Title: Over Protective

Authoress: Midnight Rose Princess

Summary: [Revised] Everyone in the gang is very protective of each other, but when it comes to Woody, Jessie and Buzz consider themselves perhaps a bit overprotective. Then again, there's no better qualified pair of toys to look out for everyone's favorite cowboy when the support of the group isn't quite enough.

Author's Note: For those of you checking back in on this story after having put it on your story alert or in your favorite, sorry to say there's no new chapter, as this was intended as an introspective oneshot. The story hasn't changed at all, except in the fact I went back and worded things better to be less... redundant, I suppose is the word? - and get rid of the original typos that slipped past me. The keyboard I had when I first wrote this story had jammed keys here or there, so typos were inevitable but I figured it wouldn't hurt to correct them. In the process, I tidied up the format so it's not as difficult to read, since I got a few private messages/reviews commenting that they liked the story but the big paragraphs made it somewhat difficult for them to get through. Looking back, I saw their point and decided to tidy up the format as I corrected the typos. Hopefully now, this story is easier to read through while still retaining its original charm, as some of you reviewers put it. Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: I don't own Toy Story. It belongs to John Lasseter and Pixar (and by proxy, Disney).

Out of all the toys who now resided in Bonnie's room, only Buzz and Jessie could say they were a bit overprotective by nature.

It was true that the toys who had once belonged to Andy were more of a family than a normal gang of friends. It was natural, after all, that they should be so close after so many years of adventures they'd shared together. Just like any normal family, they were tuned in to each other's needs and offered protection whenever one another needed it.

This feeling of family had been extended to Bonnie's first toys, who were starting to find their own niches in the combined group of toys. However, none of them were over two years old. True, it was plausible that Totoro was older, but with him being the silent type, no one asked. As such, the younger toys didn't feel as close-knit yet compared to their older companions.

To their credit, they did start observing the older gang's dynamic, which revealed an attentive family unit with bonds that ran deep.

Hamm was the certified sarcastic one, who knew his way around on financial or mechanical issues (whether those issues were a stolen Pizza Planet delivery truck or the stock market). If a witty comment was needed to break the tension, Hamm was likely the first to come up with one. This down-to-earth, sarcastic wit was usually what allowed him to be the only one who could really put Mr. Potato Head in his place when the spud was getting too cranky.

Despite having become good friends with Buttercup, he still spent most of time around Rex and Slinky more than anyone from the old gang. Seeing the three of them together, the younger toys got the impression that he and Slinky were somewhat like big brothers to Rex, keeping the naive dinosaur safe whenever possible.

Said dino was secretly starting to develop a crush on Trixie, and by "secretly" it meant that everyone knew except for probably Trixie herself. Not that they said anything about it, of course. Rex couldn't help it; Trixie was just so wonderful. She shared his love of video games and, luckily, didn't pose any competition to him for being the dominant predator in the playroom.

Despite his new confidence in his hobbies, Rex still didn't exactly like being scared of almost everything affiliated with even the slightest uncertainty. However, not liking something doesn't make it easier to overcome. Thankfully, Hamm and Slinky were always near by. He didn't know what he'd do without them sometimes. True, Hamm or Mr. Potato Head would occasionally quip a tease about his fear, but Slinky never let it go so far as to hurt his feelings.

While he doubted he'd ever be able to overcome his fearful nature per say, he'd come to feel that it was okay for him to sometimes be his scaredy-toy self in the trust that Hamm and Slinky would always be watching his back. In return for that support, he'd help Hamm out with new video game controls when the pig was in the mood for them and help Slinky get a few chinks out of his slink once in a while when the hound got tangled on the way out of the toybox.

Slinky, the faithful hound himself, had always thought of himself as the metaphorical link that kept the family together. In earlier days, he came to this conclusion due to searching for a reason why he had such a strong, easily restored slink compared to other slinky toys, which he'd heard could usually never be untangled and thus given away. He still believed that, but his reason for it had changed.

Of course, if he was asked, he would just jest that it was because his slink could probably wrap around all of his family if they were huddled together in a circle. If he were to answer seriously though, he'd say his perception of being that link had changed due to the Incinerator Incident.

His role as the link in the family had come true in the physical sense when they had all been so close to death. He'd had one paw holding Rex's hand to calm the dino down as much as he could, and his other paw had been holding their leader's hand to let him know through action alone that none of them blamed him for their current predicament. Slinky had connected everyone else in the gang to their three humanoid and equestrian member who were all further away.

