picture of Bo’s tattoo.

While Steve was watching Kayla and Chris Kostichek at a picnic he decided to call Britta. Her line was busy so Steve knew she was home and went to see her. (It’s not explained why, I think it’s assumed that Steve was thinking about getting back with Britta since Kayla was with Chris…but like I said, it’s not explained.) When Steve got to her room at the Salem Inn he found Bo laying on the bed shirtless and Britta standing over him with a camera. Steve demanded to know what she was up to and Britta made up a lame story that Steve didn’t believe. He knew now though that Britta was up to something and he couldn’t trust her at all.

On the same night Marlena was kidnapped by two guys Britta went to the loft to see Bo and Hope. Kayla was there and knew that Britta knew Bo and Hope wouldn’t be home until late that night. Britta and Kayla shared a tense few moments where it was obvious neither liked the other and then Britta asked to use Kayla’s bathroom. She put a hidden camera in the shower (kinky little girl, hehe) and left. She wanted to get a picture of Bo’s tattoo, since all other attempts had failed. She left the loft after that.

Steve found Britta on the pier and they fought. When Britta dropped her purse the pictures she’d taken of Steve’s tattoo fell out. Steve questioned her and didn’t buy her lame excuse. He asked her what she was doing at the loft that night as well. Britta again made up a lame story and Steve didn’t buy it. He did tell her however that if he found out what she was up to, he would kill her. Kayla overheard the argument. Britta was shot later that night.

Roman found Britta on the pier and took her to the Emergency Center. Kayla tried to revive her, but Britta died. With her last breaths she kept calling Steve’s name. When Roman asked who shot her Britta said Steve. Kayla remembered him threatening to kill Britta and told Roman. Steve was now the prime suspect.

Steve meanwhile was getting drunk at the Cheatin’ Heart (the first time we see the Cheatin’ Heart) and when he left he went to the loft to see Kayla. Hope answered the door and Steve mistook her for Kayla at first. When Hope sobered Steve up she told him Britta was dead. Steve ran out very upset saying Britta was the only person who ever loved him.

Steve hid out at the Emergency Center and the next day when Kayla got there he asked her for help. She was reluctant to help him, but when a couple of cops came in to ask if she’d seen Steve she covered for him. Soon after the cops came back to arrest Steve and told Kayla she had to come with them. They soon realized these weren’t real cops and they were in big trouble. They managed to escape from the fake cops and hide out in a hotel where the lady at the front desk was so sure they were newlyweds she gave them the honeymoon suite. Steve and Kayla slept that night and the next day prepared to leave. The fake cops found them however and they had to run for it.

They hid out in an abandoned barn and prepared to go their separate ways when Steve asked Kayla if she believed that he didn’t kill Britta. She hesitated and Steve was hurt saying she just sees him the way everyone else does. They shared a sweet moment when Steve told her she looked pretty even after they’d been running for a day. Kayla told him just as he was getting ready to leave that she believed him, she believed he didn’t kill Britta.

Kayla was going to return to Salem and she tried to convince Steve to go with her, but he said he had to keep going. He was suspect for murder and if anyone saw him he’d be arrested. Plus, though he never said this to anyone else, he was scared that he would be next to be killed. Everyone that had any sort of tie to Stockholm was winding up dead. She convinced him to go back to Salem, and Steve was thrown in jail.

Roman didn’t want Steve in jail, in part because Steve was his link to remembering what happened in Stockholm and because everyone else in his family (Hope, Kayla, etc) were adamant he didn’t kill Britta. Roman managed to get Steve out of jail and Steve hid out in an abandoned fish shack where Kayla found him. She told him he had to trust Roman and trust her and not leave Salem. He said he learned a long time ago he couldn’t trust anyone, he was tired of being hurt by trust. Kayla told him to stay in Salem for her. Steve said he couldn’t. He showed up at the loft later that night and told Kayla he was staying, and it was because of her.

Once Steve decided to trust Roman he told Steve the clue Billings gave him just before he died. Three knives. It meant nothing to Roman and when Roman told Britta just part of it, the number 3, Britta said it meant nothing to her either. But Steve knew, and he also knew that Britta knew just from the 3. The three knives referred to their tattoos. The clue was in the tattoos. They had Steve’s, they had a picture of Bo’s, and all they needed was Britta’s. They were starting to suspect that someone else might be involved in finding the bonds as well, a third party.

