Bury the Hatchet

She growled up the elevator, netting her eyebrows together as she spoke harshly on the phone. "And you did nothing?"

"I assure you, Ms. Claw, there was nothing-"

"My child shouldn't come to me because she's being bullied. I thought private schools like yours were better than that."

"We're trying all we can to-"

"I'll believe it when I see it," Tigress hung up the phone and sighed. She knew that talking with them wasn't going to work. She'd have to have documentation and evidence. She made a small note to herself to make a paper trail to bring to the school board. Tigress groaned as she collapsed into her chair. "I shouldn't have to be a lawyer just to make sure my kid isn't picked on," She muttered to herself.

Tigress glanced at the CEO's door. It had slightly frosted panel windows on either side of it, so she could see that Po wasn't in yet. Her mind returned to her other problem.

"Song." The tiger got up from her desk and made a right to the Finance department. Upon opening the door, she gasped. Song's office was completely clean and bare. Her computer, laptop, books, pictures, everything was gone. The janitor came into the department with her cart of cleaning supplies. "Excuse me, uhh... Mrs. Ming?"

"Hm?" Said the slender gazelle.

"Where is Song?"

"Oh, she left the office. She said she wasn't working here anymore."

"WHAT?!"

The gazelle tilted her head and antlers. "I thought you knew. You two are always-"

"Excuse me," Tigress growled out, marching straight to the CEO's door. She knocked hard.

"Uhhh come in?" the feline stormed in, slamming the door shut behind her. "Uhhh he-hey, Tigress. What's up?"

"Can you please elaborate on why my friend got fired?" She grunted in a voice flowing with rage. Growling and snarling, the tiger crossed her arms in an attempt to not strangle the panda in front of her.

Po sighed, "I knew this would come up."

"You fired her? Why? She was the best treasurer we have!"

"Things were... complicated."

"Uncomplicate it."

"It's... uhhh."

"There better be a good reason why she's not here."

Po slightly narrowed his eyes. "I'm pretty sure this isn't the 'professional' way of asking."

"She. Was. My. Friend." Tigress growled quietly. "I at least deserve to know what happened." Po stared at her, though she couldn't tell what he was thinking. He gave a long sigh. Standing up, he headed to the door and locked it.

Tigress's head immediately filled with new anxieties. Gulping, she started to shake. She knew this kind of situation. She scanned the room for objects. Something to defend herself. Her mind went to Lei Lei.

If Po did anything to hurt the tiger, she would immediately leave the job but supporting Lei Lei would be her greatest challenge. Tigress shook her head. No, she couldn't submit to her anxieties now. She needed to be-

Po knocked her out of her thought process with his sigh. With his hand still on the doorknob, he pointed at Tigress, saying, "What I'm about to tell you is top secret. Like, 'will cause people to either leave or be fired', secret, okay? And you're not to tell anyone. Not even Mrs. Ming."

Tigress blinked twice. "Why would I tell the janitor?"

"You'd be surprised how far the office grapevine goes," Po sighed. He walked to his desk, pulled out a pile of papers, and placed them on top. "Song has been altering the financial records."

"What?!" She scanned the papers. "But... she wouldn't-"

"It's all there, Tigress. Missing documents, bad funding records, weird bank statements. It's all there. Trust me, I didn't want to believe it when I saw it either."

"But... but why?"

Po shrugged and sat down. "No idea for now. I always knew Song was doing something wrong, but I didn't know what."

Tigress narrowed her eyes. "How long did you know about this?"

"My gut feeling that something was wrong? Three months after she started working as treasurer. The stuff about the money? Since working this job," Po groaned, resting his head on his hand. "So... I fired her. I did it secretly because I didn't want to embarrass her. She was more scared that I wouldn't believe her side of the story."

"Why didn't you have her arrested?"

Po lifted an eyebrow while tilting his head. "I... thought she was your friend."

The tiger sighed. "It... it's allowable by company policy."

The panda stared for a bit longer and said, "I didn't arrest her because she said she was coerced and I believe her. Besides, it was obvious. She's been nervous and anxious ever since she got that treasurer job. Anyway, she wasn't stealing any money. Someone else was. Which means that someone manipulated her to do so."

"Why would she go along with this?" Tigress asked though it wasn't to Po.

"She said if she didn't do the job, she would be framed. All the person would have to do is put her name on the documents and say she took the money, leaving them scot-free."

"But... why didn't she just quit?"

"People can be desperate when they're trying to find a job."

"But you fired her either way," Tigress argued. The panda only sighed, looking away from the tiger's intense questioning glare. "Who is stealing the money?"

"It could be anyone in the financial department or higher up, but I don't know. And even then, I couldn't tell you for legal reasons. I have to be careful about this" Po gritted his teeth with a loud sigh, "I really hate this job."

