Tom Hughes was born to Bob and Lisa Hughes. His parents divorced when he was young and Tom blamed his father for the break-up mainly because his mother poisoned his mind against him. Lisa, tired of Oakdale, took Tom to LA and dropped him off at a military school. His grandparents, Chris and Nancy, brought him back home, and he was put in Bob's care. However, young Tommy was still angry at his father, and started acting up by destroying daddy dolls. Luckily, Ellen Lowell was able to reach out to Tommy and got him to see not only how much Bob (and by extension Nancy and Chris) loved him, but made him realize how much his dad, a busy young doctor, was needed.

Later, when Tom was a bit older, he became insolent and Lisa again shipped him off to boarding school for a brief time. When Tom returned, he was shocked to learn that his mother had lied to him about the baby she was caring for. Lisa told Tom that the child, Chuckie, was the child of an ill friend, when in reality, he was Lisa's son by Michael Shea. Tom denounced her as a liar and wrote her off. At this point, a teenaged Tom was becoming rebellious. He was obnoxious to his grandparents, Nancy and Chris, who shared Lisa's conviction that Bob had become neglectful of his son. Uncle Donald was the only one in the family who was able to develop a good rapport with Tom. In one conversation, Tom complained to his uncle that being prepared for adulthood was like being "a Boy Scout ... a straight arrow going nowhere." Don correctly sensed that Tom was going nowhere but downward, thanks to his long-haired boarding school roommate, Hank Barton, Hank was a criminal who was getting Tom hooked on speed, and enlisted Tom's help in robbing Hank's father's pharmacy. Bob also became concerned about Tom's attitude and warned him he'd cut off his financial support unless he took Lisa back into his life. Tom begrudgingly heeded his father's advice, acting little more than cordially to his mother.

As his parents sorted out their convoluted love lives, Tom was bedeviled by demons of his own. His grades were so bad that he confided to Chris that he was about to join the Army. Chris tried to reach out to his grandson, but the boy went to Vietnam and ended up recovering from self-inflicted injuries at Great Lakes Hospital. When he returned to Oakdale, Tom resumed his dependency on his old boarding school roommate, Hank Barton, for dubious companionship and drugs. One night, when Tom was high, Hank put him up to breaking into Michael Shea's office for narcotics. Michael caught Tom and extracted a written confession, which he used to blackmail Lisa into marrying him. After losing Claire, Michael had become obsessed with having Chuckie know him as his father, and he wanted the boy all to himself. He was, however, already tired of Lisa and was now carrying on with Karen Adams, a sympathetic but impressionable young nurse.

Shortly after Lisa and Michael married, Lisa left Chuckie in her car during an errand and the boy pressed the accelerator. Chuckie was unhurt, but Michael, as usual, capitalized on the situation. He devised a series of near mishaps designed to make Lisa look like an unfit mother so he could divorce her and sue for custody of Chuckie. Later, Tom foolishly tried to rob Michael's office again, prompting the devious doctor to attempt to blackmail Lisa into handing over his son. However, it was not to be. Michael was shot and killed and Tom was seen leaving the scene mumbling, "He got what he deserved." Tom went to trial, while Lisa disappeared with Chuckie. Trying to protect Lisa, who he secretly suspected was the murderer, Tom made no effort to help himself. Karen Adams was also a suspect, since she'd been late for her nursing shift the night Michael was murdered, but the evidence against Tom was overwhelming. The one bright spot in Tom's life was Carol Deming, a sweet, uncomplicated girl he'd recently met. Carol was convinced of Tom's innocence and stuck by him despite the misgivings of her psychiatrist father.

As Tom took the witness stand, Lisa returned to Oakdale and rushed into the courtroom, only to collapse and awaken with amnesia, giving her name as Mrs. Robert Hughes. Tom was convicted of the murder. While Bob tried desperately to help Tom, he was also preoccupied with a mysterious terminally ill patient named Miss Thompson. One day, she entrusted Bob to represent her in a banking transaction and he noticed that the bank listed her name as Helen Pearce. When Bob questioned his patient, she remained secretive until he happened to mention that his son, Tom, had been convicted of Michael Shea's murder. Much to Bob's shock, Miss Thompson told him that she was the killer! She was the woman from Michael's past whose daughter had committed suicide. To prove her guilt, Miss Thompson gave Bob one detail of her crime -- Michael was fixing a very dry Rob Roy on the night she shot him. Then she died, leaving Bob with a story but no witnesses. Frantically, Bob investigated Miss Thompson but turned up nothing solid until he discussed the situation with Claire and Judge Lowell. Claire recalled Michael taunting her about an old girlfriend named Marcia Campbell who'd introduced him to the very dry Rob Roy. Further investigation corroborated the woman's true identity and Tom was freed. Soon afterward, Lisa regained her memory but was disappointed to find that she was no longer married to Bob.

