Title: HSU - Over the River and Through the Woods
Author: Emmy
Timeline: After Sleepwalker and Naptime

"Hey! We were only supposed to bring two suitcases!" Kendra exclaimed as she looked out the window of the bus to see Qui-Gon dragging Dande's mammoth travel trunk.

"Told you he was trouble," Judy mumbled as she watched the General happily help Qui-Gon lug the trunk into the luggage compartment.

Every Ho braced herself as the bus listed to the side.

"Hey girls!" Dande said as she appeared at the front of the bus.

"Hey Dande," was the collective response.

Qui-Gon stepped up after Dande.

All the grumpy Ho's shifted in their seats to make sure there was no room for the Mastah.

The General finally stepped up and put his hands on his hips, arching an eyebrow slightly. "Kendra, would you mind sitting with Ellie?"

"But--"

"Please," the General said low in his throat, giving Kendra that look that always preceeded a wet and wild adventure.

Kendra jumped up and across the aisle, swatting Ellie's legs off the spare seat.

"He could have sat with me," Dorotea said.

"No," was the collective response.

Dande just smiled and settled into Kendra's former window seat as Qui-Gon sat down beside her.

The driver closed the door and slowly began to roll the bus forward as the General sat down next to Shana and across from Julia and Sere. He sighed, happy that everyone had been assembled without any major crises.

But then something didn't seem quite right. He sat up in his seat and looked around, reaching out with the Force.

"What's wrong?" Shana asked.

"Wait," the General said. "I don't see Emmy."

"STOP THE BUS!!!" Dorotea yelled, springing up from her seat and inadvertently lunging forward, whacking Jen Jen on the head when the driver slammed on the brakes.

"Since when do you care if Emmy gets left behind?" Ky asked, pushing Dorotea back into her own space.

"Since I fell in love with the General's new Harley," Dorotea said.

"I'll be right back," the General said, hurrying down the aisle as all Ho's leaned out of their seats to take in the view of his hasty retreat.

"What does the Harley have to do with it?" Tara asked.

"Ask her!" Judy said, pointing at Shana, who was looking out the window at the most interesting cloud.

~*~

The General swung open the door to Emmy's suite and marched into her bedroom. And there he found her sound asleep.

"Come on," he said, whipping the covers off of her.

"Go away," she groaned, trying to pull the covers back over herself.

"Emmy, it's time to go. The bus is leaving."

"I'b sick," she glubbed, scooting lower on the bed where the covers were.

The General reached down and tried to lodge his arms under her. "I know, love, but it is just a short trip to the lodge and then you can rest all weekend if you like."

"Just go without me," she whined. "Leave me here."

"Oooohh, noooo," the General said. He scooped Emmy off the bed and stood her up as she wavered back and forth. Making sure she wasn't going to topple over, he quickly reached for her jacket and put it on her, zipping it up over her flannel jammies. Then he turned to grab her suitcase. "Alright, here we go," he said, turning to find her sitting on the floor.

~*~

"Get a picture of that," Dorotea said, peering out the window to see the General leading Emmy's suitcase by one hand and Emmy by the other hand, wearing her flannel jammies, winter coat, and slippers.

"She'll kill us," Sere said.

"Yep," Julia replied as she lowered the window and snapped a picture.

The General crammed Emmy's suitcase into the luggage compartment and then ushered her up the stairs and into the front seat that had been cleared of Ho's when they saw the walking germ coming their way. Emmy flopped down in the seat and promptly slumped over and went back to sleep.

"Alright, now we may leave," the General said to the driver as he walked back to his seat next to Shana.

Dorotea pressed her face against the window and made a funny noise as her eyes fixed on the library while the bus pulled farther and farther away.

Kendra sat up tall and looked toward the back of the bus with a smile on her face. "Okay! Who wants to sing ninety nine bottles of--"

"NO!"