Sebastian hired an expert assassin to do his bidding, a woman in fact. This woman was Fiona Bradshaw, the very woman that Alan-Michael was carrying an affair with. Of course it was a ploy of hers to get close to Alan-Michael. It was until Alan-Michael began spilling out his entire soul and heart to her, that Fiona began to stray away from the original plan. Why? She had fallen in love with her victim! As she was having sex with Alan-Michael she was having meaningless sex with Sebastian Thorpe, who also had her charmed around his little thumb. When Sebastian learned of Fiona’s unwillingness to carry out their plans, he went ballistic. Meanwhile Dinah was trying everything to reconcile with Alan-Michael, when Sebastian revealed to her, her husband’s affair with Fiona. Sebastian used this fact to manipulate Dinah into having a total mental breakdown. Sebastian continuously manipulated Dinah by using this piece of information, he was egging her on to do what she had done to Hart; kill him! Sebastian then planned to frame Fiona for the deed. When a rally was held on 5th Street promoting Alan-Michael’s campaign, Fiona came upon Sebastian’s plot to have Dinah shoot and kill Alan-Michael. However to her dismay, she had gotten there too late; Alan-Michael had been shot! Nobody knew of the culprit but her, Dinah, and Sebastian. Dinah however was too out of it to realize what happened. She had gone into a catatonic state when she showed up on her mother’s doorstep holding the very same gun that shot Alan-Michael. As Alan-Michael hung between the balance of life and death, Fiona had one final showdown with Sebastian. Fiona was terrified to learn the true extent of Sebastian’s evil deeds, that included using her as a scapegoat for the crime as a way to get back at her. This forced Fiona to leave town, not before sneaking into Alan-Michael’s hospital room and sharing a tearful good-bye with him, even though he had been unconscious. Sebastian had carefully placed enough evidence to lead Harley into believing that Fiona was behind the shooting. Gus however remained reluctant, he believed that it seemed all too easy, however Harley was convinced. Dinah meanwhile was secretly shipped off to a mental institution in New York City by her mom Vanessa. When Billy learned of what Vanessa was doing, Billy protested but after Vanessa confided in Billy about the guilt that plagued her over this, regretting having ever given up Dinah for adoption, Billy understood somewhat. Ross wouldn’t be let in on the plan until later, and demanded that Vanessa do the right thing this time. Vanessa remained persistent in protecting her daughter. Meanwhile the word around town was that Dinah had suffered a mental breakdown after Alan-Michael’s shooting, distraught with grief. That couldn’t have been the furtherest thing from the truth. When Alan-Michael regained consciousness, although confined to a wheelchair for a few weeks, he grew bitter and cold, while heavily drinking. While a part of Alan-Michael believed that Fiona couldn’t have been the culprit, another one was confused and did not know what to believe anymore. Even worse was that Dinah was missing, but he chalked that up to Dinah running off with some man. Vanessa didn’t stop him from believing that either, she led him on to. As Ross grew more conflicted about hiding the truth from the police, he was also visiting his daughter Dinah in New York. Blake became suspicious, having not known the truth yet. A curious Blake tracked Ross to New York, and found him there with Vanessa! To her surprise, they weren’t there because they were involved romantically, they were there visiting a mentally ill Dinah! When Blake sneaked into Dinah’s room, she realized how truly ill Dinah was. Blake was shocked to see that Dinah was entirely unresponsive. That until she mentioned Alan-Michael’s name, and Dinah viciously attacked Blake! Ross and a few of the orderlies had to rescue Blake, thus blowing her cover. After apologizing to Ross for not trusting in him, he confided in her about how much he had failed as a father. Blake convinced Ross that he was the furthest thing from being a bad father. When Ross, Vanessa, and Blake returned to Springfield, Blake came face to face with Alan-Michael. Blake, going against Vanessa’s wishes, told A-M the truth. This caused a wedge between Ross and Blake, and made Vanessa forever resentful of Blake. When Alan-Michael paid a visit to Dinah he finally learned the truth from Vanessa about what Dinah had done. While alone with Dinah, Alan-Michael was there to witness Dinah’s first few words since going into an catatonic state. As he listened on in a conversation Dinah was holding with herself, he learned that she came upon the affair he had been having with Dinah, and she also mentioned Sebastian. Alan-Michael putting two and two together, he confronted Sebastian on all of his evil deeds. From revealing the truth to Dinah, to being the blackmailer, to even blackmailing Dinah into sleeping with him. Getting out of the wheelchair that had confined Alan-Michael for weeks, Alan-Michael violently came charging after Sebastian, and