(( A.N. Hey everyone! First thing I've written after a long Writer's Block, so please be kind! ^^ This is teeeechnically going to be a crossover later, fans of 90's cartoons might piece it together for themselves who Riley's birth parents are, but the story mainly focuses on Riley and her Emotions, especially Joyness. Also when Riley is around other people she talks in "A" and her emotions think in 'A', and if she's by herself and we're focusing on the emotions, they speak in "A". It's basically just the difference between speech and thoughts. Okay, hope you guys enjoy, and if you do, please review! =D ))

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Things don't go from bad to worse and dangerously close to Worst, and then magically get better overnight. An impatient but hopelessly exhausted Riley had to learn that the hard way as she slowly became accustomed to her new school and friends, whilst still grieving for the ones left behind. So Joy let Sadness co-pilot with her for almost the entire week, with Fear, Disgust and Anger always close behind, of course. They stayed to themselves the next three days of school, until finally on Friday, their teacher Ms. McDougal called on Riley for a question she was pretty sure she'd know.

"So, can anyone remind us which Native American tribes once lived in the state now known as Minnesota? Hmm, how about you, Riley?" Mentally the young teacher crossed her fingers and hoped she didn't step on an emotional landmine again.

But thankfully by then, the worst of it had passed, and Joy managed to coast them through a clear and simple response. "The Dakota and the Ojibwa, ma'am. Also known as the Sioux and the Chippewa."

"Excellent job, Riley! Thank you!"

Later on at lunch, Riley was sitting by herself again, when one of the popular girls she'd been admiring, the one with the blue highlights in her hair, walked up to her. Nearly choking on a fry, Riley managed to compose herself just in time, taking a quick sip of her lemon-lime soda to wash the spuds down. "Oh, h-hey-?"

"Alexis." The blue haired girl replied coolly. "And you're Riley, right?"

'Oh my gosh!' Joy nudged at the other emotions inside. 'She remembered our name!'

"Y-yeah!" Riley sputtered back nervously, cracking a grin. "Riley Anderson! Nice to meet you!"

"Yeah. Same." The slightly taller girl shrugged back, then added nonchalantly. "Pretty cool you knew that answer earlier..."

"Oh yeah? Thanks! My mom and dad both have Chippewa in them..." She mentioned, but then visibly held back at the end.

Alexis smiled back, and didn't press. "That's cool... So hey, my friends and I were wondering if you wanted to sit with us today and chat? We dig your rainbow top. Do you like fashion?"

Disgust pushed her way back to the console, but this time she was excited about it. 'Oh, Em, Gee! She wants to talk about fashion!'

"Totally!" Riley agreed right away, and quickly carried the rest of her lunch to their table.

Later, after forgetting about the rest of her fries and getting her nails painted a cool seawater shade of blue-green, which reminded Riley of the bay nearby, the bell rang and signaled for the children to come back inside. As they reluctantly shuffled back, Alexis hung back and mentioned to Riley, "Hey, by the way, I was wanting to mention earlier... My name is Alexis, but, my friends all call my Lexi. So, you can call me Lexi, if you want."

Riley was already fighting to restrain a goofy grin, but Lexi continued on, "And like, we were trying to come up with a cool nickname for you too... But, well, we all thought Riley was already a pretty cool name, so it's okay if we just call you that, right?"

Joy nudged Disgust away from the button she was pressing to keep Riley from showing off her mostly-pearly-white-teeth-with-just-a-hint-of-ketchup, and let the girl show the world her hard-earned happiness. "Yeah, Lexi! Of course!"

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The next couple of weeks passed by like a flash, and Riley was having the biggest blast. Her dad's new business started to take off, and he let her take the credit card one weekend to get herself a new wardrobe. Her new friend Lexi, and her other friends Janey or 'Jay', the girl with the infinity scarf, and Amy, or 'Ames' or sometimes even just 'A', the girl who sort of looked like Lexi except for the lack of ornamentation, and was often mistaken for a sister or cousin even though they weren't related, came along with her, and helped her pick out the coolest new outfits – As long as Mrs. Anderson approved of it, of course.

