Lucious was pacing nervously because he hadn't seen Andre yet that morning and there was a very important presentation that he was supposed to make. He needed everything to be just right because it was one of the last important steps for the IPO.

"Untwist your panties." Cookie said. "He's probably making some last minute changes. You know he's a perfectionist when it comes to his presentations. Especially now."

"But he should have been in here to set things up." Lucious got up to head to Andre's office.

"Sit down, sit down. I'll go check on him." Cookie rolled her eyes at her ex-husband and headed toward her son's office. As she arrived she saw his assistant Lisa frantically knocking on the door.

"Mr. Lyon? Mr. Lyon?"

"Lisa is my son in?"

"Yes, but I can't get him to open the door. I'm trying to make sure everything is ready for the presentation but he won't open the door or answer the phone." Panic hit Cookie's stomach.

"Let me try." She began to knock on the door. "Andre? Andre, it's me can you unlock the door?" There was silence on the other side. "Are you sure he's in there?"

"Yes ma'am. He just went it about ten minutes ago."

"Okay...think Cookie think..." She whispered to herself and began scrolling through her phone. "I need you to call Becky and tell her we need Lucious over here now. Then call Malcolm and tell him we need a way to get into Andre's office."

"Yes ma'am." Cookie send a text to Jamal and Hakeem telling them that she needed them to drop whatever they were doing and to rush to Andre's office. She then placed a call to Rhonda hoping to catch her before the photo shoot got too far along but there was no answer.

"Come one Rhonda, pick up, pick up." Malcolm and Lucious arrived at the same time.

"Cookie what's going on? Where's Andre?"

"Lisa says he's locked himself in his office and won't answer."

"I have a key to get in." Malcolm said and knocked on the door. "Andre, it's Malcolm. I have a key and I'm unlocking the door at your mother's request, alright?" Still silence.

"You sure he's in there?" asked Lucious.

"Lisa said he went in there ten minutes ago and she's been trying to help get things set up for the presentation." Malcolm cautiously unlocked the door and called Andre's name. They all carefully walked in.

"Andre?"

"What are you doing in here?!!" Andre yelled. He was kneeling on the floor of his office in front of his couch. His face was full of pain and distraught. He was rocking back and forth like a child having a temper tantrum. "I locked that damn door for a reason."

"You're weren't answering and we're trying to make sure you're ready for the presentation. Honey are you feeling okay?" replied Cookie.

"No, but I will be I just fine. I just need some damn peace and quiet!"

"Bullshit," Lucious said. "Peace and quiet ain't gonna fix this. Boy what is wrong with you?! GET UP!!" Andre began to grunt like an angry animal while rocking back and forth.

"Lucious stop it! Can't you see something's wrong?" Cookie kneeled in front of Andre and tried to talk to him. "Andre, listen to me baby, where is your medication? Did you take it this morning?"

"I don't need that shit. I'm fine."

"Baby, you are not fine. Now where are your meds?"

"I said I'm not taking them."

"Oh my god, Lucious what are we gonna' do?"

"This is ridiculous. Lisa!" The assistant came to the office. "Tim, Joseph and Samantha worked on this with him?"

"Yes sir."

"Find them, tell them to meet me in the conference room with the presentation immediately. Somebody get Rhonda on the phone, right now."

"NO! It's my presentation. I'll do it!!"

"Not until you get yourself together. And that's not gonna be today." Lucious turned to leave.

"Lucious! You can't leave him here by himself."

"He's not by himself, you're here and the sooner you get Rhonda on the phone the better. I gotta this presentation together." And he left. Cookie took her phone out and placed another call to Rhonda's phone. Still no answer.

"Why is this girl not answering her phone? What is her assistant's name?" she asked Malcolm.

"Kelly."

"Call her and see if you can get a hold of Rhonda. Lisa?" Lisa came to the office door again. "Could you please keep people away from Andre's office? I don't care how important they say it is, take messages for everything. We need to keep this here."

"Yes ma'am." Cookie turned back to her son, trying to find out more about his medicine.

"Andre, listen to me baby. I need to know where you keep your medicine. You need to take something."

"I don't need it. I'm fine."

"No you're not! Now your daddy might not believe something is wrong but I do. I know. Help me help you Andre. Please?" Malcolm tipped his head back in.

"I can't get either one of them on the phone. What now?"

"Keep trying. Hakeem and Jamal are on their way. When the security was upgraded did you guys get medical records on any of the employees?"

"Allergic reactions only, everything else was optional."

"Let me guess, Andre didn't volunteer."

"No he didn't." Cookie sighed.

