and Beth out of town, and Alexandra out on a mission to find herself. Roger Thorpe took this opportunity to use Alan-Michael's inexperience to take over Spaulding Enterprises which he did with the help of jewel thief Jenna Bradshaw who claimed that her late father was responsible for the invention which brought Spaulding to the top of the business world. Ousted from his family's company, Alan-Michael searched desperately for Alexandra to no avail. Just when it seemed all was hopeless, Alexandra returned, and with the help of Bess Lowell (Brandon Spaulding's former executive secretary), they were able to regain control at Spaulding. As a reward, Bess received a great deal of money from Alexandra and gave Alan-Michael $1,000,000 to start his own business. The feisty senior citizen remarked to him that had she been born 50 years later, they would have made history. When Alan was released from prison, he utilized each of his family members to cause tension so he could take back over Spaulding, but when he came to an agreement with Alexandra, they made Alan-Michael president with the two of them sharing the title of heads of the board of directors. Alan-Michael's issues concerning girlfriend Lucy Cooper and psychotic Spaulding enterprises employee Brent Lawrence distracted him, and after his brother Philip's return, Alan-Michael and Lucy left town. Alan-Michael, despite being a member of the richest and arguably most powerful family in Springfield, resided at The Beacon Hotel upon his return due mainly to his tempestuous relationship with his father. In 2007, he was forced to leave Springfield after Alan framed him for embezzlement, stating that he wouldn't lose another son to a vendetta (referring to Phillip's past troubles). Family Alan-Michael is the only child born to the brief marriage of Alan Spaulding and Hope Bauer. His parents were mismatched from the beginning, and their relationship was fraught with difficulties. Alan's affair with Vanessa Chamberlain Reardon finally ended the marriage, which led Hope to drink. Her battle with alcoholism continued throughout Alan-Michael's early years. In 1986, Alan-Michael fell in love with Dinah Marler. However, Cameron Stewart tried to break the couple up. Later that year, Harley Cooper came to town. Harley, who loved Cameron, teamed up with Alan-Michael to stop Dinah and Cameron from getting closer. Much to their schemes, Dinah and Cameron could not resist temptation and began dating. Cameron left Harley and Alan-Michael was dumped by