A/N: The first version of this story was plagiarized from my deviantArt account; that's why it might look very familiar. But not to worry! It is now posted under my account, and I am the real author.
I'm sure a lot of you were wondering how the toys get home from the airport in Toy Story 2. Well, this is most likely what happened along the way. So without further ado, I present to you, for your entertainment, "Let's Go Home."
The four toys watched as the plane soared higher and higher into the darkening sky above them. They all stood leaning into each other, barely moving. Jessie held her hat tight to her head to prevent it from blowing away, and Woody clutched his hat in his hands.
"Let's…go home," Woody said, finally breaking the silence. The other three toys jumped, apparently shaken out of their frozen states.
"Good thinkin', Sheriff," Buzz agreed, nodding.
"How are we gonna get home?" Jessie wondered aloud. "We can't walk all the way; it'd take too long."
"Jessie's right," Woody turned to his best friend. "Buzz, how did you and the guys even get to the airport, anyway?"
"Well, we…uh..." Buzz rubbed his neck, looking a little embarrassed. "We, uh, acquired a certain motor vehicle and followed Al in his car."
"You stole a car?"
"It wasn't so much stealing as we, ah…simply borrowed it and now we have no way of returning it." Buzz grinned sheepishly. "Heheh…"
Jessie and Woody stared at Buzz in utter disbelief; Bullseye merely blinked at the flustered space ranger. Buzz regained his composure after a moment and cleared his throat.
"Ahem…I'll, uh, I'll go find the others. Maybe our vehicle's still in front of the airport." Without another word, Buzz took off running across the parking lot. Jessie flicked up the brim of her hat and leaned an arm on Bullseye's saddle, gazing after Buzz with a raised eyebrow.
"Are all the space toys like that?" she asked Woody.
"What do you mean?"
"You know…like Buzz. Are they all weird like that?"
"I really couldn't tell ya, Jess."
Jessie fell silent, gazing out into the distance. "Are you sure Andy's gonna like me?" she asked after a long pause.
"He'll love you! Andy loves all his toys; you'll see it when he comes home tonight." Jessie turned to look at the smiling cowboy. "He was so upset when Buzz and I got lost and he couldn't find us, or when he couldn't take me to cowboy camp because of…well, you know…" Woody waved his arm.
Jessie gasped. "Woody! Your arm! It's…"
"What?" Woody glanced down at his shoulder, where the seam was torn open and white stuffing was poking out. "What, this? The Prospector and I got into a fight when he knocked Buzz off the conveyor belt; he used his pickax on me."
Jessie gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "If I ever see that lowlife, yellow-bellied varmint again—"
"Jessie, calm down. There's no use getting mad about it, Andy will fix it when we—"
"Woody!" Buzz called out, running up to the cowpokes. "I've found them."
"Nice job, ranger."
"Woody!" Rex exclaimed, throwing his tiny arms around Woody, much to Jessie's amusement. "Oh, don't ever go galloping off like that again! I was terrified!"
"I knew he was gonna be all right," Slinky remarked, trotting up behind Rex. "Woody's always gonna be all right." He turned toward Jessie and Bullseye. "I want to, uh, apologize for earlier when we were trying to save Woody. Forgive us." Slinky offered up a paw to Jessie. "Friends?"
"Friends," Jessie smiled, shaking Slinky's paw. Bullseye nodded excitedly in agreement. Jessie started scratching under Slinky's chin, and the coiled dog wagged his tail back and forth in happiness.
"Well, we can nix goin' home via Pizza Planet Express," Mr. Potato Head frowned, waddling up to the group.
"Why?" Buzz asked.
"We got towed!" Hamm exclaimed, joining the others.
"Turns out Godzilla here was right," Mr. Potato Head gestured toward Rex. "We parked in the white zone, and we weren't s'posed to be there."
"Unless you were immediately loading or unloading your vehicle." Hamm added.
"Oh, that's just great," Woody muttered.
"How are we gonna get out of here now?" Jessie worried.
All of a sudden, Bullseye raised his head, his whole body shaking in excitement. Without warning, he started galloping across the parking lot, much to the surprise of the other toys.
"Bullseye? Hey, Bullseye, come back!" Woody called out before dashing off after the excited horse. The other toys began following Woody at the same pace, Hamm panting with the effort of running and carrying over six dollars in change.
"What got into him?" Mr. Potato Head asked, holding onto his hat as he ran.
When the other toys caught up with Bullseye, the horse was standing next to a small white vehicle with the Far East emblem painted on the side. Three carts with shelves followed behind it like train cars to an engine. Bullseye was nearly hopping up and down with excitement, his eyes wide.
"A luggage cart?" Mr. Potato Head frowned, skeptical.