"Andre honey talk to me. Help me help you." Andre was now sitting with his knees under his chin, rocking back and forth grunting and moaning as if he was in pain. Jamal ran into the office.

"Mom, got your text, what's wrong?"

"Hey sweetie, your brother's having an episode and he hasn't taken his meds. Do you know anything about them?"

"Nothing specific. He has some in his desk somewhere. I saw him take them once. Where's Rhonda?"

"On a shoot and not answering her damn phone. Start looking in his desk and see what you can find. Where's Hakeem?"

"He said he was on the way. He wasn't far from here." Jamal sat at Andre's desk and began looking through the drawers.

"Malcolm do you even have a doctor's name on file for Andre?"

"No ma'am."

"Oh Andre!" Cookie was trying to hold in her frustration so things wouldn't be worse. She tried Rhonda's phone once again and left her a message. Hakeem came in as she hung up.

"I got your message. What's going...on...?" he said as he saw his oldest brother sitting on the floor ricking back and forth. "Dre?" His brother looked up at him and seemed to be more enraged.

"Come in Hakeem. Do you have any info about Andre's medication or doctor?"

"No, shouldn't his wife have all that?"

"Yeah but we can't get her on the phone. If we could find a doctor's name we could make a call."

"Wouldn't he have the number in his phone?"

"His phone. Jamal do you see his phone?" Jamal looked under some papers.

"Not here."

"I'll be out here still trying to make contact. If she doesn't answer soon, I'll send someone over to get her." Malcolm stated.

"Thank you Malcolm. Hopefully she find her common sense and call back before then." She headed to some bookshelves. "I'm gonna start looking over here."

"Hey Dre," Hakeem said to his brother as he knelt next to him. "We're trying to help you, I need your phone man. It's not on your desk so I'm gonna check your pockets okay?" He carefully reached into Dre's suit jacket, feeling apprehensive because of the stare he was receiving from his brother. Hakeem had never looked into his brother's eyes like that before. He found the phone in the right inside pocket. "I got it. Ok, you have a code...what's the code Dre? I need to call your doc." Dre just stared at him.

"'Keem try clicking on emergency call and see if it will let you do that." suggested Jamal. "If it does, call Rhonda. Surely she'll answer a call from her husband's phone." Hakeem dialed and put it on speaker.

"It's ringing." This time there was an answer.

"This is Kelly for Rhonda Lyon, may I help you?"

"Kelly this is Hakeem, Andre's brother. I need to speak to Rhonda."

"I'm sorry she's busy on the photo shoot."

"Kelly it's an emergency involving Andre. I need to speak to her."

"I'm sorry she can't be disturbed." Cookie turned around at that statement and Andre seemed to become more agitated.

"Give me that phone Hakeem. Kelly, this is Cookie, Andre's mother. This is not a suggestion. Andre is having a medical emergency and we need the name of his doctor right now. If you value your job you will hand this phone to Ronda right now!"

"I'm sorry Ms. Lyon I can't." And Kelly hung up the phone.

"Did that bitch just hang up on me??? I don't believe this!" Cooked clicked the emergency call icon and dialed the number again. And it went to voice mail. "Oh I'm gonna whip both of their asses when I see them!! How dare she hang up on me in an emergency! Damn it we really need to find that doctor's number."

"Let me see if I can figure out the code."

"Aha, I found medicine bottles."

"Good." Cookie said turning to the desk. "What's the doctor's name?"

"From which bottle? I found thirteen empty bottles and one that's half full."

"Oh my god Andre, are you supposed to be taking all these medications?" she asked.

"I told you I'm not taking that shit anymore!!!" And suddenly Andre yelled as if someone stabbed him, catching Hakeem off guard making him loose his balance and falling backwards. Then he began the primal grunting sound he was making before followed by swinging arms and fists. Jamal ran to them and grabbed Andre's wrists so he wouldn't hurt anyone or himself.

"Let me go Jamal!!"

"I can't do that!"

"I said let. me. GOOOOOO!!!!"

"Calm down! It's just us." Jamal said.

"Yeah man, we're not trying to hurt you we just wanna help. Let us help man." Andre rolled over on the floor into a fetal position, slamming his fist into the floor and began moaning as if he was in pain.

"Ya'll start working on that lock code. Let me see about these pill bottles." Cookie sat at Andre's desk looking at the bottles that Jamal found. "None of these prescriptions look like they've expired. I'm not sure though and I'm not sure what he's supposed to be taking."

"Maybe start by calling one of the doctors?" Jamal suggested. Cookie started separating the bottles by doctor.

