"Ahhhhhhh!!!! Help me, help me, help me.....Xandri! Pick up the phone!!! I can't do it, I can't do it!! (grunting sounds) Helpmehelpmeheleme...No, no, no no no no no!!! Why aren't you picking up the phone??! XANDRI!!!!!!!"

Xandri Bishop stood in the lobby of Empire Entertainment wondering where she should go to find out what she needed to know. So she stepped up to the first counter she saw.

"Excuse me, I need to see Mr. Lyon please." The assistant looked her.

"Which Mr. Lyon? We have several here in the company."

"I need to see Lucious Lyon please. It's very important."

"I'm sure it is. Do you have an appointment?"

"No, I don't."

"So he's not expecting you?"

"No, he isn't." Xandri was beginning to feel hopeless.

"Well, you're not on the list so there's no security clearance for you."

"But it's really vimportant that I see him."

"I'm sorry ma'am there's not much I can do."

"Well, can I make an emergency appointment with you to see him?"

"No ma'am; you'll have to call his office for that."

"Thank you." she sighed and whispered in defeat. She turned to leave when she saw him walk in the door and she ran to him.

"Mr. Lyon! Mr. Lyon!!" She, he and Cookie were immediately surrounded by security guards. "Mr. Lyon, I need to speak to you!"

"Lucious, I knew you still had groupies but damn this is ridiculous!" Cookie stated. Lucious held up his hands for his guards to let him go.

"I'm alright, I'm alright." He looked at the young woman who was so desperate to speak to him. And he recognized her. "It's Xandri, right?"

"Yes sir, it's me."

"Xandri? What the hell kinda name is that?" Cookie asked.

"When my parents were pregnant with me the doctor told them they were having a boy and they selected the name Alexander. But got me instead. My mother changed my name to Alexandria but she refused to call me Alex or Lexi. My nickname became Xandri."

"Okay..." Cookie replied.

"Fellas, you can let her go." The guards backed off. "I remember you Xandri. It's been a long time but I remember you. What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you Mr. Lyon; it's about Dre."

"Dre?" Cookie asked. "What business do you have regarding my son?"

"I received a very disturbing voice mail from him about four this morning but I couldn't answer my phone at the time. And I haven't been able to reach him." Lucious and Cookie looked at each other with concern.

"Malcolm, go ahead and give Ms. Bishop security clearance. When you're done could you please bring her up to the conference room?"

"Yes sir." he replied. "Ms. Bishop, this way please." Xandri followed Malcolm over to the desk.

      Ten minutes later she stepped off the elevator and she followed him to the conference room.

"Please have a seat Ms. Bishop. Can I get you anything?" Xandri removed her coat and picked a seat.

"Um...water would be nice. Thank you. I'm too nervous to have anything else."

"Sometimes a stiff drink settles the nerves." Cookie suggested. Xandri turned to her.

"It's nice to finally meet you Ms. Lyon. Andre talks about you a lot." Lucious handed her a bottle of water and Cookie took the seat next to her.

"Funny, he hasn't told me a thing about you. And you can call me Cookie."

"So tell us, what's this message you received from my son?" Lucious asked. Xandri took her phone from her purse and played the disturbing message for Dre's parents.

"Oh my God! Lucious did you hear that? What the hell happened?" Cookie asked.

"I don't know. When I was able to check my messages, I called him back but he didn't answer and it didn't go to voice mail. I called several times. It always goes to voice mail when he can't answer and he calls me back. I didn't know where else to turn, so I came here."

"I'm glad you did." Lucious replied.

"How do you know my son?" Cookie asked.

"We met in college. Freshman orientation actually. We ended up in three classes together, studied together. Our attraction was strong and before we knew it we were in a relationship."

"I always thought Rhonda was his college sweetheart." Cookie said. "At least that's what he told me when he wrote to me."

