Hey everyone! This chapter starts off with a future time jump from Lily's POV and then returns to the present with them all in college for the rest. Sorry about the gap in updates, I'll be quicker with the next one so it doesn't get too fractured:)

PS..Anybody think NPH is going to permanently host the Tony's? :)

A Decade in the Future

Twenty-eight year old Lily opened the art supply drawer and selected a 24 pack of crayola crayons. "Here you go Gregory," she said, with a smile, handing them off to the six year old at her heels. "Do you promise not to break them in half and throw them at Jason?"

"I promise Mrs. Erikson!" he nodded eagerly.

"Okay then go work on your project." Lily watched him scurry off, remembering a time when that name, Mrs. Erikson, belonged to a dream that seemed destined for another lifetime or perhaps a Lily in a parallel universe. Back when she was still dating Barney. That felt like eons ago.

"Mrs. Erikson!" Danielle screamed, holding a glue stick above her head. "Gregory messed up my art!"

"I was helping her," Greg objected.

"Were not.

""Was so."

Lily folded her arms, "Gregory did you draw on Danielle's family portrait?"

"Maybe."

"Why?"

"Because she drew in Jason as her boyfriend and -"

"So you had no right scribbling on his face," Danielle cut him off.

"Everyone should be doing their own work," Lily stated firmly in her teacher voice, "But Danielle do you really think Jason belongs in your family portrait?"

"But Mrs. Erikson you said family can be anyone you think of as family. Friends too."

"I guess you're right," Lily smiled encouragingly. "Okay keep up the great work! You too Gregory…on your own paper." Agreeably he pulled out a crayon and began coloring what appeared to be a dog as big as his parents. Danielle made an excellent point, who says you can't learn anything from first graders. Lily knew firsthand friends counted as family. Her own extended family Marshall, Robin, Barney, and Ted flashed through her mind. She was definitely lucky. Lucky they found each other and made each other so much more awesome than they ever were before.

A Decade Earlier

The next time Marshall saw Lily was in the campus pool hall. Sitting in a booth opposite some guy he had to presume was her acclaimed "jack of all trades" boyfriend Barney. They seemed to be on a private island oblivious to everything else around them. He didn't really strike Marshall as the type of guy she'd go for, then again he hadn't really pictured her with anyone but him since they met.

Squaring his shoulders, as if entering a career defining case, he walked towards them. "Lily hey!" He called out her name. The lanky guy with ice blue eyes, blond hair and a cavalier persona looked up first, then not recognizing Marshall, looked to Lily. "What do we have here?"

"Marshall, hi..." Lily's face bleached briefly, "This is my boyfriend Barney, baby this is Marshall. Remember? The guy from that night in the library."

"Oh. The fight. Thanks for steppin in for my girl," Barney said. "Wanna hang out a minute? Have some pizza, tell us your story."

"I'm sure Marshall can't stay."

"Ok!" Marshall slid in next to Lily and reached for a slice. Immediately he and Barney struck up a conversation over the merits of 'chick fights versus real fights'. In no time, they were both laughing like ten year old boys. Guys could always bond over sports or video games or whatever, become insta friends. Lily averted her eyes, afraid of what they might reveal. Truthfully, Marshall had crossed her mind, more than once, since she spent that night a his apartment. Not that she took it at all seriously considering she hadn't seen him before or since then. Until now.

She zoned back into their imitation of girl fights ..."Why are you talking about me?" Marshall was giggling in a high pitched girly voice..."Why are you giving me attitude?" Barney shrilled..."You're a bitch" Marshall shrieked..."You're ugly and fat and a slut," Barney ticked off probably the three most feared adjectives plaguing girls, "BAMM BOOZLE!" he stood raising his fist triumphantly just as Robin arrived on scene. She was wearing an impossibly short skirt for November, that was frayed and flared along the bottom edge. All the girls in Phi Mu dressed like that though, in fact she probably borrowed it off Shelly or Claire.

"Hey you started without me!"

"Just Marshall," Barney told Robin.

"Who?" she asked in confusion.

"You're late," Lily pointed out, picking up her knife and fork and getting herself a slice of pizza.

"You'd be late too if you'd had the kind of day I've been having. Move," she ordered Barney flopping next to him.

"Uh oh..you're late? I knew you'd regret sleeping with Ted," Barney barbed her. Robin slapped the back of his head.

"Owwwwwwww! Does that mean you're not carrying Ted's demon seed? Congratulations!" Barney carried on juvenilely.

"Somebody remind me to borrow a muzzle next time I walk Slash, I think Barney literally needs it more," Robin said, exchanging an eye roll with Lily.

"There is an easier way," Lily smiled, leaning forward to place a sweet kiss on her boyfriend's lips. "Works like a charm." Marshall flinched, unaccustomed to Barney and Lily's PDA like Robin.

