system in Gigi's absence. Gigi and Rex return to Llanview together, Rex knowing the truth about Shane's paternity and the couple ready to tell Shane; a despondent Brody suffers a mental breakdown, kidnapping Shane and later accidentally shooting Rex. Adriana returns and at first keeps Gigi from seeing a comatose Rex; when Rex awakens, Adriana finally accepts his feelings for Gigi, and lets Rex go for good. With Brody suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder from his war experiences, a recovered Rex decides not to press charges. Initially resentful of Rex, Shane comes to appreciate his newly found father. Caught in another convenient lie to throw Rex off the trail of his father's identity, Roxy finally breaks down and admits to Rex that his father is dead – and that she killed the horrible man in self-defense. Rex believes her, and promises to keep the secret; Roxy subsequently visits an unseen, comatose man in a hospital, whom she identifies as Rex's evil father. She vows to keep the secret forever and leaves, and the man's foot moves under the blankets. In March 2009, Shane is diagnosed with leukemia, and Roxy discovers that Rex's comatose father is a bone marrow match. Gigi's estranged ex-stripper sister Stacy Morasco, trying to get close to Rex, discovers Roxy's secret and blackmails Roxy into helping her pretend to be the donor. Stacy forces Gigi to break up with Rex for Stacy to save Shane; Gigi fakes an affair with Brody. Armed with a spare bag of his blood in case Shane needs it, Roxy pulls the plug on Rex's father; he survives and is spirited away by a nurse who tells Roxy he is dead. As Rex begins growing closer to Stacy after the affair, Gigi is able to prove that Stacy is not a match with the help of Schuyler Joplin. Gigi and Rex secretly reunite, and end Stacy's scheming. However, Stacy finds out that she is pregnant, having slept with Rex weeks earlier. She loses the baby but gets pregnant again by police officer Oliver Fish and passes it off as Rex's; his relationship with Gigi soon crumbles. In November 2009, Rex's aunt Corrine gives him a copy of his birth certificate, which reveals deceased villain Mitch Laurence to be his father; Roxy reluctantly confirms it. Meanwhile, Mitch reappears alive, terrorizing his daughter Jessica and Rex's foster sister Natalie, and killing Jared. During a February 2010 blizzard, Rex discovers that Stacy's child is not his; meanwhile, Gigi helps Stacy give birth in a nearby cabin to a baby girl she names Sierra Rose. Despite Rex and Oliver's attempts to save her, Stacy subsequently falls through the ice of a frozen lake and is presumed dead. In April 2010, Rex learns that Roxy and Mitch are not his birth parents; his only tangible clue to his real parents is a necklace that was left with him when he was abandoned at birth. Rex's relationship with Gigi recovers to the point that she offers to accompany him on a trip to New Mexico to learn more about the necklace. Clues lead them to discover that Rex's parents had been a star-crossed couple named Rick and Lili who had been separated by circumstance. Unable to reunite with Rick, Lili had left Rex and died of a broken heart. Back in Llanview, Rex and Gigi declare their love for each other on June 8, 2010. In October 2010, Viki hires Rex to investigate Echo DiSavoy, who has returned to Llanview. In Echo's room, Rex finds one half of a heart necklace resembling his own. When Rex and Viki