Years pass and Cookie and Lucious were no longer young teenage kids married expecting a baby they were young adults with three children Kayla and their sons Andre and Jamal. Cookie no longer stayed home all the time she was now helping Lucious selling his products and her and the kids would always cheer him on in his rap battles.
Lucious was working on his next beat mix while Cookie was cleaning up the kitchen Kayla Andre and Jamal were doing their own things.
Once Cookie was finished with what she was doing she goes upstairs to check on the kids. She goes to Kayla's room first.
"Kayla baby it's time for bed." Cookie said.
"Okay mama." Kayla replied.
Kissing Kayla goodnight Cookie tucks her in goes to the door turns off the light saying goodnight closing the door she goes to check on Andre and Jamal next.
"Andre it's time for bed." Cookie said. As she walked into the room already finding him asleep. She kissed him goodnight tucked him in and left.
Cookie walks into the bedroom shaking her head in amusement he fell asleep in the middle of playing again Cookie mutters to herself.
Picking him up she carefully put him in his bed tucking him in kissing him goodnight and quietly goes back down stairs to see Lucious putting away his completed cassette tapes.
"The kids in bed?" Lucious asked.
"Yes Jamal fell asleep in the middle of playing again." Cookie replied.
"That boy hates to sleep I will never understand that boy." Lucious said. As he laughed.
"Yeah I wonder where he gets that from." Cookie replied.
"I don't know where he gets that from but maybe he will grow out of it." Lucious said.
"Yeah your probably right." Cookie replied.
"After all sleeping in the middle of playing isn't anywhere near the worst possible things he could be doing."Lucious said.
"True we were blessed with good kids." Cookie replied.
"Yes we were and they are going to do great things with the legacy we are making for them." Lucious said.
"Yes I think so too."Cookie replied.
Lucious moves from around the table wrapping his arms around Cookie kissing her passionately.
Lucious loved Cookie more than anything in his life his family and music were everything to him.
Lucious went back to his mixes and Cookie went about folding the laundry that had been drying while Cookie cleaned the kitchen.
She finished taking the basket upstairs this load was towels and washcloths so she didn't have to go into the kids rooms to put anything away while they are sleeping.
Once she finished that she put the basket on top of the dryer and went back in the living room.
Going back upstairs Cookie got ready for bed.
A couple hours later Lucious joined a sleeping Cookie in bed and went to sleep.
The next morning Cookie woke up to the sound of the kids downstairs and faintly hearing Lucious talking to them.
Getting up she quickly goes to the bathroom and gets ready for the day.
Walking down the stairs she is greeted by Lucious and the kids.
"Good morning mama's babies." Cookie said.
"Hey baby how'd you sleep?" Lucious asked.
"Great baby." Cookie said.
Cookie kisses each kid on the top of the head.
"Did mommy's babies sleep well?" Cookie asked.
"Yes mama." Kayla Andre and Jamal replied in unison.
"That's good babies." Cookie said.
Lucious hands Cookie a plate of food she sits down with the kids to eat.
Lucious sits across from Cookie eating his own breakfast.
The kids finished there breakfast and Kayla and Andre start to wash the breakfast dishes. Cookie and Lucious watch as Kayla washes and Andre drys.
When they finished Cookie grabbed their dishes and brought them over to the kids who proceeded to wash and dry them.
The kids then go upstairs to their rooms leaving Cookie and Lucious alone.
Lucious kissed Cookie's forehead then goes on to his music equipment preparing to make more mixes.
Cookie put her jacket on took the car keys and headed out with the grocery list.
She drove in silence to the store that was about a twenty minute drive from their house.
Pulling up in the parking lot Cookie parked the car.
Cookie grabs a cart and takes her list out of purse checking it over. Going aisle to aisle marking off each item she grabs from the shelves.
Once she got everything on the list and headed to the checkout aisle she didn't notice the check out woman looking at her. Until she was right up at the register.
"Loretha Holloway is that you?"Petrice asked.
"Petrice Lewis long time no see when did you start working here?"Cookie replied.
"After high school you know my parents couldn't afford to send me to college mama got sick and daddy was working his ass off so he could pay for her medical bills so I work here and a couple other jobs to help take care of them."Petrice said.
"Oh I'm real sorry to hear that you know I understand my daddy worked himself into an early grave he missed the birth of his grandchildren."Cookie replied.
"Yeah I heard about that I'm so sorry I heard you married Lucious Lyon as well."Petrice said.
"Yeah we we're happily married he's at home right now working on his beat mixes."Cookie replied.
"Yeah I've heard talk about those mixes of his the are pretty good."Petrice said.
"Do you still sing?"Cookie asked.
"I haven't sung in years I do write though."Petrice said.
"You never got married or had kids?"Cookie asked.
"Well actually yes I have two children and do you remember Terrence Brooks?"Petrice replied.
"Yeah he played basketball and could sing."Cookie said.