"Bullseye, you're a genius!" Woody grinned, rubbing Bullseye's head in praise. Bullseye let out a small whinny of modesty and shyly tapped his foot against the blacktop. The rest of the toys scrambled up into the cart, glancing around the interior.
"Need a leg up, partner?" Woody asked Jessie, knotting his fingers together and cupping his hands, making a stirrup.
"Thanks, Sheriff!" Jessie smiled, putting her foot in Woody's hands and crawling up onto the floor of the cart. She turned back and offered a hand down to Buzz. "Need help?"
"I…ah…" Buzz muttered, suddenly looking flustered. Without warning, Jessie grabbed his hand and whisked him up into the cart, much to Woody's amusement. Buzz staggered to his feet, looking a little ill at ease.
"You okay, partner?" Jessie asked, raising an eyebrow as Buzz held a hand to his head, muttering.
"What? Oh, yeah, I-I'm fine." Buzz shook his head a little and offered out a hand. "Buzz Lightyear, space ranger."
"Jessie, roughest, toughest cowgirl in the West," Jessie replied, shaking Buzz's hand enthusiastically. "So…space ranger," she continued, putting her hands on her hips. "Can you fly?"
"Well, uh, regrettably…um…unfortunately, no. I can, however, fall with style…or so I'm told. But I am not a flying toy." Buzz avoided Jessie's eyes, his cheeks growing pinker.
Jessie chuckled. "All right. If you'll excuse me, I gotta go help Bullseye up here." She walked past Buzz and toward Bullseye, who was attempting to jump up into the cart after Woody but was unsuccessful. "C'mon, you silly horse," she laughed, tugging at one of his clunky hooves. Buzz watched, seemingly in a trance.
Woody sauntered up behind his best friend and placed a hand on his shoulder, chuckling under his breath. "Well, well, well…looks like someone has his eye on a certain little lady."
"What?" Buzz's outburst was cut off by a groan of "Oh, no!" from on top of the seat.
"What's wrong, Potato Head?" Hamm asked, formerly engrossed in the travel brochure that lay open on the floor.
"They're back!"
"Who's b—?"
"You have saved our lives! We are eternally grateful!"
"Oh no," Woody and Buzz groaned, clapping a hand to their foreheads.
"How did you even get in here?" Mr. Potato Head was astounded.
"You are our savior!" cried one alien.
"You saved our lives!" said another.
"And we'll follow you forever!" the third alien finished.
"Foreveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer," the aliens chorused, surrounding the surprised spud.
"N-n-n-n-n-no! I didn't save your lives!" Mr. Potato Head held up his hands, backing toward the edge of the seat. The aliens huddled closer, hanging on his every word. "I-I'm warning you! I know kung f—WHOA!" Mr. Potato Head toppled over the edge and hit the floor, his parts and accessories flying everywhere. Rex shrieked in fright. Jessie, who had just managed pull Bullseye up into the cart and was standing behind Woody and Buzz, jumped in alarm.
"Does that happen a lot?" she asked, pointing at Mr. Potato Head's mouth, which was complaining loudly while Hamm trotted around, picking up the parts and plugging them back into the body, chucking all the while.
"Uh…" Buzz rubbed his neck, unsure of what to say.
"On occasion," Woody shrugged. "All right, guys, who knows how to drive here?"
"I do," Buzz replied, saluting. "Man your stations, men! You know what to do!"
"Someone's gonna have to cover for me while I put Spud-nik here back together," Hamm said, plugging in Mr. Potato Head's right shoe. Rex scrambled up on top of the dashboard, looking very nervous; the luggage cart had no roof, unlike the Pizza Planet truck.
"Woody, man the knobs and levers," Buzz commanded. Woody dashed to the shift lever, waiting for more instructions.
"What can I do?" Jessie perked up, standing at Buzz's side. Buzz flinched a little; she was good at sneaking up on people.
"Well, I, uh…um…" Buzz muttered, while Jessie crossed her arms, a half-annoyed, half-amused expression on her face. Woody sensed his friend's tongue-tied nervousness, and came over to help.
"Jessie, you navigate. Rex, you come on down here and help me out; we gotta get this thing started somehow." The plastic dinosaur looked greatly relieved, while the cowgirl's face lit up in excitement. "Bullseye, you help Slink down there with the pedals, okay?" Bullseye nodded vehemently, wagging his tail.
"YEE-HAW! C'mon, we gotta get this wagon train a-movin'!" Jessie crowed excitedly, throwing herself at the dashboard and climbing on top of it. Rex fell to the upholstered seat with a shout, and plopped down next to the cowboy, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Hey, Woody! Isn't that one of the things you say with your voice box?" Buzz asked from the steering wheel.
