Stretch stopped and looked back at Slink. "My naaaame is Stretch," she corrected hotly. "Now watcha want?"
"Well, see, there's this friend of ours. Well, a friend of Woody's and mine. She's stuck in the trash chute, and - "
"Uh-uh, nope! I am not goin' all the way down there to play fetch."
"No, we just want you to open the trash chute outside," Woody said, as he ran awkwardly up behind Slink. "So she can get out!"
"Oh..." Stretch eyeballed them. "And why should I do you any more favors?"
"Please," Woody said. "She's already been through so much."
"An' if you recall, Woody and me and our friends were all in a Dumpster too, at one point," Slink butted in. "An' you gave Lotso eight helping hands. We just want to save a good toy from the same fate."
Stretch didn't look very apologetic, but she turned and began padding toward the door. "C'mon, follow me," she sighed.
Slink and Woody obliged. When Woody handed her the key, she crawled up the wall and unlocked the door like a pro, pulling it open. Woody opened it the rest of the way when it was out of her reach, and the trio ran outside. The sky was dark, and the full moon illuminated the clouds that framed it. The stars were wherever the clouds weren't. The parking lot was empty.
"Here, take this," Stretch ordered, and gave Woody the key. She climbed up the wall, latched onto the trash chute with three tentacles and wrenched it open.
Jessica whirled to face them. Joy lit her face and she quickly clambered over the garbage, one hand clenched into an unyielding fist. Sitting on the lid she hopped out onto the moist pavement. "Thank you!"
"Thank her," Woody said.
"What?" Jessica turned and her head whipped up as she caught sight of Stretch. "Uh...Thank you?"
"Yeah, yeah," Stretch grumbled, closing the trash chute. She flipped noisily to the pavement and walked away grumbling something about "last-minute errands".
"Thanks for freeing me," Jessica said, in the silence that followed Stretch's bitter departure. She looked at Slink. "You, too."
"Ah, I hardly did anythin'," he said modestly.
"Well, thanks anyway." The trio began meandering back toward the front door. "Nobody's ever rescued me before. Not the Prospector, not the Woody I grew up with. I never really needed saving." She cupped her fist with her open hand. "You saved me twice already...I can't thank you enough."
"Well, what are friends for?"
Slink disappeared inside, and Jessica hung back, averting her eyes. Woody dropped his hand from the side of the open door. "What's wrong?"
She looked up at him. "We are friends. But just us."
"What do you mean?"
Jessica took a deep breath. "The astronaut asked me to leave."
"What? Why would he - "
"He said I'm a distraction to his relationship," Jessica answered abruptly.
Woody's brows went up. "Buzz said that?"
"Yes."
"Well, we should go talk to him." Woody pushed the door open and began to walk in, but stopped when he realized she wasn't following. He turned. "You're not coming?"
She shook her head. "I tried to be mad, but I get it. I think I should just go."
" 'Kay, Jessica, we're not joined at the belt. I know you can go whenever you want, but I don't know if you can survive. I don't mean to be rude, but you're not exactly in like new condition," Woody pointed out, much to her dismay. "I worry about you! Potato Head wasn't wrong; you didn't even want to cross the street on your own. Now...Michigan has a lot of streets."
Jessica put her hands on her hips. "I know how to wait until it's safe," she told him. "How stupid do you think I am?"
"I don't think you're stupid. I think you're scared."
Jessica crossed her arms. "Do you think I can be fixed?"
"Well, yeah, I mean, by an expert."
"Then I don't want you or anyone else treating me any different."
The pair stared at each other, until Jessica finally turned and began to walk away. Woody wanted to call her back and protect her, but what she had said stopped him. So he backed into Sunnyside and pulled the door shut behind him. He returned to the Butterfly Room a few moments later, and walked dutifully toward Buzz. "Hey," he said angrily. "Jessica said you asked her to leave?"
The toys looked at Buzz in shock.
"I had to! She was a - "
"A distraction to your relationship," Woody filled in.
"Ouch," Hamm said.
"Now thanks to you she's out there." Woody motioned toward the window.
"What was her other option, Woody? To go to the Caterpillar Room? Be played with by one more kid before losing her head? The only other alternative was for Jessie and me to go there so she wouldn't have to." Buzz stopped as he realized that she had left not only for Jessie, but for him, even after he'd been so rude.
"Yup," was all Woody said. He handed the key to Big Baby and left Buzz standing there with a rather dumb look on his face.
-0-0-0-0-
"Why are you back? I ordered you to vacate the premises!" Buzz thundered.
"I don't take orders from anyone."
"Fine," Buzz muttered. "I'll get rid of you myself."
Jessica didn't shy away from his attack; she embraced it, boldly walking toward him. But he was too fast, and yanked her into a headlock; the force of which caused her other eye to fall out. He released her as she crumpled to the carpet, blindly feeling for her own body parts -
Consciousness hit Buzz like a weapon, and he lurched into a sitting position, horrified by the nightmares his own guilty conscience could create. He got to his feet and looked back at Jessie. She lay near him on the carpet, staring up at the ceiling, one hand absently toying with her braid. Woody was also awake, leaning against the wall and staring out the window.
Buzz walked toward Jessie. She rolled her head to look at him, and her expression hardened. She looked so much like Jessica that he stopped as if he had hit an invisible barrier. She got to her feet and walked away, slapping her hat on her head. Buzz looked at Woody, who still had his back to him.
Buzz walked over to Woody with a sigh. "What can I do?" he asked.
Woody's head turned in slight acknowledgement of his voice. "You forced her out; you invite her back. I don't think I need to point out the hypocrisy of your actions, considering how it was when we met."
"I know I was rude," Buzz began, and hedged on what to say next. "I'll look for her now."
"Good," Jessie muttered from somewhere behind him. "Go."
Buzz found her almost instantly, leaning on a chair leg with her arms crossed. He walked over to her. "You know...You know how I feel about you."
"Yeah. You like me a lot."
"That - that's not what I meant; it's just the only thing I could say. I mean, I saw her, and then you - "
"She IS me; we're the same."
Buzz shook his head slightly. "You're not," he muttered, and headed for the door. Big Baby made a noise that sounded more like a sigh than a coo, but dutifully opened the door.