"Alan? Earth to Alan!"

Alan looked at Paul Lewiston and then quickly glanced away, a little embarrassed that he had been caught not paying attention to the weekly staff meeting. "I'm sorry, Paul. What did you say?"

"I was asking you how the settlement talks are going on the Nicholas case. Have they come back with a counter-offer?"

"Oh. Um, yes, they did. I've advised my client to take it; I don't think I could get much more if we were to go to trial."

Paul put his cheaters on to look at the next item on the agenda. "Thank you, Alan. I'm tabling the next item until Shirley comes back from NY. If there's nothing else, we're adjourned."

Brad, Lori, Denise, Alan and Denny left the conference room as quickly as they could without appearing to be escaping. No one liked those weekly meetings and considered them an unnecessary evil that intruded on the workday. As they moved down the hall, Denny put his hand at the small of Alan's back to guide him to his office, but instead, Alan stopped in his tracks. "Denny, I'll come to your office in a few minutes. It's almost 11 and I need to make a phone call. Privately."

Denny looked a little surprised and said, "We're flamingos! What can you possibly have to say to someone that I can't hear?"

"It's not like that, Denny. I…just need to talk to someone about … a delicate matter."

Denny moved in front of Alan. "Are you sick? Because I can help."

Alan moved them both to the side to stop blocking the hall and smiled reassuringly at his best friend. "Denny, I love you for being concerned, but there's nothing to be concerned about. I am not sick. I am not in trouble. I will come to your office as soon as I finish my business. OK?"

Denny pouted for a moment, then grunted, "Okay," and started to walk away.

"Denny!"

"What now?"

Alan pointed and said, "Your office is that way."

Catherine Piper was sitting at her desk sorting through Alan's mail when he came around the corner. "Good morning, dear! Here are your messages. I'll get you some coffee."

"That won't be necessary, Catherine. I don't want to be disturbed. Thank you." One of the stranger facts about Alan's strange life was that Catherine Piper not only worked at Crane, Poole and Schmidt, but worked for him. He had known her back in Dedham when he was growing up and what a bitch she had been to him back then. A horrible, horrible woman. Who now answered his phone and greeted his clients. Who could have predicted that?

The number had just started to ring when the shouting started outside his door. He heard Catherine say, "What are you doing? You can't go in there!"

A familiar, very angry voice replied in an extremely threatening tone, "You old bitch! I tolerated you when I was a kid and I'll be damned if I let you get in my way, again! MOVE!"

Alan snatched his door open just as Tara, Denny and a few others came into view. He deftly stepped in between the two women, spread his arms wide and exclaimed, "Adrienne! I was just calling you!" and embraced her so warmly and intimately that Denny and Tara looked at each other, realized neither one knew who the hell she was, looked back and just stared. Alan pulled back, kissed Adrienne softly on the lips, then turned and looked at his assembled coworkers. "It's all right, people! Just a little misunderstanding, you can all go back to what you were doing. Thank you!"

Most of the crowd faded away, except for Denny and Tara. Alan figured they wouldn't, so he said as he guided Adrienne into his office, "Give us about 15 minutes and then I'll let you in."

Denny puffed up and blustered, "Who the hell was that woman? I can understand him not letting you in, Tara, but…Denny Crane!"

Tara stopped staring at the closed door and said softly, "Bloody hell? How insensitive is he that he hugged and kissed that, that woman in front of me and didn't even bother to say anythng to me? Of all the unmitigated gall…"

Catherine, who by this time had regained her composure and sat back down, looked at Tara and said, "Don't feel too bad, dear. In today's lingo, I guess you would call her his baby-mama."

Denny's jaw dropped and Tara looked like someone had kicked the air out of her. Denny recovered first. "What did you say?"

Catherine smiled slightly. "You heard correctly, dear. Adrienne and Alan share a child."