7 days and counting....

Po waited nervously by the front of the barracks. It was late into the night when most of the villagers had gone to bed, nearly two weeks after visiting Bao Gu. He held a small box in his paws which he had out only to make sure nothing was scratched. He had had it for over a year by this point and looking at it just made him even more nervous. A creak from the door behind him caused the Dragon Warrior to slip the box into his back pocket as he turned around to greet Tigress.

"You ready to go?" she asked him with a smile.

"Absolutely," Po promised her.

Tigress shut the door, looking at Po who was giving her a lovestruck look. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," the Dragon Warrior assured her. "I just love that shirt on you. That's all."

"I've been wearing the same style for over a month now."

"And you still look beautiful in it. And awesome! Awesome too!"

The master smirked at him and gave him a quick hug. "I won't penalize you for being nice," she assured him.

"Oh, okay. Good. Wait...I'm on a penalty system?"

"Lets just say that if anything goes wrong, our second date is going to be in the training hall on The Blushing Spikes of Impending Demise."

Po felt a few beads of sweat drip down his face. "Well don't make me more nervous than I already am!" he scolded her nervously. "I'm already terrified of screwing up and we haven't even left yet!"

Tigress rolled her eyes with a smile. "It'll be fine," she replied. "Just as long as your dad didn't invite the entire valley to spy on us."

"I've already warned him to not tattle to his customers until we're ready to announce it."

"Good."

The masters quietly snuck out of the Jade Palace and walked down the stairs to the sleeping village where a lone light from Mr. Ping's noodle shop could be seen in the dark. The couple walked inside where they spotted Me. Ping and Scorpion finishing up the touches on a table placed in the kitchen.

"Good evening, you two," Mr. Ping called over happily. "Come on over and sit down! There's nice, hot soup!"

The two warriors walked into the kitchen and sat down at the prepared table where they were promptly served dinner. Mr. Ping flitted around the couple with the courses, happily exclaiming, "This has to be one of he happiest days of my life! You two are finally together! I was so afraid Po wouldn't settle down, but here he is now with the girl of his dreams!"

Po turned a dark shade of red. "Daaaad...." he said.

Tigress, who was sitting across from him, merely chuckled.

"I'm sorry, son, but it's been so long since you've been in a solid relationship!"

"Solid relationship?" Tigress repeated.

"Dad, I've never been in a solid relationship."

"Exactly!!!"

Scorpion gave them their tea and then took Mr. Ping by the wing to lead him away. "Alright, Pingy, let's leave them to their date. You still owe me that night."

"I know, I know. I'll get the mahjong game."

"I'll get the tea and cookies set up."

The two soon left, leaving Tigress and Po alone. The two sat in silence for a while as they ate their dinner, unsure of what exactly to say on a first date. (Or at least, a first date with a former best friend anyway). Po spoke first and said, "So...you don't mind going on a double-date with dad and Scorpion?"

"They're not down here, so I don't think it counts as a double-date," Tigress told him.

"Oh."

More silence.

"Um...sorry if this is feeling a little awkward," Po piped up after slurping some of his soup. "I've never actually been on a date before. And I don't know how comfortable you are with this whole thing....."

"I'm fine," Tigress promised gently. She smiled and added, "Although, I do know how we can make this less awkward...."

"Um...how's that?"

"By actually sitting next to each other is a start."

Tigress then proceeded to stand up and move her chair right next to Po, moving her food over as well before she sat down beside him.

"You know, this does feel a little better," Po noted with a smile.

"I figured."

The two continued to eat dinner, now feeling a bit more comfortable.

"So...are there topics we should avoid on a date?" Po asked. "Or..."

"We can talk about stuff we normally talk about," Tigress assured him.

"Oh, okay. Um...how are you feeling with Shifu getting married and all?"

Tigress swallowed some of her soup and gave a little shrug. "I'm doing alright," she promised. "I think it'll be a little weird since I'm not used to having an adopted mom, but I'll adjust."

"Are you and Mei-Ling doing any...mom and daughter bonding, or no?"

"Shifu wants us to go out for a day in order to do that, but we haven't done that recently, so no."

"Ah."

The two continued to eat and talk, the conversation soon moving away from Shifu and Mei-Ling's upcoming marriage and moving to subjects such as finally mastering the Blushing Spikes of Impending Demise or Tigress accidentally putting hot sauce in the cookies instead of vanilla. They soon finished their dinner and moved on to dessert where Po proceeded to pester the master about a long-awaited question.

"Sooo..." the panda began. "I know you really hate whenever I ask this question-"

"Is this the 'what's your favorite color?' question again?" Tigress sighed. "Po, I already told you that I don't have favorite  color."

"Aw, come on. Everyone's got a favorite color! I have one. Viper has one. I'm pretty sure Shifu's got one, but he just won't admit it."

"Shifu likes green. Or so I've heard."

"Who'd you hear that from?"

"Oogway told me that after Monkey asked him the exact same question. Shifu stormed off saying that such an idea was not worth his time, and later, Oogway told us he preferred green."

Po laughed. "That's funny," he noted.   He looked at his girlfriend and added, "Think he'd say anything for you?"

"No," Tigress answered quickly.

"You sure about that?"

"Po, I don't have a favorite color. End of discussion."

"Alright, alright. I'll ask you another time."

Tigress gently rolled her eyes but said nothing as Po reached over and poured the two another cup of tea. "I like black and white though," the panda added.

"That's two colors," Tigress pointed out.

"Not always. It can be one color. Just like chocolate mint can be one flavor."

