Waking up to the sound of sobbing, Woody sat up in Bonnie's bed, realizing she had frogotten to put her toys up before going to school this morning. Hoping her parents wouldn't scold her for not cleaning up her room before going to bed last night, he yawned, stretching himself into a standing position.
"Jessie?" Woody took a few tentative steps toward the grief-stricken cowgirl. "Are you all right?" Standing over her, he laid a comforting hand over one of her trembling shoulders. "What's wrong?" He knelt down beside her, whispering the question in her ear.
Jessie raised her head, revealing her, livid, tear-streaked face to a startled Woody. "It's Buzz!" Woody was taken aback by the hostility with which she spoke the space ranger's name. "He's made me so mad…"
Woody raised an inquiring eyebrow. "What's he done now?"
"Argh!" Jessie gripped the rim of her hat in frustration. "He won't take off that stupid spacesuit for me!"
Woody blinked in surprise. "Why did you ask him to? Buzz never takes off his spacesuit, not for anything! If he takes off his suit –" he began to explain, but was interrupted by Jessie.
"I know!" Flinging her hands over her head, Jessie rose up. "I know!" Fuming, she started to pace from one end of the bed to the other. "That's what he said! It's just that….the darn thing makes it so hard to…" She struggled to find the right words for the longest time before finally emitting a sigh of defeat. "You promise you won't laugh?"
Woody attempted keep his face straight. "I promise…I mean...I'll try not to, okay?"
Jessie nodded, not looking very convinced. She paused for a moment. Then, she muttered, "It makes it harder to cuddle with him, all right?"
Woody couldn't help it. He did all right, at first, but after a few seconds of trying to keep his amusement from showing on his honest, concerned expression, he doubled over laughing, clutching his stomach as he fell over backwards on the bed.
To say that Jessie was bemused would've been an understatement.
The yodeling cowgirl stood up, stomping her feet on the bed. "You promised you wouldn't laugh, Woody!" she shouted, pointing an accusing finger at him. "I knew you would laugh, though. I just knew it." She folded her arms over her chest, turning away from Woody, who was struggling to stand up. "I don't even know why I even told you."
Managing to get to his feet at last, Woody swayed on the bed, trying to regain his balance. Once he did, he tiptoed toward Jessie, refraining from putting a gentle hand on Jessie's back. He knew she wouldn't be in the mood for such comforting, physical contact at the moment. Upset by this realization, he folded his arms over his own chest instead, turning his back against Jessie's. "I never promised anything," he recalled, folding his arms across own chest. "I said I would try not to laugh."
Her back still to him, Jessie sniffed. "Well, you could've tried harder!" she snapped.
Woody could feel her entire body trembling from anger. Getting a little angry himself, he shot back, "Well, maybe you should've took the moment to consider that I just might have feelings for you, before you brought up Buzz again!" He opened and closed the fingers on his right hand, mimicking Jessie talking about Buzz every day. "It's Buzz this, Buzz that, every single day!" he said, doing an almost perfect impression of Jessie. "Didn't you ever once stop think that I might have feelings for you to?"
Almost knocking him over, Jessie spun around. "No!" she said, punching him in the arm. "I never once even thought that you would have feelings for me, because you never made a move on me!" She poked him in the chest with each word, sending him reeling backwards. "I just thought we had more of a brother and sister relationship because of that, but it's not my fault that you didn't say something about your feelings for me before Buzz did!"
Woody had had enough.
"That's it!" he shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. "I didn't want to have to go this far, but it looks like I'm going to have to." Trying to calm himself, he took a deep breath, doing his best to keep a straight eye on Jessie. He didn't want her to see how much it would hurt him to say what he was about to say to her. "You're not in love with the real Buzz, and the real Buzz's not in love with you," he said, feeling his heart break as he watched Jessie's face fall in dismay. "The Spanish Buzz fell in love with you, and you fell for him right back."
Tensing up, he fell silent, waiting for Jessie's reaction.
A look of realization spreading across her face, Jessie fell to her knees, sobbing at Woody's feet. "Oh, you're right, Woody!" she cried, wrapping her arms around his legs. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." She looked up at him pleadingly. "Will you please forgive me?"
Hating himself, Woody pulled Jessie up, enfolding her into a hug. "I'm sorry Jessie," he said, giving her a hug. "I didn't mean to upset you like that. I just wanted you to know that I would rather you fell in with the real Buzz, our Buzz, rather than some Spanish speaking stranger whose never even been to Spain! As much as it would hurt me, I would rather you fall in love with the real Buzz instead."
"I know, Woody, and I really appreciate that, but -" In the middle of rubbing her nose with her arm, Jessie paused for a moment, just realizing what Woody had said. "You really mean that?"
Woody gulped. This was going to be a big, life-changing decision he was going to have to make, but, if it would make Jessie happy, he would do it. "Yes," he said, sighing. "I really mean that."
Back to her old self again, Jessie whooped with glee. "That's great!" she exclaimed, planting a light kiss on Woody's cheek, which was turning red as she pulled away from it. "Just wait 'till I tell Buzz-" She gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said, her eyes widening in horror. "I didn't mean to mention him again. "
"That's all right, Jessie," Woody said, giving her a reassuring smile. "I've got a plan for good old Buzz." A mischievous glint came into his eyes, and Jessie started to get a little worried.
