My first toy story fic! If you enjoy this, check out my other writings!


CHAPTER 1 - Discovery

It was a quiet day in Bonnie's room. Given what had gone on the few days before, the toys were glad of the peace. The collective tension they had experienced in the incinerator was still quite strong in their minds, and for some toys, especially Jessie, the smell of the smoke and the burning in that small compartment seemed to have rendered itself stuck to the insides of her nose. As much as she sat by the window that morning, the smell remained, haunting her. It had been even worse than the storage, and she hadn't thought –anything- could be worse than that. The only thing that had gotten her through such a traumatising experience was Buzz taking her hand. True, he had taken Woody's too, but it was different somehow. He had been the first to initiate the hand holding. And this was Buzz, who had been so aloof from her when they very first met, and then when he actually realised she was at Andy's to stay, he had approached her with a bashful demeanour. She had to admit, maybe her all out peppiness at that point hadn't been entirely called for, but she'd been SO happy that everything else had eluded her.

And now they had been through a near death experience, her happiness had risen to the surface. She giggled to herself over how overjoyed she'd been to see him alive in the dump truck. She remembered every step of the Spanish dance with him, even though for the most part she'd been adlibbing her steps in order to try and make it believable, her heart pounding in her chest...none more so when he'd dipped her at the end of it all. Lying nearly on her back in his arms, she'd thought her heart was going to explode from her chest.

She covered her left side of her chest with her hand, trying to calm herself at all the potent memories. Half bad, half good, yet everything running through her head tormented her like crazy. She sighed and twisted around, shuffling forward onto the desk in front of the window, and looked back into the room. It was still early morning, and most of the other toys were asleep. She could see Hamm snoozing on the shelf, Rex and Trixie curled up next to him, and next to them was Chuckles. Across the room Bonnie was asleep cuddling Woody and Dolly near to her, and just under the bed she could see the Potatoheads, the three Aliens, and there was Slinky, curled around all five of them. Looking up she could see Buttercup, Mr Pricklepants and Bullseye at the end of the bed...and the spot next to them was the one she had vacated not so long ago. That made up 17 of them, including her...but wait. She ran her eyes over the room again, doing a bit of mental arithmetic. That was 15 in the room, and 16 including her...who was missing?

"Oh..." the soft breath escaped her lips. No Buzz Lightyear. Where was that silly space toy anyway? Her eyes searched the room...he was nowhere to be seen. Deciding she better take a scout of the room, Jessie hopped to her feet and scrambled across to the desk lamp, using the cord dangling down the side of the desk to abseil neatly to the floor. She landed and turned, musing over the first place to look. Perhaps in the wardrobe...no, the door was closed. She didn't believe Bonnie to be in the habit of locking her toys away in the dark. She shuddered to herself at the mere thought of the dark, and pushed it to the back of her mind again.

She looked back up at the shelves next to the desk...no sign of Buzz there. How about under the bed? He could be over the far side, she pondered, as she lifted the sheet draped down the side of the bed and peered underneath...her eyes searched the dark, but nothing Buzz shaped met her eye. With another sigh, she dropped the sheet and turned, lifting her hat to scratch her head in puzzlement. Her eye drifted – oh, there was the tea party table! The long cloth obstructed any view under or around it, so she tiptoed over to it and gently lifted the cloth. The sight under the cloth made her eyes widen and she clapped her free hand over her mouth to stop the laughter that bubbled up inside her. She dropped the cloth and turned away clutching her mouth still, her other arm curling around her chest as she snorted with suppressed laughter.

"Jessie? What's the matter?" The sudden voice above her made her jump; she looked up at the bed to see Woody rubbing sleep out of his eyes, peering at her from under the blanket.

"Oh Woody," she whispered with a huge grin crossing her face, "I have just seen...the...funniest...thing, ever...come and see!" She pointed behind her, indicating the tea table.

Woody's brow furrowed. He wriggled out of the blanket, and used the edge of the blanket to haul himself down to the floor. Jessie, he noticed, was still suppressing her mirth, by the twinkle in her eyes. He lifted the tea cloth as well and stopped dead.

"Oh you are kidding me..." he uttered. For there, in front of his and Jessie's eyes, under the tea table, lay Buzz Lightyear, fast asleep...sucking his thumb.