Alan Spaulding, a native of Chicago, was the owner of Spaulding Enterprises, after he wrested the company away from his own father, Brandon. Alan married Elizabeth and she soon became pregnant with their child. Elizabeth was due to give birth in three weeks, when during a routine checkup, the doctor discovered that the baby she was carrying had died. The doctor didn't tell her though, feeling she would handle the news better if Alan were the one to tell her. Afraid that Elizabeth would not be able to take the loss of a child, Alan kept the news from her and asked Dr. La Crosse if he knew of any woman that would be having a child, preferably a boy, because Alan and Dr. La Crosse knew that Elizabeth's baby would be a boy. Enter Jackie Marler and her unborn child. The deal was arranged and Alan took Jackie Marler's son, whom he named Phillip as his own.

Fast forward to 1977. Now in Springfield, the Spaulding marriage was not a happy one since Elizabeth resented Alan's controlling nature and condescending attitude. Elizabeth began to grow concerned that Phillips nanny, Diane Ballard, was trying to undermine her at home and was even flirting with her husband. Elizabeth made it clear to her husband that Diane was no longer needed, and Alan agreed. Alan told Diane that while her services were no longer required in the Spaulding household, they could be used at Spaulding Enterprises. Diane readily accepted Alan's offer, an offer that left Elizabeth greatly upset. The Spaulding marriage continued to crumble as Alan and Elizabeth entertained friends and business associates in their home. Alan spent the evening belittling his wife's career as being silly and inconsequential, and chastised her for wearing what he felt was an ugly and inappropriate evening gown. But worst of all, he accused her of shamelessly flirting with his attorney, Mike Bauer, in front of everyone. Unable to take it anymore, Elizabeth decided to sleep downstairs.

Enraged that his wife would leave their bedroom, Alan left the house to go get a newspaper without telling anyone. Just then, Phillip woke up from a terrible nightmare in which Alan and Elizabeth had left him all alone. He rushed into his parents' bedroom for reassurance to find them both gone. Not knowing where they were and clad only in his pajamas, the young boy ventured out into the stormy night to search for them. When Alan returned home and discovered Phillip was gone, he angrily woke Elizabeth, demanding to know where their son was. Elizabeth was sleeping so soundly due to the sleeping pill that she had no idea Phillip was gone. Luckily, Alan found Phillip. When the police arrived, Alan accused Elizabeth of mixing alcohol and sleeping pills and that she was stone drunk. He claimed that he told Elizabeth where he was going and asked her to stay with Phillip. Unable to take any more of Alan's lies, Elizabeth packed her bags and informed her husband that she was moving to a hotel. When Alan later tracked her at the hotel, Elizabeth thought he came to apologize and ask her to come back home. But Alan's concern was only for Phillip, not her. He wanted to make sure she really was staying at a hotel. And with that said, he abruptly left her hotel room.

Despite Alan's cruel treatment, Elizabeth loved her family. She decided to return home and make amends. But when she got there, she discovered no one was home. She then rushed over to Alan's office, where his secretary informed her that Alan took Phillip and Diane to London. And from there, the three of them were off to Africa for a photographic safari. Elizabeth was left behind and decided she wanted a divorce. Upon his return, Alan was determined to get custody of their son and, along with his personal lawyer, Dean Blackford, bribed Ramon de Vilar to say Elizabeth had an affair with him since they knew each other from her and Alan's trip to the South Rivera. Once this became known in court, Alan was awarded custody of Phillip. When Ramon threatened to tell Mike the truth about Alan's and Dean's schemes, Alan forced Dean to get Ramon to shut up. Not long after, Ramon was murdered and Alan was falsely implicated, but was exonerated, when Dean, who was now deceased, turned out to be Ramon's real murderer. Meanwhile, Jackie was desperate to be near her son and as a result she charmed her way into becoming Alan's wife, while Alan had no idea that Jackie was in fact Phillip's mother. Meanwhile Spaulding employee Roger Thorpe had Dean's original affidavits stating that Ramon lied in court, and one from Dr. Paul LaCrosse, the man who arranged Phillip's illegal adoption.

So, in 1979, having Alan in a corner, Roger offered to suppress the information in exchange for keeping his job amidst a rape trial. Alan and Elizabeth then fought again over Phillip's custody but Elizabeth again was given joint custody. Angry over not having full custody of Phillip, Alan cruelly told Elizabeth the dark secret--Phillip wasn't her child! Since Phillip was now with Elizabeth, Jackie had planned to leave Alan but changed her mind when she found out she was pregnant. Meanwhile, Roger, after being shot by his wife, Holly, summoned Alan with another demand: fake his death! Painted into a corner, Alan hired Dr. Gonzalo Moreno from Puerto Rico to remove the three bullets from Roger's chest and "patch" him up. Meanwhile, Alan's villa, which he had bought for Jackie, needed some renovations and Alan was livid when he discovered Mike's daughter, Hope, was going to do the decorating, along with architect Gordon Middleton. Later, Hope, who had heard rotten things about Alan and Roger from her father, admitted to Mike that she had seen an IV unit in the villa, after she Gordon saw the IV unit there. After her assignment was completed, Hope and Alan grudgingly traveled together when their plane suddenly crashed! While Alan's pilot died, Alan and Hope stranded in the Caribbean and aboard the plane wreckage, the pair drifted to a desert island. Stranded together, the pair began to understand one another, fell in love, and made love before being rescued by Mike and Jackie. Back in Springfield, Jackie announced she was pregnant but Alan continued his affair with Hope anyway. Then Jackie's father, Emmet Scott, grew suspicious and confronted Alan about the affair, only to have Alan throw him out of the mansion. About this time, Jackie suffered a miscarriage and divorced Alan. Very soon after, Elizabeth learned the truth about Phillip's parentage. Alan and Hope now free, they married in a beautiful ceremony in February 1980. As for Elizabeth, as Alan predicted, she couldn't handle the news and left town to undergo psychiatric treatment.

Before his wedding, Alan tried to deal with the death of his domineering father when the reading of his will unleashed a furor. Instead of leaving everything to him, Brandon bequeathed the bulk of his estate to Amanda Wexler! When Alan learned that Brandon and Lucille were once involved, Alan suspected that Amanda was Brandon's illegitimate daughter. Meanwhile, Hope found letters in the attic of the Spaulding mansion pertaining to a Janice and Jane Marie Stafford. She gave them only a cursory glance, but when she asked Alan about them, he promptly burned the letters and told her the Stafford sisters were in the past. In reality, Jane Marie was Alan's teenaged lover, however the affair ended when her sister, Janice, (who Alan was also involved with) found them together and drowned. His interest was now piqued and so Alan hired private investigator, Joe Bradley, to investigate whatever happened to Jane Marie Stafford, Meanwhile, Alan became suspicious of a woman named Jennifer Richards, who had been on Lucille's payroll. Though he never met Jennifer, he was convinced she had a connection to Jane Marie and tried to contact her, however every time he tried, Jennifer avoided him.

Jennifer's reasons for avoiding Alan were finally revealed when he walked into the courtroom, in February 1981, while she was on trial for Lucille's Wexler--Jennifer was Jane Marie Stafford! It was then that Alan would learn something startling: Amanda was his daughter with Jane Marie! Apparently, when Brandon learned that his teenage son had fathered a child, he paid the mother to leave and gave the child up for adoption. Shocked, Alan resolved to be a father to Amanda. Meanwhile Hope began to suspect that perhaps her father was right about Alan all along. Having learned the details of Phillip's parentage from Elizabeth before, Hope forced Alan (who still had no idea that the Marlers were Phillip's parents) to give up his paternal rights to Justin and Jackie, going as far as to leave her and Alan's bedroom till Alan agreed to give custody of Philip to the Marlers. She also threatened to leave him and never let him see the child she was pregnant with. Hope never told Alan her reasons why she wanted him to give up Philip, but it could be her disenchantment with his lengths to secure custody in the first place. With a great deal of anger, Alan signed those "damn papers." Seeing how angry Alan was, Hope became scared to return to their bedroom.

Later, Alan began having an affair with Rita Stapleton Bauer. Rita and Alan started to receive anonymous threatening phone calls threatening to reveal their affair, Rita pawned all her jewelry, including the necklace Alan gave her, paid off the anonymous blackmailer and then high-tailed it out of Springfield and went to live in San Francisco, CA. Unbeknownst to Alan, Hope overheard his earlier conversation with Henry and knew about the affair but kept mum. Soon Alan figured out that his blackmailer must be Andy Norris and with the help of Joe, Alan confronted Andy about his pathetic attempts at blackmail and his inferiority to his father and the police had him arrested. Meanwhile, Hope was involved in a car accident and while she was in Cedars, she blurted out that she knew about him and Rita! Alan then begged forgiveness and swore to her that he would change. Alan told Hope that he never loved another woman like he loved her. Touched by his sensitivity and realizing that he was the first man she'd ever really loved, she agreed to give him another chance. Weeks later, she gave birth to Alan's son, Alan-Michael.

Meanwhile, Diane was so stung by Alan's disloyalty and rejection that she icily threatened to reveal his collusion with Roger, Paul La Crosse, Ramon and Dr. Moreno. Then she started threatening Jackie and Justin with the knowledge that they were the biological parents of Phillip, which no one had yet told Phillip about. Trying to reason with Diane, Alan and Diane argued. From the hallway, Joe overheard them arguing and heard Diane tell Alan that if he wasn't careful there would be no more Spaulding Enterprises for him to run, instead it would be Diane Ballard Enterprises. Later, Diane would turn up dead! Then Joe blackmailed Alan for $ 10 million dollars because he found find out about Moreno! Unfortunately for Alan, Joe died shortly after and when a partial note was found in his apartment detailing Alan's collusion with Moreno, Alan was now the prime suspect in both murders and fled to Tenerife with Hope and their son, Alan-Michael in order to evade arrest. Alan, though was also running from a mysterious one-eyed (patch over the other eye that was blind) pursuer. But the mystery man caught up with Alan and engaged him in a fierce struggle.

After the man disappeared, it was Mike's turn to meet up with Alan. Mike and Alan got into a violent fight that left Mike badly injured. Alan quickly left on his private jet, his pilot Wayne Jennings at the controls. Once aboard, Alan had a change of heart; he couldn't leave the father of his beloved Hope to die, no matter what threat Mike posed to him. Alan had Wayne return to the scene and lifted the injured Mike onto the plane. Just then, the one-eyed stranger appeared in the distance, aiming a gun. A shot rang out and Wayne was critically injured (but lived), leaving Alan to pilot the plane and bring them back safely to Springfield. After returning home, Mike helped prove Alan's innocence in the murderers, however Alan was later forced to confess that he had conspired with the evil and now presumed dead Roger and went to prison in 1982 while Amanda controlled Spaulding. In Springfield, Diane's documents were found in the hands of Carrie Todd and Alan finally learned from the Marlers that they were Phillip's biological parents.

