AN: I own nothing. Also, English isn't my first language, so there might be some grammar mistakes. please r&r. Enjoy!

Summer Paradise

Chapter one

Tonight started out just as any other ordinary night for Barney. Well, not ordinary, as he was Barney Stinson, hence each night was a legendary night for him. But nothing unusual seemed to welcome him as he walked into Maclarance Pub to meet his friend Ted. He was still excited, though, and had this wired feeling that tonight was going to be awesome.

That was life for Barney those days. He had his awesome job where he didn't have to work too hard but still get a lot of money, his great friends Ted and Marshall (and Marshall's girlfriend, Lily, who was nice enough and supplied femininity to their little gang), his awesome big brother and his mom whom he talked to almost every day. And of course he had cigars, booze, laser tag, the strip club and bimbos. Oh, how he loves those stupid bimbos.

So, overall, you could say his life was pretty much perfect.

He sat at the bar, drinking his beer and scanning the room while waiting for Ted. It was a weak night, not so many hot chicks as he had hoped, but then a group of women entered through the door and Barney noticed one of them had a really nice body. She was tall and lean, with long brown hair. He didn't see her face, but he was sure the girl in the green sweater had to be pretty. He hoped she was Lebanese.

Just when he started to think of a way to get in those girl's pants Ted walked in.

"Ted!" he said, annoyed, "where's your suit?"

Of course he didn't suit up, as usual. Barney didn't really expect him to, but for once he wished Ted would listen to him. Just once. And Ted had the lack of awareness to think that Blazer of him was a suit. I mean, come on, Barney thought, have I taught him nothing?

Ted started talking about the meaning of life, or some other stupid thing, and Barney really didn't want to think of such depressing things tonight. No, tonight was about having fun. So to shut Ted up and have time for his own fun, he decided to play his famous game, "Have you met Ted". And although Ted argued at first, Barney knew he would thank him later. So he tapped on the shoulder of the girl who stood by him and walked away after saying, "Hi, haaaave you met Ted?"

He tried to find the girl in the green sweater but couldn't see her anywhere. Great, now he would have to find a new target to win tonight, and he really wanted to score that girl. She looked like a ten, even if he only saw her back. But he couldn't find her, so he settled on talking to a pretty blond girl with brown coat who told him she wasn't supposed to talk to any guy tonight because her friend just got dumped, and she was waiting for her to get back from the bathroom.

"I'm sorry, you seem really nice-"

Nice? Barney Stinson was a lot of things, nice wasn't one of them.

"-but if she'll see me talk to you it would only hurt her more, and tonight is about her. Oh, here she is right now! Bye!" she waved him off and joined two women who walked out of the ladies room. Barney saw a glimpse of green walk past him as the three of them sat down at their booth. So, that girl with the green sweater had been dumped, or with a friend who got dumped, and had no intention to talk to any guys tonight. So much for his luck.

He sighed, starting to accept defeat, and walked to the bar to order himself some scotch. Ted saw him and came up to talk to him.

"So, guess what that Lebanese girl just told me?"

"No way, she was Lebanese? Damn I should have said dibs!" said Barney in frustration.

"Doesn't matter, she's Carl's Boyfriend. Agh, why am I freaking out all of the sudden? This is crazy, I'm not ready to settle down."

Barney didn't really listen to him, he was more focused on his amount of opportunities to turn this night awesome. Stupid Carl and his Lebanese girlfriend.

"The plan always been don't even think about it till you're thirty."

"Exactly, the guy doesn't even own a suit!" oh, wait, did Ted just repeated his most important rule? Maybe he was finally listening!

"Plus, Marshall already found the love of his life," oh, not again with the true love crap, "even if I was ready, which I'm not, but if I was, it's like, okay, I'm ready, where is she?"

Ted turned around then, his eyes landing on the one girl Barney had the eyes for all night, the girl in the green sweater.

"Hey, Barney, see that girl?"

And for the first time that night, so were Barney's eyes. He looked at her beautiful face, her blue eyes and her pretty smile, and he knew, just at that second, that he had seen that face before. He knew that girl. He just couldn't remember from where.

"Oh, yeah," he said, trying his hardest to remember where he knew that girl from. "You just know she likes it dirty." But that wasn't it, she wasn't one of his conquests. He would have defiantly remembered sleeping with such a beautiful girl. No, he knew her from somewhere else. And suddenly it hit him, this image, this memory. In some other lifetime, in this big cold country, a big mall, a young girl with blue eyes and long blond curls. Oh damn, he thought. It was her, it was Robin!