"Yeah well the last basketball game he played was before we graduated."A player on the opposing team caused him to shatter his kneecap forcing him to have to quit the team he then got a job washing cars."Petrice replied.
"Both of you have beautiful voices I don't see why you guys don't try to sing now I mean you guys could be the next Ashford Simpson."Cookie said.
"Thanks that means alot."Petrice replied.
"Your welcome well I better get going."Cookie said.
"Okay I'll call you sometime."Petrice replied.
Cookie loaded her groceries in the car and started to head for home.
Pulling in the drive way she grabs a couple bags opening the door." Hold on baby let me help you with that is there more in the car?"Lucious asked.
"Yes there is more bags in the back."Cookie said.
Lucious returns to see Cookie putting things away.
"I saw Petrice Lewis well Brooks now she married Terrence and they live with her parents you know they gave up singing."Cookie said.
"Wow it's a small world I haven't seen them around."Lucious replied.
"Yeah well she heard some of your mixed beats and liked them she wrote a few lyrics for it. I told her I would talk to you about her and Terrace performing at one of the parties or shows."Cookie said.
"Yeah I don't have a problem with that we need people we can trust to work with us when our empire is off the ground."Lucious replied.
Once everything was put away Cookie put away the bags in the lower cabinet.
"Do you want anything in particular for dinner Lucious?"Cookie asked.
"No not really whatever you have in mind to make is fine."Lucious replied.
"Alright then."Cookie said.
Cookie then went about taking care of the other things she had to do that day.
Lucious for his part packed up more finished mixes in the box he loads daily so he could sale them out of his car when he didn't have drops to make.
His beeper goes off just as he closes his trunk.
Quickly Lucious got in his car heading to his storage location to get the needed product to make the drop.
Meanwhile Cookie was upstairs with the kids telling them stories she wanted them to know about their family their roots because to her and Lucious family was important and knowing where you come from.
"Mama who is the couple in the wedding picture?"Kayla asked.
"That's grandma and grandpa Holloway my parents on their wedding day you know they were a few years older than your daddy and I when we got married."Cookie said.
"Mama why are you sad?"Andre asked.
"I'm sad because you all won't get to experience what having grandparents are like. When your grandma was still alive and your Aunt Candace and I were little our grandparents would visit with us eat dinner give us candy and mommy and tell us stories of when they were young one thing your aunts and I always wanted when we had families of our own was for our kids to know the feeling of the love of grandparents but that just wasn't in the cards for you guys." Cookie said.
They continued to look at the different pictures while Cookie explained the stories behind each picture.
The children for their part listened with widespread eyed attention.
They didn't hear Lucious come up the stairs as she spoke. He stood in the doorway leaning against the frame watching the interaction between Cookie and their children smiling the whole time.
"Hey baby I didn't hear you come up."Cookie said.
"Yeah I just got here a few minutes ago."Lucious replied.
"Oh how did everything go?"Cookie asked.
"Everything went fine."Lucious replied.
"That's good baby."Cookie replied.
Cookie got up taking the album with her heading back downstairs to fix them all lunch when she was finished everyone sat at the table and set the food before them.
Ten minutes later lunch was done and the kids went to play in their rooms.
And Cookie and Lucious cleaned up the kitchen again when Cookie hears the washer stop. She goes to the washer grabbing the clothes putting them in the dryer once she took the dried clothes out then putting all the clothes that needed ironing in another basket.
She was a pro at it to the point it didn't take her hardly anytime and all.
She went about putting the laundry away once finished she grabbed her journal and started writing this was therapy for her writing down her joy and pain and feeling a little better after it was over and done.
She was lost in thoughts and memories and that Journal served as a record for each one. Selling drugs and mixed beats to stabilize their families foundation which was working out fine Lucious had already had a sizable amount of money in the bank when she met him and she has helped him add to that since she had been pregnant with Kayla.
And so far all the bills they pay didn't put even a dent in their wallet.
One thing both Cookie and Lucious were good at was having a good mind in terms of money which protected them from people taking advantage of them.
And as their children got older they taught them that also.
Another thing they did as a family was roller skate and the rink was always full of energy and people especially teenagers.
And Cookie and her sisters and friends had come down to this rink quite a bit over the years.
Lucious and Cookie help the kids with their skates and then put theirs on once the skates were on they stepped out on the floor and the kids skated in front of them now.
They stopped skating once the kids got hungry and ordered a pizza.
"Are you kids having fun?"Lucious asked.
"Yes daddy."Kayla Andre and Jamal replied.
"Good let's get back out there and have some more fun."Cookie said.
They get up from the table and go back out on the floor Kayla and Andre making sure Jamal didn't fall they took the job of being protective older siblings seriously making sure to watch him when they were all out in public together.
"Careful Jamal remember take your time don't slouch and plant your feet."Kayla instructed.
