So it seems Lucious forced Jamal to marry a backup singer at the age of 18 as a way to conceal his true sexuality. Jamal slept with her once...and as we know from the last episode...she is claiming she had his daughter. Jamal and Cookie aren't too convinced it's his daughter, but they've taken her in after her mother abandoned her in an elevator at the Empire headquarters.
Empire puts on a big show for potential investors. Showing faith in Cookie's efforts with Elle Dallas, Lucious agrees to have her start off the major performances. Unfortunately, in true hater fashion, Anika actually goes so far as to drug Elle (by slipping something in her drink), leaving her unable to perform. However, Anika's plan to make Cookie look bad didn't last for long. After a great performance by Jamaal and Hakeem, Lucious' ALS makes it difficult for him to speak and give his speech. Andre of course thinks he should give the speech, but he's denied. Anika offers to give the speech for him, but in stark contrast to earlier in the episode when he chose Anika over Cookie to ride in the ambulance with him after falling out, he asks Cookie to give the speech. This is likely related to him walking in on her telling their sons they need to get it together and get along in order to make their father's dream come true. Cookie agrees to give the speech, but doesn't get further than one sentence before going off script. But in the end, Lucious is more than impressed/satisfied/grateful for the speech (Anika and Andre not so much...speaking of Andre, I didn't realize he was the CFO...am I late?).
[Slight side notes before getting into the last scenes...Chef Roble...LOVE HIM...made an appearance during a dinner between Hakeem and Camilla. Camilla is over being his hidden love interest.]
While Anika is away on a trip to Chicago, Lucious gathers the family (Cookie, Jamal, Hakeem, Andre, and Rhonda) to reveal to them that he has ALS. Cookie, Jamal, and Hakeem seem genuinely devastated about the possibility of losing Lucious. Andre, however, seems genuinely devastated about how this will impact the IPO. So much so, Jamal had to break up an altercation between him and Hakeem over his lack of concern for their father. Andre storms out and has a breakdown of sorts at home.
Seeing that Cookie wasn't taking it that well, Lucious asked the boys to leave so he could talk to Cookie. And well, talking led to dancing...and dancing led to kissing...and kissing led to...well...yea...and then Anika comes home (trip cancelled?) and sees them through the open door...she doesn't say anything...she walks away...but apparently she will be confronting Lucious in the next episode.