"Then... why don't you quit?"

His head snapped up in a surprising fury. "Really?! Kick me while I'm already down?"

"What do you mean?"

"Tigress, as much as I hate this job and the way I got it, that doesn't mean you have to 'encourage' me to leave."

"I wasn't suggesting that."

"Oh really?" Po scoffed. "Why don't I believe you?"

"Maybe because you think I'm always attacking you when I'm just trying my best to control my anger?" Tigress grunted.

"Well that's cold comfort. Why do you even want this job so badly? I know it has a good 'status' in society or whatever, but why are you so obsessed with it?"

"Po, I've wanted this position since I came here! Not because I wanted status or fame. I wanted it because of the money and opportunities that come with it! I worked harder and harder, even sometimes denying my family and my own child to get your job! So excuse me if I'm a little upset at how unfair life is!" Tigress snarled.

Po paused for a moment. "You... have a child?"

"Yes!" Tigress took a long breath and released a lot of the tension building in her shoulders. "But while I don't like being in this situation any more than you do, you were right about one thing. We need to bury the hatchet and get work done. Right now, we both need help."

"I know I do, but why do you need help?" Po asked.

"I need someone to run the company. You're the closest one and you're already exposing some of the issues with it. As much as it pains me to say it," Tigress grunted, "You are doing better than I thought you would. And I need this job right now."

Po stared at her for a moment and sighed, shutting his eyes. He stood up and offered his hand. Tigress shook his hand and left the office without another word.

Plopping into her chair, she rubbed the tension in her face and head. "Song... why didn't you just tell me?" She whispered.

Even sometimes denying my family and my own child to get your job!

"Or, maybe I wasn't listening," She whispered. Viper and Mei Mei both mentioned that she wasn't aware of the people around her, and Song told her that she was getting tunnel vision. If so, how many people's lives had she blown straight through?

Work quickly ended that day. The feline walked to her car and picked up Lei Lei. The small panda got into her seat, strapped the seat buckle on, and said nothing more. "Hey, honey. How was school?"

"It was fine," She said emotionlessly.

The tiger's heart pinched. Had school already sucked the life out of her little girl? As she drove back to their house in the suburbs, Tigress's mind flooded with her talk with Po. She really needed this job right now. For her little girl's sake. "Lei Lei, why don't we play some games when we get back home?"

"Wh-what? Are you sure?"

"Why not?"

"Well... you usually work. Then you play with me."

Tigress smiled, but she sighed deeply on the inside. "Today's a little different. Why don't we play some checkers when we get home?"

The smile on the panda's face lit up. Just a bit. "Okay!"

Tigress smiled wider, but her head began to churn again.

As much as she might want to have Po's job, maybe the job wasn't the issue in her life.

The next day, the phones were off the hook. She quickly answered them. "Zainan head office, Tigress speaking." The tiger diligently worked all day, busily laboring through papers, reports, and research for projects. As she hung up the phone again, Po walked into his office for a brief moment, leaving his briefcase on her desk.

"I'll be right back. I need to get something in my office and then I'm heading out."

"Where?"

"It's... private," Po cheesily grinned. Tigress glared as the panda walked into his workplace. She pulled out a small device from her purse and slid it into Po's black briefcase. Tigress quickly recomposed herself when the panda came out and grabbed his case. "I'll be right back." He walked down the hall and into the elevator.

After looking around for anyone else, Tigress picked up her phone. "Alright, Po. Let's see what you're doing with your 'private time'." The device she slipped into his case was a tracker. The panda went somewhere every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday that wasn't on his schedule. Since Tigress could see his agenda online, it only read, 'private time" for that time slot. Every other meeting was marked and titled normally except that one.

Tigress bit her lip. This would be a breach of personal privacy, but it didn't make sense for Po to be gone for 45 minutes in the random part of the day. Unless he was taking a break at home or something.

Tigress watched the panda's tracker move out of the building and a few blocks down the street to a place she didn't expect.

"Counseling services," Tigress whispered. "Therapy. He's going to therapy. Ugh I'm such an idiot." She tossed her phone onto the desk and gave a great groan. "What am I doing? Am I really that obsessed about this position?"

Before she could condemn herself anymore, her phone rang. "Oh no." For a moment, she thought it was Po. Maybe he found the tracker. Tigress looked at the phone and found Song's number. "Hello?"

"Hey, how are you doing?"

"Fine. How are you? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm guessing you're wondering why I was fired?"

"I was-"

"And you took it up with Po?"

"I... did," Tigress sighed. Was she that predictable?

"Did he tell you?"

"He... did. Song, why didn't you-"

"I didn't want to get you involved. Or framed for something. I was just scared. I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's fine," Tigress sighed again, relaxing into her chair. "I'm just sorry that I can't help you find a job."