"Well, they ended up together but I was his girlfriend first. We were together a little over two years. I'll never understand what he saw in her. She never understood him like I did. That's a part of what attracted us to each other."

"What do you mean?" Lucious asked.

"His bipolar disorder. A lot of people didn't know how to be around him. But I did."

"And how is that? Are you bipolar too?" was Cookie's question. Lucious glared at his ex-wife.

"No, I'm not but I grew up around it. The disorder skipped around in my family. It skipped my grandfather but got two of his brothers. It skipped my dad but got one of his brothers and a son; my brother Therron. That's why I couldn't answer my phone when Dre called this morning. My brother has had a serious breakdown and it's taken him longer than usual to get back to his reality. This time around someone has had to stay with him at night to give my parents a break and last night was my turn. He's developed a form of PTSD and claims that the sound of cell phones bother him and won't let him sleep. My phone was turned off and I couldn't answer it until I left the house."

"You knew my son was bipolar?" Lucious asked. Xandri nodded. "How? He wasn't officially diagnosed until his junior year."

"Yes, from the moment we first met; I just knew. It was a look, something in his eyes. It was the same look my brother always had. Some days hopeful and happy, other days sad and sorry. The symptoms are always there but no one ever really connects the dots until something big happens. I didn't want to push him into a diagnosis by mentioning the possibilities until he was ready for it. By the time he saw a doctor, we were no longer together." Lucious was deep in thought.

"If you two were so in love, how in the hell did he end up with Rhonda?" asked Cookie. Xandri sighed.

"The summer after our sophomore year I was working in an internship, he decided that we needed some time apart. Which I wasn't totally against; it was okay. We kept in touch but not as much as we could have. That next fall right as school was starting she was there, hanging around and I wasn't quite sure what was going on. We talked; he told me that he had met someone who turned his heart. And he wanted to be with her. He felt that he needed her so I accepted that." Cookie gave her a strange look.

"Why would you let him go?"

"We had an agreement that we would never cheat on each other, that we would be open and honest if our feelings changed. He was open and honest with me so I had to respect and accept his decision to be with Rhonda. What I couldn't accept was the fact that she couldn't take care of him like I could."

"I don't understand."

"I'm sure she had good intentions at the time and probably still does. I just don't think she was ever capable. They were a couple but every single time he second guessed himself or when things were too hard to handle, he always came to me. Every single time. Sometimes his roommates would call me, beg me even, to come help. We'd talk, he'd feel better and would be back on track for a while."

"What's a while?" Lucious wondered.

"Sometimes a few weeks, usually three to four months. It really depended on what was going on. And it hasn't stopped. After all this time, he still calls, still comes to see me."

"Are you sleeping with my son?" Cookie asked.

"Cookie!" Lucious exclaimed. "Why would you ask her that?"

"What? A mother needs to know these things."

"No, we're not sleeping together Cookie. And it would be so easy for us to fall into that. So easy. As weak and vulnerable as we have been to each other and with each other, I've never crossed that line. No matter how bad we both wanted or needed it, I've always respected his wedding vows, even when he hasn't."

      Andre's parents were silent, thinking about Xandri's words. Lucious was thinking about Rhonda's role in his son's life. If she couldn't keep him on his meds, what was she doing? How was she keeping him from loosing it? Andre couldn't be the next CEO of Empire Entertainment if he couldn't keep his wits about him. That worried Lucious. Cookie was trying to read Xandri's body language, trying to get a better feel of her. She needed to know more.

"Xandri, I have tons and tons of questions for you girl; I don't even know where to start."

"Come on now Cookie."

"What?"

"Oh I don't mind Mr. Lyon. If it was my son I'd want to know everything I could about his well-being."

"See?" Cookie replied, rolling her eyes at Lucious. "So...you're a Wharton grad too?"

"Yes. I have a Management degree and double MBA in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing. I also have a culinary degree."

"And what do you do with those?"

"I own and manage three restaurants, two spas, a printing business and an advertising agency."

