(A/N: Sorry, but no Easter Eggs this chapter. I'll let you know when I do another one. For now, we'll be unraveling the mystery of who I.B. is, and why Sadness is meeting with them.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 4: Breaking the Rules

"I… I can explain," said Sadness. "This is Imaginary Boyfriend."

"Please," said the visitor, "call me I.B."

Joy pointed at him. "I remember you. You and your copies helped Sadness and I get back to Headquarters."

If by help she meant creating a whole bunch of copies of him to pile up so she could jump off them and onto the trampoline to spring all the way back up to Headquarters, leaving all the copies to fall into the Memory Dump to be forgotten. But then they did say that they would die for Riley.

"Yes," I.B. replied, "although I'm not one of the ones that was in your tower."

"Huh," said Joy thoughtfully. "I thought you all went away after Riley got a real boyfriend, I even remember seeing the Mind Workers toss the boyfriend maker machine into the Memory Dump."

I.B. smoothly combed his hair back. "That's because an imaginary boyfriend was no longer needed once she got a real one. I'm the last remaining one. But someone had to stick around to make sure Riley's happy, so I did." He held his chin up proudly. "I would die for Riley!"

Joy scratched the back of her head uncomfortably. "Yeah, I heard. So, um, Sadness, could I talk to you for a minute?"

The blue Emotion looked uneasy, but complied. "Oh, uh, sure. Be back in a minute, I.B."

He gave her a smothering smile. "I'll be counting the seconds."

Sadness blushed and hurried over to Joy, who closed the door so they would have some privacy. "Sadness, what is he doing here?

"Oh, um, well, he's, uh…"

"This is your project? Sneaking imaginary characters into Headquarters? Just what is going on here?"

Sadness began pacing as she tapped her index fingers together. "We're, um, kind of seeing each other."

Joy's mouth dropped open. "Wait, what? What are you talking about? Seeing each other? As in boyfriend and girlfriend? How exactly did that happen?"

"Well, it started a few months after Riley began dating Jordan. I.B. came up on the Train of Thought. Being Riley's imaginary boyfriend, he was concerned about her having a real one and wanted to make sure she would be ok. We got to talking, and he came back a few times for reports on how things were going with Jordan. Now we just get together to spend some time with each other after Riley goes to sleep."

Things began clicking into place. "Wait, so this is why you've been taking dream duty every other night, to spend time with him?"

"Well, yeah. We enjoy each other's company. He's kind of the dark and brooding type, so he likes my depressive nature. And he makes me not have such sad thoughts all the time."

Joy sighed. "Sadness, you know this is against the rules. We're not supposed to have anyone in Headquarters, especially after hours."

Sadness began fidgeting again. "Yeah, I know. But it's not hurting anything. And he offers some good relationship advice. He was created as Riley's idea of the perfect boyfriend, so he knows what he's talking about."

Joy threw her hands in the air. "That was before she got a real one. Sadness, things change. When she was four, her ideal future was being a fairy princess that lived in a castle made of sugar and spent all day flying on a winged unicorn."

"I know that, but he still offers advice that could be use. And I've been teaching him too."

That last part caught Joy's attention. "Wait, what things?"

"Well, since he's Riley's imaginary boyfriend, he wants to learn everything there is to know about her, including how she works. He's also interested in what I do all day. So I've been teaching him some of the things that we do up here, and how things in Headquarters work, and stuff."

"Sadness, that stuff's super secret! You shouldn't be telling anyone what we do here."

The blue Emotion looked guilty. "Oh, yes, I know that. But I.B. really loves her. He had Riley' best interests at heart. And learning new stuff about her and how she works helps him offer advice. He swore he wouldn't tell anyone the things I've been teaching him. He'd die for Riley."

Joy sighed again. "Yeah, I know." She rubbed her forehead. "Oi, this is such a mess."

"I'm sorry," Sadness muttered, and looked like she meant it."

Joy grumbled. "It's fine, Sadness. I understand, kind of. But you know that this can't go on. We have very important jobs, and we can't take a chance of things going wrong. You remember what happened that time we got lost."

Sadness hung her head. "I know. I'm such a disgrace."

Joy waved her arms. "What? No, no, you're not a disgrace. You just made a mistake; everyone makes mistakes. But you did it with good intentions, just like I did after she moved to San Francisco. We make mistakes and learn on the way."

The sad look on Sadness' face broke her heart, and she sighed. "Ok, look, how about we have a meeting with the others. We'll explain the situation, they can meet I.B., and then we'll decide what to do."

Sadness' face lit up. "Really? Oh, thank you, Joy!"

