Rebuilding Our Empire

We Have to Do Things Differently

Back at the Mansion

No One's POV

Jamal and Hakeem sat in the family room waiting on Dre to show up. He finally walked into the house, making Hakeem excited to finally share his idea with his brothers. "Finally! Damn Dre where you been?" Hakeem impatiently asked. "For your information little brother, I was busy getting Eddie arrested and getting Empire back once and for all," Andre gloated. "Yo, are you serious?" Jamal asked, shocked that Andre pulled it off. "Yeah. It's all over the news. Turn on the tv," Andre answered. Hakeem grabbed the remote and saw every channel covering Eddie's arrest. Jamal and Hakeem looked at Dre with their mouths open. Dre sat on the couch and looked at his frozen brothers.

"Anyways, where's ma and pops? I wanted to tell them that we can get right back to work at Empire," Andre decided to make his brothers focus on the other half of his achievements. Hakeem snapped out of his thoughts and answered, "I don't know. They haven't been back all day. But my idea- " "They are at the warehouse or some shit. I don't know what they are doing exactly," Jamal interrupted Hakeem. "The warehouse? What do you mean?" Hakeem asked. "Leave it alone. You don't need to know," Andre instructed. He remembers his parents talking about the warehouse, so he already knew that it wasn't anything good. "Whatever. About my idea-" "Did you ever find out what they be doing with that warehouse?" Jamal interrupted Hakeem yet again. Hakeem huffed loudly as Andre shrugged his shoulder.

"Bro, if you interrupt me again I'm beating yo ass," Hakeem threaten. "And I'd love to see you try. Shut up fool and say what you got to say," Jamal spat back. Hakeem rolled his eyes then grabbed his phone. "I heard mom and dad talking... well singing actually. And I didn't know mom could blow. Like bro, she better than Mal on his best day. Look at this video," Hakeem pressed play and waited for his brothers to be amazed. Andre sat back unimpressed by Hakeem's new findings unlike Jamal, who was shocked that his mom could hit such high notes with ease. "I knew she could sing, but I didn't know she could sing like that," Jamal pointed out. Hakeem looked at the laid-back Andre. "So, you have nothing to say?" He asked Dre. "Just because the two of you don't remember days back in Philly with mom doesn't mean that I don't. I know mom can sing. Did the two of you really think that Mal got his range from Lucious? Mom sang the chorus on a few of Pop's mixtapes. She didn't want the spotlight though," Andre explained.

"Well she's already in the spotlight now. So, I was thinking, she should do an album. I was thinking that would be goof publicity for us and now that we have Empire back, it will bring in even more money. What better way to come back than to show how talented not only we are but also the one and only Cookie Lyon?" Hakeem went on. Jamal and Andre sat back thinking about what Hakeem was suggesting. It was a great idea, but they still had to convince Cookie to actually agree to at least one song, let alone an entire album. Not forgetting the tour she would have to go on. Jamal thought of all these things, then one important thought came up. "She's not going to do it Keem. It's a great idea and would be amazing for Empire, but she's not going to do that, then have to go out on tour to promote the album. Especially since the other walking sperm bank besides you managed to knock her up again," Jamal informed his brothers. Andre spit out his drink and Hakeem looked on disgusted. "What are you talking about Mal?" Andre asked. Jamal put his hand on Andre's shoulder and told him, "Congratulations Andre. You're going to be 30 years older than your youngest sibling," Jamal taunted.

Andre shook his head in disbelief. "No, no she's not. She's just playing with your head Mal. She can't be pregnant again. They're damn near 50!" Andre shouted while pacing back and forth. Hakeem ran his hand over his face. "I don't think it's a lie Dre. I heard dad say something about they have another chance now. It's real," Hakeem confirmed Jamal's intel. Dre looked at his brothers then grabbed his phone. "I'm going to call her," Dre said. He called his mother, hoping she would say she was joking around. Andre put the phone on speaker, waiting for his mother to answer. She finally picked up, sounding slightly winded. "What is it Dre?" She asked annoyed. "Ma, please tell me you aren't pregnant again," Andre begged. Hakeem stood biting his nail, waiting for the answer. All three of the Lyon boys stood waiting for an answer but the call got extremely quiet. "Ma," Andre called out.