She tried out again for the hockey team, and this time she really shone like the star everyone knew she was deep down. She made the team no problem, and then she had a whole new team of friends. But her homeroom girls Lexi, Jay and Ames were still her main besties, of course. There was no doubt about that!

Well, that was, until...

It was during their History lesson one day, the Spring of the next year, the subject came upon how California got it's flag, upon which was a bear and a star. It was hardly the most riveting subject, but the substitute teacher that was telling them about it certainly had most of the girl's attention, at least.

He was... Such a dreamboat. He was just out of college, only about 25 – Definitely way too old for any schoolchild to actually date, but not so old that they couldn't appreciate his perfect teeth, his strong jaw, and the chiseled abs that he was barely hiding beneath that kinda thin t-shirt...

Plus, he had extra dark brown hair, and the most gorgeous green eyes... He almost looked just like how Riley's favorite new vampire romance's leading man was described to look like. So Riley was unfortunately a little preoccupied re-imaginging the substitute 'Mister Smith' as Vincent Hunt, the leader of her favorite vampire clan, to hear him when he asked her the first time, "So, can anyone tell me what kind of bears are native to California... How about you – Riley?"

Put on the spot by the single hottest guy she'd ever seen, Riley naturally froze at first. "Huh... Uh... I, uh..." Her mind racing for an answer it didn't have Joy instead tried to defuse the situation with an old joke. "Well, I'm not sure, because I've only lived her a little while, but... I did see a really hairy guy earlier? He kind of looked like a bear?"

Maybe two of the most immature boys in class chuckled a little. The rest of the children stared at her in impassive silence. To her deep shock and shame, her newest friends, the Cool Girls, were all glaring at her. And just as she noticed that, the substitute cleared his throat and replied, "Er, well – This IS San Francisco, Riley. You'll see a lot of guys like that. Although, just so you know, just because someone LOOKS like a 'bear' doesn't necessarily mean they ARE a 'bear'. And even if they are, there's nothing wrong with being a 'bear', right?"

Riley quickly nodded her head, wishing she had never said anything. Especially when she noticed, later that day at lunch, that the Cool Girls were obviously ignoring her...

"Guys...? Guys, I'm sorry if I said something wrong-?"

Her favorite friend Alexis was looking away from her, but Amy, her right-hand-woman, spoke up for the group. "Riley, are you aware that Lexi is adopted, and that her DADS are both very hairy gay men?"

'...Eeeyikes...' Fear squeaked out as the information passed through their ears. The other emotions were quiet enough to hear a proverbial, microscopic pin drop...

Until Sadness suddenly began to wail, 'JOOOOY-! They're gonna hate us forever! Fix it, please!'

"I'm—Lexi, I'm REALLY sorry." Joy quickly informed Riley to implore in her most apologetic tone. "I honestly didn't mean anything bad by it, I swear – I was just trying to make a joke because I didn't know the answer to the question..."

Lexi still wasn't looking at her, so Riley continued to grovel, "Please, you guys, I really am sorry... I swear, I've never make fun of someone's parents like that, because... Well, I'm adopted too..."

Riley looked down at that, but Lexi had finally looked back at her. "Really?"

Riley looked back up to stare into what she dearly hoped was still her friend's eyes. "Yeah... I mean, you know..." She gestured up to her hair.

Lexi nodded. "Yeah, I wondered – I mean it's possible, so I didn't want to –assume-, but..."

"I'm –really- sorry..." Riley stressed back, as all of the emotions crossed their fingers.

"...It's cool." Lexi finally shrugged, as Riley and everyone else let out a sigh of relief. Quickly she added though, "Just so you know – Only one of my dads is the bear. He's not big on shaving, but I never find hair in the delicious food he makes me, so I don't mind~ He's a baker, by the way. And my other dad, he's a fashion designer – He doesn't need to shave much, but he's got a fabulous head of hair, and he's the one who does my hair and makes and buys my clothes..."

