A/N: I got the idea in my head that Jessie and Mira would get along pretty well, and I decided to – uh – just go with it…

Also, for some reason I imagine a humanised Jessie as sounding a bit like Reba

Blind Date

Mira recalled the first time she'd ever met Jessie. Jessie had been a scruffy kid, and Mira herself had been a kid – albeit a few months older – who wasn't allowed to be scruffy. Jessie was always scrawny and covered in dirt, tanned and freckled from being out in the sun all day. She wore jeans to formal events, she spat, she swore, she never wore dresses… all qualities Mira envied.

What had happened was that Mira had complained that she didn't have many friends. She was about eleven at the time, she thought. Her father told her she had plenty of friends, but she had wanted friends from other places; not just Tangea. Her father had insisted that as a princess she must only have royal friends, but he still agreed to look for someone to be friends with her. He had stumbled upon that someone when asking about Earth; the only person with the name "Princess" who was Mira's age: Jessie Pride, known to the townsfolk as the Princess of the Prairie.

Boy was he embarrassed when he realised his mistake. Still, he had agreed to it, and had to go along with it.

When Mira and Jessie had first met, Jessie had shown up wearing fading jeans with a hole in the knee, a red hat, cowgirl boots and a wrinkled white jumper. She'd removed a packet of Earth candy called Redvines – made particularly popular in the early 21st Century by a group called Starkid – and had removed two Vines from the packet, which she returned to her pocket. Putting one Vine into her mouth, Jessie had held the other out to Mira and said, "Want one?"

Now that they were in their twenties, the two of them were still good friends. Luckily they'd always had to contact each other via phone and e-mail, so Mira's joining Star Command had not affected their friendship too much. Jessie was still a scruffy, scrawny, dirty, awesome girl and Mira's best friend, so when she saw Jessie over the screen of the phone, she knew straight away that something was wrong.

Jessie was crying. She never cried. The only time Mira had ever seen Jessie cry was when her dog had died.

"What happened?" Mira asked immediately. "Who do I have to kill?"

Jessie gave her a watery smile. "Ain't bad enough for that. I just went through a rough breakup."

Mira sighed. "Finally. I told you that boy was no good. I bet he was looking at other women before you even agreed to go on a date with him."

"Thanks Mira, I feel so much better," Jessie grumbled sarcastically.

"Aww, Jess, you know I feel bad for you really. You broke it off with him, right?"

"Yeah. But he got pretty mad."

"Did he hurt you?"

"He tried," Jessie said. "But I took care of him. I got a mean right hook."

"I know." Mira had often been witness to Jessie beating up people who caused trouble. Whenever Jessie visited, it was like she had her own awesome bodyguard.

"I threw out all his things, too," Jessie said, "but the place is kinda lonely now. And what with you so far away, I don't get many visitors."

Mira nodded in understanding. Jessie had been alone for a while now. She had lived with her cousin, Emily, but a year and a half ago Emily got married and moved in with her husband. Mira had gone to the wedding. Jessie and Emily had been close enough to be siblings. Mira could easily imagine Jessie feeling lonely.

A plan suddenly formed in her mind.

"I could always set you up on a blind date," she offered. Jessie pulled a face. Laughing, Mira said, "No, I'm serious! There are plenty of nice guys at Star Command. I'm sure we could find you a place not far from here, so we could protect you from your creeper ex. And if you get married, Star Command allows families to live together."

"I'm not allowed to say no to this offer, am I?" Jessie joked. Mira smiled. She looked a lot less tearful now.

"Nope. Come on down for a week. I know just who I wanna set you up with…"

Outside the door to Mira's quarters, XR said, "I'm telling you, Mira's talking to a really hot girl from Earth! You should see her! She's gorgeous!"

"XR, don't spy on Mira's private conversations," Buzz said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"But she is! Honest!"

"I never said I didn't believe you…"

Suddenly the door opened and the two of them jumped back.

"Buzz!" Mira exclaimed. "Perfect! Remember how you owe me a favour for saving your butt on our last mission? I'm calling it!"

"You want me to do what!?"

"Go on, Buzz, it's just one date! Jessie's my best friend, and she's having a really bad time, and I told her I'd set her up with someone! If it doesn't go well, you don't even have to see her again."

"Mira, I don't date."

"I actually think it's a good idea, too, Lightyear."

"Commander Nebula?" Buzz looked up in shock. Nebula shrugged.

"It'll help take your mind off your work. We don't want the stress getting to you again."