Roman was still frantically searching for Marlena. He felt the last link to remembering what happened in Stockholm was Gregory’s wife, Lana. But Lana refused to talk to Roman. She was scared too. Roman convinced Steve to talk to Lana, as they used to be good friends. Steve told Lana to burn the pictures of Steve and Bo’s tattoo and put Britta’s in a safe place, they would need it. They would come to Stockholm the next day to get it.

Hope, Roman and Steve all arrived in Stockholm and went immediately to the tattoo parlor. They found Lana dead and the picture of Britta’s tattoo missing. It wasn’t making sense to Roman, whoever had Marlena wanted him to find the bonds but someone didn’t want them to find the bonds. They had to find out who was a step ahead of them. At the murder scene Steve was anxious to leave while Roman wanted to stay and investigate. They should have done it Steve’s way. The Swedish police arrived and arrested Roman. Steve and Hope ran for it and Steve got shot.

Hope got Steve to the hotel where he refused to go to the hospital, but was losing a lot of blood. Hope didn’t know what to do and Steve was delirious. He kept calling for Kayla. That gave Hope the idea to call Kayla and get medical advice on how to help Steve. Kayla told her how to treat the wound, and left for Stockholm the next day.

Hope sat by Steve’s bed that night and the next morning went to make a phone call. (She was secretly in touch with Bo who was trying to get information to see if Kiriakis was involved.) Once Hope left the room there was a knock on the door. Steve panicked until the door opened and he saw Kayla standing there. The relief on his face was evident. He'd never been so happy to see anyone before. Now that Kayla was there to attend to Steve, Hope could help Roman. She contacted the ISA and after a couple of days Roman was released.

Before they could head back to Salem they needed to find something on either whom killed Lana or Britta’s tattoo. Steve and Kayla went to the tattoo parlor to investigate. They found a hidden camera and took it back to the hotel. Steve developed the pictures and nobody recognized anyone, at first. Roman had a flashback though. And now one of the men in the picture was familiar. Orpheus. He killed Lana. They were now headed back to Salem to let the ISA know.

Things quieted down for a second or two in Salem and Steve and Kayla has some cute moments, but it only lasted briefly. Roman came to Steve again, sure Orpheus had Marlena. He had a plan to trap Orpheus and force him to give Marlena over. And Steve would be his bait. The only tattoo Orpheus didn’t have was Steve’s, and that made him valuable. So while waiting on the pier in Salem for Orpheus to come (Steve had offered to sell Orpheus his tattoo) Orpheus got another message, this one from the ISA (though he didn’t know that) telling him to go to Steve’s apartment and that’s where the deal would be made. Unfortunately, Kayla went to Steve’s apartment to see him, and Orpheus kidnapped her.

Still on the pier Roman was frantic. Orpheus didn’t show and he wouldn’t be getting Marlena. Steve told him they’d waited long enough; Orpheus didn’t take the bait. They’d have to try something else. Steve went home just as the phone rang. It was Kayla. Orpheus had a gun pointed to her and she told him she was with Orpheus. They made a deal to meet the next night, Steve would get Kayla and Orpheus would get the tattoo. Steve was hysterical, crying that they had Kayla. He agreed to the deal.

Roman came over soon after and Steve told Roman that Orpheus had Kayla. Steve told Roman he wasn’t going to play the game like they’d planned it, he was going to do it his own way. Roman and him fought, but Steve was adamant. As soon as he found out where Orpheus was, Steve was going to get Kayla.

News of Kayla’s kidnapping reached Hope who called Bo. Bo found out that Orpheus not only was working for Kiriakis, but also had a yacht in the harbor. Hope relayed the information to Steve, and Steve swam to harbor.

Roman put on a disguise to look like Steve and met a man on the pier. The man put Roman in a boat and knocked him unconscious. The man called Orpheus who told him to get a picture of the tattoo, left chest over the heart, and then kill Steve. Kayla overheard and was sobbing at the idea that Steve would be killed. The real Steve, however, was just outside the door and listened for Orpheus to leave. He opened the door and Kayla looked so relieved to see him she ran to him and hugged him. She told him she saw Orpheus put something in the safe and Steve managed to break into the safe where he found pictures of all 3 tattoos and put them in his coat pocket. They were now ready to escape Orpheus.

Roman regained consciousness and fought with the man after the man found out it wasn’t Steve. There was no tattoo on the left chest. (Just LOTS of hair!) Roman escaped, but was shot and struggled to swim to the pier. Kayla heard the gunshots and called out for Roman. Steve had to help her swim to shore since she was frantic with worry about Roman. The ISA had finally come to help and Shane Donavan jumped in to save Roman. They all decided it would be safer for everyone to stay at Shane’s house that night.

