It was when Hakeem was surrounded by his family that he felt the most alone. Unlike Jamal and Andre, Hakeem had no memories of his mother. He'd only known her for two years, though he'd written her in prison nearly every week until the pretty girl from Empire's A&R department became a fixture in his life. PLEASE WRITE BACK, he'd pleaded almost every week at the bottom of his letters, but the last one he had was dated on his 9th birthday.

A few months ago, Lucious confessed that he'd never mailed any of Hakeem's letters, and he'd intercepted the ones Cookie wrote to him. The only ones Hakeem ever got were the ones that Lucious missed. "I knew how you would fall in love with her, Hakeem, just like your brothers did. I didn't want you to experience that kind of loss."

"Loss?" How could Hakeem lose something he never had? For 17 years, all the anger and hatred Hakeem carried for Cookie was based on a bunch of lies his father told him. Andre and Jamal were just as shocked, but the two of them had memories and stories of Cookie. All Hakeem had for years was a picture of Cookie was holding Hakeem the day he was born. He still carried in his wallet, as if Cookie would disappear at any moment. In the end, Andre and Jamal had to drag Hakeem out of the room, kicking and screaming at Lucious. "You stole her from me! You selfish motherfucker! Punk bitch! I hate you!"

Hakeem managed to break away from his brothers and took off in his truck, speeding through every red light while taking long swigs from the bottle of Hennessy he'd bought earlier that day. How he'd made it to Cookie's house without killing himself or anybody else was nothing short of a miracle. There, Hakeem collapsed in her arms and cried 17 years of tears in Cookie's arms. "I'm sorry, Mama. I'm sorry," he sobbed over and over, and Cookie held Hakeem until he drifted off to sleep for the first time since before she went away.

As cruel as it sounded, Lucious truly thought he was doing the right thing by cutting off his sons' access to their mother. "So I've made mistakes," Lucious had told Cookie on the day he asked her to marry him so long ago, back when he was afraid of dying alone. "I'll spend the rest of my life fixing them. In the end, you'll understand the choices I made." On that, Lucious was right. Cookie did understand why Lucious had done the things he did – abandoning her, stealing the boys, breaking it off with Cookie in order to protect the IPO signing. And Lucious was doing the best he could to atone for his sins. But that didn't make it right, and it didn't take the pain away from Cookie or Hakeem, who would spend all his life feeling isolated from his family - more so, now that Cookie was back.

"...and I'm scared because I know I'm supposed to be at school, right?" Andre was telling everyone at the table about a day when he skipped school and came home, only to learn about the facts of life up close and personal. Like with most of the stories his parents and his brothers recounted, Andre's story had two main factors. One, Hakeem felt no connection to it. Two, the story was going to end with Andre getting his ass beat. At least this particular story was funny enough to keep Hakeem's attention. "But I'm more scared because I'm thinking that Mom is getting beat up because of the fight they'd had that morning, and I'm not letting anybody hurt my mama. So I bust through the door, and ohhhhh, my God..."

"Poor baby." Cookie reached out and squeezed her oldest son's hand above all the laughter. Cookie was probably the only woman in the history of their neighborhood who'd owned a bottle of anal lube before it could be discreetly ordered from Amazon. "Ain't no telling what you saw that day."

"I'll tell you what I saw! Nekkid ass! I still see it in my nightmares!" Andre gave a comical shudder, and Cookie playfully pushed him upside the head. It was crazy to think about Andre, who was usually so cool and collected, being blinded by the sight of Lucious with his pants around his ankles, pounding away at their mother. Hakeem had the same experience just four days ago. "Knock next time," Lucious had told him, shrugging off Hakeem's damnded-mine-eyes moment of featuring Cookie bent over Lucious's desk. "Better yet, don't come to my office during lunch when your mama's wearing a dress or a skirt." Left unsaid was that Cookie always wore a dress or a skirt to work.

