Overworked

Two or three days passed. Tigress sat promptly at her desk and started working as hard and as fast as she could.

Soon Viper slithered by. "Hey, Tigress."

"Hey," She replied curtly. The snake shook her head with a small smile.

"Looks like you're back to working yourself ragged, huh?"

"It's different this time. I didn't get much work done yesterday and I have to finish up as much as I can now. And the stuff I have to finish up can't be done at home."

"So you're going to have to finish it here," Viper guessed. Tigress nodded. "Well, I came to give you the reports for the project you needed."

"Thanks. I'll-"

"Don't forget about me!" Chimed a cheery voice. Mei Mei strolled down the little hall and plopped a large stack of papers for the records. "There we go. I managed to get everything you needed for that project."

"Perfect," the tiger groaned.

"Tigress, if you need some help with your work, I'm sure you can-"

"No, no, it's fine. I just need to focus for a while," The feline replied to Viper. The panda and snake glanced at each other with doubtful looks. "I'll be fine. I promise." While the two silently walked away, Tigress furiously scanned through both reports. She entered a zone. Every decision came to her fingertips as she wrote, typed, and scanned. But she couldn't do this for long. She glanced at the clock.

11:30 am.

She took a quick break, eating a penni sandwich and coffee. Tasting the sourness of the penni, she groaned and pulled out a small notebook. "Make food prep plan."

It would definitely give her more cooking time with Lei Lei and prevent her from going to the nearby deli.

She went back to work, stretching to keep her mind and body as sharp as they possibly could. Her fingers wildly tapped at the keyboard, only breaking for change in posture or to use the bathroom. She looked at the clock again.

2:30 pm.

She gritted her teeth. "Ugh, I'm going to be late."

"Late for what?"

"WHAT?!" Tigress jumped and finally recognized that a black and white bear was standing near his office door. "Oh! Po, you scared me."

"You scared me too."

"How?"

"You've been working like a mad demon. I waved and said hello twice and you didn't recognize me."

"Oh, I must've been working."

"Uh huh," Po said with a deadpanned face. "Any reason why you're working extra hard today. I'm pretty sure you don't have to cover everything right now."

Tigress sighed, "The office work has been piling up and I don't know if I'll be able to get to Lei Lei's school in time."

"What about aftercare?"

"I don't like it. I know Lei Lei doesn't mind, but I want to spend more time with her."

Po tilted his head a bit. There were a couple of seats along the opposite wall of the hallway for people to wait for Po. The panda sat down on one of those chairs as he said, "Why the change?"

"What?"

"You told me you sacrificed a lot to try and get my job and now you're blazing through work just to be with your kid. I'm all for it, but-"

"What started it?" Tigress said with a small simper. "When Lei Lei was having trouble with bullies, I realized I wasn't being a... present mother. I wasn't there for her. The fact that I can pick her up with this job helps me be there for her when she needs me most. I just... want to spend as much time with her as possible."

"While also trying to do some self-care?" Po asked. She stared with a question on her eyebrows. "You can't take care of people if you're not taking care of yourself."

"Have you been listening to your own advice?" Tigress smirked.

"No, but it's still true," He picked up some of the papers on her desk. "You know what? Why don't you spend some time with your daughter? I'll finish up this stuff."

"Po, I couldn't-"

"No, no, it's fine. Most of this stuff is the Imposter Success Project, right?" Tigress nodded. "I'm done with my end of the work, I can finish up your end."

"Po, I couldn't ask you to do that. This is my work and-"

"Either way you did your part of the project. Besides, we're a little ahead of schedule so there's no reason to worry about it."

"But-"

"No buts! Just get yours to the school, alright?"

"Are you sure that-"

"I'll be fine, Tigress," Po waved her away. "Go run along to your kid. I'll be fine here."

Tigress couldn't stop the smile brimming from her lips. "Thank you, Po." The panda smiled back and went to his office. She quickly gathered her things and ran to her car, jumping onto the highway in a flash. She was driving a little recklessly and the honking cars told her so, but she slowed down a bit when she got to the academy. The little panda at the corner of the school's entrance saw Tigress's car stop in front of her. She tilted her head. Lei Lei just stood there, watching the car until her mother got out.

"Lei Lei, what are you doing? It's me," Tigress said.

"I didn't know if it was really you. You said you were working late," The little panda said.

Tigress smiled. She had to appreciate her daughter's intelligence. The tiger picked her up and put her in the car seat. "Well, I managed to get off early."

"But what about work?"

"I have someone on the case."

The little panda's eyes widened. "Who are you, and where's mommy!"

"Lei Lei, stop acting like that," Tigress said sternly.

"But... you NEVER let ANYONE do your work."

Tigress narrowed her eyes as she got into the driver's seat. "How do you know that?"

"I asked Ms-s Song if she know you and s-she said she did and I asked what you did for work. She said that-that you work a lot with papers and you don't let anyone do your work. She said you're like a work demon."

Tigress felt almost every single ounce of her pride wash away as she growled under her breath.

"Mommy what's a demon?"

"It's someone who's very naughty and needs a stern talking to," Tigress muttered but spoke clear when she said, "Well, Ms. Song is... technically right, but everyone needs help from time to time. Even me."

"So you don't work when you get help?" Lei Lei asked.

"No, someone else just helps me do... less work," Tigress explained.

"That's good. You need to rest. You work too much," Lei Lei said with a stern voice. Well, as stern as a child could.

Tigress smirked. "Did Ms. Song tell you that too?"