"Oh... Wow! That all sounds so cool!" Joy and Riley followed excitedly. "My dad is what my mom likes to call an 'entrepreneur', so he, like, does anything he enjoys to make money! And my mom is a nurse, she always takes extra good care of me when I'm sick... Even if she can be a little TOO mushy and gushy sometimes, I love her more than anything..."

The scornful looks had turned to impassive gazes while Riley was begging for forgiveness, but now they had softened to smiles. "That sounds really cool too, Riley." Amy replied, and Lexi nodded.

"So... Do you know who your birth parents are...? Mine are from China. I've only met them once, they're too poor to afford a computer to skype with, but I talk to them on the phone once in a while. They're good people..."

Riley really stared into Lexi's eyes. "That's... Great." But there was something paining her, deep down. "I, um... My mom and dad told me when I was younger, but... They said that my mother was 'still much too young' to take care of me, and that she 'wasn't in the best home situation', and that she hadn't told my father because he'd, 'moved far away and she lost contact'..."

Joy didn't particularly mind that Sadness had nudged her over during this explanation, but when she noticed that some moistness was gathering in the corners of Riley's eyes, she quickly but calmly and soothingly nudged back, "B-But, my parents are the best, so it's really okay! I hope my birth mom and dad are doing okay wherever they are, but I'm more than okay where I am too!"

The three Cool Girls, who really were cool in more than one way, all nodded in understanding.

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That night, Joy and Sadness were both idling over the console while Riley read a book in her room. One of Sadness' new favorite tragic Vampire stories, of which there seemed to be thousands to choose from. Joy didn't care for them as much as her little blue friend did, but she tolerated them, because Disgust was a fan of the drama, and Fear felt the suspense was good practice for the brain if a real scary situation happened later, and Anger liked the fierce battles. So, in a match of 4 against 1, Joy had to appreciate what few heartwarming moments there were to be found in a book about the undead. Hey, at least they weren't dead-dead, right?

Some of those blood-sucking scenes were extra-icky though... Joy wished they did more of that kissing stuff. Kissing was fun...

Of course, Riley had only ever kissed her parents, and only her mother on the lips, at least in recent memory. Unfortunately the longer-gone memories of the times she had ones pecked her father on the lips could no longer be recalled. It was so strange. Joy could remember them in her heart of hearts, but they couldn't access them to play for Riley anymore. It wasn't that it had never happened, but, it felt so much more distant than it ought to...

And even her mom, she didn't kiss her on the lips anymore, the last time she had done that was when she was about eight or so, probably... Then it started getting embarrassing and Riley settled for hugs.

But now... Joy kind of really missed that feeling. Kind of wished she could feel it again. But, there was no one to kiss...

...Unless...?

"Hey... Sadness?" Joy cracked a mischievous grin at the unsuspecting little blueberry. "Wanna have a fantasy?"

Sadness lit up like a Christmas light. Fantasies were a new take on an old favorite thing – An upgrade to the daydream and imagination portion of Riley's brain. In regular daydreams, the emotions would see clips or short scenes of the imagined event. In Fantasy mode, an attachment with a visor that they put over their eyes would make everything seem more lifelike and 3D, like virtual reality. As long as Riley was uninterrupted, she could zone out and they could enact different parts.

Technically all of them could participate at once, but it was tiring to do that. They usually kept it at only two or three at a time, tops, unless a complex scenario needed them all to consider a different side of the story...

But mostly, they just used it for fun.

"Oh, oh – Really?" Sadness inquired excitedly, her eyes all big and excited.

Joy loved it when she looked like that. Sometimes it seemed like it was almost impossible to keep Sadness from being Sad, and Joy had come to accept that she couldn't always change that... But, sometimes she –could-, and she always felt so ecstatic when she finally managed to make her pessimistic little coworker crack a smile.

"Yeah! We can, you know... Pretend to be vampires!" Could Sadness's eyes get any bigger? Joy wondered as she slyly suggested, "How about – I'll be Riley as a vampire, and you be Lexi as a vampire?"