She hugged the yellow Emotion around the waist so tightly that Joy grunted. "Yeah, what are sisters for. Now come on, let get back to your boyfriend. Wow, that was weird to say."

They went back into the control room. I.B. was lounging in a chair, reading one of the mind manuals. He looked up as they entered, giving them a smile that made Sadness blush and Joy shiver uneasily. This was so weird.

"Soooo, I.B., was it? How long have you know Sadness?"

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

"You're kidding me," said Disgust. "Tell me you're kidding."

"He's really nice," Sadness insisted.

"Nice?" Fear cried. "Nice? You violated the rules because he's nice."

"Well, he did help us save Riley before, or at least his copies did."

"That's irrelevant!" Anger snapped. "These rules are in place for a good reason, and you've been breaking them for weeks!"

Sadness began tracing patterns on the floor with her foot. "Actually, it's been more like months."

"Months?!" Fear shouted. "He's been coming here for months?!"

"Fear, chill," said Joy. "Nothing's happened since he started coming. Everything is fine. I spoke to him last night. He's not so bad. A little weird, but an ok guy."

Personally, she didn't know what Sadness, or Riley since she thought him up, saw in the guy, but, hey, to each their own.

"So what?" said Disgust. "You want us to meet with this guy, and…?"

Joy shrugged. "I don't know. I guess decide if he can be a regular here."

"We're not some club!" Anger seethed. "We can't just be having imaginary characters coming around Headquarters all willy-nilly."

"I'm not saying we do," said Joy. "I'm just suggesting we make one exception."

Fear looked uneasy, but seemed to be considering it. "I guess it can't hurt to just meet him."

He looked at Disgust, who rolled her eye. "Uch! Sure, fine, whatever."

They looked to Anger. He seemed to be the most reluctant, but then he threw his arms in the. "Fine, we'll meet him. You happy?"

It was a foreign feeling for Sadness, so she couldn't say for sure, but she supposed she was. Emotions only tended to feel the emotion they were, but when their person was overshadowed by a specific feeling, even if that emotion wasn't expressed, it could still affect the rest of them, especially when one was trying to cover up the unexpressed feeling, as Joy learned when she was in the Memory Dump, having tried to keep Sadness from expressing herself; it was also why she had glowed blue.

Thinking about that cold dark place made her think of Bing Bong, another one of Riley's imaginary characters. He had allowed himself to be forgotten so Joy could escape the Memory Dump. Before that, he'd simply wandered around Long Term Memory and Imagination Land, lost in the back of Riley's mind. It was sad to think of I.B. ending as a wandering vagabond as well.

Skipping over to the door, she opened it for their guest. "Come on in. Guys, meet I.B."

He nodded at them. "S'up."

Anger raised an eyebrow. "S'up?"

Fear walked over and shook his hand. "Hi, nice to meet you."

I.B. snickered. "No, no, you do it like this."

He slapped Fear's hand frontwards, backwards, bopped the top of his fist, the bottom, knuckle-touched him, and then clasped his hand.

Fear snickered uneasily. "Right, of course that's how it's done." He pulled his hand back. "So, you're Riley's imaginary boyfriend."

I.B. dramatically placed his hand over his heart. "I would die for Riley!"

"Good for you," Anger grumbled. He crossed his arms. "So what makes you think you're good enough for our Sadness?"

He gave the red Emotion a smug smile. "Riley herself thought me up. That makes me the perfect boyfriend."

Anger's head ignited. "Are you sassing me?"

"Just stating the facts."

Disgust walked over and shooed away the seething Emotion. "Go cool off, hotshot. I'm the best judge of character for this." Placing her hands on her hips, she looked him up and down. "I guess Riley could have imagined worse."

"I would die for-"

"Yeah, yeah, you said that already. But what can you offer us in the way of help? Sadness mentioned that you were offering relationship advice for Riley and Jordan."

I.B. combed his hair back. "Of course. As Riley's imaginary perfect boyfriend, I can tell you what to expect from a relationship, and how to proceed with one."

Fear tapped his chin. "That doesn't make sense. Riley thought you up on what she in her inexperience expects a perfect boyfriend to be like. That's very different rom the real thing. So how could you know how things actually work in a real relationship with a real boyfriend?"

I.B. held up his hands. "Hey, whoa, cool it, pal. What you say is true, but even we imaginary characters are individuals that are separate from Riley. We learn, grow, evolve, and adapt. As the perfect boyfriend, I can help Riley be the perfect girlfriend."

Anger pointed at him. "We don't need your help with that," he growled through gritted teeth. "We've been doing just fine on our own so far."