"Now, Woody, you're not planning to start any trouble with Buzz, are you?" she asked, wringing her hands together.
Woody shook his head. "Nah," Woody said, waving away Jessie's outspoken fear. "I'm just going to make sure he never changes back to the old Buzz."
Jessie didn't know whether to be happy about that or not.
"What if I like the Spanish Buzz better than the old Buzz?" she ventured, hoping she wouldn't make Woody angry. "Wouldn't you leave Buzz as he is, if he made me happy?"
Woody gave her a despairing look, slumping his shoulders in defeat. "I just want what's best for you, Jessie," he said, "If it will make you happy, though, I'll leave Buzz as he is."
Woody thought Jessie would be overjoyed by this, but he was wrong. If anything, she was angrier than ever.
"Oh, Woody, I don't believe you!" she cried out in expiration. "You're just being selfish!" Her voice rising in her anger, tears started spilling down her face again. "You don't want to leave Buzz as he is, because you know he'll be in love with me, and I'll be in love with him!" After this outburst, she swerved away from him, leaping from the bed.
Woody's mouth dropped open in horror."Jessie!" he yelled, afraid she had hurt herself. Running over to the edge of the bed, he looked down, sighing with relief and wiping perspiration from his forehead when he saw her glaring up at him, unhurt, from the floor.
"That's for making me think you actually cared!" she shouted up at him, throwing a ball at his head.
"Whoa!" Woody exclaimed, ducking just in time before the ball hit his head. Watching it bounce for a few seconds before it rolled to a stop, he sighed and sat on the end of the bed, looking almost like Jessie did when he had woke up that morning and saw her crying on the end of the bed.
"The nerve of that cowboy!" Jessie huffed, kicking the floor with one of her boots. "Who does he think he is?"
"Are you all right, Jessie?"
Jessie jumped at the sound of the deep, smooth voice, which could've only belonged to Buzz Lightyear, the source of all her problems. Spinning around to face him, she shot him a glare of daggers. "What do you want?"
"Hold up there, Miss Pretty Lady," he said, and Jessie was quick to notice the lack of his Spanish accent. "I heard you and Woody arguing up there, so you can't fool me." He put his hands on his waist. "You have noticed that, with a little help from Rex, I had changed my accent, knowing it was making you and Woody unhappy."
Jessie gaped at him. "But why?"
"I couldn't bare to see my best friends so unhappy, Jessie," he said, holding his hands in his own. "I would trade anything, even my Spanish accent, if it would make my best friends happy."
Jessie swooned. "Oh, Buzz," Jessie sighed, wiping a hand on her forehead. "I think I'm going to faint!"
Buzz chuckled. "Easy there, cowgirl," he said, holding her by her tiny waist. "I think you need to let Woody know what has happened, that way you two can make amends."
Jessie nodded. "Right," she agreed, taking one of Buzz's hands and lending him to the bed. "You've got to come with me, though. I don't think Woody would believe me otherwise."
"You do have a point there," Buzz said, picking Jessie up into his arms. "I must ask you to allow me to escort you to your lover."
Jessie laughed. "I don't have a problem with that," she said, as Buzz, unfolding his wings, leaped into the air, landing in the bed with her in his arms.
Woody leaped up when Buzz landed on the bed with Jessie, unable to believe that she would allow him to carry her up here after the big argument they had just had.
"Jessie, what do you think you're doing?" Woody wanted to know, stomping up to Buzz.
Looking excited about something, Jessie leaped from Buzz's arms, running toward Woody at a full sprint.
Woody braced himself for the impact. When it came, he was surprised when Jessie fell into his arms, burying her face in his chest. "Oh, Woody, you won't believe what Buzz has done for us!" she cried with joy, looking up at him, her face glowing
Confused, Woody blinked, having no idea what was going on. "What did he do?"
"He had Rex switch off his Spanish accent for good Woody!"
Woody couldn't believe what he had just heard.
He gave Jessie a blank look. "Buzz did what?"
Laughing, Jessie shook her head, throwing off Woody's cowboy hat. "Now, don't pretend like you didn't hear what I said!" She rubbed the top of his head with one of her fists. "I know you heard what I said!"
"Yeah, I did, but I can't believe it!"
"Believe it, cowboy," Buzz said, smiling and shaking his head. "After all of these years we've been best buds, and all we've been through, I can't believe you wouldn't think I would do something like that for you!"
"Jeez, I'm sorry, Buzz," Woody said, sounding like he meant it, too. "I didn't mean to doubt you like that, pal, but I know how you feel about Jessie, and I know how I feel about her..." His sentence trailed off into a sigh. "Look, let's just forget about this whole thing!" After making this suggestion, he turned back to Jessie, giving her a wide, warm grin "It's just getting way to complicated!"
"You're darn tootin'" Jessie agreed, crying out in surprise when Woody tipped her over, bending down to give her a light, yet heartfelt kiss on the nose, and there was nothing complicated about that.
The End