Even before his imprisonment, Alan was stalked by a mysterious one-eyed man and received death threats. When Alan was temporarily released, in order to advise the governor in state financial matters, he found himself being chased again by the mysterious one-eyed man. But Alan would learn the identity of the man soon enough--it was Lucien Goff! Now that Alan was out of prison, Lucien saw his opportunity and abducted him to a cabin despite the heavy security Mike had arranged. Once there, Lucien revealed to Alan that he was a former disgruntled employee whom Alan had fired for illegally profiting from the company's foreign trade. Meanwhile, Brenda informed Mike that she was really Ivy Pierce, an undercover FBI agent assigned to find Alan. Ivy and Mike tracked down Goff, Wayne and Alan to Clarksville. Goff, Wayne and Alan were hiding in a tramway office as Mike and Ivy walked by. Goff was about to shoot Mike when Alan yelled to Mike to look out. Goff shot at Alan but hit Wayne in the shoulder. Goff ran out and onto a cable car. Mike jumped on it as it takes off. He climbed onto the roof and dropped down through the escape hatch. The two men struggled. Hope and the police arrived as a body falls from the cable car. It was Goff and he fell to his death. Alan and Hope were reunited and Alan was soon pardoned by the governor.

A week later, the prison warden called Alan to tell him that Wayne had committed suicide, but an autopsy showed that Wayne was poisoned. It was obvious that at least one other person was involved in the scheme. Ivy believed it was the missing Samuel Pasquin, a former cohort of Goff who would later turn out to be Mark Evans who was now married to Jennifer! Later when Alan was released from prison, he promised Hope that he would try not to get involved in the happenings of Spaulding. Unfortunately, he would not be able to keep his promise to Hope and would be tempted back, when he would learn of the costly mistakes Amanda had made as president of Spaulding; he fired Amanda and this put a strain in their relationship. Upset at Alan's actions toward Amanda, Hope threw him out of their bedroom.

Not long after, Alan's wandering eye turned in the direction of Trish Lewis, and so that November, he hired her to redecorate the mansion, an odd request considering that Hope was an interior decorator. However, Trish accepted Alan's offer and soon fell victim to his charms, so much so that by Christmas they were having an affair. Although Trish later put an end to the affair, in 1983, it re-ignited after Alan visited her one day (following an argument with Amanda) bemoaning the fact that only Trish understood him. Then that summer Hope finally found out about the affair. Disgusted at the state of her marriage, Hope turned to the bottle for solace and became an alcoholic. When Trish, a former alcoholic herself, learned what the affair was doing to Hope, she finally decided to end the affair and concentrate on her relationship Ross Marler, helping him with his political campaign. Jealous, Alan had a prostitute drug Ross and plant cocaine in his car, thus ruining his political career. Meanwhile, Hope had gotten control of her drinking problem with the support of her Uncle Ed, a former alcoholic. Hope then divorced Alan, and realizing that she could never be in the same town with him, moved to New York with Alan-Michael. In the midst of all this, Bradley Raines discovered that Phillip was not Alan's biological son and, seeing dollar signs, he anonymously blackmailed Alan for $ 100,000. So Alan and Justin decided to tell a teenaged Phillip the truth. Unfortunately Phillip had already found out about his parentage from Bradley and rejected both Justin and Alan for a while. Meanwhile, Alan's plan to discredit Ross backfired after Lujack Luvonaczek (who would turn out to be Alan's nephew), overheard a crooked cop talking (the cop that Alan hired to set up Ross) revealed what Alan had done.

In January 1984, Alan was still dealing with Phillip who ran off to New York to help Beth Raines. At the same time, Alan had eyes on wooing Vanessa Chamberlain. The Chamberlains came from old money and Henry Chamberlain had a lot of stock in Spaulding Enterprises. Though Vanessa was intrigued by Alan, she was more intrigued by Billy Lewis. To break up Vanessa and Billy, Alan brought Billy's ex-wife, Reva Shayne to town. The plan seemed to have worked when Vanessa called off her burgeoning relationship with Billy. When Alan offered a hand and a shoulder to cry on, Vanessa accepted both and they started dating and things even seemed to be heating. At the same time, Bradley Raines, started making written threats to Alan that he'd go to authorities, if Alan didn't comply with getting Bradley out of Springfield and into to New York City under an assumed name. In the midst of all this, Alan received word that his sister Alexandra would be coming to town very soon. The runaways Beth and Phillip, were forced to come back to Springfield when one of Alan's business associates and Spaulding board member, Wayne DeVargas spotted them on visit to New York City. Several weeks later, at a mask ball, Alan was shocked when a masked woman suddenly unmasked herself--it was Alexandra! Alex told her brother in no uncertain terms she was now in Springfield to make sure Alan's days as President of Spaulding Enterprises were numbered! Alexandra arrived in town. She hated Alan for helping their father give Lujack up and also for trying to ruin her relationship with her old lover, Eric. At the same ball, Alan proposed to Vanessa and was embarrassed when Billy ended up marrying her on the spot.

Alex got her revenge by helping Phillip and Beth stay together knowing that Alan was determined to break them up. When Alan ordered Bradley out of town, Alex had Bradley arrested for raping Beth. Then Alex discovered that Alan was involved in the Dreaming Death plot to manufacture the Dreaming Death virus as a biological weapon. Warren Andrews, on the other hand, accidentally caused the death of his wife, Lesley Ann Monroe, after he sabotaged Jim Reardon's work to find a cure for the virus. Feeling guilty, Warren hired an investigator to expose Alan's schemes and cooperated with Alex. After Alan confessed his involvement to her, Alex got his confession on tape and turned it to the FBI with Ross' help. To avoid imprisonment, Alan ran away to San Rios with the police following and after an explosion he was declared dead.

But Alan was rescued by a healer and, in 1986, under the alias of Gregory Samuels, he hid in Andorra at the Halkein castle and prepared his return to Springfield with the help of Alexandra's ex-husband, Baron Leo Von Halkein and later the Baron's daughter, India. Later Alan revealed himself to everyone at Alex's mask ball. After he stole the blackmailing tape from Alex, he was able to secure his freedom. He and India started conspiring against Alex but she and Simon Hall figured everything out. At this time, Phillip was shot while Beth was kidnapped and presumed dead. To avoid losing his son, Alan lied to Phillip that Beth was dead. At this time, Reva began working as Alan's photographer at the Mirror so she could keep tabs on him for Kyle. One of her first assignments was to shoot underwater photos of Stony Lake, which had become flooded. There she found Professor Blackburn's boat, which contained evidence inconsistent with Alan's claims that Beth was dead. Reva confronted Alan with her findings but agreed not to reveal them when he backed off on an article he was planning to write -- a slam piece on Kyle's parentage. But Reva was soon to make an even more dramatic discovery in the flooded waters: the Von Halkein gold! To Alan's horror, Kyle nobly gave the treasure to its rightful owner, the ambassador of Andorra. With Leo's blessing, Alan and India hoodwinked the dignitary into giving it back to India, and the two subsequently became lovers as well as cohorts. But, India was not entirely comfortable with the relationship, In 1987, Alan and India got involved in the black art market together. Alan got the paintings into the states through India's new art gallery. They eventually became lovers though it didn't work out. Alan's art supplier was Paul Valère and Alan and India blackmailed Johnny Bauer into carrying the painting to Springfield. Later, Paul was shot and Alan became the prime suspect; he tried to make it look like Johnny and Christine did it but he didn't succeed. Alan was off the hook when Warren turned out to be the real killer.

Later, Alan started dating Vanessa again and, while Vanessa really loved him, Alan saw the relationship more for business interest. Although he and Vanessa finally planned to marry, Alan set his sights on Reva, recently jilted by Josh, so Vanessa left him. Alan then hired Reva to break up Alex and H.B and, in return, he arranged a paternity for her to discover if Josh or Kyle was Marah's father. When Alan learned that Josh was indeed the father, he bribed the doctor to keep quiet to keep Reva and Josh apart. Alan changed the test results to look it like Kyle was Marah's father. One night in February 1988, Reva jumped in the icy lake to save Josh after Will attempted to murder him. At this moment, Alan arrived with Josh's wife, Sonni, and saved Reva's life. Unfortunately, Reva was left in a coma and Alan married a semi-comatose Reva in her hospital room. Though the marriage was immediately annulled (since Reva had thought that she married Josh instead), after Reva recovered, she agreed to be his wife in an official ceremony. About that time, Alex and Phillip were plotting to oust Alan from the company. They merged Spaulding with Lewis oil and Phillip forced Alan to turn over the presidency of Spaulding to him. In disgrace, Alan left town for Mexico and had an affair with a young woman named Blake Lindsey. Alan sent Blake to Springfield to spy on Phillip but she eventually fell in love with him. After Alan returned from Mexico with Reva, Alex found out that Alan and Blake were sleeping together and, in 1989, she told Reva, trying to ruin her relationship with her brother. When Reva discovered the true paternity of her daughter and Alan's role in the cover-up, she promptly broke up with him and reconciled with Josh. Not willing to let go, Alan followed Reva to Venezuela and took a bullet for her when Josh's ex-wife, Sonni Carrera, attempted to kill her. After being shot by Sonni, Alan was paralyzed for a time and was helped by Nadine Cooper. Later he was able to walk again but kept his recovery a secret.

About this time Alan was the first to recognize Adam Malik as Roger Thorpe but no one would believe him. Then Alan staged a series of accidents to keep Phillip from marrying Blake but didn't succeed. During Blake and Phillip's wedding Alan came face to face with Roger and tried to shoot him. During their struggle the gun went off and Phillip was shot. As Roger went to help Phillip, Alan shot him, too. While Adam was exposed as Roger to everyone, Alan wasn't identified immediately as the shooter. Roger suspected though and finally convinced Ross, Phillip and Alan-Michael of Alan's crimes so the three tricked Alan into showing his ability to walk. While Alex was away in Europe, Roger came to the Spaulding mansion and appeared to shoot Phillip and Alan-Michael. Shocked, Alan stood up from his wheelchair, was exposed of all crimes and went to jail. But he still wanted to keep Phillip and Blake apart and so he told Phillip that Beth was possibly still alive. Phillip didn't believe him though and Alan (who was imprisoned now) hired Dana Jones and her lover, Bruce Daly, to trick Phillip. Daly first visited Bradley in prison and told him Beth was still live, not knowing if this was true or not. After Bradley told him details of Beth s life, he told Phillip that he had kidnapped Beth and wanted $ 1 Million. The original plan was for Bruce to bring Dana Jones along with him at a drop off point at Stoney Lake and meet Phillip and Rick there. Then Phillip would hand Bruce the $1 million dollars and Bruce and Alan would share the money as a way for Alan to get out of prison. Unfortunately, the plan backfired with Roger ending up with the money.

In July 1994, Alan was released from prison and returned to Springfield in secret. Using the alias As Mr. Tashiwa, Alan tried to gain control of Spaulding and enlisted Roger's help. Roger discovered Tashiwa's true identity and became Alan's partner while he successfully schemed to get back at Alex. At the same time, Alan-Michael was attacked by a man he thought was Alan. Believing that his father tried to kill him out of revenge (since he helped send Alan to prison) Alan-Michael went into hiding. Not long after, Alan agreed to a meeting between himself, Alan-Michael and Tangie. Unfortunately, Alan believed that Alan-Michael had been killed in an explosion and believed an imposter named Harry was summoning him. Wanting revenge for his son's apparent death, he brought a gun to the meeting. In the end, the imposter was arrested and Alan revealed himself as Mr. Tashiwa. Though Tangie accidentally shot Alan in the confusion, he told the police that it was the imposter who shot him. Soon after, when Alan learned that Alex, Blake and Vanessa owned his assets and that Alex was planning to give the Spaulding presidency to her son Nick instead to Alan-Michael, Alan hired his henchwoman Susan to discredit him. So Susan drugged Nick during his business trip to the Bahamas, arranged an intimate situation between them and got all on tape. The next day, Nick found a manipulated newspaper where he read that Susan was murdered but Alex saved him before his trial. Though Alan showed the videotape to the Spaulding board, Nick was voted in as president anyway and later saw Susan alive, thus realizing that Alan duped him.

