The son of wealthy Alan Spaulding and middle class Hope Bauer, Alan-Michael Spaulding grew up with his mother in New York after his parents' divorce. On July 4, 1987, a now 18-year and spoiled Alan-Michael returned to Springfield. After being invited by his Uncle Ed to the annual Bauer Barbecue, he made a splash when he literally parachuted in. Wanting to form a relationship with his father, Alan-Michael was very jealous of Alan's bond with his adopted son, Phillip. Now in his senior year at Springfield High School, he befriended Cameron Stewart and started dating Cam's ex-girlfriend, Dinah Marler, to the dismay of her father, Ross who hated Alan. Not really interested in his studies, Alan-Michael blackmailed Cam (who was best student in school) into writing some of his school reports. One day on a motorcycle ride with Dinah, Alan-Michael crashed with Frank Cooper's car when Frank was driving his pregnant sister Harley to the hospital. Alan-Michael was forced to help Dinah deliver the baby in the car. Though Cam was still in love with Dinah, he temporary dated Harley, whom Alan-Michael hated and so did everything he could to make her life miserable.

In 1988, Phillip wrested power away from Alan and, as a result, Alan-Michael's hatred of Phillip became stronger. Although Phillip told him that he would be part of Spaulding one day, Alan-Michael simply replied that Spaulding belonged to him anyway because, unlike Phillip, he was Alan's real son. Meanwhile, when Dinah became involved with Cam's personal problems with his criminal father George Stewart, Alan-Michael was jealous and the two finally broke up. By now, Alan-Michael wanted to get his $ 1 million trust fund but it was only possible if he was 21 years old or married. So Alan-Michael teamed up with Harley to reach his goal by marrying her. Unfortunately, the Spauldings disapproved of Harley since she was poor and tried to get rid of her. Meanwhile, over the next few months, Alan-Michael had to deal with family problems and, in January 1989, when Alex and Fletcher were missing after a plane crash, Phillip got full control of Spaulding and Alan-Michael rushed to Venezuela to convince his father (who was paralyzed after an accident) to return and reclaim his assets. In February, Alan-Michael and Harley finally married but thanks to Phillip and Alex, Alan-Michael didn't succeed in collecting his trust fund so he was forced to work with Harley at her grandfather's diner. However, in the process he learned how to deal with money by successfully selling Pops' baklava and eventually fell in love in Harley.

Meanwhile, the presumed dead Roger Thorpe had returned and was accused of shooting Phillip during his wedding to Blake. However, the culprit was Alan, who was only faking his paralysis, and Alan-Michael teamed up with Roger, Ross and Phillip to expose Alan. So one evening, Roger arrived at the Spaulding mansion and faked shooting Alan-Michael and Phillip, whereupon Alan rushed to his sons. Exposed, Alan was sent to prison. Not long after, Harley's ex-boyfriend, Dylan, arrived and when he learned about his daughter, Susan, the baby Harley had given up for adoption to the Lemay family, he anonymously began to work as Susan's babysitter and convinced Harley that Susan belonged with them. So Harley and Alan-Michael offered the Lemays a large sum of money to give her back but the Lemays refused the offer. As time went by, Harley was spending too much time with Dylan so a jealous Alan-Michael spitefully told the Lemays that Dylan was Susan's father, whereupon the Lemays not only fired Dylan but also refused to let Harley see Susan again. When Harley learned what Alan-Michael had done, she wanted to leave him, so to hold on Harley, a desperate Alan-Michael kidnapped Susan to a cabin and Dylan was accused of the kidnapping. Alan-Michael and Harley were about to flee the country with Alan-Michael's arranged money and a jet but Harley had a change of heart and returned Susan home. She also took sole responsibility and, although Alex tried to protect Alan-Michael through her lawyers, Alan-Michael took full responsibility for the first time in his life by admitting his actions to the police and, along with Dylan, apologizing to the Lemays. He and Dylan were then sentenced to serve community service at the fire brigade and continued their rivalry. At that time, Alan-Michael also comforted Blake who was forced to send Phillip to a mental institution after he obsessively claimed that his presumed dead fiancée, Beth Raines, was alive. Around this time, Alan-Michael learned from Samantha Marler that Harley had slept with Dylan.

In January 1990, when Alan-Michael overheard Harley confessing her love for Dylan to her mother, Nadine, he angrily threw her out their apartment. Alan-Michael and Harley prepared to get a divorce and Alan-Michael comforted Blake again after Phillip left her for Beth. Then during a fire on 5th Street, Dylan was able to rescue a little girl despite the danger to himself; Alan-Michael rescued him and the two rivals became friends. That same night, Alan-Michael arrived at Blake's apartment and the two slept together, and they started a secret affair. By now Harley came to the decision to make a lot of money in the process of the divorce and, to do this, she needed to prove that her husband had cheated on her. She soon suspected that he had an affair but didn't know who it was with. Although Alan-Michael caught Harley just as she was leaving from setting up the video camera in his apartment, she promptly seduced him to shut him up. Afterwards, Alan-Michael got mixed up regarding his feelings for Harley and Blake and confessed everything to Blake. He considered leaving Blake and saving his marriage but then accidentally found Blake's positive pregnancy test and wanted to help her. To his shock, Harley then told him that she had only slept with him to get money from him and Alan-Michael returned to Blake. However, Alan-Michael then learned that Blake had falsely sent Phillip to the mental institution to keep him from Beth. At first eager to break it off with her, he stayed with her anyway after she agreed to divorce Phillip with no strings attached.. Finally, to Alan-Michael's surprise, Harley gave up her plans to get his money and after they finalized their divorce. Blake and Phillip did the same and Alan-Michael married Blake.

