At a young age, Rex Balsom was taken away from his mother, Roxanne, and was sent to live in Michigan with his Aunt Corinne. With dreams of hitting it rich running through his head, Rex saw his opportunity in 2003 when he was sought out by the wealthy Jessica Buchanan. At that point, Jess had learned that she was Roxanne's daughter, and she was anxious to get to know her real family. With dollar signs in his eyes, Rex followed Jess to her home in Llanview. Although Jess later learned that she wasn't Roxanne's daughter, Rex stayed in town with his mother and Natalie, whom he had always viewed as a sister.

Because he was forced to build a life, Rex got a job at the Palace Hotel, where he met Jennifer Rappaport. The two became good friends and even partners in crime, burglarizing rooms at the hotel. Then one day, the two impulsively married. However, the marriage was short-lived because of her affair with Joey Buchanan, a minister in training, whom she was in love with. Although Jen pleaded for a divorce, Rex refused to grant it until Kevin Buchanan offered him a bribe.

Finally free, Jen and Joey wed almost immediately after her divorce was finalized, but Jen was not thrilled with the life of a minister's wife. She ultimately slept with Rex while married to Joey. As hard as she tried to keep the tryst a secret, Joey found out and ended the marriage. By that point, Rex found himself very attracted to Jen's mother, Lindsey. Rex and Lindsey tried to fight the attraction, but they were unsuccessful and began an affair. Later, Jen decided to restore her relationship with Rex -- until she caught him kissing her mother.

Rex borrowed money from R.J. to open a restaurant, not realizing that he was putting Ultraviolet on the line. He talked Roxy into setting her hair salon on fire, but the two came to their senses at the last minute. The salon ended up burning down, anyway, and Rex lost everything, including Ultraviolet. Rex ended up sentenced to community service after what happened with the hair salon fire, and signed on for the Love Crew, a group of college students living and working together. He still wanted to get Ultraviolet back, though.

Paul Cramer teamed up with Rex to do an art heist for R.J., but the heist went sour when Natalie, not wanting to see Rex in trouble, sabotaged it for him. R.J. was furious, but good fortune went Rex's way when he and Shannon found a missing Asa Buchanan, and Asa paid them a healthy reward. Rex was halfway to getting Ultraviolet back. Once he realized that R.J. was responsible for trying to sabotage the Love Center, he blackmailed R.J. into giving the club back to him.

After Paul stole a tape of Rex and Lindsay having sex and posted it on the Internet, Rex was furious. Shortly after, Paul ended up dead. Rex believed that Jen was the murderer, and was determined to protect her at all costs, even burying what he believed was the murder weapon and, later, planting a gun in Dorian's office after getting a mysterious request, which included $10,000. Jen finally convinced Rex that she was, indeed, innocent of Paul's murder, and when it seemed as though her boyfriend, Riley, wasn't as sure of her innocence, Rex found himself getting closer to Jen.

Rex was working with Bo Buchanan to prove Jen's innocence and believed he had finally found the information he needed, only to find Jen's body in her car in the parking garage. Rex was devastated by her death, which was initially believed a suicide, but he soon became determined to find the person he realized had killed her and set up the scene. Rex helped Bo identify Daniel Colson as the murderer, and played a huge role in finding out that Daniel's motivation was to hide the fact that he was gay. After Daniel was put away, Rex felt at loose ends, but realized he really liked working with Bo, and began asking the commissioner to let him in.

Bo offered Rex a place at the Llanview Police Department, but Rex decided to become a private investigator instead. He started his work by helping Bo find Margaret and Jessica/Tess. Todd hired Rex in hopes of clearing himself of Margaret's murder. Rex found out that Todd's alibi had been fabricated, and Rex ended up getting arrested for his involvement with Todd. Bo also asked Rex to help him track down Paige's son, who had been put up for adoption years earlier. Rex also helped Bo set up a trap for Spencer Truman, making their bond stronger.

During that time, Adriana Cramer and Rex started to become friends. Rex helped Adriana get her foot in the door at a modeling agency by setting up a photo shoot with her as the cover model for Craze magazine. Adriana's mother, Dorian, didn't approve of her daughter's relationship with Rex, and framed Rex for possession of heroin in order to keep Adriana away from him. Luckily for Rex, that didn't work, and the couple continued to grow closer.

With Adriana's growing fame, she started to feel threatened by a man who was stalking her. Rex used his P.I, skills to find more information on Adriana's stalker, but Adriana became suspicious that Rex was, in fact, her stalker. She tried to get away from him at any cost and put herself in worse danger. Rex ended up saving Adriana, but not before getting shot in the process. Rex and Adriana became an official couple after that incident.

