First Day as a Family
Yep, I decided to make a sequel to Leaving Loved Ones Behind. I really enjoyed making that story and I wanted to make a sequel to it so here you go.
Po and Tigress were sitting in the Hall of Heroes playing with their daughter, she had only recently been given a name by Po. She was called Liánhuā, she was a panger with jade eyes who was the spitting image of a younger Tigress except the panger had the fur color and the kind eyes of her father.
Shifu had given the two the day off from protecting the Valley to spend time as a family for the very first time, he had only left about ten minutes ago with the Furious Five after giving his blessings to the couple and child.
Po picked Liánhuā up, held her above his head and ran around the Hall like a little kid, "Weeeeee ha ha" laughed Po happily. Tigress beamed at the two of them together at last, in the long months that she had been away she had dreamed of this moment, it had been the one thing keeping her going through the loneliness.
Liánhuā was laughing hysterically at being flown around like an airplane, she didn't know who this new person was but the baby had immediately felt a strong connection with him. Po slowed down and walked back over to Tigress and the Moon Pool, "So what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" asked Po, he had never been as happy in his life then he was currently. Ever since he had gotten together with Tigress all those years ago he had often longed to start a family with her, the day she left was the worst day of his life, it far surpassed anything encounters with enemies such as Tai Lung, Shen or his future self.
Tigress looked thoughtfully at him for a second, "I'm not sure" she then had a thought! "I forgot! She hasn't met her other grandfather yet, we should go and see how Mr Ping is and introduce him to Liánhuā, I'm sure he'll be happy to see I've come back too".
Po frowned, "Actually Tigress that might not be such a good idea", her face fell "Why?" she asked, although she had a pretty good idea. Po rubbed his arm bashfully, "Well...y'see..the thing is" he said nervously. Tigress kissed him to calm his nerves, "Just say it Po, I'm sure it's fine". Po gulped, "When you left Tigress I was devastated, you already know that" she nodded and felt a small wave of guilt hit her.
"Well, that day I went down to the Valley to vent out my anger towards you on people that I might of found who were up to no good while I was on patrol. I went to Dad's instead, talked to him and told him what you had done". Tigress sighed, "And what was his reaction?" she asked gravely.
XXXXXX
That Day
"WHAT!" Mr Ping yelled, Po flinched at his dad's yelling. "Yeah" he growled, "She was gone when I woke up".
Mr Ping slammed his cleaver into the chopping board that he had been using, "Probably finding another boyfriend the floozy". Po turned away at the thought of Tigress with someone else, the idea hurt him more then any wound he could ever get.
Po knelt down to his father, "Dad, I want you to keep this between us okay?". Mr Ping nodded angrily then sighed when Po left the kitchen to go back up to the Jade Palace. "I'm sorry son" Mr Ping thought sadly, "I honestly thought that she was the one for you, well I'll never forgive her for what she's done to you Po! She broke your heart with selfishness, she'll never be welcome here again".
Po bit his lip, "He's livid with you Tigress, I've never seen him so angry with someone". Tigress looked away shamefully, even when she had apologized to Po she was still finding people that she had hurt with her decision. Po saw her downbeat expression, "Hey Tigress it's okay, you had your reasons. You explained it to me and I calmed down, I'm sure my dad will be fine when he sees that he now has a granddaughter...you may want to let met go first just in case though". This made Tigress laugh in relief, she loved that Po could still make her laugh even when she was in the darkest of mindsets.
Po put Liánhuā on his shoulder carefully, "You OK up there kiddo?" he asked cheerfully. A giggle and a smile was all the reply he needed. Po kept one hand on Liánhuā and held the other out to Tigress which she accepted gratefully, even though she trusted Po Tigress kept a beady eye on Liánhuā just in case Po tripped down the stairs (Which he had done often enough for it to become a regular event in the past)or something like that. They then started to make their way out of the palace to go down into the village.
XXXXXXX
Mr Ping sighed to himself inside the Golden Harvest Noodle Restaurant (It used to be called Dragon Warrior Noodles and Tofu, but Po had requested to Mr Ping that it be changed back so as not to stroke Po's ego too much).
