Aidan Devane skulked into town in summer 2002. His attempt to meet up with his aunt, Anna Devane, resulting in a physical altercation with her husband David Hayward which would establish their future relationship. Anna and Aidan had never met; Anna had never even known that her older sister Lindsay had had a child. According to Aidan, Lindsay had died when he was young and he was sent to live with an aunt and uncle. He'd just gotten out of the GB Special Services before arriving in PV, and was hoping to find steady employment and reconnect with his family. He managed to get a job working on Erica's penthouse, and immediately came into contact with the volatile Kendall Hart. Kendall was trying to clear her name on an arson charge, and while attempting to plant a bug, got hot and heavy with the hunky Brit. Aidan was less than thrilled when he found out her true intentions, and spurned her. She meanwhile lost her fiancé Ryan due to her machinations, and he would remain a cloud over any future relationship Aidan and Kendall had.

One day Aidan helped a beautiful Latina woman after she had been mugged in the park. Her name was Maureen Gorman and she had come to town to find out who was digging into her life. She hid out in his hotel room and the two quickly became friends. Just as Aidan found himself seriously falling for this mystery lady, she learned she was Maria Santos Grey, presumed dead since 1997, married to Edmund, mother of Sam and Maddie. Maria felt a special bond with Maddie and kidnapped her from Wildwind to protect her. Aidan assisted in the plan for mother and daughter to flee town, but a jealous Kendall called the cops. Aidan punched an officer and was arrested. Maria decided to work on her past with Edmund and her children, but promised to stay friends with Aidan. Aidan regretfully agreed and began concentrating on Kendall again. He and Kendall became very close while working at the Valley Inn as bartenders, and even made love one night, but she made him leave her room the next morning due to not believing she was worthy of love and still being obsessed with finding Ryan. After they had a disagreement about her obsession with Erica, the relationship cooled once again, and he was drawn back to Maria.

Maria had regained none of her memory and wanted the help of the man who had zapped her memories in the first place, David. But David felt that he had enough problems regarding her return, and refused to get involved. Aidan held him hostage and threatened to give him the drug he had given Maria years earlier, but after Maria arrived, David managed to get the gun and flee the room. Soon after this, Aidan was shot and fell on Maria's doorstep. Maria hid him out in the Wildwind stables as she treated him. Although he was initially hesitant to talk about his past, Maria pressed him after learning that Scotland Yard had a warrant out for his arrest on the murder of a Fiona Sinclair. Aidan confided in Maria of his past with working for a crime boss. The man's wife, Fiona, was madly in love with Aidan and was planning to leave her husband for him. One day Aidan left her in his hotel room bed, but when he returned a short time later, she was sprawled out with a bullet inside her, and a note warning Aidan he was next. Aidan had been on the run ever since. To his relief, Maria believed him, and when he began to heal she moved him to Hayley and Mateo's old condo to further recuperate. Kendall just happened to be looking at the place with Maria's mother (she was selling the property), but Kendall covered and bought the condo. Kendall and Aidan were once again in close quarters, and when Maria left Wildwind after Edmund locked her in a room and verbally abused her upon learning of her continued faith in Aidan, she joined them. It was truly a Three's Company situation, but Aidan knew he was putting their lives in danger. He attempted to get away on the next bus, but saw an old associate, Morgan, asking about him at the bus stop, and realized she must have been the one who shot him. Aidan returned to the condo, and the living situation continued until a few days later when Edmund dropped by the condo and discovered Aidan. When he learned of Maria hiding Aidan out and even letting him into Wildwind, he berated her for putting their family in danger. For once, Edmund and Aidan agreed. Aidan had seen Morgan flashing a photo of Maria, and could no longer bear the constant peril he was putting Kendall and Maria under. As Maria moved back to Wildwind, Aidan announced that he was returning to London, and the people after him would follow him there, leaving Pine Valley for good. Aidan shared a sad farewell with his two "birds", but actually didn't even leave the condo.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Aidan had been hit on the head right before his getaway plan. When he came to he was being held prisoner by Morgan, that redheaded woman. She had been hunting for him for quite a while and had orders to leave him tied up until Julian, who was Fiona's husband and Morgan's lover, showed up to finish off Aidan himself as revenge. Since Aidan and Morgan had been former partners in crime and between the sheets, Aidan managed to sweet-talk her over endless chess games until she agreed to break into Wildwind with him to split the loot and then split town together. Once arriving at Wildwind, Aidan opened the safe and instead of money, pulled out a gun! Morgan whipped out her own piece and the two were at a stalemate until Maria, who had entered the room undetected, dropped a book on the floor, distracting Morgan long enough for Aidan to knock her out with the gun. After they tied her up, Maria told Aidan that Edmund had been drugging her and she wanted nothing to do with him ever again, but that she had developed feelings for Aidan and wasn't letting him leave without her. She grabbed all the cash from the safe and hotwired a car. Aidan's repeated insistence that it was too dangerous to go with him fell on deaf ears, so the duo fled to the Bahamas in search of Jordan...not realizing he had just arrived at Wildwind, posing as a Scotland Yard inspector, moments after they'd left.