Yes, yes they could get bigger. Much bigger.

After putting the visors on and starting up the systems, the two emotions were transported to a miniature but expansive world – First they played out a scene in seventeenth century Paris, where Sadness/Lexi bit Joy/Riley on the neck and turned her into a vampire. Sadness had admonished Joy not to giggle so much while she 'sucked her blood', but Joy really couldn't help it.

Then they pretended to go to fancy balls and parties throughout the ages, spending only seconds in between the centuries, until they finally arrived at a modern-day party, where other cool vampires were hanging out.

Until then, Joy had all of Sadness's attention and vice-versa. But then suddenly, a dashingly handsome vampire man showed up at this party. There had been other good-looking male and female vampires and humans around them during the entire fantasy, but this one... He literally just stood out of the crowd. It was undoubtedly in part because he looked almost exactly like their ridiculously handsome substitute, except that his dark brown hair was now jet black, and there were two long and very sharp vampire canines where an unnoticeable human pair once were.

But... There was something else about him. There was a spirit of true fun in that smile he was flashing at them, and in his bright, sparkling eyes – Eyes that looked so joyful and alive, it was entirely out of place with the pale, undead creature he was supposed to be.

"Riley!" He breathed out, sprinting to the girl as soon as he saw her. He took up her hands in his, and looked deep into her eyes. Then he paused, "Wait... It's Joy! That's right - I was looking for you! And now here you are!"

A sudden recognition made Joy's heart explode like a firecracker. It wasn't their substitute's voice coming from that hopelessly handsome vampire... It was... it was-!

"Bing Bong!" Joy cried out, tears coming to her eyes even if she'd rarely felt as happy as she did now. "It's you! You're back! You're okay! I—"

"Shh..." Bing Bong soothingly shushed her, the infantile way she did to Sadness sometimes, and took her arms in his, as he began to lead her into a slow and soulful waltz. "Not so fast, Joy... I am okay, and I am back, but... As you can see, I'm not quite who I used to be anymore..."

Joy stared up at him, and slowly nodded. "Well... Yeah, I suppose you're not, but... It's you, deep down, isn't it...?"

He swayed with her, as if rocking an infant. "Deep... Deep down. Yes..." He admitted vaguely.

Joy probed, "What do you mean? How-?"

He shushed her again. "Listen, Joy... I've only got a little bit of time to tell you everything I need to. So listen..."

It seemed like everyone else in the room had pooled around them, leaving Joy and the tall, dark Mystery Man to float around the circle they formed. She hardly paid any attention to that, though. She could only focus on her old friend, as he hurriedly explained in a hush, "I led the ashes of her most important memories like a pied piper to her Subconscious... Then I pieced them back together, microscopic bit by bit, and stored them. They might not be accessible, but they'll always be there. They'll never be truly lost to Riley now. And Joy, when I was doing this task, I found something very important, something very old... So old, even you and I didn't remember it... Riley's true First Memory!"

He suddenly swept Joy off her feet, and into a graceful dip. As he did so, he suddenly bent down, and with those perfect, pale lips, he planted a chaste, airy whisper of a kiss onto her lips. With this kiss, brought back the memories of all her mother's kisses. And then, all of her fathers kisses, all the soft ones, all the dry and bristly and sloppy ones, all of the hugs and cuddles... And then, at the very end, there was one last kiss. But it wasn't from either her mother or father. It was from a very young girl. A girl only a few years older than Riley was now. She was blonde like Riley. And she had blue eyes like Riley...

She kissed her on the forehead, and then her cheek, and then she whispered, "I'm so sorry... But I'll always love you. I swear I love you more than you'll ever know, and... I just know, it's better this way... You're better off, with them..."

She was so sad but so sure as she said that. She meant every word as if her life depended on it...

After that the girl, who seemed a bit rough-around-the-edges compared to her powder-soft parents, even though she was donning a pink hospital gown, handed her over to the Andersons, who cooed over her, equally undying love in their eyes for her, and called her their "Bundle of Joy"...