The master chuckled a little bit. "I thought your favorite color was flewgu," she said.

Po let out a small laugh. "Hey, you actually remembered that!" he exclaimed.

"You were talking about it for over an hour...."

"Yeah, I know. But I couldn't figure out which color I liked better: red, blue or yellow. But then I decided that black and white is awesome, like the yin-yang symbol, pandas, dumplings, dad's tea kettle...."

"You do realize that two of the things you just mentioned weren't both black and white, right?"

"Um...yeah...but they're still awesome! And delicious. Uh, you know...the dumplings!"

Tigress smiled and turned to take a sip of her tea. Po took another slice of cake, offering one to the tiger who politely told him no. As Po shoved some of the chocolatey heaven into his mouth, Tigress asked, "Po, is it alright if I ask you a question?"

"Sure. what is it?"

"What's it like growing up and not spending every waking moment doing kung fu?"

Po thought for a moment, trying to think of how to answer the question. "Well..." he finally said. "I mean, I don't know what it's like to do kung fu every waking moment, but I would just get up in the morning, eat breakfast, and then help dad in the kitchen. Or, well, when I was older anyway. Dad was just more concerned with making sure I knew how to cook and that we spent time together. Why, what was it like growing up doing a ton of kung fu?"

"Strict," Tigress answered automatically. "And I was always worried that I was never doing enough since Tai Lung's shadow was still lingering over the Jade Palace."

"Oh, right," the Dragon Warrior said nervously. "I forgot about that."

Tigress smiled and poured herself some more tea. "You know," she piped up gently. "When you defeated Tai Lung and proved yourself as Dragon Warrior, I was a little upset since I was hoping I could finally prove myself to Shifu."

"Yeah, as I found out the hard way," Po recalled with a slight wince.

"But looking back on it, especially after everything that's happened, I'm actually glad it was you and not me who became Dragon Warrior."

"Wait...really?"

"Po, you brought so much life and peace to this valley as well as to the Jade Palace. Imagine if I was the Dragon Warrior instead. I don't think much good would have come out of it."

"You'd still be awesome...."

"Thank you, but what I mean is that unlike you, I wasn't very lively or fun. I'm still not in a way, but imagine that kind of influence around the Jade Palace."

Po thought about it a bit, a small laugh escaping him. "Yeah, I guess you got a point," he admitted. "You're still awesome, but I can kind of imagine you trying to direct long training sessions with no breaks for three days straight."

Tigress grinned. "Sounds like me," she admitted.

"Well, the old you, anyway...."

"The old me is still inside somewhere, Dragon Warrior. Don't push your luck too much."

Po just smiled at her and went back to eating his cake. Tigress leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek, causing him to turn a light shade of pink.

"I'm thankful you're here, Po," she told him gently, sipping more of her tea.

Po gave her a slightly goofy grin. "You and me both," he replied.

The two sat together in a comfortable silence, enjoying the company of the other as they ate a little more food. Po quickly remembered the box in his pocket and felt a few beads of nervous sweat drip down his face as he tried to think of an opportune moment. Noticing the sudden squirming of the Dragon Warrior, Tigress looked at him and asked worriedly, "Po, are you okay?"

"Huh?!" Po asked in surprise. "Oh, yeah. I'm cool. I'm good. Um...so, uh...how's Dai doing?"

"He's doing better. He at least doesn't try and break the door down when Mr. Ren tries to shove him inside."

"Poor little guy."

"Yeah. I really hope someone really sympathetic adopts him. He deserves it after all the crap he's been through."

"You could adopt him."

"Are you serious?! I don't know anything about kids! I'd probably accidentally poison him within two minutes of taking him in!"

"You take care of some of the younger kids in the village?"

"Holding them and feeding them prepared food doesn't count."

Po nodded. "Suit yourself," he said. He waited for a few minutes, putting the room in more silence, before finally asking, "So, Tigress...do you remember when I told you about that pendent that I didn't want to talk about?"

"You mean when you were making a big fuss about it not being manly while you made me wear a new shirt?" the master recalled. "Of course I do."

"Y-yeah. Um...I lied."

"Pardon?"

"Well, see...when I was getting all that stuff for you guys, I found a necklace I thought you might like... but...you know...I thought it would be weird only getting you an extra present...so I just hid it in my room. But then...we started dating, so...I thought now might be a good time to give it to you. Um...I'm not gonna' get slapped for this, am I?"

Tigress stared blankly at him, trying to process the information. "N...no," she finally said. "I don't see why I would."

Po smiled weakly as more nervous waves came over him and he leaned over to take out the box he had. Except of course his hands were so sweaty that it simply fell onto the floor.

"Agh!!" he groaned.

"Po, it's fine. It's not like you're dropping it down an..." Tigress started, reaching to pick it up. She caught sight of the golden glint though and almost stopped talking as she picked it up to look at it.

"...abyss."

The necklace was a brown string that carried on it a golden, ruby-encrusted Phoenix with orange-colored flames coming out from behind. It wasn't enormous, but the design spoke enough.

"You know," Po added quietly. "Since you're also a Phoenix Order descendent, that actually kinda' makes it a little appropriate."

A faint smile appeared on Tigress' lips as she held the beautifully made necklace in her hand. "I love it, Po," she said finally. The master strapped it around her neck, letting it fall gently on her chest. She then leaned over and gently hugged her boyfriend, allowing him to finally relax. "Thank you."

Po smiled and squeezed her in the hug. "You're welcome," he said.