They were actually only in the box for a couple weeks. During those weeks, Jessie and Lotso spent the time talking, and Lotso continually apologized for his blowup at Jessie.

"It's okay," Jessie would say whenever he did this. "Your anger was bottled up, and you just couldn't keep it in, could you?" In reality, she was pretty annoyed at his anger management issue, but she didn't tell him because she didn't want to get in any more fights.

"Why did you hide your anger like that, though?" Jessie asked him one day. Lotso started to get mad, but realized Jessie was just trying to avoid future arguments, and he forced himself to take a couple of deep breaths.

"You know how I told you I didn't really mind that Daisy lost me?" he asked Jessie, who nodded. "Well, I lied. It practically tore my heart apart, I was furious at Daisy's parents for just forgetting me. But I didn't lie about the picnic being an hour away, or that I was her fourth Lotso. I was so upset, but I knew that was the end of my time with Daisy, so I tried to be optimistic." Lotso sighed and continued, "I'm still sad about it, but I'm not alone now, so I feel a bit better."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Jessie said, softly. Lotso nodded and put in "I feel really bad for her first Lotso, I at least knew I was a replacement, not that it made my abandonment much easier, but..." he stopped and didn't say anything for a while.

"I sure hope we get another owner soon, it's mighty boring in here." Jessie said, and Lotso added, "Hopefully they won't lose us, though, I don't think I could take it again, but I can't wait to be played with again."

Around a week later, they were forced to forgo their conversation and freeze up as someone came into the storage closet. "All right, everything's either being donated or sold." they heard him say. They waited in silent excitement as their box was carried outside to where tables full of boxes were, opened, and set on the grass.

They heard people moving around the tables, and claiming items, so they were forced to remain inanimate. They waited for what seemed like forever, but nobody even gave a second glance in their box.

At last, a girl peered in their box. She was around seven years old, with blonde pigtails and pink overalls over a yellow shirt. Her eyes almost bulged out of her head with excitement when she saw the two toys lying in there, and she grabbed them at once.

"Wow! A Lotso bear! I've wanted one of these for ages, my friend had one and I was so jealous. And a cowgirl. Cool!" She looked back into the box and saw the Jessie lunchbox. The girl looked from the lunchbox to Jessie and back again. "You were on TV?" she asked Jessie, who naturally didn't respond. "That's really awesome! I've never heard of that show, though. Woody's Roundup?" She grinned at the two toys and then ran over to a woman, shouting "Mom! Mom! Can I please get these toys? They were in the free section, and I don't have anything to play with right now. Please?"

The girls mom looked over at her daughter, and replied "I don't know, Annika. How much are they?" "I already said they were free, Mom. Can I get them, please?"

Both Jessie and Lotso were pleading for Annika's mom to say yes. "Oh, all right." her mom said, and Annika squealed with delight, before throwing her arms around her mom. Then she eagerly stuffed the two toys in her backpack, yanked the zipper shut, and flung the pack over her shoulder. Jessie and Lotso were jostled around as Annika started to run.

Annika stopped running, and both toys were in a crumpled heap at the bottom of her bag. They heard Annika's mom ask if she could help lift a table into the trunk, and Annika grumbled something about heavy things before tossing her backpack into the backseat of the car.

Lotso and Jessie both smiled, happy to have a new owner instead of being stuck in a box. "I hope we'll have fun." Lotso told Jessie. "We will." Jessie responded. They went limp as the car door opened and Annika slid next to her backpack. As soon as she was buckled in, Annika took out her new toys, and started to further inspect them.

She studied Lotso first, sniffing him and happily exclaiming "strawberries!" She rubbed her finger over his nose, feeling the velvety material. "How about I call you Mr. Lotso Bear. Yeah, that works." She placed Lotso beside her and picked up Jessie.

"Wow. You're different." She told the cowgirl, fingering the yarn braid. She shook her a bit, so her limbs flopped around, and smiled. "What should I name you?" She asked the doll. Annika ran various names through her head. Peggy. Jane. Susie. None of them seemed to work. "I guess you'll have to go by 'the cowgirl' for now." she said sadly.

"How about you talk to the mom who let you get those toys instead of the toys themselves." Annika's mom said dryly from the front seat. Annika sighed and tossed Jessie and Lotso back into her backpack and partially zipped it.

"Why do we have to stay at Grandma's" she complained. "She's so boring!" Annika went on. "Because she offered to let us camp out for a bit since our house burned down last week." Her mom answered, sounding as though she'd said it a million times already. Jessie and Lotso looked at each other in surprise. "Having your house burn down seems awful." Lotso whispered so Annika wouldn't hear. Jessie nodded and piped up "She's rather rude about her grandma, though." Lotso laughed, a bit too loudly, and Annika asked "What was that?"

Her mom, fortunately, didn't hear anything and Annika passed it off as a delusion. "Nice job." Jessie whispered sarcastically. Lotso quietly apologized, and then they froze as the car pulled into a driveway. Annika grabbed her backpack and hopped out, sprinting in the house, up the stairs, and into a room with only a bed and a dresser. It was obviously a guest room. Annika dove onto the bed, yanked the zipper open, and pulled out her toys. "All right, let's play." she said.

She put Jessie under the pillow and sat on the floor. She held Lotso a bit away, and had him knock on an imaginary door. "Come in." She said in a commanding tone. Annika walked Lotso across the floor and sat him against the dresser.

"Ah, Mr. Lotso Bear," she greeted, "you came for my offer." She made Lotso nod, and said in her best deep voice "How much will you pay me?" Annika smirked and answered as herself "You'll get well paid for this job I assure you." She then explained to Lotso that a troublesome cowgirl criminal (Jessie) had a large price on her head, and Lotso was to catch her.

"Now remember, Mr. Lotso Bear, bring her to me alive. Well, get going, I want to deal with her soon." Annika moved Lotso across the room and made him climb up on the bed. She then grabbed Jessie and made her jump out from behind the pillow, cackling madly. "Now stay right there, cowgirl." She ordered Jessie as Lotso. Jessie ran and Lotso gave chase. Annika had Lotso chase Jessie all around the room, finally trapping Jessie in a corner. "No escape now, cowgirl." Lotso said, before jumping on Jessie and pinning the cowgirl under him. Annika lifted Lotso and Jessie, who was struggling madly, into a standing position, and Lotso marched Jessie across the room. Annika resumed her previous position on the floor, and had Lotso drag a fighting Jessie to her. She snatched Jessie from Lotso and held her. "Okay, cowgirl. You've been caught, and you're going to pay for your crimes." She thanked Lotso for catching the criminal, and was about to continue when she was called down to dinner.

"Okay, cowgirl. You're gonna have to stay in my prison." She told Jessie, crossing her room and opening the closet, which was empty. She propped Jessie up against the closet wall, and discarded the intimidating look she had worn when playing, and asked "Did I do well? Did I seem like a good villain?" Jessie and Lotso couldn't respond, but they both thought she had performed magnificently. Annika walked to the door, and turned back to Jessie and Lotso. The evil look spread across her face again as she added one last touch to her game, announcing "After dinner, cowgirl, we're going to have a little interrogation."