London. She is sinking fast when street-wise teenager Disa O'Brien (Jan Graveson) takes her under her wing, showing her how to survive. Disa turns to prostitution for extra money, and Diane poses nude for photographs for a man named Matthew Taylor (Neil Phillips) who makes a sculpture of her. She eventually returns to Albert Square in March 1990, after her father has been searching for months, but she struggles to adjust to life back in Walford. As a result of her time away, Diane develops an interest in art. When Taylor turns up trying to woo Diane, he deposits a life-size sculpute of her in Albert Square. Livid, Frank smashes up the statue and confronts Taylor, further alienating Diane. Diane develops a friendship with Mark Fowler (Todd Carty) when he returns to his family home in 1990, and enlists his help to find Disa, who is heavily pregnant and living in "Cardboard City". Disa refuses their help initially; after she gives birth, she abandons the child on Diane's doorstep on Christmas Day. Diane and Mark care for the baby in secret until they find Disa and persuade her to come home with them. Diane takes care of them and attempts to help Disa bond with her child. Diane is keen for her relationship with Mark to progress, so his hesitance upsets her. Eventually he confesses that he is HIV-positive. She pledges to stick with him although the task is daunting. She acts as a confidante, helping him to face up to his illness and seek counselling and professional help. Diane is unsettled when Mark begins spending time with his HIV+ ex-girlfriend Gill (Susanna Dawson), and when Mark proposes to Diane in June 1991, she gently turns him down. The following month she leaves Walford to go on a fruit-picking holiday in France. She telephones Frank in September to say she will not be returning. 1993–1997 Frank visits Diane in France in 1993. He is horrified to discover she is pregnant and unsure who the father is. After a heated argument Frank storms off, refusing to speak to Diane, but they manage to make peace by the time Frank leaves—Diane drives to the ferry and tearfully waves Frank goodbye. Diane returns for a short stint in 1994 to inform Pat that Frank is alive and well and has merely run away from Walford following a mental breakdown—Frank had visited Diane off-screen