Afterwards, when they were once again safe, Slinky felt true rage for one of the first times in his not-inconsiderable years of life. He wanted to loosen that strawberry-scented bear's stitches and tear out his stuffing to teach that low-down tyrant that endangering his family was unforgivable. However, he did have to thank the loathsome bear for helping him realize the other side of what it means to be the one who links a family together. Considering what Andy always imagined his super powers would be, he was surprised he didn't realize it earlier: he was the family's shield - a guard dog.

Yes, it was obvious to the toys of Bonnie's room when they really looked hard enough. Hamm protected the family by providing them with knowledgeable support and logic, while Slinky was a guard dog who kept everyone linked together. Rex was almost always the protectee, who gave back as much support as the protection he received.

Then, of course, were to Potato Heads: Mr. and Mrs., respectively. Like Andy had told Bonnie, they were madly in love even after all the years since they'd first met. Being literally made for each other despite their differences, they were always on even ground with each other.

Mrs. Potato Head liked to mother just about anyone, especially the three alien children that she adopted after her husband had saved them. In the old days in Andy's Room, she had been one of the only girls in the family, and thus very good friends with Bo Peep. Her voice could be loud at times and a bit intimidating when one of her accessories were missing, but it was never a big enough deal for anyone to doubt her generous heart.

Once her dear friend Bo Peep was gone, she took over the role of answering the family cowgirl's rare questions on femininity that crept up out of her tomboy persona. Mrs. Potato Head had adjusted to new room well, having found a new friend to chat to who shared her motherly tendencies: Dolly.

On the other hand, you had Mr. Potato Head, who was a bit more abrasive and cranky. Never one to hold back on handing out snide remarks to anyone he had a problem with or admit he was wrong, he'd always been a bit bitter about being a so-called "generic" toy. However, it was this same snide spud who was always up to the task of heading into danger on the same rescue or escape missions he declared an impossible waste of time. As the years went by, he'd mellowed out considerably, now viewing the alien trio as his boys and tolerating the shenanigans of the peas in a pod.

He'd also been humbled by the gang's experience at Sunnyside Daycare when it had been under Lotso's rule due to his time in The Box. Having been so troubled by just one night inside it, he now empathized with Jessie over her fear of darkness and closed spaces. There were times he would ask her for advice on coping with the unease darkness brought, though only when he was positive no one was looking. After all, he had a grumpy reputation to uphold.

To the younger toys of Bonnie's room, the Potato Heads clearly seemed to offer the older group a place of stability amid all their haywire adventures. In the excitement of adventure it's easy to forget how necessary a stable returning point is, but with the Potato Heads and their sometimes admittedly big-mouth ways, it wasn't likely Andy's toys were going to forget the importance of stability anytime soon.

Buzz Lightyear and Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl were protective of each other more so than they had been in the past due to having finally recognized their long standing crushed on each other as real love. When they danced, they made sure the other never misstepped and fell off balance. When nighttime rolled around and Jessie's fears rose up, she'd find comfort in the glow-in-the-dark space ranger who chased away the shadows. When Buzz's fears of the unknown in his memory gaps due his programming being switched to demo-mode, he'd find Jessie recounting in detail everything that had happened again to help him distinguish between what was real or unreal in his memories.

Buzz had found a new friend in the silent Totorro when it came to fixing any kind of imaginary transportation Bonnie had created, and Jessie was still thick as thieves with her favorite critter Bullseye. Overall, the toys of Bonnie's room found the couple sweet harbingers of dance and fun.

Speaking of said horse, Bullseye seemed to act more like a puppy that a horse most of the time, or so it seemed to Bonnie's toys. Not that they didn't find him incredibly endearing anyway, but they were still sometimes amazed at how the other toys in the older group could read his body language so well. Their system of communication with Bullseye was so ingrained and practiced that it was easy for the new toys to forget that he technically couldn't speak.

Buttercup had taken to talking with Bullseye when Hamm was busy trying to beat Rex's high score on a game, being able to understand Bullseye more easily even without the ingrained communication system of the older toys due to being a equestrian-based toy. Said unicorn was still surprised and impressed that Bullseye could race to the other side of the room faster than him despite not having as big of a stride. Bullseye also liked giving the peas in a pod horseback rides now and then, and was a friend to all- but to none more so than the cowboy of the room, to whom he a both loyal steed.