"She's magic," Barney said.

"I knew there had to be a reason you two never fight anymore," Robin said, brushing some stray fur off her jacket leftover from her ordeal involving an anxious Husky at the dog groomers.

"Hope you aren't allergic to dogs Marshall," Barney said, seeing as how Robin was totally covered in dog hair.

"Very funny" Robin laughed sarcastically. "Hey wait!" She stopped suddenly, looking from Lily to Barney. "Marshall..this isn't another setup…you two wouldn't trick me again..into another blind date."

"Relax Scherbatsky, Marshall is Lily's knight in shining armor, after your wicked step sisters attacked in the library…which I'm still bummed to have missed btw" Barney muttered.

"Knight in shining armor?" Robin arched an eyebrow at Lily who she was surprised to find blushing.

"Barney is exaggerating," Marshall said quickly. "I really didn't do anything."

Robin nodded grabbing her and Barney two slices of pizza. She recklessly tossed one on his plate splattering sauce and grease as it made contact.

"Watch it Robin! You almost got sauce all over me!"

"You mean that speck," Robin asked mockingly. "That would have been so tragic."

"I knooooooooooow," Barney agreed seriously, manically wiping at his shirt.

"God you are such a trip," Robin said.

"This is just a little bit they do," Lily explained to Marshall.

"Oh yeah," eyes glinting in rebellion, he took Lily's fork along with the piece of pizza she had just carved off her slice. "Here's a little bit more," he laughed at his own word-play, using Lily's fork to catapult the wedge of pizza at Barney.

"Watch it! This is shirt is Armani!" Barney screamed, recoiling 10 feet from the table.

"I was just messing around," Marshall continued laughing. He had no clue why Barney was taking his prank so seriously. It was such a tame move compared to what he experienced growing up with three older brothers.

"This is all your fault Scherbatsky," Barney accused pointing a finger at the brunette.

"My fault? That's insane, I didn't mind control Marshall into doing that."

"You. Started. It." Barney said stubbornly before retreating to the guy's restroom. "I hope your happy."

"Barney…" Robin chased after him. "Wait..."

"It was a joke," Marshall insisted, raising his hands in defeat.

Lily nodded sympathetically, "Barney doesn't joke about clothes. I learned that around the time I learned his name."

Marshall nodded.

"So how have you been? Are you excited for break?" She quickly distracted herself with rifling aimlessly through her clutch, as it dawned on her that they were now ALONE.

"Fine..and yeah..but Lily?"

"Yes?" Her voice came out high and unnatural. Staring into her compact, refusing to meet his eyes, she began teasing her magenta locks with a comb.

Marshall inhaled a harsh breath, "Lily, look I'm not the type of guy to leave anything on the table and -"

"Wait Marshall, stop," Lily interrupted abruptly, suddenly afraid of what he might say or maybe even what she wanted him to say. "I mean, I think I know what you're going to say and you don't have to."

Marshall laughed nervously, staring down at the table. "If you know what I'm trying to say here, then I think I do need to say it."

"No, no you don't," she insisted, "because it's irrelevant. It won't change anything, except well then we can't even be friends or anything."

"Lily, come on."

But she shook her head, "Barney and I are in a good place right now. I don't want to screw that up, I need to consider my boyfriend."

Marshall ran a hand through his sandy brown hair, frustrated by her stubbornness. He wanted to argue, but the thing is, when it comes to that girl, you can't argue, you just take it. "Fine. You win."

Lily flashed him a relieved smile, before turning her attention back to where Robin was continuing to assault the men's restroom door. Somehow she didn't feel like a winner.

"Barney come out. You're overreacting! I promise!" Robin called through the door. Two guys walked out and smirked in her direction, "No need to knock baby," one said.

"Yeah a hot ass like that's always welcome," the other mouthed off. Gesturing suggestively with his hands and tongue.

"Tempting" she said flippantly, dodging any further remarks by returning to their table. Those guys were so typical of the entitled jerks she encountered regularly during her summer as Robin Sparkles. They were all the same.

"Sorry Lily," she said. "I tried."

"He'll get over it," Lily assured, sipping a sprite. "Have you heard from Ted?"

"Well -" Robin looked at Marsahall wolfing down pizza.

"Marshall doesn't even know Ted," Lily said realizing Robin's confidentiality concerns.

"Neither do I apparently. Since he's been blackballing me all week and went home early."

"Ted's just too idealistic, he can't help it."

"Why did you force me to go out with him in the first place?"

"Seemed like a good idea..and you guys were hitting it off..at first."

"Whatever," Robin said as Barney stalked back over to them.

"You are so lucky I had my emergency spray away pen with me," he said, reclaiming his rightful seat next to Robin.