Barney panicked. This can't be happening. She shouldn't be here, in New York, in his life. He was different now, and she knew him, knew some of his secrets that he tried so hard to bury deep down in the past.

No one was supposed to know, and she was here, in his bar! What if she recognized him too and revealed some of his secrets to Ted? No, he couldn't let that happen. He had to get out of there, before she saw him. He had to distract Ted somehow.

"Go say hi," he told him, hiding his stress.

Of course Ted had to argue, "I can't just go say hi, I need a plan-"

But Barney didn't have time for this, because she was coming their way. Shit, I have to get out of here!

So as Ted continued his rambling, Barney walked up to Robin from behind and quickly tapped on her shoulder, adding his "Hey, have you met Ted?" before she could turn around and see him.

And then he ran for it.

He made his way to the restroom, locking himself in one of the stools, leaning his back on the heavy door, and that was when he let himself take out a sigh he didn't notice he was holding in.

Okay, he thought to himself. I can do this. She is going to turn Ted down and then I won't have to see her again.

He wanted to kick himself when a single thought crept to his mind. But what if I do want to see her again?

No! he shouted at himself in his mind. You do not want anything to do with that girl! She has no part in your new life, despite how beautiful she might have become! And you are Barney Stinson, you do not do beautiful, you do hot and dirty and stupid bimbos!

But none of this mattered, because he knew she would turn down his friend and then it would all go back to normal. He took three deep breathes and walked out of the restroom, just in time to see Robin throw her drink at Ted and walking away from him. He sighed in relief and went back to where Ted was standing near the bar.

He laughed at Ted's face, trying to go back to his cocky self. "De- wait for it- nied! Denied!"

"I'm going out with her tomorrow night," Ted grinned at him.

No no no no no! this can not be happening to him! Ted can't go out with her!

"I thought we were playing Lased Tag tomorrow night!" he said, trying his best to sound hurt by his friend's abandonment. Maybe Ted would feel guilty and cancel his date.

"Yeah, I was never really going to play Laser Tag…" he said, crashing Barney's hopes.

"But you promised!" he tried again, not giving up. "I came here tonight for you! As my best bro and wingman, you have to come with me tomorrow!"

"Dude, come on, don't make this hard. Just look at her, she is the most gorgeous girl I have ever seen! She might be the one!"

"Ppft, the one," Barney chuckled, "how lame."

"I'm going out with her tomorrow, and that's final."

"Whatever. I'm getting out of here!"

He said angrily and left. He took a cab back to his apartment, trying hard to think of a way to prevent Ted from going out with Robin. If she became his girlfriend, he would introduce her to his friends, and she would meet Barney and recognize him and tell everyone of what a big loser he used to be.

Now, when he was alone, he could let his mind wonder back to those memories, from ten years ago, when he was eighteen.

He just graduated from high school, and was about to start his first year at collage. He was very exited to start a new stage in life, as his life so far wasn't as great as he wanted it to be. He wasn't an ordinary teenage guy; he had different interests from the other kids in his school. He liked doing magic and playing his violin. He usually hang out by himself at school, and didn't try to communicate with the rest of the students in his year. Mostly he felt like no one ever understood him.

His mom and brother were the only people he let himself be close to, and it got them worried. That was why his mother was very pleased when he got accepted to MIT, the Magicians Institute of Teaneck. Maybe now he could be around other people his age who he could share his interests with.

To celebrate his acceptance, his mother decided to take him on a trip the summer before collage. They decided together to go somewhere close, not too expensive, where he could see other places of the world before he started his studies. That's how they got to spend the last two weeks of August in Toronto.

Barney enjoyed the time he got to spend with his mom, but sometime around the day of their trip he couldn't take her company anymore and wanted to spend some time by himself.

"Mom, I'm going to explore the area, I'll be back in about two hours or so," he told his mother. She smiled at him kindly and handed him a few Canadian dollars.

"Okay Wuv Wuv, have fun and be safe!"

Barney left the hotel and started walking down the street. He didn't really know where he should go, but after fifteen minutes he found himself in front of a big mall. Not having anything better to do, he decided to walk in and buy himself something to drink. There were many people in the mall, more than he expected. Most of them where teenagers, a bit younger than him. He didn't feel too comfortable around so many people, so he got himself a cold coffee from Tim Hortons and started to go towards the exit.

Suddenly he felt something hit him from behind, making him spill the coffee on the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," said a feminine voice behind him, with thick Canadian accent.

"It's alright," he said, and turned around to look at the person who bumped into him. She seemed around his age, maybe a little bit younger. She had long blond curly hair, with a red band tied up in it. She wore a jeans jacket, and a cute little skirt. When he looked at her blue eyes he saw she had been crying. "Are you okay?" he asked, trying to be nice.

