Notes before the fic:

So, the latest in a long line of TS fictions! Rochelle has been in my head for some weeks now, begging me to write something else to include her in, and this is it. The story is designed to fill some of the gaps between Dancing Princess (my original fic including Rochelle) and the follow up, The Amber Mystery.

As for the title...try looking 'anode' up. ; - )

Chapter One – The Wind Up Merchant

"She's really winding me up," Woody complained to Jessie, who was sitting next to him.

"Who?" Jessie tapped the puzzle piece she was holding against her cheek thoughtfully, staring at the half finished puzzle in front of her. She knew precisely what Woody was talking about, she just didn't want to entertain him anymore by listening. He was supposed to be helping her, but he'd spent most of their time together complaining about the one woman blonde show herself, Rochelle.

"You know who," Woody muttered, and Jessie dropped the puzzle piece on the floor in exasparation.

"What is it now?"

"She told me that Bonnie was moving house and it got me all flustered. Remember the chaos we went through when Andy moved?"

"No, I don't, Woody. Remember? I wasn't there," Jessie said.

"But I told you all about it."

"Not the same as being there," Jessie said flippantly, resuming her puzzle.

"But Buzz must have told you." Woody countered.

"Again. Not the same as being there." Jessie retorted, trying to fit the puzzle into a spot and pulling it back out again. "Does that look like a duck to you?" she questioned, changing the subject and holding the puzzle piece out to Woody. He brushed the puzzle piece aside.

"I'm serious Jessie. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was coming onto me."

Jessie looked around and smirked, before bursting into laughter. "Rochelle? The Rochelle? Coming onto my brother? Oh please Woody, don't kid yourself!"

Woody glared at his little sister. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing...nothing," Jessie choked on her laughter, "Just I don't think you're her type."

As Jessie doubled over in laughter, Woody glowered at her. It was true. The last few months or so since Bonnie had been home from camping, Rochelle seemed to have been on a mission to wind the cowboy doll up. Anything went with regards to this.

She'd first off managed to obtain a packet of ketchup when she'd been taken out to dinner at McDonalds with Bonnie. On discovering the ketchup looked like blood, she'd smeared it over her face and pretended to have had an accident. Of course, most of the toys went to pieces, only to laugh when Rochelle sat up and licked the 'blood' off herself. The only toy not amused was Woody, who had been close to attempting CPR on the doll lying, apparently battered, in the middle of the playroom floor.

The next one was about a week later, where she hid on the bookshelves with her mic plugged into her battery pack and pretended to be a ghost. Her creepy utterings managed to fool Rex, who yelled in fright and ran off, trampling anything that got in his way. As he ran past some of the toys playing Tag, his tail smacked many of them over. One of the toys had been Woody, who hadn't been amused at being knocked over, and even less amused when Hamm sidled over and tagged him. He only found out Rochelle was behind the prank when Rex started talking about bookshelves having voices and Woody found Rochelle's mic lying on the shelf the next day.

The third one was where Rochelle had been taken downstairs again, and managed to be left alone long enough to tamper with the house phone. She'd called Bonnie's mobile, which was lying on the bed, and of course as soon as it rang all the toys scampered for cover, aware Bonnie may come running for it. Of course nothing happened, and the only toy out of the room was Rochelle. The only way Woody found out about this was when he checked the call history, and realised no one in the house was going to call Bonnie!

The fourth, and most elaborate of all, had been the day previous. Woody had been minding his own business with Slinky curled up on his lap on the windowsill. Rochelle had come over the desk by the window and plopped down next to him.

"Hey springy dog thing," she started, and Slinky regarded the blonde Moxie doll for a moment. "You think you could give us a minute?"

"Sure..." Slinky muttered, getting up from his spot. "I'll be...somewhere else, Woody."

Woody watched in confusion as Slinky trailed off, his rear end wobbling over the side of the desk as he jumped down on the chair. He turned back and realised exactly why Slinky had been so intent on getting lost. Rochelle was right up next to him, practically inches from him, and she was gazing at him with big blue eyes.

"So...I hear Bonnie's parents are thinking about moving."

"M...moving?" Woody stammered, his memory returning to the hell they'd gone through when Andy's mom packed up and moved them halfway across the state.

"Yeah...isn't it a shame?" Rochelle looked downcast, and Woody struggled to think clearly. If they moved, would Buzz lose his marbles like last time? And there were Jessie and Bullseye to move with now too. Woody didn't know how he was going to cope with organising all this. His reverie was shattered by the purr of Rochelle's voice in his ear.

"You know, cowboy...just in case we get separated, perhaps we should...you know...get it on, just in case we have to be parted at some time. You never know what could happen in transit. We could get dropped, or broken, or something else awful...so whaddya say...hmmm?"

Her voice was barely a whisper and the cowboy leaned back looking at her. He supposed it wouldn't be a bad idea...Rochelle was a very talented doll. A ditz maybe, but a pretty ditz. Just as he was weighing up the options, the blonde snorted and sat back again.

"God, I couldn't keep up that pretence for too much longer!" He stared at her, dumbstruck, and she clocked his reaction instantly.

"You...you thought I was serious? Oh my gosh, Woody!" She started to laugh. "I was joking! Bonnie's not really moving and I'm not that attracted to you!"

His dignity crushed, the cowboy could do nothing but get up quickly and walk away, her laughter ringing in his ears.

He came back to reality to hear Jessie still laughing, her laughter morphing as one with the laughter of Rochelle in his thoughts.

"Alright," he snapped, and Jessie looked at him.

"Aw I'm sorry Woody. I don't mean to laugh, but it is funny! I mean, Rochelle always told me her antics with you and Buzz when she first arrived, were designed to play you both for the morons that you are."

"And as I remember, you didn't think it too funny back then," Woody pointed out, referring to Jessie's sulks when Rochelle flirted with Buzz harmlessly. Jessie coughed and looked away.

"That's different."

"How?"

"She was coming onto my boyfriend." Jessie said flatly.

"And now she's coming onto your brother." Woody said.

"Who is single."

Woody had no reply to that. His heart lurched as he thought about Bo. Sweet, beautiful, simple Bo. Who would never have wound him up the way Rochelle had done. She'd always been so forward with her attention for him, with the crook grabbing and the mistletoe hanging. He missed her desperately these days, and even more so since Buzz and Jessie had become more official. To settle for someone like Rochelle, he'd have to be out of his mind with want. She was so bossy, so pushy, so irritatingly over the top right now, that she was either good in small doses, or not at all.

And with all the recent foregoings and the wind up nature of the blonde doll, it was not at all right now.