A/N: I know, right? Finally. Thanks for all of the lovely reviews and encouraging notes. I promise I'm still writing this, it's just between being busy and what I see happening in my head not making it into my fingers... blah. Anyways, enjoy my lovelies!


Chapter 7

The building heat and light of mid- morning wafted into the barn and Jessie breathed in deeply. She and Buzz lay on a saddle blanket, wrapped in each other's arms. Her wild red mane had come undone from its braid and Buzz was absently running his fingers through it. "Jess?"

"Yeah?" she lightly ran her fingers along his collarbone.

Buzz sighed heavily, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" her brow furrowed as she raised her head to look at him. Worry settled heavily and quickly in the pit of her stomach. "Sorry for what?"

"That I never said anything before. I should have." He brushed a lock of hair from her forehead, looking at her earnestly, "I have been in love with you for such a long time."

Relief flooded through Jessie, "You have?"

He nodded, "I have. I could never say anything, though I wanted to hundreds of times."

"Why not?"

"You were intimidating."

She laughed, "Be serious."

"I am serious. You're so full of life and passion…I just felt so tongue-tied around you. I thought you were so incredible, and just figured I had no shot of you even looking at me outside of friendship." He leaned in, kissing her forehead, "Forgive me for being an idiot?" He gave her a small, hopeful grin.

A grin crossed her face in return, "I've had to do that so much, I think it comes naturally." She nestled her head against his chest.

"Well?"

She smiled, "Of course, Buzz." Her smiled faded, "But-"

"But?"

"Can you return the favor? Truth is, Woody's been trying to tell me for years how you felt, but I didn't believe him. Not that I didn't want to believe him, you just always seemed so uncomfortable around me, stuttering and everything after a couple of minutes. Plus, well," she stopped, uncertain of whether to continue.

"Go on," Buzz encouraged her, "please."

She gazed at him before blurting out, "You're a Space Ranger, for crying out loud. I'm just a cowgirl out in the middle of nowhere. I mean, you've been all over the universe, seen things I can't even imagine, met all sorts of folks…" her voice and gaze dropped, "How could I even think I could hold a candle to all of them? All of that? I mean, what's special about this place? About me?" Slowly she brought her eyes back up to meet his.

Buzz traced his fingertips along her cheekbone, "A hell of a lot, actually. You have no idea…things here are just…just so simple."

Jessie's eyebrows rose, "You're sayin' I'm simple?"

"NO!" he raised his voice hastily. "No," Buzz chuckled, seeing the teasing glint in her eyes, "You're one of the most aggravatingly complicated people I know. But here… you and Woody accept me for who I am. You don't make demands of me because I'm 'Captain Buzz Lightyear of Star Command', and you don't hold it against me, either. Outside of Star Command, you two are the only ones who do that. As far as where my position has taken me…Jess, the moment I first saw you, I knew my heart was lost. All of the places I've seen, people I've met…none of them have that effect on me. Just you, only you… always has been."

She leaned in, "I love you, Space Boy." She punctuated the sentence by kissing him soundly, glad the truth was out at last.

He grinned as she pulled away, "Love you, too, Cowgirl. Only one problem now."

She raised a thin eyebrow, "Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Woody. You know how he is when he's right… there'll be no living with him."

Jessie laughed, "I'm not worried about that…I may be his little sister, but I can still take him down. And he knows it. I was thinking of something else."

"Something like what?"

"Well," she kissed him lightly in the hollow of his neck, smiling as she felt him shudder slightly. "It's been what, six, seven years? I think we have an awful lot of time to make up for."

Buzz laughed, pulling Jessie against him in a passionate kiss, thinking she had a very good idea, indeed. His fingers wrapped themselves in her hair as he pressed his lips against her neck. Jessie shivered, relishing the love that passed between them. Buzz ran his finger lightly over her lips, looking down into her eyes. As he leaned in, the alarm on his communicator chirped. He groaned and, with no small amount of reluctance, rolled away from Jessie. He picked up the communicator, "Lightyear."

Commander Nebula's voice scratched through the speaker, "Lightyear! What's your location?"

"I'm at the Pride ranch, sir. Jess- sorry, Deputy Pride's been showing me the maps, as you requested," he tossed a grin at Jessie. She winked at him in return.

"Good, good. See if you can bring those back to the ship; I'd like to go over them with you and then the Sheriff at some point. What's that?" there was a pause in the conversation and Buzz heard Woody's muffled voice in the background. "The Sheriff says to ask the Deputy to put something on." Static followed and Buzz and Jessie looked at each other, their eyes wide. There was no way Woody could know… was there?

"Say again, Commander?" Buzz swallowed against the sudden dryness in his throat.

"Sorry, reception isn't that great out here. The Sheriff suggested you and I simply join him over at the ranch to go over those maps. He asks that you speak with his sister about putting something on the stove for supper."

Relief flooded through both Buzz and Jessie. "Roger that, sir." He looked at Jessie as the communication ended. She had pulled on her shirt and was fastening the buttons. He caught her eye and both were suddenly helpless with laughter.

Once she had composed herself somewhat, she threw his shirt at him. "You heard the Commander, Lightyear. We have our orders."

"Yes, ma'am!" Buzz laughed, catching the shirt in mid-air. "Guess we better look at those maps."


"Well, Miss Pride, I don't know how Buzz manages to come back as thin as he does if you feed him like this!" Nebula smiled as Jessie took his empty plate.

Jessie laughed as she moved around the table, "Don't worry, Commander, he only gets to stop working long enough to eat." She smiled at Buzz as he handed her his own dishes.