Joy didn't notice the girl edging out of the room after that, she was too busy being loved by her new parents. Only Sadness saw her... And made Riley let out a cry, so that she'd know she would be missed...

Before that there was nothing, and so Joy was brought back to where she truly was with a gasp.

Bing Bong, or, 'Lord Bryceon the Lustful of Lithovania' (Joy restrained her suffering sigh) winked, as he parted from her. "Now you'll never forget... And neither did she..."

He left that part vague, so Joy wasn't entirely sure who he meant. "Who-? Sadness...?"

Bing Bong-Bryceon just smiled, and lifted her back up to her shaking feet. "Hey, listen Joy – I'm telling you all this... I'm telling you while –I- still remember, because... I won't, for very much longer. I won't remember being Bing Bong. But you will!" He quickly reminded her as she started to protest. "I've got another job to do now, but you'll always remember the most important parts of who Riley was and always will be... You'll remember when see another child do the things that used to make you smile. And maybe one day, one of them will make Riley remember me! But you will until then. You'll remember it by being kind and Joyful to them, even if they're a Sad child, or a Disgusted child, or a Fearful child, or an Angry child... Do you understand, Joy? My... 'Bundle of Joy'?"

Sadness came up and tugged on her arm. "Joy, it's almost midnight..."

Joy didn't know why that was important right now, but it apparently was. However, she was reluctant to let her old friend go. "You just got here! I don't want you to go so soon!"

"I'm sorry, my Joy, but... Here." The handsome older man twirled her around once more. "We have time, at least, for just one last dance, and one last lesson... That is, that if a man this age actually flirts with Riley, to run for the hills! Of course! But... Nothing wrong with her having a harmless fantasy, either! Of course! Right?" He smiled shyly, and Joy giggled through the tears, reaching up and placing her Last Chance Kisses on his lips, cheeks and forehead, too.

"Of course." She smiled back at him. "Thank you, Bing Bong... I will –always- remember you... I promise."

He grinned. "And hey, one last thing, Joy... I've matured a bit since you last saw me, so I just wanted you to know... You don't really gotta –literally- take Riley to the moon. Yanno there's no oxygen up there, so she couldn't even breathe! It'd be a real hassle. But, can you just promise me this... Make her –FEEL- like she's up there, yanno, Joy? What do they say – Shoot for the Moon, and you'll always at least reach the stars? You can do it, kid. I know you can..."

"I will, Bing Bong..." Joy nodded solemnly, much more full of hope for this promise than the last she'd made for him. "I'll do it... For you. And for Riley..."

"That's my girl." Bing Bong beamed back at her. Then he began to walk slowly backwards, as the clock struck twelve, and Sadness began to tug her away from the Fantasy World...

Joy woke up on the other side with a melodramatic gasp, and took off the visor. Sadness took hers off quietly, and then looked at Joy with her big, wet eyes. Joy looked away and rubbed her arm.

"...What? Why are you looking at me like that?" She finally inquired, unable to take it anymore.

Sadness blinked, and then blushed, and she looked away too, smiling just a very small shy smile. "That was a nice fantasy... I liked that one..."

Joy smiled back at her, and soon it had stretched into a grin, even if her eyes were just as wet as Sadness's. "Yeah... I liked that one too. Even if it was pretty Sad there at the end... Thanks for sharing that with me, Sadness."

"I always knew, you know..." Sadness suddenly blurted back. "Even after I forgot, I knew something was missing, you know...? You would always tell me we should be happy, that we had almost everything a kid could want, that our parents were great. And they were, but... I knew something important was gone..."

Blinking back at her with her eyes still full of tears, Joy suddenly took up Sadness's hand in hers. "If it's meant to be, we'll meet them again. And if not, there's lots of other people out there to fill the void. We can do this, Sadness. We're not alone." She insisted, bringing the smaller emotion in for a tender embrace.

Sadness sighed happily, and nodded against her collar, leaning into the light and warmth her joyful heart seemed to be made out of. Sadness was still ever the pessimist, but...

Joy made her feel... Hopeful.

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