Thanks to MartinDeShade, Sonicthehedgewolf and Zarbi for following this story. I'd love to hear what you think of this next chapter!

"Robin's a slayer."

"I'm a what?"

Everyone seemed to turn to Lily for an explanation but she seemed as lost as anyone. She knew what was going on but the reality of this revelation was sinking it's claws in and she couldn't focus enough to explain anything to her friends.

Luckily for her, Xander stepped in.

"There's meant to be one girl in every generation that kills vampires and demons called the slayer. That's Buffy. But then Will… Lily used the scythe to change it and…" He sighed. "Giles does this part so much better than me."

"I'm sorry, demons and what?" Robin asked in disbelief. "Have you been drinking absinth again Lil?"

"Am I the only one still stuck on the ball of light thing?" Marshall asked.

"Sweetie, can you give me and Robin a minute in private?" Lily asked her husband who nodded, still not processing what Xander had been trying to explain. When there were no protests from the rest of the group, Robin and Lily headed to Robin's bedroom.

"Xander was being serious." Lily started as she shut the door behind them.

"Really, how much have you had to drink? And why do you look like the world's about to end?"

Tears started to form in Lily's eyes.

"Because I don't want to lose you." She admitted. "You guys were never meant to be a part of all this."

"A part of what? Lily you still haven't explained to me what's going on."

Lily took a breath and sat down of Robin's bed. She was going to have to tell her friend everything that she had been trying to avoid.

"Ok I know some of this is going to be hard to believe but just got with it for a bit." She started. "When I was in high school I made friends with Buffy. Turns out, she was a slayer and our school librarian, Giles, was her watcher. A slayer is a girl chosen to take out vampires and any other evil that comes her way, which in Buffy's case was a lot. It's the watcher's job to guide their slayer but they don't really get in to the killing parts."

"Killing?"

"Slaying demons." Lily clarified.

"Ok." Robin said sceptically, pacing back and forth in front of Lily, which only added to her nerves. "And how does a high school girl fight demons?" She scoffed.

"She has powers."

"Like a witch?" Robin joked. This was all getting ridiculous. How did Lily expect her to believe in magic powers?

"No, witches are different. We don't have the strength of slayers but we can do other things."

"I'm sorry, 'we'?"

Lily noticed her slip up too late. "Ummm yeah…" She hesitated. Well, now that she was a slayer, Robin was bound to find out sooner or later. "I'm a witch. I actually cast the spell that led us to you."

"If you're a witch then prove it." She challenged, still sceptical about what her friend was telling her. She had every right to be, Lily reasoned. It's not every day you find out the existence of magic.

Knowing that the best thing to do was to give in to Robin's request and help to convince her that she wasn't being crazy, drunk, or a combination of the two, Lily took a minute to decide what magic to show her. It had been a long time since she'd used her powers, and she knew she was going to be a bit rusty, so she started off with something small.

Catching sight of a pen on Robin's bedside cabinet, she focused her energy on it and willed it to levitate. It took her a bit longer than it used to but after about a minute of intense concentration the pen started to float. Lily started to smile as she relaxed in to using her powers a bit more and she was able to levitate Robin's book and cell phone as well.

Robin stared on in amazement as her belongings hung in mid air.

"Are you doing that?" She asked, waving her hand above the objects to try and find some string that was holding them up. When she found nothing, she turned back to Lily.

"So if you're really a witch that means I'm really…"

"A slayer." Lily finished when her friend struggled to get the word out. "Yeah."

Robin finally took a seat next to Lily on her bed. So many thoughts were rushing around in her head and it was starting to overwhelm her. She likened it to the feeling of stepping out on stage alone in front of a massive audience. There was adrenaline and fear and she didn't know what to do with it all. When your best friend tells you that you have some sort of magic destiny it kind of overwhelms you a bit. She thought back over what Lily had told her, trying to make some sense of it all.

To her credit, Lily stayed silent as her friend tried to wrap her mind around everything she'd seen and heard. After a while, Robin was able to form a coherent enough thought to ask a question.

