Jasper sat at his desk, in his cubicle, at Stork Mountain. Ever since he had been given his job as a stork back, he always felt tense in the office. Even when he was by himself, like he was currently and away from the babies, he still felt off. He felt an ever present sadness weighing heavy in his heart whenever the children were taken to their parents, as well as an overwhelming fear that he would shatter another beacon or worse- hurt one of the babies by accident!
"I-its a good thing I've been moved to the SR department." He sighed in relief, glancing up at the clock. "And almost quitting time for those two... I hope they're okay..."
Leaning back in his chair, the old stork glanced at the frame photo on his desk. It was of Tulip, her biological family, and Junior when they first met. Jasper had it framed and kept it at his desk for times like this when he couldn't be with his baby and friend/boss. The pair in question were currently out on a delivery that wasn't too far from the mountain. Just a short trip, but to Jasper, it felt like they were taking their sweet time. It only felt, because the door swung open seconds after he spoke outloud.
"Hope is a the thing with feathers." Junior announced loudly, though grumpily.
"Junior! Is everything alright?" Jasper gasped, fumbling around for a pad of paper and a pencil in case he had to file a report.
"Everythings fine, but this delivery took forever and Tulip nearly crashed the company car... For the fifth time, Jasper!"
Jasper couldn't help by chuckle softly, as he spotted the red-headed woman at the top of the stairs just a short distance off from the door. She was smiling sheepishly, but seemed to gain back her confidence when Jasper motioned for her to join them.
"Doors open, Tulip!" He called, watching the girl race to the top of the stairs and into the office.
"Sup, J-dad!" Tulip greeted, plopping herself down in a nearby chair. "Did Junior tell you about our "minor-fender-bender" yet? Because I just want to say- He started it! It was all his fault!"
"I did NOT start it! We were playing red-light/green-light and SHE cheated first!" The younger of the two storks shot back.
"And so Junior started yelling, and I don't do yelling while driving, so I punched him-" Tulip continued.
"So she punches me, and lets go of the wheel, and suddenly we're spinning out of control-"
"I had my foot on the wheel, so NO, I didn't let go of it completely!" Green eyes turned venomous suddenly.
"How were you two playing red light/green light in a car?" Jasper asked, fumbling to take everything down.
"Isn't that the game where you spy something thats usually the colour on the stop light-"
"No, thats I-Spy- Not important!" Jasper exclaimed, standing up suddenly, stopping when he noticed that only Junior was left in the room. "Tulip..."
Upon hearing her name, the woman innocently stuck her head back into the room as quietly as she had attempted to sneak away. She slunk back into the room, and dropped herself back in her chair, clearly disappointed that she hadn't been able to get further away before her father saw her. However, his reflexes were quicker than her's as he spun around quickly to fix her.
"It sounds like you two are having a problem working together as a team, which can be dangerous." Jasper said to them with a gentle frown.
"Darn it..." Tulip muttered bitterly. "Not this lecture again..."
"Watch your language." Jasper scolded, fixing his pencils. "Here at Stork Mountain, we strive to NOT break anymore beacons and prevent a child from meeting their biological families-"
"And we haven't! At least... Not yet." Junior sighed, shagging his shoulders.
"Hes right... We're sorry and we'll try to work on our behavior at work." Tulip huffed, turning to Junior. "I'm sorry, Junior."
"Thats my girl." Jasper laughed, then turning to Junior a little. "Do you have anything to say to Tulip?"
"Yes, I'm sorry... THAT YOU CHEAT AT CAR GAMES!" Junior announced, followed by a harsh yell and tackle from Tulip.
A look of annoyance and fatherly pride washed over Jasper's face as he calmly stood up and went to get the fire extinguisher (the foam usually served as a distraction that broke up fights among teams sometimes), watching as his proud, independent child held her own against her co-worker who was too gentleman to actually hit her back. Despite their occasional spats, it did Jasper's heart good knowing that he was now in charge of keeping teams together and usually seemed to do a decent job at- well, his job. For the most part-