It was now Woody's turn to be flustered.
The toys made it home without much incident. Slinky and Bullseye accidentally floored the gas pedal when they got the luggage cart started, making them rocket out of the airport parking lot. There was also a brief moment where they thought they spotted Andy's blue van; they all had to plop down where they were (with Buzz doing some spectacular driving while lying on his back) and wait until the coast was clear.
"I'm sure the neighbors won't mind," Woody said as the toys parked the luggage cart across the street from Andy's house.
"Hey, nice park job, Buzz!" Mr. Potato Head remarked, glancing back at the shelved carts; they were parked behind the luggage vehicle in a zigzag fashion, like a derailed train. That comment earned the spud a nasty glare, and he fell silent. The toys sneaked across the street cautiously, keeping their eyes peeled for oncoming cars.
"Okay, now there should be a key hiding under the flowerpot by the front door…" Woody murmured. "Guys, keep your eyes out for—"
"Woody! Look!" Slinky stage-whispered. He pointed a paw at the brick wall of the house; a long line of red plastic monkeys dangled there, waiting. Up in the lighted window stood a very familiar figure, wearing a hoop-skirted dress and a bonnet, the monkeys dangling from her shepherd's hook.
"Bo…" Woody whispered breathlessly.
"Woody? Honey, is that you down there?" Bo called from the windowsill.
"It's all of us, Bo! Me, Buzz, Hamm, Slinky, Rex, Potato Head…"
"That's Mr. Potato Head to you!" the spud interjected, offended.
"And two other friends we've brought home with us!" Woody finished.
"Oh, they're home!" Mrs. Potato Head cried out joyfully. "Oh, I was so worried…"
"Cowpokes first," Buzz nodded, gesturing toward the line of monkeys. Woody grabbed it and started walking up the wall in a rock-climber fashion. Jessie followed, and Buzz was close behind Jessie.
"I don't want you to fall, cowgirl," he responded when Jessie gave him an odd look over her shoulder. She smiled and turned back to climbing, and Buzz felt a bashful grin spread over his face.
"Oh, Woody," Bo Peep breathed when the cowboy finally climbed over the windowsill. "It's so good to see you."
"It's…uh, it's great to see you too," Woody replied bashfully, rubbing his neck awkwardly. Before he could say or do anything else, the shepherdess pulled Woody into a deep kiss, keeping one hand on her shepherd's hook and wrapping her other arm around the cowboy's neck.
"I missed you so much…" she whispered.
"Um…Bo?" Woody said, pointing at the window and clearing his throat. Jessie and Buzz were standing there, unsure of what to do with themselves and staring off in opposite directions.
"Thank you for bringing him home," Bo smiled at Buzz, who merely nodded in response. "And who is this?" she asked Woody, gesturing toward Jessie.
"Bo, this is Jessie. Jessie, Bo." Woody introduced the two of them. They shook hands, and Bo gave her cowboy a covert odd look. Woody raised an eyebrow, and the porcelain shepherdess just smiled.
"I think Jessie's already spoken for," she remarked as they watched Buzz walk up behind Jessie, his cheeks bright pink. "Someone's bitten by the love bug."
"I think you're right." Woody chuckled.
"Maybe I've been bitten, too."
"What're ya—?"
"C'mere, you," Bo whispered flirtatiously, sweeping Woody into another kiss.
"Come on, Etch! Work your magic!"
Etch spun his white knobs furiously, spelling out "Welcome Home, Andy" in angular block letters. Woody stood up from kneeling next to the Etch-a-Sketch and gave it a thumbs-up. The other toys were standing around on Andy's bed, socializing and chatting amongst each other.
"Um, Woody?" Buzz said, approaching his best friend.
"Yeah?"
"That…Jessie. She is…she's something, isn't she?"
Woody glanced over at Jessie. She was leaning up against Bullseye, her green eyes sparkling as
she took in her new home. She caught them looking at her, and waved casually. Woody waved back.
"She really is, Buzz."
All of a sudden, the sound of gravel crunching under tires caught Woody's attention.
"Places, everybody!" he shouted. "Andy's home!"
There was a flurry of sound and motion on the bed. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head stood next to each other, the little green men surrounding them. Woody stood to the left of Etch-a-Sketch, Bo Peep at his side. Buzz stood on the right of the Etch-a-Sketch, Jessie next to him with an arm around Bullseye. Hamm stood next to Slinky. Everyone froze when Slinky clicked off the light above Andy's bed and waited as they heard the nine-year-old boy run excitedly up the stairs.
I think you've read enough fanfics to know what authors generally ask you to do at this point ;D This is my first Toy Story fic, and you can expect more work to come! Thanks for reading ^_^