Still in Hakeem's Hospital Room
Cookie felt her blood boiling. Why was it that Hakeem was the only one who didn't understand the word 'protection'? Her nose flared as she breath heavily, trying to figure out what to say to her knucklehead son. "Keem, you better tell me you used protection and this might not be your baby," Cookie growled out. Hakeem looked at her with tremendous fear. He couldn't speak so he shook his head no. Cookie stood and started pacing the room. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She finally turned to Hakeem and said, "You are going to get a DNA test done. I'm pretty sure with the way Eddie had her head all screwed up and I'll be damned if my son ends up taking care of another man's child." Hakeem didn't dare to argue with Cookie on this. He put himself in this position and he had to make sure that was his baby. Actually, he had to make sure that she was actually pregnant.
Tiana walked back into the room and Cookie stared her down. Hakeem had his head down, trying not to provoke his mom to doing something irrational. Cookie walked to get her purse from the side of the bed and left the room. She couldn't stand to be around Tiana for long. She walked down the hallways, looking for Lucious and trying to calm down. Once she saw him, her train of thought switched. She examined the way her husband was pacing as he held a conversation on the phone. It was a slow pace, like he was mapping something out. A feeling she knew all too well came over her. Her husband was planning someone's death and she knew exactly who's death it was.
Andre's Church
Andre talked to the Reverend about the recent events that have come about in the Lyon family. Reverend Pryce could tell that Andre was scared. He was worried about what he is going to turn into because he feels he is the reason why everything is going so wrong for his family. "Andre, you need to let go and give everything to God. Did you ever stop and think that maybe God had your family lose something so big to them, so that now they have to focus on what really matters in this world? Maybe this will bring your family together and help you heal and deal with your issues," Reverend casually tossed up the thought to Andre. Andre sat back and thought about the words just stated to him. Maybe this was his chance to be a part of the family instead of the forgotten one.
Andre's phone started to go off. He looked down, hoping it wasn't his parents calling him yet again. To his relief, it wasn't, but who was actually trying to contact him wasn't someone he would've wanted to be around either. He ignored the call and looked at the Reverend. "Maybe you're right. I have to go check on my brother. I promised I'd show up today. I'll see you later," Andre told Reverend Pryce. Once he got outside the church, his phone rang again. This time it was Jamal calling. "Hey Mal. What's up?" Andre asked nonchalantly as if their brother wasn't in the hospital. Jamal's voice conveyed extreme anger, "What's up is that no one in my family decided to contact me about my little brother getting shot! I get it, everyone thought that I should've stayed and fought for the same company that was going to take another parent from us, but I thought that I would get informed on my own brother instead of hearing it on the radio!"
It didn't strike Andre to call and make sure that Jamal knew what was going on. He assumed Cookie would've told him everything since she is always running to him anyways. Since Jamal didn't know about Hakeem, it was safe to assume that he didn't know his parents were married. No one was talking to Jamal for some strange reason, so Andre took it upon himself to spill all the beans. "Look Jamal, I thought ma or pop would've talked to you by now. But yeah, Keem was shot, he is awake now and I'm on the way to see him. I don't know if he can walk yet but I'll find out when I get there. And since you haven't heard from anyone since you left, I guess I should tell you that our parents are legally married... again." Jamal sat quietly on the phone. Yeah, he knew about Hakeem, but he wasn't expecting his parents to run off and get married like some love-struck teenagers. "Dre tell me you're messing with me man," Jamal pleaded. Andre let out a slight chuckle. If anyone knew how serious their parents' relationship was it was Jamal and judging from his reaction, it didn't appear like their relationship was at the point of marriage. "Nah brother. It's not a joke. They are married. They seem happy. I guess that's all that matters," Andre explained.