While in the Bahamas, Maria and Aidan were aided by Aidan's old friend, a bar owner named Kingsman, and finally had a few moments to relax and enjoy themselves. In a passionate night on the beach, they consummated their love. The hectic pace returned when Julian took Kinsgman and Maria hostage, placing Maria in a beach chair with a bomb attached to her leg. Aidan managed to defuse the bomb and got Maria away in the nick of time. Kingsman wasn't so lucky, as Julian shot and killed him. The gunplay continued in a hotel room standoff when Julian again took Maria prisoner and Aidan grabbed Morgan as his hostage. Julian heartlessly shot Morgan, and would have done the same to Aidan and Maria if Aidan hadn't managed to lunge for the gun in time. The two men struggled, and Julian was killed.

With all charges against Aidan dropped, he and Maria returned to Pine Valley and continued their relationship. DA Jackson Montgomery, knowing of Aidan's Special Forces past, asked him to covertly seek out information on former fed Chris Stamp. Aidan had a great deal of respect for Chris, and agreed to do the job mainly because he didn't wanted to prove Chris was innocent. Aidan's first step was to get his old position back as Valley Inn bartender. When Maria saw him acting suspiciously, he reluctantly clued her in to his plans and even more reluctantly agreed to let her help him out. To his surprise, he began to uncover signs of corrupt behavior on Stamp's part. While investigating Chris and his associate Flanders, Aidan began to worry about Maureen's memory returning, and when she would leave him for Edmund. She reassured him this was not going to happen, and in spite of his doubts, he proposed. But just as she accepted, they had to go into hiding with Maria's daughter Maddie after Maddie witnessed Flanders killing someone (a few weeks later everyone found out that person was Chris). Flanders knew that Aidan had bugged his conversations, and he especially wanted to get Maddie out of the way. Flanders found the three of them on a yacht and he and Aidan struggled for control of the ship. The yacht exploded and Aidan was presumed dead, but in actuality he had jumped off into the rocks moments before. He had only minor surface injuries, but suffered a broken heart when "Maureen" revealed she had gotten all of Maria's memories back and was going to reunite with Edmund. Devastated, Aidan put up a brave face and wished her well. Even as he once again gravitated towards an equally unlucky in love Kendall, he pined for his Maureen.

Aidan's unfortunate interest in married Santos women continued. He pined for the unhappily married Anita Santos. Though Aidan secretly hoped that Anita would ditch husband Bobby Warner, Anita remained committed to her husband and tried to work out their differences. Over time, Anita and Bobby decided that their differences were irreconcilable and they went their separate ways. Aidan was nearby waiting to pick up the pieces of Anita's broken marriage and heart.

Anita unwittingly ended up with competition for Aidan's affection. Lily Montgomery, Jackson's teenage autistic daughter, developed her first crush in Aidan and asked him to be her "boyfriend." Jackson was livid and confronted Aidan about his interests in his daughter. Everything was quickly cleared away when it was revealed that it was Lily that had developed the crush on Aidan - not the other way around. Lily had become smitten with Aidan after her had helped her ward off the attacks of the "mean girls" at her high school. He also gave her some green-tinted sunglasses to help her when she saw the color red, a color that sent her into panic. Aidan accepted Lily's request to be her boyfriend, a role that Lily said would only require his being their to talk and play math games.

Aidan and Anita just sort of fizzled out. While investigating Jonathan Lavery, Aidan got involved with his sister, Erin, and the two fell in love with each other. Aidan also developed a form of protectiveness toward Jonathan, and was one of the few in town that did not actively oppose his relationship with Lily. Aidan was left confused and heartbroken when Erin broke off their relationship shortly after he accepted a job from Thompson McDermott to find Thompson's missing ex-wife, Annie, and their daughter, Emma.