On their honeymoon in Costa Verde, Alan-Michael was kidnapped by Blake's ex-lover, Gary Swanson, and held prisoner near a church by Gary's two henchmen. After a matter of weeks, Roger, was able to rescue Alan-Michael, thanks to a tip from Alan-Michael on the tape the kidnappers sent. Arriving home, Blake told him she'd lost the baby in a nearby hospital but Alan-Michael suspected something was going on. Later, when Alan-Michael's brakes failed and he almost died, a panicked Blake was certain it was Gary's fault and to get rid of him, she attempted to shoot him when they met in a park. Unfortunately, Alan-Michael followed her and she accidentally shot him instead. While she was sent to a psychiatric hospital, Alan-Michael fell in a coma but was saved by Daniel St. John in a dangerous surgical operation. When he learned of Blake being kidnapped by Gary, a dazed Alan-Michael escaped from his room and went to an abandoned warehouse where A. C. Mallet and Roger had just arrested Gary and saved Blake. Unfortunately, Gary told Alan-Michael that Blake had faked her pregnancy all along. An angry Alan-Michael refused to forgive her despite her pleas and bitterly divorced her. However, later, they did make up platonically and Blake decided not to sue Alan-Michael for money in the divorce proceedings.

In 1991, Alan-Michael was shocked to learn that Roger (whom he had trusted and supported) had stolen money from the company and hid it somewhere. Since there was no proof for Roger's actions, Alan-Michael teamed up with Alex, Fletcher, Henry and Mallet to expose Roger. Finally, Roger was exposed and, as a result, a new president was needed. Alan-Michael nominated himself for this position but Alex wasn't sure due to his lack of business experience so she ordered a contest between him and Vanessa. At the same time, Alan-Michael hired Blake as his assistant and Blake schemed to help Alan-Michael to win while she also tried to win him back. One scheme was Alan-Michael blackmailing Nadine to spy on the Lewis' and as a result, he was able to win a customer away from Billy and Dylan by giving them a better offer. However, Vanessa discovered Alan-Michael and Blake's schemes and used it to her own advantage and finally became president. Now Alan-Michael let himself be convinced by Blake to bring Vanessa down as president but he didn't know that Blake was mainly helping him to win him back. Not long after, Alan-Michael fell in love with immigrant Eleni Andros.

Though Eleni was promised as a bride for Frank, Alan-Michael decided to win her for himself. He dated her and impressed her with his wealth but Eleni rather saw him as a friend and comfort for Frank's lack of interest for her. Alan-Michael soon realized this and, although he let himself be seduced by Blake again, he was eager to win Eleni. One day, Frank went to Paris with Alex for business reasons and Alan-Michael flew Eleni to him. He then paid a prostitute named Musette to set up Frank. When Eleni and Alan-Michael arrived in Frank's hotel-room, they found Musette, who lied to Eleni that she had just slept with a passed out Frank. On their way back home, a devastated Eleni wasn't allowed to re-enter the USA at the airport thanks to an anonymous tip from Blake, so Alan-Michael convinced her to marry him, and they married at the customs office. Back home, Alan-Michael and Eleni had to deal with the fact that everyone was against their marriage but Eleni vowed to be a wife to Alan-Michael and, to his delight, even refused to tell anyone what had happened in Paris. Soon Eleni's feelings for Alan-Michael grew and the pair married again in a dream wedding at her family's home in Greece in February 1992 as the Andros' welcomed Alan-Michael into their family.

As Alan-Michael continued to scheme against Vanessa, Musette contacted him and demanded more money. Since Alan-Michael had just taken responsibility for a Spaulding division for Alex, he had no time and simply ignored her. That would prove to be a mistake. After collecting money from Alan-Michael in person, Musette suddenly disappeared and Alan-Michael hired a detective to find her. Ironically, his secretary hired none other than Frank and when Frank found her, he brought her to Alex and Alan-Michael sent her back to Paris. Later, Musette reappeared again and a desperate Alan-Michael paid a man named Pierre to get rid of her but Pierre went too far by planting a bomb in Musette's car in the Towers parking garage. When a horrified Alan-Michael learned about this, he anonymously called the police about the bomb. He then heard on the news about the explosion and, worried about a missing Eleni because her car was also in the parking garage, he rushed to Cedars and found her near the emergency room where an injured Mallet and Musette were just brought in. To Alan-Michael's shock, Mallet became deaf and paralyzed for a time. To protect himself, Alan-Michael angrily got Pierre to leave town. Unfortunately, Musette had told Frank the truth in a letter. Alan-Michael learned about it from his secretary and went to the diner and threatened Frank's Uncle Stavros to give him the letter. At that moment, Frank arrived and confronted Alan-Michael about his schemes.

To hold onto Eleni, Alan-Michael quickly whisked her off on his yacht to go to Greece and convinced her that he only lied to protect her. He also declared that he wanted to have a baby with her but Eleni wasn't ready and took birth control pills, whereupon Alan-Michael switched them with placebos. Although Frank was able to get to Alan-Michael's yacht, Eleni made it clear that she was in love with Alan-Michael and Frank left without showing her Musette's letter. Minutes later, Alan-Michael learned on TV that Musette regained consciousness, so he decided to cancel his plans and brought Musette to a secret place through his henchmen. Not long after, Blake realized Alan-Michael's cooperation with Pierre but kept quiet. Alan-Michael was ready to flee with Eleni but then learned by phone that Eleni's mother had suffered a stroke in Creta. He arranged for Eleni to visit her mother and wanted to accompany her but Eleni wanted to leave alone. However, days later, Alan-Michael followed her and slept with her but didn't realize that Eleni had taken sleeping pills and was dreaming that she was sleeping with Frank. When Eleni's mother survived thanks to Alan-Michael's arranged doctors the Andros' celebrated him as a hero,