Desperate to get power back at Spaulding, Alan decided to blackmail Blake by hiring a look-a-like named Howie to impersonate Ross and withdraw Money from Spaulding, thus framing Ross for the crime. He also planted a listening device on Vanessa and though his plans finally failed, Alex gave him his assets back anyway when, thanks to Roger, Alan let her believe that he was dying. However, Alan then set up Roger when he told Alex about their cooperation. So on New Year's Day 1995, Roger locked Alan up with handcuffs and threatened to give him a lethal injection if Alan wouldn't help him. Alan was forced to convince Alex to tell Holly the truth. At the same time, Alan-Michael became president of Spaulding and when Brent Lawrence lied to Alan that Alan-Michael was a bad businessman, Alan hired him to sabotage Spaulding files in an attempt to take the presidency from Alan-Michael. But when it was discovered that Brent had raped Lucy Cooper and apparently died after Alan-Michael shot him, Alan found him alive and paid him and his sister Cassie Lawrence to leave town to avoid a scandal. Unfortunately, both Alan-Michael and Tangie learned of Alan's schemes and turned him in to the police. Though Alan was cleared of all charges due to lack of evidence, it was at the expense of his relationship with Tangie

Escaping his feelings for regret over Tangie, Alan raced out of town to Goshen. He had a car accident and awoke to find himself cared for by an amnesiac Reva. With Alan's help, Reva regained her memory and Alan brought her and Abigail Blume back to Springfield in hopes of settling down. But Reva was drawn back to Josh and her children and broke away from Alan during a custody battle for her kids. When Reva married Buzz Cooper in 1996, a furious Alan created the company Advantage Systems and planed to develop Fifth Street and demolish Buzz's diner. However he ended up giving up and saved Reva's son, Shayne, from the wrecking crew, leaving himself seriously injured. He battled to regain the use of his legs and confessed to Phillip that he was responsible for framing him for the Towers bombing five years earlier. Although a bitter Phillip intended to leave Springfield, when he saw that Alan seemed to be giving up on ever walking again, he decided to stay and made sure that Alan fought to recover. Seeing how Alan was resisting his physical therapy, Phillip devised a plan to give Alan the will to walk again. Knowing that Alan was giving up on himself, Phillip and Alan-Michael concocted a plan with Roger and Amanda to make Alan think they were selling Alan's company, Advantage Systems, to Roger, with the hope that Alan would get the urge to fight Roger and thus, get the urge to walk again. Their plan was a success, for when Alan, who had previously been wallowing in self-pity, learned that Roger was involved in his company, he struggled to get up from his wheelchair in an effort to throttle the self-satisfied Roger.

In time, Alan would make a full recovery. That Christmas, Alan was shocked when Amanda double-crossed him by replacing him at the company with Roger. Betrayed, Alan immediately turned around and got his revenge by having Amanda arrested for tax evasion, since Amanda's arrest would automatically revert the partnership back to him. Soon after, Amanda and Alan called a truce--since they both betrayed each other; they're even. Meanwhile, unfortunately, by 1997, the news of Roger's involvement in Spaulding became public and the Spauldings were forced to accept him in the company or else risk losing stock. A few months later, Alan would receive the shock of his life when he learned that Amanda wasn't his daughter, she was Brandon's all along! After Roger and Amanda learned of her true parentage, Brandon's will was read by Ross and it left Alan with no rightful claim to the Spaulding fortune because when Brandon finalized his will, Alan was presumed dead in San Rios!! Adding to this revelation was the news that Alexandra had known about Amanda's parentage for years. Angry that his father would hate him enough to do this to him, Alan lashed out the only person he could: Alex. He bitterly disowned Alex and told her to leave town. In the aftermath, Alan lost his place on the board to Amanda. But Amanda, longing for family, welcomed Alan back to the board.

In the midst of this, determined to break up Josh and Reva, Alan worked together with Josh's ex-wife Annie Dutton. While he initially helped Annie trick Reva into believing she was her long lost sister, when that plan backfired, they set out to find the real deal and in Chicago, they found her in stripper Cassie Layne. Gaining Cassie's trust by hiring a man to abuse her at the club so Alan could "come to the rescue", Alan told her she could pay him back by working for him. Seeing an opportunity, Alan forced Cassie to spy on Josh and Billy Lewis so that he could take over Lewis Oil. But Alan's plans were destroyed however when Cassie had second thoughts and refused to help him, unfortunately by this time Alan had a trump card--Cassie's daughter, Tammy, who had been placed in foster care. By threatening to make sure Cassie never saw Tammy again, Alan was able to force her to do what he wanted. Unfortunately, Alan still lost out when the Lewises found out who Cassie was and helped her secure custody of Tammy. Meanwhile, despite Annie's obsession with Josh and Reva, Alan found himself falling in love with her and supporting all of her schemes. Desperately in love, Alan asked Annie to marry him. In 1998, during Alan and Annie's wedding ceremony, Alan got a shock when Reva announced that Annie was still married to a con named Eddie Banks. Alan was furious and ordered Annie out of his life. Later, unable to mind his own business, he hired the abusive Carl Stevens to keep Phillip and Beth apart but when he learned that Carl had physically abused Beth in Arizona, a disgusted Alan warned him away from his family. Not long after, Carl was murdered. Weeks later, Phillip and Beth learned that a few years earlier, Alan had intercepted a letter Beth wrote asking Phillip to return to Arizona. Stung by Phillip's anger, Alan sought to soften the blow. Learning that Lillian had hired a person to get Carl out of town, Alan forced her to take partial responsibility for intercepting the letter in exchange for his silence.

At roughly the same time that Alan's granddaughter, Lizzie confessed to Carl's murder. Not long after, Alan unexpectedly received message from Annie letting him know that she won't be found until she's ready to be. Later, Alan was shocked when Lizzie received a doll as a gift and told Alan it was from Annie. Then one day, Lizzie pointed out to all of Annie's desperate emails begging for his help. Wanting to save her, Alan rushed to the docks and saw the boat Annie mentioned she'd be on and saw her shadowy figure. He yelled out to her just as the boat exploded! Weeks later, on New Year's Eve, Alan, while kissing Ms. De Marco suddenly began to suspect that she was Annie. In 1999, as he was being accused of drugging Josh, Alan finally put it all together and confronted Teri who admitted that he was right. Despite Annie's obvious instability, Alan proceeded to help her by hiding her in his attic and after her arrest, in an effort to get all the charges against Annie dropped, Alan used attorney Ben Warren by promising him Lewis Oil, which Alan was able to take over from the Lewises while Josh was being drugged by Annie. Unfortunately for Ben, Alan reneged on the deal. Alan then blackmailed Josh and Reva with the information regarding Reva's clone in order to prevent them from testifying against Annie. However, although Annie was free, Alan distanced himself from her when it became apparent that she was still obsessively obsessed with Josh. Alan's loyalty to Annie ended when she tried to kidnap Lizzie, and he tried to have her arrested. Afterwards, Alan spent some time with his former daughter-in-law, India, and seemed to be growing quite fond of her; confessing that he'd known of her money problems and was financing her daughter's education. After suffering a heart attack, Alan remained in critical condition and suffered a second heart attack at the hospital. Although he seemed to be near death, he recovered shortly after the birth of his first grandson, Alan Cooper (Zach) Spaulding. Finally in recovery, Alan decided to relinquish control of Spaulding to Phillip and devote more time to his family. He also appointed India as Ambassador for Spaulding.

In 2000, Alan helped support Lizzie, who was diagnosed with leukemia. Trying to distract her, he took her to his office in order to show her the family business, her future. He assured her that if she can make million dollar business deals, she can easily beat a few bad blood cells. Fortunately, Lizzie survived with a bone marrow transplant from her brother, James, the product of an affair between Phillip and Beth. Shocked that Phillip and Beth were going to let James be raised by Beth's husband, Jim Lemay, Alan tried to urge Phillip to claim the child as his own so he could claim his rightful place in the Spaulding family. Although Phillip refused and ordered Alan not to tell Lizzie, Alan did anyway. By this point, Alan was trying to get Phillip and Beth to reconcile since he disapproved of Phillip's current (and soon-to-be-ex) wife, Harley Cooper. That summer Alan embarked on an affair with Claire Ramsey and eventually asked her to move into the mansion. However, at the same time, he was becoming fascinated by Olivia Spencer, an employee at Lewis Construction who convinced Alan to use Lewis for a project on the island of San Cristobel.

By 2001, Alan's interest in Olivia was becoming apparent to Claire, who chafed at being second best. Although Alan tried to appease Claire by getting her involved in the Lighthouse Restoration Project (by only promising to finance the project if she was involved), it was obvious that he was more interested in Olivia, who was now married to Josh. Meanwhile, Olivia approached Alan again about financing a Lewis Construction project in San Cristobel called the Harbor Project. As the months went by, Alan and Olivia grew closer as a result, especially when the project hit some financial roadblocks. Finally, desperate, Olivia called Alan begging him to help fix her financial books. So, Alan gained Olivia's gratitude by fixing the books and telling her that she owed him one. As the weeks went by, Olivia continued to experience money troubles and kept asking Alan for help. Then Alan, reeling from Beth's presumed death, complied on one condition--she sleep with him. Although Olivia initially refused, soon she realized that she had no choice and complied. Meanwhile, Reva was suspicious that Olivia's involvement in the Harbor Project was less than honest and finally got proof--a photo of Olivia giving a bribe to a government official.

Luckily for Olivia, Alan learned of Reva's evidence and had the photo doctored to show that Josh was involved in the bribery! Not long after, Alan, whose disinterest in Claire had been progressing as the year had gone by, finally threw Claire out of the mansion after an argument. As time went back, Alan was determined to win Olivia away from Josh, even leaving behind his money clip so Josh would suspect that Alan and Olivia had had an affair. Wanting to destroy Josh, Alan also conducted some insider trading (with an unknowing Olivia's help) that resulted in him owing 51% of Lewis Construction. Unfortunately, for Alan, it was all an elaborate set-up from Josh to trap Olivia and Alan in unscrupulous business practices. Wanting revenge, in 2002, Alan decided to destroy the Harbor Project, thus ruining Lewis Construction. However, his plan was foiled when Josh and Reva provided evidence that his father was a Nazi sympathizer. Wanting to avoid a PR nightmare, Alan backed off and returned Lewis Oil as well.

