Chapter 3! Thanks for the reviews :)

It was already 10am when Napoleon emerged from his room. Illya and Gaby had woken up around 7 and had been killing time, waiting for him to get up. Illya was starting his fourth game of chess. Gaby had attempted to play the first one against him but she found the game slow and boring. She was now reading a book on the couch. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Solo drag his feet to the bathroom with his sleepy face, his tousled hair and his wrinkled pajamas. It always amused her to see this other side of him as most of the time his outfit was impeccable, without a hair out of place.

"You slept like a big baby last night, Cowboy", Illya said without taking his eyes off his chess game. "Are you feeling any better?"

Solo grumbled something inaudible and locked himself in the bathroom.

Half an hour later he was out of the bathroom and getting dressed in his room. After a while he joined them in the main room. Fully dressed, his hair combed back, he looked a little bit more like himself.

"Still grumpy, Solo?", Gaby asked.

"No, no I just needed some time to wake up.", He replied, flashing her his usual charming smile.

"And a half hour-long shower. We thought that maybe you had drowned in there.", Illya added, his eyes still on the chessboard.

"What's that on your chin?", Gaby was pointing at a gauze pad that was taped to Napoleon's chin.

"Just a shaving cut. I didn't want to make a mess so I put that on it to stop the bleeding."

"How's your headache?"

"It's doing well, thank you. The nausea's still there too and I've had this strange taste in my mouth since I woke up. I might be coming down with something."

Gaby got up and poured him a glass of water.

"Here, this might help with the bad taste."

Napoleon thanked her and sat down on the couch. He took a sip from the glass and kept the water in his mouth, attempting to rinse away the unpleasant taste. Then he reclined his head against the back of the couch, took another sip and…choked on it. He started coughing and spitting water all over himself. Gaby promptly proceeded to hit him on the back as hard as she could.

"Stop, Gaby, I'm okay… I'm okay!", Napoleon managed in a half-strangled voice.

Reassured that the American was fine, Illya chuckled and reached across the chessboard to move a piece.

Gaby fetched a towel and started mopping up the water on his shirt. Suddenly she froze mid-gesture and frowned.

"Solo, is that blood on your shirt?"

Napoleon looked down and spotted a spatter of pinkish-red stains on the front of his shirt.

"Hum, that's odd, there was also blood in the sink this morning when I rinsed my mouth."

Illya was no longer paying attention to his chess game. He was staring at Napoleon, with furrowed brows.

"You're spitting up blood, Cowboy? Did you take a blow to the ribs when you were attacked yesterday?"

"No, it's nothing. I probably brushed my teeth too hard.", Napoleon replied, getting up and heading for his room.

Illya was up in a heartbeat and put himself right in front of Napoleon, blocking his way.

"Where are your manners, Peril? You do know that there is such a thing as personal space, right?"

"Let me see."

"What? No, I told you I wasn't hit in the ribs yesterday. I think I would know if I had broken ribs.", Napoleon answered impatiently. Then he tried to force his way past his partner.

Illya grabbed him by the shoulders, spinning him around. Then he hooked his arms under the American's armpits and raised them, clasping his hands behind Napoleon's neck, immobilizing him.

"Seriously, Peril?!"

Illya glanced at Gaby, who immediately understood what he had in mind. She placed herself in front of a protesting Napoleon and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"You were going to have to take it off anyway.", she said, her tone apologetic.

"Check for bruising, or swelling.", Illya instructed.

"No bruising, everything looks normal."

"I could have told you that.", Napoleon groaned as Illya finally let go of him. "Are you satisfied now or do I need…"

"Solo", Gaby cut in. "Your nose…"

"What?"

"It's bleeding…"

Napoleon was about to raise his hand to his face when Illya grabbed him by the chin, turning his head a little too forcefully so that he could examine his nose.

"I might be wrong, Peril, but I don't think that breaking my neck is going to make things any better."

"You didn't take a blow to the head yesterday Cowboy, did you?", Illya was already moving his hands all over his scalp, feeling for a bump.

"No. Relax, Peril, it's only a nosebleed. Don't they know about nosebleeds in the KGB?"

Illya didn't answer. His eyes were now fixed on the gauze pad on Napoleon's chin. It looked like it was soaked with blood.

"When did you say that you cut your chin?"

"This morning, when I shaved before I took a shower but…Ouch!"

Illya had just ripped off the tape holding the gauze pad and was now examining Napoleon's cut.

"This should have already started to clot.", He said softly.

What's happening to you, Cowboy?

Gaby was coming back with a handkerchief for Napoleon's nose. She paused when she saw Illya's worried expression.

"What is it?"

"I don't know. But something's wrong. The sudden bleeding from the mouth and nose… and for some reason his blood doesn't seem to be clotting normally."

"What's causing this? Is it because he's sick? Could it be something that he ate?"

Napoleon cleared his throat.

"You do realize that I'm still in the room? Would you mind handing me that handkerchief, Gaby? Blood is dripping into my mouth."

"How are you feeling, Cowboy?", Illya asked, looking him in the eye.

"I'm fine, just really tired. And feeling a bit sick that's all.", Napoleon answered, the intensity of his partner's gaze was making him uneasy. The Russian was obviously worried and he could feel his own pulse starting to quicken.

"Maybe we should get him to the hospital.", Gaby said, biting her lip nervously.

"Wait, don't you think you two are overreacting?", Napoleon said in a nasally voice as he pinched his nose shut with the handkerchief.

"I think Gaby is right, Cowboy. It is better to be safe than to be sorry.", Illya replied softly.

"The actual expression is 'better safe than sorry', Peril. And before I go anywhere, I need to use the bathroom and change my shirt. Then, in the unlikely event that I'm still bleeding, maybe we can consider going to the hospital."

Without waiting for an answer he walked to the bathroom and locked the door.

Illya and Gaby waited for him to come out, standing outside the door. After a surprisingly long moment they finally heard the sound of the toilet flushing. Napoleon came out of the bathroom, looking pale.

"Well I think we should go now.", he said in a hurried voice.

"Go where?"

"To the hospital."

"I thought you wanted to change your shirt, Cowboy…"

"No time.", Napoleon answered. And he walked to the door without even bothering to rebutton his stained shirt.

Illya and Gaby exchanged a confused glance. Gaby hastily grabbed a few gauze pads, the tape, a fresh handkerchief and Napoleon's jacket and Illya and her followed Napoleon to the door. Illya kept shooting worried glances at the American. The originally white handkerchief that was pressed to his nose was slowly turning crimson. Blood from his cut was starting to drip on his chest.

"Wait.", Illya took a gauze pad from Gaby and pressed it to Napoleon's chin. Gaby handed him a piece of tape and he secured the gauze in place. Then the three of them headed for the car. Illya felt a small measure of relief that he didn't have to drag his partner out of the hotel room.

At least Cowboy is being reasonable for once.

End of chapter 3 (Illya's slowly turning into Nurse Kuryakin :) )