Buzz huffed. "Do I get a say in any of this?"

Nebula and Mira looked at each other; then back to him. "Nope."

"Shouldn't it be my decision, too?"

"Buzz," Mira said firmly, "I am calling in a favour. You have no decision about that."

"But I don't want to go on a blind date!" Buzz argued, causing Mira to sigh in frustration and said:

"Look, Buzz, you're making this whole thing a lot harder than it has to be. Just go out to dinner with Jessie, okay? Then, if it goes well, you two can carry on dating. If it doesn't, at least we got her to stop sulking and I'll find someone else who owes me a favour. Okay?"

"Well…"

"Hey, I think I owe you a couple of favours, Mira!" said a voice from just outside the door.

"Can it, XR!"

Mira sat at the booth of the diner. It wasn't exactly classy and it was a place they went to for lunch often, but she knew Jessie would like it. Jessie loved a classic '50s-Earth-style diner, complete with greasy good and gum-popping waitresses. Buzz sat opposite, fidgeting with a napkin. Mira supposed he was fairly pleased not to have to dress up, although they did make him take off his purple hood, something he hadn't done in a long time, except to get his hair cut.

He actually had decent hair. Mira had been expecting a buzz-cut (she winced, realising it was a pun) but no; Buzz's hair wasn't very long, but it was long enough that, with the help of XR's intimate knowledge of hair-care products, it was slicked back and combed until it seemed relatively soft. It was a sort of light, sandy brown. They'd also managed to force him to wear a pair of jeans and a white dress shirt. He'd insisted on at least having shine-able shoes.

Now they just had to wait for Jessie to turn up.

Mira was no idiot; she knew exactly what she was doing. An informal diner like this, especially since they visited it so often, would take some of the pressure off and help Buzz to relax. He was always wound just a little bit too tight. Maybe he'd open up a bit to the option of dating – he was the only person she knew who avoided it if he could – and if it worked out between him and Jessie, she'd have an excuse to see her best friend more often.

Besides, playing Cupid was kinda fun. So was setting up these blind dates.

And she may or may not have also been secretly kinda hoping that a few Rangers would see the date, recognise Buzz and begin spreading the news around Star Command. Or maybe she'd get sound blackmail material… on either of them.

Finally, a text alert came through on Mira's cell. She had specifically told Jessie to text her when she was literally right in the parking lot of the diner. Mira hopped up and ran for the door. It had been a couple of years since they'd seen each other in person, after all.

Mira spotted Jessie in the parking lot, eating a Redvine, and smirked. Redvines were like their own secret code or something.

"Hey," Mira called, "can I have one?"

Jessie turned and spotted her, and her face broke into a grin. They hugged in greeting and Jessie pulled a packet of Redvines out of her back pocket, offering one. Mira swore they were like cigarettes to her.

"Thanks for doin' this for me," Jessie said. "I know I didn't like the idea at first, but if it's your crazy scheme, it's bound to work out somehow."

"Yeah, somehow. And if it doesn't work out, there's a robot on my team who's been trying all week to take Buzz's place on this blind date."

"Buzz? Ya mean the guy in charge of your team? Buzz Lightyear?" Jessie asked, astounded. "I thought ya said he didn't date!"

"He doesn't. We made him," Mira replied. "Oh, Jessie, don't give me that look! Just get in there; you'll be fine!"

They peered in through the window. Buzz was studying the menu, but obviously Mira knew he'd be ordering the usual.

"So how does this work again?"

"We go in there, I introduce you, I leave, you two have dinner, and then do whatever you want…" Mira winked and raised her eyebrows suggestively. Jessie pulled another face at her.

"Come on, Mira, let's get in there. I'm starving."

Buzz was reading the menu purely for something to do. He knew exactly what he was going to have, of course: the usual. He was just killing time – murdering it with a blunt axe, really – until Mira got back with her friend. XR had been trying all week to take his place, and he had nearly relented, but making anybody go on a date with XR was very easily the least chivalrous thing ever. So he had agreed to go on the date.

He only looked up when he heard Mira clear her throat.

"Buzz, this is Jessie. Jessie, this is Buzz. Good luck, you two." Then Mira left.

Leaving Buzz with easily the most beautiful young woman he had ever seen in his life.

She was human, of course, with doll-smooth skin, tanned and freckled from the sun, fiery-red hair and the most intensely green eyes he had even seen. She wore dark jeans with a pair of cowgirl boots, a white shirt with yellow cuffs which she seemed to have attached herself, a yellow ribbon in her plaited hair and a red hat. He briefly wondered what she'd look like without the hat, and he found that his heart skipped a beat when she spoke to him.

