'And then the evil wizard sent his dragon out to kill Sir Buzz,' narrated Bonnie, zooming Rex through the air, paper concertina wings fluttering from his shoulders.

She grabbed Chuckles, the loyal court jester to Princess Dolly, currently captive in the highest tower. 'Oh no! There's two of them!' he said.

Trixie, also with taped on wings, was pulled over to join the group. Woody, currently an evil wizard in a hat made of blue paper with crayoned on stars, was made to cackle manically at them. 'You'll never defeat two dragons by yourself.'

'He's not alone!' And there was the noble outlaw Jessie, arrow already nocked on her bow, ready to aim at the nearest dragon.

'Bonnie! Dinner!'

The toys waited until they heard her footsteps thump all the way down the stairs before sitting up. From the shelf where she and Woody were sitting Dolly had a good view of all of them. Jessie was laughing and waving around her twig and rubber band bow, ready to demonstrate it to all and sundry. Buzz, a knight in tin foil armour, was talking to Chuckles while the two dinosaurs had started to chat about their latest video game exploits.

'Now where did Bonnie put my hat?' muttered Woody beside her.

'How about the one you've got?' Dolly teased. 'Don't like being an evil wizard?'

'Being a wizard is fine. The hat is ridiculous,' said Woody, taking it off and waving it at her for emphasis.

'At least you escaped looking like a baked potato,' Dolly offered, with a nod at Buzz.

Woody chuckled and moved to sit next to her, long legs dangling over the edge of the shelf. From below they could hear Potatohead shouting, 'Watch it with that thing, cowgirl. You just shot my eye out.'

'Sorry. Here, I'll help ya find it.'

Woody shook his head at them. 'Those guys never change.'

'How long have you known them?' asked Dolly.

'About ten years for Jessie and Bullseye, a bit longer for most of the others.'

'I can't even imagine,' said Dolly. 'No one here is more than two years old, except Chuckles.'

Woody glanced at her and picked up the wizard hat, twisting it between his hands. 'You've been really great,' he said quietly. 'I mean, we kind of got dumped on you. A whole box of new toys, all at once. And you've all just taken it in stride.'

He gazed at her with large brown eyes, gratitude shaded with guilt. Dolly's first impulse was to point out that it wasn't his fault his owner dropped them off here. But wasn't it just a bit too much of a co-incidence that Andy gave them to someone Woody already knew was good to her toys?

'It's great having you here. We're used to working with a limited cast, but there are more options now we've got a larger range of characters,' she said breezily. 'So,' she added. 'What'd you do? Slip him our address?'

'Um, yeah.'

They all skirted the rules at times, Trixie had an AIM account for Pete's sake, but even so that was pushing it. Dolly wasn't sure whether to be worried or impressed.

'I mean, I didn't give it to him. Just stuck it on the box and hoped for the best.' He shrugged. 'I didn't want the guys to wind up in the attic. Not after everything.'

'I get that.' Not entirely, she'd never thought about attics or being grown out of. She was too young, and so was Bonnie. But she got wanting to take care of the others, wanting everyone to be okay.

'Yeah.' Woody shook himself suddenly and smiled at her. 'C'mon, let's get down and see what the others are up to. Maybe someone knows where my hat is.'