Sheriff Woody Pride had been the first toy of Andy's group that Bonnie's toys had met. Their first impression had been one of awe, due to the fact that he had been able to escape Sunnyside Daycare in the height of Lotso's reign. However, now that Woody was around them all the time, they began to see more of just how much there was to the cowboy as a result of his challenging experiences.

It was true that the sheriff was a naturally-stitched leader, and he felt protective instinct for his extended family of fellow toys, new additions included as if they'd been there all along. Woody saw it as his responsibility to ensure the safety and happiness of every toy in Andy, and now Bonnie's, room. He would see to it that they had stable but flexible routines, help in finding solutions to their worries, and comfortable with their surroundings. He was there to help mediate the situation between any two toys that were having a dispute and help them find a fair compromise.

All of Andy's toys had seen the lengths he was willing to go to in order to ensure their well-being and security many times over. That same dedication to them was what had led him towards deciding to facilitate their transfer from their future in an attic to instead being given to Bonnie. He'd felt he'd owed it to them after what they'd had to suffer at Sunnyside for that brief period of time.

Even though it had been a year since that terrifying period of time at Sunnyside Daycare, Woody found himself lingering on it in the back of his mind. The Incinerator Incident, as everyone referred to it on the rare occasions they spoke about it, still haunted his thoughts. That horrible feeling of failure for letting them down would resurface despite his best efforts to ignore it.

Though he didn't realize it, the others had noticed that he was troubled by the Incident despite his best attempts to hide it. If there was one thing they were all well aware of, even Bonnie's toys, it was that Woody had a bad habit of subconsciously looking out for others before her looked after himself, never thinking of it as a big deal half the time.

However, as Chuckles pointed out to Bonnie's other toys, particularly Mr. Pricklepants (who had wanted to talk to Woody about it), the sheriff didn't quite have to add that onto his plate of worries because his group looked out for their sheriff. Looking closer and piecing together tidbits they learned from the older toys, they saw that this was true.

Hamm occasionally found a book for Woody to read, since he'd taken up to reading a lot more than most toys ever do after Bo Peep was gone. Most of the time it was fictional works set in the Old West or some other work of historical fiction. Hamm wondered if the many books the sheriff read was where Woody got inspiration for his numerous strategies for reconnaissance or rescue missions, but felt it was a mystery best left unsolved to add to the "cool factor" of their leader's plans. Since Bonnie was still in the early years of mastering the written word, Hamm had found online books Woody could read for free while Ham distracted Trixie and Rex from the computer by inviting them to play on the few console video games in Bonnie's room hooked to the television.

Rex looked up to Woody as the leader. Time had taught the dino that if anyone could get them out of a dire situation, it was Woody. He agreed wholeheartedly with Andy on what one of Woody's best qualities were: his bravery. Even though Buzz was the one who helped Rex on his roar, Rex hoped that one day he could face the unknown with the same courage that Woody did. He knows sometimes Woody doubts his abilities as a leader, and so whenever he makes a passing comment about not seeing how he's going to accomplish something, Rex is always the first one to tell Woody he's sure he can accomplish whatever it is.

Dog is man's best friend, as the old adage goes, and in Slinky and Woody's case, that adage ringed with truth. Slinky and Woody went way back, old partners in crime, since Slinky had been one of the first toys given to a younger Andy and Woody had already been at Andy's side, having been a hand-me-down from Andy's father. Being so familiar with how Woody operated, the hound knew that checkers was the perfect way to get the leader to relax.

The Potato Heads, of course, had been the second longest-lasting couple of Andy's toys in the past, second only to Woody and Bo Peep. Back in Andy's room, being the only two couples have bound the four in a weird way to one another. While Mrs. Potato Head and Bo Peep had been close friends to one another, their husbands' friendship was a bit more complicated. Mr. Potato Head had always harbored a bit of jealousy towards Woody for being both Andy's favorite and the leader of the group. Despite that, Woody always had the patience to put up with him when others didn't and never held his harsh words against him. Then, of course, there had been those two odd occasions when both the spuds felt a bit protective of Bo Peep and Woody's relationship. Mr. Potato Head had given a brief but stern warning a Space-Ranger-mindset Buzz, who was still new to Andy's room, to not try anything funny to get between the two lovebirds that were the sheriff and the shepherdess. Mrs. Potato Head had also given a similar warning to Barbie just to be on the safe side.

