When Lucas' friend from school Alan came to town, he raped Sami. Lucas helped Carrie try and trap Alan, but their plan failed and Carrie and Sami were both taken hostage. After Alan went to jail, Sami was teased by men and feared that nobody would ever love her. Lucas was also depressed about the fact that Carrie made it clear that they could only be friends. Both seeking comfort, they made love. Later, Sami drugged Austin and tricked him into sleeping with her by pretending to be Carrie. The next morning, Austin told Sami he made a mistake and they could not be a couple, so she ran away. Carrie learned that Austin had slept with someone else, but she didn't know who. Austin and Carrie were apart because they both suspected the other of being unfaithful.

After Lucas' mother Kate was apparently killed in a plane crash, he learned that Vivian had something to do with it and he blackmailed her into finding Sami and bringing her home in time to stop Austin and Carrie's wedding. Sami returned and revealed that she was pregnant with Austin's child. After Will was born, Lucas asked Sami if there was any way that the baby could be his. Sami said no.

On New Years Eve, Sami drugged Carrie's glass of champagne and carried her to bed. Lucas showed up drunk and when he passed out, Sami put him in bed with Carrie. Sami then arranged for Austin to see them in bed together. The next morning Carrie and Lucas were clueless as to how they ended up in bed. Austin gave Carrie the cold shoulder and told her that he saw her and Lucas in bed together. Carrie couldn't explain what had happened. Thinking it was over between her and Austin, Carrie began dating Lucas. Eventually, Kate learned everything Sami had done to break Austin and Carrie up and she exposed both Lucas and Sami. Carrie and Austin were reunited.

When Austin accidentally backed his car into Sami, she fell into a deep coma. When she finally woke back up, she had amnesia and couldn't recall the last four years. Lucas decided to use the situation to his own advantage and convinced Sami that she and Austin lived together. He told her to go home to Austin and surprise him. When she did, she found a woman's negligee and lipstick in the apartment and thought Austin was cheating on her. She accused Carrie of stealing her husband. Austin and Carrie convinced Sami that he wasn't cheating on her. Sami moved in with Austin. Eventually, she began to recall her past, but kept silent when Lucas urged her not to tell Austin. She believed Austin really loved her and wanted to tell him the truth, but Lucas convinced her otherwise. He got Sami to help him with a new plot, that of convincing Austin that Carrie was falling in love with Mike Horton. Lucas thought that once Austin gave up on Carrie, he could easily steal her from Mike. Once Austin was free, Sami was planning to steal him from Carrie.

Eventually, the truth came out. Will was not Austin's son, but Lucas'. Austin and Carrie were married and Lucas finally realized that Carrie and Austin did belong together. Sami, however, was hurt and bent on getting revenge. Lucas learned that Sami was blackmailing his mother, but Kate refused to tell him what Sami had on her.

Lucas and Sami began to get on one another's nerves and both plotted to get rid of the other. Sami caused trouble by telling Austin that Lucas drank too much and Austin began checking in on his brother. Sami found Lucas passed out on the floor with Will missing. Desperate, Sami called Austin. They found Will and Lucas insisted he wasn't drunk, he had just fallen asleep. Sami declared that Lucas had hit Will. They went to court and Sami got custody of their son. When Lucas was caught in an unsupervised visit with Will, Sami got a restraining order against him, swearing he'd never see his son again. After Sami and Franco became engaged, Lucas refused to let Franco become Will's stepfather. He wouldn't have to worry about that too long. Franco was murdered and Sami was charged with the crime, although Lucas had actually done the deed. Sami was tried and almost put to death, but Lucas, after having a fit of conscious, ran in at the last moment and stopped the execution.