After the trial, Tom got his act together and started studying law and working at Dr. Paul Stewart's medical clinic. There he met a seemingly sensitive young woman named Meredith Harcourt, who was suffering from an indeterminate illness. Taking pity on the girl, Tom let her stay with him when she told him she had no money and no place to stay. Though Meredith presented herself as a poor, downtrodden girl, both Nancy and Lisa had their doubts since she seemed too "chic" to be telling the truth about her circumstances. Their suspicions were confirmed when Meredith, wanting to get on Nancy's good side, bought her a piece of "costume jewelry" that was valued at $ 2,000. It turned out Meredith was the ward of the very wealthy Simon Gibney and she'd run away in order to escape his strictness. Unbeknownst to Meredith, Simon was in Oakdale himself and found himself in a relationship with Lisa! Though Lisa was thoroughly charmed by Simon, Tom hated him immensely. Realizing that Simon and Tom would never like each other, Lisa broke up with Simon; then in a surprising move, Simon and Meredith fell in love and left town together.

About 1972, after a brief relationship with his stepsister, Barbara Ryan, Tom began finally dating Carol Demming, who'd been his friend ever since he returned from Vietnam. Soon, Tom and Carol fell in love and married. Soon Tom found himself attracted to his first legal client, the sultry Natalie Bannon who was accused of grand larceny, Tom helped clear Natalie and, despite the fact that he was married, he found himself drawn to the sultry, mysterious woman. In short time, Tom and Carol decided that they married too young and parted ways amicably. That would pave the way for Natalie to become Mrs. Thomas Hughes. However, before that could happen, she had to contend with a deep dark secret. Though she secured a job with Tom's mother, Lisa, at her bookstore, Lisa still had some vague suspicions about Natalie's character. Finally, one day, in front of Carol, a customer recognized Natalie as Mrs. Ralph Porter. At the same time, Natalie learned that Carol's boyfriend, Jay Stallings, was having an affair with Susan Stewart and warned him to have Carol keep her mouth shut or she'd tell Carol about his indiscretion. However, Jay refused to cow to Natalie's threat since he knew her secret too. Seeing no choice, Natalie confessed the truth about her past to Tom--that her first husband, Ralph Porter, had died of a drug overdose. Touched by her sensitive history, Tom asked her to marry him. Meanwhile, Jay and carol eloped.

Though both married, Natalie and Jay found it difficult to resist their feelings for each other. Making it difficult were Tom and Carol who, still friends, wanted to hang out together. Soon, Jay and Natalie's attraction was growing while their spouses were oblivious. Though both Tom and Carol were content in their lives, Jay and Natalie both wanted more out of life than a mundane small town existence. Finally, Tom noticed how uncomfortable Natalie was around Jay and called her on it. Not wanting to endanger her marriage, Natalie covered up her feelings of lust for Jay and told Tom that Jay had designs on her. However, when Tom confronted Jay, he laughed it off by saying that Natalie totally misread him. Then one day, Jay and Natalie found themselves alone. Their urges overpowering them, Jay pulled Natalie into a smoldering kiss that she didn't resist. Later, the truth about Natalie's history was finally revealed when a customer told Lisa that he hoped Natalie would pay for the pain she caused. Curious, Lisa did some digging and learned something startling-- Natalie's first husband didn't die of a drug overdose, he committed suicide after she had an affair with his married brother! Lisa confided in Bob who urged Natalie to tell Tom the truth. She did and, although Tom understood, he couldn't condone the fact that she only told the truth because his parents told her to and he left. Distraught at what seemed to be the end of her marriage, as Carol was out of town, Natalie turned to a willing Jay and the two finally gave in to their passion. Unfortunately the next day, Tom came back and he found out about Jay and Natalie's affair. Angry, he got in a violent confrontation with Jay. Afterwards, Jay begged Tom not to tell Carol, and not wanting to see Carol hurt, Tom agreed, but he did divorce Natalie, while remaining silent to Carol about why he hated Jay so much. About the time this was happening, Tom and his brother, Chuckie, were involved in a car accident. Tom, who was driving, survived; Chuckie did not.