"I just thought of something, we only have ten tries to unlock this phone before it locks permanently." Hakeem said. "We gotta choose wisely." Cookie called the doctor of the first three prescriptions.

"Good morning Dr. Mann's office?"

"Hello, my name is Cookie Lyon, I'm Andre Lyon's mother. We have an emergency regarding Andre is Dr. Mann available?"

"The emergency?"

"He's having an episode and we're not sure what medicine to give him."

"One moment please."

"Thank you." The line when silent.

"Okqy, the code isn't his birthday, Rhonda's birthday or their anniversary."

"Speaking of Rhonda..."

"On it." Jamal said as he dialed her number again.

"Mrs. Lyon?"

"Yes, Dr. Mann? Thank you so much for taking my call. We really need your help. We have fourteen pill bottles, three prescribed by you."

"Well, Mrs. Lyon..."

"It's actually Ms. Lyon but you can call me Cookie."

"Cookie, I can't actually give you any particulars on Andre's medication because I'm not authorized to. The only person I can give information to is Rhonda, his wife. That's per Andre's request." Cookie sighed.

"Well, we can't get in touch with her."

"He's also not a full patient at the moment."

"I'm confused. What does that mean?"

"I don't refill prescriptions when my patients ditch their therapy sessions. The medicines are based on the patient's progress and I can't do that if Andre never comes in for evaluation."

"Oh my god, there are four other doctor's names on these bottles. Suppose it's the same situation with them?"

"That could very well be the case. Is there a bottle that has pills in it?"

"Yes, one is half full."

"My guess is, that's the current doctor. Call him or her a call, explain the situation. I'm sure they will be able to help."

"Thank you Dr. Mann."

"I'm sorry I couldn't have been more help to you."

"You helped tremendously." And she hung up the phone.

"The code isn't any of our birthdays. I'm running out of numbers to try." Hakeem said. "It must be a date of extreme importance for him. I just can't figure out which one." Cookie was looking at the half-full pill bottle.

"Graduation date maybe?" Jamal suggested.

"I don't remember that."

"Try 01-25-1998." Hakeem put the numbers in.

"Ha! That worked. What date is that?"

"That's the date she was sent to prison." Jamal replied sullenly. Andre began making sounds like a wounded puppy and Jamal let go of his wrists just in case he was hurting him.

"I didn't know that."

"No, you were a little guy, way too young to remember." Cookie replied.

And before any of them could get in their feelings they all heard Lisa's muffled voice on the other side of the door saying "You can't go in Mr. Turner..."

"What? Of course I can. I came to get Andre for the-" and the door opened to reveal Vernon's face. "What the hell?"

"I tried to stop him Ms. Lyon."

"It's okay Lisa."

"Why is Andre on the floor and not heading to the presentation?"

"One guess." Jamal said.

"So who's doing the presentation?"

"Tim, Joseph and Samantha." Cookie replied. Vernon knelt in front of Andre and looked directly into his eyes.

"Have you called his doctor?"

"She's getting ready to. We didn't know who to call." Hakeem said.

"Do you know anything about his meds Uncle Vernon?" asked Jamal. Vernon shook his head.

"No, not really. I know he and Rhonda keep that pretty tight lipped."

"Well, since we got into his phone check to make sure the doctor's name is the same. Dr. Morell is the name on the half-filled bottle."

"Yep, he's in here." Hakeem dialed it and as it was dialing brought the phone to his mother. After a few rings it picked up.

"Andre?"

"No, this is Cookie Lyon, Andre's mother. Am I speaking with Dr. Morell?"

"Yes it is. How did you get this number? I only give it to my patients and their spouses for emergencies."

"We have Andre's phone and its definitely an emergency. We can't get in touch with Rhonda. My son is having an episode and we're not sure what medicine he should be taking."

"Well, I last prescribed him a mood stabilizer called Depakote, an anti-depressant called Zoloft and his anti-psychotic is Abilify."

"Okay, the Depakote is the only bottle that has pills in it."

"What's going on with Andre?"

"He locked himself in the office but we gained access. He's been rocking back and forth, grunting and moaning like he's in pain. He even yelled like he was being stabbed."

"Any violence?"

"Yes, some. He swung his fists and is beating the floor."

"Okay, you need to give him a dose of the Depakote now it will calm him down. He won't be as agitated or violent. Call the pharmacy and get the other two filled ASAP. He needs to take them as soon as you can get them delivered. And with food."

"Okay."

"And, he needs to see me within the next forty-eight hours. No exceptions. I need to evaluate him. I can't change anything if I don't know what he's going through."