When Lucious announced at a family dinner that he and Cookie were getting married again, Andre had been all for it. He remembered the days when Lucious and Cookie were the couple that everyone in the neighborhood envied. Jamal, like the general public, thought Cookie was a damn fool to take Lucious back after everything he'd done to her, but eventually came around. Hakeem had no opinion on the second marriage since he had no memory of the first one. Like Jamal, however, he couldn't figure out why Cookie had agreed to marry Lucious again, not after all he'd done to destroy her.

"Because he needs me, Hakeem," was Cookie's reply when Hakeem dared to ask. She was staring out of a window when she spoke.

"Needs you for what?"

Cookie looked over at Hakeem and gave him a tiny smile, one that was loaded with a tired acceptance of the inevitable. "To be human," she answered, and she said nothing more.

Anyone could see how marriage had transformed Lucious from a greedy, controlling monster to the committed husband and father that Hakeem had never known. Gone were the outrageously expensive suits, ostentatious scarves and perfectly manicured nails. Lucious Lyon chilling in jeans and nondescript loafers with a drooling baby on his shoulder was something no one would ever think was possible except for his wife and two older sons. It was just one more sign of how Lucious was becoming a better man. "Not the new Lucious," Andre had corrected Hakeem once. "The old Lucious. You'll see."

But while it was obvious that Lucious was made better by Cookie, no one could tell whether the opposite was true. Cookie didn't say she married Lucious because she needed him, or even because she loved him. Cookie told Hakeem that she married Lucious because he needed her. It sounded more like an arranged marriage than anything else. A partnership to reunite Lyon Dynasty and Empire, complete with a wedding ring. Nothing more, nothing less. And while Lucious regularly gushed about his wife, Cookie rarely spoke about her husband. Was Cookie really happy to be Lucious's wife again? It was impossible to tell, and Hakeem wasn't the only person who thought so.

"Anyway," Andre was saying. "I'm holding on for dear life – I don't know why – and Dad is swinging back and forth like Donkey Kong, knocking stuff over-"

"I didn't know it was Andre!" Lucious defended himself. "I thought we were being robbed! He was beating me all upside the head. Biting me, too! But you showed a lot of heart that day, son." Lucious said proudly, reaching over to give Andre a pound. Even though Lucious had no idea why Andre would think he would put a hand on his wife, he had to respect Andre's intentions.

"Yeah, well you showed a lot more ass than I showed heart. Anyway, Dad finally breaks my grip and he goes for his piece, right? Only it's in the cabinet next to Mom, so I'm thinking he's about to start attacking her again. I jump up to try to get back to him and suddenly I hear, 'AN-DRE!"" Andre mimicked Cookie's voice perfectly. "And I look up – it's Mom!" Everyone at the table was laughing so hard that Andre had to wave his hands to let everyone know he wasn't finished. "She's half-hiding behind the mixer and now Dad's got a gun pointed at me-"

"So now it's nekkid ass and titties." Hakeem observed wryly. Andre dropped his head into his hand as Jamal laughed even harder. Cookie was too far away to swat at Hakeem, but he was in the perfect position for a well placed kick to the shin.

"What'd you do then, baby?" Usually, Rhonda would be pissed that her husband was making so much noise that it woke up their daughter, but the story was so funny that Rhonda had to forgive her husband. And Lucious didn't seem to mind. He just kept rocking Andrea until she quieted down again, cramming her fist back into her mouth and looking so much like Hakeem when he'd been a baby, Andre couldn't help but think.

"What did I do!? Girrrrrl, I was outta there!" Andre made a gesture with his hands, shooting one in front of the other. "Couldn't nobody catch me that day!"

"Wait a minute!" Jamal was having a flashback. "Was that the day you put me on the train back home by myself because it was an emergency?"

"It's not like I could go home! And I told you to go home and tell Mom and Dad I was at Aunt Candace's house. Only this little fool told Mom and Dad I was at Aunt Carol's house-"

"And when your mama called Carol, she said Andre wasn't there-" Lucious finished.

"And that's when I got so scared." Cookie's smile faded. Even now, over 20 years later, she could remember how terrified she'd been when Carol told her that she hadn't seen Cookie's oldest son.

Andre reached for his mother's hand and kissed it. "But you didn't stay scared long, did you?"