Still enamored of Olivia, Alan tried to gain her appreciation by hiring her at Spaulding and paying for her brother's schooling (which Olivia refused). In time, Olivia fell for Alan's charms. In the meantime, Alan, as well as the other Spauldings were dealing with the arrival of a woman named Lorelei Hills. Exposed as an imposter who was trying to scam the family by posing as Beth, Alan incurred Phillip's wrath by having her arrested (since Phillip thought it'd be best for Lizzie to just let her go) Then Lorelei suddenly claimed that she really was Beth! Although the rest of the family started to believe that it really was Beth, Alan was extremely skeptical. In the end, it turned out that Alan was wrong--Lorelei and Beth were one and the same. Meanwhile, Alan's relationship with Olivia found itself in jeopardy since Olivia wasn't a woman who liked to be controlled and soon she found herself drawn to Phillip. At the same time, Alan was continually irritating Phillip by meddling in his business by urging him to keep Harley's new boyfriend, Gus Aitoro, away from his children. Later that year, noticing the closeness developing between the two, Alan was shocked to find them kissing and promptly suffered a heart attack!

However, unbeknownst to everyone, this attack was just a ruse to gain sympathy from his family. Having Olivia's undivided affection again, Alan proposed marriage and forced her to sign a pre-nuptial agreement stating that she would lose her half of the Beacon Hotel if she cheated before the wedding. Though things looked fine for Alan, his fortunes suddenly changed when Alexandra learned his secret: he faked his heart attack! Though she agreed to keep his secret, it cost him control of Spaulding. In addition, Alex informed the family that it was Olivia who created a scandal by publishing Lorelei's diary. Although furious, Alan forgave Olivia and wanted to have a baby with her. But Olivia wasn't ready for a baby, so Alan switched her birth control pills with placebos. When Alex eventually gave her the security tape (showing her and Phillip kissing), Olivia cut it up and made the mistake of leaving the remains in her desk drawer. Alan found the tape, saw the wedding date on the front, and, assuming this was some sort of present for him, had his people put the tape back together. To his horror, Olivia and Phillip's smooch was right in front of his eyes. Alan threw her out of the house and into the cold, days before Christmas. Not only that, he was invoking the prenup to take the hotel and everything else she owned. Olivia begged and pleaded for another chance, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. When Alan told her he was going after Phillip as well, she defended Phillip in spite of the wrath she was bringing on herself. Alan was so thrown by her obvious love for his son that he had a heart attack...for real this time! While he was in the midst of the attack, Alex said it was "real this time". Phillip and Olivia heard this remark and, after Phillip threatened to cancel the ambulance, Alan admitted he had faked his last attack. Olivia was outraged! She felt like a complete fool and refused to see or speak to Alan in the hospital. But Alan was determined to hold onto his wife.

In January 2003, confused about whether to end her marriage, Olivia went out of town to visit her sister and clear her head. While away, she sent a priority letter to Phillip. Intercepting the letter, Alan read it and upon learning that she wanted to meet Phillip at the Beacon, he destroyed the letter and convinced Phillip to visit Lizzie at boarding school. When Olivia arrived at the Beacon she was hurt to find Alan and not Phillip there to greet her. Hurt and vulnerable, Olivia let herself be seduced by Alan only to have Phillip arrive at the Beacon the next morning and find the two together. Disgusted that she'd fall into Alan's arms so soon, Phillip walked away. Though he tried to convince Olivia to stay with him, she'd have none of it and told Alan in no uncertain terms that she was divorcing him. Later, Alan's anger at Olivia started to eat at him and he was sent to the hospital after suffering from a panic attack. Though Alexandra tried to convince him to relax after being released, Alan was desperate to get control back at Spaulding. Unfortunately, things weren't going well for Alan and he started suffering from memory lapses, paranoid delusions and hallucinations.

Totally lost and confused, Alan was at the mercy of Alexandra who went to trial to have Alan charged as incompetent. Unstable and very delusional, Alan wandered away from the courthouse and was ready to jump off a bridge before he was saved by Gus Aitoro who brought him to his and Harley's house. While with Gus, Alan's head started to clear which led him to a startling conclusion--Alexandra must have been drugging him so she could keep control of Spaulding! But that wasn't the only surprise Alan would receive. Suspicious about his reasons for helping, Alan demanded to know what was in it for Gus. That's when Gus admitted that Alan was his father! Incredulous, Alan refused to believe Gus, who then brought Phillip's former nanny, Lucia (formerly Regina Tessori) to confirm the story. Now free of the drug, Alan recognized Lucia who reminded Alan how unhappy he was in his marriage to Phillip's mother, Elizabeth, and how they bonded over his dreams to follow his own destiny and not become like his father. She also told him that she confided to Alex about her pregnancy, and Alex, in an effort to protect the child and Alan, convinced her to give the child away since there was no way Brandon Spaulding would accept Alan's illegitimate child.

Though Alan immediately denied ever sleeping with Regina, he later admitted that what she said was true. Around this time, Alan was being suspected as the person stalking Reva. Suspecting that Alexandra was responsible, he teamed up with Reva to expose her. In order to do that, Alan began gaslighting Alexandra. Alex, who at this point had no idea where Alan was, began hearing voices and seeing strange visions at the mansion. Becoming unnerved, Alex finally came face to face with Alan and revealed that she was in fact stalking Reva, who'd planned on doing an expose on the Spaulding family. Though he now had Alex's confession on tape, Alan decided not to give the information to the police, but instead decided to use it to his advantage and, after throwing Alex out of the mansion, held the incriminating tape over her head. Meanwhile, disgusted with Phillip's bitterness toward the family (as well as his affair with Olivia), Alan wrote Phillip out of his life and went about securing Gus as his first-born heir. Aware that in order to stay in Gus's good graces he'd have to be nice to Harley, Alan accepted their engagement and at summer's end offered to finance her own detective agency. Meanwhile, he agreed to settle his differences with Phillip on the condition that Alexandra was made head of the Pharmaceutical division at Spaulding.

Later, Billy would ask Alan why he didn't visit the grave of Maryanne Caruthers, a woman who died on Oct. 17th, 1977. Unfazed, Alan replied that since they decided never to speak of it, why should it matter? Though not concerned about Maryanne, Alan was very concerned with his family. In addition to supporting Lizzie, who was discovered to have deep emotional problems, he was also concerned about Phillip's mental well being. When Phillip started behaving erratically and experiencing hallucinations, the family felt there was no choice but to admit him to a psychiatric hospital. With Phillip away, Alan asked Gus to help out at Spaulding, thus showing Gus a bit of his world, just as he had allowed himself to be immersed into Gus's. Alan also on Christmas Eve finally succeeded having Gus bond somewhat with his mother, Lucia. Prior to this, though, Alan was concerned when one of his old cars was pulled out of the river after almost 30 years. It was at this point, in January 2004, that Alan met with the Lewis men, Buzz Cooper, and Ed Bauer to discuss a very deep dark secret. On the fateful night of October 17th, 1977, Alan would visit the Springfield Fair with his new acquaintances, Josh and Billy Lewis, Buzz Cooper, and Ed Bauer. At the Fair, drinking beer and carousing, Alan would point out the lovely, very conceited Maryanne Caruthers and form a plan. Wanting to see the cold Maryanne make a fool of herself, Alan showed the other young men a vial of powder that contained a drug that he wanted to use on Maryanne to loosen her up. Although the other men weren't fond of the idea, they knew that Alan would do what he wanted. Though Billy warned Alan to not drug his brother's drink, Alan decided to drug the entire pitcher of beer, thus affecting all of them. Not long after, the group, plus Maryanne, went joy riding, but an ill Maryanne asked to be driven home. It was then that Alan, who was driving the car, sped across Cutter's Bridge and suddenly unexpectedly went off the road! All five men made it out of the river Maryanne didn't surface.

Wanting to preserve their lives, Alan persuaded the others to move on with their lives and forget that they ever knew a woman named Maryanne Caruthers. Now, almost 30 years later, it appeared as if their secret was in danger of being discovered. Knowing they all had too much to lose, Alan convinced them to maintain their silence and they sealed their agreement by placing their hands on top of one another's as if to say "all for one, and one for all." Later, when Gus tried to ask him about the car found in the river, Alan played it cool and acted as if it were no big deal, his car was simply stolen all those years ago and he never reported it. However, Gus started wondering why Alan Spaulding would just "forget" to report his car stolen. Meanwhile, Marina Cooper, Marah Lewis, and Michelle Bauer confronted their prospective fathers/grandfather with the entire story of Maryanne. After all the men, including Alan, received pink envelopes from an anonymous witness who claimed to know what happened that night and that they would pay the price, it became apparent that someone else knew their secret was feeding this story to the girls and that person was out for vengeance.

Finally the mystery was solved on Valentine's Day when a mysterious older woman approached all 5 men separately and made veiled references to an event that happened almost thirty years ago. Instinctively knowing that she was the mystery person, their suspicions were confirmed when the woman, who was Maryanne's Aunt Carrie, met with them and demanded that they meet her at the old Fairgrounds, where it would all end. Days later, the men met at the Fairgrounds and were confronted by a horrific scenario. Led into a hall of mirrors, Carrie announced her plan--one of the girls would be killed in place of Maryanne; the men would have to choose. Horrified by her insanity, the men realized that the girls, who seemed in a dazed state, were in the Hall of Mirrors, but had trouble locating because the mirrors kept them from seeing what was real and what wasn't. Although Ed was able to locate Marina and Michelle and lead them outside to safety, Marah remained missing for a while longer. Then came a startling chain of events. Carrie suddenly appeared brandishing a gun, poised to shoot. However, because of the mirrors no one could tell what was the real Carrie. Although Buzz got out his gun (that he brought at Alan's insistence, so that they could take care of the threat), he was caught unaware by Carrie who shot him in the arm! Then Carrie pointed her gun at Josh and was set to fire when a shot rang out, apparently killing Carrie! Later, Josh went to the police and confessed to murdering Carrie, who he painted as a deranged woman angry about not getting a job, in self-defense. Josh also decided that for the story to make sense, Alan could not have been there since he and Alan were never friends. Unfortunately, things would end up getting very complicated very quickly. Although the men thought they concocted an airtight story, in reality, it was flawed. Not only were the police suspicious of the statements of Buzz, Billy, and Ed (since their stories were too similar; almost rehearsed), but Alan found himself caught in a lie when he claimed not to be at the Fairgrounds and then was reported to have been spotted there.

Meanwhile, Marah suddenly remembered the events of that night and confessed to the police! With the other men urged by D.A. Jeffrey O'Neill to change their police statements, the truth about Maryanne Caruthers finally came out. Before the news became public, however, Alan confided the truth of that night in 1977 to Gus, taking full responsibility for Maryanne's death. After confessing the truth to Alex, Alan accepted a deal from Gus--he'd get immunity for Maryanne's death if he allowed the DA's office access to the files at Spaulding Pharmaceuticals. (since the DA's office was investigating some drug shipments of the drug Antimonius that were missing and possibly being sold on the black market). Although Alan agreed to the deal, he was thunderstruck when Jeffrey suddenly changed the deal and demanded that all of Spaulding's files be handed over. He was even more shocked when he learned that Gus had been working undercover at Spaulding at Jeffrey's insistence to see if Spaulding was in bed with the mob. Angry beyond belief that Gus would even suspect him of dealing with the mob, Alan accepted O'Neill's deal and wrote Gus out of his life. However, Alan's anger toward Gus quickly dissipated when Alan learned two things 1) the child (Alan's grandchild) that Olivia had claimed was dead was actually alive, and 2) Lizzie had kidnapped the baby! Concerned about both of his granddaughters, Lizzie and Emma, Alan called the one person he could trust to help find the girls, Gus. Fortunately, the girls were found with Phillip, who kept Lizzie from going to jail by claiming that he'd asked to see his baby. At the same time, Reva helped close the door on the entire Maryanne Caruthers situation when, using her psychic visions, she learned that not only had Carrie faked her death, but had been the one who caused Maryanne's death.

