When released, Steven goes off his medication. Ian eventually accepts Steven back into the family but Jane is wary of him. He later bumps into Lauren before she leaves and she plans to end their relationship, but notices Steven's head injury.
Steven also worries that Lauren never says she loves him when he says it to her.
He is angry that Ian had not retrieved him from New Zealand; living with his biological father had not been a happy experience, and he had ended up feeling rejected and in the way.Steven then tries to commit suicide with a gun that Lucy gives him to dispose of. A few days later, following Abi's 21st birthday party, another disagreement between Abi and Steven ends with them sleeping together. Ian is furious until Jane discovers the truth, leading Steven to confess that he is gay. Embarrassed, Steven pretends that he had lost his virginity; however, Jane's brother Christian Clarke realises he is lying and publicly announces it, leaving Steven humiliated. Steven maintains that he is heterosexual, and successfully has sex with Stacey, but their relationship soon ends when Christian tells Stacey that Steven had kissed him.Distraught, Steven propositions Christian, but is rejected. When Steven's grandmother Pat Butcher tells him that Ian always considers Steven his first born, blood related or not, Steven starts to regret what he has done.
Shortly afterwards, Abi and Lauren fall from the Queen Vic roof; both survive and are taken to hospital, where an ultrasound shows Abi and Steven's baby is alive.
Horrified by what she has learned, Lauren tries to flush Steven's ashes down the toilet, but Abi stops her, eventually telling her the truth about her pregnancy with his baby. Ian initially rejects Steven, but Steven says he is back to help and repair any damage he made in the past.
Their relationship progresses, until Steven decides that he is ready to lose his virginity, but their attempt at consummation ends in disaster when Steven can not perform sexually.
Steven is overjoyed when Louie says his first word, "mama", and gets him to say "dada", filming it to show Lauren. Hoping he will leave Walford, Ian humiliates and rejects Steven several times, going as far as to break a snow globe he had given to Steven when he was young right in front of him.
When Steven's lies are revealed, it is also revealed that Steven died of injuries to the liver and so only Abi attends his funeral and reads a eulogy dedicated to him.
The subsequent rows have a negative effect on Steven; he becomes angry with the world and starts writing poison pen letters to people. Pat wakes up, but Steven continues in his murder attempt until Ian interrupts him. Unhappy in her marriage, Cindy hires a hitman to kill Ian in 1996, and when this fails, she snatches Steven and Peter and flees to Italy. However, she sends the video to Peter, upsetting Steven as he tells Lauren that he sees himself as Louie's father but Lauren says Peter will always be Louie's father. Steven alone attends her funeral.Steven then grows up with various different stepmothers, and though he grows close to them all, he feels abandoned when they leave. Jane later discovers Max's revenge plan and Steven's brain tumour lie and Max convinces Steven that Jane is trying to get rid of him.
Max tells Steven that he is on his own as he drove Ian's car to the flat, while dismissing Steven's claim that if he goes to prison, Max will go down too. Steven is unaware that Lauren is pregnant and planning an abortion, although her sister Abi Branning makes him question Lauren and Josh's relationship. When Ian prepares to marry Laura Dunn, Steven is anxious that they too will end up splitting; his fears are realised when he catches Ian kissing Janine Butcher in 2002.
Following an argument, Steven goes to his room and overhears Ian calling him "Cindy's little brat! Cindy tells Ian the truth when she and Simon reconcile.
Steven has booked her a ticket on the Eurostar, but Ian persuades her not to go and Steven flees. In 1997, Ian tracks her, Steven and Peter down and kidnaps them back.
Steven is born in December 1989; his mother is Cindy Beale and his father is Simon Wicks.
Steven bashes his head against the wall, causing it to bleed. Ian admits Steven to a psychiatric hospital.
Devastated, Steven heads to the tube station and leaves Walford. Ian accepts Steven's offer of driving him to the hospital. They leave Walford with Steven in December 1990; however, Ian and Cindy reconcile in 1992, and Ian raises Steven as his son. Once again depressed, Steven tries to commit suicide by dousing himself in petrol; however, Stacey Slater stops him from setting fire to himself. However, the plan appears to backfire when the residents hear sirens of fire engines, police cars and ambulances. He tries to apologise to Jane and Ian, but finds them hostile.
Ian confronts him, admitting that he is glad that Steven is not his biological son; he tells him that if he ever returns to Albert Square, he will kill him.
Displeased, Jane fights against Steven being part of her family, but eventually relents and in January 2008, she agrees to let Steven move into the Beales' home; however, she makes it clear that she is waiting for him to mess up so he will be gone from her life for good.Steven and Stacey grow closer in early 2008, as he supports her through the breakdown of her marriage.