"No. I knew that a loooooooooong time."

Tigress sighed, "Sometimes you're too smart for your own good." They drove to their house, went inside, and promptly made food. While they ate, the panda suddenly burst from her seat.

"Oh! I forgot!"

"Lei Lei, what are you doing? You haven't finished your meal."

"Just a second!" Lei Lei ran off and came back with her backpack. She pulled out a crayon picture. "It's me and you. I made you a suit too!"

Tigress smiled widely. "It looks great, honey. I'll put it on the fridge next to your other one."

"The one with Grandpa?" Tigress nodded. As the tiger pinned a magnet to the picture and the fridge, Lei Lei tilted her head in thought. "Mommy, when are we going to see Grandpa Shifu?"

"Soon, why?"

"We haven't seen him in a year," Lei Lei said with large excitement. Tigress stared at the refrigerator, grimacing to herself. She rubbed her muzzle. They hadn't gone to Shifu's house because she had been so busy with her work.

"I really need to get my priorities straight," Tigress mumbled.

"What are pry-your-knees?"

The tiger chuckled as she went back to the table. "Priorities. It's when something is very important. Something that you care about a lot."

"Like you and me?" Lei Lei grinned.

Tigress smiled and nodded, though her smile held a small sadness to it. She hadn't been acting like Lei Lei and her were priorities. Po was right. She had to take better care of herself.

Soon afterwards, Lei Lei played with her toys while Tigress took a deep breath. She had to make a call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, father."

"Tigress," Said an elderly voice. "It's good to hear from you. I was beginning to get worried. You don't call much anymore."

"Well I wanted to... give you and Mei-Ling some privacy."

Shifu chuckled over the phone. "I'm sure that my new wife isn't the reason why you haven't called."

"I'm sorry. I've been... really busy."

"Too busy to visit me? You know I miss Lei Lei."

"Unfortunately it was my fault."

"What's wrong?"

Tigress took another deep breath and leaned her back against the wall. She told him about the situation at her company.

"And while I was upset with the whole thing," She slowly finished, "I realized that he was better for the job. And that it would've stressed me out more."

"Hmm... are you sure this is the kind of company you want to be working for?"

"No," Tigress looked at Lei Lei playing with a tiger doll. The little panda pranced it around, making gestures as if the doll was directing the other dolls. "But for right now, it's the job that helps pay for me and for Lei Lei's school."

"I would still be wary, Tigress. I figured that you were trying to get a promotion, but... you can't take a job like this too seriously."

"What do you mean?"

"Taking ANY job too seriously, whether it's one you like or don't like, is dangerous. Remember, you work to live, not live to work."

Tigress sharpened her eyes, leaning on her left foot. "Interesting. That's not what you told me when I was younger."

"It's not?"

"Hmm, I wonder if Alzheimer's is setting in," the tiger smirked.

"Tigress, I'm not even that old," Shifu chuckled. "But this... Po Ping. What do you think about him? The situation around him sounds like a handful."

"It... was, but only because he didn't know what he was doing or why I... disliked him."

"And he didn't fire you?"

"No," Tigress said with equal confusion, "He just wanted me to be honest with him. After finding out the kind of stuff he went through on the job... I realized that he didn't ask to be in this situation."

"I'm glad he's very forgiving. Not many supervisors are like that."

"He's... nice. I can tell it's going to be interesting working with him." Tigress glanced at the clock. "I have to go, father. Lei Lei and I will visit some more, but you're welcome to come by. Just please let me know a few days... weeks in advance."

"I'm sure Mei-Ling and I would like that. Thank you, Tigress."

"For what?"

"For allowing me to see my granddaughter," Shifu chuckled. Tigress rolled her eyes. "But seriously, thank you for not straining yourself too much. I was beginning to fear that pushing you to be a hard-worker backfired."

"You're welcome... Dad." Hanging up the phone, Tigress went back to her home life.

The next day, Tigress walked into the office and saw her desk completely free of any papers or reports. And the ones that were there were in the 'out' bin. Tigress smiled. "He actually did it." A small part of her didn't think Po could manage to do her work on top of his, but he proved her wrong.

The door to his office was slightly ajar. "Huh. It's not Wednesday. Why is it open?"

As she slowly opened the door, she gasped. There was Po laying face down on the desk asleep. He had a pen in his hand and drool started collecting on the desk calendar.

Tigress felt her heart tug at her guilt strings. She made a B-line to her desk, pulled out a thick shawl and spread it over Po's body. She quietly grabbed the remaining work from his desk and slipped out of the room. "I can't believe this. He spent all night doing this report?" Tigress groaned, facepalming herself. "I knew I shouldn't have left."

She went straight to work to make sure there would be no more overwork for anyone. A few moments later, Po slowly tumbled out of his office, holding the tiger's shawl. "Ahh, I think this is yours?"

"It is. And I'm sorry for making you-"

"Bah, it's fine," Po smiled. "I'm a big hypocrite anyway."

"How so?"

"I told you to take care of yourself when I couldn't do the same?" Po lightly laughed, "Either way, it's fine."

"You slept at work!"

"And? It's not like there's much going on at my house... now."

Tigress frowned and lowered her ears. "Po, just... please don't overwork yourself for my sake?"

"Heh," Po gave a scoffing laugh. "Ever since the break up... I've been overworking myself all the time." He went back to his office, closing the door in silence.*

Continued...

*A/N: I feel like I'm over using 'Without another word.' Sorry about that.