To note that this story takes place after my alternate ending of the Toy Story franchise would be useful. The only important difference is the fact that their new owner is Michael Ryan who's older sister, Ashley, is a university student and good friends with Andy Davis. My profile and website have more if you're at all curious.

A small fact: This is based on a true story (not including the toys, of course).

Enjoy!


It's remarkable how much a toy can come to trust their owner. It takes time, certainly, for the child to prove his or her care for them; but as Woody, from his place on the motorway-patterned carpet, watched Buzz being hoisted up by nothing but a string tied around his adjustable torso, the cowboy doll simply marvelled at the amusement his owner was experiencing imagining Buzz Lightyear flying through the air. Sure, he himself was on the verge of a mild nervous breakdown out of concern for his good friend's safety, but the trust he had towards his young possessor overhauled that anxiety by so much, it startled him somewhat. But hey, what could he do about it anyhow?

"'Oh, no,'" the young boy cried, "'Emperor Zurg is sending his evil robots after us!'" He crawled over from his kneeling position by the foot of the bed, not before adjusting the string wrapped around the bedpost so that Buzz would be lowered and set soundly on the floor. He picked up the Transformer toy so it stood upright and steered the tank truck over by its side. "'Pew! Pew, pew!'" A series of imaginary gun shots flew towards Buzz at great speed.

"'Buzz, look out!'" Woody was as swiftly picked up as he was set down again, just enough time to warn the space ranger of the incoming flurry of shots.

The look of confidence in Buzz's heroic face never ceased much to his owner's personal pride. The space toy was lifted into the air again, this time without the assistance of a string but instead with the firm hold of a child's hand. His plastic right arm was raised and pointed towards the enemies. "'Not today, minions of Zurg.'" With that, his thumb pressed into the red button on the space ranger's forearm, activating the laser. The red beam harmlessly struck the two attacking toys, but their owner's hand came and clouted them down; the Transformer fell off its feet, and the tank flipped onto its side.

Crawling on his hands and knees with Woody in his vigilant grip, he made his way over to where Bullseye and Slinky lay next to a defeated Rocky. He removed the pieces of string secured around Bullseye's mane and through the loop on Slinky's chest. "'You're free!'" As Slinky was dragged across the floor and out of the way after a grateful bark and imaginary lick across Woody's face, the sheriff was situated on Bullseye's saddle. "'Let's go help Buzz. Giddy-up!'" He walked on his knees, all the while making Bullseye run across the floor, back to where Buzz waited for company.

"Michael," called a stifled voice.

"Yeah, mommy," he replied, zealously watching Buzz soar through space at his own arm's length.

From the other side of his slightly ajar door, his mother stood by the railing at the bottom of the staircase, looking up towards her son's bedroom, wiping off her hands with a towel. "Honey, come downstairs. Daddy said he's almost home."

With Buzz still in his grip, Michael dashed across the room and flung open his door in excitement. "Ashley, too?" he said, his face pressed between two bars of the railing as he stared down through them towards her.

She laughed quietly. "Ashley, too, sweetheart. Come down so we're ready for them."

"'Kay." In a hurry, Michael returned into the solitude of his room, stepping over the toys scattered over the floor. After returning Buzz's plastic wings into their locked position and adjusting his legs so they bent forward, he set the toy down on top of his bed, leaning him against the pillow. "Ashley's coming home," he reminded gleefully. He scurried around the twin-sized bed and picked Woody up off the floor. He sat the cloth cowboy down not far from the space ranger. "Mommy says she's staying for a while."

Michael moved swiftly to pick up all of the toys and put them in their places. While most of them went into the toy chest, some had regular spots in the room, like Rex's corner next to the bean bag chair and the hobbyhorse, or Jessie's spot by the windowsill (a place he would have Buzz sometimes share with her in the evening to be on the lookout in case of a surprise attack by Zurg's forces).

"Michael?"

Hastily, he parked his toy truck among the rest of his toy vehicles. "'Coming, mom!" Without a final inspection, he left the room and closed the door behind him, causing the magnetic dart board hanging off of it to swing.

Things were still for a moment – that is until the sound of rattling change rang through to disturb the peace.

"Hey, no worries, little buddy," Hamm declared from his upside-down position as though his owner could hear him. He was swinging himself back and forth in the place on the floor he was overseen. "I'll get myself up." Rex came to his side as the piggy bank attempted to roll himself over, which became somewhat difficult thanks to the gap of his coin slit well-balancing him on his back. After a second of watching him struggle, Rex and Rocky finally came behind him to help him to his hoofs.

