(A/N: More Easter Eggs. Enjoy them while they last. There's a real sneaky one in this chapter. I'll reveal it at the end in the Author's Note. Last chapter the Easter Eggs Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush from Wreck-It Ralph, Caprice and Jean being Alfredo and Colette's children from Ratatouille, the movie Riley and Jordan saw was The Good Dinosaur, and the green alien toy from Toy Story. Also, if you want to count it, Star Wars which is now owned by Disney, was mentioned. This chapter really starts to get into the story's plot. Hope you like it.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 3: A Welcomed Intruder

It had been an enjoyable date. After the movie, they had gone for ice cream, walking through the park as they ate, talking about nothing and everything. Afterwards, Jordan walked Riley home, and they stopped by her doorstep. But something was different this time from their past dates, something that seemed to have been building up and was now taking place on an unspoken level.

"Well, that was a lot of fun," said Riley, fidgeting nervously.

"Yeah," Jordan agreed, also looking nervous. "Maybe we can do it again next Saturday."

"Next Saturday?" Anger cried. "Did he forget what's happening next Saturday?"

"Don't worry," said Joy. "I got this."

Riley giggled as she moved a lock of hair out of her face. "Next Saturday is the semi-finals."

"Oh, right," said Jordan. "Your game. I'll definitely be there to cheer you on. How about Sunday then?"

Riley smiled. "Sunday sounds great."

Jordan was fidgeting now as well. "Awesome… um…"

The Emotions leaned in. "Is he going to do it?" Joy asked. "I think he's going to do it."

Fear was clawing at his face. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Our first kiss! What do we do? What do we do?"

"He better not be one of those slobbery kissers," Disgust muttered, though she was just as focused on the screen as the others.

"Chill out," Anger hissed at them. "He hasn't gone for it yet."

"Well, lets give him some incentive," Joy suggested, pressing a button.

Riley leaned in slightly, hoping to convey what she wanted. Jordan froze, his eyes going wide as inside his head his own Emotions were screaming hysterically as an alarm sounded, "KISS! KISS!"

"This is actually happening!" Jordan's Joy exclaimed. "What do we do?"

"Abort! Abort!" his Fear shouted, and made a dive for the controls, hitting a button that sent a jolt of terror through their person.

"Well, uh," said Jordan, a little too loudly. "I'll text you later!"

And then he was gone. Riley was taken aback at his sudden departure, as were her Emotions.

"What just happened?" Anger asked, completely flabbergasted. "He had a clear opening."

"Did we not give him a clear enough signal?" Joy wondered.

Disgust scoffed. "Please. He chickened out. Plain and simple."

"Or maybe he doesn't want to kiss us," Sadness muttered.

Anger's head began smoking. "Or maybe he doesn't think we're good enough."

Disgust tapped her chin. "Hmm. Maybe we came on too strong. We definitely don't want to come across as too easy."

Fear looked at them. "So should she be mad he didn't kiss her, or sad." He gasped. "Maybe she should be afraid he doesn't want her anymore. That's it, isn't it? He's dumping us!"

He reached for the controls, but Joy placed her hand over his to stop him. "Guys, come on, don't be so negative. I think Disgust is right, he just panicked. It's actually kind of cute that he's so shy."

Riley chuckled and shook her as she went inside. "Mom, Dad, I'm home."

"We're in the kitchen, dear," came her mother's voice.

Riley went into the kitchen to find her mother cooking. She looked around, but didn't see her father anywhere. "Where's Dad?"

"He had to work late tonight. He should be home soon."

"Oh, ok." She walked over to the stove. "What's for dinner?"

Her mother smiled. "Chicken stir fry, with my own special touch, and I just bought some ice cream cake from Buy Yogurt for dessert. But lets hear about you. How was your date with Jordan?"

"She's probing us again," Anger grumbled irritably. "Does she not trust us, or something?"

"No, she's just curious," said Joy. "Her little girl is growing up after all."