"Your friend Xander said there was only one slayer. Is Buffy retired or something?"

"There was only meant to be one slayer. That's how it had been for years but then Buffy died and another potential was awakened."

"She's dead? But she's outside."

"No, Xander brought her back to life but the other slayer had already been called. Anyway then she died again and I brought her back with magic." Lily said and Robin paled. This was starting to sound way too dangerous. "When she came back we had to go up against the First, who was the most powerful evil we'd ever faced. He was targeting potential slayers so they were all sent to us. Come to think of it, I don't know why you weren't sent then." She mused. "Anyway, we knew we couldn't take on the First alone so Buffy came up with the idea that I would use the scythe that created the first slayer and give the power to all the other potentials, including you now."

"So let me get this straight, because of your magic I have some powers to fight monsters?"

"Well, technically demons but yeah that's the gist of it." Lily replied.

Robin moved on to the question that she really wanted to ask, now that she was starting to believe all of this was real. "What powers?"

"Strength, agility, amazing reflexes, with practice you'll be able to sense when vampires are nearby. There's a bit more to it but Buffy can probably explain it better."

"Are you going to tell the guys?"

"They've probably managed to get it out of Buffy and Xander already so there's really no point in hiding it. Are you ok with that?"

Robin took a beat. Was she? "I guess so. I don't really know what's happening anyway. I mean, you're telling me that I have these powers to kill people and…"

"Not people." Lily interrupted. "Demons, vampires, they don't have souls. Well, I've met two vampires with souls but that's a whole different thing. The point is they aren't like us. They're not human. Your powers are to save people." She said, knowing that she was rambling.

"Isn't that a bit prejudiced?"

Lily thought this over. Maybe she was right?

There was just so much about this world to teach Robin and Lily didn't really know where to start. Sure, with Angel and Spike no longer in the picture that made things a bit simpler but what about Clem and other demons who had fought on their side from time to time? They weren't all bad.

She decided to settle for the simplest answer that she could muster. "Well it's not as black and white as that but for now that's what you need to know."

Of course, it wasn't really an answer but there was time for details later.

"You don't need to keep me in the dark any more, Lil."

"I'm not." She promised. "It's late and there's a lot for you to take in. We can't cover everything in one night. Tomorrow me, Buffy and Xander will talk you through the basics and you can start training."

"Training?"

"Don't worry, Buffy's a good teacher."

As if on cue, there was a knock on Robin's bedroom door and Buffy called out.

"How are you guys doing in there?"

Lily got up and opened the door. "We're getting there." She replied, her voice a mixture of hope and fear.

"Good, we were starting to worry you'd had another power kick and were going to try and destroy the world again." Xander teased, knowing Lily wouldn't take him too seriously after the yellow crayons he'd given her as a present earlier.

"Destroy the world?" Barney asked.

"Yeah she got a bit addicted to magic and…"

"Zip it before I get all dark and veiny and try and kill you." Lily replied, jokingly.

Xander laughed and pulled Lily into a hug.

"Lil, do you want to tell us what he's talking about?" Ted asked, growing concerned.

"Not really." She replied in a voice higher than hers usually was.

Buffy stepped in at this point, hoping to draw attention away from a story she was certain Lily didn't want them to know about.

"I think we should head back to yours, Lily. We can talk about all of this more tomorrow."

Lily shot her a grateful glance as everyone else agreed. She couldn't speak for the rest of them but she definitely needed some time to herself to get used to the idea that all of her friends now knew about her past. Not only that, but Robin was a slayer! Every time those words ran through her head she had a sudden panic, thinking of all the ways she could get hurt and all the evil she'd have to face. Not to mention the fact that there was some ancient prophecy referring to her specifically. Lily had been aware of the magical world for long enough now to know that 'ancient prophecy' meant massive evil to fight when the odds were always totally against them. Hell, Buffy had died TWICE from fighting prophesised evils. The thought of sending Robin in to this life was the last thing she wanted. Still, with her and the Scoobies she had the best chance of winning that she could have. That gave her a bit of encouragement.