The restaurant was dark, the hatch was closed to signal to the general public that it was currently shut for lunch before it would reopen for the evening and night shifts, the goose was slowly preparing more noodle soup, he was doing it early because the rush of popularity the business had received in the last couple of years sometimes made it hard for him to keep with the rush of customers, he always made sure to have a backlog of food he could reheat just in case.
It had been a long afternoon serving customers made longer by the fact that Po hadn't been helping him, Po had come down less and less to see his father ever since being abandoned by Tigress in the middle of the night, the last time he had seen him had been when Po came down with the Furious Five in order to celebrate Po's birthday. The panda had been cold, distant and miserable throughout the entire evening, most likely because of the one person who Po wished with all of his heart was there.
Mr Ping still felt angry towards Tigress, though his anger had dulled since he had been told of her disappearance by Po, he now felt more sad for Po. The thing that got to Mr Ping the most was seeing his son fall to pieces over it, he had known since Po was a child how much Tigress had meant to the younger panda. The day they got together was one of the happiest times in everyone's lives, especially the couple's.
The goose gasped when he heard the entrance to the restaurant open behind him, he was so deep in thought he had forgotten to lock the entrance just in case a bandit thought he could get lucky. He turned around slowly with cleaver in hand. He sighed with happiness and relief when he saw that it was only Po looking oddly apprehensive at the sight of him.
"Hello son, what can I do for you today?" asked Mr Ping, he hastily grabbed his son's paw and led him towards the table that had been set just in case Po ever did show up for a talk.
Po tried to protest but was cut off by his father's desperate attempts to keep him there. "Can I get you something to eat Po you look famished?", before Po could even answer Mr Ping started to cook something.
Po didn't stop him because he was actually hungry...and Tigress and his daughter might be hungry too. Po twiddled with his thumbs nervously, if he felt nervous he could only imagine what Tigress was feeling outside.
XXXXXXX
Tigress held Lianhua in her arms, the panger was hugging her mother tightly because she didn't recognise this place. Tigress's ears picked up the conversation on the inside, her stomach was tearing itself to bits out of fear, guilt was also present because she hear Mr Ping being over friendly to Po, something that she had also caused.
Tigress gulped hard when she heard Po's jagged nervous breathing, it didn't fill the tiger master with any sort of confidence. If Po was nervous about something as small as introducing someone to his father then how could Tigress feel okay about being the person being introduced?
A heavy sigh left her lips as she tried to calm herself down, she took deep breaths and slowed her heart rate down. The palms of her paws started to produce a small layer of sweat and her legs had turned to jelly. She knew Mr Ping would never reject her daughter (How could he? He had accepted a baby panda left on his doorstep) but it would break her heart to not be accepted by the goose.
Another heavy sigh left her lips.
XXXXXXX
"Dad, wait stop" Po sighed. Mr Ping's shoulder fell in preparation of what he thought would be bad news. He turned around hesitantly from one of the only things in the world he understood perfectly, noodles/cooking and faced his son.
Looking his father dead in the eye Po stood up to his full height and with all of the weight in the world he spoke. "She's back".
A million thoughts raced through Mr Ping's mind, "Who?", this one was obvious. Tigress. "Why?", this question had yet to be answered. Finally "Why would Po just accept her back like nothing had happened?"
Mr Ping frowned, "Who?" he said calmly. He would wait until the situation was explained to him fully, getting emotional would not help anyone and it would scare Po away from him most probably.
"C'mon Dad you know exactly who I'm talking about. Tigress." Po said stony faced. It was like a standoff between father and son, neither was giving zany ground to the other just because of Tigress.
Mr Ping's wing clenched strongly but subtly, he could feel his anger rise slightly no matter his attempts to control it, just hearing her name had been enough to make his blood began to boil. "Why?" he asked.
Po moved towards the door slightly, Mr Ping now knew that Tigress was standing on the other side of the door listening to every word they were saying. "Dad, she had a reason to leave just let me explain see she had th-". "PO! How could you just ignore what that horrible girl did to you?", Po's jaw hung open for a second in shock.
Outside Tigress's heart broke.
Po couldn't believe what he'd just heard, he glared angrily. "How dare you!", both Tigress and Mr Ping drew a sharp intake of breath at his tone. Tigress had never heard Po get angry with his father, it shocked her more that he was so strongly leaping to her defense. She looked down at Liánhuā and was surprised to see the baby was almost clinging to every word that was being said, almost as if she knew how important and tense the conversation inside was.
