Title: Better Late than Never
Author: Kendra
Rating: DKWPM (Don't Know what Possessed Me)
Archive: fine
Disclaimer: The other General might be GL's but this General is ours
Notes: This just hit me suddenly, forgive the mess, it was written in a matter of minutes and if I forgot anyone, apologies. Thanks for the costume help, Dande. This is actually a Halloween fic, set a few days later due to partying way too much on campus.

Judy sat at the bar sipping orange juice and munching on day old popcorn while reading the campus paper. In the background could still be seen the remnants of the extended weekend long Halloween party, not to mention the chattering of morning TV in the background.

Picking up a pen to toy with the picture of Legolas dressed as Alice of Alice in Wonderland, which graced the front page with a caption that would surely send her padawan into major 'whatever' issues if she even got past the picture, Judy sighed and tried to make the Elf more…Elf-like.

"Yoo-hoo!" Dande exclaimed from the doorway, dressed as Jeannie from 'I Dream of Jeannie', stepping inside the pub and over a few miners' bodies where they were passed out on the patio.

Judy glance up, but returned to her doodling. "Morning, what brings you out so early and dressed like a genie?"

"Twick or Tweat," a sweet voice said with great glee, making the Ho turn about and see the littlest Wench dressed in silken oriental garb, her hair darkened and pulled back, held in place by chopsticks, suddenly standing beside her barstool, chintz and pink lined pumpkin extended in her direction.

A puzzled look crossed the bartender's face and she leaned closer to Dande and whispered. "You do know Halloween was days ago, right?"

The Wench smiled and nodded her head while giggling. "Yes, silly," she intoned, suddenly covering Cara's ear's with her hands. "We didn't want to bring the little one out while the party was still going on…Da Mastah thought the coast would be clear today."

Nodding her head in understanding, Judy looked down at the Wenchette and then Dande. "Let me see what I have around here," she mused, hopping off the barstool and going around to the other side of the bar.

"Here, a girl can always use a few of these," the Ho insisted, tossing a handful of coasters into Cara's pumpkin. "Oh, and these too," she added, placing a few napkins in there as well.

Cara glanced from the pumpkin and back to the Ho, a perplexed look wrinkling her button nose. "These too," Judy smiled, putting a small bottle of olives in the child's designer pumpkin.

"There you go, sweetheart," the bartender smiled, rather proud of her last minute scrambling for Halloween treats.

"What do you say, dear?" Dande encouraged her daughter.

"Thank you," Cara beamed, still a little perplexed, but the olives were edible.

~~*~~

"Wait here, dear," Dande instructed her little one as they stood before the doors to the library. "Let me just go inside and make sure everyone is dres… everyone is home."

Cara sighed and sat on the steps.

Slowly and cautiously pushing open the door, Dande noticed Xani gagged and stapled to the back of 'said' door.

Quickly, the Wench shut the door and hurried Cara away. "We'll come back when the coast is…when Dorotea is not…maybe we'll skip the library," Dande thought aloud.

~~*~~

"Twick or Tweat," Cara sweetly said, stepping into the Dean's office while Dande was still struggling to get through the door.

"Where did you come from?" Emmy asked, eyeing the child suspiciously. "Aren't you a little late?"

"No, no, she's only now allowed to go about campus since the party finally ended," Dande explained, making her way inside in a rather undignified heap.

"Well why didn't she say so?" the Dean sighed. "Let me see what I have around here," she thought, starting to press buttons on her Galactic Domination Chair.

"Damn, out of cappuccino," the Ho snapped, then pressed another button and nothing happened there as well. "What? Okay, who ate all the M&M's?"

After another five minutes of pressing buttons and finding everything empty, and no Elf handing out candy in sight, the Dean started rifling through her desk drawers. "Here, have one of these," Emmy exclaimed, tossing a roll of tape into the extended pumpkin.

"Here you go, this still looks good," the Ho insisted, placing a shoe catalogue into the child's pumpkin as well and smiling triumphantly. "Oh, take this as well," and with that a chain of paperclips were tossed in too.

"Thank you," Cara said, staring blankly into her pumpkin.