"Hey," said Sadness, "do you think she should ask Mom about the kissing thing?"

"Are you kidding?" Disgust snapped. "No way! That is, like, the absolute last thing we should do."

"It was fine," Riley replied, rubbing her arm shyly. "We saw a movie and had ice cream in the park."

"That sounds great," Mrs. Anderson replied. "Go wash up for dinner, and you can tell me all about it."

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

The screen went black as Riley shut her eyes. A few minutes later, she was asleep, and most of Headquarters powered down.

Joy smiled proudly. "Excellent job, everyone. Another successful day."

She looked over at the wall of memories for the day, pleased to see that most of them were the yellow color of happiness. With a smile, she sent them down to Long Term Memory.

"Alright," said Fear, "who's turn is it for dream duty tonight?"

"Mine," Disgust grumbled unhappily. "And Dream Productions better be showing something good."

Sadness stepped forward, tapping her index fingers together. "Um, I can do dream duty for you tonight if you want."

Disgust didn't miss a beat. "Sweet, have fun with that."

As the green Emotion walked off to their sleeping chambers, Joy gave Sadness a strange look. She walked over to the blue Emotion as she pulled up a chair by the control panel.

"Hey, um, Sadness," she began, "I've been meaning to ask you for a while now, but are you ok?"

The blue Emotion suddenly looked uneasy. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that we used to rotate each night who has dream duty, but for the past few weeks, you've been doing it every other night. Any reason why?"

"Oh, see, well I, I mean, it's just that I'm… uh… working on a project. Yeah, it's something I can only do while Riley is asleep. So I've been taking more nights to work on it."

Joy stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "Uh huh…" Then she smiled. "Sounds fun! What's the project? Can I see it? Do you need any help?"

Sadness almost looked frightened. "Oh, no! That's not necessary. It's actually a surprise. No, I mean, not a surprise; it's a… personal project. So really no one else can help me with it. I appreciate the offer though. Thanks. Now, don't you think you should be getting to bed? You had a dream duty last night. Don't want to stay up two nights in a row. Even I don't do that. We need you fully energized for work tomorrow."

She had begun gently pushing the yellow Emotion out of the control room. Joy was completely baffled by Sadness' behavior. Something was definitely up. Just what kind of project was she working on? But if it was personal, she didn't want to pry.

"Well, ok. But if you need any help, feel free to wake me up."

"Oh, yes, I'll be sure to do that. Have a good night."

She lightly shoved Joy out of the room and shut the door. Leaning against it, she wiped her forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.

How much longer would she be able to hide this? She knew she would get caught eventually. It would only been a matter of time before the others found out. Actually, she wondered why it had taken this long for one of them to ask, but it was good for her.

She waited a good 15 minutes before getting up and going to the drop off spot for the Train of Thought. She knocked on the door a certain number of times in a certain rhythm and waited. A moment later, a similar knock followed on the other side. That was the signal.

Feeling giddy, she opened the door, blushing at the person on the other side. "Hi, I.B."

The person gave her a smile and reached out to take her hand, planting a kiss to the back of it. "Sadness, how lovely to see you. I've been counting the hours."

"Oh, I.B." she giggled bashfully. "You're too much."

The visitor, I.B., tapped her nose and gave her a wink. "Are the others asleep?"

"Huh? Oh, yes. But it was a bit of a close call today. I think Joy is getting suspicious. She asked me why I keep volunteering for dream duty."

Her visitor looked concerned. "I'm not visiting too often, am I? Is every other night too much? I can come less often if you're not getting enough sleep."

"Oh, no, it's not that," she insisted, moving aside to let them in. "I'm fine with as much sleep as I get." She blushed again. "And you make me feel not so sad."

"Glad to hear it, my dear," they replied and walked in. "You make me feel 'not so sad' too."

Sadness giggled. "You're such a charmer."