Aidan was one of few who stood by Greenlee after she got into a car accident that nearly killed Kendall and Ryan's son, Spike. They formed a strong bond and started to fall in love with each other. When Kendall set up Greenlee to make it look like Greenlee tried to kidnap Spike again, Aidan turned on the fire alarm at the courthouse on the day of Greenlee's hearing in the matter. Aidan dressed up as a fireman and carried Greenlee out of the courthouse and they went on the run. Eventually, Aidan was found but Greenlee was not. Greenlee kept up on the lam and eventually ran into Zach Slater. Zach and Greenlee were trapped in a bomb shelter for many weeks.

Aidan and Kendall, thinking that Zach and Greenlee had died, had a one night stand. Then, Kendall and Aidan rescued Zach and Greenlee from the bomb shelter. Aidan and Kendall agreed to keep their one night affair a secret. Aidan proposed to Greenlee and she accepted. However, Aidan told Greenlee that he had slept with Kendall when he thought she was dead. Greenlee broke off her engagement with Aidan but they reconciled a couple of weeks later and married in Las Vegas within the next couple of months.

Aidan's marriage to Greenlee was short lived when he saw that she still had feelings for Ryan. To get revenge on Ryan for taking Greenlee from him, Aidan assisted Annie in staging a faux kidnapping, although Aidan claimed that he did it to make sure Emma was not harmed. Annie was arrested for this crime and sent to Oak Haven.

Aidan told Greenlee he had accepted a job in Washington, D.C. and would leave for there. He and Greenlee divorced. However, Aidan never left town. Instead, he paid off the head doctor at Oak Haven, who allowed him to stay at the hospital as "Mr. Stone" so he could keep tabs on Annie.

Aidan became suspicious of Annie's psychiatrist at Oak Haven, Dr. Riley Sinclair. Aidan found out that Dr. Sinclair secretly videotaped Annie from her room. Dr. Sinclair caught on to Aidan's game and managed to become his doctor. She put Aidan and Annie on the maximum security ward at Oak Haven in rooms next to each other. Aidan and Annie communicated via the air vents. Dr. Sinclair saw this and decided to inject Aidan with truth serum to get him to confess to his real agenda. Aidan claimed that he was really Aidan Devane and not Mr. Stone and that he checked himself into Oak Haven to see that Annie pay for her crimes. In reality, Aidan said this in order to throw Dr. Sinclair off track. Aidan found out the secret that Dr. Sinclair was hiding: she was Richie Novak's prison psychiatrist when he was in prison in Chicago and had an affair with him. The prison warden told Dr. Sinclair that she needed to resign. Dr. Sinclair was caught trying to kill Annie and she was sent to prison. Aidan told Annie that he would be by her side every step of the way as she recovered.

Annie's new doctor noticed the frequency of Aidan's visits to Annie and warned Aidan against developing feelings for Annie because she was headed to prison. Around the same time, Kendall accidently drove Greenlee off the road and Greenlee was presumed dead. Zach covered for Kendall and became the target of Ryan's vengeance. Zach hired Aidan to keep tabs on Ryan under the guise of working security for Cambias Industries. Aidan agreed to work for Zach with one condition - Zach needed to use his influence to keep Annie out of prison.

Aidan visited Annie at Oak Haven and shared the good news that she would not be going to prison. Aidan admitted he was falling in love with Annie and they made love.

Ryan quickly realized that Aidan was working for Zach and instructed Aidan to warn Zach that Ryan planned to win. Ryan took Kendall from Zach and he also took Cambias Industries, which rendered Aidan's deal with Zach to keep Annie out of prison null and void. Aidan focused on helping Annie discover the meanings of her reoccurring dreams about a childhood birthday party and a girl named Tori. Aidan investigated Annie's childhood and aided her in piecing together the suppressed memory that her brother Richie had murdered her friend Tori in their basement on Annie's seventh birthday. Richie blamed Tori's death on Annie and she had believed him.

Aidan shared the news about Tori and what Richie had done with Ryan and he asked Ryan to bring Emma for a visit with Annie. Ryan remained adamant that Annie was unstable and should not have any contact with her daughter. Ryan also arranged for Annie to be transferred to a different facility where Aidan could no longer have contact with her. Aidan responded by kidnapping Annie and he made plans for them to leave the country. Annie convinced Aidan to allow her to say goodbye to Emma and while she was with her daughter, Aidan was arrested.