They deliberated in Shane’s living room and Kayla almost told Roman about the pictures of the tattoos until Steve stopped her. They fought about that, Kayla didn’t like lying to Roman, but Steve said there is someone else involved in this who knows every move they make, and he can’t trust anyone.

When they did tell Roman the next day he was mad that they’d withheld the information. They took out the pictures and Roman began to remember something. A map he’d hidden inside a poster. They got the poster and some acetone and sure enough, there was a map inside it. Roman now remembered what the three knives meant. They pointed to the location of the bonds. Entering the numbers into the ISA computer they narrowed the search for the bonds down to a 10-mile radius. Olde Town Stockholm. Unbeknownst to them, Orpheus had tapped into Shane’s computer. He now knew where the bonds were as well. Steve and Roman would leave the next day for Stockholm. With the help of Bo, Hope realized Victor was leaving on private jet that night and Orpheus was on the next flight out as well. It was now a race to find the bonds.

Hope had to tell Roman that Orpheus was in Stockholm, but time was running out. Steve and Roman had already left for the airport. Hope’s only way to talk to them was to get on the plane and go to Stockholm herself. Kayla insisted on tagging along. Humorous moments ensue when Roman and Steve see Kayla and Hope on the plane.

Steve: What are you doing here alone?

Kayla: I’m not alone. I’m with Hope.

Steve: Hope. Where is Hope? Up there flying the plane?

Once in Stockholm Roman takes to the streets immediately. He has to find the bonds. Hope comes with him. Steve and Kayla walk around Stockholm as well, and Steve gives Kayla a walk down memory lane. They find a hotel/restaurant Steve, Britta and Bo went to in Stockholm and the owner Helga told Kayla all about their friendship and how great those days were.

They went back to the hotel that night and found out Roman had figured out where the bonds were. He’d solved the puzzle and had an idea how to get them. The next day Steve and Roman dressed as street workers and went to the street where Roman had hidden the bonds, inside the sewer. However, Orpheus also saw this and contacted Victor, telling him he knew where the bonds were and he would have them soon. Bo overheard and told Hope and Hope and Kayla went to the street to warn Roman and Steve. They saw that the boys were being harassed by a Swedish cop and created a diversion. Roman and Steve were able to climb into the sewer, Kayla behind them. Hope followed shortly and Bo went in after her. (Hope was pregnant again and still doing all of this!)

They all went their separate ways. Steve and Kayla ended up trapped in a closed off drain and Orpheus turned the water on. They were frantic trying to get out; sure they were going to die. Steve held on to Kayla and told her he had something he needed to tell her. Just then Hope found the switch and turned the water off. They escaped.

Soaking wet they went to Helga’s and relaxed by the fire to dry off. Kayla asked him what he was going to tell her when they were trapped in the water tank. He said he couldn’t remember but maybe it was if she had a spare oxygen tank. Kayla said, "I’ll get it out of you someday." And Steve smiled and said, "That could be fun." Steve cooked dinner and they drank wine when Kayla made a toast, "to us." Steve freaked out a little and took Kayla to the mirror. He told her to look at them together, they didn’t belong together. She was pretty, elegant and he was a one eyed bum.

They got back to the hotel and discovered Roman had found the bonds but Orpheus managed to get them from him in a struggle in the sewer. Roman also got a note saying he needed to find the bonds or Marlena would be hurt. This led the group to realize Orpheus didn’t have Marlena, and neither did Victor. There was a third party involved. They came up with a plan. They would meet whoever sent him the note on the pier that night and pretend to do the exchange. The bonds for Marlena. They had no other option.

Everyone now was in Stockholm, the ISA, Shane, Gillian Forrester, all the Brady’s, etc. And they were on the pier waiting for the exchange. What Roman didn’t know what that Orpheus got in touch with the people who were holding Marlena and said he would trade the bonds for Marlena. Roman and gang now realized the ISA had Marlena! (We knew this all along.) They tricked him to get him to work on the Stockholm case.

At the pier things didn’t go according to plan. Orpheus did give the bonds to the ISA, when he thought he got Marlena, it was really Gillian Forrester, and ISA agent. Once he realized he’d been duped and gunfire started he jumped into the river and escaped. However Shane was shot in the gunfire and taken to the hospital in critical condition. (This cause Kimberly to come to Stockholm…all the Brady children were now there.) Roman went with the ISA to get Marlena only to discover Marlena had escaped and was running the streets of Stockholm. She was looking for help and found a man who agreed to help her…Orpheus!

