The usual: I don't own the Toy Story characters; I just love them and wanted to put down a story I dreamed up about them. Nor do I own the 'Noel' character who I wanted to find a way to work into this story. The "real" Noel could get out of the attic any time he wanted to, but once I found a way around that problem, the story practically wrote/is writing itself.

PROLOGUE

Woody leaped out of the box labeled "college" and ran across Andy's bedroom floor in a panic. The trash bag that all of his friends had just been stuffed into was being dragged down the hall away from him, and Woody was more frightened than he'd ever been in his life.

He didn't want to believe that it would all come to this; that he would go away alone to college with Andy, with his friends left at the curb for the trash collector. It couldn't be; Andy wouldn't do that! He ran to the wall and hid, peeking out into the hall at the edge of the bedroom door.

Hope flared in him when Andy paused underneath the ceiling panel leading to the stairs into the attic and looked up. When he gently set the trash bag down and reached up to pull the rope that opens the trapdoor, Woody breathed a sigh of relief. He watched the panel open and the stairs into the ceiling unfold downward. His friends were going into the attic! They would all be safe, and together, only without him. They would be fine.

Andy picked up the trash bag and had taken five steps up the ladder when Molly came out of her room carrying a box packed all the way to the top with old toys to be donated to Sunnyside Daycare Center. She stumbled, and her magic 8-ball fell out of the box, hit the floor, and rolled.

Andy looked down at her and said "Hey, you need a hand?" Woody gasped, hoping that nothing would distract Andy from getting his friends tucked safely into the attic.

Molly looked up at him and said, "I got it," but it was apparent the box was too awkward for her, and she looked up at him hopefully. Woody held his breath, hoping Andy would take the bag up to the attic first.

Andy paused on the stairs for a moment, considering whether to set the trash bag back down and help his little sister now, or finish the errand he had started first. In the end, he took another step upward, hauling the bag behind him. "Give me a couple minutes to set this up here, and I'll come back and carry that downstairs for you," Andy told her, and she nodded and set the box on the floor and went to retrieve the 8-ball.

Woody breathed a sigh of relief and watched from the edge of the doorway as Andy's shoes and then the trash bag disappeared into the attic. They were up there for several minutes; he hid behind the wall once when Andy's mom walked around the corner, then came out to watch again when she was gone. Woody could hear things being moved, the trash bag rustling, and he thought even Andy's voice at one point. Molly even walked around to look up the stairs to see what was taking so long. Woody peeked around the corner, wondering what was happening up there, and then Andy's sneakers appeared on the top of the ladder and he began to climb down. "Now then," he said to Molly as he descended the last three steps. "Let's get you downstairs without you falling down and breaking your neck."

He walked away from the steps without closing the trapdoor over to the box, picked it up and led the way down the hall, Molly following him. "So…you gonna miss me when I'm gone?" Their voices trailed off. When they were gone, Woody looked cautiously up and down the hallway, than ran out until he was at the bottom of the ladder. He didn't dare go up it because people were still nearby. "Psst! Hey guys!"

Several heads appeared in the opening to the attic, First Buzz and Jessie, then Slinky and Hamm, and eventually all of them stood there looking sadly down at Woody. Buzz leaned out as far as he could, held out his hand in a long distance handshake and said: "Woody…it's nice up here." Jessie looked at Buzz for a moment, then back at Woody and nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah…" Woody looked up at them and tried to smile. "This must be that high note we were going to go out on, huh Buzz?"

"Oh, Woody" Jessie cried. "We'll be okay; we're all together…and you're going to college with Andy. And Woody…" She paused and looked away from him to the others clustered around her at the attic trap door.

"Go on, Jessie, tell him!" Slinky said, and the moment felt like they were electing her their spokesperson. "Yeah," Hamm said and several others nodded. Even Bullseye whinnied and nodded his head in agreement.

Jessie looked back down at Woody. "Woody…he talked to us! He said some really nice things about us! And about you! About how we meant a lot to him and how he would never forget any of us." She looked around at the others, and went on. "He said he couldn't let you go yet, but thought he'd be bringing you home to us soon, because he said you'd be safer here, and we should all be together." She drew herself up straight, fighting tears. "Oh Woody…he told us he loves us!"

"And he really loves you, Cowboy," Buzz said. "He's taking YOU with him for now. This isn't good bye. I don't think anything can permanently separate Team Woodrow Pride Lightyear."

Woody laughed, but there was sadness in it. "I guess you're right, Space Ranger." He heard the front door of the house open downstairs. "Andy will be back soon. I guess this is it for now guys." He smiled up at them. "Rex…Slinky…Buzz!"

One by one, they said their good byes. Then they heard the sound of feet approaching the stairs. With a final look up, Woody tipped his hat to his friends and ran back to the 'college' box.