"So how long is she staying for?" Slinky inquired.

"A week," Mr. Potato Head replied, "hence the term 'Reading Week', genius."

Michael's toys quietly began to converse among themselves during the temporary absence of their owner. From atop the bed, Woody got to his feet, watching them all as he pondered to himself. Buzz, in the meantime, slid down the side of the bed to the floor.

"Andy used to have a March Break. Why did they change the name?"

"Because it's not March yet."

"Does she have to read the whole week?"

"Give me back my ear, you primitive buffoon!"

Woody grabbed his hat from where it was left behind on the pillow and replaced it onto his head. "Guys, listen up for a minute."

It took a moment, but with some help and a few hisses and hushes among the toys, they all eventually settled down and directed their attention towards the sheriff.

He slid down off the bed and landed next to Buzz. "I'll keep it brief: Now, look, we're all a little keyed up what with Ashley coming home for the week. But with that comes responsibility not just on Michael's part, but on ours as well. So that means no monkey business-"

Mr. Potato Head was stepping on the bookshelf in a feeble attempt to reach Moco, who stood on the highest shelf. The stuffed monkey held Potato Head's ear by the grip of his tail tauntingly. Potato Head grimaced at the sight of the mass group of toys' directed stares. "Don't look at me!" His frustration grew when his ear dropped onto his head and bounced across the floorboards.

Woody continued, "Nothing that'll cause any pieces to break or batteries to run out. Reading Week means Ashley's gonna be studying for midterms, so we've gotta keep Michael preoccupied and cause no problems that make him go running to his sister to fix. 'We clear?"

"Like Buzz's bubble," Jessie proclaimed as she tapped lightly on Buzz's plastic helmet. Buzz twisted his face, recoiling.

From downstairs, the toys heard the front door swing open, followed by Michael's joyous cry.

"Ashley!"

~ O ~

Eight o'clock was Michael's usual bedtime, although exceptions were often made on Friday nights, especially those nights when his sister took time out of her busy schedule to return home. After dinner and a little television with his family, the young boy was finally instructed to ready himself for bed.

"I'll come to say goodnight, Michael."

In his room, after brushing his teeth and changing into his favourite red and navy blue pyjamas, he sat cross-legged by his toy chest, turning the knobs of the Etch-a-Sketch in a desperate attempt to create a proper diagonal line to form the roof of a two-dimensional version of his house. As he had been putting his remaining toys away, including returning his piggy bank to his nightstand after a deserving apology, the temptation of the Etch-a-Sketch couldn't be resisted.

The distraction his toy caused him did not allow him to bear witness to his older sister sneaking into the room and hopping onto his bed. His oblivion to her presence remained until she sighed dramatically as she hugged his toy space ranger and cowboy close to her. "Good night," she groaned.

Michael got to his feet, leaving Etch on the floor by the toy chest, and rushed to the bedside. "Hey," he laughed. He grabbed the pillow and playfully attempted to pull it out from under her head. She giggled impishly, pulling it back before thrusting her hands under his arms and hoisting him up onto the bed.

"'You miss me?" she asked.

Kneeling in front of her, he raised his finger to his chin and looked up towards the ceiling in consideration. "Mm…"

"Oh, yeah?" Again, Ashley lifted him up with her hands under his arms. Michael laughed more hysterically as he was raised into the air directly above her. "Did you miss me now?"

"Yes," he affirmed, squirming in her grip.

Her arms gave in, and she set him down so he kneeled with his legs on either side of her hips. She gently patted his blonde hair when he leaned forward and rested his small body comfortably on top of hers, his head relaxed just by her neck. Just as she noticed her eyelids were beginning to grow heavy, she distracted herself from her weariness by grabbing Buzz by the torso and raising him to Michael's view. "To infinity…"

Michael's head perked up almost immediately. "And beyond!" he finished.

Ashley smiled. "'Never fails." By the control of her arm, Buzz swooped down head-first, veering wildly around her brother. "Buzz Lightyear, Mission Log: There appears to be a little boy in dire need of some sleep. His eyes are closing, his energy diminishing quickly…"

"He can't fly like that," he suddenly protested, laughing at her as though it was sheer common sense. "His wings aren't open."