"Sure didn't." Cookie's fear turned to rage in minutes. "Candace called me about 10 minutes later saying you were hiding at her house. And boy, if it hadn't have been a Friday..."

"Hadn't been a Friday, hell!" Lucious scoffed. "I had to hide my car keys from you to keep you from jumping in my truck and taking off."

"Wait," Rhonda interrupted. "Cookie, I thought you couldn't drive?"

"She couldn't!" Andre and Lucious said together, and everybody laughed so loud that the other patrons were beginning to glare at them. Not that they could do anything. The Lyon family could've easily bought and sold Chef's Table and everybody in it.

"Yeahhhh, that's my baby." Lucious leaned over and kissed Cookie on the cheek. "You gotta watch that about our grandbaby, Rhonda," Lucious added, handing Andrea to Cookie. "See, Jamal was one of those who lived by the spirit of the law. If I said, 'I don't want to see you outside,' then Jamal wasn't going to go outside."

"And Andre was one of those who lived by the letter of the law," Cookie chimed in, rocking Andrea to sleep in her arms. "If Lucious said 'I don't want to see you outside,' Andre made sure his father didn't see him while he was outside."

"Andre, you stayed gettin' whupped," Jamal remembered. "One of the reasons why I was so good was because you kept getting in trouble. Hakeem, you just don't know how lucky you got it, boy. Mom, Dad, do you remember when Andre..."

Lucky. Sure, Hakeem was lucky to have a mother in prison for 17 years, one that he'd hated through no fault of her own. Even though he felt lonely at times like this, it had been a good birthday overall. On his 18th birthday, Lucious had taken Hakeem and about 200 of his so-called friends out on the yacht, where they partied and drank and showered Hakeem with gifts he didn't even open. Three years later, he was having dinner with his closest family members: his parents, his two brothers, his sister-in-law, and, best of all, his new niece. Granted, Chef's Table was in an insanely expensive restaurant, but that was so the Lyons could eat in peace, not because they were wasting money.

Hakeem knew Jamal didn't mean anything by his careless comment, but after yet another one of "Andre's Ass-Whuppin' Chronicles", Hakeem felt himself growing bored. Looking out into the parking lot as he stretched, Hakeem saw a familiar sight: a silver truck with the name Mona in navy blue. Hakeem remembered the day that truck first pulled in the parking lot, even though Empire's security detail had access to a fleet of luxury cars and trucks to drive. "Isn't that Malcolm's truck?" he asked out loud.

Five heads turned to where Hakeem was looking. Cookie's heart jumped in her throat. She knew that truck, of course, and she knew the man who was stepping out of the truck. For three and a half hours, Cookie had sang and laughed and held hands in that truck with that man as it made its way through the snowy Massachusetts mountains. Sigonella. S-i-g-o-n-e-l-l-a. Malcolm had joked that he was going to name his first daughter after the naval base where he'd been born. She didn't know why that popped up in her head all of a sudden.

Lucious, along with everyone else, looked towards the door. "Yeah, that's that raggedy piece of tin." Secretly, Lucious had never forgiven that blue-black bastard for sleeping with his wife, and a small part of him still hadn't forgiven Cookie. He knew it was irrational, but Lucious felt betrayed when Porsha let it slip that Cookie had gone off to the Berkshires with the head of his security crew.

"Why did you have to go off to the woods with a fucking Boy Scout? I'm supposed to be your only man, Cookie!"

"That was 30 years ago, Lucious! You could've been my only man if you hadn't divorced me, you son of a bitch!"

Shortly before they remarried, Lucious admitted to Cookie once that he actually respected Malcolm. "Yeah, I really liked ol' Blackie. He was the only one who stood up to me like a man." Like Cookie and her many light-skinned celebrity insults for Anika, Lucious had no end of names he had for Malcolm: Tar Baby, Smoke, Shine, Eggplant. Lucious understood better than anybody why Malcolm would take a chance with his boss's ex-wife, even if it was hazardous to his health. The rest of Cookie's men only lasted for a couple of dates before Lucious made it known one way or another that he still considered Cookie to be his, and that it would be best for them to move along. They always did.