Michael and Marcie asked Rex and Natalie to become godparents to the McBains' adoptive son, Tommy. Rex was honored and strived to be the best godparent for Tommy. Feeling on top of the world, Rex took two new jobs. One of them was finding Todd and Margaret's son, and the other was finding Tommy's birth parents for Michael and Marcie. He found out that Tommy was really Todd's biological son and proceeded to hide it from both the adoptive parents and the biological father. Rex's strange behavior gave him away to Michael, and he ended up admitting to Michael that Tommy was Todd's son.

Michael and Rex decided to keep the secret between the two of them and eventually even got arrested for their strange behavior regarding Spencer Truman's murder. Both men were taken in for questioning for the murder, and each suspected the other had done the deed. Luckily, they were both innocent and were able to hide the truth from John during his questioning. Rex then knew he had to hide the truth from Todd, because Todd was hell-bent on finding his son. He even followed Todd all the way to Chicago to foil Todd's investigation.

Tate Harmon, the famous baseball player, arrived in town and became the new face for Exposed. Rex immediately became jealous of Tate's interest in Adriana. He knew that something was shady with Tate and tried to figure things out himself. Using some sloppy P.I. work, Rex announced on live television that Tate Harmon was gay, which caused a rift between Rex and Adriana, and eventually caused them to break up. Adriana continued to see Tate as a friend, but Rex continued to want to protect her. Tate ended up being the One Pure People arsonist in Llanview, and threatened both Rex and Adriana's lives. Once Adriana realized that Rex was right about Tate, they got back together.

Rex and Adriana conspired to keep the truth from becoming known that Marcie and Michael's adopted son was, in fact, Todd's biological son, but the truth ultimately was revealed. Marcie McBain then absconded with Todd's son, and Rex went searching for her. His search led him to Paris, Texas, where he met face-to-face with his high school fling, Gigi Morasco. Rex had walked out on Gigi when he left Michigan to move to Llanview, and seeing her again returned romantic feelings he'd once had for her. Little did Rex realize that Gigi had become pregnant by Rex and had given birth to their son, Shane. Gigi kept the information from Rex, however, since she had long told her son that his father was a Navy SEAL and war hero who had died in battle.

Gigi felt sympathy for Marcie, who she believed was running away from an abusive husband, and sold Marcie's wedding ring to Rex, who then used it to propose to Adriana. When Michael McBain saw the ring, he recognized it as Marcie's, which led them to find Marcie in Paris, Texas. Todd's son was returned to him, and Marcie was arrested. Gigi was flown to Llanview for questioning.

Adriana felt threatened by Gigi and correctly presumed that Shane was Rex's son. She and Dorian conspired to locate the man Gigi had told Shane was his father, Brody Lovett, who it turned out had not died at all. They flew Brody into town, and he appeared at Rex and Adriana's wedding, just as Gigi declared her love for Rex and was preparing to reveal that Rex was Shane's father. Stunned to learn that Brody was alive, Gigi did not tell Rex that Shane was his son, and Rex resumed marrying Adriana.

Rex and Adriana's marriage quickly fell apart, however, after Rex learned about her part in leading Brody to town. The final straw was when Rex discovered that Adriana had stolen his toothbrush. Adriana claimed it was to conduct DNA tests on Charlie Banks, who had claimed to be Rex's father, but she really had stolen it so she could learn for certain whether Rex was Shane's son. Adriana and Rex separated, and Adriana left for Paris, France.

Rex fought his growing attraction to Gigi, but at one point, they gave in and kissed. She continued to lie to him about Shane being his son, however. Soon thereafter, Rex left on a hunt for Bo, who had left Lindsey at the altar and vanished. Rex found Bo at the Buchanan ranch outside Paris, Texas. During a lightning storm, the two were struck and transported back to 1968, where they encountered people from Llanview who looked like Buchanan relatives and acquaintances. Through the help of a psychic, Delphina, Gigi managed to transport herself back in time and meet face-to-face with Rex in 1968. They acknowledged their love for each other and, after Gigi admitted to Rex that Shane was his son, both were transported to the modern day.

Rex and Gigi planned to tell Shane the truth, but returned to Llanview to discover that Brody had faked a DNA test with Rex's toothbrush, which Adriana had mailed to Gigi while Gigi was searching for Rex, to declare that he was Shane's biological father. Gigi told Brody that she was going to tell Shane the truth after school, and Brody snapped. He ransacked the carriage house, knocked out Marcie, and went to Shane's school and signed him out. After a failed attempt to get the court to change Shane's last name to Lovett, Brody took Shane to Llantano Mountain and soon began to see images of fighting in the war.

