Later that night, after everyone was in bed, Buzz noticed from his vantage point on the bed that Slinky was pacing back and forth in front of the door. Then he tapped Woody quietly on the shoulder. "Buzz, what do you want?" Woody asked, half-asleep.

"Hey, you hear something?" Buzz asked, cocking his head.

"Like what?" Woody yawned.

"Not sure. Come on."

"Buzz, it's the middle of the night."

"It's only 11:30, and Slink's awake too."

"Oh, okay." Woody lazily stood up and quietly followed Buzz. "Slink, what are you doing up?"

"I been hearin' something for a while, out in the hall," Slinky answered.

"Sounds like a puppy whimpering," Buzz said.

"A puppy?" Woody asked, perplexed.

"Come on." The trio quietly opened the bedroom door, so not to wake Andy, and tip-toed into the hall. It was dark, but from the night lights in the bathroom and Molly's room, they could make out a shaking bundle in the middle of the floor. They came closer and with Buzz's green glow they could see that the crying figure was...Mitsy! She was all curled up.

"She's having a bad dream," Slinky declared.

"We've got to wake her up!" Woody exclaimed and he rushed to her side and shook her shoulder. "Mitsy, wake up! Hey, come on. Wake up, Mitsy. Wake up!" Mitsy moaned, her eyes fluttered open a couple times, then opened wide with fear. She was gasping and trembling from head to foot. She was so afraid.

"W...what?" She asked shakily. She looked like a hunted animal about to be crushed by a horrible, giant monster.

"You were having a bad dream. Come on, wake up," Woody felt the tremors through her shoulders.

"W...where's the fire?"

"What? There's no fire here," Buzz said calmly. "Everything's okay." Mitsy quickly twisted her head around, looking at the walls and the window. Her face was full of fright.

"Are you sure?" She looked back at her friends.

"Sure."

"You were just dreaming." Slinky said.

"What were you dreaming about?" Woody asked. Mitsy squeezed her eyes shut, still shaking. Woody patted her head.

"That I was trapped in a house fire! There was...fire, everywhere! I was trying to get out. The only thing I could see was...was...fire."

"Oh! We're so sorry." Woody looked up at Buzz.

"Well, nothing's going to happen. We're all safe. Don't be afraid. It's all right." Buzz said soothingly.

"Try to go back to sleep." Slinky suggested.

"It was just a bad dream," Woody smiled.

Mitsy's face looked extremely sad. "No. That isn't true," she said dejectedly. "It was more than a dream."

"Huh?" Slinky gasped. "What do you mean? Are you saying it was...real?"

"Mm-hmm." Mitsy nodded with her eyes squeezed shut.

"Aw, come on, Mitsy," Woody declared. "You're just still shaky from dreaming."

"No. I'm not, Woody! It was very real...to me."

"Hang on," Buzz interjected. "Mitsy, are you telling us that you were in a house fire before?"

The princess nodded. She looked like she was going to cry.

"That's terrible!" Woody exclaimed. "When did it happen?"

"A month ago...tonight." Mitsy said.

"Tonight?" The three toys gasped.

"So that's why you've been really low key today," Buzz stated.

"We thought something was bothering you," Slinky added. "Why didn't you tell us?" Mitsy stared at him questioningly, then sank her head to the floor.

"I don't want to talk about it!" She wailed. She rose to her feet, trotted down the stairs to the landing, sat down and raised her head, shut her eyes, and breathed deeply. Woody and Buzz looked at each other knowingly, then went down to talk to the little princess. Slinky followed them.

"Hey, we're right here, and nothing's going to happen," Woody spoke up as he sat down beside her. "Right, Buzz?"

"Right!" Buzz said with determination.

"We're all together, safe and sound," Slinky declared.

"We have noticed that you've been kind of timid sometimes and worrisome about fire hazards," Buzz stated.

"I didn't want anything bad to happen." Mitsy cried. She was shivering.

"Of course not, but I should've guessed why. Hey, you want to tell us about it? I think you should."

Mitsy's face turned to an expression of absolute horror. "Oh, please...I," she begged, her eyes pleading. Woody gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You will feel better after talking it through," he said encouragingly. She sighed and he rubbed her shoulder.

"Sharing you troubles with friends is many times what you need to do, instead of holding it all in," Buzz said.

Mitsy sighed again. "I thought..." she said, trying to find her voice. "I thought if I didn't talk about it, I could make the feelings go away. That I could forget."

"But that only made it feel worse," Woody added. "You'll be fine. Tell us what happened to you. We really want to know. It'll be okay."

Mitsy shut her eyes and hung her head. She really didn't want to do this. She raised her head but kept her eyes on the floor. She took a very deep breath. "Well," she began sadly, "to start with, it wasn't only me..."

Every person has something they're afraid of, and fire has always been the biggest fear of my life!