the two men went flying through a glass window at Towers and landed on the balcony outside. Alan-Michael would have beaten Sebastian to a bloody pulp if it hadn’t been for his uncle Ed and Ross. (This resulted in a unique scene between Ed and Sebastian in the stairwell of Towers, where Ed was repairing Sebastian’s broken nose. How ironic it was that Ed of all people had come to Sebastian’s rescue!) Alan-Michael returned to the mansion and finally received information regarding Fiona’s whereabouts. Unbeknowst to him, Gus and Harley were following closely behind, they still believed that Fiona was behind the shooting. Meanwhile back in Springfield, when Blake learned of what Sebastian had done to Dinah, for the first time she expressed how truly repulsed she was of her brother’s actions after having seen Dinah. Sebastian would pay a visit to Dinah himself, and while not showing how affected he was of the state she was in, deep down he began to show signs of guilt. When Ross arrived, he had violently slammed Sebastian against the wall of the room, suddenly Dinah showed signs of recovery by uttering “Daddy? Are you there?” Ross shared a heart breaking moment when Dinah returned to the catatonic state she was in. Meanwhile Alan-Michael had tracked Fiona all the way to the state of Minnosota where she planned on escaping to Canada. When Alan-Michael and Fiona came face to face the same way they had met the last time, in a bar, they two reunited. Fiona tried to convince Alan-Michael that he didn’t belong there, but A-M explained to her that he was there to stay. After explaining to her what happened back in Springfield, A-M and Fiona made love in the seedy motel room she was staying in. Despite this, A-M faced a terrible decision; turn in the wife who he secretly still harbored feelings for, despite her shooting him, or let the other woman who he loved take the fall. So far, Alan-Michael planned on going on the run with Fiona, and using this as a way to escape the prison that his life was. Meanwhile back in Springfield Alan was close to coming upon the truth that Dinah shot A-M, and wanted blood. Vanessa was desperate to keep Alan from finding out, not knowing that Alan was guilty of the same crime months ago.

Back in Minnesota, Gus and Harley came face to face with Alan-Michael, and warned him about trying to meet with Fiona. This signaled A-M to get out of town, but when he returned to the hotel room, Fiona was gone! Ready to find her, Alan-Michael was confronted by Harley. Elsewhere, Sebastian was also in Minnesota, intent on finding Fiona before the cops did. Gus came face to face with Fiona who was preparing to leave on small charter plane. Fiona pleaded her innocence to Gus, but Gus insisted that he had to turn her in. When it seemed as if Fiona would give up, Fiona shot Gus in the shoulder and ran off. Arriving at the airfield, was also Sebastian who lurked around the hangers looking for Fiona, who he knew was there. Loaded in his pocket was a gun. Alan-Michael and Harley arrived at the hanger to find Gus shot, but still willing to find Fiona. Harley however insisted. As Harley was attending to Gus who was bleeding endlessly, Alan-Michael ran off in search for Fiona. Fiona was confronted by Sebastian, who was pointing a gun at her! At the sound of Harley’s voice, Sebastian grabbed Fiona and took off. However Fiona was able to escape him. When Fiona ran away from Sebastian, she had run into Harley. There to witness the confrontation, was Alan-Michael. Alan-Michael was on the verge of admitting the truth; that Dinah was the culprit but for some reason could not bring himself to do it. When Fiona had pulled out her gun and was pointing it at Harley, a gun went off nearly missing Harley. (This shot was fired by Sebastian in order to agitate Harley into shooting Fiona.) Fiona then ran off, trying to make it to the plane, but was shot by Harley. A-M rushed to her side, but unfortunately, she died in his arms. Alan-Michael was devastated, Sebastian the snake as he had always been, slithered away from this without a scratch. Fiona, having no family, was buried in Springfield, her funeral was paid by Alan-Michael. Alan-Michael would be the only one to attend her funeral, until Gus and Harley showed up. Harley tried to comfort Alan-Michael in all his grief, but he only lashed out at her and Gus. This was the beginning of Alan-Michael’s transformation into a cold and calculating man like his father. Alan learned that Dinah was his son’s shooter and was hell bent on getting revenge on Dinah, but a solemn Alan-Micahel coldly threatened his father about revealing to the public the truth about the mess involving Connor McCaskill. After hearing what he had done, Vanessa thanked Alan-Michael. In New York, Dinah was making progress in her therapy sessions, and on one sunny afternoon, Ross, Blake, Bill, Vanessa, Kevin, and Jason all were shocked to say the least to see a vibrant Dinah back to normal as if nothing had happened that last few months. To her nothing had happened, for she had blocked those months out. The Spaulding household braced for Dinah’s return.