"Oh, whoops. Oh, no! He's gonna crash! 'Look out, Woody!'" The space toy came hurdling down towards where the cowboy doll was lying next to her. Before disaster struck, she pushed the red, circular button on Buzz's chest. As soon as his wings were fully extended, she swiftly steered him into a U-turn, just narrowly avoiding contact with his cowboy friend. "'Phew, that was close.'"

Out of instinct, Michael snatched Woody up and hugged him protectively as soon as Buzz had cleared him. With Woody in his embrace, the mission log Buzz had entered began to come true; he felt his eyelids becoming heavy.

"All right," Ashley proclaimed when she noticed this, "sleepy time."

Michael was uncooperative at first, his remaining energy stubbornly fighting to outmatch his fatigue to spend a little more time playing; but as his sister lifted him off of her and set him on the bed, his energy found itself fighting a losing battle.

He giggled when she tickled him under his arm.

"See you in the morning, buddy."

"Can we play tomorrow?"

Ashley shook her head. "No, Michael; I'm sorry. 'Remember what mom and dad said."

The disappointment in his eyes was clear. He pulled Buzz out from where he was nearly trapped under the covers. "When?"

It was an unintentional guilt trick, but Ashley fell for it nonetheless. She, too, had been waiting all this time to finally spend time with her little brother, who would talk to her almost every night on the phone, telling her how much he missed her and couldn't wait for her to come home to play with him.

An idea suddenly clicked. "Hey, I'll tell you what," she proclaimed as she finished tucking her brother in, then kneeling down beside the bed. "What if I took you out for dinner tomorrow night? Just you and me?"

"Yeah." Michael's enthusiasm returned in an instant. He sat himself up in bed.

"Did you wanna go to Pizza Planet again, or did you wanna try something else?"

Attention turning to his shifting of Woody's hand between each of his own fingers, Michael shrugged indifferently. Pizza Planet was easily one of his favourite places, but all that fuelled his anticipation was finally spending some long-awaited time with his sister.

"What if we tried something new?" Ashley suggested. "My friend told me about this restaurant called Lone Star that I think you'll like. It's got a cool cowboy theme to it."

To Ashley's amusement, a sudden gasp escaped Michael as he shifted his body so he sat up even further. "Yeah! Let's go there!"

She chuckled. "Okey-doke, so it's settled then." She got to her feet. "All right, but that means you gotta sleep now."

The wide grin on Michael's face never faded, in fact only grew by the second, as he reached over for the cowboy hat hanging from the bedpost.

"No, Michael; 'time to sleep," she said again.

"This is how cowboys sleep." Readjusting himself under his covers, he set the hat on top of his head so it covered his eyes, afterwards placing Woody in the same position. Both their hands rested atop their stomachs and hats lay over their eyes when he was finished.

Ashley laughed whole-heartedly at her brother. She picked Buzz up and set him atop the adjacent accent chair. "Buzz'll be here makin' sure none of them outlaws sneak up on you two," she joked.

Michael snickered, peeking out from under his hat.

Brushing away his blonde bangs, she kissed him on the forehead. "Sweet dreams, cowboy."

"Woody, too," he pronounced. He picked Woody up from where he lay next to him against the pillow, adjusting his hat so it sat on top of his head again.

Ashley grinned, clearly entertained by her brother's unwillingness for her to leave, and complied as Woody was held up to her. "All right," she said. She leaned forward and softly gave the cowboy doll a small kiss on the cheek, smiling afterwards in subtle amusement. "Good night, Sheriff."

She left him as Michael repositioned the cloth doll next to him. She stopped in the doorway. "'You promise you'll go to sleep?"

"Yeah," he assured her.

Ashley nodded and turned out the light. "G' night."

"'Night."

Michael would have sweet dreams. He would have dreams about what the restaurant would be like, what the men and women would be dressed like, and best of all, being there with the pleasant, long-anticipated company of his older sister. Michael flipped onto his side towards where Woody lay, hugging the fellow cowboy close, disregarding his own cowboy hat falling off the side of the pillow as he instead focused on adjusting Woody's.


If you haven't been to Lone Star yet, make time one night to do so, especially you're at all interested in the whole Western/Texas setting for dining. That said, thank you for reading this far. I know Reading Week is quite a distance away for most students, but because I'm still fresh into the semester, it's good of me to get a head start.