Ye be warned: from here on out: Toy Story 3 SPOILERS! Proceed accordingly: tissues, handkerchiefs, and large amounts of chocolate may be required. On a more upbeat note, when my brothers and I went to watch the Persieds meteor shower this year, Woody came. :) And now-
The KT-Boundary, or the End of the World as We Know it.
"Well ain't we just plum lucky, Bullseye? A meteor shower and Andy's on a camping trip!"
"It's going to be lots of fun," Buzz grinned rather nervously, holding out hand to help Jessie onto the desk.
"I don't know," Rex fretted above him. "After all, the current paleontological theory is that dinosaur extinction at the KT-Boundary was caused by a giant meteor striking the Mesoamerican peninsula."
Jessie frowned as Buzz pulled her up. "The what, Rex?"
"I'm a dinosaur, don't you get it?" Rex waved his tiny arms. "Maybe I should stay inside tonight."
"You know Rex, not all dinosaurs were alive 165 million years ago," Hamm informed Rex knowingly. "However, the Tyranosaurus Rex was one of the dinosaurs of the Upper Cretaceous, so maybe you should stay inside."
Rex whimpered.
"Ah calm down," Potato Head huffed, heading for the window. "It's just a meteor shower, not the end of the world as we know it."
On the window sill, Woody and Buzz leaned down and pulled up the window and hot, fragrant August night air flooded the room.
Jessie stuck her head out the window. "Listen! You can hear the crickets!" She yanked on Buzz's arm and pulled him down. "Hearken to that sound!"
Buzz chuckled and gulped. "I'm...I'm hearkening."
"All right, everybody up who's going," Woody said. "You ready, Slink?"
"Ready, Woody," the faithful dog informed him. Woody nodded and held onto Slinky's tail while the dog launched himself out of the window, allowing himself to uncoil and fall towards the house. As he made contact with the siding, Slinky pushed off hard and sailed straight over Andy's bedroom window and into the gutter. "Okay!" he hollered.
"Good job, Slink," Woody called. "Let's go, gang."
Jessie eagerly clambered out the window and up Slinky to the roof, followed by Buzz and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. Hamm, Rex, the aliens, and Bullseye hopped out and onto the the low roof pitch just outside Andy's window.
"I'm letting go now, Slink," Woody called and released the dog's tail, which zoomed out of sight above him. As he turned and let himself off the desk, he heard Hamm muttering to Rex about something and frowned.
Every August for the past ten years he had ignored Hamm and Potato Head's snide remarks about not letting Bo go up on the roof to watch the meteor shower. He hadn't done any such thing. Bo had simply pointed out the first year that she didn't think it was very safe for someone made of porcelain to be climbing around on a roof. Woody didn't have any objections to this logic, but some of the guys thought Bo's absence was attributed to her cowboy's over- protectiveness.
"I'd like to see Potato Head's reaction if his Missus decided to wander across a busy street with a cone over her head," Woody muttered, heading for the bedroom door.
"What about a cone?" Bo's voice asked.
Woody pulled up short to see Bo standing a few inches from him, leaning on her shepherd's crook. "Um...a...nothin'. Just the usual 'Woody won't let Bo go up on the roof,' kind of talk." He shrugged, trying a smile.
Bo looked at him ponderously for a moment. "Then I think we should set the record straight," she said firmly, and walked past him to the desk.
"Bo- what? What're you doing? It doesn't matter-"
Bo stopped and turned on her heel, causing Woody to collide with her. She hooked his neck to stop his fall. "I think I'll do it this year, Woody."
"What?" Woody rubbed the back of his neck and stared at her incredulously. "You've gotta be kidding! Ten years of telling me you were perfectly happy to watch them from Molly's window, and now you're saying-"
He found himself cut off by Bo's finger on his lips. Again, the ponderous look, and then she said softly, "Ten years, Woody? Nearly ten years to the day Andy's father died. We've known each other for a long time. Let's celebrate and watch the meteor shower with everyone else."
Woody was thoroughly confused. She wanted to celebrate their relationship of ten years by spending the night with everyone else? "O – Okay?"
Bo smiled and Woody stepped around her to lift her up onto the chair and then onto the desk. From outside the window, they could hear the occasional gasp of delight as someone in the group spotted a meteor.
"You're sure about this?" Woody whispered to her.
She smiled firmly. "Positive. I want to do this."
"Oh-kay. Hey Slinky! Can you do a couple more?"
