New Home, New Life Ch. 14

The next morning Emily woke up to find herself still wrapped in Woody's arms, "Woody, it's time to get up." she said.

"I had the strangest dream." Woody said as he started to wake up.

"Are you sure it was a dream?" Emily asked entwining her fingers with Woody's.

Woody's eyes suddenly flew open, "This is impossible." he said after a moment of stunned silence.

"So is toys that come to life, at this point I have a hard time believe anything is truly impossible. Except maybe me being to work on time if I don't get ready to leave soon." Emily said as she reluctantly slipped out of Woody's arms.

A little while later she was standing in front of her vanity, brushing her hair when Jessie came into the room, "How are you doing?" Jessie asked climbing up onto the vanity.

"As well as can be expected I guess." Emily replied, "Maybe a little better." she added as she looked into the mirror and could see Woody still sitting on her bed then she noticed Buzz come into the room, suddenly freeze then turn his full attention to Woody.

He just stood there, mouth opening and closing soundlessly for a long moment, "How- what-, how did,- Woody?" he finally managed to stammer out.

That was enough to draw Jessie's attention, her eyes growing huge and mouth dropping open when she saw Woody, "How on earth did he end up like that?!" she finally asked.

"I don't know, one second I was watching Emily cry and feeling useless the next I was like this." Woody replied.

"Wow, so can you go back to being you're original size?" Jessie asked.

"I don't know." Woody replied.

"Well try it, I have a feeling I'm going to need you there in my purse to hold my hand if I'm going to get through the day without breaking down in front of the kids." Emily said already having a hard time fighting back tears just thinking about her grandmother.

A moment later Woody returned to his normal size then bigger for a moment to make sure he could then back to toy sized.

"Guess you can do that whenever you want now." Emily said.

"How do you do it?" Jessie asked.

"I just thought about wanting to be smaller or bigger and it happened." Woody replied.

"This is totally unfair, I can't do it." Jessie said a minute later.

"We'll figure it out later, right now I've got to see who's going to play with the kids and get to work." Emily said as Woody climbed into her purse and she headed down the hall to the toy room.

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At lunch time the kids were playing when Penny and Jenny, a set of twins came over to her desk with Rex and Woody.

Penny suddenly had Rex grab a piece of candy that was sitting on her desk and Jenny had Woody chase after him.

A couple minutes later Jenny came back and had Woody hand Emily the candy back, "My hero, thank you so much sheriff." Emily said.

"Why I'd do anything for the prettiest teacher around these parts." Jenny had Woody reply then had him kiss Emily's hand, then she whispered, "He really likes you and want's to know if you'll be his girlfriend, but he's to nervous to ask you himself right now."

Before Emily could respond to that Penny yelled "Oh no, the dinosaur is going to eat my book, Woody help!" from her desk where she had Rex biting her school book and Penny quickly ran over to her with Woody.

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That afternoon after Emily had gotten home from work Woody had offered to hang the laundry out for her while she took care of some other chores, but once he was in the back yard hanging the clothes Emily had found herself distracted and stuck staring out the laundry room window watching him.

"What are you staring at? Some hot guy sneak into the back yard, cause that's exactly how your great grandmother use to look at your great grandf-" Jessie stopped as she made it up into the window to look out, "Oh my gosh, you're in love with Woody." she said.

"No, that's- that's crazy." Emily replied.

Jessie just turned around, crossed her arms and stared at Emily.

"It's crazy and impossible." Emily said then with a little less certainty, "Although maybe not as impossible as I would have thought before last night."

"So I was right, you are in love with him." Jessie asked.

"I- I guess so, until now I was able to just ignore my feelings, I mean I'm a human he's a toy it couldn't possibly work out. Now that he can suddenly become the same size as a human it just doesn't seem so impossible any more and I'm having a harder time trying to ignore my feelings for him." Emily replied.

"So tell him how you feel." Jessie said.

"I can't, what if he didn't feel the same way? It would just make things uncomfortable between us. Anyways he still hasn't gotten over finding out Bo is gone, so I highly doubt there's any chance he has any feelings for me aside from friendship. Maybe I'll tell him eventually if I think there's any chance he feels the same way, but not now." Emily told her.

Sighing Jessie said, "Alright, I guess you have a point."

"Now I have work to do before I leave." Emily said glancing out the window at Woody one more time before letting Jessie climb onto her shoulder and leaving the room.

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"I'll be back in a couple hours." Emily told Woody as she set her purse on the kitchen counter where he hopefully wouldn't be able to sneak into it.

