Two weeks later, and Woody was heartbroken.
Of course, Bonnie was perfect. Before she went off to school, she kissed every one of her toys and said goodbye, and when she returned, she kissed them all and talked to each of them, asking how their day went and then explaining her own. Woody, nor any of the other toys, had been talked to for many years. Woody had to fight back with everything not to answer her questions aloud.
Everyone was enjoying their new life. Even Woody had to admit it, life at Bonnie's was close to perfect. But after two weeks, realization struck him.
He would never see Andy again.
There was still always a chance for Andy to show up on one of his college breaks and play with Bonnie, like he did before he left. But the chances of that happening were so slim to none that Woody didn't count on it.
Though Woody would not give up hope, a small voice inside him told to let it go.
That particular morning, Bonnie was running late for pre-school. She kissed them all as quickly as she could, and in her haste, she accidently knocked over Bullseye, but apologized, sat him back up, and kissed him once more. When she was finished, she ran out the door as quickly as her little legs could carry her.
"So, what do you guys wanna do today?" Hamm asked when the car had pulled away.
"How about heads up, seven up?" Dollie suggested.
"Nah, we played that yesterday!" Mr. Potato Head said.
"Well, there must be something we can play," Slinky said. Since both parents worked, and Bonnie stayed with her mom after pre-school, the toys had to occupy themselves until three o'clock.
"Hey! I've got an idea!" Jessie said, standing up on the bed, sounding excited. "How about we go play hide-and-seek outside?"
"That's a great idea, Jessie." Buzz complimented and Jessie nodded with gratitude.
"So who's gonna be it?" Rex asked.
"Nose goes!" Mr. Potato Head answered, putting his finger on his nose as quickly as he could. Many of the other toys copied his action.
"Hey! No fair!" Rex said. "I can't even reach my nose!"
"You gotta improvise," replied Hamm, whose nose was crushed against the floor. Trixie quickly copied, and Rex fell trying to do so.
"Sorry, Rex," said Buzz. "I think you're it."
"Hey," said Slinky. "What about Woody?"
At the mention of his name, everyone followed Slinky's glance to find Woody sitting on the windowsill.
"You wanna play, Woody?" Buzz asked.
He shook his head. "No thanks."
"Does that mean I'm it?" Rex asked. But before anyone could answer his question, a loud thunder clap interrupted. A moment later, rain came down hard, pattering hard against the windows.
"Well, hide-and-seek is shot." Hamm shook his head.
"No, wait," Buttercup said. "We can still play inside."
"Does that mean I'm it?" Rex asked again, and Buttercup nodded. Rex sighed and began to count.
Everyone rushed out of the room as quickly, but quietly, as they could. Jessie looked back at Woody before beginning to walk out of the room. Buzz caught her wrist and nodded towards Woody.
At first, she had no idea what he meant. But then she understood: Buzz wanted her to talk with Woody.
She looked at Buzz questioningly, as if asking, why me?
He nodded, and she understood. She had gone through this before; she would understand what he felt more than Buzz or any other toy. She nodded, and walked over to the windowsill.
By the time she reached Woody, Rex has finished counting. He opened his eyes, squealed, and ran out of the room, leaving Jessie alone with Woody.
She cleared her throat to let him know she was there. He didn't move. She sat down on her knees and looked at him.
"Hi, Woody." She said, trying to figure out how to start.
Woody gave a nod.
She cleared her throat and looked out the window. "Some storm, huh?"
Again, he gave a nod.
She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey…are you doing okay?"
He nodded. "Just fine."
How was Jessie supposed to start? She might know how he was feeling—if he told her. Woody was one to keep his feeling to himself so no one else would worry.
"You must be feeling kinda bad now." Jessie said, softly.
"Bad? Why would I be feeling bad?" He asked.
"Woody," she said softly, yet firmly as she put her hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to be strong or the hero all the time.
"I know how you feel right now."
"Jessie," He said, finally looking at her. "I'm fine. Just a little worn out from all the play, that's all."
How was she supposed to get through to him? Woody put up a wall when it came to his emotions. Since everyone looked up to him as a leader, including Jessie, he didn't like letting people see that he could be weak, he could be sad, he could feel lonely.
"I don't believe that's the only thing," Jessie said gently.
"It is!" Woody replied. "It is…"
"Woody, I—"
"Jess, please." He shook off her hand from his shoulder. "Just go."
He turned slightly, so his back was to her. Unsure of what to do, Jessie stood up. Perhaps all he really needed was to be alone. It made sense, after all, he probably just needed time to think.