Meanwhile Alan-Michael's newfound cousin, Nick, was investigating Musette's disappearance in Paris, so Alan-Michael contacted Pierre again and Pierre set Nick up to be falsely arrested for stealing Spaulding documents, whereupon Alan-Michael brought Musette back to Paris and paid her to keep quiet. He also paid Pierre, who was staying in Lucerne, Switzerland, to keep quiet and threatened to ruin Frank if Frank would ever show Eleni the letter. At the same time, Alan-Michael was happy to learn from Dr. Margaret Sedwick by phone that Eleni was pregnant. Suddenly Pierre arrived and claimed that Alan-Michael himself had asked him to come through a fax from Spaulding. Alan-Michael was shocked to realize that Nick had set Pierre up to come. He hid Pierre in the Spaulding stables and, while he didn't know that Nick had planted a listening device in the Spaulding house, he arranged for Pierre to leave again with a plane and money. But when he arrived at the airport, he was shocked to see that Pierre had kidnapped Harley who accidentally had found him in the stables. When Mallet Nick arrived, Alan-Michael tried to convince Pierre to kidnap him instead of Harley but Pierre refused. Alan-Michael arranged for Harley to escape and when Pierre shot him, Mallet shot and killed Pierre.

Since Alan-Michael had rescued Harley and Pierre had confessed to her that Alan-Michael had nothing to do with the bomb, Mallet convinced Nick and Harley to keep quiet about his involvement with Pierre, so Alan-Michael was celebrated as the hero. But he didn't feel like a hero and realized that there were more important things than money and power. Meanwhile, Eleni refused to sleep with Alan-Michael and explained it would be complicated due to her pregnancy. But when Dr. Sedwick told him that there were no complications, Alan-Michael confronted Eleni and was shocked by her confession that she had known about the letter and all his schemes for months. Though Alan-Michael offered her a divorce if she was in love with Frank Eleni refused for the sake of the child. 1993, Alan-Michael found Eleni and Frank in an embrace. He confronted them and was shocked to learn that her baby could be Frank's because Eleni had slept with Frank in Greece months ago the day after she had slept with Alan-Michael.

Though it was obvious now that Eleni loved Frank, Alan-Michael refused to grant her the divorce she wanted. To think about his life, Alan-Michael went to the Bauer cabin and found Blake, who thought that she had lost Ross. They found comfort in each other's arms and slept together. Unfortunately, Eleni arrived the next day and threatened to sue Alan-Michael for adultery if he didn't grant her the divorce. And after getting confirmation from Ed that the baby was really Frank's, Alan-Michael gave Eleni up for Blake's sake (since a nasty trial could ruin her relationship with Ross) Not long after, Eleni and Frank were about to marry at the 5th Street and although Alan-Michael begged Eleni not to go through with the wedding, she did anyway and gave birth to a daughter, Marina, the same day.

Soon after, Alan-Michael almost ran newcomer Lucy Cooper down with his car. Since Lucy was hiding from her father, Buzz, Alan-Michael let her stay at his apartment. As Alan-Michael dealt with corporate intrigue regarding Spaulding Enterprises, Lucy secretly fell in love with Alan-Michael and though they dated for a time and often kissed, Alan-Michael only wanted to remain friends since he thought she was too young for him. By the time he changed his mind and wanted to sleep with her, a virginal Lucy wanted to wait, although she told him they would marry one day. Meanwhile, Frank and Eleni had problems in their marriage because Eleni falsely thought that Frank had an affair with Julie Camaletti, while Frank had problems dealing with Eleni's business success. So Alan-Michael was there to comfort Eleni. One day, Eleni ttried Jenna Bradshaw's hand lotion and quickly realized that Jenna had stolen the formula of it from her family, Alan-Michael let her become his partner. In addition, Frank wrote a love letter to Eleni but unfortunately, he secretly put it under the door and Alan-Michael, who found the letter, intercepted it to prevent Frank from reuniting with Eleni.

Not long after, Alan-Michael convinced Eleni to accompany him to a business trip to Palm Beach, Florida and, to be alone with her, he arranged for Jenna to miss the flight. Arriving in Miami, Alan-Michael confessed his love for Eleni. Eleni kissed him but stopped when she realized that she was only using him. Then she got a call that Frank had broken his leg but after Jenna told him that she had seen Frank well the same day, Alan-Michael realized that Frank was only pretending being hurt to get Eleni back. So he tried to expose Frank's schemes but failed. Meanwhile, Jenna found Frank's letter and blackmailed Alan-Michael into staying her partner in the company so that Alan-Michael was forced to refuse Alex's newest offer for the Spaulding presidency. One day, Alan-Michael arranged a date with Eleni at his yacht but Lucy prevented Eleni from arriving and Alan-Michael was later shocked to learn from Eleni that she and Frank had reunited. Though he informed Eleni about Frank's schemes, Eleni didn't care and, although she confessed still having feelings for Alan-Michael, she loved Frank more. Devastated, Alan-Michael tried to make up for some things, so he got the letter from Jenna and gave it Eleni, whereupon they remained friends at least. Now Alan-Michael offered nominated himself as Spaulding president again to Alex but unfortunately, Alex had learned of his cooperation with Jenna and she not only threw him out of the yacht but also wanted to destroy the hand lotion company.

