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Shang blinks, hard. Surely this was just another illusion he was seeing, like he had many times before. But he blinks again and the image of her hasn't disappeared like it usually does. Blinks again, still there. Mulan is sitting before him and so is her queer little lizard-guardian. Shang stares at her, then at Mushu, and then back to her.

"Mulan?" he almost whimpers.

She closes her eyes in defeat, knowing what is about to come. She has disobeyed and betrayed her husband in a most extreme way; Mulan knows that Shang is thinking this. She is the one responsible for dishonoring their marriage. She is unfit to be a wife. And it's only a matter of time before he starts screaming these very things right at her.

"Shang, I-"

"Mulan!" he says again, not sure whether to laugh or cry. Shang grabs her up by the waist and holds her tightly. She gasps at this swift movement, startled and trembling. As he rocks her small frame slowly against his broad chest, a tear involuntarily slides down her cheek and she buries her face in his warm shoulder.

"I missed you," Shang murmurs. "I missed you so much."

"Me too," she replies softly.

Then the gentle swaying slowly comes to a stop as Shang realizes and his face grows serious. He drops Mulan back on to the ground.

"What are you doing here?" he hisses.

"I," she stammers, "I just...I had to be here, Shang-"

"I told you to stay home!" he interrupts harshly. "How did you even stay here without me approving you?!"

She backs up a little for fear of him lashing out. "I'm...Xiang Yin," she mutters.

"Yin?" he spits. "That's impossible, Xiang Yin-"

"Was my great-grandfather. I used his identification and painted my face up as a disguise," she relents.

Shang looks utterly confused. "You- you're Yin?"

He can't wrap his mind around it. How could he be so naïve? The petite soldier that had so reminded him of 'Ping'...was, in fact, Ping. Mulan. His Mulan. She had been with him the whole time he was aching without her. Sleeping a mere ten or so tents away. And then it dawns on him. She was the one the Mongols almost took.

"How could you think this was a good idea?" he says angrily. "I almost lost you last night!"

"How could you think it was a good idea to leave me behind?" she defiantly retorts. "Did you really expect me to stay at home while you were off fighting somewhere? Not knowing if you were dead or alive? You know me, Shang! Did you really think I'd submit to be a useless housewife?"

"I thought you would be loyal," he says coldly.

"I am loyal, Shang!" Mulan exclaims. "I risked everything just to come here and assure myself that you're okay, and that you stay okay! And you wouldn't be after tonight if it weren't for me."

He glares down at her. "I didn't ask for that. I ordered you to stay behind because I don't want you ending up dead. I know you're different, Mulan, but you can't be an exception for everything!"

Mushu nonchalantly picks at a cashew with his claws. "Then I suppose this is a bad time to mention the baby."

"Mushu!" Mulan cries out. Cri-Kee squeaks and dramatically curls up on the ground.

Shang's expression turns blank. "What?" he asks, not sure if he heard right.

"That's what y'all get for sneaking around behind my back," Mushu says. "That ol' Goddess of Fertility sure knows how to show a couple a' dumb kids who's boss."

Shang's eyes widen. He snaps his head back at Mulan, mouth gaping.

"You're-"

She covers her face with shaking hands, afraid of weeping in his presence.

His mind races and Shang finds he can't really grasp the situation. Mulan, his wife, while once again pretending to be a man right under his nose, who was almost killed by Mongols, who saved him from an ambush once again, was with-child! His child! He would be a father in a short while, Mulan was going to have a baby! Shang repeated the last part to himself. Mulan was going to have a baby...

"How could you keep this from me?" he utters, backing up against the tent wall numbly.

"I didn't figure it out until yesterday," she answers quietly. "What was I supposed to do, ride up to you and say 'Shang, I'm actually your wife in disguise, and also I'm with-child!'?"

"Yes!" he yells. "That's exactly what you should have done!"

Mulan crosses her arms. "Shang, you're acting like I don't know how to take care of myself." He scoffs at this.

"You call running off to meet your death, with-child, taking care of yourself?!"

Mulan stamps her foot in frustration. "I didn't know!"

Shang wipes his face and groans loudly. "You are to leave immediately," he says stiffly. "You can't be here any longer, Mulan. Go home, and stay there!"

She begins to protest but he angrily snatches her burlap sack and thrusts it in her arms. Shang opens his mouth to say something, halts, and looks at Mulan with anguished eyes. He turns curtly and leaves the tent like a burst of wind. When he steps out into the night, Shang is greeted by what seems the entire company standing before him. They look surprised as if they hadn't expected him to come out at that moment, and many look away ashamedly.

Shang scans the crowd with a glower. "What is it?" he demands.

It's silent except for the buzzing of gnats and the snapping of a glazing campfire. Half-muffled by the tent is the sound of Mulan's sobbing. "What?" he shouts again.

Chien-Po clears his throat tentatively. "We heard you yelling, General," he says simply.

"We thought something was wrong," another man adds.

Shang locks his jaw and mutters only a hard "No."

"It's Fa Mulan in there, isn't it Li?" Chi-Fu announces, more so than asks.

Shang gives him a dangerous look. "My personal life is none of your business," he growls. "Now is there something I should be concerned about or-"

He stops mid sentence as he notices the men's attention averting to the tent behind him. Turning around, Shang sees Mulan standing boldly in the doorway of the canvas flaps. He can't help but think how little and defenseless she looks, wearing only her underclothes and her hair astray from it's topknot, beaded with water from washing her face. Without armor, it's very obvious of her womanhood. She looks skinny and vulnerable against the group of large men.

Mulan can feel all eyes on her. What's the battle plan when you're a half-dressed woman standing in the cold night amidst potentially the most lethal men in China? Oh wait. She's the legendary Fa Mulan, what is she worrying about? Mulan gives an airy toss of her head and hoists the burlap sack over her shoulder. She doesn't bother to look back at her husband as she pushes through the crowd and finds her way to Khan.

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