Author's Note: There are a few things that inspired this one-shot. For one thing, I rewatched Toy Story 1 last night, and for another thing, I recently found out that Toy Story 4 is due to come out in 2018, and that it is to center on the love story between Woody and Bo. Now, I can't stand to wait that long for some Sheriff-and-Shepherdess romance, so I've decided to write a scene focusing on the reuniting of these two long-separated lovebirds. There's no context (I don't know what the explanation for Bo coming back is going to be so I didn't worry about it), just emotion...so, without further ado, enjoy!
Two figures never stared so raptly at each other, so astonished, so shell-shocked, as did the sheriff and the shepherdess, when the latter's pastel pink bonnet peeped over the window sill, with a pair of crystal blue eyes and a sort of nostalgic smile in tow. Pale moonlight was filtering in through the parted curtains, which rippled softly in the breeze. The silvery light was enough to cast an unearthly shimmer on her porcelain cheeks, as she hoisted herself into the room, and the cowboy momentarily shook himself out of his stupor long enough to rush to her side and help her in, with such gallantry that he might've been helping a princess out of her coach. Once she was safely inside, he took a step back, his brown boot making the lightest of thuds as he did so, and bobbed his head in a shocked once-over.
From this angle, he could glimpse only her profile, but she appeared lovely as ever: slender, voluptuous and petite. Looking at her, he could almost believe that no time had passed at all-they were still in Andy's room. Ham's cork had burst open again, and he was replacing all the jingling disks of nickel and copper. Mr. Potato Head was enduring the headaches that were the Little Green Men, while his wife did nothing to help but croon over them. Buzz was off somewhere preaching encouragement to every robot, doll and Etch-a-Sketch that would lend him an ear (metaphorically, of course), and Jessie was tending to Bullseye while Woody stole a few precious minutes alone with...
"Bo?" he croaked. His voice had come out a lot hoarser than he'd expected it to, but then, he didn't know what to expect at this point. His head was spinning; every ounce of stuffing in his body was writhing around like hot snakes in his boots. It had been so long...what would she think of him, now? What had happened to her, all those years? Had she changed? She still looked all right...
She turned to face him, the whole of her body came into view, and the next few minutes, the two toys became stiller than when they were 'playing dead' in front of the humans.
"Oh, Bo..." Woody murmured, after several dreadful moments of silence.
"Oh, Woody, it's-it's fine."
"It is not fine!" he exclaimed, springing into motion like newly repaired clockwork. He stepped forward and knit his brows, taking her hand in his own...the only one she had left.
It was horrible. There was an emptiness gnawing at him, at the sight of her missing arm. As he drew closer, he could see that she was not as smooth and unbroken as her profile had initially led him to believe. On the contrary, she was chipped. In several places, her pastel paint was peeling off. The very notion that someone like her could be so abused made him quake all over.
"Woody," she said gently. "I'm all right."
"No," his head wasn't the only thing that was shaking vigorously. "No-no-no-no-no-no-no. You-Bo, this isn't like when Buzz or I loses an arm, and we can have it sewn back on, or...or popped back into its socket. You're-You're-"
"I'm what?" she demanded, inclining her head. "Delicate?"
He raised his arms in a gesture of peace, "No, no, the word I was looking for was-Bo, that's-that's not what I meant-"
She shook her head sadly and looked up at him, "I know it's not."
They looked on quietly another moment, until the sheriff broke the silence again.
"I-I thought you were..." he gulped. "I thought I would never see you again."
"Woody..."
The next thing he knew, she had wrapped her only arm around his torso, holding on tightly, and then his arms were wrapping around her, and he squeezed his eyes shut and let out a shuddering breath that melted into the whispering breeze. They did not pull away for a long, long time. And when they did, it finally started to dawn on the cowboy that she was actually here. That she was with him. That she was home again.
She could not have looked a lovelier sight for sore eyes even without the chips, and the absence of an arm. To see her again, whole or not, was a true blessing. The things he would've given, just for this moment...
"But how on Earth did you find us?" he asked incredulously. "Bo, what's happened to you?"
"There'll be time for us to exchange stories later," she promised. "but-"
"Gosh, you're right!" he brought a hand to his head and his eyes practically bulged right out. "We've gotta tell the guys! I've gotta go get Buzz! Everyone will be so happy to see you, Bo!" He prepared to leap off the sill, but at the last minute, Bo looped her staff around his neck and yanked him back. She was grinning now.
"Whoa there, cowboy, not so fast..."
He couldn't remember ever getting so many kisses before in his life...nor could he recall a moment more full of pure joy and relief, than that of welcoming back a long lost toy.