But, Jessie herself was different. Whenever she was going through a hard time, she needed to talk about it. That helped her, while Woody wasn't like that. He kept his feeling bottled down inside him, and very occasionally, he would snap (of course, he would apologize right after). How was Jessie supposed to get to him then?
And then she got it.
She went behind him, got down on her knees, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a hug. She whispered in his ear, "I love you—we all love you, Woody. Bonnie loves you. And Andy still loves you."
For a long moment, Woody was silent. Unsure as of what to do, Jessie moved beside him, with one arm still around his shoulders. With his face turned away from hers, it was impossible to tell what he was feeling.
"Woody?" She tipped his chin to make him look at her. She looked into his eyes, and she saw pain. She couldn't help but gasp a little.
"I'll never see him again, huh?" He said quietly, though he seemed to say it more as a statement rather than question.
Jessie had no idea how to answer. She did not want to give him false hope, however, anything could happen.
"You don't know that," She said, taking his hand. "Anything's possible—and Andy still loves you, yanno."
He let go of her hand gently and took off his cowboy hat, and began to stare at it.
"You wanna know something, Jess? Do you wanna know why I meant so much to Andy?"
She nodded, but wasn't sure if he saw her.
"I was a gift from his father, for his 6th birthday."
Jessie nodded, understanding. She heard that Andy's father passed away when Andy was about eight years old. It made sense then that Woody was his favorite toy—he was the last piece he had of his father.
"I was a piece of him for almost twelve years—so why give me away?" He turned to her with the same look of pain she saw earlier.
"Oh, Woody, you know it isn't like that." She said gently, taking his hand again. "He thought he was doing the right thing for you. He didn't want you to spend the rest of your life tucked away; he wanted you to be played with again!"
"I would have waited!" He shouted, giving her a glare before lowering his voice and going into that look of pain. "I would have waited years just for one play with Andy. And—who knows?—I would certainly wait for Andy to start a family, to have kids of his own."
"I know you would." She replied, gently, giving his hand a squeeze. "We all would. But Andy didn't want that for us—for you. He loves you too much to let you spend years on a shelf, or in a box, waiting."
"Well, lately I don't feel loved." He said, bitterly, shaking off her arm around his shoulders and let go of her hand as he turned away from her. "I feel deserted."
"That's the same way I felt when Emily donated me." She said, looking out the window as the rain pattered against the glass. "I felt deserted, I felt betrayed. After all we had been through…how could you get rid of me? I felt as though I meant nothing at all to her."
She took a deep breath to steady her voice. "After weeks at the second hand store, Al bought me and the Prospector. When we found out Al's plan, the Prospector convinced me that it was for the best. To be able to see children, smiling, everyday—and, yet, no hurt. I looked forward to going—until we were put into storage."
She shut her eyes tight in fear as she continued. "It was so dark. Al taped the box shut, so there was no way we could get out. We spent years in there, when one day, Al opened the box. I thought, we were finally going to get out of there! But instead, he threw in Bullseye. Again, we were in the darkness for…years. Bullseye was there to comfort me, though. And then, you showed up."
She opened her eyes to look at him. She was surprised to see he was looking at her with concern in his eyes, and that he had scooted closer to her.
"I thought, finally! We're going to go to Japan. No more darkness…no more hurt. But, you were gonna leave us. And even though I hardly knew you, that hurt was back; that feeling of being deserted."
"Jess," He said. "I didn't mean—"
She shook her head and smiled, to let him know it was all right. "But you stayed…until your friends came back. Woody, when you asked me to come back with you…"
She trailed off, trying to find the right words. To her surprise and amazement, he put his hand on top of hers in comfort.
"I was so afraid. I didn't want to be deserted again, like how Emily deserted me. But when I thought of you, how I thought you were gonna leave us, you didn't. I thought maybe, just maybe, Andy would be like you.
"And he was." She gave his hand a squeeze. "He didn't desert us. He fought for us, never sold us. He planned to keep us in the attic until he could take us again. And then he gave us up, even though he wanted to cling to us, because he knew life with Bonnie would be better."
He sighed. "You're right, Jess. I guess, I just…"
"Listen, Woody. This pain isn't just going to disappear. You're gonna have this hole in your heart for a while. But you gotta remember who loves you, and everything will be okay."
He nodded and gave a small smile. "I'll remember that."
She smiled back and stood up. "Well, I better go help Rex find some people in hide-and-seek—he probably needs it."
He gave a gentle laugh. She turned away, but before she could leave, he said, "Hey, Jess?"
She turned around. "Yeah?"
He reached out his hand, and she took it. "Thanks."
"Anytime, cowboy."