About 1978, Tom found himself again in a relationship with Barbara. He also found himself very attracted to a woman named Sheila Winston, who reminded him of Natalie. Sheila was accused of stealing jewelry from Valerie Reynolds Conway and Tom attempted to prove her innocence. In addition to getting her name cleared, he also got her a job at Lisa's bookstore. Though Barbara thought Tom's involvement with Sheila meant the end of their relationship, that wasn't the case since Tom was in love with Barbara and they made plans to marry. He then ended up helping Barbara regain custody of the son she had given up, Paul. It turned out that three years earlier Barbara had an affair with the very rich James Stenbeck. Believing he did not want to raise the child, she gave him up. On the day of her wedding to Tom, James confronted her and told her he never knew about the child. Barbara then canceled her wedding and married James and Tom left for Sweden to investigate James's past.

In 1981, Tom met Margo Montgomery, the niece of the woman he was dating, Maggie Crawford. After her disastrous affair with James Stenbeck, and the stunning revelation that John Dixon was her father, Margo decided to reinvent herself and began working as her Aunt Maggie's assistant at Lowell, Hughes, and Colman. Margo had been lent out by Maggie to help Tom, who was investigating a drug ring in Oakdale -- and Margo developed feelings for the man. However, Tom got annoyed at Margo when she interfered too much in his investigation of Bernard Ignatius Grayson, a.k.a Mr. Big. At the same time, Maggie and Tom started drifting away from each other. Meanwhile, one night, Margo accidentally got locked in "Fashions, Ltd.", while investigating the place. Unfortunately, that night and James decided that there were too many people who suspected that he was smuggling drugs and jewels running through Fashions so he decided to have it torched, while Margo was locked inside! Luckily, Margo was saved by Ernie Ross and her sister, Cricket, and all three got the fire out and saved, "Fashions." But as she waited for Ernie and Cricket to save her, Margo stumbled across the cache of illegal drugs and jewels! Despite her having found the evidence, Tom read Margo the riot act, for almost having herself killed and he fired her.

Undeterred, when Margo learned about a connection between Stenbeck and Mr. Big, Margo followed James to Paris to see what he was up to. To her surprise, Tom followed her. Soon, she spotted two thugs following James and Miranda Marlowe. To investigate the connection between James and Mr. Big, she and Tom took off for the greenhouse. The meeting started, on March 4, 1982, just as Margo and Tom arrived with the FBI hot on their trail. Mr. Big accused James of being a spy and Miranda of being a traitor. Miranda pulled a gun, but Mr. Big had already removed its firing pin. Seeing the danger they were in, Tom started a fire. In the confusion, Tom and Margo managed to escape, and so did Mr. Big. Tom and Margo spotted a plane in the field, and with Margo at the controls (although not really aware how to pilot a plane), they took off., Tom and Margo were horrified to learn that Mr. Big was hiding in the back, and before he jumped, he told them the tank was almost empty since he had siphoned off the gas of his plane. Margo somehow managed to land in a deserted area.

For several days, in the south of France, Tom and Margo seemed lost and neither of them knew French fluently enough to ask for directions. Finally, Margo spotted a castle in a clearing. Upon entering, they found a kitchen stocked with pancake mix and brandy but the phone was dead. A sudden gust of wind slammed the door, and an unseen hand turned the key in the lock. Exhausted, Tom and Margo went to sleep, awakening to a gourmet meal. Tom wanted to run, but their path was blocked by a 400-pound mute. This silent man, whose name was Bruno (who had killed Connie Wilson back in September 1981), ushered them to the table, and to their horror, Mr. Big joined them. This was Mr. Big's castle and he was about to show Tom and Margo how horrifying it really was. Mr. Big proceeded to play games with his captives. Their only escape lay in figuring out clues from classic literature. If they failed, they would die. In the "room of love," (from March 17 - 19, 1982) Margo stepped on a painted heart and was shot by an arrow (with only a minor injury to her arm. Tom found the clue in a Robert Browning sonnet, and they escaped.