Roman had a plan to get Orpheus and the 4 Musketeers went to help pull it off. Roman met Orpheus on the street and Steve, Kayla and Hope went into the sewer. When Roman gave them the signal they pulled Marlena and him into the sewer by a drain. Orpheus followed them down and was trapped in the same drain Steve and Kayla were trapped in earlier. The police came and Orpheus was caught. Marlena was back with Roman and the ISA had the bonds.

Steve and Kayla went back to their separate rooms that night. Kayla was preparing to leave the next day when Steve said he wanted to stay in Stockholm a few more days; just to do some sight seeing. Kayla said she’d like to stay with him. They share a tender moment before going to their rooms.

Steve and Kayla had shared their first kiss just after coming home from Stockholm. It was still rather hard to define their relationship though. Steve was convinced he wasn't good enough for Kayla and tried to prove to her that they were too different.
One night when Kayla pleaded with Steve to spend the night with her, and Steve replied "I'm trying to do something halfway right here for the first time in my life." He didn't think he should stay with Kayla. But she convinced him. Things got hot and heavy when the phone rang and Steve made Kayla answer it. It was Tom Horton. Marlena had been in an explosion and was dead. Steve walked Kayla to her parents house and waited for her to talk to her family. He then walked her home and spent the night with her on the couch.
Caroline Brady came over the next day to ask if Kayla was alright and Steve stumbled down her stairs, clad only in a towel. Caroline of course came to the wrong conclusion and told Kayla off for being with Steve. This only fueled Steve's "we aren't meant to be together" fire.
Later that night Steve and Kayla get into a fight over Steve taking Max to a bar. This leads Steve to tell Kayla “You wonder why I back off every time you say you want me? You don’t accept me for who I am. This is a good example.” He tells her to make a decision, just take him as he is or walk away.
The next day Kayla finds Steve in the park and tells him she’s made her decision. She kisses him. She’s willing to take him as he is. He backs off a little and Kayla tells him she cares about him. She then tells him to look her in the eye and tell her he doesn’t care about her. If he can do that she’ll back off and never bug him again. He can’t do it.
They’re outside the Fish Market and Kayla is getting ready to see her family, still needing support over Marlena’s death. She pushes Steve again and he finally admits that he cares about her and that he wants her. Kayla hugs Steve and then turns to go inside. She stops at the door and looks at him, then runs back to him and hugs him again. She’s finally ready to face her family. Steve watches her go and smiles nervously, then says to himself, “What’d you get yourself into here, dude?”
Steve came by the next day as Kayla was getting read for Marlena's memorial service. Kayla told him she had a present for him and when she went off to get it Bo and Hope came over to take Kayla to the memorial. Kayla left Steve's present on the table and told Bo and Hope Steve was taking her to the service. This was news to Steve, but he took her anyway. However, he didn't go into the service because the Brady's didn't like Steve and he felt he would only be in the way. He stood in the doorway for a while, but left early.
Steve waited for Kayla outside her loft and when she arrived home he told her he wanted his present. She gave it to him and he said, "I haven't gotten you anything for Christmas yet." Kayla explained this wasn't a Christmas present. It was a present just because. Steve had never been given a present just because. It was a pool cue, Kayla's way of telling Steve she will take him as he is, he doesn't need to change.
Steve thanked Kayla and the began kissing. Kayla asked him to stay the night but Steve refused. She said, "You stay with other women." And Steve replied, "You're not other women. See with other women I could love them and leave them. But if I love you, I don't think I'll be able to leave." He kissed Kayla again and left.

