Old Family Wounds

The week went by faster than Tigress expected. She focused on organizing Po's schedules, but the panda was starting to get the hang of the organization. Tigress chuckled. "Now if only he could do the same to his apartment."

She didn't have much time to give herself a second laugh when an unusual sight came to her desk. "Tai Lung? What are you doing here?" Tai Lung was always either in his office in the Marketing and Sales department or in the HR office for... reasons.

"I... need your help. I need you to come with me."

"Why?" Tigress asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Just... come with me. I promise it's not... inappropriate."

"That doesn't make you less suspicious."

"It's about Po."

Tigress only lifted her other eyebrow. "Again, this doesn't help your case."

"Just... trust me on this," Tai Lung said a bit exasperated. The tiger sighed and stood up, following the snow leopard down the hall. Tai Lung's glare was set ahead and his worry creased the corners of his lips. Tigress could feel a small growing pinch in her stomach. They made their way to the finance hall where Po was walking with another male snow leopard. He was younger and shorter with a dark green dress shirt and black tie. Tigress tilted her head. Something about this snow leopard seemed familiar.

Po turned his head and saw the two felines. "Hey! Tai Lung, Tigress," he smiled widely. "Good, you're here. I want you to meet Peng."

"Oh, a new recruit?" Tigress guessed.

"Not... quite," Po smiled. "Peng is here for some... internal business. I'm just showing him where the magic happens." The panda paused and looked at the bulky male cat beside her. "Is... something wrong, Tai Lung? You seem tense."

Tai Lung's glare popped off of his face and he quickly brushed up a smile. "Never better, just... wanted to make sure everything was going well."

"Are you sure?"

"Never better," Tai Lung smiled widely.

"O-kay then," Po shrugged and moved on with Peng down the hall. Peng and Tai Lung exchanged worried and antagonistic looks.

Tai Lung and Tigress went back to her desk, and the tiger sighed as she sat back down. "Alright, what's the problem? You rarely act like that."

"You don't know who Peng is, do you?"

"Why would I?"

Tai Lung sighed, "Peng is a part of the Better Business Bureau." The tiger kept her stare. "That doesn't worry you?"

"Po tends to do things by the book the best he can. You know, company policies?"

The snow leopard grumbled, crossing his arms in his dark blue suit. "But Peng does undercover work, too. So if he's here, the company's doing something wrong."

Tigress narrowed her eyes. Though the BBB being here would make anyone a little worried, it didn't make sense for Tai Lung to know that specific correlation. "Seems you know a lot more than you let on about Peng."

"He's... also my nephew."

"Ahh. If he's your nephew, why are you so worried?"

"The last time Peng did his usual meddling, I lost my job. I can't afford that again just because he's-"

"Doing his job?"

"You know what I mean," Tai Lung sighed.

"Would you rather be a part of a crooked company?"

"I need a job."

"Not more than you need to be out of jail."

Tai Lung grumbled but couldn't argue her point. He groaned into the nearby chair at her desk, rubbing his temples. "It's so hard to do the right thing sometimes, especially when it costs someone their life."

"It is," Tigress sighed, "And I'm sure your nephew knows that more than anyone else. But if there's something wrong with the company and you try to hide things, you end up in jail."

Grumbles exited the snow leopard's lungs. "You seem okay about potentially losing your job."

Tigress shrugged and smiled reflectively, "Sometimes, doing the right thing is the best thing, even if it means getting the wrong results."

"I hope you're right." Standing up, Tai Lung took a deep breath and slowly walked back to his room. His small corner office had no windows. He was fine with this; it eliminated distractions. Walls filled with charts and campaigns decorated the room instead. Busily trying to strategize another campaign, he looked at his erase board with a growl. "Grr, this isn't working."

"What's not working?" Tai Lung looked back and saw a familiar snake enter his office.

"Nothing, nothing. I just have a little brain fog."

Viper tilted her head. "Brain fog? Or is something on your mind?"

"Am I that obvious?"

"No, I just have a knack for these things. I'm the people person you know," Viper smiled.

Tai Lung chuckled a bit, "It's nothing. I'm just... Tigress told me something that I have a hard time believing."

"Which is?"

"It's best to do the right thing even if it gets you the wrong results. Is that true?"