Meanwhile, Tom and Margo realized they were in love, but once they met with Bob and then flew back to Oakdale they realized they had to keep their love for one another a secret, since Tom was still seeing Margo's aunt Maggie. Maggie did figure it out, but since Margo did not want to hurt her aunt, she asked Tom to cool it between the two of them. Margo also decided to become a police officer. In May 1982, she passed the police academy entrance exams, but everyone worried for her safety. The officer in charge, Captain Aaron Striker, made it clear that Margo would have to prove herself. In July, she solved one of Striker's cases, and when he tried to take the credit, Margo called his bluff. Striker wanted her dismissed, but Margo caught him in the locker room with a shapely blond officer. Striker realized she'd make one hell of a policewoman and kept her on the force. Meanwhile, Tom finally convinced Margo of his love for her, and she agreed to see him. Later, Mr. Big arrived at Margo's cottage and searched thoroughly for a hat. Margo had no idea of the hat's importance and had given Tom the band from the hat, which Tom gave it to his younger half-sister, Frannie.

Later, Mr. Big came back to the cottage, knife in hand, and found the hat. John finally convinced Margo that Mr. Big was in town and that he had spotted him. Margo agreed to follow John to a clearing, but at first didn't see anything and doubted her father. Just as she was getting ready to leave, Margo spotted Mr. Big with a henchman. Margo told John to lay low and not confront Mr. Big while she went to get help. Unfortunately, John didn't listen and confronted Mr. Big. Mr. Big held a gun on John and told him to stop following him or he'd be dead! Meanwhile, Margo was duped, by another tape sent to her by one of Mr. Big's henchman, into going to a nightclub on Halloween evening, 1982. At the nightclub, there was a magic show. Mr. Big informed the magician that Margo would make a wonderful assistant. She was handcuffed and blindfolded and put in a box. When the box was opened, Margo was gone, as was a cougar. In a isolated room away from the nightclub, Mr. Big told Margo that if she didn't tell him where the hatband was, he would release the cougar. Luckily, Tom saved Margo in the nick of time, and she told Tom about the hatband, which Frannie had left at Fashions. Miranda told Margo that Mr. Big had said something about his fortune being locked up under his hat. They found a miniature audiotape sewed into the hatband, which computer genius Ernie Ross offered to decode. The only two words they could make out were "Bilan" and "Corsica." Miranda was shocked: Bilan was her daughter by Jacques. She was 17, and Miranda hadn't seen her in some time. After Mr. Big had killed Jacques, he had kidnapped Bilan, from a convent near Nice, France, and spirited her to his ranch in the east African island nation of Zanzibar. Mr. Big had nearly convinced Bilan that he was her biological father, which was untrue. Mr. Big was shocked to learn that Bilan knew the secrets to the fortune that he felt Jacques had kept for himself and quickly booked an airline flight to Zanzibar. Miranda feared for the daughter. Tom and Margo went to the convent in France, where Bilan was last seen.

They figured out that Mr. Big had spirited Bilan to his ranch in Zanzibar. Big beat them to Zanzibar, though, and released Bilan into the care of a village of Bububu (Kiswahili's) tribe. By this time, Bilan had fallen quite ill and the priest in a nearby village church told Mr. Big where to find Bilan. Tom and Margo weren't having as much luck, but were hot on Mr. Big's trail. However, before they arrived near the village, they had to go on adventure on the Rufiji River and nearly drowned during a storm. On a nearby bank, while drying out from the storm, one evening Margo went skinny-dipping. Tom awoke and saw her, and they made love for the first time. Finally, Tom and Margo met some Bububu people who were willing to tell them where Bilan was. Unfortunately, Mr. Big met them and decided to kill them once and for all! Mr. Big arranged for Tom and Margo to be released into a pit of poisonous snakes that nearly killed them. Fortunately, when Mr. Big left to go retrieve Bilan, Margo was able to convince the chief of the village to let Tom and Margo go. Margo had no idea that she had promised the chief to be his perfect seventh wife, in a exchange for their freedom. When the chief took Margo (his seventh wife) and Tom back to the village, Margo and Tom discovered a very ill Bilan. Margo nursed Bilan until her fever broke, but then Mr. Big kidnapped the girl, with Tom and Margo in pursuit.