They went into the control room. Sadness quickly retrieved another chair and set it down by the one at the controls. Her visitor sat down and she hopped into the seat beside them.

"So, what's on?" I.B. asked, looking at the dream screen. It was a replay of the end of Riley's date with Jordan, only with a different ending where Jordan didn't chicken out and actually made a move.

"Oh, it looks like Riley's dreaming that Jordan actually kissed her after their date." She sighed. "How lovely."

"Um, yes, lovely," I.B. replied. "Um, would you mind shutting it off? It's kind of awkward watching Riley kiss a boy while I'm with you like this."

Sadness looked uncertain. "Oh, I don't know. We're not supposed to switch off her dreams. And she's having a really nice one too."

"Are you sure? Perhaps we could reenact what's happening on screen between us."

Sadness blushed furiously. "O-Ok. Most dreams aren't remembered anyway."

She reached down to unplug the cable that connected the video feed, but her visitor stopped her. "Wait, let me see if I remember how to do this."

Sadness hesitated. "Well, ok, just be careful."

"Of course, I would never hurt Riley. Now, if memory serves, I just have to do this."

They pulled the plug and the screen went black. Sadness giggled bashfully. "Wow, you remembered."

"Of course I did," I.B. replied, reaching up and stroking her cheek. "I've had a wonderful teacher."

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Joy couldn't sleep. Her curiosity was getting the better of her. What kind of project was Sadness working on? Was it to help with Riley's hormonal mood swings? Was it to help her improve her relationship with Jordan? Was it a new secret strategy in hockey? Was it not related to Riley at all?

She sighed. "What could it be?"

Maybe she should go check and ask if she needed anything? But no, Sadness had insisted that she didn't need any help. Or maybe she did and just didn't realize it. Perhaps she really should check, just to make sure.

No, that would be an invasion of privacy.

Well, not if she wasn't trying to find out what Sadness was doing. It wasn't as if she was going to eavesdrop or spy on her. But if she was concerned and decided to check on her, and she just happened to discover what Sadness was working on in the process…

She hopped out of bed, creeping to the door so she didn't wake up the other three Emotions. If Anger woke up, he'd be very cranky, if Fear woke up, he'd be freaked out from the shock, if Disgust woke up, she would never shut up about not getting her beauty sleep. As if that were a problem since Emotions never aged, although they could change a bit if there were major changes to their persons' personality.

Tiptoeing out, she stopped as she saw Disgust. The green Emotion was dangling out of bed, half her body hanging over the side, a trail of drool dripping from her mouth. Joy had to hold back a laugh at the sight. If she could see herself.

Exiting the sleeping quarters, she headed for the control room. She was about to walk in and ask if Sadness needed anything when she heard voices. At first she thought it was coming from the dream screen, but then she heard Sadness talking back. Was she interacting with what was playing? No, an actual conversation was being held between Sadness and the other speaker. Someone else was in the control room!

And they sounded familiar.

But no one aside from the Emotions were allowed in the control room, except for the Mind Workers on a few occasions such as when they made delivers from the Train of Thought, or the time when they provided the Emotions with their upgraded control pad. Just what was going on? Sadness should know better, this was a security breech.

She threw open the door, startling the two inside. Sadness' mouth dropped open in surprise at seeing the yellow Emotion. "J-Joy!"

Joy looked from Sadness to the other person. There was only one question on her mind. "Um, what's going on here?"

(A/N: A very good question. What is going on here? Who is this mysterious visitor known as I.B.? And does Sadness actually have, gasp, a boyfriend? Can Emotions even have relationships? And what of Riley's relationship with Jordan? So many questions. And here's another one. Did anyone spot the Easter Egg? It was the frozen yogurt Riley's mother bought from Buy Yogurt. If you didn't know, Buy Yogurt was the company that eventually becomes Buy 'n' Large, the major company from WALL-E. Anyone catch it? If so, bonus points for you. Tune in the week for the next chapter to discover I.B.'s identity.)