Jessie awoke, but immediately knew something wasn't right. She wasn't asleep on Bonnie's bed with Buzz placed next to her for the night.
It was dark and she panicked at seeing the packing peanuts all sorted around her.
"Jessie, are you alright?"
That voice. It couldn't have been.
"Prospector?"
"Don't worry, I'm right here. Did you have a bad dream?"
Was that all really a dream? Woody coming, her life at Andy's, Sunnyside, Bonnie... Buzz...
She didn't know what to say to the Prospector, feeling as if she'd cry at the fake life her imagined for her.
It was the just the two of them in the cramped box, had her mind really made her think Bullseye existed too?
"Do you want to talk about it, Jessie?" The Prospector asked.
Jessie shook her head. It seemed so real the way he had acted when Woody wanted to help free her.
"Talk will make you feel better."
Suddenly the box shook.
"What's happening?"
They were knocked off their feet and scrambled around in the packing peanuts. Jessie was buried in them, making her heart pound. It actually felt as if she hadn't been in a box for decades. She began breathing heavily and couldn't take this anymore.
"I need to get out of here!"
The openings of the box flew open and Jessie screamed holding on for dear life.
The fiery incinerator was below her, belching out thick smoke from the trash it gobbled up.
"Jessie, grab hold!"
The Prospector was out of his box, holding his pickax out to her. They were right at the opening where all the trash was being dropped into the furnace. Jessie's hand slipped from the box, but managed to grab hold of the ax.
"Come on, Jessie, get back in the box!" The Prospector yelled to her.
Jessie looked at the Prospector who knew the box was safer than the fire. She looked at the incinerator. Each option seemed like the worst possible nightmare to face.
She turned back to the Prospector.
But gasped.
Lotso was holding her hand.
There was that evil look in his eyes, just like the one before he ran off leaving them to die.
"Where's your space ranger now, cowgirl?"
He let go of her hand.
And Jessie plummeted, screaming into the hands of the fire.
And that was when she awoke, her scream being muffled by Buzz's hand.
"Jessie, it's alright, it was a dream," She stopped screaming but breathed heavily as the space ranger gently brushed his hand through her neat hair. "You're safe now."
He smiled at her. Jessie was unable to return that smile and collapsed in tears, not knowing if what was around her was real or not.
They couldn't talk here as Bonnie was fast asleep on the other end of the bed.
Buzz walked her down the quiet hallway and then jumped up on the couch. Jessie's whole body shook as she cried.
"Do you want to talk about it, Jessie?"
Jessie lifted her head from her hands and stared at who was in front of her.
Buzz put a comforting hand on her back. "Talking will make you feel better."
She stared longingly into his eyes. It had to be the real Buzz she knew, a nightmare would only get rid of the love in his eyes.
"I was back in storage and everything that happened during those ten years seemed like they never happened at all, and then... then..." She couldn't bare to talk about the incinerator, but she needed to get it out from her mind.
"... I was hanging on for dear life over that incinerator..."
Jessie watched as Buzz shut his eyes for a moment, not wanting to relive that nightmare. Was that really only two days ago when they nearly slid into the hands of death.
"...The Prospector caught my hands, but when I looked again, it was Lotso," Her voice trembled at saying that name. "A-And he said, 'Where's your space ranger now, cowgirl', ... and then... he-he dropped me..."
She burst into tears and fell into Buzz's arms. He smoothed her back. Two of her worst fears in one nightmare. Buzz knew what happened at the dump would effect her the most.
It was the way she looked at him the moment he took her hand. He knew, no matter what, that look of terror would always remain in his mind for the rest of his life.
"It's all over now, Jessie. We're all safe. We're never going back to that dump." He tried to sound positive for her.
"It should have been Lotso." Jessie said muffled into Buzz's neck.
"Maybe, it's best it wasn't."
Jessie shot out from Buzz's arms, anger taking over her beautiful emerald green eyes. "How could you say that? Why should that monster live?"
"Maybe some kind found him and then he realized how wrong he was about children. He didn't deserve that fate if we left him their in the shredder. It's a second chance."
Jessie blinked, unable to believe what she was hearing. "You can say that after he left us to die? What about what he did to you, Buzz? How could you forgive him?"
Buzz blinked. "What are you talking about?"
Jessie's face softened as she realized what she said. He didn't remember being switched into the different modes that changed his personality.
"You're talking about after a disappeared, right?" he asked her and she slowly nodded. She wouldn't look him in the eyes. Gently, Buzz pushed her chin up with his finger. "Jessie, please, tell me what happened."
She held his hand and started with Demo mode. How he wrapped them all into a pile, forced them into cages and then calling her temptress. A hurt look came to Buzz when he pictured pushing the cowgirl away from him. She continued on to Spanish mode, the way he acted and spoke to her. And then rescuing her in the dumpster. She burst into tears once more when they all thought he died when he through her out of harm's way when the TV fell on him.
"Oh, Jessie..." It almost looked as if the tough space ranger was going to cry. He touched her gently upon her soft cheek. "Can you ever forgive me?"
She held his hand close to her chest and looked deep into his eyes. "Of course, Buzz. You couldn't help it. You're my best friend in the whole world and I will never give up on you. Ever."
They felt a force pulling them in, but they stopped when their lips were close to touching. Buzz looked away, that sad look he saw in eyes when they found they were still holding hands after coming out from the furnace.
"Buzz?"
"Yes?"
"After we got out from the furnace, you turned to me and said, together, and I said it back. Did you really mean that?"
He finally looked into her eyes again, that deep look she always saw when he stared at her. "Jessie, it's time to stop fooling around. I wasted ten long years when we could have been in a relationship. When I thought we were going to die, I looked at you and pulled you into me. I knew it was impossible, but I was trying to protect you. Even if we did die, I would have been happy because I had you right next to me."
He took the words right out of Jessie's mouth. She almost wished to be back in Al's apartment, but that thought passed in a heart beat when she found herself cuddling into Buzz's neck.
He put his hand on her cheek. "I love you, Jessie."
That force was pulling them in again. "I love you too, Buzz."
And they kissed, love passing through their bodies as their kisses deepened. Their new life was starting out the way they both wanted. And as they fell asleep on the couch Jessie knew their would be no more nightmares from here on out.