Lucas fell in love with Nicole but, unfortunately, she was in love with Eric, Sami's twin brother. Lucas made all kinds of promises to her, but it was Kate who got Nicole for her son, with a check for $5,000,000. Nicole and Lucas were married and he got custody of Will. After Sami was released from prison, she fought to get custody of Will, even moving into the Kiriakis Mansion so she could be near him. Eventually, Sami worked with Nicole to get Will back, by driving Lucas, a recovering alcoholic, to drink again. Nicole got Lucas drunk and seduced him and made him think he had beaten her and confessed to Franco's murder.

Lucas, along with Kate and Victor, followed Sami and Brandon to Italy where they had gone to try to get information about Franco's murder. They tried to get Sami to return to Salem before she got the information, but to no avail. Back in Salem, Nicole finally told Lucas that she married him only for money. They were divorced. Still in Europe, Kate set up a hit on Victor and thought he'd been killed. Unfortunately, Sami got her hands on the tape of Kate bribing Roberto to confess to Franco's murder. Kate was confident, though, that since she now had all of Victor's money, Sami would still lose Will. But, Kate was wrong and, after the tape was played, Sami took Will.

Later, Kate discovered that Victor was still very much alive and in cahoots with Nicole. She knocked him out and set the house on fire, but the only one injured in the blaze was Lucas. He was in a coma and was sent away to a rehab center. Eventually, Lucas came out of his coma and was able to come back to Salem, but he was still partially paralyzed. Sami taunted him, while Lucas seemed to really want to make amends. He went with his mother to Sami and Austin's wedding in Vegas, where the real Lucas came out when he tape-recorded Sami's confession of many of her evil deeds. Austin overheard and left Sami at the altar, and Lucas returned to Salem with evidence of Sami's misbehavior. Eventually, with Victor's help, Lucas used the tape to get joint custody of Will, who he took with him for a summer in Africa. When they returned, Will had learned a lot of bad habits from Lucas! Lucas continued to work on Victor's side, helping him to make Sami's life miserable. Even when it was discovered that he was still married to Nicole - the divorce papers were never filed - he worked hard to make it right.

Lucas went from being strongly on Victor's side to working for his nemesis, Tony DiMera. He enjoyed his newfound position of power - a lot - but the stress drove him back to drinking. But was it the stress of the job or over his unrequited feelings for Sami. His AA sponsor, Maggie, thought it was the latter and told Lucas he would feel compelled to drink until he was truthful. He managed to control the drinking, especially after Sami was injured at the DiMera Mansion and very nearly died. While she was in the hospital recovering, Lucas has some very erotic fantasies about her. He continued to help Sami adjust after she got out of the hospital.

Lucas, as well as his mother, was one of the main suspects when the Salem Stalker started a murder spree. The Stalker murdered several of Lucas's Horton relatives before she was finally caught and her identity revealed. Marlena was the murderer!

This was of course devastating news for Sami. She and Lucas grew closer as he tried to help her through this difficult time, until they finally made love. They managed to get past their pasts and develop a relationship. Lucas proposed to Sami, but with a caveat; she had to promise to redeem herself and to never lie to him again. She wasn't sure she wanted to accept; she wanted a better proposal, which Lucas came through with in a big way. He asked Julie for her advice and wowed Sami with a song.

Sami and Lucas became engaged but Kate did everything in her power to make sure they never walked down the aisle. She even brought Sami's ex Brandon Walker back to town. With Kate's help, "fate" intervened. Lucas found Sami and Brandon in bed together on the morning of the wedding. He was devastated. As much as he loved Sami, he couldn't forgive her for this. He ripped up the marriage license and swore he never wanted anything else to do with her. Sami tried to convince him that Kate was responsible, but his mother smooth-talked him and he only blamed his ex-fiance.

Even Will wanted nothing to do with Sami. He moved in with Lucas, then Sami appeared to disappear. In reality, she was getting revenge on all of her enemies in the guise of "Stan."

When Shawn, Rex and Brady came to Lucas with a plan to rescue his brother Philip, he was at first very reluctant. Eventually, they talked him into it and he headed behind enemy lines on the daring rescue attempt.

<< rewind