Kevin Marler and his twin brother Jason were born in 1996 to Blake Thorpe Marler. Thanks to Nurse Annie Dutton, Blake believed that the twins were born to two different men. She believed that Jason was the son of her husband, Ross, and Kevin the product of a drunken one-night stand with Rick Bauer. Throughout the next few months, Blake lived in fear that Ross would discover the truth. Finally, in early 1997, the truth came out when after a car accident, Blake was left unconscious and Kevin required surgery to remove a damaged spleen. Although warned that he shouldn't operate on his own son, Rick did anyway. Kevin crashed on the operating table, but luckily Rick revived him. Following the successful surgery, Rick finally told Ross that Kevin was his child. Angry, Ross confronted Blake, who'd woken up, and informed her that HER son was alright. He then left her and took Jason home with him. Fortunately, the separation didn't last long. When Ross mistakenly believed that Blake had died, he realized how much he loved her and welcomed her and Kevin back into his life. However, with the secret now out, the Marlers allowed Rick to be a part of Kevin's life since he was his father. In 1998, amid some trouble in the Marler marriage, Rick contemplated seeking custody of Kevin. He was derailed though by a startling revelation--Kevin wasn't his son. Ross was the father of both boys! Although he could have withheld the information from Ross, he didn't and sadly said goodbye to the boy he'd grown to love. Grateful, Ross encouraged Rick to remain a part of Kevin's life. In 1999, the Marler marriage collapsed and the couple divorced, after a one-night stand. The end of that year, Blake went into labor in the Bauer. Luckily, Ross arrived and safely delivered their daughter, Clarissa. At that moment, the couple reunited and remained happy, with the exception of Ross's marital affair in 2002. In December 2005, Ross was unexpectedly selected to serve in Congress and moved to Washington, DC. Tragically, Ross died in 2006 in a plane crash. The end of that year, Jason and Kevin went to Europe with their grandmother, Holly, presumably to visit Barbara Norris and afterwards were enrolled in boarding school.