In a clearing tent, Mr. Big tried to get Bilan to decode the message, but Bilan was still delirious from the fever and couldn't concentrate. When Tom and Margo caught up with them, Mr. Big set fire to the tent, without Tom, Margo and Bilan realizing and there were explosives in the tent! Luckily Tom, Margo and Bilan were okay, but then Big went missing. He was presumed dead, although Margo had her doubts that Tom tried his best to relieve. Sure enough Margo was proven correct. During the village chief's wedding ceremony to a clueless Margo, Mr. Big turned up alive! He again kidnapped Bilan to get her to decode her father's message. Meanwhile, Tom and Margo swam to Big's boat. They grabbed Bilan and tried to escape, but were caught. Margo begged Mr. Big to spare Bilan. Suddenly, Bilan grabbed a hold of Mr. Big and struggled with him and threw him overboard where Mr. Big met his untimely death, when he was eaten by one of the crocodiles!

After Tom and Margo returned to Oakdale, on January 24, 1983, they were thrown a grand surprise party by Maggie and Lyla. Tom and Margo had intended to tell Maggie about their true feelings, but when they walked into the door, Margo collapsed. Margo was taken to Memorial Hospital and it discovered that she had been bitten by a mosquito. She recovered rather quickly, but was astounded to learn that Tom had defended the woman who had supposedly killed her father John, Dee Stewart! Margo broke up with Tom and discovered that she was pregnant. Sadly, Margo miscarried the baby. Unfortunately, Tom misinterpreted the situation and mistakenly believed that she'd had a abortion. Later Margo would take Tom back, when she learned that John was still alive. Finally, in the summer of 1983, Margo and Tom married in a impromptu ceremony in the park.

Their first crisis came when Barbara decided she wanted Tom back. She set it up so that he would believe they slept together. When Tom told Margo about the "affair", she planned to divorce him. Luckily, she found out that there was no affair. Meanwhile, during their separation, Tom sympathetically hired Dr. Taylor Baldwin after she was let go from Memorial. Taylor tried to go after Tom, but Casey Peretti overheard a conversation between Taylor and Tom and told Margo that he suspected Taylor was trying to get Tom into bed. Margo arrived, at Tom's temporary penthouse bachelor pad apartment just as Tom and Taylor were opening a bottle of wine and told Tom that she wanted him back, but didn't know if perhaps he and Taylor were now involved. Margo, of course, didn't wait for Tom's answer and ran away. Taylor tried to continue her seduction of Tom, but when Tom got mad at her and thought about Margo, Taylor just laughed and told Tom he could do better than Margo. Taylor's words enraged Tom and he fired Taylor and told her to get out of town. After reconciling, Margo became pregnant. Unfortunately, Margo miscarried the baby. Still despondent over the miscarriage, she was crushed when Tom went to Washington DC to work on the crime commission. During Tom's absence, Margo confided in her best friend, Hal Munson. One night, thinking her marriage was over, they slept together. Soon after, Tom returned and he and Margo put their marriage back together. Shortly after, Tom found out that he had fathered a daughter in Vietnam. While he was getting to know his teenage daughter, Lien, Margo left him. Tom tracked her down in Greece and found out that she left because she was pregnant with Hal's baby. Tom forgave her and offered to raise the boy, Adam, as his own. A few years later, Tom and Margo had a son of their own, Casey.

Tom and Margo's marriage was stable for many years. In addition to working on cases together (since Margo was a cop and Tom was District Attorney), the pair raised their sons. Though the couple had its crises--Casey's kidnapping, Margo's rape and later post-traumatic disorder following a plane crash--they weathered the storms for many years and seemed to be one of the most stable couples in Oakdale.