Months later, the Antimonious investigation would be resolved in a disturbing manner. During the final sting operation, Gus caught Alex and discovered that she was working with Brad Green to ship Antmonious to the mob (to be refined into Delirium and sold on the streets). Caught red-handed with the briefcase full of money (which was in exchange for the drugs), Alex tried to deny any involvement but then Alan emerged from the shadows and announced that he'd been trailing her and he had proof that she was involved in the drug ring. Rattled, Alex was forced to confess that she hired Brad in Europe years earlier because he promised to make Spaulding Pharmaceuticals a huge success. Wanting to make good with her family, Alex gave him full reign but had no idea that he was dealing with the mob. By the time she found out, it was too late, and already in too deep, she kept quiet for fear of being implicated. Although Gus was ready to arrest her for criminal conspiracy, Alan pled on Alex's behalf and Gus reluctantly agreed to keep quiet about her involvement. Although Gus had serious misgivings about lying to Harley, Alan was able to convince him that protecting the family was the best thing to do. Unfortunately, their dirty little secret wouldn't stay buried for long when late that summer, on the day Gus was to marry Harley, she stumbled upon the truth herself. Devastated, she wrote Gus out of her life, but later gave him a choice--her or his family. To Alan's surprise, Gus chose the latter and accepted Alan's offer to work at Spaulding Enterprises.

At about the same time, Phillip was beginning a vendetta against the Coopers who he blamed for hurting the Spauldings the day of the wedding. As the weeks went by, Phillip was becoming more and more cold-hearted, causing Alan to be concerned. Although he tried to get Phillip to see that his methods were harsh, Philip refused to listen and simply informed Alan that he was finally acting the way Alan had always wanted. Then one evening, Phillip told Alan that Lizzie was involved in a hit and run and he would go to any lengths to protect her. Deeply concerned about Phillip's intentions, Alan realized how far gone Phillip was when he flew into a rage. A few days later, Alan was shocked to learn that Phillip had kidnapped all of his children. Soon after, a calculating Phillip returned but refused to tell anyone where the children were. He then asked Alan, among several others, to meet him at Company. Alan and Buzz were among the first to arrive and were shocked to find Phillip bleeding from a gunshot wound! Sadly, that night, Phillip died. Deeply grieved, Alan accused Olivia of killing Phillip, although she denied it. In the meantime, Alan used his connection to the governor and was able to arrange for a jailed Alexandra to be released from prison.

Weeks later, Alan was disheartened to learn that Bill Lewis was planning to adopt Emma. Determined not to let Phillip's daughter be raised by a Lewis, Alan took drastic measures and had Olivia committed to Ravenwood. However, she was soon rescued by Bill Lewis. Meanwhile, over course of the next few months, Alan's relationship with Gus would quickly deteriorate, due to Gus's relentless defense of Harley. Although Harley was arrested for Phillip's murder early in 2005, Gus worked relentlessly in proving her innocence. Later, an emotionally exhausted Gus came close to accepting Alan's offer of forgiveness but ultimately pushed it away. A few days later, Gus pulled a gun on Alan. Not realizing the gun was fake, Alan agreed to strike a deal with Gus--Gus would return to Spaulding in exchange for Alan's favorable testimony on Harley's behalf and his promise to help Gus find Phillip's true killer. Although he did give favorable testimony for Harley, it didn't help and she was sentenced to 25 years. As for the next part of the deal, Alan secretly reneged on it by threatening a prison inmate named Lena Kendall into spying on Harley for him. Alan also had a few prison guards in his pocket and arranged for them to make Harley's life hell. Unfortunately, the guards were fired by the warden, Harley's ex-husband, A.C. Mallet. Later, when it appeared that both Lizzie and Gus were turning against him, Alan decided Harley had to be made to pay and tried to arrange for her to be transferred to a nightmarish prison nicknamed Hell House. Although Lizzie learned Alan was behind the transfer, Alan warned her against saying anything by threatening Coop. Unfortunately for Alan the transfer didn't go down as planned with Harley being rescued by Mallet and soon going on the run with Gus. Meanwhile, Alexandra suddenly figured out Alan's deep secret and the reason he was hell bent on pinning Phillip's murder on Harley--Alan was the one who shot Phillip!

Cornered, Alan became desperate and put a bounty on Harley's head--dead or alive. Things became even more horrifying for Alan when he discovered that the bloody gloves that he'd kept in the attic were gone! Later, he found the gloves in a drawer and at the same time the person who knew his secret walked in--Alexandra! Although Alan tried to deny that he'd done anything, the evidence was right there and he was forced to admit the sordid truth: he'd shot his own son. Alan explained that Phillip was out of control that night, threatening to run off with the children and taunting him and Alan snapped and shot Phillip out of anger and desperation. Alan then persuaded a reluctant Alex to keep his secret, citing that they were family and had to protect one another. That same day, Alan received an offer from Sebastian Hulce to take care of Harley and also received a call from a Dr. Wallace, the doctor who declared Phillip dead. Days later, Alan decided that Wallace was still a threat to him and ordered Sebastian to permanently silence him. Soon after, Sebastian took care of Wallace by running him down (and later killing him), but Alan still had to deal with the fact that Alex still had the bloody gloves. Though he tried to threaten her, she still refused to turn over the evidence. Finally, Alan got an invitation from a mysterious person wanting to talk about Phillip's death.

Backed in a corner, Alan arrived with a gun and when Gus arrived at Company, Alan held the gun on his own son. Upon seeing Gus, Alan immediately assumed Gus knew the truth and appeared on the brink of silencing Gus the same way he silenced Phillip. Harley arrived and explained that she was the one who uncovered the truth. Alan stonewalled but Harley tricked him into confessing. Alan tried to recant his confession, but was shocked when Lizzie, Alex, Beth, Rick, Bill and Olivia, who were all summoned by Harley, appeared and revealed that they heard Alan's admission. Though Alan tried to weasel out of it, Alex stepped forward and revealed that she had physical evidence that Alan shot Phillip. With seemingly no escape, Alan was arrested. With help from Sebastian, Alan escaped and then set off for an abandoned warehouse at the docks to pay a visit to none other than Phillip!

Concerned for his son's mental health, Alan had apparently faked his death in order to protect him from himself. Phillip was now completely delusional, actually believing himself to be working at Spaulding Enterprises. After telling Phillip goodbye, Alan made plans to flee town but was stopped when he saw Harley and Gus about to go in the warehouse. Worried that they would discover the secret, Alan had no choice but to turn himself in. Later, Alan panicked when Phillip's private doctor called him to tell him that Phillip will no longer be in her care since Alan is in no position to pay. Things just got worse when Gus arrived and informed Alan that he was freezing his assets and taking control of the company. Desperate, Alan blurted out to Gus and Harley that Phillip was alive. Although Gus immediately though Alan was lying, Harley wasn't so sure. Alan told her that he can prove Phillip's existence in exchange for his release and Harley reluctantly obliged, needing to know the truth before she could move on with Gus. However, the next day when Alan took Harley, Mallet and Frank to the warehouse, Phillip was nowhere to be found! Alan kept insisting to everyone that Phillip was alive, leaving everyone to doubt Alan's sanity. Things got even worse for Alan when he learned that on the day Gus was marrying Harley, Rick exhumed Phillip's grave and lied that he'd found a body. Not long after, Alan came across a perfect plan to lure Phillip into the open--he had to marry Beth. Lying to Beth that he had made up the whole story about Phillip, Alan convinced her that he needed her help in protecting her children's legacy from Gus and the Coopers. He suggested that a marriage between the two of them would secure her children's fate. Days later, Beth accepted the proposal and the two married in a quick ceremony right there at the hospital.

Afterwards, Alan revealed his plan to have Beth elected the new Spaulding CEO at the upcoming elections over Gus. Unfortunately, the plan backfired thanks to Lizzie, who on the day of the election arranged for Beth to be delayed flying back to Springfield. Beth ended up missing the stockholders' meeting and a surprising person was elected CEO—Harley! Though Alan schemed with Beth to oust Harley, all of their efforts failed. Later, Gus learned that Alan was having Harley's every move tracked and angrily threatened his father. Alan paid no heed to Gus's threats, merely telling him (and everyone else) that he'd be freed soon. Later Beth - fresh off a very disturbing chat with Alan, told Gus that she was afraid Alan was going to hurt Harley. Gus confronted his father who confirmed Gus's fears, without actually saying anything incriminating. Despite Gus's warnings to the court, which sounded like the ramblings of a mad man, Alan was released. A smug Alan settled in his limo a free man--only to come face to face with Gus. Gus's plan was to force his father , at gunpoint, to sign a confession stating that he'd killed Phillip in cold blood so he'd be sent to jail. Not afraid of Gus, Alan leapt into the front seat and wrestled Gus for his gun, which led to the limo crashing. Gus tried to pull himself out to help Alan but lost consciousness. Alan bandaged Gus's injuries and stole his gun. Gus quickly regained consciousness and fought Alan for the gun when they both saw a shrouded, hooded figure in the distance. Meanwhile, Gus got the gun but was too injured to go for help. Against his better judgment, Gus Alan him leave. Later, Alan returned with water but double-crossed Gus by taking the gun. He then prepared to leave Gus behind, bitterly stating that none of his sons cared about him. At that moment, Alan was struck from behind. A month later,

in 2006, Gus finally woke up to find himself in an old cottage in the wilderness. Having no clue what happened, Gus, whose leg was still injured, stumbled out of his bed and found a sleeping Alan in the next room. He woke up Alan who had no idea how they got to the cabin. Later, as Gus struggled to leave the cabin he came face to face with their captor---Beth! Beth told both men that she was the shadowing figure they saw trailing them, since she followed them out of concern about what Gus might to do Alan. She then explained that she found them unconscious and dragged them to this fully stocked cabin. Unfortunately, a huge snowstorm came and made the roads impassable. According to Beth they were all trapped. Several days later, Alan discovered a recently dated store receipt and realized that Beth has been out shopping - which meant her story was a lie. Alan confronted Beth about her lies and she admitted that she has been to town.