Just as Malcolm and his date were about to walk towards them, the couple stopped, and the woman he was with whispered something in Malcolm's ear. Malcolm cupped her chin in a loving fashion that made Cookie's heart ache, and it hurt even more when she reached up to kiss his cheek. With her back towards the Lyon table, Cookie couldn't see her face, but watching her walk back to the parking lot, something nagged at Cookie. That walk, her posture...it all seemed so familiar.

Cookie locked eyes with Lucious, who was grinning in a way that reminded Cookie of the man she'd grown to dislike, and even hate. "Don't start Lucious," Cookie muttered under her breath. Malcolm was the last man she ever wanted to see again. She'd moved on. Apparently, Malcolm had, too. Please, Lucious. Please, please, please don't -

"Malcolm!" Lucious called, smiling broadly and gesturing to their table.

"Lucious, no!" Cookie hissed under her breath.

"Hey," Lucious said innocently. "I'm just saying hi to a former employee of mine. Just catching up with the man, that's all. Don't you want to know what he's up to?" he added with smile, knowing that she did. He'd caught the look on his wife's face when she saw Malcolm.

Since Lucious didn't have the good sense to prevent this confrontation, Cookie prayed that Malcolm would. But Malcolm was striding towards the table as casually as ever, as if Cookie had never met anything to him. Maybe she hadn't. That thought made Cookie sit up a little straighter. She'd been the one to let Malcolm go, not the other way around.

"S'up, Malcolm?" Lucious stood to shake Malcolm's hand. King of the jungle, he was, with his queen by his side. The woman Malcolm had failed to get was Lucious's wife once again. Whatever little chick he came in with earlier didn't hold a candle to Cookie. She wasn't even with him anymore. Lucious had every reason to gloat.

Of all the times for Anika to leave her damned purse in the truck..."Lucious," Malcolm greeted neutrally. He didn't say good to see you, since they both knew that was a lie. He reached over to Hakeem instead. "Hakeem. Damn good album you just released. Got it in my ride right now. Hey, Jamal." More handshakes and pounds. "I heard you're going on tour." Malcolm might have despised their father, but the Lyon brothers made great music. He had no problem supporting the Jamal and Hakeem with his dollars.

"Two weeks from now," Jamal confirmed. "Starting in Japan. Ever been there?"

"Yep. Served four months in Okinawa. Rhonda, Andre. Congratulations." Malcolm shook Andre's hand, then smiled for the first time since he'd come to their table. He reached out and stroked the cheek of the now-sleeping baby. "She's beautiful. What's her name?"

"Andrea Eileen," Rhonda said proudly. "After Andre, of course, and my mother's first name."

"We wanted to name her to Loretha Eileen," Andre informed Malcolm. "But Mom said she'd kill us if she did."

Loretha. Malcolm turned to Lucious's wife. The Lyoness. The queen. "Hello, Cookie," he finally greeted her.

Even though Malcolm had said Cookie's name with respect, it still came out in a quiet, intimate fashion that made Lucious's brows knit together. Meanwhile, Cookie was fuming. She didn't appreciate being acknowledged last, even though she understood why. "Hey, Malcolm," she said, trying to sound unaffected by his presence. "What are you doing back in New York?"

"New job. Plus my lady lives here. I moved back here to be with her."

So it was official. The woman with the familiar presence wasn't a sister or a cousin. She was the woman Malcolm was seeing now. "How long you been back?" Cookie asked. Lucious scowled in Cookie's direction. Why was she keeping a running conversation with this motherfucker?

"Only a couple of weeks. I'm meeting everybody from my job for the first time today, but I'm a little early."

Without thinking, Cookie teased, "Thought there was no such thing as early." How many times had Malcolm said it? "You're either one time..."

"...or you're late," they finished together, along with Hakeem, Jamal and Andre. They all laughed together.

Lucious wasn't appreciating this little moment Malcolm was having with his family, no matter how polite and friendly it was. "So you're moving for a job and a female again, huh? Feels like déjà vu to me."

"Déjà vu for us both, Lucious." Malcolm wasn't about to rise to the bait. "Congratulations on your marriage...remarriage...whatever." There wasn't a trace of sincerity or warmth in Malcolm's voice.

