Business Casual

A/N: TulipxJunior Drabbles: Chapter 1:

Tangled up in safety cables, her own hair, and a child on the floor- Not a good way to start off a Monday, but when you had a pod that won't close, and an impending phone conversation to deal with- You tended not to sweat the finer details. It wasn't Tulip's favorite way to deal with things, but since being promoted to co-owner of Stork Mountain, they were things she had to put up with in any way possible. So, balancing the cellphone between her shoulder and ear, she struggled to lift the new baby yet again into his pod, but now the baby refused to budge from his spot on the floor. With a heavy sigh, she half listened to the conversation, and half wrestled with the child and the lines until, at last, she gave up and returned fully to the conversation.

"Mom, I didn't hear that, I was trying to- are you even listening?" A voice belonging to an older woman called back through the phone, causing Tulip to drag the phone hurriedly away from her ear. "Guess not..."

This woman was Jane Johnson, the newly found, adopted mother of the woman on the other line, who had welcomed the girl into her home just a month before she was promoted and moved back to Stork Mountain. She was honestly the most understanding person, who did not seem to mind that the her daughter had decided not to move in with the rest of the family. However, she only seemed to be okay with it as long as Tulip called her on an almost hourly basis... Even if it was during her shift at work.

"Yes, honey. I AM still listening." Mrs. Johnson exclaimed, sounding somewhat offended by her daughter's assumption. "Are you doing something? You sound like you're doing something."

"Yes! Junior and I were just about to make a delivery-"

"Oh! Put Junior on the line, I want to talk to him." The woman said suddenly, a certain love lining her tone. "You know, I really like Junior. Hes good for you."

"O-okay?" Tulip stuttered, a tad creeped out by that last part, but never the less, she settled the phone onto her shoulder and turned her head upward. "Junior! My mom wants to talk to you!"

From a short distance away, Junior paused what he was doing and tensed up when he realized that there were still a few things he needed to complete before the thought of leaving was even an option- and one more thing had just been added. Quickly, the stork rushed over and plucked up the phone.

Since they would be gone for a little while, he felt that politely declining or at least shutting down one phone call wouldn't hurt... How wrong he would be.

"Good morning ma'am, you actually caught us at a bad time, we were-." Junior greeted, stopping to casually pat their delivery on the head.

"Thanks. I just woke up actually to call my daughter." The woman laughed a little. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. Just about to leave, actually." Junior reminded her.

Slowly, he peaked to see what Tulip was doing, hoping that she might give him some stage hand directions or something to help with the ending of the call. However, she was too busy with the baby to even bother with helping him with this call.

"Bye bye." The baby said quickly, trying to reach for the phone while Tulip struggled with the pod.

"That is sweet." The stork commented with a soft chuckle before shaking his head. "Anyhow, ma'am- We really outta cut this short, since we have a job to do-"

"I'm sure you can spare just a FEW minutes to talk to me, hun." Mrs. Johnson said, somewhat ignoring what she had just been told. "So, have you asked my daughter out yet?"

"What-?"

The baby boy squeaked in protest loudly in the background, but that didn't last long as he soon took interest in Tulip's hair, which he promptly began to pull at harshly. Junior reached for her to help, and he was at her side instantly, playing with the baby's tiny hands trying to get them away from her. Turning her head, Tulip looked ready to smack the phone out of his hands. Junior, who was still helplessly listening to his friend's mother's overly-bubbly words at how talkative the new baby was and how smart he was bound to be in the future.

"Lets hope hes not this energetic during the trip..." The red-head laughed, loud enough apparently for Mrs. Johnson to hear.

"I wouldn't count on it, sweety." The older woman asked, knowing full well somehow. "Put her back on the phone! I haven't talked to her in ages!"

"Mother! You JUST talked to me." Tulip said with a shake of the head. "And we don't have time to, ugh-"

"Yeah, we kinda-"Before Junior could finish, the phone was snatched up by the woman, who in turn casually waved him off to take care of the baby.

Junior rolled his eyes and shook his head as he went to pick up the baby carefully. Knowing those two, by the time either of them actually managed to hang up the phone, they would have already had time to not only make the delivery, but also visit the woman. Which was, in total, a distance of at least 52 hours. This wasn't even an over-exaggeration (Well maybe it was), regardless, they would be off of the phone by the time they got there, which would be again, 52 hours from now.

"WE HAVE TO GO NOW, ma'am!" Junior called so that both women could hear as he grabbed Tulip's suitcase and rushed out the front door. "I'm leaving with or without you, Tulip!"

"I gotta go, I'll call you later!" Tulip groaned, finally hanging up. "Wait up, Junior!"

"Hurry then!"