Suddenly, the two were face to face with a very angry Beth Raines. Although Alan suspected that Beth had reverted to her other personality, Lorelei, she immediately squashed that theory and proclaimed that this was the new Beth who was in control of her life. Later, although Beth drugged Alan into near-catatonia, he managed to untie Gus, who, limping on one leg, escaped. Unfortunately, he didn't get very far and Beth dragged him back in the cabin. Although Alan tried to manipulate Beth into letting them go, she didn't take the bait and informed him that he and Gus had been declared dead and Dinah Marler was now heading his company. Finally having enough of both men, Beth decided to leave them to perish. However, she came back unexpectedly with startling news for Alan--she was pregnant! Apparently the tryst they both shared right before New Year's Eve--a last ditch effort from Beth to prove her loyalty to Alan, who she learned was about to divorce her. Alan agreed to cover for her in exchange for her saving his life. Later, Harley and Mallet finally located the cabin but were told by Alan and Beth that Gus had died. Meanwhile, Harley was able to swipe his cell phone after overhearing him answer a call and quickly told the caller he'd call back. On a hunch, Harley had Marina trace the number which took her to a mental hospital. At the same time, Alan figured out that Harley had gotten hold of his cell phone and called the guard, telling him to shoot on sight. However, Harley got the upper hand, disarmed the guard, and came face to face with Gus. Back in Springfield, Gus made a deal with Alan--if Alan left Harley alone; Gus wouldn't press charges against Beth for kidnapping. Although Alan could have pressed charges against Gus for kidnapping also, he realized they were at a stalemate and agreed.

A free man, Alan concentrated on his family--specifically Lizzie who was pregnant with Coop's baby. Alan was thrilled at the prospect of being a great-grandfather. However, one thing was missing from Alan's plans for the baby--its father. When Alan served Coop with legal papers stating when he could see his child, Coop was determined to fight them. Later, Beth blackmailed Alan: either he stayed out of Coop and Lizzie's way, or she'd take their new baby away from him. Impressed with Beth's ability to stand up to him, Alan suddenly kissed her passionately and asked her to marry him again on a private island resort at San Gabriel. Alan's speech about their baby being a second chance touched Beth and she passionately kissed Alan. Just then Harley and Gus burst in demanding to know if Phillip was alive! Armed with a photo of Phillip, Harley told a shocked Beth that Ross knew Phillip was alive and wanted to bring him home. Attempting to get to Phillip, his plane went down. The truth finally out, Alan repeated the confession he'd given over a year ago--yes, Phillip was alive. But he hadn't heard from him since the doctors refused treatment. The revelation that Alan lied to her about Phillip became too much for Beth and she collapsed. Later, Rick confessed that he was the one who, on Phillip's behalf, paid someone to make sure Ross's plane didn't take off. That same day, Alan visited a hospitalized Beth who angrily told him that she couldn't forgive him for lying to her about Phillip. She then cramped up and miscarried their baby. Later, Alan tried to talk to Beth about their future and having another child but she angrily slapped him and told him it was over.

Weeks later, Alan was shocked when Lizzie announced she was marrying Coop ASAP. Unfortunately, Lizzie's wedding was crashed by one Jonathan Randall who announced that he was the father of Lizzie's baby! Alan was furthered unsettled to learn that Beth knew about this and warned her not to keep secrets from him. While Alan was relieved that he'd gotten rid of Coop, he had to contend with Jonathan who was even less suited for Lizzie. However, unlike Coop, Jonathan could be bought. Alan offered a deal: If Jonathan relinquished all rights to Lizzie's baby he would be set for life financially. Later, Alan was angered to find that Jonathan had left the island and overheard Jonathan talking to Reva on the phone. Believing that Reva was talking Jonathan out of reneging on his parental rights, Alan grabbed the phone out of Jonathan's hand and made it abundantly clear to Reva that she would have no part in their granddaughter's life. Unfortunately, Alan only ended up hurting himself. That very day, a furious Jonathan told Alan that he had already signed the document but since he insulted his mother all bets were off. Then he savagely tore up the document! Alan then tried to pressure Jonathan by arranging for the bank to foreclose on Outskirts and freezing his and Tammy's bank accounts. However, neither Jonathan nor Tammy would give in to Alan's threats.

As time went on, Alan became obsessed with the child that Lizzie was carrying. Determined to get custody of her child, Alan snuck into Lizzie's room. As expected, a frazzled Lizzie shot Alan with the gun she borrowed from Alan-Michael. The gun was filled with blanks and Alan faked a heart attack. Lizzie was booked on attempted murder charges but Alan saved the day by dropping the charges. However, Lizzie was declared unfit. Thanks to Tammy's testimony that Lizzie admitted to deliberately shooting Alan, it looked like Alan would win the case. That was until Jonathan stood up before the court and spoke about how he wanted to raise his daughter with Lizzie. Then he asked Lizzie to marry him. Lizzie agreed and Jonathan offered to wed the next day, to prove his sincerity to the judge. After warning Jonathan that he would be watching him, Alan reluctantly gave Lizzie away at her wedding. Afterwards, things got tense during a family dinner and, in a fit of anger, Jonathan produced a photo of Beth making love to Rick!

The dinner at Towers erupted into chaos and Alan left with Beth quickly running after him. At home, a cold Alan reminded her that their relationship started for the sake of business, but he believed that it had grown into a real marriage over time. Though Beth tried to explain herself, Alan refused to forgive her and stated that if she stayed married to him, it would be in name only. Meanwhile, on Thanksgiving, Lizzie had her baby--a girl. The day of the baby's birth, Alan served Jonathan with a legal document asking for custody again. Jonathan--fed up with fighting with Alan proposed, for the sake of Lizzie and the baby, to move his new family into the Spaulding Mansion. Unfortunately for Alan, Jonathan's offer was an empty one. While Alan's guard was down, Jonathan secretly whisked Lizzie and the baby out of town. Angry, days later, Jonathan and Lizzie finally returned to town with the baby, whom they named Sarah. They also came armed with a restraining order forbidding Alan to come near his great-granddaughter. Undeterred, Alan tried to drive a wedge between Lizzie and Jonathan by continually reminding her that Jonathan was in love with another woman, Tammy. Fed up, Lizzie double crossed Alan by having Dr. Baker briefly place him at Ravenwood.

In 2007, Jonathan finally left Lizzie and was awarded temporary custody of Sarah. Desperate, Lizzie approached Alan for help and asked him to do whatever it took to make sure Sarah stayed with them and not Jonathan. Alan called a hit man named Gillespie and hired him to kill Jonathan.. Unfortunately, Tammy caught wind of the plan and rushed to warn Jonathan. Tragically, it was Tammy and not Jonathan that was hit. When Alan learned of the mistake, he demanded that Gillespie leave town. Later, Alan received a visit from the police who flat out accused Alan of murdering Tammy. That same night, Alan received a visit from a menacing Jonathan who declared that he knew Alan was responsible for Tammy's death. Alan had Jonathan dragged out by security after informing him that he planned on suing for custody of Sarah. Mere days later, Jonathan, with Sarah in the car, followed Alan's limo menacingly. The limo driver struggled to lose him but Jonathan stayed on his tail. They drove through the countryside until the limo managed to swerve away from him. At that point, Jonathan went off the road and over a cliff where his car plummeted and exploded on impact with Alan and Reva as witnesses. Realizing that everyone blamed him, Alan wildly tried to justify his actions but no one was convinced. Later, at the police station, Cassie demanded that Alan confess what he'd done. Her attempts to work on his guilt got him to admit that he wished he could go back and do things differently. Frank overheard this "almost confession" and held Alan for more questioning. Gus tried to persuade Alan to confess as well, but Alan was determined to place the blame on everyone else (including Lizzie and Beth) rather than himself. Finally, Doris presented Alan with a confession by Gillespie implicating Alan and offered to make it disappear in exchange for marrying Alan. Though Beth wanted to fight the divorce, she was forced to concede when Doris threatened to prosecute both Alan and Lizzie for Tammy's death. Weeks later, immediately after marrying Doris, Alan was shot.

Alan was rushed to Cedars where he remained in a coma for several weeks. Upon waking, Alan remembered who shot him---her teenaged daughter, Ashlee! Apparently, the day of his wedding, Alan found Ashlee near the lobby sobbing and cruelly informed her that the wedding was a sham. Taking offense at being called pathetic and needy, Ashlee took out a gun and leveled it at Alan and pulled the trigger. The instant Alan remembered everything he emerged from his coma fully. Though Lizzie asked him who shot him, Alan remained silent and lied that he didn't remember. After apologizing to Lizzie for ultimately causing Sarah's death, Alan convinced her to check him out of the hospital. Later, he approached Ashlee alone and revealed that he knew she was his shooter. To Ashlee's surprise, Alan was understanding and forgave her. Alan approached Doris and informed her that he would keep quiet about Ashlee shooting him; if they get out of his life. In the meantime, Beth shocked Alan with the news that she was pregnant. Later, after Alan proposed to Beth, Rick barged in and announced that the baby Beth was carrying was his. When Alan walked away from Beth, she ran after him and confessed that while she did sleep with Rick numerous times it was not his baby. After stating that she only slept with Rick because she was devastated over losing Alan, Alan forgave her and put a rush on his annulment to Doris. Meanwhile, a guilt-ridden Ashlee finally went to the DA and confessed what she'd done. With this revelation, Josh was freed and Ashlee was sent to juvenile detention.

In the meantime, Alan happened to find Alan-Michael surrounded by a pile of blackmail photos of Olivia and Jeffrey. Concerned about losing another son to a vendetta and took drastic steps to save him by framing him for embezzlement and forcing Alan-Michael to flee town. Meanwhile, Rick demanded that a DNA test be run on Beth's baby since he was convinced it was his. The day of the test, Jeffrey informed Alan and Beth that there was some suspicion that the technician was accepting bribes and the test would be administered by a trusted technician. Since Alan had in fact bribed the first technician to ensure that the DNA test named him as the father this was not good news. To Alan's misfortune, the baby was indeed Rick's. Weeks later, Gus shocked Alan with the revelation that he (Gus) had a sixteen year old son he never knew about. The boy's name was Rafe Rivera and he was currently serving time in juvenile detention. Meanwhile, Lizzie disappeared for a few days with no memory of what happened. When Lizzie revealed that the last thing she remembered was talking to Reva on the docks, Alan suspected that Reva drugged and kidnapped Lizzie. Though Alan went to Jeffrey with his suspicions, Jeffrey seemingly believed Reva's story that she and Lizzie went out partying together in an effort to forget about Sarah and Jonathan. Convinced that she was lying, Alan hired someone to tail Reva. In the meantime, Beth shocked everyone by marrying Rick at the Bauer BBQ. Alan's life with Beth over, Alan put his energies into impressing the newest member of his family—Rafe.

Alan lavished the boy with expensive gifts and tried to convince the boy's mother, Natalia, to let him live at the mansion but Gus wouldn't allow it. Despite protests from Natalia, Alan continued to lavish Rafe with gifts. He also continually poisoned Rafe and Natalia's minds against Harley. Of course, the arrival of Natalia and Rafe had already added tension to the Aitoro marriage. During a family dinner at the mansion, Harley insisted that Gus leave since she wanted to have a family dinner with Daisy and Dylan. Before Harley angrily stalked off without Gus but with Dylan, Alan drugged her drink. He then encouraged Natalia to go after Gus herself. As suspected, a hurt Gus found comfort in Natalia's arms and Alan wasted no time telling Harley. Weeks later, Harley finally realized that Alan had drugged her and confronted him. Alan was forced to admit the truth in front of Natalia and Rafe and Gus. Everyone immediately turned their back on Alan. Natalia intended to leave town with Rafe but upon seeing Alan so distraught over losing another son, she took pity on him and decided to stay. Meanwhile, Gus snidely informed Alan learned that he and Harley were renewing their vows. After arranging for Rafe to see a specialist in New York for his diabetes, Alan left a message for Gus stating that Rafe was ill and they were taking him to New York, thus causing Gus to miss the ceremony.