"Thanks, man." Lucious put his arm around Cookie, who focused her eyes on her 10-carat wedding ring, custom made from Tiffany's. "That's real nice coming from you, Malcolm. Y'know, since you had your hand in the cookie jar and all."

"That's our cue," Andre told Rhonda under his breath, and they quickly and quietly packed up to get out of the restaurant as fast as they could. Lucious and Malcolm were walking through landmines now, and Andre didn't want to be anywhere near his father when they went off. Lucious hadn't forgotten the night that Malcolm took Cookie out of his arms and staked his claim right in front of him and his sons. C'mon, baby. I got you. Lucious had been too shell-shocked to notice then. Now, in front of his entire family, Lucious wanted Malcolm to acknowledge defeat.

Cookie knew Malcolm well enough to know he'd never bow down to Lucious, and she knew Lucious well enough to know he wouldn't stop until Malcolm did. "Where are you working now, Malcolm?" she asked pleasantly, trying to diffuse the situation. "You know the girls back at Empire miss you walkin' around securing the place."

"Columbia." Malcolm's response was so curt that it froze Cookie's tongue. The last thing Malcolm wanted to think about was his time at Empire, trying to mask his feelings about Cookie until he couldn't anymore. He didn't want to think about how soft her skin was, or how her stomach muscles twitched when he kissed them. He didn't want think about what a fool he'd made of himself just a few days later, asking him to come away with her. Come with me. I wanna take care of you. Malcolm's eyes focused on the ice skating rink on Cookie's ring finger. No wonder she'd gone back her this golden-eyed demon. Malcolm couldn't afford Cookie in a million years.

"Columbia? You mean CUMC?" Hakeem asked, referring to Columbia University Medical Center.

"No, Columbia University."

"So you're like a security guard?" Lucious asked snidely.

"Lucious," Cookie said warily. "That's not necessary."

"It's okay, Cookie." Malcolm was still talking in that calm, quiet voice that carried a bit of condescension behind it. "Since you asked, Lucious, I'm one of the new cadre for the naval ROTC program."

"What, so you're like a professor or something?" Jamal asked, sounding impressed. Hakeem had a look of respect on his face, too. Lucious, looked dubious, as if he just knew Malcolm was lying. And Cookie wasn't looking at him at all.

Malcolm laughed at the idea of being so high up on the faculty chain. "Nah. I'm an instructor," he explained, letting his guard down just a little. "Teaching a bunch of freshmen which way to point the gun and how many stars are on the flag. They call it military science, but it's really just Navy 101."

Navy 101 or not, there was no taking away from the fact that Malcolm was on the Columbia University staff in a teaching position. It figured this blue-black motherfucker could walk away from his job at Empire and still come out shining. If Lucious lost Empire – and he nearly had – what would he be? Take everything away from Malcolm and he could still rebuild himself, no matter what. Take everything away from Lucious and...no. That wasn't true. As long as he had Cookie, Lucious knew that everything would be okay.

"Hakeem!" Andre was rushing back into the restaurant. His eyes were wide and his face anxious. "Hakeem, lemme holla at you for a second."

"What, something happen?" Hakeem asked. His brother had come in so suddenly that Hakeem felt his heart start to pound.

"No. Um..." Andre rushed to think. "There are a bunch of teenagers up front, and I bet they're going to make a lot of noise and stuff when they see you and Jamal. Let's go out back."

"Fans, huh?" Hakeem smiled. He could use a little excitement. The night had been pretty quiet, and he had the urge to flex in front of Malcolm. "Well, I can't let down my public, right?"

"Hakeem," Andre said nervously, glancing towards the door. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Is everything okay?" Malcolm asked. Though Rhonda and Andre's faces weren't as familiar as everyone else's, they'd made the news quite prominently when the first Lyon grandchild had been born. A crowd full of Lyon fans could cause a small riot, especially with Lucious, Jamal and Hakeem all there. "Rhonda, Andrea...they made it to the car okay, right?"

