Sandy eyed the distance between the top of the dresser and the partially-opened drawer beneath him. It wasn't too far, just about his length from nose to tail, but it was downward. The other toys had positioned the drawers so that they formed a sort of staircase to the floor.

"It's nice and soft," Jessie assured Sandy, patting the clothes inside the top drawer. "Just go for it. Don't think about it."

"How do you do something without thinking about it?" Sandy asked, confused.

"Well, some people act without thinking all the time," Jessie replied.

"Good point." The wolf looked past the drawers and down to the floor. The only other toys that he could see watching him were the peas, the aliens, and Totoro.

"Where is everybody?" he asked.

"Oh, they'll be around," Jessie said mysteriously. "Hey, if you want, I'll catch you."

"I'm a lot heavier than you," Sandy pointed out.

"Not by much! Besides, I'm stronger than I look." The cowgirl flexed her arms, and Sandy laughed.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered. Jessie held out her arms, and Sandy closed his eyes and took a step out into thin air…

He let out a yelp as he fell on top of Jessie and the pair of them collapsed onto the folded clothes in the drawer.

The few spectators clapped as they got up, Sandy rather shakily.

"N-Nice catch," he stammered.

Jessie laughed. "Sorry," she said. "But you're down one drawer now. Let's work on getting up again, just to be on the safe side."

And the morning went on, down a drawer, up a drawer, down two drawers, up two drawers. By the time that there was only one drawer between the wolf and the floor, most of the toys were out watching. But he hadn't seen where they had come from, so busily was he practicing.

Up four drawers, down five drawers, and his feet touched the carpeted floor to thunderous applause!

"Yay, Sandy!"

"You did it! You did it!"

"Welcome to the floor, buddy!"

Jessie threw her arms around his neck. Sandy was a bit overwhelmed by all of the attention. He'd never been at eye level with so many other toys before! But it felt kind of nice, too.

The toys brought him with them, under the bed, and Sandy's eyes widened. Bonnie's toys had turned the underside of the bed into a party room, with paper decorations everywhere!

"It's your floorcoming party!" Jessie explained.

"So, this is where everyone was!" Sandy gasped. "You all did this for me?"

"Of course we did!" said Dolly. "It's great to have you down here at last, Sandy!"

Sandy grinned. "It's great to be down here!"

Lively chatter quickly filled the air. Someone had turned on the CD player, and everyone began to dance to the happy music.

Well, almost everyone. Buzz stood by himself off to the side, silently watching. Woody noticed his friend's isolation and approached him.

"Is something wrong, Buzz?" he asked.

The space ranger motioned towards Sandy, who was dancing with Jessie.

"I know that I should be happy for him," he said. "But, seeing him with her, I can't help but wish that he'd just stayed up on that dresser, or, even better, not come here at all."

Unfortunately, that happened to be the moment when a certain phenomenon that is common to parties occurred, in which all general conversation stops at just the right moment to cause someone to be the only person talking. As a result, the last seventeen words of Buzz's sentence had been heard by all.

Sandy was staring at Buzz from across the dance floor, agape.

"You…!" was all that he could manage to choke out in a very upset voice. It was, after all, the first time that he had ever been the recipient of an insult.

The ceramic wolf turned and ran away, out from under the bed and out of the door of Bonnie's bedroom.

"Buzz, how could you?" Jessie said, looking both shocked and angry. She ran off after Sandy. Buzz hesitated, but then ran after her, and then Woody after him.

XXX

"Sandy!" Jessie called. She couldn't see the wolf. Maybe he was around the corner, by the staircase?

"Jessie!" Buzz grabbed her arm. "Let me explain—!"

"I don't want to hear your explanations!" Jessie snarled, snatching her arm away. "I didn't think that you had it in you to be so mean, Buzz! The guy's been in this house for barely a week, he's spent the last few days working to overcome his fears, and the least you could do is be supportive!"

"I know, Jessie!" Buzz said. "It's just that… Well…"

"It's just that what?" Jessie challenged. "Cat got your tongue, spaceman?"

Buzz found himself to be hopelessly tongue-tied.

"Hey, guys!" Woody called, running up to them. "Guys, we need to get back to Bonnie's room, she'll be getting back from Sunnyside any minute now!"

As if in response to his announcement, the toys heard the front door slam, and pairs of little feet running around, approaching the staircase.

"Come on!" Woody urged.

Jessie shook her head. "We have to find Sandy!"

"He'll be fine. Let's just—!"

"Let's go to my room, Mary!" Bonnie said. "Come on!"

The three toys ducked behind a side table and lay limp as the two little girls ran up the stairs. Sandy, who had crept out from his hiding place in the bathroom to listen to Jessie and Buzz's arguing, came into view around the corner.

Jessie looked up and saw him. "Sandy!" she hissed.

Sandy didn't hear her, but he did hear Bonnie and Mary's hurried footfalls, and he panicked, freezing into his inanimate state just as they ran around the corner—

—and Bonnie's foot kicked the ceramic wolf, which flew through the air and slammed against the wall before falling back to the floor.

"Oh!" Bonnie exclaimed as she stopped and bent down over the wolf. "Oh, no!" she wailed. "Mom!"

The little girl turned and ran back downstairs, calling for her mother, her friend following her.

Jessie sprang to her feet and ran across the hallway to where Sandy lay, snapped in two down the middle.

XXX

A.N.: ...!