Later, Alan-Michael wanted to visit Alan in prison but when he got there, he was surprised to learn that Alan was freed a few weeks ago after rescuing the warden Fisk from a con. With no clue as to Alan's whereabouts, Alan-Michael felt ashamed how he had helped Alan to be arrested and Alan-Michael wrote him a letter and asked him for a new beginning. He gave the letter to the Journal and, to his surprise, Alan apparently replied him by asking for a meeting in a cabin. However, when Alan-Michael got to the cabin and opened the door, a bomb exploded. The letter wasn't from Alan but from the con Alan had helped to catch again. The man was Harry Jones, who wanted to get his revenge on Alan by killing Alan-Michael. Jones stole Alan-Michael's wallet and photographed him as proof for Alan that he was dead. Luckily, a badly injured Alan-Michael survived, he was able to get to the beach and saw Harry attacking Tangie Hill. Despite his injuries, Alan-Michael was able to fight with Harry and Harry told him that Alan had tried to kill him before he knocked Alan-Michael out. Tangie brought Alan-Michael to her place to recover and he forced her to tell no one of his whereabouts, Not long after, through a police photo of Harry, Alan-Michael finally realized that Harry had set him up and that Alan wasn't trying to kill him. So he arranged through Fisk a meeting with Alan in the cabin to warn him from Harry. Unfortunately, Harry kidnapped Tangie and rushed to the meeting himself but Tangie was able to overpower Harry's buddy and rushed to the meeting as well. Meanwhile, father and son finally met but since Alan believed Alan-Michael to be dead, he thought him to be Harry and aimed his gun on him. At this moment, Tangie arrived and thinking Alan was Harry, she shot him. Luckily for Alan, the wound was superficial. As for Harry, he was ultimately captured.

Later, Alex wanted to name Nick as Spaulding president but Alan stopped her and named Alan-Michael as Nick's competitor. To Alan-Michael's surprise, Alex wanted to reunite the family and after she gave Alan his assets back, Alan-Michael was sure to reach his goal very soon. Over the course of several months, Alan-Michael got closer to Tangie despite the fact that Tangie was dismayed about his dominance and Alan-Michael finally learned that Alan was Tangie's secret friend all along. On New Year 1995, Alan-Michael and Tangie were ready to make love but since they didn't have a condom, Alan-Michael left to buy one. However, when he went back, he was shocked to hear Alan confessing his love to Tangie. So he angrily confronted Alan, Realizing that Alan had been friendly to him as a way to get to Spaulding, Alan-Michael was all set to walk away from the family when suddenly Alan and Alex offered him the presidency in front of Lucy. A surprised Alan-Michael refused because Alan and Alex wanted to remain CEO of Spaulding but when they even agreed to let him be CEO and president, Alan-Michael accepted and reached his goal after so many years.

Soon Alan-Michael made big changes at Spaulding by firing old executives and hiring new ones. One of his new employees was a man named Brent Lawrence, while he also convinced Lucy to be his assistant. He also sold Alan's first company and when Alex and especially Alan reprimanded Alan-Michael for his actions, an arrogant Alan-Michael made it clear that he was the boss now. By now, Alan-Michael realized he was in love with Lucy but wasn't able to confess his love for her and was dismayed when she started dating Brent. He was jealous and when he saw Lucy and Brent kissing in the office, he reprimanded them and after a talk with Alan-Michael, Lucy realized there was no future with him. Devastated, Alan-Michael finally decided to confess his love for Lucy, but when he did so in her apartment, she seemed upset and ran off, leaving Alan-Michael to believe that something was wrong because of Brent. Later, during a business-trip to Brent's hometown in Florida, Alan-Michael learned how Brent treated women, so he fired him. When Brent threatened Lucy in her apartment, Alan-Michael arrived and learned why Lucy had been upset-- Brent had raped Lucy! Angry, Alan-Michael beat him up while Lucy then ran to the docks. When Alan-Michael found her, he brought her to his yacht and convinced her to confess everything to her family and to press charges against Brent. Right after, Alan-Michael unwillingly had to hire Brent back at Spaulding to prevent a wrongful termination trial and had to deal with the Spaulding board, mainly Taggart, since the board blamed him for doing bad business work. Balances seemingly proved losses for Spaulding and Alan-Michael was suspended for a time while Alan took the company over.

Thanks to Lucy, Alan-Michael soon realized that Brent had gained access to Lucy's computer to manipulate the numbers. Lucy had the real financial information on a disk and when Brent was about to get this disk from Lucy, he confessed his schemes to her and a hiding Alan-Michael overheard everything and got Brent's confession on tape. He played the tape to everyone at the Towers and though Brent claimed that he was only doing Alan's dirty work, Alan-Michael believed Alan when he said that Brent was lying. Frank and Buzz forced Brent to leave town for Seattle and Alan-Michael and Lucy reunited. Not long after, Tangie wrote an article reporting that Brent was the scapegoat and Alan behind the scheme to discredit Alan-Michael. It iddn't take long for Alan-Michael to realized that Brent had forced Tangie to write the article. Alan-Michael rushed to the docks to warn Lucy but Brent arrived and threatened both with a gun. Luckily, Lucy was able to attack Brent and Alan-Michael shot him during their struggle. But when the police arrived, Brent was nowhere to be found and Alan-Michael feared that he had killed Brent. To everyone's shock, Brent was alive; he made a call during a WSPR show for raped women and later asked Alan-Michael by phone to come to him at the docks. So Alan-Michael went there and Brent confessed about his cooperation with Alan and apologized for his actions against Lucy. Later, Alan-Michael was shocked to learn that Alan had found Brent after the shooting and had paid him to leave town. Furious with Alan, Alan-Michael confronted him with everything and disowned him, After Alan was freed from jail due to lack of evidence, Alan-Michael ordered the board to decide if he or Alan should lead Spaulding,