"Give it a rest baby," Lily said.

"Fine baby."

"Besides," Lily continued returning to her conversation with Robin, "Ted recovers quickly..Barney can vouch for that. You might even run into him while you're there for thanksgiving."

Robin nearly aspirated her drink. "How did you know about Thanksgiving?"

"Barney. We tell each other everything. It was so sweet of him inviting you," she said beaming at him across the table.

Marshall couldn't help wonder if Lily was intentionally trying to shove the intimacy of her relationship with Barney in his face. He leaned back brooding.

"Ted's my homeboy," Barney explained to Marshall, it was preferable to commenting on Lily's declarations of how solid their relationship was or admitting that his desire to kiss Robin right then and there was so fucking hot it was frying his brain.

Robin doubted Barney had actually gone the full disclosure route with Lily. Like he would have literally said, 'Robin's coming over for thanksgiving since my mom invited her after mistaking her for you when I kissed her in front of her to purposely give her that impression.' It just didn't add up, not that Robin was interested in rehashing those details. If Barney and Lily were staying a couple, then even if the status of her relationship with Ted was in limbo, she had already decided she was not going to Thanksgiving.

"Actually, I already decided to stay at Phi Mu like I planned," she told Lily.

"Why? Girl you should go!"

"I don't know she is kind of a messy eater," Barney said, ruffling her ponytail. Robin knew, in code Barney, this meant he knew he screwed up. His eyes were alit with pain and resilience like no one else and she knew she wouldn't stay mad. It was Barney.

"True that," she agreed, wavering her glass near him threateningly. "Uh ohhhhhh.." See, she told herself, she was fully capable of being a good sport and if Barney got all hot and bothered in the process, that was just bonus points.

"Hey now!" Barney captured the glass, setting it out of her reach. "No need to do something drastic," he said continuing to hold her hands hostage.

"Really, though, you should go home with him Lily," Robin said, struggling against his tight grip.

"I can't. I'm flying home to Connecticut. Besides this way you can tell me what Barney's mom is like."

"Oh right," Robin said sarcastically, her eyes penetrating Barney's like lasers. "Because meeting her would be a brand new experience."

"Or maybe you should make your own decision Lily, without considering other people," Marshall interjected.

"Just consider it a sign that you and Ted should get back together," Lily went on deliberately ignoring Marshall's little dig.

"Or maybe they should just split up. Maybe the relationship has run its course," Marshall said.

"Marshall! He's joking...obviously," Lily said, choking out a shallow laugh.

Marshall took another big bite of the pizza he didn't want to eat anymore to avoid confirming or denying that. He just shrugged and chewed slowly.

"Well, Ranjit's coming in a few hours and were dropping Lily at the airport on the way to Long Island."

"I could take Lily," Marshall volunteered. "I'm taking the red eye to Wisconsin. We can share a cab."

"Thanks man!" Barney said, before Lily could even object.

"My pleasure," Marshal replied as though he and Lily were about to ride off into the sunset together instead of share a simple cab ride.

"So how about you Scherbatsky? You comin? I' even give you permission to call me an idiot the entire way," Barney asked, nudging Robin affectionately.

"Oh that's a given." She looked over at Lily, clearly she thought this was a good idea.

"What the hell," she said again after a few more seconds elapsed. It could be fun and this would give her the chance to make it clear, on no uncertain terms, her and Barney were friends. Only friends. If Barney was going to screw around on Lily, it wasn't going to be with her.

"Why isn't this stupid thing working right?" Ted demanded, vigorously shaking the magic eight ball around. He and Victoria were standing in the front shop of Paranormal Studios, awaiting a psychic reading of Ted's love life. They tried two other of these venues; however, the first was closed for the holiday and Ted, being his usual ultra-particular self, had a bad vibe at the second. As much of a believer in fate and destiny as Ted was, Victoria was just as much a skeptic. However, he wanted her here. So she was here. It was that simple.

"Just because it's not giving you the answer you want doesn't necessarily mean something's wrong with it," Victoria responded carefully to avoid disturbing Ted's emotional sanity any further.

"No! Everything I ask it, it gets wrong!" Ted said, like a two year old on the verge of a tantrum.

"Here," she took it off his hands, "Why don't you take a break from this?"

"Fine. It's broken anyway." Ted moved briskly along towards a display of pictured tarot cards. He picked up one at random and studied it carefully.
Victoria pried the tarot card from Ted's death grip. "Ted what are we doing here?"

"We need to find out who I'm supposed to be with..I can't take the uncertainty..it's too much."

"You have to be joking. You're nineteen Ted. Things are supposed to be uncertain."

"I know but this whole thing with Robin -"

"You are blowing that way out of proportion! I mean do you really think it warrants a psychic intervention?"

"I think I need to know if she's the One."