The four of them walked the familiar route back to Marshall and Lily's apartment, taking the shortcut through a back alley. It wasn't the sort of place you wanted to be walking at night on your own but she couldn't think of a safer group to be with.

Almost as soon as that thought crossed her mind, she felt herself being shoved against the alley wall by someone of inhuman strength. Lily caught a glimpse of his demonic face and knew straight away that he was a vampire. Marshall let out a small sound of surprise and was about to try and pull the man away from Lily but Buffy was already on it.

In less that a second the roles were reversed and Buffy had the vampire against the wall with a stake pointed at his heart.

"You know you really should be more careful walking through New York on your own at night." She told him. "You don't know who you could run in to."

With a smirk she plunged the stake into his heart, turning him instantly to dust.

"What was that?" Marshall asked in shock.

"A vampire." Xander confirmed.

"Is it gone?"

"You saw the dust." Buffy commented. "A stake through the heart will do it."

"Let's just get home." Lily suggested and everyone followed her through the remainder of the alley and back on to the relatively more open streets.

Xander and Buffy walked in front, remembering the route from earlier, and Lily hung back to talk to Marshall.

"Are you ok?" She asked, worried that she'd scared him off after everything that had happened over the past couple of hours.

"That man almost killed you and you're asking if I'm ok?"

"He wasn't a man. He was a vampire."

"Whatever. That's not my point."

"I know." Lily said, looking down. "I didn't want to bring up how I was feeling because I know you won't like it."

"How are you feeling?" Marshall insisted.

"Shocked about what happened at the house and worried about Robin but otherwise fine." She told him. Marshall turned to her and raised an eyebrow in question. How was she fine? She'd just been attacked!

As if reading his thoughts, which Marshall was now wondering if she could really do, Lily continued.

"When I was in high school and college this sort of thing pretty much happened on a weekly basis. I haven't seen a vampire here in years but they still don't really phase me any more, especially when I have Buffy with me."

She was right, Marshall thought. He didn't want to hear this. He didn't want to have to picture his wife ever being in so much danger, let alone enough to make her feel used to it.

"But how are you taking this?" She asked as they turned the corner on to their block.

"I don't know." He replied honestly. "I mean I've always wanted to believe stuff like this existed but knowing that it does and how dangerous it is makes me wish it didn't. And now knowing that you and Robin are in danger because of it makes me worry even more."

"I don't like it any more than you do. Sure magic can be fun but it becomes addictive and can get very dangerous. And everything else… well there's nothing good about vampires and being a slayer isn't a safe job."

By this point they had reached the apartment and Buffy and Xander could hear what they were saying.

"But because of you it's not a death sentence any more." Buffy interrupted.

"It's still a death sentence." Lily said sadly. "I've yet to hear of a slayer dying from natural causes. All I've done is allow them to live a bit longer."

Marshall let them all in to find a load of ancient looking books spread over the floor, along with some candles and a bunch of other stuff he couldn't name.

"Sorry that was from the locator spell." Lily explained, picking them up and putting them back in the chest.

"You were really serous about this stuff." Marshall commented as he glanced inside the chest that was definitely not filled with 'women's stuff' as his wife has told him.

"I was at one point but then I just wanted to get away. They only made me bring this lot with me in case of an emergency."

Everyone agreed that they needed to get some sleep after that. Marshall had a lot of questions and knew his friends did as well and was hoping that tomorrow he'd be able to get answers from Lily and her friends. So much had happened and changed his view of the world so completely in the last couple of hours that he needed time to process it all.

When he slid into bed next to his wife he wrapped his arms around her, hoping the small gesture would make her feel protected and reassure himself of her safety. He didn't like to think of someone he loved so much being in such dangerous situations.

His mind raced for what seemed like hours before he was eventually able to fall asleep from sheer exhaustion.