When the vote was tied the decision was left to Alex and she voted that Alan-Michael stay on as president. Not long after, Alan-Michael hired two new employees at Spaulding, Susan Bates and a woman named Marian Crane, unaware that Marian had plans to kill Lucy! Marian befriended Lucy and bugged Alan-Michael's yacht. When Alan-Michael and Lucy got engaged, they thought that Lucy was HIV+, thanks to Marian's manipulations, A devastated Alan-Michael supported Lucy and to everyone's delight, a third test finally came back negative and everyone realized that someone was manipulating the two tests before. Meanwhile, Marian killed rapist Lucky Fowler and Nadine. Not long after, he also killed Det. Cutter, while Alan-Michael and Lucy slept together for the first time the same night. Meanwhile, Nick and Susan were suspicious about Marian and even Alan-Michael started to doubt her but Lucy remained loyal to her. One day, Marian tried to kill Lucy in her apartment at the Reardon boardinghouse with a knife but instead of Lucy, Susan was there and Marian stabbed her. She switched gas on to let it look like suicide but Alan-Michael, Lucy and Nick (who were waiting for Susan at a restaurant), rushed to the boardinghouse and found and rescued Susan, who fell into a coma. On Christmas, Alan-Michael learned from "Santa Claus" Nick that Lucy had driven Marian home, so he rushed to Marian's apartment and rescued Lucy, before she was able to hurt her. On New Year's Eve at the Country club, Marian asked Alan-Michael to come to her because she was about to kill herself. When Alan-Michael arrived, Marian was gone and he was shocked to realize that Marian had set him up and had kidnapped Lucy.

In January 1996, Alan-Michael and others were further shocked to learn that Marian was actually a very much alive Brent in disguise! The police exhumed Brent's empty casket and after Brent's sister, Cassie, was found, she confessed that she had faked Brent's death with the doctor because she believed in his innocence. Not long after, Brent got in touch with Alan-Michael per computer and lured him to the Lighthouse. When he arrived, Brent got his gun and Lucy lied to Alan-Michael that she was in love with Brent. To prove this, she had to shoot him but at this moment, Alan got in touch with Brent and offered him the Spaulding jet and $ 10 million for Lucy's and Alan-Michael's safety. Alan-Michael then attempted to kill Brent with a knife but Brent shot him in the arm and locked him away. The following day, Cassie tried to convince Brent to give himself up, Brent threatened to throw Lucy over balcony so Alan-Michael took the bomb and threatened to explode it but Brent wouldn't listen to Alan-Michael's claims. When Brent went to the top of the lighthouse with Lucy and Lucy threw the money through the window, Alan-Michael struggled with Brent, rescued Lucy when she was about to fall over the edge and when Brent was about to fall down himself, Frank rescued and arrested him. To everyone's shock, Brent played Marian again and no one was able to get proof for his crimes. So he was only sent to a mental institution because he was too crazy for a trial. Since Alan had helped to rescue him and Lucy, Alan-Michael reunited with his father and he and Lucy were finally free.

Now Alan-Michael and Lucy concentrated on their wedding plans with Amanda's help and had to deal with family problems. The main problem was that a company named "Advantage Systems" was about to destroy the Diner and the origins of the 5th Street and while Buzz and others blamed Alan of being behind the company Alan-Michael and Lucy defended him. Not long after, in attendance of half of Springfield, Alan-Michael and Lucy finally married at the Universal Studios in Florida. Suddenly, Phillip made his presence known and a shocked Alan-Michael. Afterwards, Alan-Michael was shocked by Alan's confession that he was really behind Advantage Systems and wanted revenge on Buzz for losing Reva to him. Though angry, Alan-Michael understood Alan's feelings and was happy when Alan seemingly offered to make peace with Buzz by paying him of. However, Lucy wasn't fond of Alan's actions and argued with Alan-Michael. One day, Alan-Michael accidentally overheard Alan telling Amanda how he was manipulating Alan-Michael and would still destroy Buzz, so Alan-Michael disowned his father again. He and Lucy moved out of the Spaulding house and teamed up with the 5th Street occupants to rescue 5th Street. Though Alex begged Alan-Michael to make up with both Alan and Phillip, Alan-Michael refused and believed that Phillip had only returned to get Alan-Michael's assets.

Alan-Michael learned from Buzz that Amanda had headed a brothel as Mandy Harper in Malibu and, instead of stopping Buzz from exposing Amanda's past during a press conference at 5th Street, Alan-Michael even stepped forward to confirm what Buzz was saying in the hopes of stopping Alan because Amanda was in cahoots with him. Though Alan was allowed to destroy the rest of 5th Street, when Shayne Lewis was missing in a building, Alan rushed to save him and fell through a broken staircase, whereupon Alan-Michael and Phillip teamed up to rescue him before the building was destroyed. Meanwhile, Phillip wanted to find the "A. Spaulding" who had set him up to be charged for Neil Everest's murder five years earlier and he suspected Alan-Michael. At that time, Alan-Michael was trying to prevent Phillip from returning to Spaulding and this lead to tension with Lucy, who liked Phillip and reprimanded Alan-Michael's behavior. Alan-Michael became Phillip's prime suspect. When Phillip seemed intent on destroying Alan-Michael, Alan-Michael retaliated by trying to get rid of Phillip. In the end, it was discovered that Alan was the one who set Phillip up. In February 1996, Alan-Michael and Lucy decided they were tired of all the power plays at Spaulding and moved to France.