Bullseye, despite being a loyal steed, was also protective of Woody, albeit in a less direct way than the others. Before meeting Jessie and later Woody, Bullseye had experienced loneliness first-hoofed, as it were, being stuck in storage for a seemingly endless amount of time as well. Thus, whenever he felt his cowboy might be feeling lonesome in a crowd, Bullseye was quick to distract Woody or otherwise reassure him. He'd proven as much when he'd tried to follow Woody out of Sunnyside, not wanting Woody to be left alone. If Woody was haunted by the Incinerator Incident, Bullseye was haunted by that terrifying night in lockdown when the group had been falsely told of Woody's demise. Those hours spent curled around his cowboy's hat in misery was a reminder to Bullseye to always give an unsuspecting Woody a good lick or nudge to show his appreciation for him.

However, as aforementioned, Buzz and Jessie felt that they were a little bit overprotective of Woody, at least in comparison to the others. The simple fact of the matter was that they knew more about Woody than anyone else, and thus were more perceptive to his emotions than the others. This understanding led them to fiercely protect their friend from many threats, both physical and emotional.

They knew how Woody still missed Bo Peep more than he let on. Hamm didn't know, but most Old West novels Woody read were romance novels. Woody had told them that back in the day, he and Bo Peep would watch old black-and-white-picture shows on early televisions of the same stories he was reading, and thus reading them brought up good memories from that time.

By his use of the old jargon term of "picture shows," Jessie and Buzz were prompted to ask him just how long Woody and Bo had been together. They'd knew it'd been long, since Slinky had told them that when he was given to Andy, Woody and Bo had already been together "for ages." After a bit of gentle prying, since Woody was self-conscious about his age, he gave them the genuine answer on the promise they wouldn't tell anyone else. He and Bo Peep had been together a grand total of about 45 years, give or take a few months. Bo Peep had been a hand-me-down from Andy's maternal grandmother, while Woody himself was, as everyone knew, a hand-me-down from Andy's father.

Forty-plus years was an amazing time span for a relationship, even for humans with the way modern relationships seemed to be going sometimes. Therefore it was no small wonder why he missed her so much, and admittedly wasn't interested in pursuing a new relationship.

While Dolly had been infatuated with him for a short while, she'd accepted gracefully when told by Jessie and Mrs. Potato Head about Bo Peep that Woody would probably never fall for anyone that much again. She was content to just be friends with him, and had actually gotten with Chuckles pretty recently, though that was another story entirely.

Regardless, whenever Woody felt lonely due to Bo's absence, Buzz and Jessie were there to talk to him or just keep him company in a companionable silence looking out of the window to the street below.

Buzz and Jessie also knew that Woody, who Rex sometimes believed to be fearless, did in fact have a fear of his own. Woody tried very hard to hide it, thinking that as a leader he couldn't ever show fear because it would worry those who looked to him for guidance. However, he couldn't hide anything from his two closest friends, and probably won't ever be able to. Reassured by Buzz disclosing his own fear of his gaps in memory, Woody revealed his fear to both him and Jessie: fire.

It was a natural fear for Woody to have. He was a threadbare toy, not an assortment of plastic and metallic materials like most of the others. Despite that, it hadn't been his primary fear for a long time, being outdone by his fear of losing the people he cared about most. He'd faced that fear and coped with it by spending the entire night before that fateful yard sale with Bo Peep, and had moved on with time. Thus, with that fear dealt with, his fear of fire, which had never waned, had now taken center stage, made doubly worse by the Incinerator Incident. He'd have nightmares about the roaring fire that threatened to turn them into a block of molded plastic and ash, and flinch out of sight whenever Bonnie's mom lit a scented candle.

Jessie and Buzz saw to it to be right next to him on the worst nights, whether he was asleep in the toy box under Bonnie's bed if the toy box was cramped that night. Unlike with Andy, who had always slept clutching Woody like a lifeline to his father's memory, Bonnie was younger and slightly more attached to her first toys, who she preferred to cuddle in her sleep. This of course, made Buzz and Jessie's duty as supportive friends easier to accomplish.

Helping Woody through his nightmares of the Incident led them to realize a horrifying detail they'd never fully processed: Woody had been the furthest down from from the group in his attempt to help Rex and had thus been the closest to the fire of the incinerator. Had they all not been saved by the alien trio, Woody would have been the first to be scorched by the fire. That thought and the images it conjured was enough to give them nightmares, but Woody would remind them that he was there and it was over, which would help him get over it himself little by little. On the few rare occasions there was a family barbeque at Bonnie's house, they made sure Woody was kept away from the flames and matches.