That was until about their 15th anniversary. At that time, Tom began questioning his life. No longer D.A., he grew disgusted with the law when he was unable to keep the innocent Lily Snyder from going to prison. Needing a change of direction, he became a journalist and became close to Emily Stewart. Soon, Tom and Margo's marriage started to fall apart and, when he incorrectly believed that she had an abortion, he ran into the open arms of Emily, who became pregnant and later, gave birth to his son, Daniel. The night that Daniel was conceived, Margo miscarried her and Tom's child. Margo and Tom separated, but he vowed to win back Margo's love. Tom never wavered in his pursuit of Margo, despite all her attempts to push him away. When Tom learned that Margo had been arrested for Alec Wallace's murder, he left the hospital (where he had just come out of a week-long coma) to see her in jail. Tom realized instantly that Margo was innocent and, giving her all his love and support, offered to defend her. In the end, all charges against Margo were dropped and Tom and Margo renewed their wedding vows. Soon after, tom returned to the law and opened his own practice.

Not long after, Lien returned to town and accepted a job offer at Tom's firm. Soon after arriving, Lien began feeling ill and suddenly passed out. Dying, she was diagnosed with a disease caused by Agent Orange in the atmosphere where she grew up in Vietnam. Lien's chances were bleak until she was given an experimental drug that she later learned was illegal. Miraculously, she made a speedy recovery. Immediately after, Lien was offered her old job back in Washington, DC which she accepted with Tom's blessing. Tom would have to deal with another medical crisis a year later when Margo became stricken with Hepatitis C as a result of a rape years earlier. Luckily, she made a full recovery thanks to a partial liver transplant from her sister, Katie. Instead of taking a break from police work, Margo threw herself into her job and became involved in several criminal investigations, so a year later, Tom accepted the position of District Attorney in order to see more of his workaholic wife.

However, the Hughes marriage would reach another crisis in 2004 with the arrival of former football star, and new sports anchor for WOAK, Doc Reese. Over the course of several weeks, Margo would seem distant and distracted, especially where Reese was concerned. Finally, after weeks of odd behavior from Margo, Tom supposedly put the pieces together when he caught Margo in a lie regarding Reese. Tom, who, among other things, learned that Margo had lied about being at work one night, suddenly saw Margo's odd behavior in a whole new fashion and came to the realization that she was having an affair with Doc Reese. Certain that he recognized the pattern of infidelity, a furious Tom could barely stand to be around Margo at a party for her sister, Katie. Although he tried to keep silent, when a concerned Margo kept after him to tell her what was wrong, he finally broke down and, within earshot of everyone downstairs, accused her of having an affair. Although Margo tried to tell Tom that nothing happened between her and Reese, he didn't believe her and was convinced she was holding something back. Tom then moved out. Although Jessica Griffin tried to convince Tom that there was no affair, her pleas fell on deaf ears since Tom was convinced that something had gone on.

Eventually, Margo confessed to flirting with Reese, but an unforgiving Tom was convinced she wasn't telling him the entire story; that there was a lot more to it. Throughout all this, Jessica continued to defend Margo insisting that she wasn't the one who slept with Reese. Jessica's choice of words led Tom to a startling conclusion--Jessica had the affair with Reese! Although an angry Tom agreed to keep her secret, the news only strengthened his hatred of Doc Reese and his anger at Margo. After some tense weeks, Tom then received a visit from an employee from the country club, Jill, who revealed that she saw Margo and Doc leave the sauna together! Found out, Margo told Tom about the smoldering kisses she and Doc shared but insisted that nothing sexual occurred. Although he believed her, it was too late. Disgusted with the way she'd lied to him, Tom filed for a legal separation. However, by the end of the year, Tom's anger had softened and he went back to Margo.

In 2006, Tom, and the rest of Oakdale, was rocked by the news that Emily had not only shot Paul Ryan but kidnapped and held Dusty Donovan hostage. The person who suffered during Emily's long obsession with Paul was Daniel who was neglected by his mother. When she was finally apprehended, Emily tried to rebuild her relationship with son and put her life back together after a very short stint at a mental hospital. Meanwhile, Casey was growing into quite the teenager. Unlike Adam, who was always very responsible, Casey was somewhat of a slacker. During his senior year in high school, Casey was named the father of Gwen Norbeck's baby. However, Casey denied it vehemently and, although Tom had doubts, Margo believed him. Months later, after Gwen learned that her baby had died, Casey finally owned up to his parents and admitted that Gwen had been pregnant with his child. Margo was saddened not only at losing the grandchild that she never knew she had but also at Casey's failure to own up to his responsibility. Because of his history, Margo was wary when Casey grew closer to young Maddie Coleman who ultimately became a good influence on him. In early 2007, Daniel was briefly kidnapped by an unsavory associate of Emily's and the stress caused Tom to have a heart attack. Fortunately, surgery for a blocked aorta corrected the problem and Tom made a full recovery.