In late 2004, Alan-Michael received word that Phillip had been murdered. However, he informed Alan that he wouldn't be attending the funeral since he didn't want to watch Alan mourn his favored son. In 2005, the Spauldngs and Coopers would learn that Alan-Michael and Lucy had separated. That fall, Alan-Michael returned to town and ran into, almost literally, Marina Cooper when he almost ran over a very distracted Marina with his car, Alan-Michael was very amused when Marina, now a young woman and a fledgling police officer, threatened to have him arrested for reckless driving. It turned out her threat wasn't a real one--she was just toying with him since she knew who he was. Amused by this attractive young woman, a flirtatious Alan-Michael gently kissed her and then went on his way. His first stop was to Spaulding Enterprises to see the newly appointed CEO--Harley. After telling Harley that he and Lucy divorced amicably, he assured her that he had no interest in running the company and she had his full support. As a newly divorced man, all he wanted to do was enjoy his life. Next up, Alan-Michael went to the mental hospital where Alan (having confessed to be the one who shot Phillip) was staying. There, he finally met his other half-brother, Gus Aitoro, and the two bonded over their apparent hatred of Alan and what he'd done to Phillip and to the Cooper family. Though Alan begged Alan-Michael to help restore the Spauldings to power Alan-Michael refused and backed Harley as CEO.

A few weeks later, while clubbing, Alan-Michael met up with Marina again and she surprised him by asking him to buy her a drink and the two continued their flirtation. Meanwhile, although he had told Harley he only intended to stay in Springfield temporarily, he accepted a position from her at the company. In the meantime, he continued flirting with Marina, even taking her on a jaunt to Paris. On the plane ride home, Alan-Michael and Marina played a hand of poker which she lost. For losing the bet, Alan-Michael stated she had to be his "back-up" date for New Year's Eve. In the meantime, Beth was later shocked to learn that Alan-Michael was indeed working with Alan to oust Harley from the inside! Although Alan thought he had an ace in the hole, Alan-Michael informed Alan that he may be helping to get Harley out of Spaulding, but it was not because he had anything personal against her. It was merely because she was in the way of Alan-Michael finally claiming what's rightly his. Things hit a snag when Harley informed Alan-Michael that he didn't need to work for anymore since there was no danger now of Beth trying to oust her. Having already created a care-free persona, Alan-Michael couldn't back down and was forced to agree. But immediately after he put in a call in to a friend and asked for an emergency to be arranged at the London office, After Alan-Michael "saved the day", Harley asked him to come back to work for the company and he agreed. Although he planned on spending Christmas Day working, he couldn't get his mind off Marina and ended up going to the Cooper Christmas party. After standing up Marina on New Year's Eve in order to meet with Alan.

in early 2006, Alan-Michael attempted to make amends with a bouquet of flowers and a vow to make her see that he was truly sorry for hurting her. Though she tried to play it off casually, Marina was obviously charmed. In the meantime, Alexandra called Alan-Michael on his plan to oust Harley form power. Although he denied it, she didn't believe him and warned him that his relationship with Marina could be a liability. Things looked dicey weeks later when Marina found documents naming Alan-Michael as CEO but Alan-Michael covered by telling her that one of Alan's cronies was trying to engineer a power play--which he did not support. Later, Alan-Michael lied to Harley that the old guard at Spaulding wanted her out as CEO and him in. He suggested they give the board what they want - have Harley take a leave of absence and Alan-Michael fill in temporarily but Harley turned him down. Meanwhile, though the plan was to oust Harley at the Spaulding Valentine's Day ball, by that point Gus had been declared dead and Alan-Michael backed down since he felt it would be a PR nightmare to oust a grieving widow.

Instead he informed Marina that Harley, perhaps due to her grief, made a costly error at Spaulding but he was doing damage control. Marina took the bait and informed Harley, suggesting that Alan-Michael be put in charge in her place until Harley could regroup. Unfortunately, all of Alan-Michael's comments about not wanting the responsibility blew up in his face and Harley named Dinah as her successor. Hoping to get rid of Dinah, Alan-Michael fed on her jealousy by pointing out how closely Mallet and Harley were working as partners and suggested that Mallet put off finding a new partner just in case Harley re-joined the police force. Later, he played Dinah perfectly and got her to write up a press release announcing her taking over of Spaulding...then made sure Harley found it. Unfortunately the plan failed. The same day that Alan insulted Alan-Michael by leaving him a dime as his inheritance (in retaliation for Alan-Michael taunting Alan and only agreeing to help him win Spaulding after losing a coin toss), Harley announced that Dinah would be working as CEO. Furious and determined to get power, Alan-Michael planted a bug on Harley in order to find something he could use.

Alan-Michael hit pay dirt quickly when he discovered that Harley had slept with Mallet weeks earlier. Alan-Michael then called Harley with the lie that a letter from Gus had been found. As expected, Harley and Mallet left to investigate. Alan-Michael then called Dinah, and innocently asked if she'd heard from Mallet. When Dinah said no, Alan-Michael mentioned that he and Harley were probably at a lodge investigating a case. As he expected, Dinah went to find them. As for the note--it implored Harley to find love again, pushing her in Mallet's arms. Unfortunately, for Alan-Michael the plan failed to drive a wedge since Mallet pushed Harley away when she kissed him. At the same time, Alan-Michael's relationship with Marina was growing (to Frank's displeasure). For months, Marina had been supportive of him and her impulsive "I love you," left Alan-Michael feeling guilty. Though he considered telling her the truth about his plans, he reconsidered and suggested they just call the whole relationship off. However, when Marina argued for why they should be together—he couldn't stand it and pulled her into a hot kiss. Pretty soon, clothes are flying off and Alan-Michael and Marina made love. Meanwhile, Gus returned to town and after Marina spoke with him she learned that he never wrote a note to Harley telling her to find love again. Suspicious, she sneaked into Alan-Michael's room and found evidence that showed that Alan-Michael was planning on ousting Dinah.

