AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Before I begin writing this new Brickoli request for RoseEmbers99, I just want to thank her for being so patient (since I received this request a few months ago!) But at the time, I had too many other stories in progress which I wanted to finish before committing myself to a new story :)

RoseEmbers99, I hope from the bottom of my heart that your patience will be rewarded and I will do my best to make this story nice for you!

I hope you enjoy it…even just a little bit :)

Story title has been supplied to me by RoseEmbers99.

Svinorita.

Chapter 1 – Mirror, Mirror on the Floor…

It was an early Saturday morning and inside Riley's Headquarters, all was still and quiet. One by one, the Emotions were just beginning to stir from their slumber, the last traces of sleep still lingering in their minds as they slowly transitioned from a dream state to waking consciousness…

Suddenly the early morning peace was shattered by the sound of loud hammering, followed by an ear-splitting scream resounding throughout Headquarters!

Sadness, who had been on Dream Duty last night, gave a sharp cry of surprise as the noise startled her awake. She jumped instinctively and fell off the sofa, ending up flat on her face on the floor as her weary mind struggled to process what was happening.

The blue Emotion sat up slowly and moaned as she readjusted her glasses. "What was that…?"

Suddenly, another loud noise made her flinch as the sound of porcelain shattering came from the direction of the kitchen accompanied by Fear's shrill shriek of alarm. Apparently the same commotion that had jolted Sadness awake had also startled him and in his panic, Fear must have accidentally dropped the bowl of sugar.

Sadness knew her purple co-worker was naturally an early riser, so he had probably been in the process of making his first cup of tea this morning…

Before Sadness could finish her thought, Joy almost trampled her as she dashed into the main room. Her dress was on back-to-front, indicating that the yellow Emotion had thrown it on hastily and her blue hair hadn't been brushed yet Sadness noted, as it stuck out wildly in all directions like a porcupine's quills.

Sadness watched in bemusement as Joy paused in the middle of the room and looked around with a dazed expression on her face.

Her voice still sounded half-asleep as she uttered in a state of confusion, "Did someone call me…?"

Before Sadness could answer, Anger's furious roar reverberated down the hall as he shouted from his room, "IN THE NAME OF PEACE IN THE MIND WORLD! DID SOMEONE START A WAR IN HERE?!"

Sadness, Joy and Fear exchanged nervous looks before gazing apprehensively at the ramp joining the Emotions' sleeping quarters to the main room.

Everyone held their breath as Anger appeared at the top of the ramp, the top of his head already alight with flames. He glared crossly around the room before bellowing, "AND WHOEVER IT IS WILL BE VERY SORRY BECAUSE WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THEM, THERE WILL BE WAR!"

Suddenly another ear-piercing scream of agony drifted down the hall. The four Emotions all gasped as they realized with a start that it originated from Disgust's room!

Reacting simultaneously, all four raced towards the cries of distress, the collective concern they felt for their green co-worker overshadowing the feelings of confusion and outrage that had taken precedence just moments ago…

They reached her room just as Disgust's pain-filled voice called out through the closed door, "Help somebody! Are you all deaf?! I'm badly hurt over here!"

Anger took the initiative and nearly knocked the door off its hinges as he barged into the room like a tank, his eyes filled with concern for his green co-worker. The other Emotions followed closely behind whereupon they discovered Disgust sitting on the floor in obvious distress. Her hair was all messy and her green face was streaked with tears as she looked up at them pitifully.

She wasn't wearing any shoes and there was a hammer lying next to her right foot. A large nail could be seen half-protruding from the wall, which now sported an impressive crack at the site where Disgust had tried to hammer it into the wall.

Anger grimaced as he noticed that the big toe on Disgust's right foot had an unnaturally reddish tinge to it in addition to looking very swollen and painful…

"Disgust! What happened in here?!" The red Emotion demanded as he knelt beside his green co-worker and inspected her injured toe carefully.

Disgust grabbed his hand, her voice shaking with panic as she sobbed, "Oh Anger! I can't look! Tell me, is it bad?! Am I going to lose my leg…?"

Anger lifted her right foot as gently as he could and examined her injury thoroughly, before returning his verdict calmly, "Well I wouldn't say so…I mean your toe is pretty swollen…"

A frown appeared on his face and he muttered under his breath, "But then I'm not the doctor around here!"

He turned his attention to Fear, his voice full of sarcasm as he snapped, "Beanpole fancies himself as a bit of a know-it-all medic! So maybe you should ask him?"

Fear flinched from the bite in Anger's voice but nodded meekly as he walked over to Disgust and started assessing her injury. Joy and Sadness also approached their green co-worker and knelt on either side of her, doing their best to comfort and reassure her.

"Oh poor Disgust! That looks like it really hurts…" Sadness lamented. Her deep blue eyes were already welling with tears of sympathy for her injured friend.

Fear eased a cushion under Disgust's foot and told Joy to get an ice pack from the kitchen.

Joy hurried down the hall to fetch the first aid kit and as soon as she returned, Fear instructed her to hold the ice pack against Disgust's injured toe.

Then he smiled reassuringly at the green Emotion and asked her gently, "Now tell us what happened in here Disgust."

Disgust took a shuddering breath and gestured to the nail sticking out of the wall as she began explaining, "Well I wanted to hammer that stupid nail into the wall so I could put up my new mirror…"

She pointed to a small oval mirror which was lying on the floor beside her bed and continued, "I thought it would be a good idea to have a mirror in my room because the rest of you are always complaining that I take too long in the bathroom every morning when I'm applying my makeup…"

Disgust gave a disheartened sigh and avoided meeting their eyes as she said in a small voice, "I can't help it that I like to look pretty when I leave my room every morning!"