"Come now, sweetheart, we still have some offices to hit before lunch," Dande urged, herding the little one out the door and then squeezing herself out as well.

~~*~~

"Precious, we have a beggar in the outer room," Commo said with disgust, walking into Laure's office.

"Twick or Tweat," Cara once again said, walking in and extending her pumpkin once more.

"Oh, isn't this just sweet," Laure gushed, quickly getting up from her desk and grabbing her camera to take pictures. "My first trick or treater," she beamed.

"Wait here, let me see what I have about the office," the mediator thought aloud, rummaging about her filing cabinet. "Here! No, wait, you have to be twenty-one to drink don't you," she mused, tossing the mini bottle of vodka back into the file cabinet.

A quick look to her desk spied the muffin she had been about to eat for breakfast, but quickly it was tossed into the awaiting pumpkin. "Oh, and here," the Wo added, grabbing her demo tape from the cabaret and placing it in there as well. "It's the latest recordings, a 'Salute to Disco'."

Dande smiled brightly and reminded her little girl again of one thing. "Thank you," Cara grinned, already eating the muffin, but looking rather interested at the CD cover with the sequin and scantily clad mediator on the front of it.

"Mommy will take that and let Daddy look after this," the Wench explained, putting the CD into her pocket.

~~*~~

Knocking daintily on the clinic door, Dande smiled down at her daughter and then quickly broke into a rather loud version of 'Bingo' upon hearing the clamoring, crashing, and cursing emanating from the Nurse's clinic as someone made their way to the door.

"Yeah, who is it? And you'd better be bleeding to death…while not dirtying up the floor outside the clinic," the Nurse grumbled, her voice hoarse from too much…nevermind.

"Twick or Tweat!" Cara shouted.

"Of all the…hold on," Darry muttered loudly, cursing once more as she stubbed her toe on something. "Here, this should tide you over till next Halloween."

With that, a handful of Band-Aids and cotton balls were shoved under the clinic door.

"And next time, tell your mother to get a bloody calendar so she knows what day it is," the Nurse snapped, howling in pain as once again, upon turning to go back upstairs to Cic, she stubbed her toe again.

"Thank you," Cara replied, scooping up her medical loot and placing it in her pumpkin.

~~*~~

Skateboarding down the hall of the Admin building, finally rid of that horrid blue dress and apron the 'Woman of the Deadly Clunky Shoes' had made him wear, Legolas was brought to a halt by a whispered, 'Twick or Tweat'.

Suddenly, reaching for the duel blades on his back for answer, he was quickly halted by the Wench. "It means she wants candy," Dande explained, knowing the Elf hadn't the first clue and thought he was being called out by this minature, exotic woman with sticks in her hair.

"I see," Legolas nodded, then narrowed his eyes and glanced to the packages of Skittles he had hidden inside his tunic. "'Tis a noble custom."

With that, the Elf looked rather torn, but after a few moments, handed the young, oddly dressed child some Skittles. After all, he could relate to being dressed rather horribly and felt a kinship to the little one.

"Thank you!" Cara beamed, looking at the Skittles as they slipped into her cluttered pumpkin.

~~*~~

"Twick or Tweat!" Cara nearly shouted once she stepped into the General's outer office and stood at his secretary's desk.

Slowly looking up over her catalogue, Kendra hesitated. "I suppose you want candy, huh?"

Cara nodded her head enthusiastically, and the Water Ho looked up to Dande who was smiling.

"How about some staples instead?"

Dande nodded her head in the negative.

"Sharpened pencils?"

Again, a negative Wench nod.

"Okay, fine," the Ho snapped, opening up her bottom drawer and dragging out bag after bag of gummy fish and M&M's, quickly piling them up in the little girl's arms who was felled by the weight of the economy sized treats.

Brushing her daughter off, and helping pick up the candy, Dande smiled. "And…"

"What?!" Kendra asked aghast, thinking the urging was for her and more candy. "All I have is my emergency stash…"

"Thank you," Cara beamed, her eyes glazed over at the sight of all that candy.

~~*~~

"Twick or Tweat!" Cara shouted, stepping into the General's office, Kendra quick on her heels.