"Oh, no doubt," I.B. agreed. "You five have done a fabulous job taking care of Riley and making sure she has a good life. And you've done a great in her relationship with Jordan too. But Riley is growing up. You must have noticed that even though she and Jordan have been official for quite some time now, their relationship is changing. It comes with growing up. Certainly a little help couldn't hurt. As wonderful as you are at your jobs, you must admit that it can become difficult at times, especially with Riley's hormones flying around, of which I am immune to. When affected, you guys can become a little… extreme at times."

Flames flew from Anger's head. "You want extreme? I'll show you extreme!"

He started towards I.B., and Joy and Sadness quickly held him back. "Whoa, keep your cool now," the former told him.

I.B. combed his hair back again. "See, that's exactly what I mean. I don't mean any disrespect, but you guys can only feel one thing. Riley, however, feels all five of you. You don't want the wrong thing, or even too much of the right feeling, to ruin her relationship with Jordan because her hormones are flying around. I could act as a mediator of sorts when it comes to Riley's relationship since I at least have an idea of how things work."

Disgust considered this. "You make a good point. But a relationship is a learning experience. We live in reality, not some perfect fantasy world like the one you would exist in. We can't have Riley expecting an absolutely perfect fantastical relationship while real life comes her way."

I.B. was nodding along with what she was saying. "Truer words have never been spoken. And you're right; a relationship is a learning experience. But you should at least have some idea of what you want and what you should expect from one. I can offer that, and I can offer more than a single emotion when it comes to a situation."

He casually strolled over to them. "Riley is inexperienced in a relationship. What she and Jordan have had was cute and sweet, but now things are getting serious between them. She won't always know how to react, and neither will you.

"For instance, if Jordan decides to make a bold move, should Riley be afraid?" He placed a hand on Fear's shoulder. "Or should she be angry at his forwardness." He nudged Anger. "Or perhaps she should feel disgusted at his behavior." He wiggled his eyebrows at the green Emotion. "Or maybe she should be happy that he finds her desirable and is making a move." He flashed a smile at Joy.

"What's your point?" Anger demanded.

"My point is, in your inexperience, you may not know how Riley should feel. This is where I could be of assistance. As the perfect boyfriend, I would be able to tell you if Jordan was out of line, or if he was going to far or too fast, or something. And given the situation, you would then have a better idea of what Riley should feel."

He shrugged. "Or I could just leave you to your own devices, and let you make snap decisions that could possibly be affected by hormones that might make you overreact or make Riley feel something she shouldn't, thus having her make a mistake that could ruin her relationship. Kind of like how her friendship with Meg was almost lost back when she first moved to San Francisco."

Fear's hands flew to his face. "He's right! We can't just go into this without any idea of what to expect! I say he stays!"

I.B. grinned. "Excellent. How about you two?" he asked Disgust and Anger.

The green Emotion looked at her co-workers before shrugging. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt, just as long as no on finds out we're taking advice from an imaginary character."

I.B. made a motion of zipping his lips shut. "I won't tell a soul." He looked at the last holdout. "What about you, Anger?"

The red Emotion didn't look happy, even though that was relatively normal. His fists were clenched, and he looked like he wanted nothing more than to kick out the imaginary character. Yet his responsibility to Riley overpowered his anger. "Fine, but just remember that we have the final say in things."

He received a smile from the imaginary character in return. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Joy beamed. "Alright, I.B.! Welcome to the group!"

She held up her hand to high-five him. I.B just raised an eyebrow and held up a fist instead.

"Yeah, knuckle touch," said Joy as she touched her fist to his with a little less enthusiasm.

Excited, Sadness hurried over to him. "You did it, I.B. You get to stay."

Smiling, I.B. placed his index finger under her chin. "Of course, my dear. Did you really think I'd allow us to be separated?"

She giggled. "Oh, I.B."

Disgust made a face. "Ok, ew. I cannot be around that all the time. If you're going to be hanging out here, you can't be doing that stuff, or else I'll retract my vote."

I.B. winked at her. "Jealous? You're positively green with envy."

Joy gave a very forced laugh at, even slapping her leg for good measure. "Ain't he a hoot?"

Disgust just rolled her eyes and walked away.

"But all joking aside," said I.B., "I have a job to do now, and I intend to do it. So," he clapped his hands together, "I think I should start with learning everything I can about Headquarters, and how you guys operate things. Shall we begin?"

(A/N: So, I.B. is now in the club. Did anyone guess last chapter what "I.B." stood for? He was unnamed in the movie, so I had to come up with something. I think it worked. And Sadness did seem to like him while both Joy and Bing Bong were weirded out. The other Emotions are too. Lets see how things go from here now that I.B. is working with them.)