Jamal let out a sigh and proceeded to say, "Yeah. I guess you're right. Let me know what you find out about Keem. I'm gonna come back next month. I still need to finish what I need to do here for myself. As much as everyone wants me back, I have to find myself again." If no one understood what it meant to want to find yourself and being better, Andre understood completely. He wasn't mad at Jamal for doing things for himself. "I'll call you late with news. Don't worry, he'll be alright. Focus on getting back. We got business to handle when you're ready to come back," Andre said. "Alright. Thanks Dre," Jamal responded before hanging up. Dre felt good about being the one Jamal turned to. It made him feel like a big brother again, instead of an enemy. Andre was on his way to the hospital when someone was calling him yet again. He looked at his phone and saw 'Giselle' flash across the screen. For some reason, the enemy of the Lyons love trying to get him to go against his family.
Hospital waiting area
Cookie walked up to Lucious just as he was hanging up. "What was that about? And don't lie to me Lucious," Cookie pressed. Lucious looked at her, giving her his "don't question me right now" face. She pushed her lips out and continued to stare him down until her answered her. "I'm having Thirst put people in like to take out Eddie. I can't keep waiting Cook. We can't keep waiting. The longer we don't do anything the more he gets comfortable on a thrown that belongs to us. He keeps showing up in places he isn't welcome and you know me Cook. I can't just let him walk over me or our family," Lucious explained. Cookie knew that Lucious was growing tired of Eddie. To be honest, no one was more tired of Eddie than Cookie.
"Babe we are going to take him out, but we have to remove him from Empire first. I was thinking about we release his secret ways of controlling artists. Jamal said that Eddie had been giving Tory some pills before she died. Maybe we can link him to it as well as exposing him for what he has done in the past. We aren't the only ones with bones buried in our closet. Then when we knock him off the throne, we can take him back to our Philly days. Maybe take him to the old warehouse we used to use," Cookie ranted on. Lucious hadn't heard Cookie talk about the old warehouse in years. He hadn't even thought about it, but it made sense to take it there. Eddie wants to run around saying that he is family to the Lyons, so why not take him back home and handle him there, like family.
Lucious grabbed Cookie, pulling her close to him. He gave her a slow and passionate kiss. Hearing Cookie talk out plans always turned him on, especially when it included handling enemies the way they used to. "I like the way you think. How about we go home and discuss this a little bit more?" Lucious tempted. Cookie put up a finger and opposed, "No. We got new problems Lu. Your son doesn't understand what condoms are for and apparently Tiana is pregnant. He also can't walk. They have to run more tests on him to see if it is permanent. What do we do?" The head Lyon looked off into the distance to gather his thoughts. "Well first we are getting him to a physical therapist because my son is going to walk again by any means necessary. As for Tiana, I have no idea. That boy will believe anything she tells him." He groaned at the thought of his son being worse than he was when it came to being with women.
Andre finally made it to the hospital and overheard his parents talking about Tiana and Hakeem. It shocked him that Hakeem was paralyzed for who knows how long, but the most frustrating news was his youngest brother was popping out kids left and right. He had more pressing matters to discuss with his parents. He answered the call from Giselle and to say he might have a way of taking down Eddie would be an understatement, He had a plan to destroy everything about Eddie Barker.
2 Months Later
At the Mansion
Hakeem had been going to physical therapy to help regain function of his legs. The doctors told the family that his paralysis was temporary but they couldn't tell for how long. Lucious wasted no time making sure Hakeem was getting all the help he needed. Since he was having a harder time getting around by himself, it was insisted that he moved back in with his parents. After a therapy session, Hakeem went into his room to lay down. He hated not being able to walk around or go where he wanted with free will, so most of the time he just stayed in bed unless it was time for therapy. After Cookie raised hell about Tiana being pregnant, he convinced Tiana to get a DNA test done. Since she was going into her 2nd trimester, it made the test slightly safer than when she was just a month and half.
They were expecting the results soon, but Hakeem wanted to do everything he could to make this pregnancy easier for Tiana. He didn't care how his mother felt, that was his child and no one could tell him different. He laid staring at the ceiling not noticing his mother walking into the room. She laid on the bed next to him and stared at the ceiling too. "What are we looking at Keem?" Hakeem kept laying in silence. Cookie turned to look at him. She hated when he ignored her, especially since their relationship just started a little over three years ago. Hakeem kept staring at the ceiling and asked his mom, "How were you when you first for pregnant? You don't talk about that time. I wanna know about how our sister died. Maybe it will help me make sure Tiana has a smooth pregnancy. I mean this is the first time I'm able to be around." Cookie couldn't believe that her son wanted to know about her miscarriage. As much as it pained her, maybe he was right. It might help him as well as help her release some of that hurt.
