Deliverance (Lucious/Cookie, Anika/Malcolm)

Chapter Five: Don't Leave Me This Way

Annalise stood and looked down at the once deputy mayor, now reduced to trying bullshit cases in a cramped, tiny office. "Look at it like this, Alvarez. You'll come out looking like a hero. You'll have the conservative vote. You'll have the female vote. You'll have the gun nuts who always talk about self-defense, the military veterans and their families...you'll even get the black vote for letting a brotha go free."

"Annalise," Alvarez said weakly, knowing it was all over. If she went through with prosecuting Malcolm, she'd be the laughingstock of New York City. But she desperately needed a conviction – any conviction, any charge. "Assault in the third degree. He'll get credit for time served. At least give me that, Annalise," Alvarez pleaded.

"I'm giving you the speech you're about to make a few hours from now." Annalise smiled brightly. "Take your time. A-nunn-ci-ate. Make it sound like it's coming from the heart. Your first speech as a district attorney should be very sincere." Annalise winked and left.

For nearly an hour, Alvarez sat in her office, head down, reeling in Andre's betrayal. Later that night, she'd learn that there was no ER report because Anika had refused to go to the hospital or speak to the police. The truth was that Annalise would've destroyed her either way. Alvarez flipped open the folder, took a deep breath and began to go over her lines for the sake of her job. "After weeks of considering the evidence and hearing witness testimony..."
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"...the district attorney's office has declined to press charges against Malcolm DeVeaux. We have reached the decision that Mr. DeVeaux was acting in self-defense in order to protect himself as well as his pregnant wife..."

"The fuck!?" Hakeem's words sounded louder over the echo in the hospital room. The clang that his chair made as it hit the floor brought three set of eyes in his direction. Lucious, as always, remained unmoving.

"Isn't that the lawyer you used to work with, sometimes, Andre?" Jamal asked, just as shocked as his brother was. "I thought she was a friend of yours!"

"She is!" Andre sat down and put his elbows on his knees, using his hands to hold his face upright. "I went to her myself...I-I-I told her I wanted justice for my father...how could she possibly look at Dad's injuries and not press charges? And what about Mom?"

"What about Mom?" Cookie asked quietly from her husband's side. Carefully, Cookie placed a warm face towel on Lucious's face, preparing him for a shave. "You wanna know what Mom is thinking, Andre, ask Mom."

The good news was that Lucious would live. HEART OF A LYON, read every web site, magazine and newspaper that printed Lucious's name. The victim of a vicious attack from a former Empire employee at the behest of his ex-fiancée would live on to roar again, not that anyone had any doubt. Lucious was a soldier. A warrior. There was nothing he couldn't survive.

The bad news was that Lucious would live. Traumatic brain injury, the family was told that night. Until Lucious gained consciousness, the totality of the damage couldn't be measured, but what was certain was that Lucious would never walk again. At best, Lucious would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. At worst, he'd lost all use of his arms and his legs, paralyzed from the neck down. And that was if he woke up. If...

"You'll see," was all Cookie said, and walked away to let her sons deal with the rest.

Cookie waited until she got home to let her rage out. How could those doctors say that Lucious would never walk or talk again? Didn't they know who her husband was? Lucious Lyon was a man who overcame any obstacle that stood in his way. With Cookie by his side, Lucious could do anything. Lucious would feel Cookie's love and come back from the other side. He would walk again, talk again. "My husband is Lucious Lyon!" Cookie screamed aloud, then collapsed and cried until she fell asleep on the music room floor.