"Morning, Daddy," Fallon greeted, walking into his home gym. Her being the only Lyon still under eighteen meant that she had to stay under Lucious's roof. It wasn't bad, considering his roof was a big ass mansion, but it did get kind of lonely during the week when everyone was at Empire. She worked at Empire, too, but she would often go home alone if Anika or Lucious would stay late. The only time her siblings would come to the house is when Lucious would host some sort of dinner party, or call them over to talk about business. They never really spent time together as a "family" anymore.
"Hey, Fallon," Lucious panted, working out on an elliptical. He was getting his motivation from watching news reports of him announcing Empire going public. He faltered for a second, looking as if his entire body were to shut down at any minute.
"You alright?" Fallon asked, stepping closer to him to catch him if need be. This had become a regular thing with Lucious. Him spacing out, Fallon asking what was wrong, and him shrugging her off, insisting he was okay. And that's exactly what he did. He nodded and continued his exercise.
Anika walked into the room putting a string of pearls around her neck. She smiled at Fallon, playfully hitting her shoulder as she passed her. She walked in front of the tv's and grabbed the remote. She changed the channels on the screens to the cameras outside, showing Cookie hanging out of the window of a taxi, yelling into the camera to be let in to the gate.
"What is she doing here?" Anika asked. She walked away before Lucious could answer. Fallon pursed her lips with her eyebrows raised.
She handed her father a small towel as he stepped off of the machine. "You know, I'm getting the feeling this is about to be both funny and dramatic." Lucious sighed, laughing.
He wrapped his arm around Fallon as they headed up the stairs. "You might be right about that one, Lonnie."
The two walked onto the front porch as the taxi pulled up to the front. Fallon had her eyebrows furrowed and her arms crossed, and Lucious held a confused expression, throwing the towel over his shoulder.
Cookie got out of the taxi, closing the door behind her. "Pay that Pakistani," she told Lucious, referring to the driver. She walked into the house not saying another word.
Lucious looked at Fallon, holding the same confused expression. "Welp," Fallon said, gesturing to the direction Cookie went. "There's the drama." She walked into the house, seeing Cookie looking around. She was staring at a large painting on the wall.
"What are you doing here?" Lucious asked, closing the door as he stepped inside.
"Checking out my house," Cookie told him, eyes never leaving the painting.
Lucious noticed her staring at the painting on the wall. "That's a Klimt," he said.
"Yeah, well, you can keep it. It's ugly," Cookie commented. She briefly looked at Fallon and her face softened. "Hey, baby."
Fallon gave her an awkward wave and walked out of the foyer. It's not that she didn't like Cookie, she just had nothing to talk to her about. She had no memory of her. Cookie may as well have been a stranger.
"We've already settled our agreement, and my house was not part of the deal, Cookie," Lucious said, wiping his face on the towel.
"I don't want no parts of this house or this tacky mess you got in it," Cookie told him. "I'm just here to make sure you don't stab your son or your daughters in the back."
"Now, what are you talking about?" Lucious asked.
Fallon picked up her pace down the hall, knowing that if she stayed within Lucious's eyesight, he would've called her in to explain what Cookie meant. As long as he didn't see her, she wouldn't have to tell him. She walked into the kitchen, hoping the drama wouldn't follow her in there. She just wanted to either drop dead or be invisible for just a little while to spare the embarrassment.
