Cookie was overwhelmed. Over the past week she'd been fired and un-fired and then fired again. She found out Lucious had killed her cousin. She tried to kill the man in his sleep; Jamal found out about it and stopped talking to her. She nearly killed Boo Boo Kitty's trifling ass on the pool table, and to top it all off Lucious wasn't dying. That motherfucker was going to live, and he was going to live and make her life absolutely miserable. He already started. She rarely saw Malcolm anymore due to those ridiculous hours he called him into work, every time Malcolm came over he was too tired to do anything but sleep. She could see the exhaustion on his face, the life slowing draining out of him. It wasn't fair. He shouldn't have to pay because Lucious was a sick bastard. So when she called him over to end things, she didn't expect him to lash out on her, she thought he'd be happy.
"You can't be serious. This isn't a movie Malcolm. This isn't a fairy tale where you come in and now all of my troubles are gone. You're not the white knight in shining armor of this story. Some people just can't be saved."
"What? What are you talking about Cookie? What did he say to you?"
"Nothing. It's-"
"Cookie. Talk to me."
"I can't do this," she sighed, tears welling in her eyes. ,"We can't do this."
"What are you talking about?"
"I should have never flirted, I should have never kissed you, I damn sure should have never went away with you, this was stupid. I was stupid."
"Cookie what are you talking about, I lo-"
"No!" The word ripped from her throat loud enough for the entire building to hear. She shook her head. "Please. Don't tell me that." Her voice was softer now as Malcolm reached out to grab her hips.
"Why not? It's true."
"Because I can't say it back Malcolm."
"That's okay with me Cook, I can wait."
She shook her head.
"You shouldn't have to. You shouldn't have to do any of this." She released from his embrace and started pacing the room. "You shouldn't have to watch you back because my crazy sociopathic bitch of an ex-husband can dictate what you do at any moment. You shouldn't have to deal with him attacking your personal life in professional setting, cutting your pay, making you work stupid hours, sending you on pointless tasks, punching you in the face, emasculating you FOR me. You shouldn't have to deal with that because you think you love me. Because…honestly I don't know if I'd do the same for you." She looked up to see the hurt in Malcolm's eyes that matched her own.
"Seriously Cookie. Are you fucking serious right now?" Never in their time together did she see him get angry with her. Annoyed? Yes. Exasperated? Yes. Angry? No. He went on.
"I knew the consequences when I first kissed you in this living room. I knew what this could mean for my career and I didn't care. Because when you care about someone," he held her upper arms. "Cookie when you love someone it doesn't fucking matter."
"You can stand here and tell me you'd be willing to die for me right now. Huh? You would gladly take a bullet for me on this day because you loved me."
"That's not fair."
"Answer the question, Malcolm."
"I don't know."
"That means no. Your answer should be no. I'm not trying to hurt you and I don't know if you'll ever understand but us together is dangerous. For both of us. Lucious is probably the worst human being on this earth and will do anything to make sure I'm never happy. I can never be happy unless I'm with him; part of me thinks that's true. I'm not willing to let yet another person I care about get caught in the Lucious Lyon web."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying. We can't do this. As long as you're here working for him and you're with me, it won't work. Lucious is going to find a way to end it if I don't do it now."
"Then I'll leave."
"And go where."
"I have a job offer still available in DC I turned it down to come here. We could go there, away from all of this. Let me take care of you Cookie. Come with me."
"You know I cant do that."
"Because of him?"
"No, because my family. My sons. My empire. I can't pack up my life and just move when I'm just getting back. I've already left them for 17 years I cant do that again."
"So you think staying here with him around is healthy?"
"You think running away is healthy."
"Cookie, you told me once you wanted to find who Cookie was without Lucious but you aren't willing to leave the very place that makes you feel like you don't know who you are."
"Because I need to be here. This is who I am. This is the life I was dealt and I have to figure it out. I don't expect you to understand, you don't have three children with someone you've spent all your life being madly in love with. It's not that easy to just walk away, Empire is mine. I built this, and I can't let it go." She stepped closer to him and he pulled away. She reached out to cup his cheek forcing him to look her in the eye.
"Mal, this isn't goodbye. I'm not doing this because you did something wrong, or because I don't care about you. I care about you, which is why I'm doing this. If anything happened to you because of me, I -" her voice choked and he reached out to hold her. A few moments of silence passed and she spoke softly her face still nuzzled in his chest.
"Take the job. Go to DC, live a life that doesn't have you looking over your shoulder every five seconds. You deserve that."
He nodded, his chin resting on the top of her head. He was tired of fighting the issue. If it was what she wanted, he would go with it, for her.
"You know I'll wait for you."
"I don't doubt it."
"Take care of yourself Cook." He kissed her forehead.
"Always." She traced his lips with her finger before pulling him kissing him softly and brief. She pulled back to look at him.
"Thank you. For everything."
He nodded making his way to her door turning the handle.
"This isn't a goodbye it's a 'see you later' right?" He joked looking at her. She could hear his voice crack and it broke her heart.
Cookie laughed softly and nodded.
Hasta luego.
A/N This isn't the end the end. Theres an epilogue don't worry. Thanks for sticking with me through the end!