Jessie and Buzz were also both willing to cut Mr. Potato Head off if he was complaining too much about nothing just to be on Woody's case before he went unintentionally going overboard. They helped everything run smoothly in the room, whether it was to make sure everyone was contributing equally to Mr. Pricklepants' construction of his next play or whatever other project they were working on, to make sure there would be less disputes for Woody to handle and less accidents that could cause Woody to have a worry-wort attack. When someone would head in the direction of the computer when Jessie and Buzz knew Woody was reading a Western romance novel, they'd distract the person and give Woody a signal to know he'd have to finish the chapter later.

The one thing most difficult to protect Woody from was, ironically, themselves. Now that they were a couple and Bo was still gone, Woody was left as the odd one out. In its persistence to haunt them, the Incinerator Incident reminded them that everyone had someone to cling close to... except Woody. He had been spread out between Buzz and Slinky, an arm's length away from each of them. Since then, Buzz and Jessie were determined to make sure Woody was never "third-wheeled" as the saying goes, letting him know that they'd, without a doubt, always remain the unstoppable trio. If they felt the need for some alone time, they made sure to do so while Woody was deeply concentrated in a tense game of checkers with Slinky or otherwise hanging out with the others.

Finally, it went without saying that they'd defend Woody at any cost, and vise-versa, as Stinky Pete, Lotso, Sid, and Al McWhiggin had all learned the hard way.

If one asked them why, Buzz and Jessie would simply answer that Woody's important to them and that they'd never be able to get by without him.

Buzz has been Woody's best friend for a little over ten years, despite their friendship's rocky start. Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl, as they'd found out once from a fansite of vintage television programs on the computer, had actually been intended to be revealed as Sheriff Woody Pride's younger sister at the conclusion of the finale episode before the Round Up Show was canceled. Without even realizing it, that's exactly how Woody and Jessie had acted towards each other. So technically, as Mrs. Potato Head had once teasingly pointed out, Buzz was now Woody's brother-in-law.

True, Jessie had had a little crush on Woody when she first met him, but after getting to know him better, she admitted that while he was little dork she was proud to call a friend, she didn't like him the way Bo Peep did. No, what Woody was to her was a big brother. He had helped her remember what it was like to be loved by an owner and how to adjust to being part of a group, not to mention how he'd jumped onto a plane to save her so she wouldn't be alone in Japan. It was her brother's finest hour if he'd ever had one. She could banter with Woody in nothing but Old West lingo without either of them missing a beat, unlike the other toys who sometimes couldn't understand a word of it. Plus, knowledge that all little sisters are privy to include how good of a prankster their big brother is, and Jessie was proud to say her big brother was a master prankster.

Despite the most common target being her boyfriend, whom always issued a "Darn it, Woody!" when he'd had enough, she couldn't stop being amused and awed by Woody's pranks. She found she also had an affinity for pranks, and became Woody's unofficial apprentice in pranking, learning the proverbial ropes from the inwardly mischievous cowboy. She was always excited when Woody taught her a new trickster trade; he was just so clever! Of course, she still teased him whenever possible and tired him out when she led him on a massive chase to reclaim his hat. It was her duty as a little sister to make sure her big brother didn't become too uptight, after all.

Jessie would also admit, on a more serious note, that she wouldn't be able to get by without him. She'd feared she'd have to do just that when that twisted bear had tossed Woody's hat towards her cell in Sunnyside, the implication as to the cowboy's fate clear. The world had, for a moment, become white noise, and she couldn't find the words to explain to Bullseye that Woody was gone. She only had enough motivation to reach out to grab Woody's hat and pass it over to Bullseye so the poor critter could get some sleep that night. The guilt she'd felt then still left a sour bite in her gut. She'd promised herself since Woody's return to have a little more faith in him and listen to him more.

Jessie was darn tootin' that her quirky big brother would always be there for her through thick and thin, no doubt about it, and that by all the powers of the Old West, she'd return that support.

Buzz and Woody had notoriously gotten off on the wrong foot when they'd first met, due to Buzz's Space-Ranger factory settings and Woody's insecurities, but had become best friends through the events they endured at Sid's house. Even in his deluded state, Buzz had admired Woody's fortitude when the sheriff had refused to break under Sid's interrogation torture. Even when he'd been rendered burdensome by the revelations incited by the Buzz Lightyear toy commercial, Woody had been steadfast in working on a way to get both of them back to Andy's. In the years since then, despite their many retellings of the tale, Woody had never brought up or told anyone anything about Buzz's "Mrs. Nesbit" breakdown, for which the ranger was eternally grateful.