Cookie's POV
I know my son means well, but I haven't opened these old wounds in over 30 years. It seemed so much easier to forget about it, but to see my sons grow up and have to deal with their own heartache makes it seem right to let them know about it. "Ok Keem. What do you want to know?" Hakeem looked at me with those big brown eyes and said, "Everything. I want to know the day you found out to the day she died." I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the flow of emotions that were going to take over. It is story time for the youngest cub.
"I was 15. Your father and I were living in this motel and it was around the time when Lucious started getting even more serious about his music. He would get up and make drops, then come right back and make more music. The day I found out I was pregnant, he was awake before me, making music. He was in such a trance that he didn't even notice me getting up. I went and got myself together. I had been feeling sick the past few days and I thought maybe I should go get checked. I gave him a kiss and left. Three hours later, I came back and he was still in the same spot, never moved. I stood trying to get his attention for probably 15 minutes and he finally looked at me. I told him I was pregnant and he had the nerves to say nothing but 'Oh'. I was so mad," Cookie let out a chuckle before continuing. "He grabbed my hand and smiled at me. Then he just hugged me at my waist and started talking to her. It's like he just knew she was a girl. He said 'Hey, I know you just started baking in there but I want you to know that as long as I'm alive nothing and no one is going to hurt you or your mama. You are my princess cub and your mama is my queen. I got you and I can't wait to see your face in the next few months.' He was so gentle and sweet with me. Whenever we laid down, he would always lay his head near my belly. Always wanted to be close to her.
About 6 months later, it was very visible that I was pregnant. I was so small (she laughs) and was nothing but a huge belly. She practically took over my entire body. Lu had a couple of drops to make and I wanted to go shopping so I told him I was going to get your Aunt Carol and we were going out until he got back. That was the worst day of my life. I was walking to our aunt's house because Carol and Candance stayed with her. I was almost there, just around the corner when Bunkie came running and almost ran into me. He stopped long enough to yell at me and tell me to get inside and not to come out until he came and got me. So, I did what he said. But it didn't sit right with me. I wanted to know what was going on."
Flashback
No one's POV
Cookie got into the house with Carol and was pacing back and forth, worried that maybe a drop went wrong. Carol was trying to get Cookie to calm down but it wasn't working. "I gotta go see what happened. I can't just sit here. What if Lucious is hurt?" Cookie cried to her sister. She found herself shaking at the thought that Lucious might be hurt. Next thing she knew she was running out of the house, toward the direction Bunkie was running in. Carol followed her down the steps, yelling for her to come back inside, but Cookie wasn't hearing it. She kept walking down the street until she heard gun shots. She ran as quickly as she could, coming face to face to her cousin and Vernon firing back at some guys in a blacked-out Impala. She saw Lucious next to Vernon, bleeding. She ran over to him helping him up as Vernon and Bunkie continued trying to clear out. Vernon saw Cookie in the way and yelled at her, "Girl if you don't get yo pregnant ass out of here! I'm not trying to hear Lucious' mouth about you getting caught up in this mess. Get out of here Loretha!" Cookie fired back at him, "I'm not leaving Lucious here. I can help get him out of here, but I'm not leaving!" Vernon turned to face Cookie and saw someone coming around the corner, aiming at Cookie and Lucious. "Get down!" Vernon order and without thought, Cookie dropped down harder than she was expecting. She groaned at the slight pain she felt, but shook it off as she and Lucious moved to get home.