Later, Marina interrupted the Spaulding board meeting to accuse Alan-Michael of not just forging Gus's note, but sabotaging Harley, as well. Alan-Michael admitted all but stated that he did it to protect Spaulding. After Marina slapped him, Alan-Michael allowed her to run out and calmly told the board to vote on the new CEO. However, at that moment, Harley walked in and announced that she wasn't stepping down and then promptly fired Alan-Michael. Afterwards, Alan-Michael tried to explain to Marina that he never intended to fall for her. That was no consolation to Marina, however, and she stalked off. Later, Alan-Michael ran into Marina and again tried to convince her that his feelings for her were real and begged her to save him from himself; but Marina told him it's too late. In the meantime, Springfield was rocked to learn that Ross had apparently died in a plane crash. At that point, it was discovered that Ross had several meetings scheduled with Alan-Michael and Blake demanded to know what they were about. Alan-Michael tried to insist it was just business but lied that he thought Ross was having an affair with his assistant, Nikki. Believing that Ross's plane went down because he was on the way to see Alan-Michael, Alan asked him why he was meeting with Ross. But Alan-Michael refused to tell his father anything. Later, the police discovered that Ross's plane went down due to sabotage and since Ross was set to meet with Alan-Michael several times over the last month, he was the prime suspect.

Believing he killed her father, Dinah warned Alan-Michael that he'd made an enemy for life. Over a week later, while traveling under an assumed name in San Gabriel, Alan-Michael was shocked to come face to face with Dinah brandishing a gun. Alan-Michael tried to talk Dinah down, first by stating he had no reason to want Ross dead, and letter trying to convince her if she shot him she'd lose everything like she did when she shot Hart. Although Dinah was all set to arrange for Alan-Michael to "accidentally" fall off the balcony, his words got to her and she let him go. Alan-Michael then alerted the police but Mallet and Gus were later able to talk the local police out of pressing charges. At the same time came a startling revelation—Phillip was alive and in hiding! Apparently, Ross found out Phillip was alive and was trying to find him; Phillip had the plane sabotaged in order to keep it from lifting off to give him time to escape.. Days later, Dinah confronted Alan-Michael to announce that she was still loyal to Harley, though Alan-Michael had doubts. Several weeks later, Harley shocked Alan-Michael by finally stepping down and appointing him as Spaulding CEO. There were just two conditions: he had to keep Dinah on as VP and he had to ensure that Phillip's son, Zach, would still have a piece of the company.

Not long after, Alan-Michael clashed with Company waitress Ava Peralta when he arrived to place an order, then ignored Ava while he continued to talk on his cell phone. Ava found that very rude and grabbed his phone away, forcing him to stop wasting her time (and the time of other customers) and place the order. When Alan-Michael forgot his order, Ava delivered it to his place and refused the tip that he offered. A few weeks later, their paths crossed again during the night of the Beacon fire. As he was struggling to get out, Alan-Michael spotted a cell phone being thrown out of an office and found Ava trapped under a door. Valiantly, Alan-Michael saved her. Not long after, he unexpectedly offered her a job as his assistant. Although she initially declined, since he made it clear that he was only hiring her because she was a pretty face, she later decided to take advantage of his offer. Weeks later, Ava found herself in trouble when Alan-Michael's niece, Emma, swallowed a bottle of perfume while under her care. While Emma's mother, Olivia, threatened to have Ava arrested, Alan-Michael got himself into Ava's good graces by offering to fly a world-class pediatrician in to look at the girl. Throughout the next few weeks, Alan-Michael continued to befriend Ava. At the same time, Ava was having issues with Olivia Spencer which finally resulted in someone trying to kill her! Ava was convinced that Olivia was responsible but had no proof, leading Alan-Michael to offer to use his resources to find the man who tried to kill Ava. Though she wasn't sure about a accepting Alan-Michael's help at first, since Coop objected, she later agreed. Several days later, a tipsy Ava invited herself into Alan-Michael's room and told him what she'd learned-—Olivia was her biological mother.

Though he could have taken advantage of the situation, Alan-Michael called Coop to get Ava. Not long after, the day of Olivia's trial, Alan-Michael finally located the hit man but Ava decided not to press charges against Olivia. Alan-Michael continued to befriend Ava and she soon asked Alan-Michael to find her father. Though Coop disagreed with Ava's decision to locate her father, he offered to support her by helping her sort through the list of names that Alan-Michael had given her. Not wanting Coop to be the hero, Alan-Michael told his contact not to give Coop any information. Not long after, Olivia gave Alan-Michael a lead and suggested he take Ava to San Cristobel to follow up on it. Though he suspected that Olivia was lying, Alan-Michael couldn't resist spending time alone with Ava in San Cristobel and the pair went. There, Ava was distraught to learn that the man was dead. However, while she and Alan-Michael were at the gravesite, they learned that that man could not be her father. Days later, upon returning to Springfield, Ava and Coop walked in on an argument between Olivia and Jeffrey and were shocked to learn that he was Ava's father. In the meantime, Ava and Coop made plans to move to London. Not wanting to lose Ava, Alan-Michael sent a messenger to give Ava a memo--offering her a high paying job at Spaulding. Unfortunately, the messenger gave the memo to Coop instead. On a hunch, Alan-Michael went to Ava's apartment and found the memo in the trash. He then called Ava at the airport and fumed about her not responding to his job offer. As he suspected, Coop never told Ava about the offer.