Rex and Gigi learned from a war buddy of Brody's that Brody had accidentally shot and killed a civilian child about the same age as Shane just before his tour of duty ended. They arrived on Llantano Mountain and, after releasing Shane, Brody snapped and fired his gun in the direction of Rex, Gigi, and Shane. Rex threw himself over Gigi and Shane and was shot. While Rex was in surgery, Gigi admitted to Shane that Rex was his father. During surgery, Rex dreamed he was on a game show hosted by Colin McIver in which he was challenged as to whether he could be Shane Morasco's father.

When Rex awoke from surgery, he first laid eyes on Adriana, who had returned from Paris after hearing of Rex's shooting. Rex promptly lost consciousness again and was unresponsive. Adriana refused to let Gigi see Rex and secretly moved him to Dorian's home, La Boulaie, where she had a hospital room set up in the living room so Rex could be treated. With Marcie's help, Gigi sneaked into La Boulaie to see Rex, who woke up. Adriana overheard Gigi and Rex's conversation and realized she had no chance of being with Rex again. She agreed to grant Rex a divorce and returned to Paris.

Rex and Shane had an awkward reunion at first, since Shane still thought of Brody as his dad and was worried about Brody, who was being cared for at a VA hospital. Rex decided not to press charges against Brody, allowing him to be remanded to St. Anne's psychiatric hospital for treatment of his post-traumatic stress disorder. Shane slowly came around to Rex and began to consider Rex his real father. Rex and Gigi struggled to pay the bills following Rex's hospital stay, and Rex jumped at the chance to get a big cash payoff for helping the Buchanan family track down David Vickers so they could tell David that he was Asa's son before Dorian could get her hooks in him.

Rex and Gigi followed a lead to Las Vegas, only to find out that the couple getting married there was Dorian's cook, Moe Stubbs, and waitress, Noelle Ortiz. While in Las Vegas, a stripper who went by the name "Gigi" spotted Rex and Gigi and followed them back to Llanview. The Buchanans invited Rex and Gigi to the Go Red Ball, but the stripper sneaked into the carriage house and stole Gigi's dress and ticket and showed up at the ball, claiming to be Gigi. When the real Gigi showed up and managed to track down Rex, they encountered the stripper face-to-face. The stripper turned out to be Gigi's younger sister, Stacy Morasco. Gigi was stunned to learn from Stacy that their parents had died years before, and Rex comforted her.

Rex, meanwhile, got his own shock when DNA tests the Buchanans performed on David showed that David was Rex's father. It turned out that the tests were wrong, but not before Roxy confirmed to Rex that David was his daddy. When Rex confronted Roxy for lying once again about his father, Roxy broke down and admitted to Rex that his father was dead, and that she had killed him. Rex was grateful for finally knowing the truth, unaware that Roxy was lying yet again to protect the identity of Rex's true father, who she said was walking around town and closer than anyone realized.

Gigi invited Stacy to stay at the carriage house with them, unaware that Stacy had harbored a secret crush on Rex for years and had shown up in town to get Rex for herself. One night, Stacy plotted to ensure that Gigi had to work and Shane would stay over at a friend's house. She drugged Rex's beer and waited for Rex to pass out. Then she stripped down into her underwear and began to perform a lap dance on Rex. When Rex passed out, Stacy moved him upstairs and stripped off his clothes and lay down beside him. Gigi and Shane returned home, after having been in a car accident, and Gigi went into the bedroom to find Stacy on top of Rex.

Rex slowly came to, still feeling the effects of the drugs, and denied having done anything with Stacy. But Stacy said Rex had hit on her, and Gigi wasn't sure who to believe. Rex went to the hospital and got a blood test to prove that he had been drugged. While Rex waited for the results, Dr. Michael McBain approached Rex and told him that he had done blood tests on Shane following the car accident, and the results were tragic: Shane had leukemia. Rex was stunned, and called Gigi to the hospital, where Michael broke the news to her.

Gigi forgot all about what had transpired between Rex and Stacy, as Rex and Gigi went into crisis mode. They summoned Stacy and Roxy to the hospital to tell them the news, and everyone got blood tests to see if any of them could be a bone marrow donor for Shane. Stacy happened to be in the lab when Rex's blood tests came back, and she threw the results in the trash. Rex and Gigi told Shane about his illness, and Rex admitted to Roxy and Bo that he didn't know how to deal with finding out Shane was his son the year before only to lose him.