In the meantime, Alan got a phone call from a mysterious caller who informed him that Jonathan and Sarah were alive and living in Tourmaline, CA. Though skeptical at first, Alan became convinced and went straight to Reva's to tell that he was going to California. Reva followed him to warn Jonathan. Apparently the man who called Alan was the sheriff of Tourmaline who was not happy that Jonathan was dating his daughter. When Jonathan discovered what an abusive father the sheriff was, Jonathan beat him with a shovel and thought he killed him. It turned out that he wasn't dead and, when Reva arrives to cover things up, the sheriff tried to kill her. Luckily, Alan arrived just in time and shot the sheriff dead. Though Reva and Alan vowed to keep it a secret, Jeffrey caught wind of what happened and buried it, for Reva's sake. Meanwhile, Alan continued to be attracted to Natalia. To get Olivia to do his bidding, Alan made it seem as if Phillip sent Emma a birthday gift. The plan worked: Olivia became unnerved and asked Alan for protection. Alan agreed on the condition that she broke up Gus and Natalia. Though Olivia tried to refuse, her fear about Phillip overrode everything else. As Olivia kept Gus occupied with her fears, Alan informed Natalia that he doubted Gus was ready for a serious relationship. As the days went by, Gus and Natalia showed no signs of ending. Alan called Olivia for an update and she informed him that the deal was off: she would not ruin Gus's life. Immediately after, Alan broke into Olivia's room and vandalized it. As expected, Olivia was certain Phillip was the culprit and ran to Alan and committed to helping him. Unfortunately, Olivia wasn't entirely successful and Gus announced to his father that he and Natalia were engaged.

In 2008, Alan's deal with Olivia became a moot point when Olivia confessed all to Gus and Natalia. In the meatime, Alan went to San Cristobel immediately following Sarah's memorial service. Although Alan only wanted to stay on San Gabriel for a few days, a problem with customs forced him to stay a little longer. When the issue was finally resolved, Alan called Gus to tell him that he was returning. Gus informed Alan that he and Natalia were getting married and tried to talk Alan into staying on the island to no avail. Alexandra's pleas for Alan to stay on the island a few days longer didn't work either. As Alan was about to depart, he got a visit from Bill who informed him that Jonathan and Sarah were alive in Springfield. Bill told a shocked Alan that Jonathan faked their deaths the previous year. Immediately after, Beth arrived on the island and told Alan that she left Rick and wanted to spend time with Alan there. Alan quickly realized that Beth knew about Sarah and was lying to distract him from returning to Springfield but agreed to stay with her for now. Not long after who else would arrive but Jonathan himself. Spewing venom, Jonathan held a gun to Alan's head and had every intention of killing Alan until a pregnant Beth appeared ready to go into labor. Jonathan had no choice but to toss the gun aside and help Alan deliver Beth's baby girl. Touched at the sight of this child, Alan seemed to call for a truce. However, it was all a ruse.

The day that Beth's baby was being baptized, Alan faked a text message from Lizzie to Jonathan asking him to come to the Bauer cabin. Suddenly, Jonathan was grabbed by two goons who shoved him into a car while Alan took Sarah. However, Lizzie saw the whole thing and quickly rescued Jonathan and the pair went to St. Mark's church. There, Jonathan saw Alan and pulled a gun on him again. Alan got the upper hand and threatened to kill Jonathan since he had nothing left to lose. Desperate to save her son, Reva blurted out that he did and stated that Beth's baby was his, not Rick's. Alan was certain that Reva was lying until Josh confirmed that the paternity test was altered---Alan was the father of Beth's baby. Against Cassie and Rick's objections, Beth presented the baby to Alan but made it clear to him and Rick that she hadn't decided what she was going to do. Several days later, Beth told Alan that she decided to stay with Rick however the child, whom she named Peyton Alexandra, would have the last name Raines. Meanwhile, Jonathan and Lizzie were at odds over Sarah and Lizzie again asked her grandfather to help—without hurting Jonathan. On Alan's suggestion, Lizzie called Jonathan and asked him to meet her on Old Mill Road—where Tammy was killed. Though the plan was for the police to arrest Jonathan, Lizzie had a change of heart and let him go. She then made a deal with Alan: in exchange for letting Jonathan leave town with Sarah, Lizzie would move back into the mansion.

Alan kept Lizzie a virtual prisoner in the mansion and threatened to hurt Bill if she reneged on the deal. At about the same time, Alan began apparently receiving e-mail messages from Phillip. In the messages, Phillip told Alan that all was forgiven and asked for money to be transferred in his account. At the same time, the IRS conducted a surprise audit of Alan's account. The auditor implied that he was conducting the audit as a favor to the doctor who saved his life—leading Alan to suspect Rick. Later, the police found evidence of financial fraud. Alan was convinced that Phillip set him up and asked Gus to help him. Although Gus initially refused, he later decided to help his father. In the meanwhile, Beth put a stop to Alan's hold over Lizzie by forcing Alan to drop the deal or she would take Peyton and go back to Rick. Soon after, all of Alan's assets—including the mansion—seized and Alan was arrested. Bill posted Alan's bail and warned him to stay away from Lizzie. He then gave Alan money to stay at a cheap hotel for the night. The following day, Gus came across a destitute Alan. Alan and Gus seemed to bond and Gus offered to help Alan out with some money. While Gus stepped out to make arrangements to give Alan access to his account, his cell phone rang. Alan answered it to find that it was Jeffrey. Jeffrey told Alan to tell Gus that Olivia was dying in the hospital and to come quickly. When Gus returned, Alan attempted to give him the message but kept quiet when his son invited him to lunch. At lunch, the pair continued to bond. Unfortunately, the mood was spoiled when Gus's phone rang and he learned that Alan never gave him the message about Olivia. Gus rushed out yelling that Alan would never change. That same day, Beth informed Alan that Gus had gotten in an accident.Alan rushed to the hospital to see Gus but by the time he got there, Gus was dead.

Gus's death hit Alan hard. Soon, a disheartened Alan talked to Buzz about the angry words he said to Gus before his death. Talk turned to his financial loss as well. Suddenly, Buzz invited Alan to stay at the Boarding House above Company. Soon after, Rick offered to give Alan some money in exchange for his walking away from Peyton. Alan, however, refused and later told Beth about Rick's attempt to "buy' Peyton, warning her that she was choosing between him and a man who was trying to be him. Soon after, Dinah informed Alan that she bought his mansion. She also boldly stated that she was the one who caused his downfall by pretending to be Phillip. In the meantime, although he never expected it, Alan quickly found a home at the Boarding House. In addition to bonding with the various residents, he helped out at Company by making breakfast. In the meantime, Lizzie took pity on Alan and after reminding him about how he taught her about business when she was younger, she presented him with a gift—a briefcase with his initials. LIzzie's kindness touched Alan and gave him the motivation to try to rebuild some of what he'd lost. At that point, Alan tried to get his fortune back by conducting various business deals, which was difficult since he was working alone. Though Alan tried to enlist Rafe's help in spying on Bill for him, Natalia objected. Rafe did provide one bit of information, which was able to help Alan forge a new business deal. Meanwhile, it was becoming apparent that Beth's heart really did lie with Alan. However, Alan didn't want them reunited until he could properly support her. Alan gave Beth a single pearl and told her that when it made a necklace that meant that the time was right. In the meantime, Bill merged Lewis with Spaulding Enterprises and quickly took the company over. Upset, Lizzie went to Alan and asked him to get the company back. Lizzie pointed out that while she couldn't condone what he had done regarding Sarah, she understood and forgave him.

One day, part of the roof almost came down on Alan as he was walking down the steps outside the boarding house. Thankfully, something pushed him away and saved him. Alan told anyone who would listen that he believed that "something" was Gus. Soon after, Gus began to appear to Alan in dreams. Alan was certain that Gus was trying to tell him something but had no clue how to decipher Gus's message. Meanwhile, everyone was shocked when Grady Foley—the man Alan hired to kill Jonathan the previous year—returned to town. Not wanting Alan to go to jail, Lizzie paid Grady to keep quiet about Alan's involvement and leave town. However, after a talk with Reva, Alan finally decided that he had to take responsibility for Tammy's death and went to the police to confess. However, when Lizzie learned what Alan was doing, she dragged him out of the station before he had a chance to make a statement. Though Alan insisted that Gus would have wanted him to tell the truth, Lizzie urged him not to. In the meantime, Beth officially made her choice and informed Rick that she was staying with Alan. Afterwards, Alan sincerely consoled Rick on his loss since he knew what it was like to lose Beth. Meanwhile, Gus continued to visit Alan in his dreams. Although many, such as Beth, doubted it, a few women in town did believe and went to Alan often for guidance. Though Lizzie was skeptical, she briefly became a believer when Alan correctly stated that Ava, who wasn't due for months, was having her baby.

At this time, Lizzie had decided to get away from Springfield, and Bill, by starting a new life in Los Angeles. She asked Alan and Beth to help her get settled in, hoping that they'd move there with her. However, Beth wasn't keen on moving to LA and Alan insisted that he belonged in Springfield. On the day they were to leave, Lizzie informed Beth and Alan that she wanted to find Sarah, who she last saw in Los Angeles. After getting Alan's word that he'd no longer cause trouble for Jonathan and Sarah, Lizzie asked Alan where Sarah was. When Alan revealed that he lost track of them, Lizzie suggested that he ask Gus. Though Alan gave her a lead, it came to a dead end. Afterwards, Alan would confess to Lizzie that he gave her a false lead. In the meantime, Alan's visions won him a bevy of followers who flocked to see him. Finally, came the day of Grady's trial and Alan used his situation to his advantage by getting one of his followers on the jury. Unfortunately, Reva figured out what he'd done and notified the DA and the judge. Though things looked bleak when a new juror was selected, Alan was cleared of all charges when Daisy falsely testified that the accident that killed Tammy was her fault—that Grady never meant to kill anyone.

After the trial, Alan was disconcerted to learn that Beth was taking law classes since he saw no reason for it. Though Alan tried to convince Beth that she should stay at home with their daughter, Beth was determined keep taking the courses. On the professional front, Alan briefly secured Dinah's help in spying on Bill so that Alan could get his company back. Meanwhile, Lizzie told Alan that she might help him get the company back if he used his visions to help her find Sarah. Alan was forced to admit that, although almost all of his visions were real, the one involving the address in LA he made up. Days later, during an argument with Bill, Alan collapsed and began convulsing. Alan quickly woke up and kept muttering about Gus. Though Bill wanted to take him to the hospital, Alan refused and stated that Gus told him to fight for his legacy. Bill took his concerns to Lizzie who begged Alan to go the hospital. There, Rick informed Alan that he had a brain clot and that was what was causing his visions of Gus. Rick recommended treatment since the clot was life-threatening. Alan refused and ultimately left town for New York. Though he told Josh that he was there on a spiritual journey, Bill quickly discovered that he was there to land a huge business deal. When Bill went to New York to confront Alan, Alan spoke cryptically of his visions of faith. After their talk, Bill discovered where Alan's meeting was and went to meet him.