Andre looked back to the door, then scowled. Damn it! He'd told Rhonda to take her ass to the car and strap Andrea in, but she was coming across the room with a mischievous grin on her face and a woman walking beside her. "Rhonda's coming over with your girl," Andre informed Malcolm, throwing him a look of pure suffering.

Hakeem was the first to recognize her. The sway of those hips and the proud tilt of her chin was the same as it had been before she'd gone off the deep end. "The fuck?" he half-whispered. Was Anika's crazy ass stalking him again? Showing up at the same restaurant they were celebrating his birthday, strolling through the door with his sister-in-law, dating his mother's ex-boyfriend...wait... "That's you, man?" Hakeem asked Malcolm incredulously. Of all the women in the world, Anika was who he wound up with?

"Yuuuuup." That's when Malcolm really smiled. He wasn't looking at Hakeem, though. He was looking at a shocked Lucious. And it wasn't so much a smile as it was a smirk. "That's me."


As it turned out, LaGuardia High School did an extremely thorough background check on any potential student teacher. Since the Empire Anika had worked for no longer existed, her work history had to be verified by the current company. That, Lucious had no problem with. No matter what had gone on between them, Empire had no right to deny Anika had worked there.

It was the additional request Cookie made while they were getting ready for bed that caused Lucious to dig his heels in. "No," he shouted over the sound of running water in the bathroom sink.

"We can't even talk about this, Lucious?" Cookie called from the bedroom. She was reading through the paperwork for Anika's potential placement as a Teaching Fellow, matriculating at City College. Candidate – Master of Education was written in the top right-hand corner. This, even though Anika already had a master's degree in business administration. Cookie couldn't help but be impressed.

"There's nothing to talk about." Lucious came out of the shower. "Why in the hell would I write a letter of recommendation for that bitch? And how does she even have the nerve to ask for one?"

"She didn't. It's my idea." Most of the objectives on the checklist that was following Anika's package around had been checked off, but one section was incomplete: her letters of recommendation. Two recommendations had already been submitted in. One was from a Master Chief Carolyn Sharp, United States Navy. The other was from a Mr. Dan McCarthy, the head of the music department at the Cayman International School. The last slot was left blank.

Lucious grabbed at some of the papers that were scattered all over the bed. Anika, a teacher? Was this how far her star had fallen? From the head of Empire's A&R division to teaching some musical brats in Manhattan? "We owe her, Lucious," Cookie told her husband as he looked the paperwork over.

"We owe her?" Lucious sneered. He climbed into bed and shook the bed covers viciously, causing Anika's files to scatter to the floor. It took everything in him not to wipe his feet on the paperwork. "How do we owe her?"

"Because we ruined her career." For six years, Anika had worked for Empire, helping to build the brand, mold the artists and become the success it was today. And how was she repaid? By losing her job, her man, her home, and arguably her sanity. "She worked so hard for you, Lucious. And we just took it away from her like it was nothing."

"Nobody told her to go off to Creedmoor and set up a breach with my worst enemy. How can you forgive her for that?" Even though Lucious had gotten over Anika long before she left him, he could still hear Beretti's words in his head. Your tragedy talks in her sleep. She mumbles your name. "She fucked that scumbag and then she fucked our son!"

"I remember, Lucious," Cookie said grimly. "I was there."

"Then I'm sure you remember when she killed our grandbaby, right?" After Hakeem recovered from the shock of being a father, he'd resolved to man up and take care of his responsibilities. But Anika wouldn't answer his text messages, ignored his emails and refused to answer the door when he came to talk with her. A couple of weeks later, Anika blew Hakeem off with a single text: I TOOK CARE OF IT. Lucious rolled over to his side, turning his back to Cookie. "I ain't givin' that bitch shit."

"Forgiveness, Lucious. That's the word for today. For-give-ness." Cookie kissed Lucious on his Lyon tattoo with every syllable, making him smile in spite everything. "It's time for you to forgive Anika like I've forgiven you. Besides, Lucious," Cookie added as he rolled back over to face her, "you know you should've broken it off with Anika the minute I walked through that door."