"You have more degrees that my daughter-in-law. And you have your own. I like that about you."

"I'm not filthy rich by any standards but I'm comfortable. My employees are comfortable and taken care of."

"Hmmm mmm..." Cookie mused aloud. "You're a pretty girl too. I can see why my son was attracted to you. I wonder what made him change his mind. The only physical attributes you and Rhonda have in common is that you're both women."

"He never told me and I didn't ask."

"Hmm."

"I don't think it was entirely physical. If she caught him on a high energy mania day it could have been anything." This peaked Lucious's curiosity.

"Like what? A wild sex party?"

"Well, yeah."

"Surely not." he replied, scoffing at the idea.

"Rhonda has a highly addictive personality. She probably sought him out like other girls looking for a rich man or groupies trying to get it in at the club with the athletes. She wants what she wants and once she has it she does anything she can to keep it on the level she has it. And depending on where his mood is swung, Andre can be that way too."

"What could they be addicted to?" Lucious asked. This was giving him some insight into their marriage.

"Power, success, money, each other. Highly addictive people are more susceptible to addictions. And it's anything from drugs to porn, exercise, being a workaholic."

"Damn, that's the two of them. If they didn't have to sleep or eat they would be here 24/7."

"And there's no telling what kind of sexual antics they get into." Cookie shuddered at that thought. "Eww, you know what now that I think about it I really don't want to think about it."

"Their addictive personalities have them spending excessive time on things or people not because they want to but because they feel they have to.I don't know if they could get away from each other even if they tried."

"Girl, how do you know all this? Do you have a degree in this too?"

"No but it feels like it. A few years ago I took a full bipolar disorder course to help my parents deal with Therron."

"The way I see it, my son is as addicted to his wife as he is to you." Lucious said. "It's like he needs both of you to function. They swing from the chandeliers and you keep him from crashing into the floor or fix him if he falls. Andre can't live that way. He has to chose one."

"If his wife can't keep him together, how can we?"

"I would suggest you convince him to stay on his medicine, maybe change doctors. Checking himself into an institution wouldn't be a bad idea either. I can highly recommend the one my family has used. They will take great care of him. Make sure he speaks with the psychotherapist. And keeps his appointments, no matter what his work schedule is. I can't stress that enough. Keeping things bottled up ruins the chemical balance. And stress makes it worse."

"Keeping that stress level low is gonna be difficult." Cookie said. "We've got a lot going on here."

"I know. There is so much stuff that Andre tells me but if he could just talk to the people who really need to hear it most, it would help him tremendously. And I'm constantly encouraging him to to that; he says he will but I can tell that he doesn't."

"You know about my ALS?" Lucious asked. Xandri nodded her head.

"He's stressed about losing you, as any child would their parent. He's also afraid of not pleasing you. Knowing that you need someone to be CEO when you're gone has been fueling him these last few months. Andre wants to impress you Mr. Lyon. He desperately wants to show you that he can do it, that you can depend on him. He's the oldest and he wants you to know everything will be fine in his capable hands."

"But will it stay that way? He might be capable today and tomorrow but what about a year from now? Or ten years from now? If any little thing can set him off or distract him, how can I trust my legacy to him?" Lucious asked. Xandri sighed because she asked the same questions.

"It can be done. Andre will have to have a certain group of people that can carry on when he can't. I have certain things and people put in place to handle business when I'm out of town, sick, or in the event something tragic happens. Everyone doesn't need to know his secret, but does who do know will have to be people he can undoubtedly trust and won't be hungry for his position. That would seem like betrayal when he comes back to his position."

"What's the number to that facility? I mean maybe he should check in asap." Cookie asked.

"Here it is." Xandri wrote the number down for them. "It's the same one that has taken care of my uncles and brother. But I would wait until the IPO is done. Taking that away from him could do serious damage. Everything he's doing is for that moment. Please don't take that moment from him."