"Absolutely. He'll be there if I have to bring him myself." Cookie replied. "Let me ask you this, I know I'm not his wife but is it possible for me to have some kind of document or something concerning his condition and treatment? We've been calling Rhonda all morning and I can't stand not being able to help my son."

"Sure I can do that this once since it's an emergency and when he comes in I'll have him adjustment his notification forms."

"Thank you Dr. Morell. You don't know how much I appreciate this." Before hanging up with him Cookie gave him her information and she got his.

     Cookie dialed the pharmacy to fill the other two prescriptions filled and delivered. To her surprise they could fill it and deliver in about twenty minutes. She left instructions to have the delivery person page her so she could come downstairs and get them. Vernon thought that everyone should check in on the presentation via the closed circuit company televisions.

"I'm not sure we want to see it Uncle Vernon." Hakeem said.

"Why not? Dre worked so hard on it. He should at least see how it turns out." He turned on the tv and found the company station. It was just getting started. The conference room was full and they could see the wall of people who weren't there viewing it by poly-com.

"Good morning everyone. I know you were expecting my son Andre, Empire's CFO, but he's a little under the weather today. He...uh ate something that didn't agree with him." They could hear a few groans from the crowd. "It's not Montezuma's revenge but it might be a close cousin." That garnered a few laughs from the attendees. "But we have Samantha, Tim and Joseph here who have worked right along with Andre on this so they know this inside and out. And should be able to answer any questions should they arise. So let's give them our undivided attention shall we?"

"Well, at least he didn't let them steal your thunder and gave you credit." Jamal said. Andre was still in the fetal position not wanting to move. Cookie had grabbed a bottle of water from his mini-fridge and had the Depakote in her hand. She kneeled next to him. She didn't want to treat him like a child, but what else could she do?

"Okay Andre, Dr. Morell says you need to take this right now the others as soon as you can. Could you please sit up for me?" He gave her the coldest stare he could. "Come on son, I know you don't want to take this but you have to until you can balance out on your own." Hakeem tried to nudge his older brother to sit up and he was refusing.

"I don't want to take that stuff. You don't know what it's like."

"Well, I tell you what. You take this, let it get in your system and you tell me what it's like; help me understand you Andre. I can read information all damn day but none of it can tell me your experience with this disorder. Only you can do that." Everyone could tell Andre was thinking about it. After a few minutes finally sat up. She handed him the pill and the water bottle, then without further argument, he took the medicine. "Open?" she asked and he opened his mouth so she could see that he actually took it. "Thank you."

     Cookie looked at her oldest son. His eyes looked so sad and down trodden. Hopelessness was all over his face. And she was determined to change that. She had an idea, but she was going to wait until later to execute it. She sat on the couch behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders, indicating that she had his back. He placed his right hand on her letting her know he understood. They all spent a few minutes watching the presentation.

"Hey, since the doctor suggested he eat with that other medication, what should we order? That way the meds and food can get here about the same time."

"Junior's Deli is right around the corner." Jamal suggested. "And they're used to delivering here."

"I've never eaten there. What's good?" Cookie asked.

"I like the club sandwich." Jamal said.

"Yeah, that is good."

"They have good Rubens." Vernon suggested as he got closer to the tv. "If you like corned beef."

"They have a really good chicken salad sandwich." Andre replied. Everyone looked at him because they didn't expect him to participate in the conversation; none of them knew how long the medication would take to kick in.

"Okay, one chicken salad sandwich, three clubs and a Reuben?" Hakeem asked.

"Sound good to me." Cookie said.

"Andre, I must say you've taught your employees well. This presentation is awesome, they've learned a lot from you." Andre nodded his appreciation of the complement.

     Thirty minutes later group who was like family was sitting together, eating and talking, trying to get a better idea of what was going on in Andre's world. And after a while he felt like he could go back to work, so they cleared his office and let him. No one wanted to take the last bit of progress towards the IPO from him. Lisa promised to keep and eye on him and to notify someone if she thought something was wrong.

     Cookie sat in her office and tried to regroup. She had missed out on so much while being in jail. And there was absolutely nothing that Lucious could do to make up the time she missed with her sons. Hakeem wouldn't have mommy issues, Andre might have fared better with with the care of his mother. That's why Cookie getting involved right now was so important. He didn't pick the best wife, if her opinion. She definitely wouldn't have approved of her. Not because she was white (which was Lucious's complaint) but she didn't seem to have the heart for their relationship. Which reminded her that she needed to make a phone call.

"Hi Xandri? It's Cookie. How are you?....Good. Listen I have a favor to ask of you, are you free after work?...Great. Could you please stop by Empire? Thanks, I'll see you then."