"I know, I know," Lucious conceded, curling up in his wife's arms as she stroked his hair. As usual, it was Cookie's voice and Cookie's touch who reduced the roaring Lyon into a cuddly kitten. "But you hated me, Cook." The thought of it made Lucious wrap his arms around Cookie, nuzzling his face against her breasts as his heart began to pound. 17 years. He didn't even remember the first few because he was so numb. Lucious traced Cookie's nipples under the purple, silk nightgown she was wearing. "I thought I could never have you again.

Cookie laughed and kissed Lucious on the temple. "You liar. Admit it, baby. You knew that eventually, you were going to get me back."

"Okay, I admit it." Lucious tilted his face up to meet his wife's mouth, then rolled her over as she clung to him, not letting her lips leave his as he stretched his body out from above. Cookie shed her nightgown, then spread her legs apart to let Lucious inside of her. God, how much pain would their family had been spared had the two of them just swallowed their pride from the very beginning, rather than nearly destroy everything over the course of two years while they delayed the inevitable?

My salvation, Lucious called her on the day they remarried, and nothing could've been more true. Without Cookie, Lucious had proven himself to be a monster. He'd gained everything, just to nearly lose it all again. "Please, Cookie," he'd begged her the night all the paperwork and official business dissolved Lyon Dynasty back into Empire. "You've made your point, baby. Don't leave me again, Cookie." Lucious had given his heart to Cookie Lyon when he was 16 years old, and his heart couldn't beat without Cookie by his side. Without her, he could never be healthy or happy or whole.

Likewise, Cookie was tired of pretending she didn't love and need Lucious in her life. Malcolm had been a distraction, but Laz had proven to be one of the biggest mistakes of her life. In the end, Cookie had looked to Lucious to handle it. Even though they hadn't been together in nearly 20 years, Cookie still respected his position as the head of their family. Without a word, Cookie knew what Lucious was going to do to that snake.

It was what came after that that cemented Cookie's love for the man she'd been with since she was 14. Cookie, Lucious and Andre had all come together to watch Hakeem and Jamal perform at a fundraiser. Lucious and Andre had gone to the restroom when she heard some concertgoers gossiping about Hakeem's kidnapping. Little bits of the story floated around the blogs from time to time, but the overall consensus was that Hakeem got his ass kicked because he was a rich little punk. But this guy – who knew a guy who knew a guy who was cousins with Big Heavy's baby mama – had heard something else.

"Man, you lyin'!" someone said behind her. "Cookie Lyon is a G. She's from the streets, fool! She wouldn't do no stupid shit like that."

"I'm tellin' you, it's true! They was takin' all her money, and this dude - Chad or Chaz or something – he was fuckin' Cookie while his crew was ripping her off. And this was after Hakeem got his ass kicked!" The cruel, mocking laughter that came after it brought tears to Cookie's eyes. Only her lashes kept them from falling down her cheeks. "Man, I'd never be able to look my mama in the face again after no ho shit like that-"

A crack of bone on metal made Cookie jump up, along with a number of other people. "Motherfucker! I'll kill you!"

Even though the loud-mouthed asshole had come to the concert with a crew, not one person tried to help him as Lucious beat him so badly that his body smeared blood on the arena floor when Lucious's security finally dragged him away by his ankles. "Y'all got a problem?! Huh?" he demanded from the shocked concertgoers behind him, his hands still red with blood. "Do somethin'!"

Watching those poor kids stumble and scramble away was the same as it had ever been, back when they were married and living Philly and the most dangerous words someone could ever hear were "did you know that's my wife?" When Cookie quietly led Lucious backstage, undid his belt buckle and went down to her knees, that was like back in the day, too, back when a teenage Lucious sometimes needed a wet, sloppy boost of confidence from his wife before he went on stage.

Had Lucious and Cookie been true to themselves from the beginning, they would've acknowledged their love from the day Cookie came back, broken the news to Anika respectfully, and either given her a fat severance package or offered her a place anywhere in Empire. But it wasn't enough for Cookie to beat Anika. She had to crush a woman who, in the beginning, hadn't done anything to Cookie. "You know," Lucious mused out loud after they were done making love, "even with everything I've done to try to make things right, I always felt like there's something I'm missing. This thing with Anika...you think that's what it is?"