Mr Ping walked up to Po angrily, "How dare I? Po, I had to watch you tear yourself apart with anger and grief because she was a selfish and cruel person. What possible excuse could she have for abandoning you like that in the middle of the night?".
Tigress decided that she had heard enough of the goose slandering her, she held Liánhuā close to her and pushed the door open slowly before Po could answer back.
"This is why" she said softly, Mr Ping glanced at her with fire in his eyes. They softened as they saw the tiny figure that was in her arms, the baby was looking at the goose with the sweetest eyes that he had ever seen yet they...seemed familiar somehow? Looking at Po was all the confirmation that he needed. It was his daughter!
"I-I'm sorry I had to leave Po Mr Ping" Tigress's voice broke at her next sentence, "But I-I was just so scared and ashamed". Po gasped at her confession, "Why?" he asked naturally confused.
She looked at him trying to hold back her tears, "I've never been trained to deal with something like this, I was scared because I wouldn't be able to be your equal if I was pregnant, i-it sounds stupid but I was also scared you would never accept a child with someone like me so I decided to exile myself". Po ran over and hugged her tightly, but he was careful of Liánhuā.
He pulled away and stroked her cheek with his paw, "Why would I ever do that Tigress? I love you, I told you that years ago." He looked down at the sad looking panger, "I love you and our daughter, there's nothing that would make me happier then spending the rest of my life with you two."
Tigress smiled and kissed him deeply, it was the first time she had kissed him since before she had left and Po had missed every second of it. Tigress poured every ounce of her love into the kiss, expressed every missed moment and all the time that they'd wished they'd shared.
Po pulled away looking like a child on Christmas. He looked at his father whom he had only just remembered was there, the goose refused to look either of them in the eye. Tigress handed Liánhuā to Po, "Po, could you please hold her a second?" the panda nodded.
Tigress knelt down in front of Mr Ping, "Tigress I-" he was cut off by Tigress hugging him. "It's okay Mr Ping, I was wrong for ever leaving the people who loved me". She pulled away and looked at Po, "And I was an idiot for ever thinking that a baby would pull us apart". He nodded again and smirked cheerfully.
Mr Ping quickly pushed two more chairs into the table and took a seat in one, he gestured to the two lovers that they should themselves also be seated. Tigress and Po obliged.
They talked the rest of the afternoon away, Mr Ping spoiled Liánhuā with love, Po and Tigress held paws the entire time. Po had never been happier, this sentiment was also true for both Tigress and Mr Ping.
XXXXXXX
It was now evening
Tigress and Po had moved up to the Sacred Pools of Tears so they could show Liánhuā more of her new home. Tigress had her eyes close and was letting the soft breeze blow through her warming up her soul, the sounds of happy laughter reached her ears so she opened her eyes to see Po getting Liánhuā to try and walk towards him.
Suddenly she had an idea. Tigress smirked playfully, "Hey Po" she said softly. Po turned his head away from Liánhuā to look at his smiling tiger, "What?" he asked. Tigress leaned in close and whispered into Po's ear, "Y'know what we haven't done in a while Po?" she said sensually.
Po smiled, Tigress picked Liánhuā up and put her on a nearby rock. Tigress then turned and smirked at Po, "We haven't sparred". Po looked at her for a second before he burst out laughing, "That wasn't what I thought you were going to say".
"I know, don't lose hope though Po you might get lucky" she taunted. Po looked at his daughter and stroked her head before moving to start the spar.
Po and Tigress made some distance between their selves and sized each other up, it had been a long time the two of them had sparred so they were both familiarizing their selves with each other's styles and techniques.
Po made the first move and dived towards Tigress, a cry pierced his eyes and made him crash ungracefully into the ground. Tigress whipped her towards the baby and saw that she had begun to cry, the tiger pulled Po to his feet and led him over to the child.
She was bawling her eyes out, when Po and Tigress got close she stopped and looked at them sniffling. The two looked guiltily at each other, "She must not like watching the two of us sparring" Tigress noted.
Liánhuā saw their looks and started to wail loudly again, Tigress clapped her paws over her ears, she was used to hearing this due to being with her for a while.