"Where are you going?" Woody asked.

"Andrew has some questions about the curriculum and invited me over to his house for dinner and to-"

"You're going to his house, alone?" Woody demanded.

"Yes, I'm going there alone, but-"

"It's too risky, you can't go." Woody told her.

"Woody, please don't start this again, I'm going whether you like it or not." Emily told him.

"I'm not going to let you go to some man's house who you barely know, alone." Woody told her, suddenly becoming bigger.

"You think just because you're bigger you can tell me what to do? You have no right to do that and I am not going to keep putting up with this." Emily told him.

"Maybe you're right, I may have no right to tell you what to do because I'm just a stupid toy, nothing more than cloth, stuffing and plastic, but I'm not going to let you risk getting hurt or killed because you're so sure you can take care of your self." Woody told her.

Emily hated it when he said he was nothing more than a toy, but she really didn't have time at the moment to argue the matter with him. She was about to demand that he let her leave when all of the pieces suddenly seemed to come together, the over protectiveness, what grandma had said about him being able to move on after finding out Bo had died making things complicated to the point that even she hadn't been sure what to tell him, his suddenly constantly pointing out he was a toy even though it wasn't something that he had ever done until after finding out Bo was gone. And the most plain and obvious piece of evidence that hadn't registered earlier that day, the kids at school having him tell her how pretty he thought she was and even asking her to be his girlfriend after he had told her how they could pick up on strong emotions in toys. She suddenly found herself feeling very blind and stupid for not realizing it before.

Emily walked over to stand right in front of Woody, "You may just be a toy to everyone else because they don't know the real you, but I know that you are an amazing, caring, brave, slightly over protective, wonderful man." she told him.

"You're wrong, I'm not a man I'm just a useless toy, with no purpose aside-" Woody started to say until Emily suddenly kissed him.

For a second Emily thought she had made a terrible mistake as Woody went stiff with shock, but a split second later he wrapped his arms around her and returned the kiss with a strength and passion that took her breath away.

After a long moment they stopped, Woody looked a little embarrassed and unsure of what to say or do, after taking a second to catch her breath Emily smiled at him, "You certainly don't kiss like I would have expected a toy to kiss." she said, "You're not just toy Woody, and I couldn't care less if you're made of skin and bone or cloth and stuffing, I love you."

"But Emily, it could never work-" Woody started to say.

"Do you love me?" Emily asked.

"Yes, more than anything, but-"

"Then we'll make it work." she said.

"Yes you will." a woman said and both Emily and Woody quickly turned to see who it was.

They both stood there for a long moment in stunned silence, Emily feeling a little comforted by the fact that Woody stayed at her side, one arm still wrapped around her waist as they stared at Bo who stood a at the other side of the kitchen and was also the size of human.

"How is this possible?" Woody finally asked.

"When a toy has been around at least fifty years if a situation comes up that they wish to be human then they will be given a year in which they will be able to change from toy to human at will. After that year they have to decide whether to remain human or return to being a toy. I was given permission to be the one to tell you about this." Bo told them.

"You couldn't have come sooner?" Woody asked.

"I could have, but I thought it was better that you realize that Emily would love you no matter what you are, before I gave you the easy way." Bo replied, "Now where is Jessie, she has the same choice to make."

"I'll go get her." Emily said then headed upstairs, as she did she could hear Bo talking to Woody.

"She's a good woman, I'm glad you were finally able to move on." she told him.

When Emily got to the toy room she called Jessie over, "What is it?" Jessie asked as she and Buzz walked over to her.

"You need to come downstairs." she said then suddenly realized there was one problem with what Bo had said, Jessie could become human, but it would probably be nearly thirty years before Buzz would be able to.

"Buzz I think you should come to." she said as she picked them up and carried them downstairs.

"Bo?!" Buzz and Jessie exclaimed as Emily stepped into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Jessie asked shooting a worried glance at Emily as she set them down on the table.

"Don't worry Jessie, I'm not staying." Bo said.

"Why not and why do you think Jessie wouldn't want you to stay?" Buzz asked.

"Because she's afraid I'd come between Woody and Emily." Bo replied.

"Wait, you mean they're-" Buzz started.

"Very much in love and have finally admitted it to each other." Bo said.

"Speaking of Woody, where is he?" Emily ask not seeing any sign of him in the room.

"I'm right here." Woody said coming up behind Emily and wrapping his arms around her waist.

