I've gotten curious about parallel universes. I'm not sure about the science behind it, but I'm toying around with the idea. Let me know if I should write more!

In a universe wherein Ted and Barney never meet and become friends—simply because Barney gets lucky early that night with a college student—the gang is never formed. Ted and Robin, Barney and Robin. Neither of those couples, or ex-couples, have existed.

But one of them is about to exist. That is, their chemistry so defies the universes' rules it doesn't matter in what time or space they're in. They collide. In another world, they're dancing around each other on tiptoes, and in another, still yet to meet, and in another, already settled, having figured it our early.

And this is how it happens.

Barney Stinson has had his eye on the gorgeous brunette by the bar all night. And, normally, he'd have already made a move. Except this girl, well, she's pretty damn unreadable. She was with a friend who left about an hour ago, leaving her open for guys like him. Two already came up to her, and left empty-handed. She's drinking scotch. In a sexy black dress. All alone.

Barney swallows his drink and walks over to her, whispers something into her ear.

'Really? SNASA?'

She laughs.

'Oh yeah. It's all top secret. We report directly to the President. I'm thinking you'll make a great astronaut. We need women like you—we're shooting some photos on the smoon, you see.'

'Wow.' She's shaking her head, and he's smirking, his hand on her thigh. She leans forward. 'You are so. . .sad, you know that?'

'What?'

'Do women actually fall for crap like that?'

He's taken aback, honestly. Steps back, as if looking her over again.

'I'm guessing that's a yes.'

'Who are you?'

'Robin Scherbatsky.'

'Sorry. I'm just not used to this. Must be an off night for me.'

He is expecting her to slap him or spill a drink in his face any second now, but she just seems amused by this. Like it doesn't matter all that much. He sits next to her and orders two drinks, intrigued by this woman who isn't like any other he's ever met before.

'Mind if I stay?'

'Don't you have to move on to new prey now?' she retorts.

'How do you know I'm not just changing tactics with you?'

'Fair enough.'

He motions to her drink. 'You like scotch?'

'My dad did,' she explains, her smile waning.

There, familiar teritory—daddy issues! Barney smiles.

'Yeah? I'm a scotch man myself.'

XXX

They end up at her place. It's furious, passionate and she's unsurprisingly, unflinchingly certain about what to do. He finds that he's floored by this girl. Robin. As he lies next to her, the clock on her wall reading 3:45 am, he's torn between staying the night and escaping through her window. He doesn't want to leave. He feels a strange connection to her, something unexpected, intimate, as if here is a person he has been waiting to meet his entire life. But he has never done this before, stay the night at a girl's bed. It's his only rule that he has so far never found the need to break.

What the hell.

Barney closes his eyes, letting himself drift off, unguarded, wearing only boxers, utterly vulnerable in an alien environment. It feels okay, he thinks, as he slips into sleep.

XXX

He wakes up feeling content. It's weird. She's in the shower and when she gets out, hurries around changing and putting on her make-up while he's there on the bed just waiting.

'Hello?'

'I'm sorry, last night was awesome, but I'm running late for work. Really. I'm new at my job and I really can't afford it.'

He wonders if he should be hurt right now, but she seems sincere enough. Barney puts his clothes on, and they're standing, two inches apart, he kisses her, he smiles, she smiles and he grabs her phone, punches in his number quickly.

'Barney Stinson. Call me, alright? I'd—I'd like to see you again.'

She has a sly smile on.

'You will call, right? I mean you don't have to, you know—whatever—'

'You haven't done this before have you.'

'No, I haven't.'

XXX

She tells him she's bad at this stuff too, relationship stuff, and he's glad because he doesn't have to live up to any grand expectation she has in her head.

For months, the official label is friends. What's up with you and that girl, Robin? What's with tall, blonde and blue-eyed? What's going on?

'We're just friends,' they'd say.

They leave out the sleeping together part conveniently.

He keeps expecting himself to wake up one morning and kick himself in the nuts for what he's doing, basically attaching himself to this one girl, no matter how awesome she is. It's crazy, isn't? They never talk about seeing other people, but all he does is flirt now. Nothing else. And he's pretty sure she's not dating anyone else too—considering they spend almost every waking hour together, she doesn't have the time.

One day, she asks if he wants to go up with her to Canada for her cousin's wedding. Warning signs flash in his head until he says yes, of course, then throws out some Canadian joke to make her laugh.

He's surprised by the stiffness of her old home. It's masculine, cold and stuffy, but when he meets her father he begins to understand. He doesn't try to hide at all his disappointment in Robin, which angers Barney, but he sucks it in and tries to be nice to this old, delusional crackhead.

'Nice guy,' he says later on. Robin's kneeling on the floor, unpacking. She doesn't look up.

'Now you see why I hate going back here. It's like I devolve to being a teenager again around him.'

He sits down on her bed, 'Well, my dad left when I was six. So I guess all fathers must be dysfunctional.'

She turns around and sits on the floor. He has never told her about any of this.

'He never called or sent any cards after that. My mom never talked about it. I just. . .One morning, I hired a PI to look into it, and I found out my "uncle" was actually my dad. He's married now. Two kids.'

She goes over to where he's sitting on her childhood bed and puts an arm around him.

'We're messed up,' she concedes. 'But you know the best thing about this weekend?'

'All the hot girls at the wedding?'

'No.' She pushes him away. 'Idiot. My dad's scotch collection. We can drink all we can, and he'd get what he deserves. He probably won't even notice though.'

So the next day, after the cheesy wedding they spend rolling their eyes and laughing at the corniness of it all, they slip back into the house and grab a couple of bottles, lock themselves up in her room and turn on the music. They drink from the bottle. Like teenagers high on hormones, they jump on the bed and sing out loud, until they end up kissing, taking their clothes off, and they haven't done this in a while (mainly because they've both been hesitating lately), but it feels right in every single way.

And when they're finished and looking up at the ceiling (not cuddling, of course, because they both hate it) he says the most important words to ever come out of his mouth.

'Robin? I could do this forever.'

'Have sex? God, Barney.'

'No, this. Be with you.' He swallows hard. She seems to be thinking too, and the room is silent. It's dark out.

'Me too.'

'Not too cheesy?'

'We're drunk. You're forgiven.'

'And while we're drunk, let me say something else.' He focuses on the ceiling. 'You are the most awesome woman I've ever met, you love scotch, you can hold a gun. And yeah, you're screwed up with daddy issues. You're Canadian. Sometimes I think I might run away, but. . . I don't think I could function properly without your awesome complementing mine.'

She twists herself so her body is facing him, and he reaches for another bottle of alcohol and takes a swig, handing it to her afterwards.

Robin puts a hand on his chest and then kisses him. Her eyes, to him, look clear and focused, not at all clouded with alcohol.

'You're an idiot,' she tells him, smiling, shaking her head softly. And then she smacks him lightly, before falling back into bed.

And so in this way, Barney Stinson and Robin Scherbatsky defy fate and physics by finding each other in a world with seven billion people and infinite universes. They live happily ever after, as traditional a relationship either could handle, that is.

In this universe anyway.

Should I decided to write a next chapter, I'm thinking that the next universe will be drastically different. Maybe a married Barney and Robin with kids or whatever. :) please review!