Po bit his lip and held his paws over his ears, "So what are supposed to do? We have to train to protect the valley and I'm not sending her away from us just so we can train".
Tigress picked Liánhuā up and rocked her gently whilst shushing her, "There there sweetheart, mommy and daddy were just playing". She didn't take the bait and kept crying, it was incredibly unpleasant to hear, especially to Tigress who had extra sensitive hearing.
Po tapped her on the shoulder and gestured that he wanted to try, Tigress relented and handed her to Po. As soon as The Dragon Warrior laid a hand on her she stopped crying, "Good girl Liánhuā, we love you" he cooed.
Tigress frowned with jealously but couldn't keep it up because of the sight of Po gently hugging her daughter. She walked up and embraced the two in a hug, "When we were alone, she used to cry for hours on end, it took me forever to get her to stop. She must of known there was something or someone missing".
Po smiled and nuzzled Tigress, he would've liked to have stayed that way for the rest of time but the sun had to ruin it. "It's getting dark" Po observed, "We should head back". Tigress nodded irritably at the thought of moving away from her beloved.
XXXXXX
Nighttime, Po, Tigress, Shifu and the rest of the Furious Five were sat round the table enjoying a delicious meal that Po had prepared for them. Po had invited Mr Ping but the goose had turned down the offer instead promising to come and see them and his grandchild tomorrow, said grandchild was currently on Po's lap.
Liánhuā started to show the signs of another crying cycle, Tigress bit her lip to try and figure out what the baby could want, it then hit her that Liánhuā hadn't eaten since this morning so she was most likely hungry.
"Po, she's hungry I'm just going to feed her" Po nodded but Tigress saw some slight disappointment in his eyes at not getting to feed his daughter for the first time, she gave in. "Actually I've done it plenty of times, would you like to feed her Po?".
Mantis chuckled, "Po, it's cool that you've got a lot of enthusiasm of feeding her...but...y'know you can't". Po gasped, "Why not?" Mantis blushed, Monkey and Crane face palmed at the panda's naivety, "You know Po?...didn't your Dad ever teach about the birds and the bees. You cannot physically feed a baby you lack the...assets".
Tigress blushed furiously and Po smirked with both embarrassment and acknowledgement. "Mantis!" Viper hissed. "What?" he asked, "It's true".
"For your information Mantis, she can eat solid food now" said Tigress who was dangerously calm. Po gently picked Liánhuā up and placed her on his knee again, he grabbed the nearest bowl of noddles which just so happened to be his. For once Po was okay with giving his food away to someone, he picked up the chopsticks and started to slowly and carefully feed her".
"Open up little lady, here comes the noodles" he cooed. Liánhuā laughed and accepted the food gratefully, everyone except Shifu and Tigress melted at the scene before them.
For Shifu it brought back memories of when he had first found Tai Lung as a cub, "There's something I must give Po after dinner, I need to make sure that I don't ruin their daughter's life like I did to Tai Lung's" he thought sadly.
"Hey Shifu can Tigress and Liánhuā stay in my room with me?" Po asked hopefully. Shifu was snapped out of his memories, Shifu looked at Po oddly for a second before he saw that every single pair of eyes were glued to him to see his decision...even Liánhuā's. Shifu cleared his throat, "Po, you realize that you are a grown man? That's your decision to make, it doesn't matter to me at all where they stay...as long as they are safe" it almost sounded like a very well disguised threat to Po.
Po beamed at Tigress who smiled warmly back at him. "Actually Po, I wish to have a word with you about something about dinner, is that OK?" Po felt humbled at being asked permission for something by his master and nodded.
XXXXXXX
Some more time passed until it was time for all of the masters to retire to bed. Po handed Liánhuā to Tigress and followed Shifu towards the Hall of Heroes, Po smiled when he realized it had only been this morning when he had found out that he was a father to a beautiful baby girl, "I can't believe how quick today went" he thought happily.
When they were inside Shifu led him towards the Moon Pool, he held a hand out to stop Po. "Wait here a second Po, I'll be right back with something I think that you are going to need from now on". Po waited until his master left then began to smile wildly at the thought of a cool kung fu weapon that he was being given to protect his newly gained family, his imagination overflowed with over-the-top scenarios.