Emily spun around to face him the moment she realized the arms that had wrapped around her were no longer just cloth and stuffing. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked up into his now human face, "You certainly make one good looking human." Emily said as she let her arms wrap around him and they stood there in each other's arms for a moment.

"Would someone please explain to me what on earth is going on here?" Buzz exclaimed causing Emily and Woody to release each other enough that they could both turn to face the table where Buzz and Jessie were.

A little while later after the situation had been explained to them Jessie said, "But if a toy has to be fifty years old to be able to become human that means Buzz couldn't become human with me."

"Yes, it does." Bo said.

"Then I'll wait until we can both be human together." Jessie told her.

"There is however a way around that rule." Bo said.

"What is it?" Jessie and Buzz both asked.

"If a toy who is over fifty years old is married to a younger toy then they can both become human together." Bo replied.

"We're going to get to be human, I'm finally going to get to ride a real horse, by my self!" Jessie exclaimed excitedly hugging Buzz.

"I have one request," Buzz said, "When I'm human could I be little taller?" he asked.

"I think that can be arranged." Bo said.

A moment later Buzz and Jessie were standing there in the middle of the kitchen and human. Jessie's clothes were still the same, but Buzz's space suit had been replaced with white pants and a white shirt with green trim.

"This is so awesome!" Jessie said then turned her attention to Buzz, wrapping her arms around his neck, "I could definitely get use to not having to bend down to kiss you." she said before kissing him.

"What about Bullseye?" Woody asked.

"Animal toys, that actually have the mind of an animal don't usually become real except occasionally in cases like this where they belong  to a toy who is becoming human. What happens to him will be your choice, but there is one thing to keep in mind, if he becomes a real horse he'll have the same lifespan as a real horse, meaning he'll die long before you do." Bo replied, "There is another option, he can remain a toy, but with the option of become larger, about the size of a dog, whenever you want him to. It will allow him to have the long life of a toy while also making it easier for you to interact with him as a human."

"That sounds like the best option." Woody said.

A little while later Bo said goodbye and disappeared, "Okay as exciting as all this has been and as much as I would love to stay here and enjoy it," she said lightly kissing Woody on the cheek, "I have got to leave or I'm going to be really late for dinner."

"Emily, I don't-" Woody started until she rested a finger over his mouth.

"Let me finish telling you what's going this time, okay?" she asked, removing her finger when he nodded his head, "I'm going to Andrew's house for dinner and to meet his wife and two kids, whom he's already shown me pictures of, so I'm pretty sure he's not just making them up to get me to come to his house alone and if he is, I'll mace him and leave right away, okay?" Emily asked.

"Alright." Woody relented.

"Good, I'll see you later." Emily said giving him quick kiss.

"And I'll see you all when the horses start getting tired." Jessie said as she dragged Buzz out to the horse barn with her.

"Don't forget to make sure the saddle is good and tight so you don't fall off!" Emily called after them before leaving.

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When Emily got home Woody was sitting in the kitchen playing fetch with Bullseye, "See, everything went fine." she said petting Bullseye when he ran over to her and pressed his head up into her hand.

"Alright, so I was wrong." Woody admitted as he walked over to her and pulled her into his arms.

"Have Buzz and Jessie come back yet?" Emily asked wrapping her arms around his neck.

"No, I haven't seen them since you left." Woody replied.

"I hope they're alright, it's already dark out, maybe we should go look for them." Emily said as she slipped out of Woody's arms and they headed out to the barn.

When they got to the barn they found that the horses were all there and the saddles and everything had been put away, but there was no sign of Buzz and Jessie.

"Where could they be?" Emily asked then heard movement in the upstairs of the barn where the straw and hay were stored, "One of the cat's must have had kittens up there again." Emily said before calling for Buzz and Jessie.

"Just a minute." Jessie called, fallowed by a couple minutes of movement before her head popped through the door in the ceiling, "What do you need?" she asked biting her lip to keep from grinning.

Emily took one look at her disheveled hair that was full of bits of hay, her crookedly buttoned shirt and the grin she was trying to hide and asked, "So you decided to catch Buzz up on The Talks that he missed?"

"Oh yeah, and gaining a whole new reason to be glad we were already married before we became human." Jessie replied finally giving up on trying not to grin.

"Well you two know where the spare key is if you decided to come in tonight." Emily said.

"Don't count on it." a shirtless Buzz said briefly appearing behind Jessie before pulling her away from the door.

"Well, good night." Emily called before she and Woody headed back to the house.