"And you can't date her to find that out? Like a normal person?"

"You were way more fun before you started dating Kevin," Ted snapped.

"So were you! This whole Robin thing has been totally toxic on your personality."

"You don't know what your saying. Kevin has you psychoanalyzing everything now. This is just something I need to do."

"Ted are you ready?" Madam Blacksunshine asked. A voluptuous blond woman in her mid-forties appeared for Ted's scheduled psychic reading. Her face was aged from smoking or sun damage or maybe something else.

"Yes, of course. Be right there. Just be cool," he warned Victoria.

"No problem," she said, following her ex-boyfriend. They followed the psychic down a short corridor and were seated at a circular table in a room partitioned off by black beaded drapery. A dark crystal ball type thing loomed in the center of the felt card table. On blunt appraisal, the room resembled an attic space. Nothing was coordinated. There was a cracked mirror across the back wall, which resembled of one of those two-way observation mirrors you see in police stations and psychiatric observation areas. Storage bins were lined up on another side. Hallmarks of the eighties - a poster of Night Ranger and an old Dirty Dancing movie poster flanked an unoccupied bird cage. Victoria recalled many memories of her dad cranking up Sister Christian on road trips.

"Now this will only work if you open yourself up completely to the experience," their psychic stated informatively.

Victoria cast Ted a skeptical glance, but he was too over-eagerly focused on Madam Blacksunshine to notice. She tapped her foot against his chair nervously.

"You said you wanted to discuss a particular individual, a girl named -"

"Robin. My girlfriend. Well I want to find out if we end up together. You know." Ted was rambling a bit.

"Fine. Now you release yourself from time and place, please" Madam Blacksunshine commanded.

Ted nodded and concentrated on fulfilling the seemingly impossible request. Clearly, fully committed to the experience. Victoria studied their reflections in the broken mirror. She never imagined she be spending Thanksgiving break like this.

"Do you have a picture?" The psychic requested.

Ted nodded, fumbling around a moment, before delicately handing over a picture of the two of them. Victoria had never met Robin, but it was obvious why he was so smitten. The picture was taken at a sorority fundraiser. Ted and Robin were posed in front of a balloon backdrop smiling. Robin was wearing a gold halter dress, that went to her knees and gold butterfly clips in her hair She looked like a model, but not in an obnoxious way.

Madam Blacksunshine appeared to enter a trance-like state. Studying the picture like a blood hound picking up the scent of something intangible to the rest of the human race. Then reached for Ted's hands, tracing the lines on his palm. Her nails were silver chrome acrylics.

She dimmed the lights and magenta and neon purple lightning static streaked in the center ball on the table. Then there was dead silence. For the next few minutes, Victoria stared wonderingly at the ball.

"Not her," Madam Blacksunshine spoke ending the interlude.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean what I say. Not her."

"Are you sure?" Ted asked brokenly, like he was about to cry.

"Robin already met her soul mate. A long time before she even knew you."

"Then who is my soul mate? When do I meet her? Where do I meet her?" Ted prompted desperately.

Madam Blacksunshine shook her head, "You don't, she finds you."

"Just tell me how to find her," Ted begged.

"Your soul mate is destined to meet you. I can't mislead you."

"That's crazy. If you don't look for something, you aren't going to find it."

"She will find you in good time. It will do no good to look."

"Ok thanks," Ted stood abruptly, a vision of martyrdom.

Watching Ted storm from the room, Victoria understood why payment was required upfront for these services. She felt like she was living that scene from the Wizard of Oz, where they go to the Wizard for help. She wanted to say something along the lines of 'He came to you for help and you frightened him.' She would have said something too, except Madame Blacksunshine appeared disoriented. Almost like she hadn't fully returned to the present, or had been awakened mid-dream. Quietly Victoria crept past, only to be alarmed when she heard the psychic voice her name.

"It was nice meeting you Victoria."

"Hey how do you know my name?" she knew it hadn't come up.

Ignoring her inquiry, Madam Blacksunshine continued, "It's a shame Ted didn't ask about you. Your relationship has an interesting reincarnation later on down his lifeline."

"How do you know Ted and I dated?"

An expression of someone contemplating the best approach to teaching calculus to a kindergartener washed over the psychic's face. She shrugged as if it were unfeasible.

"Whose your source?" Victoria tried again more forcefully.

"You're blinded by your preconceptions dear." She said sagely, as if she counseled routinely as part of her job description.

Victoria tried not to register what she thought of that assessment. "So you just know everything then?" she asked patronizingly.

"Not at all. I know what I do. Here's my business card. Maybe you'll find it useful someday."

Victoria snatched it, then feeling a little rude, amended her attitude, "Thanks...I guess."

Thanks for reading, I totally appreciate everyone who comments, follows, and reads this fic!