Christmas Eve was the next day and Kayla was mad again at Steve for telling her that he didn't do Christmas. "Just another Thursday." Kayla invited him to her spend the holiday with her family, but he declined.
Kayla was walking on the pier with Hope when she saw Santa Claus giving presents to the poor children on the riverfront. "Why can't I get a man like that?" She said to Hope. Just then the Santa turned around and Kayla saw that it was Steve. This made her angry again. She met him at the Cheating Heart later and asked him why he didn't show that side of him to her. The side that made her care about him. "Maybe that's why I don't show it," he replied. They shared a kiss and Kayla asked him again to go with her to her family's house. He said he just wasn't ready for that, she'd have to give him time. It meant that maybe someday he would be ready for that. That was enough for Kayla.
The next day was Christmas and Kayla found Steve in the park. He had a present for her. He said it was left over from the stuff he gave the kids yesterday. "Open it, if it's a squirt gun I might want to trade you for it." Kayla replied, "If it's a squirt gun you might have to run for it." She opened the box and found a beautiful gold and garnet necklace. She knew it wasn't just a left over from what he gave the kids. Kayla was touched and immediately put it on. It was a big step for Steve, and Kayla knew that, but didn't make a big deal about it. She said she loved it and gave him a kiss before heading to the hospital Christmas party.
Later that day Kayla found Steve at his apartment and gave him her gift. A cook book. An open invitation to cook dinner at her place. Inside Kayla had inscribed the last verse of the Rose. Steve was touched. Again they kissed and wished each other Merry Christmas before going their seperate ways.
New Years Eve had come and Kayla invited Steve to a party at Neil Curtis' house, a formal party. Steve declined, so Kayla went home. Bo came by her loft to take her to the party when Steve showed up, dressed in a tux with a dozen yellow roses. Kayla put a dress on and then asked Steve to help her put the necklace he'd given her on. Then she took him to the mirror. She remembered when they were in Stockholm and Steve told her to look at them in the mirror, they didn't belong together. Well she told Steve this night that this was reality. And Steve kissed her hand.
They began walking to the party when they stopped in the park to kiss and decided they didn't want to go to the party, they wanted to go back to Kayla's loft and celebrate on their own.
They got back to the loft and things got very hot and heavy with them when there was a knock on the door. They tried to ignore it but the person kept knocking. Kayla finally answered it and found a messenger leaving a package. She put the package on the table and went back to Steve. Just as he had unzipped her dress a rock came through her window and broke it. Steve went out to investigate and Kayla took the moment to open the pacakge. In it was the files on Steve's work with Victor Kiriakis when he was stalking Kayla. Kayla confronted Steve when he came back and started putting clues together. Steve worked for the woman who kidnapped her sisters baby and he was the one who'd terriorized her in Cleavland. They fought and she told Steve to leave. Outside the door of Kayla's loft Steve broke down. His past had come back to haunt him.

Steve was given to an orphanage when he was 5 with his baby brother because he tried to kill his father who beat his mother every night.

Steve and Kayla had slowly started rebuilding their relationship after New Year's.
A mysterious woman has been following Steve around Salem and has gotten a job with Kayla at the Emergency Center. She and Kayla become friends, but Steve felt there was something more she wanted, and she’s familiar to Steve. He’s uneasy about her especially when she starts showing up just when Steve and Kayla are getting intimate.

Putting together clues, Steve finds out that this woman, Adrienne, has been going through his things and has several personal belongings of his. She also knows things about his past he hadn’t told anybody; like that he tried to kill his father when he was 5.

It’s a heart wrenching scene where Steve asks her if his parents kept her, when she replies yes you can see the hurt in Steve’s face.

Steve doesn’t tell Kayla what’s going on with Adrienne, and Kayla is getting suspicious. She asks Adrienne who tells her she has to hear if from Steve. She even goes to Bo to ask him about Steve’s past, to which Bo answers, "He’s had a lot of women, Kay."

In a very emotional and sweet scene Kayla goes to Steve and tells him he doesn’t have to tell her who Adrienne is, but he needs to let it all go and give himself a break. Steve breaks down and bawls on Kayla’s shoulder and she whispers in his ear that love doesn’t always hurt. (Sigh)

Kayla eventually figures out for herself that Adrienne is Steve’s sister, but it doesn’t matter, Steve is still pushing Adrienne out of Salem. Just as Adrienne has her things packed and is ready to leave her mother, beaten badly, shows up at the door. Adrienne calls Kayla (who’s a nurse) to help. Kayla convinces Adrienne to take the woman to the hospital. (Kayla doesn’t know it’s her mother.) Once at the hospital it’s revealed this is her and Steve’s mother and Steve now has to face the woman who gave him up. He has a hard time dealing with his mother and is determined not to accept her or Adrienne as family; until Steve and Adrienne’s father comes to the hospital wanting to take their mother home. With the help of Kayla they manage to get their mother (Jo) into a battered women shelter. Their father (Duke) terrorizes Adrienne to tell him where Jo is, she won’t do it. He rapes her. Steve comes to check on Adrienne and hears gun shots. He runs into her apartment and sees his father dead and Adrienne, scantily clad, holding a gun. It’s a turning point moment when Steve goes to her and holds her, telling her he’s there now and he’s going to help. Adrienne has no recollection of what just happened, so Steve takes the gun, wipes Adrienne’s fingerprints off and puts his fingerprints on it. When Kayla arrives just moments later with Abe Carver, Steve takes the blame and is arrested.