Rex was ecstatic to learn that Stacy was a match for Shane, but Gigi didn't seem as excited. One day, Stacy led Rex to Brody's apartment, and Rex was shocked to walk in to find Gigi and Brody in bed together. Gigi told Rex that she couldn't get over him sleeping with Stacy and that they were over. Rex was dumbfounded and told Gigi he forgave her for sleeping with Brody, even proposing to marry her, but a tearful Gigi insisted they were through. Rex couldn't understand why Gigi was being so rude to her sister, since she had donated her bone marrow to save Shane.

What Rex didn't know was that Stacy had only agreed to donate her bone marrow on the condition that Gigi break up with Rex. And what Gigi didn't know was that Stacy wasn't a match at all; the real donor was Rex's mysterious father, who wasn't dead at all but was lying in a hospital bed in a supposed coma. After Stacy's former boyfriend, Schuler Joplin, discovered that Stacy had thrown her own bag of blood in the hospital trash, he presented the blood to Rex and told him that something wasn't right about Shane's transfusion. But Rex refused to believe Schuyler. In fact, after Schuyler kicked Stacy out of his apartment, Rex let Stacy move in with him at his loft.

Rex and Stacy began to get closer, and Stacy even duped Rex into giving her $20,000 so she could pay back the money she had stolen from her old boss in Las Vegas. After seeing Shane perform in a community musical, Rex and Stacy sneaked into the Llanview Country Club under assumed names and rang up a huge bill. When they were caught at the pool, they sneaked into a bedroom at the club and began making out. The club manager interrupted their session and had them taken to the police station, but agreed not to press charges as a favor to Bo. Bo chided Rex for fooling around with Stacy, when Gigi was the woman he really wanted to be with.

Later, after Stacy had finished teaching a dance class to little girls at Ultraviolet, Rex told Stacy he wanted to be with her, and the two made love on the floor of the club. After Stacy had left, Gigi walked into the club and stunned Rex by admitting that she had lied about being with Brody and that Stacy had blackmailed her into breaking up with Rex in exchange for giving Shane her stem cells, only Stacy wasn't the real donor after all. When Stacy walked in, Rex pretended that he was still on the outs with Gigi, but later he told Gigi he forgave her for what she had done. Rex failed, however, to tell Gigi that he had slept with her sister.

Rex and Gigi agreed they wouldn't bust Stacy yet, since they needed to locate the bag of extra stem cells that had been stolen from Roxy's refrigerator. They concocted a hoax in which Shane pretended to get sick again, and Michael McBain told Stacy that they needed another transfusion. When Stacy went to retrieve the bag of blood, which she had stashed in a cold-storage fur closet, Rex confronted her and told her he knew everything. Stacy refused to believe that Rex didn't love her and said she would give up the bag of blood if Rex would sleep with her, but Rex showed such disgust at the idea that Stacy eventually just gave Rex the blood and ordered him to get out.

Rex confronted his mother about her role in Stacy's evil plot, and Roxy admitted that the real stem cells were from Rex's biological father and that she had killed him after drawing his blood. After Gigi and Stacy got into an altercation that resulted in Stacy being hospitalized, Stacy found out she was pregnant with Rex's child and told Rex the news in front of a disbelieving Gigi, who was horrified to realize that it was true. Rex wanted to do right by Stacy and let her stay in his loft rent-free as he moved back in with Gigi, who warned Rex that Stacy would use the baby to drive a wedge between them.

As Rex dealt with Stacy, he was jealous of the time Gigi was spending with Schuyler. When Gigi told Rex that Schuyler had kissed her, Rex went ballistic and ordered her to never see him again. Later, Rex encouraged Schuyler to leave town, but Gigi told Rex that she would never cheat on him, and Rex agreed that she and Schuyler could remain friends. Blair hired Rex to track down dirt on Téa Delgado, and Rex figured out that both Ross Rayburn and Téa had gone missing after being rescued from the deserted island where they had been stranded with Todd back in 2002. Rex located Ross in Tahiti, and Blair took Rex's file and went off to find him.

As Stacy continued to leech money off of Rex for food, cable, and other essentials, Rex found himself torn between caring for his unborn child and tending to Gigi, who was feeling less connected to him. After Rex overheard Gigi sharing her frustrations with Schuyler, he proposed to her, but Gigi knew it was only because he had overheard her conversation with Schuyler. Stacy and her best friend, Kim, used Schuyler's love for Gigi to drive a wedge between Rex and Gigi. When Gigi got jealous seeing Kim and Schuyler on a date, Rex forced her to confess that she had feelings for Schuyler, but Gigi told Rex she wanted to make their relationship work. Rex agreed to go with Gigi to couples' counseling but canceled at the last minute after Natalie convinced him to help her track down Jared, who had gone missing after being named the prime suspect in two murders.