"Oh, I'm already at a new job."

"What? That fast. How?"

"Well, when I told Po everything, he offered to call a friend to see if they could find a job for me. And now I have a new job."

"And... how do you like it?"

"It's amazing, Tigress," Song sighed with a smile that Tigress could hear through the phone. "I'm finally away from that stupid job and that toxic environment. You, Po, and the other girls on that floor were the only positive things about my job. But I hated that place, even before I became treasurer. And after speaking with Po, it all makes sense."

"What do you mean?"

"The company purposely puts people in places they know they don't want to be in just so they can get their way. Po said Oogway was... kinda the exception because he put people where they needed to be," Song sighed, "But that doesn't help when there's always someone above you."

Tigress narrowed her eyes. "So it's someone above Po that's causing all of this?"

"Yes, and I think it's getting worse." The snow leopard paused. "Tigress... whatever you do, don't give Po more grief. I'm really glad that he helped me when he didn't need to. He doesn't deserve your hatred and anger, especially with what he's going through."

"What do you mean?"

"Being CEO isn't what it's cracked up to be, at least not what Oogway made it seem like. Nothing in school can prepare you for that job. And Po is going through his personal challenges that make it worse. But he's holding on somehow. Trust me, Po is the best for this position. I mean, would you have done the same thing he did if you were in charge?"

The tiger said nothing. She didn't know how.

"Something to consider. Anyway, I have to get back to work."

"What job do you have now?"

Song chuckled, "You'll figure it out later. I'll talk to you soon." The snow leopard hung up, leaving the tiger in a daze.

Tigress sighed, rubbing her head. She felt the weight of her guilt pressing her further into the chair. Song was right.

And there was no getting around it this time.

Slowly, Tigress went back to work, but it wasn't long before she heard a beep on her phone. It was Po's tracker. He was coming back to the office. Tigress smiled a bit. Hopefully, the panda didn't notice and she could remove the tracker without further embarrassment.

The elevator stood on the opposite end of the long hall and past the sea of small cubicles. Tigress had a clear view of it. So she could perfectly see the doors open and a frowning panda holding a small device in his hand and glaring right at her.

"Oh no," the tiger sighed, covering her face.

The panda stormed right up to her, "Tigress," He said in a controlled and soft enough voice that no one in the cubicles would be alarmed, "Is there a reason why you put a tracker in my briefcase?"

Tigress stood up and took a deep breath. "I... I wanted to know where you were going. The 'private time' meetings seemed a little suspicious so... I put a tracker in your briefcase to figure out where you were. Those meetings are scheduled when the workload is the busiest but I... thought you were goofing off."

"Wooooow," Po said in mock surprise. "So... rather than respect my privacy or simply ask me to change the meet times, you went behind my back?"

"I did. It was stupid and I'm sorry."

"Tigress, I... wait, what did you say?" Po's anger completely washed away.

"I... I said I'm sorry. And I'm... sorry for taking my anger out on you for... attaining the position. I never thought about how you were affected by this position. And how you're... trying your best," Tigress lowered her head. "I promise it won't happen again. I'm really sorry, Mr. Ping. I didn't... I was blinded by my anger and ambition. You... You don't deserve my frustrations. I... I understand if you want to report me to HR and have-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, okay, okay. No need to get Mei Mei involved. You've convinced me you're sorry," Po said in a slight nervous chuckle. "But... why the apologies? I thought you hated my guts?"

"I... heard from Song. She told me everything you did to get her a new job after her... incident. I realized that this position you have isn't a blessing, but a burden. Especially for you who didn't ask for it. I'm sorry for lashing out at you for... something that was completely out of your control." The tiger groaned after a breath. "And if I'm being honest... the reason why I was so upset with you after the fact is because... you're doing a better job than I ever could."

"What? No, no," Po shook his head. "Tigress, I still don't know what I'm doing half the time. And I'm sure that you would've found a much better solution to Song's situation than I could."

"But... I couldn't. Even after all this time and knowing all the details, I couldn't. Just... thank you for taking better care of my friend than I could."

Po gave a weary smile. "I'm just doing my best to do the right thing."

"I'm glad that you are," Tigress genuinely smiled for what felt like the first time in a while. Po's eyes widened as he gave a nervous chuckle, scratching the side of his face.

"Uhh well, here's your tracker."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry about-"

"It's okay. I'm just glad that we can fully bury the hatchet," Po said, offering his hand again. Tigress chuckled a bit and shook his hand.

"Agreed." The panda headed to his office. "By the way, if you don't mind me asking, why were you at the counseling services?"

Po stopped. He frowned sadly and glanced back at her. Tigress mirrored that frown. "Actually I do mind. I'm sorry." Without another word, he walked into his office and continued to work.

Continued...