Anger glanced at the mirror on the floor and snorted in amusement. "Is that a magic mirror? Like the one from Snow White where you can ask, 'Mirror, mirror on the wall…who's the prettiest of them all' and it shows you?!"

Joy rolled her eyes and jabbed the red Emotion in the ribs with her elbow. "Aren't you Mr. Sensitive, Anger?!"

Anger growled and shot Joy an irritated look. He rubbed his side gingerly and mumbled, "I'm only asking because if it means so much to her, I could have told her myself that she is the prettiest girl around here!"

The red Emotion looked at Joy and Sadness apologetically and shrugged. "Sorry girls, but that's just my opinion…"

That comment piqued Disgust's interest immediately and she stopped crying abruptly, her emerald-green eyes searching Anger's face intently. "You really mean that?"

Anger grunted and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably as he muttered, "I not only think so, but I know so!"

Disgust couldn't hide the little smile of appreciation that appeared on her lips.

"Oh that's nice…" She uttered dreamily.

She shook her head and turned her attention back to her mirror. Her expression was full of resentment and her voice bitter as she informed, "But no! It's not magic! It's just an ordinary stupid mirror and I feel like grabbing that hammer and smashing it to bits right now!"

"Oh no! You shouldn't do that Disgust!" Fear stuttered nervously. "I heard somewhere that breaking a mirror can bring seven years of bad luck!"

Joy was staring at Anger and Disgust with a baffled expression on her face.

What's gotten into those two? Did I get up just for this…? She thought to herself, one eyebrow raised questioningly as she watched the compassionate interaction playing out between Anger and Disgust.

Disgust was still talking, oblivious to Joy's bewilderment. Her voice was beginning to rise in irritation as she concluded, "Anyway, I was hammering that nail in the wall when this stupid hammer slipped out of my hand and landed on my toe!"

Fear ran one final check of Disgust's foot before offering helpfully, "Well I think it should be alright. It looks like the hammer just nicked the side of your toe a little bit and I can't see any serious damage caused as a result…"

"It shouldn't take too long to heal." He stated with a little smile of encouragement.

Anger shook his head slowly, his voice sounding mystified as he said, "I just don't understand it...why did you dirty your pretty little hands with something that is so obviously a man's job?"

He gazed into her captivating green eyes and gave her a tiny smile as he declared boldly, "All you had to do was ask and I would have been glad to do it for you!"

Without warning, Joy broke out into a violent coughing fit. The other Emotions all turned to stare at their yellow co-worker with concern as she gagged and spluttered spasmodically.

"Joy? Are you okay?" Disgust asked worriedly.

Joy clutched her throat and coughed some more, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she croaked, "Sorry…something just irritated my throat really badly!"

She looked at Fear and wheezed, "Fear, can I borrow some of your honey?"

"Of course you can Joy…" Fear replied with an uneasy expression.

He forced an unsure smile and offered, "I've got a special kind of honey that's good for sore throats. I can go get it for you…"

Fear got up and left the room with Joy following behind him. She stopped at the door and looked back at Sadness questioningly. "Sadness? Are you coming? Riley will be waking up soon and someone should be minding the console in case she needs anything."

Sadness appeared to be lost in her own thoughts and it took her a moment to register Joy's instruction.

"What…? Oh okay…" She replied unenthusiastically.

Throwing a final curious glance over her shoulder at Anger and Disgust, Sadness got to her feet clumsily and followed Joy out of the room.

XXX

Joy dropped her choking act as soon as she, Fear and Sadness reached the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure the other two Emotions hadn't followed them before whispering, "Am I imagining it, or did Anger just make a pass at Disgust back there?!"

Sadness shrugged. "I think he was just concerned about her…" She offered naively.

Fear regarded Joy with a thoughtful expression. "I wouldn't call myself an expert on such matters, but I've got a feeling you might be right there Joy…"

Joy shook her head in wonder. A wry grin tugged at the corner of her mouth as she uttered, "What a smooth operator! I never knew Anger could be such a romantic!"

Fear gave a nervous chuckle and nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Anger's a real charmer isn't he…?"

The three Emotions went silent as they listened to the sound of hammering coming from Disgust's room, accompanied by some colorful language from Anger as he went about hanging that mirror for the "object of his desire."

XXX

Ten minutes later, Disgust hobbled into the main room to rejoin the others at the console. She had one hand on Anger's shoulder for support while he held an arm around her waist to stop her from losing her balance and falling over.

Joy, Sadness and Fear could only watch in perplexed silence as Anger led her to the sofa and helped ease his green co-worker onto it gently. As soon as she was seated, Anger propped a cushion behind her back and lifted her injured foot onto a nearby footstool with the utmost care.

"There we go...are you comfy my pretty one?" Anger asked in a sugary voice.

Disgust closed her eyes and gave a huge sigh of contentment. "Very much! Thank you!"

She opened her eyes and batted her long eyelashes at Anger flirtatiously. "Oh Anger…what would I do without you?" She crooned sweetly.

Right on cue, Joy launched into another bout of over-the-top coughing. She covered her mouth with one hand and shot Anger and Disgust an apologetic look before racing out of the room.

Fear had been sipping his tea quietly, but even he began spluttering and gagging after hearing the flirtatious exchange between Anger and Disgust! Without giving them a second glance, Fear promptly followed Joy down the hall before they could question why both he and Joy had suddenly become so prone to breaking out into random coughing fits…

In the confusion, Sadness was left standing alone by the console with a bewildered expression on her face.

"What has gotten into everyone this morning?" She wondered out loud.

She gave a despondent sigh and glanced at Anger and Disgust briefly before turning her attention back to the monitor. She pressed some buttons and pulled a lever, sniffling to herself as a melancholy blue glow spread over the console.

It looks like Riley will be having the blues today…