While Rex was in Napa Valley with Natalie, trying to track down Jared, he got a call from his Aunt Corinne, who claimed to be dying. Rex went to Michigan, unaware that Corinne was working with Brody's sister, Nadine, to keep both Rex and Brody away from Jessica and Natalie. Rex and Brody both were drugged and held captive until John McBain showed up and got the women to confess that a mystery man had forced them to do what they had done. Corinne was about to be taken to jail when she told Rex she would tell him who his father was, and handed him a package that she had received. Inside the package was Rex's birth certificate, which named Mitch Laurence as his father.

Rex was stunned, even more so when it turned out that Mitch was alive and responsible for killing Jared in Napa Valley. Roxy couldn't believe that Mitch was alive, saying she had pulled the plug on him at the Boutet Clinic, and avoided Rex's questions about how he had been conceived. Rex met face-to-face with Mitch at Jared's funeral, and Mitch told his son that they had much work to do. Rex warned Stacy about Mitch and said he might go after her because she was carrying Rex's baby.

Meanwhile, Rex and Gigi continued to drift apart, and before Christmas, Rex told Gigi she should move out of the carriage house and try to sort out her feelings for Schuyler. Shane called Rex after discovering that Gigi and Schuyler had slept together on New Year's Eve, and Rex confronted Gigi and Schuyler at Viki's cabin. Gigi admitted she had slept with Schuyler and said she wanted to be with him. Rex considered filing for sole custody of Shane but reconsidered after Gigi agreed not to have Schuyler spend the night when Shane was in her care. Gigi moved back to the carriage house, and Rex moved back to his apartment with Stacy after walking in on Mitch and Nurse Charles trying to abduct Stacy and her unborn child.

Rex hired Oliver to look after Stacy and her unborn baby, unaware that Oliver was really the father. He and Stacy made out their wills to ensure their baby would be cared for if anything happened to them, and Stacy was forced to name Schuyler as the guardian of her baby in exchange for him providing her with the drug she needed to induce labor early and pass off the baby as Rex's. Stacy faked her water breaking even earlier than she had planned after she and Rex shared a kiss, and Stacy decided to jump while the iron was hot. But when she arrived at the hospital, Schuyler refused to administer the drug and destroyed it.

When Kim went after Schuyler to change his mind, Nurse Charles kidnapped Stacy and took her to a hiding place on Llantano Mountain where Mitch was. Rex and Oliver went off to look for Stacy and discovered Schuyler's abandoned car. Rex found Stacy's will and was shocked to see Schuyler listed as the baby's guardian. When Rex finally found Schuyler, Schuyler admitted everything -- that he was the father, not Rex, and he even told Rex about the plot to administer Stacy a drug to induced labor early. Rex, Schuyler, and Oliver all were shocked when Gigi showed up, carrying Stacy's sickly newborn baby, whom Gigi had delivered after Stacy had been kicked out of Mitch's lair and gone into premature labor.

Gigi fell through a sheet of ice and nearly drowned before Rex saved her. Stacy then arrived and fell into the ice as well. Weak from having just given birth, Stacy was unable to hold on long enough for Rex to pull her out, and she drowned. At the hospital, Gigi learned that Schuyler was the baby's father when permission was needed for emergency surgery. After hearing from Rex all that had happened, Gigi told Schuyler she could never forgive him for his lies and decided to fight for custody of the baby, with Rex by her side.

The custody battle reached a swift resolution after Police Officer Oliver Fish revealed he was actually Sierra's biological father, and the court granted him full custody. But Rex was thrown into yet another mystery involving his own parentage when it was revealed that Schuyler, and not Rex, was Roxy and Mitch's child. It turned out that Rex had been abandoned at the hospital as a baby and had been snatched up by Allison Perkins, who passed off the baby as Roxy and Mitch's child, since their own baby had been born very sickly. Suddenly, Rex was without both a father and a mother, although Roxy told Rex he would always be her child.

Rex and Gigi tracked down the nurse who had been in the ER the night the baby was abandoned, and she gave Rex a necklace with a half-heart charm that had been left with him when he was abandoned. With Bo's help, Rex tracked down the jeweler of the Southwestern-styled charm to a shop in New Mexico. The Native American shop owner said that the locket had been created by his father specifically for a young couple, who would each take half the charm and be reunited for eternity when the charm was put together at the end of their lives. But the shop owner refused to reveal who had purchased the charm necklace, so Rex and Gigi broke into the shop to hunt for clues. They found a locked box that had the same design as the charm, but they were caught before they could open it, and they were taken to the local jail.