In the meantime, Casey's irresponsibility got him into trouble again—this time from gambling on-line. Casey racked up a huge debt and resorted to stealing from Lisa in order to pay it. However, when Casey revealed the truth to Adam, Adam convinced him to set Will Munson up for the crime. Now a music producer, Adam, unbeknownst to everyone, was obsessed with Will's wife—Gwen. Finally, Casey went to his parents and confessed what he had done. Meanwhile, Adam was nowhere to be found. Several weeks later, Margo would learn that Adam was on the lam after trying to rape Gwen. Still shocked by the actions of her older son, Margo was even more saddened when Casey was sent to jail. Though Tom tried to assure her that she had been a good mother, Margo frequently had doubts. In the meantime, the Hughes's were going through some financial troubles and, to get extra money, Tom started working as Craig's attorney to help him secure custody of his son--over Margo's objections.

Several months later, Casey was finally released from prison. Though Tom warned Margo to give Casey some time to adjust to being out of jail, Margo continually harped on Casey about his plans for the future. After several weeks, Casey found the perfect opportunity when he visited the Intruder offices and learned that Emily had fired her assistant. Casey charmed Emily into hiring him, despite Emily's concern that Margo would not approve since Margo hated Emily. Emily was right--Casey's friendship with Emily irked Margo to no end. Weeks later, on the week of his twenty fifth wedding anniversary, Tom returned home to find Margo holding a gun on Emily who was in a state of undress. Fortunately, Tom was able to diffuse the situation and was shocked to learn that Emily and Casey were lovers, a fact that Margo suspected for some time. Appalled at the thought of Emily cavorting with Casey, Margo vindictively revealed Emily's darkest secret--she'd worked as a hooker the previous year. Unfortunately for Margo, Casey knew all about it and didn't care. Not only that, but Casey defied his parents by moving out in order to remain with Emily. Rattled by the revelation of Emily's hooker past, Tom sought for full custody of Daniel. However, when Casey blasted Tom for his actions, Tom ultimately backed down. When it became clear that Casey would pick Emily over his family, Tom convinced a begrudging Margo that they had to accept the relationship or they risked losing their son. However, Emily still felt uneasy about marrying Casey under the influence of Decker's drug and convinced him to get their marriage annulled.

Later, the Hughes family received word that Adam had been killed in a bombing in Afghanistan. At the same time, Riley, a mysterious young man claiming to be Adam's friend, insinuated himself into their lives. Though Margo instantly welcomed Riley into their home, Casey was suspicious. Later, after Margo was shot in the line of duty, Riley rushed to her side and called her "mom"--revealing that he was Adam! Margo confided in Casey who confronted his brother. According to Adam, he'd been in a bombing in Afghanistan and had to have facial grafts that had changed his appearance. Adam had used the opportunity to return to Oakdale to seek forgiveness from his family. Casey was angry that Adam had lied to his family yet again, but for Margo's sake, agreed not to tell Tom. Unfortunately, at this point, Tom became suspicious of Margo's interest in Riley and suspected that something was going on. Though Casey continually harped on Adam to tell the truth, Adam was unwilling to reveal himself. However, when Tom tried to get riley to leave town, Margo finally confessed that Riley was Adam. After a furious Tom confronted his son, Adam turned himself in to the police. Thanks to testimony from Maddie, stating that her having buried him alive may have led to his violent behavior, and a plea of leniency from Tom, the case against Adam was dismissed. Unfortunately, Adam disappointed his family again by skipping town without saying goodbye.

Fortunately, things were finally looking bright for Casey when he announced that he was enrolling in law school and he was engaged to Alison Stewart. Though happy for Casey, Margo was devastated when he and Alison opted to move to Carbondale to attend school. Not knowing how to live in her home with her children gone, Margo and Katie decided to switch housees--Katie would move into Margo's and Margo and Tom would make new memories in the house Katie previously shared with Brad.