"Okay if I join ya?" she asked. Her southern accent left Buzz somewhat breathless.

"S-sure," he stammered. She slid into the booth where Mira had sat and picked up the menu.

"I've had nothing but Redvines since lunch," she said. "Only so long you can last on a delicious snack, y'know?"

"I've often heard of Redvines," Buzz said. "They're Mira's favourite snack, too."

Jessie snorted in amusement. "I know. Who didja think got her into them?"

A waitress came to take their orders, and once they were done ordering, Buzz said, "Mira tells me the two of you were childhood friends. Care to tell me about how it happened?"

Jessie smiled at him – a heat suddenly rose in his cheeks – and launched herself into her side of the story. She looked like she was enjoying telling it, he noted. She looked pretty when she was happy. And it was cute how she talked with her hands…

Really? Blushing and thinking the word 'cute'? That wasn't normal for him. Maybe he was ill.

"I hear tell you didn't want a partner when Mira joined your team," Jessie said, pulling Buzz back to reality.

"Y-yes," he said nervously. "That's… very true. I believed then that I had witnessed the death of my old partner, a good friend of mine, and was not willing to let more Rangers die for me." He chuckled. "Ironic, really. I didn't want any partners, but I ended up with three."

"Boy, I bet that was fun," Jessie said. "We don't get much action where I come from; not like you see every day. You must live a real excitin' life out there, Buzz."

Buzz smiled. She said his name so perfectly…

"I suppose it must be to someone not in Star Command," he said, trying to rid his brain of whatever was clogging it up, "but there's a lot of very mundane paperwork involved, too. A lot of standard procedures. Luckily the missions aren't too repetitive, but the pressure has been known to get to people on occasion."

"Yeah, I heard about that," Jessie giggled. "What was the pen for?"

Buzz turned bright red with embarrassment just as the waitress brought their food over.

"Finally," Jessie said gratefully, and all but attacked her plate out of hunger. Buzz's eyes softened slightly. He was completely certain he didn't know anybody like her. Well, perhaps Mira was similar in some ways, but friends always picked up habits from each other.

And he had to admit, even though he hadn't wanted to go on this date, he was actually kind of enjoying –

"Buzz?"

He looked up. Uh-oh. Some other Rangers, two he knew mostly by sight, had spotted him. He knew their surnames were Smith and Jones. They were coming over.

"I almost didn't recognise you," one of them – Jones, he thought – said. "I didn't really expect to see you here, either. Actually, I'd have thought you'd still be working, like usual."

"Yeah, well, actually, I –"

"I mean, you don't ever go many places unless you're with the rest of your team. But I guess the Golden Boy of Star Command needs all the protection he can get, huh?"

Buzz blushed, stealing a glance at Jessie. She had wiped her face and hands on a napkin (her meal was finished already. She must have been starving) and was watching the exchange with a look of mild amusement.

"I guess so," Buzz said, "but I'm actually with somebody right now." He placed all the emphasis he could on the words 'with somebody'.

Smith and Jones looked from Jessie to Buzz and back again a couple of times, then hastily apologised and backed off. Jessie smirked at him.

"The Golden Boy of Star Command, huh?"

"Evidently so, yes."

Jessie started to laugh, and Buzz would have – should have – felt extremely offended, but he liked her laugh. It was pretty, and it was infectious. Soon he was laughing, too.

When they managed to stop laughing, Jessie wiped a tear from her eye and sighed. "Ya know, Buzz," she said, "I didn't really wanna go on a blind date. But Mira was right – I needed to get outta the house – so I agreed. And I'm glad I did, cos I'm really having fun."

She smiled sheepishly at him and Buzz swore he felt his heart stop.

"I'm glad I agreed, too," he confessed. "I don't exactly date, but Mira and Commander Nebula insisted that I needed to leave the office more. And I-I'm really enjoying myself."

They grinned at each other for a minute before Jessie jerked a thumb over her shoulder and said, "You wanna get outta here?"

"Where to?"

"I dunno." Jessie leaned over the table to him. "I was hoping you'd know somewhere," she purred in his ear.

Buzz gulped. He could guess pretty easily at what she meant. "I might know somewhere," he replied. "You're staying for a week, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Would you like to go on a couple more dates with me before you leave?"

Jessie grinned and darted forwards to peck Buzz on the lips. "I'd love to."