The shop owner's daughter withdrew the charges and let Rex and Gigi open the box, which contained a picture of a house the daughter recognized. In the abandoned house, Rex and Gigi found a stack of old love letters between Rex's parents, Lili Nampeyo and Rick. The letters revealed Rick had left Lili before discovering she was pregnant, and Rick was forced to break things off with Lili after getting caught up with corrupt casino operators in Atlantic City, N.J. Shortly after giving birth, Lili went searching for Rick in Atlantic City but was told Rick had been killed, even though that was a lie, and returned to Santa Fe without her baby. Lili subsequently died, and Rex left his charm necklace at her gravesite before returning with Gigi to Llanview.

Rex and Gigi made tentative movements toward reconciliation and began going out on dates. While at the quarry, Rex discovered an abandoned briefcase in the woods that contained nothing in it except for a business card for Ford's Body Shop in Dayton, Ohio. Rex questioned Robert Ford about the briefcase, and Ford told Rex that the shop belonged to his father, but he knew nothing about the briefcase and told Rex he could keep it. Rex then offered to help Kelly track down clues related to her mother's death.

Rex's search led him to Boston, where he arranged to get details from the records clerk on three Bennett Thompsons in the area. Before he could get the files, however, Bennett drugged him. Rex learned that Bennett had stolen records that would have linked Bennett to Melinda's death. Kelly followed Rex to Boston, and later she learned Bennett's true identity: Eli Clarke. Rex raced to Kelly's rescue when she was trapped in Eli's hotel room, and Kelly told Rex that she believed Eli Clarke and Bennett Thompson were the same person. With Rex and Kelly's help, the police confirmed that Eli was behind everything. After Eli disappeared with Blair before they were scheduled to get married, the police tracked them down in Tahiti, where they learned Eli's presumed-dead brother Ross was still very much alive. Eli was presumed dead in a fire, and Kelly thanked Rex for helping close the case on her mother's death by giving Rex a check for a much larger amount than she had originally agreed to pay.

After Dorian was dumped at the altar by David, Kelly hired Rex to find David so Dorian could get revenge on him. Gigi seemed jealous that Rex and Kelly were spending so much time together, especially because Kelly and Rex had a habit of walking in on each other when they were nearly naked. Rex's search for David led him to Clint's office, where he was caught by Matthew Buchanan trying to steal files that proved David had been locked up in a Moroccan prison. Clint admitted to Rex that he had notified Moroccan authorities as to David's whereabouts so David would be arrested on prior charges. When Rex threatened to tell everything to Bo, Clint threatened to have Rex locked up for espionage. Clint demonstrated his power by having Gigi's university grant revoked. After Rex agreed to stay quiet, Clint arranged for Gigi to get offered a teaching assistant job at the university so she could continue her studies. Rex told Kelly he was unable to track down David in Europe and said she should let it go.

Rex was next hired by Viki to dig up information on Echo DiSavoy, an old nemesis who had recently returned to Llanview after being gone for nearly three decades. Rex caught Echo in a lie when he found a speeding ticket proving she had returned to Llanview nearly a year after she had first left, although she claimed to have only returned now. Rex questioned Clint about Echo's return trip, since Clint had carried on an affair with Echo while he was still married to Viki, but Clint claimed to have no idea why Echo would have returned. Rex snuck into Echo's room at the Angel Square Motel and was stunned to find the other half of the heart-shaped charm necklace that supposedly had been given to his father, Rick. Rex returned to New Mexico but found the half of the necklace he had left on his mother's grave had disappeared, and no one there recognized Echo. Rex and Viki questioned Echo about the necklace, but she evaded their questions about why she would have a necklace that supposedly belonged to Rex's father. Rex read aloud a portion of a letter his father had written to his mother Lili, and the wording seemed familiar to Viki. She later realized the passage came from an old book entitled "The Love Letters of Rick and Lili," which had been written by Asa's grandmother Blaize Pardee. She showed Rex the book and he now realized he still didn't know who his parents were. Rex questioned Echo again but she stonewalled him.

Gigi went to Paris, France, with Cristian for an art show and learned from Adriana that Rex had told her that he and Gigi hadn't had sex since reuniting following the Stacy Morasco incident. A furious Gigi berated Rex over the phone, and Kelly told Rex that he messed up big time by confiding in his ex-wife. Kelly admitted it had been a long time since she had had sex too. While at Todd and Téa's party, Kelly impulsively kissed Rex but they quickly agreed they should just remain friends. Rex then walked into the party just as Echo admitted to Viki and a roomful of spectators that she was in fact Rex's mother.