The fact that their fingers trailed along each other's did not escape Woody's notice. He raised questioning brown eyes to Jessie as she passed by, but she did not react. Guess I'll have to find out later, he thought. Turning to Buzz, he pulled out the maps they had looked at earlier that morning. "We poured over these, but there wasn't anything remarkable in terms of hideout possibilities. Not that we expected there to be. Did you find anything on your maps?"

He nodded, "A few areas that may be of interest. Here," he unrolled one of the maps he and Jessie had looked over in the time they had before Woody and Nebula arrived. He pressed his finger to an area of rocks about five miles northwest of Bonneville. "This is open territory, right?"

Woody nodded, "It's a whole bunch of rock formations. Any type of building would be well hidden, but it would be almost impossible to get any kind of shuttle in or out without notice. The formations are very close together at the top, so coming in and out straight down would be awfully tricky. And look here," he pointed to an area on the northern side, "this is all blocked by the canyon wall, so there's really only one way in or out. Two problems with that: one, they could be too easily trapped and two, we would see any kind of activity, even at this distance."

Nebula nodded, "Ok, might still check it out, but it does seem unlikely to be our site. Where else?"

Buzz pointed to two other locations with definite possibilities. One was in the canyon near Lasseter Ridge. "This seems feasible. The river runs right past and would not only be for provision, but would effectively serve to mask any shuttle noise, since the rapids aren't too far away. Plus," he paused, looking at Woody, "This is where the Kid was found, right?" Woody nodded and Buzz continued, "I know rock slides are common enough, but it could be possible he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You didn't find anything, sir?"

The Commander shrugged as he entered the coordinates into a small data keeper, "There were a few spots, but, as the Sheriff pointed out, would be far too visible. What's this spot, here?" he motioned to a smudge on one of the maps of the outskirts.

Jessie leaned over Woody's shoulder, looking at the place Nebula was asking about, "That's a mining area, about seven or so miles from here to the south. But it's inhabited. At least, it should be."

Woody nodded, "An old prospector named Pete lives out that way. He struck it big not too long ago, but he never rescinded his claim to the land. We check there every so often, just to make sure there isn't any trouble with squatters, but the place is always empty and clean."

"Wouldn't call it clean, there's at least an inch of dust on everything inside," Jessie quipped.

Nebula chuckled, then sighed. "Not too much to go on. Sheriff, do you mind if I take these with me? I'll give the coordinates to Mira so she can do whatever she does with the computer, but having an idea of the surrounding areas might be helpful. Maybe we can figure out the location from the access to those."

"Of course. And if there is anything else you need, just ask." He stood as Nebula rose from his chair.

"I will, thank you for your assistance so far. Lightyear, you ready to return to the ship?"

"Actually, sir, permission to remain here? Jessie was kind enough to look over the maps with me, but at the expense of her own duties. I feel it's only fair to repay her by staying here to help take care of that work."

"We could scout out the locations, too," Woody offered. "I don't think anyone would be suspicious of the local sheriff making his rounds."

Nebula pulled at his chin in thought and then nodded, "Having a ground level perspective would only benefit whatever information Mira is able to get from her scans. Keeps me from having to do paperwork, too. Permission granted, Captain, just be back at the ship by oh-eight-hundred tomorrow."

Buzz saluted his commanding officer, "Thank you, sir."

Woody walked Nebula to the front door. After the commander had left, Woody turned back to the kitchen to arrange the trip with Buzz. He found him and Jessie in the kitchen sharing a tender kiss. Woody cleared his throat as he leaned against the doorframe, folding his arms across his chest, his brown eyes were warm with amusement.

Jessie and Buzz both jumped and blushed slightly. She glanced at Buzz before shrugging and favoring her brother with a sheepish grin that confirmed his suspicions.

He laughed, waving his hand to indicate no explanation was needed.

Jessie smiled, "You headin' back to town?"

Woody nodded, "Unless you two need a chaperone." He laughed at the grimace on Buzz's face. "I do have a favor to ask of you, Jess."

"Sure. Well, maybe. What is it?" she winked, leaning against the counter.

"Trixie and Rex are having a barn dance in two days."

"I've heard. What of it?"

"I'd like you to go in my place, as Deputy Sheriff."

She groaned, "Oh, Woody…y'know I hate those things."

"I know, Jessie, but…please." His voice an earnest plea, "I just can't deal with them, not yet."

She saw the sorrow in his eyes and quickly hugged him. "Okay, okay. But you owe me," she prodded him in the chest.

He smiled, "I'll muck out the stalls for a week."

"No, you won't! You promise that every time and every time I still have to do it because you get busy with 'official sheriff duties'." She grinned, "I'll think of something and let you know what it is."

Woody cast a worried look at Buzz, "How about I go to the ship and you stay here?"

Buzz laughed, shaking his head. "I am not getting in the middle on this one. I've learned that lesson."

"Fine. All right, I'm heading back to town. Buzz, I'll be back in a few hours; we don't want it to get too late and lose the daylight. Behave yourselves." He pecked Jessie on the cheek and waved to Buzz as he headed out the door.

Jessie tossed the dish towel on to the counter after she dried the last plate. She smiled at Buzz, "Thanks for gettin' permission to stay. Ready to be put back to work?"

"Not just yet," he moved towards Jessie, backing her up against the wall. He curled his hand alongside of her neck, his fingers tracing her hairline. He heard her inhale as he moved his lips close to hers. Instead of closing the distance, he reached his hand behind her neck and squeezed the water out of the dishcloth he still held. "Now I'm ready," he laughed and ran out of the door, her surprised squeal still echoing in his ears.