Believing that Alan would humiliate himself and ruin the Spaulding name, Bill had him escorted from the building. Alan later collapsed, and several days later, after some convincing by Lizzie, had surgery. Afterwards, Alan remained comatose for a few weeks before finally waking up. Although he initially claimed that he had no memory, he quickly recovered. Meanwhile, Lizzie finally informed Alan that she had 49% of Maximus. She also made it clear that wanted to be Bill's partner, personally and professionally. As the days went by, Alan grew tired of being treated like an invalid, and eager to get back into the world, he checked himself out of the hospital and returned home.

As time went by, Alan grew more and more disenchanted with Bill and Lizzie's relationship, especially when Lizzie moved Bill's parents into the mansion. Though Alan tried to convince Lizzie that Bill would never let her be an equal partner in the company, Lizzie stuck by him. Then suddenly, she was kidnapped. The same day Lizzie disappeared, Bill gave a very successful presentation for investor Lawrence Decker, which Alan suggested to Bill was very convenient. As the weeks went by, Alan criticized Bill's handling of the situation. Alan accused Bill of putting Lizzie at risk by involving the police and going public about the kidnapping. Ultimately, Bill rescued Lizzie but slipped into a coma as a result of a head injury during the rescue. Alan wasted no time letting Lizzie know that when she initially disappeared, Bill assumed she double crossed him. Despite this, Lizzie was adamant that Bill was her hero. Though Alan wanted Lizzie to concentrate on the business, Lizzie remained at Bill's bedside for weeks. Later, Alan got a visit from Grady stating that he was the one who kidnapped Lizzie. Grady proposed that they frame Bill for the crime. According to Grady, that would secure Grady's freedom and get Bill out of Lizzie's life. Appalled, Alan held a gun on Grady and tied him up and planned to turn him in to the police. However, when Beth (who had no idea Grady was upstairs) interrupted and raved about Lizzie's love for Bill, Alan agreed to Grady's plan.

Later, Alan went to the police station with Lizzie to see if there were any leads on her kidnapper's identity. There, Lizzie saw a letter suggested that Bill was the kidnapper. Alan planted the seed of doubt in Frank's head by protesting that Bill could not be guilty, even though he did benefit professionally from the kidnapping. Later, Grady planted a jacket in Bill's possession that surveillance cameras proved belong to the kidnapper. Bill immediately became the prime suspect. Unfortunately for Alan, Lizzie refused to believe that Bill was guilty and worked tirelessly to prove his innocence, even going as far as to attempt to destroy the jacket. Later, when Alan tried to suggest that perhaps Bill was guilty, Lizzie accused Alan of having her kidnapped. To impress Lizzie, Alan went to the police and attempted to the kidnapping himself, telling Lizzie that he did it to buy her time so she could prove Bill's innocence. In the meantime, Grady told his brother, Cyrus, all about the plan and Cyrus held Alan's involvement in the framing over Alan's head by blackmailing him.

Meanwhile, on New Year's Eve, Alan surprised Beth by proposing marriage. However, Beth could not give an answer right away. At the same time, Alan got more bad news—due to a fire at the evidence warehouse, all of the physical evidence against Bill was gone. In 2009, Beth asked Alan to help the Coopers when Buzz was in danger of losing Company. Wanting to get into Beth's good graces, Alan agreed to buy the restaurant. Meanwhile, Alan tried unsuccessfully to convince Bill, who had no memory of the kidnapping, to back out of Spaulding-Lewis for Lizzie's sake. To prove his innocence, Bill decided to go to a hypnotherapist in order to retrieve his memory. Though Alan attempted to bribe the doctor to keep this from happening, the doctor refused. Luckily for Alan, the session did not work and Lizzie further distanced herself from Bill.

Meanwhile, Alan was shocked to see Beth making love to Coop inside an empty Company. Later, Alan confronted Beth with his knowledge of the affair and threatened to hurt Coop if she did not marry him. Though Beth pleaded with Alan to let her go, Alan was adamant that Beth would be his wife very soon. To gain extra advantage, Alan tried to bribe Buzz into keeping Coop away from Beth by offering to give him Company back. However, an irate Buzz refused to go against his son. Before the wedding, Alan gave Beth a pre-nuptial agreement which stipulated that a divorce would result in her forfeiting custody of Peyton. Though upset, Beth feared for Coop's life and had no choice but to agree to marry Alan. On the day of the wedding, Alan saw a message from Coop to Beth. Alan called Coop and taunted him by lying that he and Beth had already gotten married. As Alan prepared to marry Beth, a surprise visitor entered the church—Phillip!

Taking Alan to the graveyard for a chat, Phillip pulled a gun on his father but assured him that he was not going to use it. Phillip admitted that he would have destroyed himself if Alan hadn't of shot him and assured Alan that he did not want revenge. Soon after, Alan learned that Coop had gotten involved in a serious accident shortly after speaking with Alan. Far from sympathetic, Alan denied any responsibility for Coop's accident and demanded that Beth marry him. However, Beth was distraught about Coop's condition and angrily refused. Later, an irate Buzz nearly ran Alan down with his car and angrily confronted him. Phillip intervened in the argument though and allowed Buzz to punch Alan when Alan continued to show no sympathy at all about Coop. Later, Alan was shocked to learn that Coop was dead. Afterwards, a cold Beth packed her bags and told Alan that she only stayed at the mansion because she was afraid of him. Alan went to Coop's memorial service merely to defend himself from the implication that he was responsible for Coop's death. Though Alan tried to give Company back, Buzz refused to accept anything from him. Later, Marina accepted Alan's offer on behalf of the family.

To get revenge on Alan, Daisy begged Grady to testify that he was hired to kill Jonathan—thus making Alan responsible for Tammy's death. Though Alan was arrested, he was released when Grady failed to show up at the hearing. At the same time, Bill was officially cleared of the kidnapping when Lizzie remembered that Grady had done it.. With that revelation, Lizzie and Bill reunited. In the meantime, Alan learned that Lizzie was supposed to have given her kidnapper money. When Alan learned that Grady disappeared without the money, it occurred to him that Phillip must have killed Grady. Meanwhile, Phillip learned about Alan framing Bill for Lizzie's kidnapping and threatened to reveal Alan's secret if Alan did not stop manipulating Lizzie's life. Weeks later, Phillip was finally put on trial for the kidnapping that he'd perpetuated years earlier. Though Alan claimed to support Phillip, he feared that Phillip was out to ruin him and bribed the judge to make certain that Phillip went to prison. Phillip gained his freedom very quickly, though, thanks to a teenaged James who got his girlfriend to ask her father, the governor, to pardon him.

As weeks went by, Alan continued to feel threatened by Phillip. When Phillip decided to take a position at Spaulding, Alan attempted to deter it by demanding that Phillip get a psychological evaluation. Unfortunately, Phillip called Phillip's bluff. Without a doctor on payroll, Alan was forced to have Phillip committed to Ravenwood to prevent him from being a part of the company. Alan intentionally provoked Phillip and after taunting him over having Beth while he was away, Phillip punched Alan. After his outburst, Phillip was forced to remain in Ravenwood for observation. Meanwhile, Alan forced Beth to return to the mansion by having her evicted from her apartment. At about this time, Alan learned that Bill and Lizzie had left town for a vacation to Universal Studios and decided to join them. Though Alan hoped to separate Lizzie from Bill, Phillip shocked Alan by showing up and intervening. Alan then told James his belief that Phillip killed Grady.

Days later, Alan was dismayed to learn that Lizzie and Bill were engaged. Later, Alan learned that James was involved in a Ponzi scheme and used Bill's name to woo investors. Though Phillip tried to save James by reimbursing the investors, Alan arranged for Phillip's money transfer to be blocked. Confronted, a smug Alan informed Phillip that it might be good for James to face the consequences of his actions. Alan also hoped that Bill's name would be ruined as well. Ultimately, a desperate Phillip kept his son out of jail by bribing the judge. Soon after, things changed quickly at Spaulding-Lewis when Lizzie decided to sell her shares to Alan and Bill opted to return to work for Lewis Construction. At the same time, Alan decided that he wanted to run the company again and got the board to vote in his favor. Meanwhile, Alan rescued James from his community service sentence by hiring someone else to complete James's sentence. In the meantime, Lizzie's wedding day was fast approaching and Alan told her that he could not support her marriage to Bill Lewis. However, Phillip insisted that Alan attend and Alan, begrudgingly, attended the wedding.

Weeks later, while camping with Phillip, Alan let his guard down and confessed his darkest secret. Years earlier, he had been drafted to go to Vietnam War but was too scared to go. Alan asked his father to get him out of it so Brandon arranged for another man, Gerry, to go in his place. Alan later found out that Gerry was killed in the war. Alan admitted to Phillip that since the day he was drafted, he hadn't made a single brave choice. Afterwards, Alexandra admitted to Phillip that Alan sent an anonymous check to the soldier's widow every year.

In the meantime, Phillip had been trying to bond with Alan. Believing that Phillip wanted to take the company from him, a suspicious Alan picked up a call from Philip's cell phone. The caller was Ed Bauer. Assuming that he was talking to Phillip, Ed inadvertently told Alan Phillip's secret—he was dying. Alan confronted Phillip who admitted that it was the truth—that was the reason he had been trying to repair his and Alan's relationship. Upset, Alan called Phillip out for lying to him. Wanting to ease the pain of losing his son, Alan buried his feelings in anger towards Phillip. Weeks later, the Spauldings learned of an experimental treatment that could save Phillip's life. Unfortunately, it was risky to the donor since it required such a large mass of bone marrow. Unwilling to risk anyone's life, Phillip refused the procedure. Afterwards, Ed informed Alan that, even though he wasn't Phillip's biological father, he was a potential match for Phillip. Ed outlined the risks for Alan and summed it up by saying that if Phillip did not go through with this procedure, which had never been done before, he could still die. However, if he did not, Phillip would surely die. After some soul searching, Alan decided to risk his life for Phillip's sake. Though Phillip strenuously objected, he relented when Alan begged him to let him do it. Luckily, the procedure worked and both Phillip and Alan were released from the hospital. Alan was hailed a hero by the Spauldings and others in Springfield were impressed by his brave decision was well. At this point, Jonathan had returned to town and Alan assured him that he was a changed man and that Sarah was safe from him. Sadly, the procedure must have weakened Alan's heart and he died of a heart attack.

Alan Spaulding was a man who seemed to care about nothing but money and power. The only thing he cared about more was his family. Unfortunately, thanks to his own father, Alan's idea of familial devotion amounted to controlling their lives. Though he had a volatile relationship with his sister, Alex, as well as his son, Phillip, those two people seemed to be the people that he loved the most. Though Alan had many opportunities for redemption throughout his life, he always reverted to his old patterns of manipulation. . In his later years, Alan's acts of manipulation turned dangerous and obsessive. Alan's last chance at redemption occurred when he selflessly risked his own life for Phillip's. A villainous man known for always trying to get the upper hand, Alan Spaulding ultimately went out as a hero.