A/N: A little bit of father-son bonding with Fear and his dad before we move on to the next morning! :)

While the Astar household was content that night, Fear's wasn't quite so lucky.

Panic let out a low sigh as he double-and-triple checked the documents on Riley's stability that he made copies of for home. Riley had been doing so well the past few days, hanging out with Joy, learning what life as an emotion was like, and barely having her stability decrease to low 90s.

And then all of a sudden that happened, and she nearly died...

At first, Panic had hoped and even dared to assume that Riley would be fine, that first fainting spell and sharp stability decrease occurring when she hadn't become quite used to being awake in the world. Her time with Joy over the past few days seemed to confirm that theory. It was healthy for her to experience life as everyone in their world did.

What had changed?

Panic thought about the two severe drops, and he soon put two and two together. It turned out there was a commonality between the two situations:

Riley had faced rejection by Joy's friends.

Her stability decrease when she feels upset!

Scribbling that hurriedly down in his notes, he triple-starred it to being it to immediate attention the moment morning rolled around. No wonder those had happened after Joy's friends had treated her coldly. No wonder she trembled so much when Aggravation tried to limit her life.

Riley's physical and mental stability, at least for the time being, were ditectly dependent on her happiness.

And who was the source of that happiness? Joy.

Panic felt increasingly uneasy at this realization, dropping his pen on the table and starting to pace, rubbing his fingers on his temples. "Riley needs Joy. Riley's health is literally dependent on her. But we're supposed to be sending Riley away eventually! And Joy can't just go to Earth with her, that would threaten everything and the humans would panic!". His hands slid down his face, now dreading the dawn. "Ohhhh, Aggravation is not gonna like this!"

"Not gonna like what, Dad?"

Panic turned sharply as the door to the front of their house opened and shut behind Fear. The younger emotion glanced at his father with a quizzical look, guessing that it was something about Riley.

And Panic remembered what Joy had described to him.

With a dejected sigh, Panic gestured to the chair closest to him. "Fear," he said, "we gotta talk."

His father's calm yet serious tone made Fear nervous. The last time his father asked him for a talk like this, it was something "specific" after Fear just turned 18. Not to say his father was bad at discussing that, but for someone who hasn't exactly associated much further with the opposite gender aside from the trio of girls of Team Happy—one of whom Fear had a strong but secret affection for—it all made the younger emotion very uncomfortable.

Glancing over to the chair, Fear then looked back at his father anxiously.

"This isn't anymore about when two people meet and love each other is it?" he asked.

Panic's face reddened, and he gave a wince before shaking his head. "No, no! It's something very different. Something regarding yesterday..."

Uh-oh...Fear thought, getting on edge once more.

But he joined his father anyway and the two sat across from each other. It was almost like looking at a mirror. Panic rubbed his palms together, hoping he would mess this up because it was a particularly sore subject. And the last thing he wanted was to stress his son further.

"Fear..." he began as calmly as he could, "Joy told me what happened yesterday."

The younger purple emotion swallowed, gripping the ends of his chair. He had hoped they would all put this behind him. After all, he and his friends had tried their best to delete Riley from their thoughts the moment Sadness was back to consciousness. He wasn't surprised Joy was still attached to that being. After all, she had been in and out of that lab the past five years for visits, sometimes even dragging him along! She nearly got run over by incoming traffic for Riley!

"Uh, yeah?" he gulped.

Panic sighed. "Fear, you know Riley's a very sensitive girl. She's still trying to adapt to this world. And I know you and your friends are still trying to adapt to her."

To Fear, 'adapt to' wasn't exactly the best phrase. Take 'avoid', 'oversee', and 'defend ourselves from' to count because after what happened, he was probably going to wear a helmet if Joy ever made them meet Riley again. Sadness was still in the hospital as of right now, needing stitches and having a fractured jawbone just as he had feared, and he was worried worse could happen to the others. Joy mentioned Riley was getting good at sports...he hoped she wouldn't start learning knife-throwing or something even more life-threatening!

He looked up at his father, his expression deeply pained. "Dad, if you had just seen what she did to Sadness earlier-"

"Son, that was an accident," Panic cut in gently. "I've been with Riley when she had first been brought to this world. She would never hurt anyone."

"Are you sure?" Fear asked timidly, not the least bit convinced. "Sadness is in the hospital thanks to her! And I got a long list of possibilities of what would happen if we let our guard down again."

Panic was not surprised by this, knowing his own son took after himself in many ways. Even Fear's relationship with Anger reminded him a great deal of of his with Aggravation. But he was sure Fear had some of his mother's strengths in there somewhere.

"And I have a long list..." he began deeply, "of possibilities of what would happen to Riley if she keeps getting upset."

Fear looked at him in confusion. "Dad?"

Panic sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing his forehead. "Son, Riley had a little accident earlier after you left with your friends."

Although Fear wasn't the least bit accepting toward that girl, it didn't stop him from being curiously worried. "Accident?"

"See, after you got in the ambulance, Joy found Riley in an ally. She was dangerously below 83. And I'm pretty sure you're aware it rained earlier."

A gut feeling entered Fear as he bit his lip. He didn't expect something like that to happen. He assumed Riley would just go home and Joy would meet up with her later. Guess she was still confused with the world as his father mentioned...