"Oh, yeah, of course," she said, whipping a few tears from her cheeks. "Just fine. Hey, I should buy you a new drink." She offered, pointing on the direction of the near coffee shop.

"No, it's alright, I was just about to get out of here," He told her. He really didn't want to be in that mall with all those people any longer. "Too crowded for me."

She nodded, looking around her. "Yeah, I get what you mean. Hey, how about we get out of here and go to a quiet coffee shop where I could repay for the drink I spilled?"

Barney looked at her, surprised. Had this gorgeous girl just offered to go on a date with him? Well, it wasn't really a date, but two people sitting together drinking coffee sounded pretty muck like a date to him. And for someone who never done that with a girl before, he was tempted to take her offer. She was beautiful, after all. And seemed really nice. And she had been crying before, and maybe she really needed someone to talk to.

He must have taken too long too answer, because he added quietly, "unless you have something better to do."

"Oh, no! I mean, I would love to go out with you! I mean, I would like to drink coffee with you… somewhere else other than here."

She smiled at him and started to walk towards the exit. "Great, then let's go!"

Barney shook himself out from the memory. He shouldn't think about her. It was doing him no good. That was ten years ago, long long into the past.

The next day he spent his time at work trying to think of knew ways to convince Ted to ditch his date and go play Laser Tag with him, but couldn't think of none. So as evening came, he put on his suit and made his way to the Laser Tag arena, trying to keep Robin out of his mind.

He focused his mind on the game, but then Ted called, and by the sound of his voice and the early hour it was, he was hoping his date wasn't good.

Ted needed his advice on something, so Barney had to take the opportunity to his advantage. "Meet me at the bar in fifteen minutes. And suit up!"

But of course Ted didn't put on a suit again. Instead he wanted to know what Barney thought about him not kissing Robin. Now that was a tricking question. Of course Barney knew the answer; yea, he should have kissed her. In every situation that was a good answer, unless a commitment was involved. But he didn't want Ted to keep meeting this girl. He was about to say exactly that, when he realized that would bee wired of him to say, and would make his friends get suspicious of him. So he had to say the obvious thing.

"You should have kissed her."

He wasn't sure how it happened, but he found himself in a cab on the way to Robin's apartment, helping Ted get the girl who could ruin his entire life. At least he got Ted to wear a suit.

Waiting in the cab was getting harder and harder for him, so he convinced Marshall and Lily to go back to the bar, where he could buy himself a scotch and forget his problems for a little while.

When Ted entered the door half an hour later and told them what happened, Barney was the happiest man alive. Leave it to Ted to screw things up. He sighed in relief for the second time in two nights, and allowed himself to relax and celebrate with his friends.

All was good and back to normal for the next few days, until one evening later what week when they all met at the bar. To Barney's surprise and dismay, Lily sat in their usual booth with no other than Robin. As soon as he saw her he panicked again, and stayed at the bar while Ted and Marshall went to talk to the two girls. He turned his back to them, buying them drinks, and trying to hide himself from her.

Luckily for him, she left after a few seconds and he could go sit with his friends. Unluckily for him, Ted wasn't ready to let her go. He had this stupid grin on his face, the one he got every time he clamed to be in love with a girl. And he was planning on having a party to win Robin's heart. Barney tried to talk him out of it, but to no luck.

So the next Friday night he dragged himself to Ted and Marshall's apartment, hoping to avoid any interaction with Robin.

Maybe he could just avoid her until Ted would get tired of chasing her, and then everything would be okay. If she didn't meet him, she would never be able to tell his friends about their little summer romance, and about his past self.

So he spent his time at the party with some hot chick who no one knew, one who couldn't know anything about him. And the next night, on the second party, he did the same (after finding out that girl was a lunatic). On the third say, though (how lame can Ted get? Three parties just to get that one girl?) he was running out of luck. That night Robin showed up. He thought he dodged the bullet when he sat her up with Carlos, but eventually he realized he couldn't run away anymore, as Ted invited her to hang out with them at the bar.

As they made their way down the stairs he had his last chance of avoiding her, but when they entered the bar and she sat by next to him, he knew it was over. She would recognize him soon and tell his friends everything.

"Hi," she said to him as she sat down, and Barney looked up to meet her gaze. Their eyes met and he saw the now familiar blue color. "I don't think we met yet, I'm robin." She reached out her hand for him to shake.

He stared at her for a moment, trying to find it she was kidding him or not. But as the seconds flew by he realized she simply didn't recognize him, and suddenly all of his problems disappeared.

"Hey," he told her, shaking her hand. "Barney."