Bunkie followed behind, making sure no one gave them any problems before they got back, while Vernon stayed behind clearing the scene. Once they got home, Cookie cut Lucious shirt off and saw the wound on Lucious' side. He didn't go to hospitals when he was injured from a bad deal, so Cookie started to clean his wound. He had been stabbed before, but never as deep as this cut. She cleaned out the hole, and put antibiotics on it while she stitched him up the best she could. When she was done, she put gauze over the incision then rolled up a blunt so he could smoke some of the pain away. Lucious put the blunt in between his lips, and before he could light it, he saw blood running down Cookie's leg. He knew it wasn't his blood because she had already changed shirts. He dropped the blunt and picked Cookie up. Bunkie walked into the room and saw Lucious and a now screaming Cookie. He gave Lucious the keys to the car and moved out of the way.
Once Cookie got in the car, she started panicking. The adrenaline from earlier had officially wore off and she felt every ounce of pain. Her belly tightened causing her to lean over, grabbing her stomach. Tears flowed down her face as she tried to make herself comfortable in the car. Lucious pulled up to the hospital and grabbed Cookie out of the front seat. Once inside, doctors and nurses placed her on a bed and quickly gowned up. Cookie's screams filled the entire floor. She had never felt a pain like this and she didn't know what was going on with her baby. An OB/Gyn came in and started to examine Cookie. "Hi Loretha. I'm Doctor Robbins. I know you are in pain right now, but I need you to relax your legs as much as you can. I need to see what's going on with your baby," the doctor stated. "How far along is she dad?" Dr. Robbins asked Lucious. "Six and a half months doc. Is she going to be ok? Both of them?" Dr. Robbins looked at Lucious and answered, "I don't know yet, but I'm going to do everything I can."
Lucious looked back at his wife. She was in distress and there was nothing he could do about it. He was focused on holding her hand and having her focus on him instead of the pain. He didn't even realize that the doctor had done an ultrasound on Cookie and didn't see a heartbeat. The only words he heard was, 'There's no heart beat and we need you to push this baby out.' Cookie screamed bloody murder while crying hysterically. She looked at him through her tears before being able to piece together a sentence. "Lucious I can't! I can't do this. She's not ready to come out! I can't do this!" The emotions in the room were at an all-time high, but Lucious knew he had to help Cookie through this. He sat her up slightly and got behind her, giving her physical support to push when the doctor told her to.
He whispered in her ear, "Baby I know it's early, and I know you're scared, but we need you to push. This is the only way they can try to save her. You gotta push her out. Come on. Use me to push against, I got you. You're a Lyon now. You can do this. Push to try and save our baby girl. Come on Cook."
Back to Present Day
Cookie's POV
Tears flowed nonstop as I told the story to Hakeem. He wiped away a few of my tears as I continued explaining what happened. "His words helped me push, but it didn't stop the pain. I felt like my insides were being pulled out with her. It was the hardest thing I had ever done. I screamed so loud and cried the whole time. And finally, the pain stopped for a minute and I knew she was out, but she wasn't crying. I looked and she was so blue. The nurses rushed her out of the room, while the doctor cleaned me up. I guess they were pulling the placenta because I started feeling pain again. Lu tried to go see where they were going with her while I cried nonstop. Thirty minutes later, they brought her back in, wrapped up in a warm blanket. They didn't have to say she was dead, I could already tell. I held my baby in my arms, and I looked at every inch of her. She was Lucious color, but she looked like me. She had his eye color and was starting to have little curly like Jamal's. She was so beautiful. Lucious grabbed her before the nurses came to take her away. He named her and kissed her forehead. After that we just ignored everything. We got rid of everything that we had gotten for her and we just focused on everything else."
Hakeem looked at his mother shocked. He had no idea it was so bad. Jamal stood in the doorway after listening to his mother tell the tragic story of his only sister. He walked closer to the bed and asked, "What did dad name her?" Cookie sat up, wiped tears from her face, and released the breath she had been holding. "He named her Nevaeh. Nevaeh Reign Lyon." The boys hugged their mother and consoled her while she still cried. Lucious had walked by the room right when Jamal asked about Nevaeh's name. As much as he wanted to go into the room and console his wife, he couldn't. That was a part of his life that still hurt him to his core and he just wasn't ready to deal with those emotions.