Rex was dumbfounded by the news, and even more so when Echo claimed Charlie was the father. But after Bo questioned whether Clint could be the father, Rex agreed to have a DNA test performed to learn the truth - even though Clint ordered him not to do the test. The test results named Charlie as Rex's father, and Rex was grateful to be a replacement for the son Charlie had lost. Rex kept Echo at arm's length, however, even as she wormed her way into Llanfair to get closer to Rex and Shane. Charlie encouraged Rex to give Echo a chance, and he slowly began warming to the idea. Rex also grew closer to Gigi and moved back in to the carriage house.

Todd hired Rex to look into Eddie Ford, the no-good father of his daughters' boyfriends James and Nate, and asked him to keep tabs on Marty. Rex discovered that Eddie had kidnapped Nora and freed her before Eddie returned. They got in a car accident on the way home but both emerged unharmed. Meanwhile, Rex broke into Marty's home and discovered a copy of a DNA test result naming Brody as the father of Natalie's baby. Rex nearly showed the test to Brody, assuming the document was fake, before Gigi intervened and later told Rex that it was true. Rex agreed with Natalie's request to keep the truth from Brody and John and was overjoyed when Natalie gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Rex got the shock of his life in January 2011 when Dorian told him that Clint was his father, not Charlie. Rex refused to believe her, but Dorian encouraged him to get another DNA test. Rex stole a spoon containing Charlie's saliva on it and put it in a plastic bag, along with locks of Rex's hair, but he later opted not to do the test. When it came out that Rex had had another test done, Rex lied to Charlie that the test proved Charlie was his father. The truth came out at the double wedding of Jessica and Natalie, when Clint's worker bee Vimal announced that Clint had ordered him to change the paternity test. Rex admitted to Charlie that he had lied and Charlie bolted from the church. Rex told Clint that he was going to tell Bo what he had done to David, but Clint warned Rex that Bo would turn on him for keeping the truth for so long.

Rex bit the bullet and told Bo the truth about David, and Bo was furious at Rex for keeping the truth from him for months. Bo immediately set out to rescue David in Morocco, and Rex followed Bo there. David had been removed from his jail cell, but a prison guard led Bo and Rex to Alex Olanov's private island, St. Blaze's, where they found David healthy and well. David nearly strangled Rex after learning that Rex knew all along about David's abduction.

Rex vowed to make amends to Bo by helping him solve the Eddie Ford murder case. Rex discovered video footage that showed Clint leaving Eddie's hotel room with a gun, and Bo quickly arrested Clint for the murder. The charges against Clint were dismissed, however, when he revealed to Bo and Nora that Matthew actually was the one who killed Eddie.

Rex and Gigi began to worry about Shane, who was growing distant and getting into trouble at school. He got suspended for three days after the booster club money Shane had been collecting was found in his locker, even though Shane claimed that Jack Manning stole it. Rex and Gigi were frantic when they learned that Shane had nearly died after having an asthma attack and couldn't believe Shane's story that he had thrown away his inhaler. Rex confided in Echo that Shane was bullying students and Echo confessed that Shane was the one being bullied. They looked on Shane's MyFace page and realized that the lead bully was Jack Manning. Rex and Gigi confronted Jack at the school and learned from Starr that Shane had been duped into taking off his clothes in front of everyone. Rex and Gigi feared the worst when Shane disappeared and left behind a goodbye note. They tracked him down on the roof of the school and convinced him not to jump. Rex and Gigi made Shane promise not to do anything like that again, but they privately worried that Shane was far from healed.

Rex got physical with Jack after Jack showed little remorse for what he had done to Shane. Clint offered to make the bullies pay if Rex would tell him who was behind Shane's bullying, but Rex told Clint that he wasn't interested in his help. Later, Rex admitted to Gigi that he paid for Jack to be roughed up. Rex proposed to Gigi, hoping it would help Shane to know that his family was stronger than ever, and Gigi accepted. But Shane still seemed despondent. Gigi admitted that she stole a tape recording of Shane's therapy session with Dr. Buhari, worried that Shane was planning to attempt suicide again. Rex and Gigi flirted with the idea of listening to the tape but later decided to return it and admitted to Shane what they had done.

