STAR. EMPIRE

TWO

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

COOKIE SMILED AT HER DAUGHTER. She was beautiful, a perfect mix of her and Lucious. The only good thing that ever came from that relationship were her children, and she was so glad Ciara looked beyond happy to see her. "Hey baby, you missed me?"

Wasting no time, she ran over and hugged her mother crying tears of joy. Cookie hugged her back tighter, not wanting to let go even for a second. "I missed you so much."

Out of her and Hakeem, she was the only that actually answered her mother calls. Of course Jamal did, he was undoubtedly the closest to their mother out of the siblings, and she was unsure of where Andre's relationship stood with their mom. Recently, Ciara had been slacking with the communication as Lucious had made her schedule hectic, leaving no time for personal time.

Cookie pulled away slowly, using her fingers to wipe the tears that fell from her eyes, laughing. "Look at you, my beautiful baby." She suddenly slapped her toned stomach.

"Ouch, what you do that for ma?" Ciara asked in confusion, rubbing her stomach.

"For not answering my calls and for showing too much damn skin." Cookie said sternly shaking her head.

Ciara playfully rolled her eyes, seeing that she was going to have another over protective person in her life. "You and Hakeem kill me with that. It's not my fault dad has been keeping me busy so I haven't had the time. When did you get out?"

"Today actually, and I already saw your brother and his little partner." Cookie said giggling at how her baby was so happy, and his true self.

"His name is Michael." Ciara said matter-of-factly. She loved Michael, he was sweet and was one hell of a cook. He was good for her brother.

"Yeah him, but where's your brother?" Cookie said waving her hand absentmindedly.

"Hakeem?" She asked and got a nod in return, Ciara shrugged. "Don't know, I don't keep tabs on that boy.

"Jamal told me, you and your brother are close." Cookie smiled softly, happily that Ciara was looked after by her sons. "I'm glad."

"Well, we're the closest in age so," Ciara shrugged simply. Her car pulled up, and she looked at her mother. "Come on, let's do something about that hair and outfit."

"What, you don't like what your mother got on?" Cookie raised her eyebrows in question, laughing as she knew it was outdated. It was what she was wearing when she got locked up.

"No, mom I'm not saying that. It's a little outdated, is all." Ciara laughed with a smile. Her mother was beautiful and looked great for her age. "Now come on, we'll go shopping and get your hair done."

The mother and daughter hopped into the car, Ciara telling the driver to take them to her usual hair salon. Cookie turned to her daughter, "I'm glad to be spending some time with my baby, but don't be taking me to no crazy white girl that make me look somebody grandma."

Ciara rolled her eyes and chuckled before smirking. "That is not how I get down. I was raised better."

"That's what I'm talking about." Cookie said as they laughed before pulling off.

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Ciara was sat in her living room of the lavish apartment she lived in. Her hair was thrown into a messy bun as she nursed a glass of red wine, trying to wind down from the stressful and long day she endured. Cookie and her had spent the whole day together and felt it good. She needed her mother in her life and was so grateful she was out.

She suddenly stopped everything she was doing as she heard her front door open. The only people who had a key were Jamal and Hakeem, and both men were busy that night so she knew it wasn't either of them. She grabbed her phone, ready to call the police when her father rounded the corner. She sighed, of course it was him. "Dad, how do you have a key to my house?"

"I pay for this damn apartment, of course I have a key." Lucious laughed shaking his head. He payed for all his children's apartments, and their cars, and their phone bills, and most of their things.

Ciara rolled her eyes as he always threw that in her face. He loved reminding his children of how privileged they were thanks to him. He suddenly picked up her glass of wine from the coffee table and walked into the kitchen, pouring the alcohol down the sink. Her eyes widened as she exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Who the hell you talking to like that?" Lucious asked staring at his daughter as if she had two heads. He hated when any of his children got slick in the mouth with him, and he had the most issues with Ciara when it came to that. "Must've lost your damn mind. But you're underage and you need to cut this shit out, and I mean it."

Ciara rolled her eyes, sick of him always scolding her. She was nineteen, one year younger than Hakeem yet no one had an issue when he drank all the time. "Is that the only reason you came here?"

Lucious walked over and sat next to her on the couch. "Tony said you missed dance rehearsal earlier, and not to mention I texted you to get in the studio today so you could work on that new song I got for you."

Ciara sighed as lies started to spew out of her mouth. She wasn't going to tell him about Cookie getting out because for some reason he didn't want her and her brothers having contact with her. "Sorry daddy my phone died and I was out with Haley all day."

"I see. Well, tomorrow no Haley, no nothing, just work since you missed all that stuff today. You'll make it all up tomorrow." Lucious said getting a nod from her. "You and your brothers are dropping albums this year and I need y'all to make sure your on track with this stuff, remember when you first started singing?"

Ciara chuckled as she thought back to the day when music became her life. She was young, nine or ten, and had found some of Lucious' old tapes from when he was making music out of his garage in their house in Philly. The music touched her in a way no other music had, and she started to sing along and Lucious stood in the doorway, shocked by how amazing her voice was, "Yeah, I found some of your old music, I didn't even realize you were listening to me. It was like the music had me in a trance, I had never felt so complete."

"I need that happy little girl who fell in love with singing to come back." Lucious said softly. He had noticed too how Ciara had been distracted, and not fully invested in the music like how she used to be.

"I'm trying dad." Ciara said honestly, not knowing what was wrong with her. Music used to be fun, something she loved but was starting to feel like a chore. It felt as thought everyone wanted something from the youngest Lyon, and she wasn't able to deliver.

"All real artist go through a stage of being unsure of themselves. But Ciara, baby, you have real talent and that's hard to find. You just gotta get your head back in the game."

Now, Lucious wouldn't say Ciara was his favorite. But they had a special bond, she was the youngest and his only girl. He could protect her with his whole being if he had too. She had a talent like no other and he'd be damned if that just fizzled out. "Now, get some sleep, you have a long day ahead of you."