"I don't plan to. He is a very integral part of everything goi-" Before Lucious could finish his sentence the door to the conference room flew open and Rhonda stormed in. She dropped her purse on the table, walked straight over to the Xandri and raised her hand to slap her.

"You home wrecking bitch!!" Xandri stood up to face her but managed to not get slapped. "What in the hell are you doing here?!"

"I came up here to see Andre's parents."

"Are you planning to get into the entertainment business or planning to do business with Empire?"

"No, of course not."

"Then you have no business being here."

"I came up here to make sure Andre was all right."

"And why is my husband's well-being any of your business?"

"He's your husband; you tell me. He called me at four this morning leaving me a voice mail asking for me to pick up the phone, desperately asking me for help. At four a.m. he should have been in bed next to you right? Maybe he wasn't at home. OR maybe you weren't at home? At any rate, he called me, he needed me. And when I called him back he didn't answer and the voice mail didn't pick up so I came here. You're his wife, you tell me what's going on." Rhonda stepped back a second and looked Xandri up and down.

"Hmm mmm. I thought that was your number. You just wouldn't stop calling."

"Of course not! I wanted to...wait...you're the reason the phone didn't to go voice mail." Lucious and Cookie looked at each other. "What in the hell did you do to his phone Rhonda?"

"It's none of your damn business what I did to his phone. I did what I had to do to keep you from talking to my husband."

"Well Rhonda, if you were the wife Andre needed you to be then he wouldn't need to call me!" Xandri stated as she got in Rhonda's face.

"I do everything I'm supposed to do as his wife!"

"That's bullshit and you know it! Being a wife means more than sex. And being a wife to Andre means keeping him on his medication. Making sure he talk to the therapist, making-"

"I make sure he does what he needs to do."

"Then here's one to put on your to-do list, as soon as this IPO is done you need to get Andre to a mental health facility."

"He's fine."

"According to the voice mail he left me this morning, he is NOT fine Rhonda. Not by a long shot. A wife who was paying attention to her husband would know that."

"Did you hear what you just said? He's my husband, not yours. I'll do what's best for him. You just make sure you stay away."

"Or what?" Rhonda stared at her.

"Or nothing. You just stay away." Rhonda grabbed her purse and headed toward her office.

Cookie and Lucious looked at each other again. Then she looked at Xandri.

"Are you sure you and my son aren't sleeping together? No woman I know gets that upset over her man unless there is a chick on the side."

"I promise Andre and I are not together. We're just friends. That was smoke and mirrors. She's not as upset as you think she is. Rhonda is more scared of me than anything. She has no clue how much I know. Andre doesn't just tell me a lot; he tells me everything. I know more about their marriage than they do. I know who has done what for what reason- business and/or pleasure- and it's not pretty."

"I'm scared to ask but I will. What are you talking about?" Lucious asked.

"I'll just say this, some days it's hard to tell who's the pimp and who's the whore." Cookie and Lucious both frowned. "That's another reason why I question Rhonda's concern for him even more. She didn't even hear what I wanted to say but it's gonna come back to bite her. I know it is."

"I knew there was a reason I never really liked her. And now I know why." Lucious said.

"So what can we do?"

"My best suggestion is to get him to a facility as soon as the IPO is done."

"We'll give it some serious thought." Lucious said. "Thank you for coming to us with your concerns. And thank you for being such a caring friend to him."

"I just want Andre to get the help he needs."

"Let me walk you out." Xandri followed Cookie out of the conference room.

      Lucious and Cookie called the facility Xandri told them about and the hospital said they would send them an information packet overnight. Lucious was still skeptical of Andre's diagnosis, even though he had been living with the disorder for a number of years. Deep down he agreed that something had to be done. He would love to leave Empire in Andre's hands but he just didn't know. Cookie just wanted her son to be healthy. A few days later they would find out how just how beneficial that conversation and phone call were.