(Most of these scenes are available for download in my clips section)

Steve tells Kayla she has to move on and stop caring about him. He tells her to look into the future years down the road. He’ll still be in jail but she’ll be married to a great guy and have kids and a great life. He says she’ll think about him and thank him for letting her go.

During Steve’s trial for the murder of Duke Adrienne suddenly remember exactly what happened and interrupts the trial just as Steve is about to be sentenced. The charges are dropped when Adrienne confessed that she killed Duke after he raped her and was coming after her to do it again. It was self-defense and the case was closed.

On the run is another favorite storyline.

Right after the explosion at the lab a group of people approached Steve, one of them being the Senator himself. They told Steve that the explosion at the lab was meant for Mike Horton and now that he and Kayla were involved they were in danger. The Salem Mob was going to put a hit on them. The Senator was working on solving the case, but the Senator also had a hit on him so he had to go underground to work on the case. They needed Steve to pretend to kill the Senator so he would not be bothered. They also promised he and Kayla would be put in witness protection until the case was solved, not more then a few weeks. Steve agreed to do this, mostly because he felt Kayla was in danger and this would help keep her safe. These people claimed to know whom caused the explosion and the Senator said he would get to the bottom of it. So Steve met with the guys and even loaded the gun with blank cartridges. He was assured the Senator would be wearing a bulletproof vest with pockets of blood looking material inside.

When it came time to pull the mission off the gun was replaced by another one with real bullets, unbeknownst to Steve. He shot the Senator in front of several witnesses. When he called Dr. Hopkins (the man behind the whole scheme) Hopkins told Steve to meet him at pier 43 and they would sort it all out. Steve went to the pier as it was being sprayed with bullets. He managed to escape but now realized he was set up and now someone was trying to kill him. Not only that he was now wanted for murder and had to flee Salem.

Kayla refused to let him go alone so Steve decided to take her as "hostage" therefore preventing her from any charges like aiding and abbedding a criminal.

They fled Salem on a train filled with transients and Kayla traded her nice clothing with one of the ladies in the box car. They then hopped on a private train to Oklahoma City with a rodeo gang. When the train stopped Steve found out that the police were checking it, the police was Roman and one of the FBI guys who’d set him up, Ed Daniels. He grabbed Kayla and a gun and told Roman he was fleeing with her and if they chased him he would hurt Kayla. Though Roman didn’t believe Steve would ever hurt Kayla, he let them go in an unmarked police car.

Once Steve discovered the car was being followed by a police helicopter he decided to flee on foot. He told Kayla to flag down Roman and go back to Salem. Kayla flat out refused, she wanted to be with Steve in case something happened to him. Reluctant, but knowing Kayla wouldn’t give up, he agreed to let her follow him.

They happened along a bar where Steve hustled a few games of pool and was able to buy them a meal. After a few upset patrons started a fight with Steve one pulled out a gun and shot at them. A man with a braid (Kai). Steve and Kayla found an abandoned plane (convinent, eh?) and Steve convinced Kayla to get in and he would fly it. He’d had a few lessons in the Merchant Marines. When the plane took off the man with the braid fired a few shots at the plane and hit the oil tank.

Kayla:You did it! I didn’t know you knew how to fly.

Steve: Me neither, Baby.

They were ariborne but didn’t make it too far when the plane crashed into some mountains in Colorado. Kayla’s leg was injured and she couldn’t walk, so they had to camp out at the crash site for a few days. Steve was protecting Kayla from a bear when he fell off a cliff, clining on with one hand. Kayla threw him a rope from the plane and he was pulled to safety. (This comes up later, that’s why I mention it.) This also brings along a cute scene where Steve predicts it’s going to rain so Kayla says he’s lucky he’s stuck with an ex-Girl Scout. She can make a lean to. After much teasing Kayla set her shelter up just as the rain began to fall. She made Steve apologise to her and the Girl Scouts of America before he could get into the shelter.

The next day Steve came to the wrecksite and found Kayla was gone. He panicked and looked for her. He found her, bathing in a hot spring. He stood and watched for a few minutes before she noticed he was there. Kayla pulled him in, fully clothed. He removed his clothing and they began kissing passionatly. Things were about to move farther when a helicopter flew over head. They ran from the helicopter (having put their clothes back on) and Steve burned the wreckage, hoping to make the people chasing him think they died in the crash. Steve and Kayla moved on. In the mountain Steve was bitten by a rattlesnake. Kayla tended to him as he got sick from the venem. He eventually recovered and they continued on.