It had been at his own lowest point when he'd finally understood the reason for Woody's prior animosity. He'd been taking Woody's place in Andy's room, and Woody feared that Buzz was taking up his place in Andy's heart along with it. In the present, knowing about how Woody was Andy's only reminder of his father only added a whole other layer onto that fear. Woody's rule breaking of the unspoken toy code of inanimacy to rescue him was something Buzz had hoped to one day repay him for, which he felt he'd accomplished the next year when rescuing Woody from Al McWhiggin.

It had been an odd thing, having their roles reversed from the year before. Talking sense into Woody as Woody had done for him had been a surreal experience, but it let Buzz learn that sometimes Woody needed the roles reversed. Behind his stubborn and worry-wort nature, Woody had a great deal of wisdom. While Jessie was just as old as Woody, she'd spent a little over 20 years in the darkness of storage, while Woody had been owned by Andy's father and gaining experiences and the lessons they brought. It also explained why Woody was more mature and quiet-natured than Jessie, who was boundlessly energetic.

As Woody's second-in-command, his second set of eyes to keep track of everyone, he'd learned many strategies from the cowboy, who had proven his genius with his plans to escape the maximum security of Sunnyside. Buzz found himself in awe of the tactics Woody could come up with seemingly on the spot, whether the situation that called for them was mundane or extraordinary. That didn't mean he didn't get annoyed with Woody's usual pranking of him, but he started to think that maybe Woody was doing it so he didn't get lost in his own thoughts.

Buzz would also admit that in all likelihood, he wouldn't be able to get by without Woody. Without his pranks or guidance, he'd become too uptight and lost. He'd heard from both Jessie and Slinky how hard everyone took it when they'd believed Woody to be gone for good thanks to Lotso. While most of his memory gaps terrified him, none bothered him more than this particular gap in his memory. He felt so guilty for the fact that being switched into demo mode had rendered him incapable of properly reacting to the perceived loss of his best friend as he should have, and so angry at Lotso for making him operate as an indifferent guard to his suffering friends as they were trapped in confined cells. Sometimes it scared him to think of what he would have felt if Lotso's claim had been true, and his friends had one day led a revolt that allowed them to switch him back from demo mode, and then told him that Woody was gone. It was a loss he doubted even real space rangers could compute. Since then, he'd promised himself to trust Woody's instincts about new places more, and to curb Woody's tendencies to face danger alone.

Still, he didn't worry too much, because Buzz knew that he and Woody would be friends even when they found out what was beyond infinity, no matter what the world threw at them.

Although none of the other toys really thought much of it enough to see Buzz and Jessie's more detailed efforts to support him, Woody did notice their overprotective tendencies towards him. He'd felt disoriented about it at first; Weren't leaders supposed to be the somewhat overprotective ones in a group? Eventually though, he realized that he needed Jessie and Buzz to be that way. Their actions really did make things easier for him to deal with and he was always up to encourage them and help them through any relationship problems they might encounter. Sometimes they were a handful, but he enjoyed untangling the mess they made, whether it was a misunderstanding or a dancing fiasco.

While Jessie and Buzz may have called their action overprotective, they were really only the normal methods of familial support the others tended to overlook. They weren't any over in an extreme at all. The more Woody thought about it, the more he realized that supportive protection was just another big concept of making a family work.

There had to be trust, which must be earned. There had to be love, which was given and received in return. There had to be laughter, which was one contagious thing everyone never minded getting infected with. There had to a few fights or disagreements now and then, because even the closest of people (or toys) can't always fit perfect together on issues. There had to be forgiveness, which had to be earned depending on whatever was done wrong. There had to be mistakes, which were learned from. There had to be promises, which were meant to be kept and not given out freely. There had to be surprises, which made sure it was never too boring. There had to be fun, which made every day worth living. There also had to be goodbyes, which left behind precious memories never to be forgotten.

But probably most of all, there had to be protection, which ensured the rest would not be broken or lost, but treasured by all, with no one left behind even at heart.

Woody could never find it in his heart to complain about the protective nature of Buzz, Jessie, or any of the others. They were all family, and they'd always be that way... for infinity and beyond.

The End

Midnight: Sorry for the kinda cliche ending, but it just seemed the best way to end it. This little reflective piece are my thoughts on the characters in general, my own observations, and how I interpret their interactions as a group. Woody's my favorite, as you could probably tell.