Cookie's eyes were heavy from back-to-back orgasms. "Like I said, Lucious, we owe her." Cookie stroked the damp curls on the back of her husband's neck. "It might not do anything, but at least we tried."

Lucious turned his head and kissed Cookie between her bare breasts. "Write it," he murmured, his lips brushing against one of her nipples. "I'll sign it."

The next morning, Cookie woke up to find all of the paperwork Lucious had scattered on the floor neatly stacked and by her nightstand, save for one sheet of paper. "It is without reservation that we recommend Ms. Anika Calhoun for the position of student teacher at LaGuardia High School," Lucious read loudly, propped up on a stack of pillows as Cookie came into the bedroom, fiddling with an earring. "So you already know I would say yes, huh?"

"No, but I had faith that you would do the right thing." Since Cookie could mimic Lucious's signature perfectly, it didn't really matter if he did. But Cookie had intended to at least give it a day so Lucious would think she'd waited to talk to him before she wrote it.

"Hand me my glasses, baby." It wasn't like anything Cookie had written wasn't true. Anika was brilliant. She did have an ear for music. She had created the programs that allowed Empire to offer music scholarships, summer internships and contribute hefty donations to music programs all over the country. She had worked with the interns every summer. Signing off on Cookie's letter was simply acknowledging everything Anika's had contributed to the company. "She's not going to like this, you know," Lucious predicted as he reached for a pen. "Not coming from us."

"We'll have make sure she never finds out, then. I'll have to go up to the school and talk to whoever's in charge. Get 'em to understand that Anika can't find out about this."

"I wonder how much that's going to cost." Lucious knew better than anybody that silence was expensive. Still, Cookie was right. This was the least Lucious could do. "You know something, Cook?" he said as he signed his name to the letter in the blank space Cookie had left for him. "I feel better already."

Smiling, Cookie placed the letter aside and tilted Lucious's head to where his eyes met hers. "I'm glad," she answered, her hands already loosening his tie. "Now I'm about to make you feel even better."


"Everybody," Malcolm said placidly. He wrapped his arm around Anika's waist. "I'm sure you remember Anika."

"Hello, everyone," Anika greeted, flashing her sweetest debutante smile. She'd waited her whole life for this moment. The abandonment, the barbs, even the beating was worth watching the steam coming from Cookie's ears. She's jealous, Anika finally realized. Cookie's jealous of me. Not because Anika was younger or had the better body or was more educated or even because she was Malcolm's wife. Cookie was jealous because she had gone through great lengths to reduce Anika to nothing. Yet Anika had built herself back up again, even finding a wonderful man to love her.

Just looking at Anika, Cookie knew what Anika was thinking. Look at you, Cookie. Crawling back to Lucious again when you could have been a sailor's girl. Goddamn it, hadn't Cookie and Lucious done right by Anika in the end? Hadn't they gone out of their way to make good? Wrote the letter, talked to the principal and the board, bought their silence with a "donation" that could've founded a music school in any ghetto? It was the Lyon family who bankrolled Anika's bullshit fellowship at LaGuardia while Anika finished some bullshit master's degree at some bullshit state college.

Now Anika was strolling her bougie ass to their table when she should've been crawling on her hands and knees - her default position - to the family who had made her in the first place. Anika might have found a sucker who was clueless enough to claim her ass, but Cookie still remembered when Anika was busting it open for anyone – male or female - who would give her a job. And who could forget Anika's failed last-ditch effort for Lucious to marry her? Let that bitch stand there with her simp-ass sailor boyfriend that Cookie kicked his ass to the curb ages ago. Cookie was proud to be Lucious's wife.

Cookie felt Lucious shaking with rage. She slipped her hand into Lucious's and winked when he looked over at her. Once again, only a Lyoness could calm a Lyon. This fake-ass Dorothy Dandridge needed to be taken down a few pegs. "Look, honey," Cookie cooed, twisting her wedding ring so Anika could get a full view of the symbol that represented what Anika had failed to become: Mrs. Lucious Lyon. "Our leftovers have found love together."

TBC