You know the drill - I own nothing! Well, in fact, I do own the DVD of Robin Hood, and absolutely love it, but I can't say it was MY copy of Robin Hood that was used during the making of this chapter... Oh well, all kudos go to Pixar.
Also, a shout-out to X's for eyes and dwcool1 who left me reviews without a login so I couldn't email them. Thanks for reading! And now to continue with our saga:
Hot Blooded
"I'm hot blooded, check it and see
I got a fever of a hundred and three..."
-Foreigner, Hot Blooded
"Mom, I don't feel good," Andy moaned yet again, rolling over in his sleeping bag and crushing Woody under his burning-hot body.
His mother's face appeared above the make-shift tent in front of the TV where Andy had taken up residence that morning. She had hoped that letting him stay home from school and watch movies with his toys would help him feel better while he got over his flu, but it wasn't seeming to do much good.
At 10:30 this morning Andy's temperature had been 99.6, and so she had set up the fan next to her son's tent. At 12:45 Andy hadn't touched the cereal or toast she had brought him, and said his throat 'hurt too bad.' It was past 3:00 in the afternoon now, and if Woody was any judge of Andy's body temperature, the boy's fever had to be over 101.
"That Tylenol should have helped, honey," his mom said as she knelt down and popped the thermometer into Andy's mouth. "Don't chew on it; keep it under your tongue." She paused his movie.
"It makes me gag," Andy protested, clenching his teeth around the thermometer.
"Just for a minute, sweetie. Okay.. all right, let me see." She pulled the thermometer away and held it up to the light. Inside the sleeping bag, Woody prayed that mom would take Andy to the doctor. Quite apart from not liking to feel like he was being roasted alive, he didn't like seeing Andy under the weather. It was slightly parental of him, he mused.
"Ooh. Okay, you're at 103.4... Let's get you upstairs and put some shoes on you and get Molly up. I'm taking you to the doctor."
Andy accepted the hand from his mom. "Can I bring Woody?" he croaked, dragging the cowboy doll with him.
"No, I can't keep track of him right now. Let's go get your shoes."
Reluctantly, Andy tucked Woody back into the burning-hot bag and followed his mother up the stairs. Moments later, Andy moaning, Molly crying, and mom issuing orders, the family left.
The second the door shut, Woody sat up and clawed his way out, gasping for air. He tumbled onto the cool floor and lay with his face down on the blessedly fan-cooled carpet.
"A little too hot in there for you, cowboy?" Buzz asked, pressing the button to snap his helmet down. "I was thinking it was a little too cool, myself."
"Someone athletic turn that fan off," Bo shivered, coming over from where she had been placed in front of the fan. Obligingly, Jessie and Bullseye catapulted themselves across the floor and deal with the fan. A second later, the din from the fan motor ceased.
"It's gotta be nearly 60 degrees in here," Slinky barked, shaking himself. "Too plum cold for this dog. Move over Woody, I want into that sleeping bag."
With a rumble of agreement, Rex, Hamm, and Mr. Potato Head joined Slinky in the bag.
"Now that's more like it," Hamm sighed contentedly.
Woody raised himself slowly from the floor. "You try sitting in there for five hours with a kid who's running a fever!" He dusted himself off and adjusted his badge. "He had one last night, too. I feel like I'm baking."
Bo slinked her arms around him and rested her head on his back. "You are warm. It feels good..."
Woody turned around in her arms. "Ooh! Oh, you're nice and cold." He hugged her appreciatively.
"The perfect couple," Jessie winked, wandering past and un-pausing the movie. "I've never seen Robin Hood; do ya reckon' they'll mind?"
Buzz jerked his head toward the sleeping bag and he and Jessie sat down on the warm fabric. "Andy never remembers when we un-pause his movies."
As Lady Cluck and Maid Marian resumed their badminton game, Woody pulled Bo over to a vacant section of the sleeping bag and sat down with his back against it. Bo settled herself against him, her head on his chest. "I'm tired," Woody yawned.
"Go to sleep, honey," Bo soothed, taking his hand.
"Andy's been asleep most of the day, why didn't you take a nap?" Potato Head demanded.
"Like I said, you try sleeping with someone who's that hot," snipped Woody.
"I'll try it," Bo murmured quietly enough that only Woody heard. He gulped, somehow hotter than he had been in the sleeping bag.
"Too bad mom didn't make any popcorn," Hamm said, the quarters in his belly rattling.
Rex shuddered. ''Andy always makes me pretend to eat it, and the kernels get stuck in my teeth. I mean, that can't be healthy for my dentition, now can it?"
Woody smiled at Rex's comment and settled further back into the sleeping bag. "I'm glad mom took Andy to the doctor. I hate it when he's sick," he told Bo.
Bo absently fixed the folds of her skirt. "At least it wasn't stomach flu. When he was five he nearly threw up on you."
Woody shuddered. "You know, I actually crawled up under the pillow so I could jump off the bed if I needed to."
Bo laughed. "Is that what you did? I always wondered how you got out of there so fast."
"Yeah..." He paused for a moment, pulling his hat down lower to keep the light from the TV out. "One of the most embarrassing moments of my life."
"What?" Bo laughed, looking up at Woody.
"Oh you know..." Woody felt a blush rising on his face. "I was trying to impress you all the time, and... Oh man, I must have looked like such an idiot; running across the floor while he was in the bathroom, tripping over that crayon and smacking my head into the nightstand!"
Bo grinned up at Woody and poked his chest. "I remember! I heard someone running and suddenly my nightstand was shaking and you were lying on the floor moaning."
"And when I tried to get up I tripped on the crayon again." Woody finished reminiscently, nodding his head at the recollection. "I just kept thinking, 'She thinks I'm a complete dope. What kind of guy trips on a crayon? Twice? Nope, she is never going to look at me again without laughing.'"
Bo laughed out loud and Buzz cast a knowing grin back at them.
"Oh Woody, I did laugh at you all the next day," Bo giggled, smiling fondly at him. "You looked ridiculous, lying down there on the floor."
"Yeah, I wasn't like you. I'm always crashing into things, and I'd always get flustered when you were around and it just made it worse. You though," he grinned at her and straightened his legs, "you were always cool as a cucumber."
Bo shrugged and looked back at the TV. "What can I say? I knew what I wanted."
Woody smiled happily and scrunched further back into the sleeping bag, pulling Bo with him.
When Buzz glanced back again a few minutes later, he saw Woody and Bo fast asleep, their heads together.
..
My Woody doll and I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading, and as always - please review! :)
-Boxy