"I'm comin' Woody," Slinky's voice floated down to them.
Woody grabbed Slinky's tail on the sill and looked quizzically at Bo. "Maybe you'd better hold on to me just in case." He was trying very hard to bite back the yell that she really shouldn't be doing this.
"I'll hold onto you." Bo climbed onto his back and clasped her hands in front of his neck.
Woody craned his neck around to grin at her. "Ready, Jane?" he teased.
"I'm ready, Tarzan," she winked.
Woody took a deep breath and climbed smoothly and quickly up Slink and onto the roof, then pulled Bo far away from the edge.
"Calm down, I'm not going to jump," Bo chided, smiling at Jessie who was waving at her ecstatically, dangling her feet over the gutter. "And I'm not going to sit by Jessie."
"Good."
"Well, well. Look who decided to grace us with her presence this year," Potato Head called, waving an arm.
"Oh, I'm glad you could come," Mrs. Potato Head called hoarsely. "It's really quite beautiful."
Bo smiled and pulled Woody slowly up to the top of the pitch. "How about here?" she asked, sitting down.
All the other toys were enjoying a little dangerous living, dangling their legs off the sides of the roof. Woody definitely preferred it here, and laid down and stretched out next to Bo, his hands clasped behind his head. As always, the crickets were chirping, the air was soft, and the meteors incredible. It was a made-to-order date.
"You can see so many more of them," Bo said quietly a few minutes later. "I should have gotten up here sooner."
Woody smiled. "Don't push your luck. I almost didn't let you come."
Bo poked his arm. "I'd have done it anyway."
"I know. That's why I didn't say anything. I know enough to keep on your good side, Bo." He smiled up at her.
"Is that it, cowboy?" she whispered, reaching down to touch his chin. "You're always on my good side."
Woody took her hand and sat up. "What's wrong, Bo?"
She didn't answer, but looked determinedly at the sky, watching the meteors. Woody pushed away the fact that other people were there and took her face in his hands. "Really, Bo. What's the matter?" he asked quietly.
Bo leaned forward and gently pulled Woody's hat off and kissed him. "Time's up, Woody," she whispered, her mouth still against his. "When Mrs. Patterson comes tomorrow morning, she's not just coming to feed Buster. There's a yard sale box in Molly's room."
Woody stared at her, stunned. Time was up? Now? His shock quickly gave way to panic; he wanted to shout and cry and be hysterical. But - as he continued to look into those sad blue eyes, a peculiar peace settled over him. They'd already made this decision. And for her, he could be brave for a little while.
He nodded slowly. This must have been what Wayne and Julie had gone through. One of them was leaving, and they weren't coming back. "How long have you known?"
"All week."
"Is that why you've been so...affectionate?"
She smiled sadly. "Yes. Mrs. Patterson agreed to take a box of things to the Miller's moving sale tomorrow. I was one of the first things Molly put in the box. I thought something like this would happen soon." She sighed and set Woody's hat on the ground next to them. "At least I'll always know where you are. You'll be wherever Andy is."
Woody nodded again. "For as long as he needs me, I guess." It was a tough call, whether he cared more about Andy or Bo, but at the moment, Andy was a far second. "Dang it..."
Bo rested her forehead against his. "I wanted to watch the meteor shower with you. You can wish on shooting stars, you know."
Woody swallowed and eased her down onto the roof, her head on his shoulder. "I've got everything I could wish for," he murmured, kissing her cheek.
"Until tomorrow."
"I'll worry about tomorrow when it gets here," he mumbled, thoroughly engrossed.
"They're watching," Bo reminded him quietly.
"I can't say I care."
Not wanting to cause too much of scene, Bo tried a distraction and pointed at one of the meteors. "I wish... that you will always have the rest of your friends with you, Woody," she whispered.
He sighed and pulled away. After a moment, he pointed at a meteor. "I wish that you will have a good new owner."
Bo smiled mischievously. "I wish that I will be sold for lots of money."
Woody chuckled. "And I wish that Andy will go to an Ivy League college on the royalties."
"I wish that Andy will take all of you to college with him so you can terrorize him into doing his homework."
"I wish that Andy would throw away his homework from last year so I don't have to sleep on it anymore."
Bo laughed. "I wish that Buster would eat his homework... and that he won't ever steal your hat again."
"That's nice of you, Bo," Woody said sarcastically.
Bo poked Woody's side and sat up to look down at him. "It's the least I can do, Woody," she winked. She tickled him and he yelped, sitting up and scooting away from her.