"When Joy found her," Panic went on, "she was at her 60s, that's the worst percentage she could have without breaking apart completely. She was very cold and pale when Joy brought her to my lab, and I feared that she was going to die at any moment." He looked at his son carefully. "You could imagine how scared I was when I saw her. Delight came by afterward and was just as scared too. I don't want to think of how she might have reacted if she had been in that room when Joy first brought Riley there..."

Fear swallowed a lump he never knew he had in his throat. He sort of thought Riley was immortal to some degree. After all, wasn't she made from some weird stuff that was classified by his father? She might have come from sand and water and suddenly she was some strong being who managed to knock the wind out of Sadness. At least, that's what he assumed of Riley. For someone who had none of the attributes of an emotion, or any other being on their planet, she was pretty strong.

But picturing her cold and alone, completely wet as the rain continued to pour, that was a depressing image. Even Fear wouldn't want that to happen to someone as strange and scary as her. Now he was starting to feel guilty, and his friends would too if they heard this.

"Oh...Dad..." he voice trailed off. "I..."

"Son," Panic spoke tenderly, "I know you and your friends care so much about Joy. And Joy cares about everyone. She especially cares about Riley. like a sister. To Delight, like a second daughter. If you could just see Riley through my eyes, you would realize that she's a special person."

Fear couldn't say anything. If Anger had taken his place, he would bite back with saying that Riley was a dangerous and valueless thing his dad created. For no reason if Fear remembered correctly. Still, all this talk about Riley's accident made it depressing.

"I...I really don't feel comfortable around her dad," he confessed. "None of the others do."

Panic played with his glasses, biting his lip. "I know. And I won't push you. But I really would like it if you tried to get to know Riley some more."

He glanced over at the papers where he wrote down everything regarding her recent tests. He hoped to never see the number 63 again.

Feat tensed at this suggestion. The first time he saw Riley in that container, he thought it was a fetus that would grow ten feet and tear the whole city apart. True, he had given a few words to her during her process, but very little under a few seconds before he dashed out of that lab. It was a lot harder given she was now in the flesh. Worse, Joy was practically infatuated with her.

BFF, she called Riley. It almost felt like he and the others were just second rate compared to her...

Panic noticed the uncertainty on his son's face, how he felt that Joy was so infatuated with Riley she was forgetting about her old friends, her normal friends...

"Listen, Fear," he said gently, placing his hand on his son's, "I know you and the others may feel like you're being neglected by Joy."

Fear nodded sadly.

"But it's because she feels protective of Riley. She's new to the world and she barely understands it, and having others view her as something to be feared or hated doesn't help."

It was rare of Panic to use a strictly authoritative tone, but he couldn't help but adopt it for the last few words. Like Delight, he loved Riley as if she were his own child, and he only wished that Fear and the others could feel the same.

"But she could turn violent!" Fear protested. "You know what she—"

"She didn't intend to do any harm.". Panic run his fingers through his hair, feeling a slight headache coming on. "She's still trying to figure out herself as well. We all are."

"But see?!" Fear started babbling, giving his dad a desperate look. "She isn't like anyone who we've known for years! She's an unstable experiment who's only been actually conscious for less than a week! We don't know if she'll try to be friendly or if she'll lash out or if she'll unleash a weird hybrid death-curse on everyone—"

Panic could see his son's point, and similar possibilities had crossed his mind on occasion before. But seeing Riley as she was now, a special, curious, and uncertain girl who wanted nothing more than to learn and be accepted, the scientist had convinced himself to put such notions out of his mind.

Riley wouldn't hurt anyone like that. She just needed time.

"Son," he sighed. "I just want you to try to give Riley a chance."

"We did! And look what happened!"

"Did Sadness blame Riley?"

Fear paused, going back over in his memory of when Sadness woke up, before responding reluctantly. "No..."

"You see?". With a gentle smile, Panic stood up from the table and walked over to his son, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Sadness may have been hurt by Riley playing a bit rough, but she realized it was an accident. And from what I heard it was trying out a pretty complex move."

Fear winced. "I recognized it from when Joy tried that trick before. I knew things were going to go wrong—I mean really wrong—the moment she tried it—"

"But she tried. Ya gotta admit that's kind of impressive, right?"

Fear opened his mouth, then closed it again. As much as he mistrusted and feared Riley, he had to admit she was pretty good at playing sports.

Panic noticed Fear pondering this, and gave his son a light hug. "Just think it over, okay? It's 1:30am now and you should probably be getting to bed."

Fear nodded in a slow agreement, but still looked unsure. "But Riley's so... strange."

Panic closed his eyes. "Like I said, son, I'm not going to try to force you to get along," he said as he followed Fear down the hall to where their rooms were. "I just want you to try to see things from her perspective, and Joy's."

Fear wasn't sure what to say. He wanted to take his Dad's advice, but he could barely bring himself to think of it. Riley scared him.

"I will... good night," he said quickly, hurrying down the hall and shutting the door behind him.

Panic stared at the closed door in silence. He only hoped that, when Riley did start school, she'd have an easier time. Maybe she'd even make friends, and she could show off her skills.

It was the best for which he could hope.

A/N: Don't worry, next chapter will have a bit more coming up with Joy and Riley. :) I probably could have attached this to last chapter, but I didn't think about it until just now.^^;