The police planned to leave Aidan in jail until Annie was found. Aidan was released before Annie was taken into custody when her travel itinerary showed she was in a country without an extradition treaty. Aidan continued to keep a close eye on Ryan's home because he believed Annie would try to make contact with Emma. His theory was right and he found Annie lurking in Ryan's apartment building. He tried to convince Annie to disappear with him for awhile but she refused. They argued near the top of a staircase and Aidan tumbled to the bottom and dislocated his shoulder. Annie apologized as she tied him up and explained she would be back after she visited her daughter.

Annie returned to check on Aidan and she shared her plan to take Emma from the Chandler mansion later that evening. She left him tied up but Aidan managed to escape. By the time he arrived at the mansion, Annie had already taken Emma. Chaos erupted at the mansion and someone shot Stuart Chandler. Aidan located Annie and Emma and he was surprised to find Annie caring for Adam Chandler instead of taking off with her daughter. Annie turned Emma over to Ryan and Aidan told Annie he could no longer put his life on hold for her. He soon realized Annie had already secured Adam Chandler as her new protector.

Aidan decided to investigate Stuart's death and he believed Annie had committed the crime, although Kendall Slater was charged and sentenced. Like most of Pine Valley, Aidan thought Kendall was behind bars serving her sentence for Stuart's murder until he spied Kendall at the charity dance marathon held at Fusion. Zach explained he hired a doppelganger to take Kendall's place in prison while Kendall hid in a secret room in their home. Aidan agreed to keep the secret and he aided Zach in keeping Kendall hidden.

Zach, Kendall, and Aidan kidnapped Annie and tried to force her to share the truth of Stuart's death. Annie refused to share what she knew and Aidan was charged with kidnapping and taken to jail for the night. Erica Kane paid Aidan's bail and instructed him to report immediately to the hospital. Kendall's doppelganger had been stabbed in prison and refused to go back. Kendall turned to Aidan and asked him to help her escape. He agreed. Aidan took Kendall hostage at gunpoint and they left the hospital. Aidan was shot in the arm as they made their escape and they found temporary refuge in the stables at Wildwind. Jake and Amanda Martin discovered them and they agreed to assist Kendall and Aidan in their escape. Kendall and Aidan made it to an abandoned church and Kendall continued to care for Aidan's gunshot wound.

Kendall spoke openly of her love for her husband and sons and Aidan found a laptop Kendall and Zach could use to secretly communicate through a poetry chat room. While Kendal and Aidan remained in hiding, Zach continued to search for proof that would exonerate Kendall in Stuart's death. Aidan started intercepting the messages of love between Zach and Kendall and planted doubts with Kendall about Zach's relationship with Liza Colby.

The FBI discovered the abandoned church so Aidan took Kendall to a new location. It was a rundown motel run by an old friend of Aidan's named Kat. She was thrilled to see Aidan and agreed to allow Kendall and Aidan to hide out, even after Kat realized Aidan was in love with Kendall. Aidan told Kat he was tired of losing the women he loved to other men and this time with Kendall was going to be different. Kat agreed to help Aidan break apart Zach and Kendall because years ago Aidan had helped Kat deal with the loss of her husband. They continued to intercept and change messages between Zach and Kendall.

Kat and Aidan's plan was working. Zach worried that Kendall was interested in Aidan, and Kendall worried that Zach and Liza were having an affair. Zach made plans to visit Kendall and Kat helped Aidan arrange for Zach to see Kendall having sex with Aidan. They drugged Kendall's wine and arranged for Kendall's prison double to join Aidan in bed. The plan worked and Zach took off and Kendall was unaware Zach had ever been near.

The next morning, the newspaper stated that Adam Chandler had confessed to shooting his brother Stuart so it was safe for Kendall to go home. Aidan became desperate and chloroformed Kendall. He took her hostage and fired shots at Kat when she tried to talk Aidan out of his plan. Erica located Kendall and Aidan but Aidan warned Kendall he would kill Erica if Kendall tried anything. Kendall convinced her mother she was done with her life in Pine Valley and did not plan to return even though she was cleared of the murder charges.

Aidan moved Kendall to an abandoned warehouse and Kat joined up with them. Kendall swore she loved Zach and would never love Aidan. Kat questioned why Aidan would love a woman that wanted nothing to do with him and Kendall explained Aidan snapped after losing love so many times before. Aidan sent Kat away and she encountered Zach and led him to the warehouse. Aidan knocked Zach out and tied him up. Zach worked himself free of the ropes and held a gun on Aidan until the police arrived. Aidan apologized to Kendall for what he had done and was sent to prison.