What Lucious Doesn't Understand

Chapter Twelve

"Am I forgiven?", Jamal asked as he watched his wife cut up her steak into small bites. She hadn't spoken more than a few words to him besides Hello and You look nice. "It's being handled."

She raised an eyebrow at that but had yet to actually talk back.

"We can't do this. Lola, me, you are supposed to be living the life. And then our little one that I know is a boy is going to be running circles around us when he gets here. Let's not fight anymore."

"Is this really a fight that you want to be in?"

"You know I don't."

"No, I know you want to fix something that shouldn't have been broken in the first place. What do you really want? Is it me or Michael? Is it to have a whole family with your wife? Or a broken family with your ex? I'm really tired and I don't think I can handle maneuvering within the shadows on this one."

Jamal knew that this was the moment where he had to decide if his wife and their baby was more important than his music. He never wanted to choose. He never thought he'd have to with a woman like Shia. She loved him and let him do whatever he felt he needed to do.

"I want the American Dream, but I also want my dreams," Jamal spoke in soft tones so not to add any more tension to the already awkward dinner.

Shia never cried but today her heart was breaking and she just wanted to go back to how it used to be.

"You choose the music. I get it."

He glanced up and his face softened to the woman before him. He never saw her cry so openly because of emotions.

"Don't cry. I'm not choosing music over you because we both told each other that we could have both. I plan to stick to our dream."

She smiled sadly and let him swipe away the tears that had gathered at her cheeks.

"Let me handle Lucious this time and we'll see what happens."

"I give you my blessing," he did a fake bow and that completely broke their tension as she laughed happily.

After that, the walls were completely vanished and they spoke about coming together to help raise Lola and maybe finding Olivia. They wanted the little girl to be happy and if having as much family around her as possible helped then so be it.

"It's like we rediscovered who we are and what we want to be tonight," the couple walked down the street with their driver trailing them and the bustling sidewalks keeping them from separating to far from each other.

"He isn't taking your place. He never will. I haven't touched him, looked at him, or anything since he came. I love only you."

"Yeah right," she joked rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I got a few more people on that list," he teased making her elbow him in the side. "Like my son, my daughter, my Mother, and my brothers."

"We should have something. For the family. A ceremony. I want Lola to be the flower girl and we can have a big reception. That'll be enough damage control once we invite all the cameras for an exclusive in the Lyon's Legacy."

"Lucious is about to blow his top."

"Let him."