Elias struggled to hold his tongue as he stood in the Mayor's kitchen and heard tell of what had happened right beneath his very nose. His temper had begun to fray the moment he heard the name of the person reported to have disappeared. It had only almost exploded when his enquiries led him to her fiancé and the person he held responsible. As he listened to what he had been almost afraid to hear he had tried to keep himself calm and objective but that was proving almost impossible under the circumstances. He was having a hard time believing that Kit had done almost nothing to stop his lover leaving town and forcing herself into the hands of almost certain danger. He had made no comment so far, whatever remaining patience he had was allowing the younger man to explain what had happened but it was certain that he would soon no longer be able to withstand the strain of holding himself back. The men with him knew him well enough to know that time was running out and he noticed them starting to back off to avoid the sting of his tongue when he chose to have his say. He knew he had to be considerate of the Mayor's presence and his companions.

Knowing himself as he did he couldn't blame them.

"So when did this all happen?" Elias asked as calmly as he could.

Kit wiped a tired hand across his eyes, "I don't know. It was still dark, maybe early this morning."

"What on earth possessed you to let her go like that? You do know who's out there don't you or haven't you been listening?"

"Of course I know who's out there. I'm not stupid."

"You could have fooled me." Elias snapped leaning forward so he was almost nose to nose with Kit, "Why didn't you try to stop her, huh? Answer me that. You tell me that you're not stupid and yet you let her walk out on her own."

"Maybe because I thought that was meant to be your job." Kit shouted back forcing Elias to retreat a few steps in surprise. "After all, you are meant to be guarding her aren't you, keeping her out of trouble? And I have to say that as usual you've done a bloody fine job of it, Elias. How many more times are you going to cock this up? To be honest I can count the amount of things you've gotten right on one hand."

Elias was fuming when he replied, "Maybe if that stupid bitch of a fiancée of yours stayed still for a few minutes I wouldn't have lost three men and I might be able to do my job properly. As it is this is turning into a full time job and it's not the one I signed up for. Maybe I might be lucky enough to find her dead in a ditch somewhere and my job will be done and I can go home. After what she's been responsible for I wouldn't say no to putting her there myself."

Everyone in the room reacted to Elias' comments differently but no one was more affected than Kit. His temper had been ignited by the words of hate shot into him like arrows and the pent up emotions of months boiled to the surface. His eyes burned as he started to stand up.

"You just said the wrong thing." Kit whispered before throwing himself at Elias.

Both men went sprawling over the floor. They struggled together until Elias kicked Kit away from him. He was soon up on his feet again and threw Kit back against the table but didn't expect to be pulled along and impacted hard on his side on the top of the table.

Winded but not beaten, Elias grabbed his opponent and hit him in the face before making an attempt to punch him in the stomach but was thwarted by his own face being struck and a fist hurling itself into his chest. Recovering quickly from the blow he was about to make another attempt at an attack but found his hands held by someone behind him. Not willing to let such insolence pass as he had suffered from Kit and not caring who held him, he kicked back with one foot and smiled when he found the person's shin and heard a hiss of pain.

The hiss of pain was soon followed by one of his own when another foot answered his challenge and struck him in the back.

His fight was over.

Robyn stood in front of the gate separating her from the house. Even though there no signs of life within the house she knew that there were people within. The yellow tape sealing the door had not been disturbed but somehow they had gained entry, the yellow barrier keeping them from the danger of discovery. She knew that even if the tape was broken no one would enter the house to see what had been responsible for its removal.

Looking around to make sure that she wasn't being watched, she pushed open the gate and passed through. Her heart quickened as it squeaked loudly shut behind her, startling her in the silence of the night. She turned around to look up and down the street again. There was still no one around.

The sound of a foot crunching on the gravel startled her again but she maintained her composure when she sensed who had made themselves known to her.

"You like sneaking up on people don't you, Lily? Attacking from behind seems to be one of your favourite things." Robyn stated as she turned around to face her mother.

Lily shook her head, "On the contrary, I always attack from the front. If you remember I stabbed that idiot Robbie while he was looking at me and your pretty boy was facing me when I attacked him."

"I stand corrected." Robyn admitted, "You've been expecting me."

"I have. I wondered how long it would take you to get here."

"How did you know I was coming?"

Lily smiled and walked towards her daughter, "Because I know you better than you think. I may have missed more than a substantial portion of your life but I am still your mother and you are still my daughter."

Something Lily said struck a cord deep inside Robyn. Not able to look at her mother she turned away. This was an action that confused Lily. She was even more perplexed when she saw tears on her daughter's cheeks.

"What are your crying for? I haven't touched you, I've barely said a word to you and you do this." Lily asked, her tone regaining its usual impatience.

Robyn looked up, she felt strangely ashamed as she confessed what she was feeling. "You've never spoken about me or yourself like that before. You've never referred to me as your daughter in that tone before and have talked of yourself as being my mother in a way that makes you feel something."

"Well it's not exactly something I can deny is it? I did after all give birth to you and as much I would have liked to have strangled you at birth, you and your brothers, you've all proven to be strangely useful."

"How can I be useful to you? How have I been useful to you?"

"You're here. Don't tell me you didn't know why you came, that you didn't know what you wanted. You're useful because you're just like me, deep down at least, and together with Morgan we can cause some real trouble. Isn't that what you want? Don't you want to make people suffer? Don't you want to be like me?"

Robyn was silent.

Lily laughed bluntly before turning around to re-enter the house, "The choice is there, Robyn. You can come with me and be part of a family or you can run along home to a place where you're considered a liar and all of your friends have abandoned you. Either that or you can make a life for yourself on the streets, walk around forever knowing that you're alone in the world and that I'll not extend the offer again. If you make up your mind you'll find a way in around the back. If I don't see you I'll know what decision you made, power or poverty. You'll never be welcome in Lazytown again and you'll leave there for good eventually. If you choose not to be part of us I'll say goodbye."

Robyn watched as Lily walked away. She turned away also and began walking towards the gate. She was about to pass through it when something stopped her, Lily's words. Her mother had been right.

Leaning back against the gate she took a deep breath before following in the footsteps of her mother. Lily was waiting for her in the shadows.

"I knew you'd make the right choice." She smiled before showing her daughter into the house.