2010–11
In November 2010, Jake received an e-mail for a job offer with Doctors Without Borders. When his brother, Tad, comes up, he reveals that he got the offer from "Cara" − as in Carolyn. Jake tells Tad that this is the first time he's heard from Cara since she left him, and it's clear he's still hurt by what he saw as a betrayal. A few days later, Griffin Castillo shows up in town. Jake takes one look at him, and punches him. Later, he reveals to Tad that Griffin was the man he saw Cara drive off with. Griffin claims that he hasn't heard from Cara since then, but later, it's clear the two are still close. Cara soon shows up in Pine Valley, and makes her way to Krystal's to meet Griffin. While there, she sees Amanda Martin walk in and while she's chatting with owner Krystal Carey, Cara realizes that Amanda is Jake's wife and the mother of his son. It became obvious that Cara's return meant that Amanda needed to fight for her marriage.
Cara later goes to the hospital to try to convince Jake again to return to Doctors Without Borders, and that's where Tad comes in and reveals that Griffin is not Cara's lover but that he's her brother. Cara's last name is actually Castillo, not Finn. Cara tells Jake that she wanted out of the marriage, so she asked Griffin to help stage a situation so that Jake would leave her completely. When she later tells Griffin about this, she tells him she lied to Jake about why she left. Cara finds out that she can't leave the country due to a problem with her immigration papers. Cara decides to get a job at Pine Valley Hospital when she finds out they are short-staffed and after Jake says he doesn't have a problem working with her. Though Cara insists that she no longer has feelings for Jake, she is revealed to have kept their wedding rings.
In mid-January, it is revealed that Cara had leukemia as a child, at the age of 8. She revealed this to Jake after she got too emotionally involved with a child patient at the hospital and confronted the parents about how they were treating their daughter. In February, it is revealed that, while working with DWB, Cara chose to help a little boy who was caught in a crossfire between a group of drug dealers over the brother of a drug cartel leader and let him die. This experience has come back to haunt her: the drug dealer's associates are planning to kill her as soon as she leaves the United States. With this, Jake, Tad, Griffin, and Cara come up with a plan to fake her death. However, Amanda, then unaware of Cara's situation and simply wanting her out of her life, calls the Feds on Cara.[5] At the time that they were getting ready to take her for further investigation, Tad comes in and tells them that is his fiancée and to let go of her. Griffin and Cara's mother Leticia Castillo came in to be there for Cara and Tad's wedding, but really there was another reason for her being there: to convince Cara that this is not the best for her. Leticia takes it upon herself to discuss the situation her daughter has with the Martin brothers. She goes through with the wedding with the Feds watching over them. They decided that they needed to put as much effort into it as possible. She and Tad married on March 9, 2011, with friends and family by their sides. On August 10, 2011, Cara meets Tad's ex-wife and Kathy's mother Dixie Cooney Martin.
Tad explains to Cara that he is still in love with Dixie and she soon begins a relationship with David Hayward. Cara and David's tryst resulted in her pregnancy. When Cara told David she was pregnant he was thrilled and wanted the baby with Cara and to be by her side personally and in his medical practice, practicing medicine together as a team.