A stern cough brought Po out of his mind's eye, he opened his eyes and saw that Shifu was holding a very battered looking cot which obviously hadn't been used in a very long time. Shifu laid it down in front of Po, "Po, I just want to say how proud I am of you for accepting Tigress back into your heart, I am also impressed by the maturity you have shown by immediately taking on your fatherly duties even though you should by all counts be nervous or hesitant about it".
Po smiled proudly, "Thank you Master", Shifu continued to look stern. "This isn't a time to get sentimental panda because from now on you don't just have to protect the Valley of Peace, you also now have to protect your family".
Po looked worried for a second, "However". Po looked back at Shifu who was now wearing a soft smile on his face, "You will never have to do it alone panda, know this Po that you will always have the support of me and the rest of your comrades in the Furious Five". Shifu went to quickly leave before Po could say any words of thanks to him, "Wait Shifu".
Shifu stopped, "What is it Po?". "The cot, who's is it?" he asked while looking over the body to see if he could find a name. Shifu turned and looked at the panda for a second.
"The cot, it's Tai Lung's cot, he slept in there when I first adopted him" Shifu said simply. He hadn't seen the cot assembled in such a long time, it brought a huge rush of emotions to Shifu's old heart, nostalgia, happiness, longing, pain and sorrows all congregated within his soul.
Po looked knowingly at Shifu before bowing humbly, "Thank you Master Shifu, I shall treasure this gift that you have bestowed on both on me and on my family". Shifu smiled warmly which was a rare sight for The Dragon Warrior who thought the expression looked very underused on the old red panda's face. "Don't forget panda, they are my family too" Shifu said proudly, he turned on his heel and began to leave the Hall of Heroes. "Have fun assembling that panda...I always did struggle with it".
Po chuckled, "Good night Master, and thank you", Po redirected his attention back to the cot. He scratched his chin thoughtfully.
XXXXXXX
Tigress was laid down holding Liánhuā up above her, the baby cooed and squealed happily. Tigress beamed at the activity, she would often do this with her when they were on the road to the Valley. Po suddenly opened the door with something tucked underneath his arm, Tigress stopped what she was doing, sat up and laid Liánhuā in her lap.
"There finished!" Po proclaimed proudly, he put down the object on the ground for his family to see and put his hands on his hips, the ocean blue cot had been put together quickly by the eager father.
Tigress smirked at his handiwork, "Where on earth did you get that?"
"Shifu just gave it to me, he said it used to belong to Tai Lung" Po said.
Tigress smiled at Liánhuā, "It's perfect, this is perfect" she said happily.
Tigress and Po began to prepare to go to sleep, when it became time to put their daughter to bed they laid her in the cot in some baby clothes that Mr Ping had given them earlier.
Po started to hum softly to get Liánhuā to sleep more easily, it was a song he could remember Mr Ping sing when he was much younger. Tigress was impressed at how natural he was at the whole thing, Liánhuā's eyes began to get heavy before they could no longer sustain their selves and she closed her eyes and began to snore softly.
Tigress let Po finish his humming before saying, "Like father like daughter" she whispered, Po raised an eyebrow apparently not amused at Tigress's attempt at humor, "Ha ha" he said sarcastically. They both stood up and the room suddenly became awkward, they handed faced the prospect of sleeping in the same bed as each other in a long time.
Po breathed heavily for a second, he'd love to sleep with Tigress again after so long but he was afraid that it might be too soon after she had come back to mention it. He was also secretly scared that he would wake up the next morning and find that Tigress might of abandoned him again.
Tigress snapped him out of his thoughts by grabbing his paw and dragging him into bed with her, he tensed up almost immediately after laying down next to her. "Po, relax it's fine" she said into his ear softly.
Her voice was like warm butter in his ear, it calmed him down yet also gave him an infinite amount of energy. He turned to look at the love of his life, he looked at the cot containing the second love of his life, then he held Tigress close to him, felt the gentle rhythm of her heart and let it take him away into the realms of sleep where no dream no matter how pleasant could match the absolute bliss he felt currently .
I hope you enjoyed this, if you did I would appreciate if you went to my latest story The Dragon Warriors which is a crossover with Dragonball and give it a read, I'd also appreciate a review for this story.