Defending Our Empire

Meet...Everybody

*A little filler before shit gets popping*

Reginald and Cookie looked at each other in silence. Carol got off the edge of the bed, pulling Cookie closer to their dad. He reached out his hand, hoping she'd take it. She hesitated, hearing him chuckle then started singing 'My Girl'. She smiled, leaning down to hug him. The arms she missed so much finally hugging her again after all these years. Reginald felt at peace as he held the child he put out. Carol wiped her eyes as Candace was ready to spill off of Cookie's tea. "Loretha has had the most adventurous life out of all of us. Haven't you?" Candace spat. "Why you gotta be like that all the damn time?" Carol snapped. "Oh shut up! You always take her side!" Candace threw back.

"Both of you shut up!" Reginald boomed, making all three look down. "I know about these "adventures" you're referring to Candace. Renee made sure I knew what was happening. But I'm proud of how strong my baby was to handle 17 years in prison. To do what she had to do to make sure her boys were taken care of. I taught you girls to hustle. To make a way when there is no way. And after all these years of just thinking, I wanna apologize to you Retha. I should've listened to you. I should've been more supportive. Seeing Reign grow up, I noticed the things I did wrong with you girls and I'm so sorry," Reginald told them, not a dry eye in the room.

Reign walked in with some food, placing it on ther tray. "This little nut right here kept me fighting. I swear it was like watching you grow up all over again times 3," he told, looking at the mother and daughter. "I wasn't that bad," Reign threw out. "Not that bad? She broke her arm for the first time when she was 2. Jumping off the damn bookshelf because she saw a flying squirrel on tv," he explained to everyone. "Oh God that sounds like Haven," Cookie mentioned. "Who is Haven?" Reginald asked. Cookie pulled up a picture of her youngest, showing her beaming father. "She's such a busy body. It's so different having a little girl that can't sit down versus a little boy," Cookie confessed.

"It really is," the other 3 women agreed. Reginald held Cookie's phone, smiling at the picture of Haven. Doing as parents do, he scrolled to the left, seeing pictures of Jamal with Bella, Kemani, and Aden. Then a picture of Dre and Keem followed by a picture of Haven holding Kennny. Then a picture of Cookie and Lucious wrapped up together by a bonfire as they enjoyed the sunset. Reginald's smile faltered as he stared at it. He understood that Lucious was very much in Cookie's life but he still had some feelings about the man who took his daughter away. "When are my girls coming to see me Lani?" He asked as he handed Cookie her phone back.

"They don't even know I found you yet. You know when I do tell them then Junior is gonna be calling left and right then everybody is gonna have all types of demands as if they run anything," Reign voiced. "I don't care. I want to see them. I want to see all of my grandkids," he said, looking at his daughters. "Don't you think you should rest daddy? We just found you," Candace suggested. "I'll rest when I'm dead. I've missed too much in life being hidden away. I don't want to miss another thing. I wanna meet my family," he told them. "We'll just have a huge welcome home party at Cook's and you can meet everybody," Carol blurted without question.

Candace snickered as she looked at Cookie's face. "We'll figure that part out later. Right now you just get stronger so you can get out of here," Cookie said nonchalantly. Reginald sighed as he looked at the four women again, a tear falling down his face. "I'm glad that I finally got to be reunited with my family. I thought I was going to die in that whole Renee left me in," he said. "Why did she take you to Vermont?" Reign asked. "How did she take you to Vermont? We thought you died," Cookie added. I had the heart attack and fell into a coma. When I woke up in Philly, she was there talking to the doctor. Guess she saw me in the corner of her eye because she walked over and pressed a button and I fell right back to sleep," he began the story.