This is my first Inside Out fanfic. Please let me know what you think :)

It had been the perfect kind of day in Joy's opinion. The day, a Saturday, a plus already, had started off with Riley watching cartoons and having chocolate chip pancakes with Dad. Riley had had a perfect day at hockey practice, beating her personal best at goals made. She had also made a new friend, her first since the move; a girl named Holly who had also just moved to San Francisco. After practice, Mom and Dad had taken Riley for ice cream. Now, they were riding in the car back to the house. Riley had her head poked out the window, arm flying out in the air like a bird. Joy sighed in pleasure as she leaned on the console and watched her. It was the perfect day for Joy because it was the perfect day for Riley.

"Joy, don't you think we should do something? She's sticking her head out like a dog" Disgust said, hands on her hips as she surveyed the sight of bright sunshine and green trees flying past the car. "I mean, come on…a bug could hit her! Gross!"

"A bug hitting her is the least of our worries!" Fear said, biting his nails. "What if she isn't looking and hits her arm on a tree…..or a bridge!"

"That's ridiculous" Disgust said, rolling her eyes. "She isn't going to hit a bridge!"

"Personally, I think it's too calm" Anger said, squinting at the screen. "Maybe we'll hit some traffic. Maybe Dad will say that curse word again that he let slip the other day!" He seemed delighted at the prospect.

"Its fine…but…wouldn't it be better if it was cold and rainy?" Sadness asked in a drab voice.

Joy just smiled; well, she thought it was a perfect day. She knew the others were getting bored; almost all of Riley's memories today were happy but that was a good thing.

The others continued to bicker amongst themselves but Joy kept her focus on Riley. As Riley laughed, waving her arm in the warm air, Joy held the ends of her dress and began to twirl around the console; things were under control and Riley was having the best day she had had since arriving in San Francisco.

It seemed so unnatural that something bad could come at such a perfect moment; Joy wouldn't have even considered it. She was so focused on the great sound of Riley's laughter and her own inner peace that she never saw it coming. It happened so fast no one saw it but Fear and only he saw it a fraction of a second before it happened.

"Oh my! Is that a….." Fear yelled. He was cut off violently as the sound of a deafening crash rang out through the room and Riley's view went black.

Joy stumbled onto the floor at the alarm. "What's happening? What was that?" Joy asked, picking herself up off the floor and rubbing her knees.

"Oh my gosh…oh my….This is the worst!" Fear was on his knees by the console, his fingers in his mouth, sweating bullets. He was always upset but Joy had never quite seen him this upset.

"What is?" Joy asked. She walked over to the console but nothing happened.

"We were in an accident! After all of this time…I knew something like this would happen and it finally did!" Fear said, shaking as he looked up at the blackened screen.

"What kind of accident?" Joy asked. She began to feel shaky herself; what if Riley was hurt?

"A car hit us! A CAR!" Fear yelled. "On the list of worst things ever to happen to us this is at the TOP!"

"We were in a car accident?" Joy asked nervously. Fear was shaking on the floor and Sadness was already beginning to weep.

"This is terrible! What if we die?" Sadness wailed.

"I bet we will…we were hit by a CAR! People always die in car accidents!" Fear yelled irrationally.

"You two…..you need to stop" Disgust said. Her lip was shaking and her breaths shallow as she began to panic. "You're making this worse!"

"Of course they're making it worse! This is terrible!" Anger yelled but Joy could see tears even in his eyes.

Joy felt frozen for a moment; Riley was in a car accident. She had never been in such a bad situation before. But looking around at the others, Joy forced herself to remain calm; someone had to.

"Listen…..we don't know that it's all so bad" Joy tried to say positively. She walked over to the console and tried to make something happen. Nothing happened; she couldn't get Riley to do anything. Feeling a wave of panic mounting, Joy checked dream production. "I'm sure Riley's just asleep" Joy said positively as she checked dream production. But when it too was silent, Joy wasn't sure what else to do.

"Why…..why won't she wake up?" Joy asked, muffling most of the alarm in her voice as she mashed the buttons.

"Because she's not asleep, Joy" Sadness said between her wails, moping her tears with her sleeve. "She unconscious."

"Unconscious? What's that? Some horrible disease?" Disgust asked, her eyes wide with uncharacteristic alarm.

"It's brought on my injury or illness; it's like being asleep but you can't wake up" Sadness said, openly crying. "It means Riley is in really big trouble!"

"You mean…..cant wake up…..like forever?" Fear asked shrilly.

"Well, not forever. But a really long time" Sadness said.

"Unless we die…and then we NEVER wake up!" Fear said. He dissolved into tears in a heap next to sadness.

"Well, there's got to be something we can do to wake her up, even from being unconscious" Joy said positively. Her heart was beating fast and she felt funny.

"There's nothing we can go" Sadness said, "We can't check anything or see anything at all until she is conscious again."

"That can't be right! What do you know?" Anger yelled, making Sadness cry harder. He swiped at his own eyes.

"It was in the manuals!" Sadness wailed.

"So…..you mean…..she's stuck like this? For maybe forever?" Disgust asked. Her lip trembled harder until she fell down on the ground next to Sadness and Fear.

"Riley…..stupid, idiot drivers….they hurt her" Anger said, his voice misty as he sat down next to Disgust.

Joy was frozen at the controls, feeling like her chest was hurting and making it hard to breathe. What was happening? Only minutes ago Riley had been so happy…..she was having the best day ever. The cartoons and laughing, the hockey and the ice cream…..the new friend….Now what? All Joy wanted was for Riley to wake up so she could make her happy. It was her job to keep Riley happy and well. Now, she couldn't do anything for her.

Joy turned around to see Fear, Sadness, Disgust and Anger all sitting on the floor crying. She tried to think of something positive to say; she wanted to make everyone feel better. But she couldn't…she could think of a single thing to make this better. Joy's eyes stung and she realized that she was going to cry too. She didn't want to, but Joy gave into her tears, weeping for Riley and how scary it all was; crying because Joy felt like it was her fault.