Later, Ava unexpectedly accepted Alan-Michael's job offer when he truthfully confirmed that he only offered her the job because he wanted to sleep with her. In early 2007, Alan-Michael made plans to take Ava on a business trip to Paris. Though Alexandra called Alan-Michael on giving Ava preferential treatment because he was interested, Alan-Michael went ahead with the trip, despite other protests from Coop and Jeffrey. As expected, Ava fell in love with Paris and became even closer to Alan-Michael. However, Alan-Michael knew that Coop would follow and made a call to the airport asking him to be detained and sent back home. Despite that, Coop made it to Alan-Michael's suite and immediately began accusing him of taking advantage of Ava. Ava walked in on the argument just as Coop struck Alan-Michael and she ordered Coop to leave., Coop coerced Ava into a date with him at the same time Alan-Michael was arranging for a dinner. On her way to meet Coop, Ava innocently accepted a ride to Towers from Alan-Michael but when he was out parking the car, Ava met Coop and the two shared a kiss, just as Alan-Michael entered. Coop and Alan-Michael again began arguing about Ava who promptly walked out. Alan-Michael went back to his office where Ava was working. When he arrived, Ava made plans to leave when Coop arrived and threw the fact that he slept with Ava in Alan-Michael's face. Of course, Alan-Michael already knew this and the two began a heated argument that went out into the balcony.

There, the argument became physical with Coop shoving Alan-Michael, accidentally shoving him over the edge. Alan-Michael was immediately rushed to Cedars where he underwent surgery. When he woke up, Ava was holding vigil while Frank immediately wanted a statement about what happened. Alan-Michael confessed that it was just an accident and later informed Ava that he couldn't feel his legs. In the meantime, a startling event happened in the Spaulding family—out of the blue Alan divorced Beth and quickly married District Attorney Doris Wolfe. The day of Alan's wedding, he was shot and taken to Cedars where he remained in a coma. In the meantime, unbeknownst to everyone, Alan-Michael (who had disappeared from his room the day of Alan's wedding) was faking his paralysis. Meanwhile, the police informed Alan-Michael that the gun found at the scene where Alan had been shot was registered to Alan-Michael. However, Alan-Michael insisted that he did not shoot his father.

Later, Beth woke up Alan-Michael with a touch. Testing a theory, she hit him across the legs, forcing him to jerk. After discovering his secret, Beth confessed one of her own—she wasn't pregnant. (which she had led others to believe shortly after Alan was shot) Beth suggested that they unite to fight Doris. In the meantime, Alan-Michael's gun was found in the elevator where Alan was shot but ballistics revealed that was not the gun used on Alan. At this point, Alan-Michael was fully released from Cedars and Ava offered to stay with him until he fully recovered. Meanwhile, Josh confessed to shooting Alan and Alan-Michael set it up for Josh to get arrested for violating his parole by leaving the city. The next day, Alan-Michael found Beth holding a gun she found in a secret hiding place. Alan-Michael accused her of shooting Alan, but Beth denied it and told him she had just found it. Realizing someone in the family must have done it; Alan-Michael and Beth decided to keep quiet and hid the gun. Later, Beth tried again to seduce Alan-Michael but he rebuffed her advances. The same day, Ava found Alan-Michael standing and realized that he had been faking all along.

Later, Alan-Michael was able to convince Ava that he hadn't been lying the entire time and she forgave him. Meanwhile, at Josh's trial, Beth turned the tables on Alan-Michael by testifying that he could have been the one who shot Alan since he had been faking his paralysis all along. Back at home, just as Alan-Michael and Ava were finally about to make love, Jeffrey arrived to serve Alan-Michael with a subpoena. In court, Alan-Michael accused Beth of lying. Just then, Olivia walked in the courtroom armed with photos that showed Alan-Michael walking out of Cedars the night Alan was shot. Cornered, Alan-Michael admitted that he lied but stated that he only went to Towers to stop Alan from marrying Doris. However, before he got there, he went to Spaulding to change the security settings and there must be footage of that to prove that he didn't shoot his father.

As Alan-Michael was on the stand, Ava ran out of the courtroom and Alan-Michael later decided to get revenge by looking for dirt on Jeffrey, Olivia and Buzz. Later, he saw Ava on Main Street and after telling her he loved her, he vowed to win her back. However, despite her anger, Alan-Michael was able to convince her to stay at Spaulding and she later helped him try to get rid of Doris by pretending to want to work for Doris. Soon after, Alan finally emerged from his coma and later cleared Josh as being his shooter. He then ousted his son from Spaulding. Soon after, Jeffrey informed Ava that Alan-Michael hid the gun that Alan was shot with. After Alan-Michael insulted Olivia, Jeffrey punched him just as Ava arrived. Though she immediately went to help Alan-Michael, when he pulled her into a kiss, she realized that he was just using her and walked away. Days later, a drunken Alan-Michael pleaded with Ava to help him oust Alan but she refused. Afterwards, Alan-Michael was unexpectedly kidnapped by Jeffrey and Olivia who threatened Alan-Michael to stay away from Ava, with Jeffrey even trying to pay him off. However, Alan-Michael declined and tried to get Olivia help reclaim Spaulding. Olivia abruptly rejected his offer and finally let him loose.

To get revenge, Alan-Michael spied on Olivia and snapped photos of her kissing Jeffrey on the day she was to marry Buzz. Alan-Michael wasted no time sending the photos to Buzz. When a self-satisfied Alan-Michael began publically gloating that his family owned the town, Alan himself arrived and defended Buzz. When Buzz left, Alan informed his son that a large sum of money was being transferred from the company into a personal account in Alan-Michael's name--in other words, Alan was framing him for embezzlement. Alan-Michael's only salvation was to skip town. Alan-Michael angrily accused his father of trying to bully him but Alan made it clear that he was doing this for his good: he would not lose another son to a vendetta. Devastated, Alan-Michael was forced to leave town.