After walking a while they came upon an abandoned "honeymoon hideaway" cottage. Tired and dirty they decided to go inside and take a nap and a shower. The room had a heart shaped bed and was red from floor to ceiling. (It looked like a Valentine threw up in it, IMO). After they’d both showered Steve told Kayla to take a nap, they would have to leave the place when it became dark and keep going. Steve would stay awake and keep watch. He fell asleep.

They woke up 24 hours later, at 2 in the afternoon the next day. Steve panicked when he saw a cop car outside. They gathered their things and were preparing to leave when the cop left. Steve told Kayla to call University Hospital and try to get information on Simon Hopkins, the man who’d set Steve up. They had to find something that would clear Steve’s name and plant the shooting on Dr. Hopkins. Kayla found out that Hopkins was a professor at California University at Los Angeles, but that was all the information University Hospital had on him.

The maids had come to check if the room was clean. To their surprise (but not ours) it wasn't. Steve and Kayla hid in the bathroom trying to figure out how they would get out of this. A couple had come to stay just as the maid was about to clean the bathroom. With Steve and Kayla hiding in the shower the maid dropped clean towels off and left the middle aged couple to themselves. The couple was snooty (reminded me of Anjelica Deveraux) and complained about the place. Steve got the idea to set the sprinklers off in the bathroom. This idea worked, when the lady saw that the sprinklers were going off the in the bathroom, presumably broken, the couple left without telling the management. Steve and Kayla now had the cottage to themselves again.

They became playful in the sprinklers and evntually became intimate, now moving out into the bedroom. Kayla got up from the bed thinking the starlight would add to the ambiance when shots fired through the window. The guy with the braid had found them.

Steve pretended to be a blind man and opened the door of the cottage where a crowd was now gathering, trying to figure out why shots were fired in their window. With dark sunglasses on to hide his patch (there had been pictures of Steve on every newspaper in the country, so he was recognizable) he told the crowd he’d heard the shots as well and called for his wife, Kayla. She said it was probably just a stray bullet from a hunter and the crowd settled down. However, in the crowd were Adrienne and Justin Kiriakis.

Adrienne had gotten word that the plane Steve and Kayla were rumored to have stolen crashed and went to the spot where the plane crashed to see for herself if Steve had died, as was being suspected. Justin came with her to help out.

After the crowd had left the cabin Steve and Kayla met up with Justin and Adrienne and told them they had to get to California. Justin bought a car the next day and the four of them hit the road.

After a close call in Nevada, where a man recognized Steve, they arrived in Los Angeles. Steve began having memories of his childhood again. He’d lived in Los Angeles with his parents when he was little.

They got to CULA (actually filmed on the UCLA campus) that night and tried to get into the records office, but they tripped an alarm and had to come back the next day. Apparently, the feds knew where he was because Ed Daniels was seen on campus the next day too. To escape Steve and Kayla ducked into a classroom where a Literature class was in session. Steve proved to be pretty smart.

Justin and Adrienne had split off and went to find the administration building. They came up empty handed, but Justin said he now knew where they needed to look to find the records on Simon Hopkins. They would have to wait another day to do it.

The next day the four split up into pairs again and Steve and Kayla got into the records. They found the employee files on Simon Hopkins, which didn’t help much. While looking Steve came across an employment file of Duke Johnson. He had more memories of when his father worked at CULA as a maintenance man. They met up with Justin and Adrienne later that night. Justin had found a file saying Hopkins had managed a company called Kava Chemical and it was located just outside of Salem. They would head to Salem the next day. The four spent the night in the library and Kayla expressed her concerns to Steve that their relationship had changed, they’d grown much closer, and she didn’t want that to change when they got back to Salem.

When Justin and Adrienne had gone to get the bus tickets the next day Steve told Kayla that he’d been to CULA with his father. She later caught him on the phone, but when she questioned him about who he was talking to he told her just checking the bus schedule. He had really called to get the address of the orphanage his mother had taken him to. Kayla again began to get nervous when she felt Steve was hiding something from her. She told him she loved him and she wanted him to be on the bus with her.

Adrienne and Justin met up with Steve and Kayla with the bus tickets. Steve pulled Justin aside and told him that no matter what he was to make sure the girls were on the bus. If Steve missed the bus it was okay, but Adrienne and Kayla needed to be on it. He told Justin to take care of the girls, then he split off from the group and left Kayla in tears.