"I tried to stop her, but she's just too fast," Kendra explained, watching as the General smiled at the little girl. "Trust me, she's one tough kid, just give her what she wants," the Ho suggested, earning a raise brow from the General.

"I'm sure everythin will be just fine," the General assured his secretary with a wink as the Water Ho grudgingly went back to her desk.

~~*~~

"Thank you!" A sweet voice shouted and waved as Cara and Dande emerged from the General's office minutes later, both heading to the door and their next stop.

Slowly, the General stepped into the outer office and heavily leaned against the doorframe while watching the empty door where the trick or treater had just departed.

"You were right, love. That little girl was one smart child…I ended up giving her all my Doritos. Even my emergency bag," the Jedi muttered, raking a hand through his hair, disbelief quite evident on his face.

"Told you she was good," Kendra sighed.

"If anyone needs me, I'll be making a run to the grocery," the General instructed, quickly disappearing inside his office. "Kendra, love, have you seen my cah keys?"

"Where did you last leave them?" Kendra shouted back.

~~*~~

"Yo, Ellie, there's a kid in silk pajamas and a genie at the door," Logan growled, puffing on his cigar, staring down at the little girl before shrugging and walking away.

Ellie, who had been counting her slot machine winnings…okay, losings, opened the door to the vet clinic.

"Twick or Tweat," Cara tiredly sighed, shoving her pumpkin at the Ho.

"I like her style," Ellie grinned, then tried to think of something to give the little girl as Dande watched.

"Now, I don't want this getting around campus, but here," the Vet whispered, glancing around to make sure the coast was clear.

Bringing her stolen…err…borrowed Luxor winnings cup before her, Ellie acted as if to be getting ready to give the little girl her slot machine coins. Instead, Ellie quickly dumped her quarters in her outstretched t-shirt and shoved the empty coin cup in Cara's pumpkin.

"There you go, kid," Ellie smiled, earning a thank you from the little girl, and a furrowed brow. "Have to run, Dande, the boys and I were just looking over plans to invade Vegas…visit Vegas during the World Championship Poker Tournament."

"Good luck, dear," Dande smiled. "We could try the library again…"

~~*~~

Dande spotted the Librarian stumbling down the library steps on her way to the pub for after breakfast and before lunch drinks. With a subtle nudge, she urged her daughter forward.

"Twick or Tweat."

Dor stopped in her tracks and looked about nervously before spotting the nearly three year old. "Whew, I was afraid I was hearing voices again and needed to up my Maker's intake," the Librarian sighed in relief. "So, what gives?"

"We're trick or treating," Dande explained, noticing the other's furrowed brow. "Since Halloween fell on a Friday, and the party lasted till near dawn on Monday, we figured it was now a good time to take Cara out."

"Oh," Dor mumbled, not honestly remembering the Halloween weekend, much like the entire campus. "Guess the little one is begging, huh?"

Tapping a finger to her temple, Dor thought and thought of what to give the Wenchette. "Coffin…no, too big. High powered stapler…no, might need it again tonight. Xani…nah, couldn't do that to the kid…I've got it!"

With those words, Dor raced inside the library; Xani still stapled to the door but sound asleep. Seconds later, Dor came racing back outside, slamming Xani against the wall in her haste, but hey, he was asleep already, how far away is that really from unconsciousness?

"Here, one of my first spellbooks," Dor smiled, handing it to Cara, but Dande quickly grabbed it and held it as if dangerous.

"Thank you," Cara replied, then the Wench and child went one way and Dor the other.

~~*~~

"So, how did it go?" Qui-Gon asked, spotting his Genie and little China girl coming down the flower lined path to the cottage.

"Considering, it went well," Dande replied as Cara proudly raced to show her father her haul.

Looking into his daughter's pumpkin, raising a brow…quite comically at that, Qui-Gon looked to the Wench who then handed him the bags of candy and Doritos. "My padawan and his secretary?" he motioned to the candy and chips.

Dande nodded. "And the rest is from everyone else on campus."

"I see," the Mastah mumbled, spotting paper clips, coasters, muffin crumbs, and Skittles. "You did well."

Cara beamed and skipped into the house, her thoughts turning to the next Halloween and what treasures she might get then. Not to mention, Christmas was just around the corner.