"Thanks sis."Jamal replied.
"Don't mention it little brother."Kayla said.
Cookie and Lucious watched the exchange with a smile.
"We've got great kids."Cookie said.
"Yeah we do because we are raising them right."Lucious replied.
"Yes we are truly blessed with our kids."Cookie said.
The DJ noticed Lucious and Cookie on the floor and called them over.
"Hey Lucious your mixes have been a big hit at my gigs."DJ Freight train said.
"Hey Freight train I'm glad here is the latest one with a couple friends of mine and Cookie's."Lucious replied.
The DJ took the cassette from Lucious and set it up to start playing and they all stood and watched everyone on the rink start dancing.
"Congratulations man you've done it again." DJ Freight train said.
"Thanks man this is great."Lucious replied.
"Baby look your a hit."Cookie said as she wrapped her arms around Lucious.
"No baby we are a hit."Lucious replied kissing the top of Cookie's head.
Kayla Andre and Jamal stood off to the side watching everyone dancing to their fathers voice.
"Wow they really like Daddy's song."Kayla said.
"It's a good song."Andre replied.
"Yeah I like it."Jamal said.
After a while Cookie and Lucious and the kids went back home having skated themselves to the point all they wanted to do was go to bed.
Kissing them each goodnight they went to bed holding each other like they do every night.
The next morning Cookie and Lucious woke up to the sounds of their kids talking and Bunkie and Shanice were giving them breakfast with their kids Vanessa Jordan and Zion. Who they thought of as siblings.
Lucious and Cookie get ready for the day and go downstairs to greet Bunkie and Shanice.
"Hello Bunkie,Hello Shanice."Lucious greeted.
"Hey Lucious come and get breakfast because we got a meeting to attend and Shanice and Cookie can take the kids to the zoo."Bunkie replied.
"Okay Bunkie is Thirsty and Vernon going to this meeting?"Lucious asked.
"Yeah they said they would meet us there."Bunkie replied.
Lucious and Bunkie arrive followed by Vernon and Thirsty. These meetings didn't happen very often but when they did all the guys working the streets had to give reports of any possible threat to the organization. These meetings usually took a few hours and when it was all over they would go their separate ways killing time until they got a call for product.
Meanwhile Cookie and Shanice were at the zoo looking at all the monkeys interacting with the children through the glass Cookie and Shanice took a ton of pictures of the kids who were enjoying themselves.
They bought them all ice cream and water even some lunch in the afternoon the bought the kids stuffed animals and t-shirts and water bottles by the time they returned home in the evening with dinner they were met by the guys who were sitting around the table loading boxes with cassette tapes.
"Alright you guys get those boxes off my table so I can set dinner down."Cookie commands.
Bunkie stands at attention and salutes Cookie and smartly replies "Ma'am yes Ma'am. And laughs
"Very funny Bunkie."Cookie said.
"Okay you two knock it off we've got hungry kids to feed."Shanice replied.
They got the kids then themselves ready to eat dinner once it was over Bunkie and Shanice took their kids home to put them to bed.
And Lucious and Cookie got their kids ready for bed reading them a bedtime story puting a sleeping Jamal in his bed.
Finally Cookie practically fell into bed she was tired having walked through the entire zoo with six excited kids and only Shanice to help out.
"Rough day baby?"Lucious asked.
"No not really the kids had fun they really enjoyed the monkeys so much so we thought they were gonna ask for one."Cookie said.
"Really what made you think that?"Lucious asked.
"Because their was a few mom's and babies and they were playing with the babies through the glass it was really sweet and funny at the same time.
"The mom's watched as they ran back and forth and one of the mom's looked at us as if to say uh mom life." Cookie said.
"I'm sorry I missed that."Lucious replied.
"Well maybe next time you can join us on a kids outting."Cookie said.
"Next time you guys plan to take them again let me know."Lucious replied.
"I will."Cookie said.
Shortly they were fast asleep.
Lucious was awoken by his beeper he hurried took a quick shower brushed his teeth wrote a quick note and left a sleeping Cookie alone with their kids.
A few hours later Cookie and the kids woke up had breakfast and let the kids go play in their rooms while Cookie did some light cleaning.
Meanwhile Lucious Vernon Bunkie and Thirsty were gathered at their corner spot.
"I can't believe this punk thought crossing Frank's line would go unnoticed."Lucious said.
"Yeah he should have realized this is one of our spots and that makes it Frank's spot."Bunkie replied.
"I'm not surprised by this It's like the Godfather if the cast was all black who knows who all is after Frank and everything that belongs to him."Thirsty said.
"When did you watch the Godfather?"Lucious asked.
"It was my dad's favorite movie I would watch with him often my favorite character is Tom Hagen."Thirsty replied.
"Well that explains why your always reading those law books."Bunkie said.
"Yeah that makes sense."Lucious replied.
"Of course It's a good position for me."Thirsty said.