They say Shakespeare didn't own most of what he was credited with, either!
Reassurance
"D'you think I'm pretty?"
Woody jerks his head up in surprise and stares at Jessie. They've been crawling around the supply shelves of the Caterpillar Room for the past ten minutes, trying to round up supplies for tonight's escape. She's apologized. She's fretted about Buzz. She's put that energetic brain of hers to use in planning their escape. Woody can guess at all kinds of things that must be running through Jessie's head right now.
But he really didn't expect her to be wondering about her looks.
Suddenly he realizes that she's still waiting for an answer, her green eyes wide and anxious. "Yes," he blurts out. "I – sure, Jessie, you're beautiful." He peers at her curiously. "Didn't you know that?"
She looks down at her boots. "No. Barbie's beautiful. Bo Peep was beautiful. I'm just me, y'know?"
Woody shakes his head in amazement. Why do girls always doubt their looks? He can't even count the number of times that Bo looked at him in the same way that Jessie is looking at him now, with that shy, pleading, notice me kind of expression. He'd thought it was just Bo wanting to hear the words "you're beautiful" from her sweetheart. But now, hearing the same question from Jessie…
"Jess," he says firmly. "You're beautiful, alright? Go ask anyone and they'll tell you. Bo always said you were, and I'll bet Barbie would say the same thing." He grins. "And I know a certain space ranger thinks so…"
He expects her to blush and take a swing at him. Instead she tugs her braid over her shoulder and begins playing with it, a troubled expression on her face. Woody frowns.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothin'," she says quickly.
"You're fidgeting with your hair, Jess," he points out. "Something's wrong."
The cowgirl grimaces. "It's dumb."
"C'mon, spit it out."
Jessie bites her lip. "It's somethin' Buzz said when he was helping lock us up last night. I tried to tell him that we were his friends, and he called me a-" She stops short. Her face flushes crimson.
"What?" Woody prods.
Embarrassed, she looks anxiously around at all the other toys who might be in earshot, then leans over and rapidly whispers in his ear. She pulls back and drops her gaze. Woody blinks.
The funny thing is, he can absolutely imagine Buzz saying that.
A giggle escapes him. Jessie looks up in surprise. Suddenly the stress of the past twenty-four hours catches up to him, and the cowboy can't stop laughing. He feels bad, but he just can't help it. Jessie's face gets redder and redder.
"It ain't that funny," she finally mumbles.
Woody chokes down another giggle and shakes his head. "Poor Buzz," he chuckles. "Always trying to give you a compliment and never quite getting it right."
Her eyes flash indignantly. "I ain't exactly sure that was supposed to be a compliment!"
"Aw, Jess…" Woody grins and nudges her shoulder. "I think he meant it to be. He just… well, I guess he didn't say it quite as nicely as he could have."
"I ain't so sure I wanted to hear that at all," she shivers. "Buzz is kinda creepy when he's like this."
Woody smiles. "I think we can be pretty sure the real Buzz Lightyear is in there somewhere, Jess. Why else would this one find you so distracting?"
"I want my Buzz back," she pouts.
"Ooooooh, she's getting possessive!"
Jessie blushes and whacks him on the arm, but he just laughs and pulls her into a hug. She's such fun to tease. Suddenly her arms tighten around him. The cowgirl presses her face against his chest.
"What am I gonna do without you?" she whispers.
Woody feels his throat close up. He's been trying not to think about this. Trying not to feel so lonely over not having Jessie or Buzz around to make him smile when he's feeling low. Trying not to worry about who's going to look after them. Trying not to think about all the things in their lives that he's going to miss out on. He hugs Jessie close.
"I'm going to miss you so much, you know?"
She nods, not looking up.
"Buzz had better take good care of you," Woody mumbles roughly.
Jessie gives a shaky laugh and finally looks up at him. "You gonna come home and beat him up if he don't, Sheriff?"
He grins and releases her from the hug. "You bet."
Hello!
This one stems from two things: One, the fact that, honestly, I was dissatisfied with Pixar for not letting these two share a hug when Woody was saying goodbye to Andy's toys near the end of the movie! I wanted Woody and Jessie to have a little more bonding time, and this seemed like a good way to do it. Two, over the course of TS3 you can see that Jessie is starting to get a little more comfortable with her femininity, and I wanted to explore what was going through her head even before Spanish Buzz comes along (!) Having a non-romantic male companion like Woody is definitely to her advantage.
You may have noticed that I took down my two songfic chapters. A reviewer was kind enough to point out that, within the guidelines given by FFN, songfic is actually not permitted! After reading the guidelines again myself, I have to agree. So those chapters are going to come down, although I might rewrite them without the song lyrics to make them work within the rules :D
Final note: Over two hundred reviews! You all are so wonderful and I'm so grateful for all of your feedback!
I'll be posting again on Monday. Good night! ~Owl