Viper looked at him for a while in silence. "Well, I didn't think Tigress had those kinds of... deep thoughts."

"Hm?"

"If you told me a year ago that that was from Tigress, I would've doubted it. She isn't the kind of person to be that reflective. Though given her circumstances..." Viper shook her head. "Sorry, lost my train of thought. What I mean is... life is very complicated and complex. And... we don't know if one good thing is going to make something better or worse. We try our best. I think... doing what is right, even if it gets you the wrong results is better. Better than just being passive and much better than doing the wrong thing just to get what you want."

"So it's right to always tell the truth?"

"There's the matter of delivery," Viper rubbed the bottom of her chin with the tip of her tail. "It's the execution of the right thing that makes an important difference."

"I guess Tigress was right."

Just then there was a knock at the door. "H-H-Hello?" Viper and Tai Lung looked at the young snow leopard. "Mr. Ping said this was Tai Lung's office?"

"Uhh Viper? Could you excuse us for a moment?"

"Oh! Of course," she smiled and slithered out of the room.

Peng closed the door. "Hello, Uncle Tai Lung."

"Peng."

"Ho-How have you been?"

"Busy with this new job. That I like very much," Tai Lung answered with a gruffness in his voice.

Peng sighed, "Uncle, I'm sorry about your last job. I was only doing my job. And if I didn't get you out of that chemical factory, you probably would've been in worse trouble."

"Like jail?"

"Like death."

Tai Lung sighed out his frustrations, "I guess I can't be too mad at you. There are a lot of... perks to this job that I didn't have with the other."

"I know that I can't make up for the struggles you had but-"

"You were just doing your job," Tai Lung smiled. "You were... you were doing the right thing even though it got the wrong results. It would be foolish of me to persecute you for doing that." That smile quickly disappeared. "But I must ask, is the same issue here?"

"What do you-"

"Don't play dumb with me, Peng."

The smaller snow leopard paused. A sigh exited his lips. "As long as Po isn't fired, you'll be fine."

Tai Lung narrowed his eyes. "What does Po have to do with this?"

"Don't worry, you won't lose your job and if you do, I'll be the first one to get you a new one," Peng got up and offered his hand to his uncle.

Tai Lung stared at that hand. For a moment, it seemed like a dagger pointing at him. Something that could cut trustworthy ropes in seconds. But he sighed with a forgiving smile.

Peng did the right thing. Tai Lung would've done the same. "I'll hold you to that," Tai Lung said as he gave a firm handshake.

Meanwhile, Tigress leaned on Po's desk as they talked. "So... Peng is with the BBB? Why do you want a spy?"

"I can't say much, but working with him will help make sure that no innocent people get hurt through this whole mess."

"How do you know Peng?" Tigress asked; she told him about Tai Lung and Peng's relationship.

"I honestly just asked the BBB for a specialist in internal affairs. He was recommended. I didn't know that Tai Lung and him had problems." Po sighed, "Why is it hard to do the right thing?"

Tigress looked at his desk piled with papers. She grabbed some of them as she stood up."Maybe you should get some rest."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Get some rest."

"But-"

"We're ahead of schedule. We can rest for a while. Besides, rest helps us keep in shape. And you need to be in shape to fight all of this."

Po gave a weak smile. "I didn't know encouraging the CEO was part of your job description."

"It isn't, but it doesn't have to be," Tigress smiled back. "It's getting late. I'll finish this up for you and head out."

"I think I'll go home early today. You're right. I need the rest." Just then, Po's phone rang. He looked at his text message and widened his eyes. "Oh no."

"What's wrong?"

"Uuuuuggggghhhh, why now! And I can't say no to her. GAH! I should, but... Ugh this is going to be a bad idea," Po groaned, dropping back into his chair. "Now I really need that rest."

"Po?"

"My... aunt is coming over to visit me on the job."

"Is she a problem?"

"No, it's just... she's a bit... Anyways, she knows all about the break up and has been helping me get through it. She's the one that helped me get the therapist I have now."

An eyebrow floated up on the tiger's face. "So... what's the problem?"

"I just REAAALLLY hope Shen or Kai doesn't come by tomorrow," Po muttered.

Continued...