They had gone upstairs to get ready for bed, dressing in their respective sleeping clothes, although none of them anticipated getting any actual rest that night. They had been dragging their feet, but eventually they all made it back downstairs.

Now, they all sat in a bit of a circle, with Sadness, Disgust, and Fear sitting on the couch and Joy and Anger sitting in a nest of blankets and pillows on the floor in front. It had been a few minutes since they made it to this spot, and no one had yet opened up the floodgates.

Suddenly, Joy took a vitalizing breath and slapped on a hopeful smile, and decided to begin. "So, how do we want to do this? Should we take turns, or what?"

"Take turns doing what?" That was Disgust. "Sharing our feelings? Baring our souls? Singing Kumbaya? What are we—"

"Disgust," Anger's voice was still, oddly, the most calming sound in the room. "Please."

She stopped talking, looking sorry, rather than annoyed.

Joy, somewhat unnerved, turned to the only one there she thought could do any good at the moment, "Sadness? Could you…"

Sadness looked at Joy, still surprised at being called out to, but it warmed her, in a way. And she knew that Joy was right to, in this instance. Beneath it all, the anger and the annoyance and the fear, she could tell that her friends were simply sad. That, she knew, was something she could help with.

"That was a good idea, Joy," she said sweetly, "To, um, to take turns. I think we're all bothered by different things, and we all have different things to say. We can just…talk. and the rest of us will listen."

Joy understood, and was happy with the idea. The others were dubious, having witnessed very little of what Sadness could do, but enough to not question her.

Sadness could tell that the three were still hesitant to talk, so she decided to open things up. "I can go first, if no one else wants to. Then Joy, if you wouldn't mind..?" Joy was surprised, but nodded.

"O-okay, um," Sadness began, "well, it isn't really news to anybody that I felt a little bit, uh, under appreciated, and I was starting to think that I didn't matter to Riley, to any of you…" Each of the others looked decidedly uncomfortable at this; Joy might have been something of a driving force behind her alienation, but none of them did anything to help the blue emotion. "And that's getting better, now, but, I don't know…I think it will take some time for me to feel okay with everything." Her eyes had long since gathered tears, but only now did they begin to fall. "I-I don't want to be a burden to anyone. And I don't think that I believe that I am, anymore, but…I don't know. It j-just makes me so…s-sad…"

Joy could stand it no more at this point and crawled over to the couch to take her hand. "I am so, so sorry, Sadness. That was all my fault. If i hadn't been such a—"

"No, it's okay Joy," She managed through her tears. It was a heartbreakingly beautiful sight to see the embodiment of sorrow reach out to another, as if by helping others she herself felt better. And maybe she did. "It's okay, really. You didn't know any better. I didn't either; n-none of us did."

It seemed as though Anger was perhaps among the most willing to do this, surprisingly, as he was the next to chime in, "We should have. That's on us kiddo, you didn't do anything wrong. None of us gave you a chance."

Sadness looked to Anger in surprise, not because of his words, but because of the tone with which he spoke them. He sounded…fatherly. Caring. She found it comforting.

"Yeah, Sadness," Disgust, while not exactly motherly, was genuine, and Sadness was happy to take that as it was. "We were totally unfair to you. Can you—do you really think you can forgive us?"

The four of them looked to her with hope and sorrow, and she was almost overwhelmed enough to begin crying again in earnest. But instead she smiled, and said:

"Of course. You're my family."

Her easy forgiveness was not unexpected, but the magnitude was enough to bring tears to everyone's eyes, though they tried their hardest to blink them back—if they all broke down now, they'd never get through the night.

Joy remembered then that it was her turn, technically, and so with a look at Sadness to make sure she was finished, she began. "Um, well, I guess I'll go ahead now." The others looked to her expectantly, wondering what their ever-bubbly leader might have to be upset about. "I actually wanted to start by saying that I love all of you. Like Sadness said, we're family and I care for you all no matter what. I want us all to be able to work well together. But I'm afraid…" Her voice faltered, and her friends began to worry slightly that they had missed something important. " I' m afraid that I've been putting you all down. Pushing you aside. I know I did it to Sadness—no, don't try to deny it—but I'm beginning to think that, maybe, I've been shutting you all out, too." She had on the smile of one who had smiled for too long, and her eyes were bright and beautiful, but so very glassy. "We're all important, and even though I thought that I understood the three of you better than I did Sadness, I still didn't do a very good job of letting you all do your jobs. I thought that I was helping Riley through all these years, but I think, maybe, I've been the one hurting her all this time…"

As her voice rose in pitch and lowered in volume, she brought her hands to cover her quivering lips, and closed her eyes, afraid of the looks she's receive from the others. She opened her eyes when she felt gentle hands on either of her shoulders, and found a soft blue hand and a firm red one, along with four pairs of understanding eyes.

"Joy, it's not like we want her to be miserable all the time," It was Disgust who began now, more confident than she had been earlier. "Yeah, so we're all important in specific situations, but we all want her to be happy, too."

Fear spoke now, controlled as he could be, "I think, sometimes, that our entire point of being here is to clear a path for you. We make sure that Riley's safe and taken care of so that she has the luxury to feel joy."

"Couldn't have said it better," Anger said, paying no mind to the raised eyebrow that earned him. "Team Happy is still in business."

The others concurred with a chorus of 'Team Happy' s and Joy felt her smile lift enough to be genuine.

"Y-you guys are the best," She sniffed. "I-I will try to be better, though. I do think I need to be more understanding of your purposes. Will…will you all promise to tell me when I'm being too overbearing? Please?"

The others were surprised, but soon enough shared a glance of understanding. Anger answered her for all of them. "Sure, of course. For the sake of balancing this all out, of course."

Joy's smile brightened, and she took the moment to simply enjoy the company of her close friends. Sadness, though, gently reminded them all of their current mission.

"Do you think, now…maybe, you guys are ready to talk about what's been bothering you?"

Anger, Fear, and Disgust were quick to wipe the small smiles from their faces, but they all know that this was right. Joy and Sadness had a right to know what happened, at the very least.

The three shared anxious, saddened glances, and Anger sighed, "Yeah. Okay. We're ready."

A/n: I am so sorry this update took so long. I had surgery (nothing serious) and was down for the count longer than I expected to be. And then I got distracted. (If curious, see my story Always). Thanks for the support!