Steve went to the orphanage where he’d grown up in the hopes of finding his baby brother Billy. While there he had more memories and decided not to look for Billy. He returned to Salem.

"I don’t know Kayla, between falling asleep and getting shot at, I don’t think we’re ever going to get it on."

This is still part of the On the run storyline, but it deserves a heading of it’s own.

For those of us who watched when this aired, it seemed Steve and Kayla would never make love after countless attempts where they were interrupted by everything from the phone to gun shots. (One humorous moment when someone knocked on the door just as Kayla removed her blouse, Steve said, "If that’s one of your brothers I’m going to commit murder".)

On a very hot summer night he came to Kayla’s loft where she hid him. On her suggestion that he would be safer hiding out on the roof, in case her roommate Diana Colville came home, they moved some blankets and pillows to the roof. Kayla gave him some ice water to cool him down. In a very erotic sequence where Kayla is rubbing the sweat off herself in her loft, Steve is rubbing ice water on his body on the roof. She comes up to the roof and Steve says, "I thought you’d never get here," he and Kayla make love for the first time. The next morning Steve told Kayla he loved her.

Now that he was back in Salem Steve had to get into Kava Chemical to find dirt on Simon Hopkins and clear his name. He wanted to be a free man so he could have a life with Kayla. With more help from Adrienne and Justin they decided to break into Kava. Kayla and Adrienne flirted with the guards to see if they could get information out of them while Justin and Steve had a talk in the car. Steve told Justin to stay away from Adrienne and that he didn’t trust anyone with the name Kiriakis. (A Romeo and Juliet storyline came from Justin and Adrienne). When the girls got back to the car they told the guys that they were making progress but the guards shift ended. Steve said they’d have to come back later. Kayla replied, "We can’t tonight. Adrienne and I have dates." They’d invited the guards to a masquarade party for Kayla’s sister Kimberly, much to the dismay of Steve and Justin.
Steve knocked out Kayla's date and took his costume, then joined the party. Even Kayla didn't know it was him until he tried to kiss her and she smacked him. (Hehehe) They danced in the courtyard of the Curtis house until Jack came along. He'd been keeping his eye on Kayla all night, wondering who the man she brought was. Kayla brought Jack inside and passed Jo on the way, telling her it was Steve out in the courtyard. Jo told Steve she'd found a place for him to hide, right there in the Curtis house. A secret passage that had a room big enough for him. He would stay there until he cleared his name. Though, in his own words, after a while, "Half the city knows where I'm hiding out." And they did.
Adrienne came in one day to see Steve and while she was there Anjelica Deveraux came into the room connected to the secret room. Justin joined her a moment later and they had an argument about a past affair they'd had. Once Anjelica left Steve came out of the secret room (where Justin didn't know he was) and punched him.
Jack also found Steve in the secret room when he came to talk to Steve about Kayla. He told Steve that he was in love with Kayla and he could give her a better life then Steve could. They argued and Jack left, though he agreed to give Steve a little time to clear his name.

Once Steve, Kayla, Justin and Adrienne got into Kava Chemical they couldn't find anything on Dr. Hopkins. But they did find a secret compartment in a file cabinet. They couldn't get into it however, because Ed Daniels, the FBI guy, showed up. They took the file they had managed to get, a list of stockholders, and split.
They read the file on the stockholders and found that at the top of the list was none other then Kayla's roommate, Diana Colville. When they questioned her she said she didn't know anything about Kava Chemical. Upon farther examination it was discovered that Diana's father bought the stock. They were willing to help Steve.
Once again Steve and Kayla went back into Kava, this time as part of a plan. Diana and Mike Horton started a chemical fire and the facility had to be evacuated. Steve and Kayla donned HAZMAT gear and went in as clean up crew. It worked, they found the file they needed.
The file revealed that Senator Deveraux was never involved in the shooting, it was a man called Kai who worked for Diana's father disguised as the Senator. Kai was a double agent, it seemed. He agreed to help them again, being very loyal to Diana, and wore the disguise once more. Now, with half the city involved in this; Roman, Steve, Kayla, Diana, Mike, Kai and Jack, they managed to trick Dr. Hopkins into a confession. When Roman and Abe came in to arrest Hopkins he took Alice Horton hostage. In a very cool scene, shown in slow motion, Steve puts on a bullet proof vest, opens the blinds on the window and jumps on top of Mrs. Horton to protect her as bullets from police snipers in the building across from them sprayed the room with bullets. Dr. Hopkins was dead, his confession on file, and everyone was safe. Steve's name was clear.