June 10th, part 4: Nighttime.

Flames and Buzz.

Jessie rolled over, facing away from her new owner, and dug her face deeper into the pillow. Closing her eyes, all she could see was orange which signified the flames in which she was almost engulfed in, but another image that flashed more in her mind was Buzz's face.

The cowgirl sat up and carefully made her way over to the windowsill of her new owner's room. Her thoughts drifted back from the moment Buzz returned to them after waiting for hours for the space ranger to return back to the Caterpillar room. She had been confronting Lotso and just when she thought she had the upper hand to the situation, she was stopped by no other than the space ranger himself. Just when she was about ready to ask what he was doing, he quickly turned on them.

He turned on her.

"Spare me your lies, temptress. Your emperors defeated. And I'm immune to your bewitching good looks."

Jessie inhaled sharply and dug her face into her knees, remembering how harsh he talked to her, how he threw her hand down from his shoulder. She had been so shocked and was frozen in disbelief. Deep down, she knew that wasn't her Buzz and she didn't blame him for anything. It was all Lotso's fault.

The cowgirl swore she never knew what relief felt like until Woody showed up, alive and determined as usual. The cowboy instilled a feeling of hope back into his family and Jessie helped her brother plan an escape.

The plan went along smoothly and seeing Woody and the others running towards her in the playground with Buzz in tow made the butterflies in her stomach flare up immediately. Would Buzz remember what he did? Was he back to normal?

Woody approached her and looked around to see who was still missing. The cowgirl heard a gasp behind her and she slowly turned around and noticed Buzz standing there, his mouth gaped open as he looked at her.

"Buzz..." before she could go any further, the space toy dropped to his knees in front of her and took her hand in his. She smiled down at him as he opened his mouth to speak.

And he wasn't speaking English.

Jessie muffled a giggle in her knees as she remembered how silly and adorable Buzz's Spanish mode had been. The dance he did around her left the cowgirl more confused than ever as he dipped her down and (what looked like to her) proclaimed his love to her. She adored how Buzz treated her and she felt so protected. She owed him her life, especially when he saved her from the trash in the dump truck. The cowgirl knew she was smitten as he heroically glanced down at her and she lovingly glanced back at him. The two were so caught up in each other that they barely noticed their surroundings. Mrs. Potato Head's scream of "look out!" brought them back to reality and they had only minutes to act as a big television came tumbling at them.

Without a further thought, Buzz instantly threw Jessie a few feet away and the television landed hard on him. The feeling that washed over Jessie was the worst fear she ever felt. She threw herself forward and the other toys helped her lift the TV off Buzz and, with the help of Woody, dragged him out. Jessie immediately began to furiously shake him awake as she begged for him to wake up. Fear gripped her heart as he remained still and she buried her face in his chest.

When she felt a lurch run through Buzz's body, she almost let out a happy sob as the space ranger came to, but as the Buzz she always knew.

He came back to her.

A single tear slipped down Jessie's cheek as she realized how happy she felt when Buzz slowly wrapped his arms around her before sitting up and focused on the task at hand; they were heading to the dump and they needed to get out of there and fast. The events at the dump went by in such a blur to Jessie that all she could register was when Buzz took her hand as they faced their, what looked to be at the time, fate.

The way Buzz looked at her made her realize the depths of the feelings she held for the space ranger. Silently, they confessed their feelings toward each other and looked around to see the rest of their friends joining hands as they silently accepted that it was the end.

Jessie looked around the room and her eyes fell on Buzz to the right of Woody on the bed. She smiled at him as she remembered them curling into each other as they closed their eyes and waited for the flames to engulf them. Although Jessie was afraid, she was comforted by the fact Buzz was right beside her.

To their greatest relief, a shadow fell above the toys and an oversized claw picked them up and carried the toys outside of the dump. Jessie realized that the aliens rescued them, and she was eternally grateful.

Sitting up slowly, her eyes adjusted to the light as she felt something on her hand, or more like gripping her hand. She slowly looked down and noticed Buzz's larger hand was curled around her smaller one. Smiling up at him bashfully, her eyes locked with his as they smiled at each other lightly.

Realization seem to slip through each other's hearts as they stared at each other for a few minutes lovingly until Buzz blinked and they realized they were still at the dump. Jessie slowly slipped her hand out of Buzz's but he quickly wrapped an arm around her waist to help her up and out of the pile of garbage they landed in. The pair approached Woody and the others, and Buzz turned towards her again and smiled at her brightly. Jessie was about to say something, but Woody's voice interrupted in front of her, so she reached up and gripped the space toy's arm.

The toys started to make their way through the piles of trash as Woody abruptly stopped; doubting himself about his idea for the others to go in the attic and always be with Andy. Jessie issued the cowboy a sympathetic and reassured him that they were Andy's toys. Buzz stepped forward and interlaced his fingers with the cowgirl's and told Woody together, they'd be there for him all the while emphasizing the word 'together' while looking intensely at her. Jessie's heart skipped a couple of beats as she realized that her and Buzz's relationship changed into them being much more than friends.

As they saw the garbage truck, they all hopped onto the back to hitch a ride home. The toys talked aimlessly amongst themselves, and nobody questioned the fact that Buzz and Jessie were holding hands and whispering amongst themselves by the opening of the truck.

"I thought we were done for," whispered Jessie.

"I did too. I swear Jess, I'm never going to let anything happen to you or our friends," promised Buzz and leaned his forehead slightly against Jessie's. Her heart fluttered as she sighed happily and leaned against him in return.

As Jessie finished her thoughts, she carefully crept down off the windowsill and made her way back over to her new owner, Bonnie. The little girl was wonderful and took up an immediate interest in Jessie and her family. The cowgirl would miss Andy tremendously, but life with Bonnie appeared to be very promising. During dinner, Bonnie even held Jessie and made the cowgirl a makeshift bib and sat her doll next to herself as the little girl ate.

Climbing up to the bed, Jessie crept over Dolly and lied down where Bonnie sat her in between Woody (who was laying right next to Bonnie) and Buzz.

"Are you okay, cowgirl?" whispered the voice that filled butterflies in her stomach. She felt the sudden strength of plastic arms circling around her middle. Exhaling slowly, the cowgirl turned around in his arms and was face to face with the space toy.

"Affirmative, space boy," Jessie whispered back; caressing his cheek. Utter happiness filled her little toy heart. "Now that you're with me."

Hoo boy, this chapter was difficult to put down into words. Once again, I apologize for the lack of updates as reality has been hitting me hard this past fall, but I would like to thank each and every person who has stuck with me throughout this story. We are down to about two more chapters left, so stay tuned!