Shane exacted his own revenge on Jack by dropping a weight on his foot after Jack made fun of him for working out. Rex was pleased that Shane stood up for himself, but Gigi worried that Shane was becoming no better than Jack. Rex and Gigi moved up the date of their wedding after Natalie and Matthew both ended up in the hospital in separate incidents. But on the day of the wedding, Rex became worried when Gigi didn't show up at the courthouse. He learned from Shane that Gigi had just found out that Jack was trying to lure Shane into a trap by pretending to be a girl who was into him on MyFace. Rex tracked Gigi down at the location where Shane was supposed to meet the pretend girl and found her locked in a basement room. When he broke open the door, Gigi was unconscious from carbon monoxide fumes from a leaking generator. Rex rushed her to the hospital, where Gigi was declared brain dead. Devastated, Rex lashed out at Clint, who was in the hospital suffering from a recent heart attack. Rex's badgering worsened Clint's condition and he was put on the top of the donor list. After learning that Gigi was an organ transplant donor, the doctors urged Rex to allow her heart to be transplanted into the next available donor, who happened to be Clint. Rex resisted at first but changed his mind after Todd managed to get all the charges dropped against Jack. Rex blackmailed Clint into giving him all of his money and the deed to the Buchanan mansion in exchange for Gigi's heart so he could get back Todd and Shane. Rex and Shane said a tearful goodbye to Gigi and the doctors took her into surgery, where her heart was successfully transplanted into Clint.

Rex quickly set up a secret company called Origami Cogs -- an anagram of Gigi Morasco -- and bought out a company out from under Todd. But his plan for revenge was much more personal - he wanted Jack to feel the pain of losing his mother and wanted Todd to feel the pain of losing his wife. After seeing Todd and Jack enjoy the opening of the Vickerman movie, Rex took a gun and went to the premiere, intent on murder. But Rex couldn't go through with it and ran back to the mansion, where he began seeing visions of Gigi.

After Todd was exposed as his twin brother, Victor Lord Jr., and subsequently murdered, Echo feared that Rex had pulled the trigger. She and Roxy hid the gun inside Roxy's stuffed porcupine, which subsequently fell into the hands of Cutter Wentworth and later his sister, Kimberly Andrews. To get the gun back from Kim, Echo forged Rex's signature on a document transferring Clint's estate back to Clint. When Rex found out what his mothers had done, he assured them that he hadn't killed Victor Jr. and phoned Clint to tell him that the document was a fake. Rex told Clint he would hand over everything to Clint voluntarily, because he realized that the money had done nothing to make his life better. Clint offered to let Rex and Shane stay in the mansion for as long as they wanted, saying he wanted the mansion to stay in the family.

Rex became friends with Aubrey Wentworth, who had broken up with Cutter for good, and asked her to help him plan a Halloween-themed engagement party for Natalie and Brody. Rex was repulsed when Cutter tried to blackmail him by alleging that Gigi was alive and they got into a fist fight. Later, Cutter and his mystery girl showed up in disguises at the Halloween party but Cutter whisked the woman away before Rex could see her. At the airport, Rex came face to face with the woman, who looked exactly like Gigi, as she boarded a plane to Brazil with Cutter. Rex and Aubrey flew to Brazil to track them down and found evidence that Stacy Morasco had survived her fall into the frozen lake and had had plastic surgery to look like Gigi. Rex and Aubrey confronted Stacy's best friend, Kimberly Andrews, who was in jail on bogus charges in Anchorage, Kentucky, and Kimberly agreed to tell Rex about Stacy's plan in exchange for her freedom. Kim revealed that Stacy had planned to take over Gigi's life on Gigi and Rex's wedding day but had fallen victim to the same carbon monoxide leak that killed Gigi.

Kim had rescued Stacy and taken her to a hospital, where she was in a coma for months before recently awaking. Kim promised to track Stacy down, while Rex and Shane went to Paris, Texas, to support Noelle in a pie baking contest in Gigi's honor. Rex was stunned when he came face to face with Stacy at the Bon Jour Café on Christmas Eve, 2011. Cutter showed up and told Rex that Stacy was actually Gigi, but they didn't believe him. Then a strange scientist named Delbert Fina Jr. showed up and told the pair that he had an invention that could help them see the past. Using a television monitor, Delbert flashed back to the day of Rex and Gigi's wedding. They saw Stacy, looking exactly like Gigi, follow Gigi to the vacant house. After Gigi fell unconscious, Stacy switched clothes with her and was about to walk out the door when Gigi came to and knocked Stacy out. Gigi stumbled out of the room but passed out before she could leave. Seeing the video, Rex realized that the woman before him was really Gigi. He pulled her into a kiss and Gigi's memories came flooding back.

Rex and Gigi returned to Llanview, where Gigi shared a warm reunion with a disbelieving Shane. Shane told Rex and Gigi that Jack had been arrested for Gigi's murder after he admitted what he had done on tape. Gigi stunned Jack by showing up at the police station and revealing that she was alive. At Llanfair, Rex got down on one knee and proposed that he and Gigi finish where they left off and get married. On New Year's Eve, a radiant Gigi and Rex exchanged vows as Madam Delphina officiated.