The Light of the World (Cookie/Lucious, Anika/Malcolm), an Empire fanfic

Chapter Five: Cupid Doesn't Lie

Beep beep!

"Hey, Malcolm!" Jamal waved as Malcolm's truck drove past him. "Was that Anika with Malcolm?" he asked Cookie, jogging up the drive. He stopped and kissed her on the cheek.

Cookie nodded and kissed Jamal back. "What are you doing back?"

"Came to get some sheet music I left in Dad's music room." Mother and son walked into the mansion. "So they're finally going public, huh? Good for them."

"Yeah, good for them," Cookie said sarcastically. "I love the idea of Lucious Lyon's wife out in public with her boyfriend."

"It's no different than Dad being out in public with all his side chicks, don't you think?" Jamal asked.

Cookie ignored that question. After all, she was one of the so-called side chicks whether she liked it or not. "Did you know Malcolm and Anika were sleeping together?" Cookie asked as the two of them made their way to Lucious's piano room.

"I knew Malcolm and Anika were dating," Jamal said neutrally. "Just like I knew you and Lucious were dating and didn't say anything to Angelo."

"Don't get smart with me, boy," Cookie snapped. "This is different. We're family, Jamal. Angelo isn't."

"Does Anika count as family?" Jamal asked tersely. "It gets tiring keeping up with everybody's affairs."

Smart-mouthed little bastard. "When did this whole thing start between them?" Cookie asked.

"Valentine's Day, like Malcolm said. No...I think it might've been a little sooner than that, 'cause Malcolm was working with me at WOKE by then."

Jamal never found out why Lucious's offer for virtual therapy never came to pass. Instead, Jamal invited Malcolm to come to the first PTSD WOKE meeting of the New Year. Malcolm went just to be polite at first, but then he went to another, then another. Malcolm had such a warm, easygoing personality that Angelo suggested Malcolm lead his own group meetings for combat veterans as a way to give back to the community.

"Just once," Malcolm told a smiling, triumphant Angelo. He'd pulled the frat brother card on Malcolm in order to get his way. "I'm not a psychiatrist, Mr. Mayor."

Even on short notice, the meeting was three times larger than anybody expected. Malcolm expected to tell about himself, answer a couple of questions about his time in the navy and listen to a few war stories. He wound up leading a meeting that was over two hours long - one that nearly got out of hand when it came to an end. A Thursday night meeting was hastily set up. By the end of January, walk-in meetings could no longer be accommodated, and a third Saturday afternoon meeting was added to Malcolm's schedule.

Malcolm was afraid that Jamal would be jealous, but Jamal was more than happy to turn the combat vets over to Malcolm. Andre came up with the idea of a weekend daycare and rec center so that more families could participate. "Where are we going to get the volunteers for all that?" Angelo asked, overwhelmed with the sudden influx of new WOKE members and visitors.

"Try the high schools," Hakeem suggested. "I'm sure a lot of them need some volunteer hours to put on their college applications."

Magic words. Almost immediately, WOKE was filled to the brim with volunteers and therapy participants, thanks in part to their handsome, articulate, young(ish) military PTSD specialist. By mid-February, Malcolm had been invited to a conference for group therapy leaders specializing in military affairs. Though it would take Malcolm all to the way up to the day before Valentine's Day, Malcolm knew he couldn't say no to the invitation. For someone just indulging a side hobby and with no background in psychology, Malcolm DeVeaux had arrived.