"Hey, no fair."
She inched up to him. "Rules don't apply tonight, cowboy," she said deviously.
"Hey! Would you two be quiet up there?" demanded Mr. Potato Head.
Bo raised an eyebrow. "He's touchy."
Woody looked down at Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. "He's jealous."
...
Hours later, the toys had all left the roof. Woody had Bo locked in his arms, watching the sunrise. It was going to be a hard day for them.
A car drove past on the street below. Bo stirred slightly in his arms. "We should get inside, Woody. Mrs. Patterson comes early." It was true. Mrs. Patterson jogged past every morning at 6:45 like clockwork and fed Buster.
Woody didn't want to move. He felt as frozen as if a human were in the room; he simply couldn't budge. "Five more minutes," he whispered. The control he had exercised all night in not giving into his panic was running low.
"Woody?" Buzz's voice called from below him. "It's 6:30!"
"Does he know?" Woody asked, looking at Bo, who was clutching him very tightly despite her warning that it was getting late.
"I didn't tell him."
"He probably knows," Woody sighed. "I really don't want to get up, sweetheart."
Bo was shaking her head. "I shouldn't have told you. I should have just-"
"Bo, I'm glad you told me!" Woody jerked upright, holding her. "It'll...it'll make it easier later. Thank you for telling me."
"We haven't wasted our time, have we?" she asked faintly.
"Not a second of it," he answered firmly.
She nodded and reached behind them and replaced Woody's hat on his head. "It makes you look tough," she whispered.
Ouch. Mentally, Woody pulled himself together. Make this easier for her; she's going to need you.
Woody pulled Bo to her feet and walked over to the gutter. "Hey Slink?"
Without a word, Slink appeared at their feet, holding onto the gutter. Bo climbed onto Woody's back again and Woody climbed down. He shut the window behind them.
"Bo..." Jessie appeared from nowhere and quietly hugged Bo tightly.
Woody's mouth twitched. "So they all know, then?" he asked Buzz, who was standing next to him.
Buzz just nodded and clapped a hand on Woody's back. Woody took a deep breath and straightened like a condemned soldier, then stepped forward and offered Bo his arm. She took it and he led her over to the edge of the desk and hopped down into the chair, holding his arms up to catch her. Above him there was a general murmur of farewell before Bo dropped into his arms.
With every step they took across Andy's room and across the hallway Woody felt as though there were magnets on his boots and the floor was metal. Somehow, he managed to keep his back straight and his face expressionless.
In the hallway he kissed her one last time. There was none of her usual control in the kiss; she was completely submissive. She inhaled swiftly and he felt her chest rise against him as he kissed the sweet spot under the left side of her chin.
The door to Molly's room was ajar, and there, on its side on the floor, was the box marked 'YARD SALE.' Woody felt Bo shudder in his arms. Downstairs, the kitchen door opened and Buster barked. This really was it.
Bo let go of his arm, and Woody took her hand and helped her up onto her lamp. Her sheep bleated quietly at her arrival. She turned to face him, a sad smile the best she could do. With his heart aching, Woody pulled his hat from his head, took her hand, and knelt on one knee before her.
"Thank you, Bo, for everything. You have... You have made these years shine for me, Bo, you really have."
"I'd do it again, Woody," she whispered. "I love you so much-"
Buster's footsteps started scampering up the stairs below them. A heavy creak followed. Mrs. Patterson was coming.
Bo choked on a sob. Woody bowed his head for a second, steeling himself. Like a knight of yore, he kissed the white hand he held so dear, then stood. "It has been an honor." He breathed. "I love you."
The footsteps were in the hall. He gave her hand one final squeeze. "Be brave, sweetheart," he whispered, and left, diving under the bed just as the door swung open.
Mrs. Patterson, bleach blond hair and immaculate running clothes all in place, righted the box, keeping Bo from Woody's view, picked it up, and left.
Buster sniffed the air, looked at Woody, and whimpered. "I know, pal. I know," Woody whispered.
Buster shuffled over to him and nuzzled him, practically knocking him over. There was silence in the room for a few moments, and then Woody heard the kitchen door close. The dam that had been holding Woody in since last night broke. He threw himself against Buster to muffle the sound and screamed.
*pulls out her box of tissues* I'm sorry...it had to be done! However, this is NOT the last chapter! So saddle up for an angsty ride, and lets get this wagon train a-movin!