A Monkey Wrench of a Situation

It took them three long months, but they finally moved in the last bit of stuff into Po's new apartment. Several big changes were going through Po's life. Moving to a new apartment, going back to college, Tai-Lung traveling with Song, and Tigress being his girlfriend. His apartment was small. A one bedroom one bathroom set up, but it gave him a lot of privacy. The place was secure and didn't have a lot of crime, and it was a very quiet neighborhood. "I'm not going to sleep with all the quiet," Po joked to himself, but he knew he was right. Mei-Mei could see through his joking.

"It's okay, Po. You'll be fine," Mei said.

"I can't believe that you're finally moving out. I don't know what to think," Peng sighed. Po smiled as he patted the snow leopard on top of the head.

"You'll be fine, Mr. college man," Po smiled. Peng was finally going off to college, which was also the day that Lei-Lei was going to school. Po had already gone through the tears of separating with her. "Now remember."

"I know, no partying or whatever," Peng interrupted.

"Actually, I'd prefer that you don't bring any ugly girls home," Mei-Mei said bluntly.

"MEI!"

"What? I got to make sure that he has a good eye. I need cute AND beautiful in this family line," Mei-Mei answered her brother. "But please be safe." the female panda said, kissing Peng on the head.

"I will," Peng promised.

"Is that everything?" Po asked.

"Almost," Said a voice from the front door. Everyone turned to see Tigress in the doorpost with her weight leaning on it.

"Um... Mei-Mei, didn't we leave something in the car?" Peng lied, trying to give the two some privacy. Mei rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry about being subtle. It's not like I'm going to get any nieces or nephew anytime soon," Mei-Mei said bluntly as they walked out. The family had found out about Po and Tigress eventually and let them be. Peng groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as he walked out with Mei-Mei. Tigress and Po looked at each other, embarrassed at what Mei-Mei said.

"Hehe, family," Po said.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Tigress replied as she walking around the mess of boxes and stuff. "I didn't know that you had this much stuff."

"I don't. Mei-Mei just wanted to make sure that I was well taken care of," Po sighed. Tigress smiled as she grabbed Po's hand.

"Are you ready for this?" Tigress asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Po sighed. Tigress kissed him on the cheek.

"I know you'll be great. I'll come to visit you as much as possible," Tigress promised.

"With your work schedule? That's going to be interesting," Po smirked.

"Don't even start with me about 'work schedule'," Tigress remarked with a smirk. "Hope your first day of school is good."

"OH SHOOT!" Po exclaimed. "That reminds me that I have to get some supplies. I'll be right back. See you later," Po said, quickly kissing Tigress on the lips, quite by accident, and rushed off. Tigress stood there shocked as Po rushed outside. She shook herself awake.

"Okay, maybe Mei-Mei will have some nephews and nieces soon," Tigress chuckled to herself. But that's another story.

Grueling, challenging, difficult, and often times had him pitted against Tigress's anger for wanting her to try so much of his new food. In other words, Po loved college. It challenged him and changed him in ways that he didn't really understand before. Of course, there were the little pitfalls. Don't go to parties where you know suspicious characters were around, be careful of the women, and make sure you have time management, which Po found himself great at. Surprisingly, he went on to get a degree in accounting and culinary arts as well, making his family and Tigress all the prouder. "It's good to finally be happy," Po sighed as he was out on a date with Tigress at his apartment. Lei-Lei had come over to babysat by Po and was sleeping in bed. Rather, she came to be babysat by Tigress. Lei-Lei was more attached to Tigress than anyone else in the family, even Mei-Mei. She would often act like her: dressing up in a business suit, having fake glasses on, and acting annoyed with stupid people, basically her class. She was definitely a mini-Tigress and Tigress often had to correct her to make sure she didn't get in trouble.

"I thought you were always happy," Tigress smugly murmured, eating the 'experiment' that he cooked up.

"I am now. Lei-Lei's finally resting, I don't have work or schoolwork, and more importantly, I'm spending quality time with you," Po said sweetly.

"You're such a sweet panda," Tigress teased, pinching his cheeks, "No wonder that... skank tried to make a move on you." Po had a very approachable personality, which almost led to his downfall. A woman tried to get him to be her boyfriend, but even though Po refused, she persisted. That is until Tigress had some choice words with her. So did Tai-Lung. And Mei-Mei. And Lei-Lei while she was with Mei-Mei at the time. Surprisingly out of all those three, Lei-Lei probably said the worst thing, having learned some words from Tigress that involved... well, let's just say Lei had a time-out for it and Tigress had a new habit to break. Finally, the girl got the idea when she saw Po with Tigress and the amount of work both she and he did. "I guess she didn't want to work so much for a relationship," Tigress guessed.

"I know," Po sighed. "Well, it's good that everything even out though. Especially with you and my dad," Po grumbled. Po let Tigress visit his dad, who was very persisting in seeing that the tiger marry the panda. Tigress and Po's dad didn't really have an argument, but Po was definitely trying to keep his father in line, which was impossible to do. "Sorry for the whole, please marry my son, routine. He really just wants grandchildren."

"I know, I've been there for a while," Tigress smiled. "So... what is your plan for children?" Po's eyes widened as he put down his cup. "I didn't mean to ruin the moment, but-"

"No, no, no it's okay. I think that's just something that I... We'll figure out once we get there," Po said. Tigress's ears sagged. Every time she would talk about the idea or anything related to marriage, Po was very cautious about it. After the three years that they had been dating, Tigress really wanted to take the next step with Po. She knew she could definitely live with his personality and habits, even the annoying ones like his tendency to overwork himself. But she knew she couldn't force Po to do something he wasn't ready for, even though she really wanted him to take the next step. Po's words interrupted her silence. "Well, I do have another thing from the shop. It's something that Tai-Lung helped me do while he was with Song." Song and Tai-Lung had traveled together for a while and started up an interesting and great relationship. Tai-Lung became fully invested in the technical reporting business and Song was definitely glad he could come along. Anyways, Po took a bottle from the fridge and gave it to Tigress.

There was something strange about the bottle. It was almost completely black, but the way that Po handed it to Tigress was suspicious as well. He wore insulated gloves as if the bottle would melt. Tigress grabbed the bottle and tried to twist the top. She couldn't get it open. Then something weird happened. The bottle had a type of weird black covering around it that would become transparent as it warmed up. Tigress peered through the glass to see words and an object that would change her life. She gasped as she read the words, 'Will you marry me?' and found a ring inside the bottle. Tigress placed the bottle on the table, ran out of her chair making it fall over, tackled Po to the floor, and kissed him on the lips. "YES! YES!" She shouted over and over.

"YAY!" Said a voice from behind them. Tigress and Po looked back to see an awake Lei-Lei looking at them. "Aunty Tigress and Uncle Po are getting married!" Tigress and Po laughed at the little panda's excitement as Tigress kissed Po again. Then she stopped as a thought came into her mind.

"How do we get the ring out?" Tigress asked. Po's eyes widened as he smacked his head.

"I'll get the monkey wrench," He sighed as Tigress only smiled.

The End.

Though not exactly like this, my parents are actually the same. This was based on my parents' relationship. My dad was a plumber and my mom a doctor. It was an interesting relationship and still is to this day. Love is very weird. =)