Chapter Three:

Shang awoke with a start, shifting so as to look at his dozing wife. Mulan's hair was spread out over her pillow, making a silky halo around her. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, puzzled about why he was awake now in the middle of the night. A soft moan escaped Mulan as she shifted slightly, her brow furrowing as though she were in pain. Alarmed, Shang pressed a cool hand against her forehead. Heat nearly seared him as he noted that she was running a fever. "Oh Mulan..." Shang bit back a groan as he got up, realization about why he'd awoken early hit him. His wife was ill.

Standing up, he ducked out the tent, snagging up a water pot that was near his tent...hoping he knew what it was that he was doing. Approaching the well of clean water in the middle of the camp, he sat the pot next to it so as to lower the bucket into the water down below. He easily pulled the full bucket back up, carefully tilting it so that the water poured into the clay pot. Once it was full, he hefted the pot up, balancing it on his hip as he moved back to his tent. Ducking inside, he placed the pot down next to the bed. Now for the hard part. He had to find a clean cloth to use to cool her off. Moving quickly, he headed to the small tent that Ping was staying in.

Knocking on the tent pole, he waited for Ping to answer. "Captain? Is something the matter? It's the middle of the night."

Shang shifted slightly, before lowering his voice as if he was worried about waking any of the recruits. "Mulan is ill. Do you know where I can find a clean cloth to use to cool her off?"

Ping paused, eyeing him for a second, before ducking back inside his tent. A minute later he came back out with a rag in his hand. "You can use this sir. Let me you know if you need anything else."

"Thank you Ping." Shanf sighed with relief as he accepted the rag. Now to tend to Mulan.

...

Mulan fought the wave of nausea that threatened to overcome her as she tried to slowly get up out of her covers. She needed to get somewhere private, and away from the camp, to deal with this new development. Another wave of nausea rose up after the first one, forcing her to press a hand against her mouth. Suddenly an empty bucket was next to her as soft hands pulled her hair back out of the way. "Use this." Shang's voice was barely audible as he concentrated on what he was doing.

Mulan felt her heart nearly skip a beat at his voice, but did as he implied, upchucking her dinner into the bucket. Shaking from the extortion that she just used, she laid back down even as he carefully placed a cool damp cloth on her forehead. Closing her eyes, she fell back asleep... though she wasn't sure how long she would stay asleep this time around.

...

Shang knew he was supposed to be working with his men...training them to be soldiers. But he just couldn't bring himself to leave Mulan's side as she battled her fever. Ping had already brought over a simple, easy broth that would be easy on her stomach, and he had given his men an assignment so that they could get started. Hopefully catching enough fish to feed everyone and practicing their archery without supervision wasn't too hard of a task for the recruits. Kneeling down next to Mulan, he carefully began wiping her forehead with the rag that Ping gave him again. He carefully tucked a loose strand of hair back, his heart clenching at her lack of response. Her breathing was labored as she tried to keep herself from becoming so nauseous that she would empty her stomach's contents again. With a soft moan, Mulan's eyelids flickered, a signal that she was about to wake up.

Shang lifted the bowl of broth up, bringing it to her lips. "Come on Mulan... you need to drink at least a little bit." He pressed the rim of the bowl to her parched lips, prompting her to open her mouth slightly.

Mulan swallowed a small bit of broth, before forcing herself to wake up more, struggling to sit up. "Shang... what are you doing?"

"Taking care of my wife." Shang responded gently, already placing his hand on her shoulder, guiding her back down to a laying position. "Do you need anything?"

Mulan pinched her lips together as she shook her head at him. "No. Shouldn't you be working on training the recruits?"

Shang was amazed that she had noticed he was shirking his duty to help her. "I've given them a list of things to do today. Tomorrow if you are feeling better, I will start on their actual training. Right now, long as they're not being lazy, missing one day won't hurt them at all."

Mulan sighed, before going back to sleep, too exhausted to argue with him. Shang watched as she slept, amazed about her natural beauty. Lifting a hand up, he brushed another lock of hair back, wondering vaguely what it would be like if he had met her before they were married. Would her outspoken ideas bother him? Or would he find them enduring? With a quick shake of his head, he stood abruptly. He probably should check on the others. Make sure no one was slacking off.

Slipping quietly out of the tent, he observed the men in various places. Most of them were shooting their arrows at the targets that were set up, though he could see a few that were down by the river catching fish, and still others were cleaning fish that they had already caught. Nodding more to himself than them, he located Chi-Fu. "Still think that I can't make men out of them?"

Chi-Fu huffed as he scribbled something down on his parchment. "Oh please... you aren't even training them! All you've done is hover over your precious wife."

Shang fought the urge to strangle him, turning instead to head back to his ill wife. While his memories of his mother were a bit blurry, he did remember that during her last days his father rarely left her side, determined to help her break the fever that ended up being the end of her.

A/N: Done! Yeah...the reason why this doesn't mention how training is going at all is because... I'm sick. And when I'm sick, my brain decides that my favorite characters in my stories need to be sick. So, we get a chapter with a sick Mulan. Sorry. About the labored breathing, typically after and before I throw up my breathing pattern changes so that it is more out of my mouth and almost sounds like wheezing. The reason why is because I have found that it helps fight back the nausea.

One the bright side, it has now been close to four hours since I last threw up, and crackers appear to be settling good. I want to say that my color has improved...but compared to what it is supposed to be I'm still pale. Some of it has returned though!

Review!

SkyTalon