Marshall pushed his key into the apartment lock. He'd had a really long day at work, and all he wanted to do was relax. As he opened the door, Marshall heard Ted speaking on the phone,

"mhm... yes... no, don't worry Aunt Maria, he'll be fine with us... no, really it's OK. I don't mind, really. OK. OK. Yeah, OK. See you soon, Aunt Maria. Bye now".

Ted ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Marshall walked into the apartment and shut the door behind him, as Ted looked up.

"Hey," he greeted Marshall, "How was work?"

"Not bad, just kinda... busy" replied Marshall. "What was that about?" he motioned to the phone.

"It was my Aunt Maria from Ohio" was the answer.

"Yeah, yeah I got that" Marshall said.

"Uh, well, she wants to send her 16-year-old Son, my cousin, Blaine over for a while. She just thinks it'll be good for him to get away for a while" Ted sighed.

"Is that a bad thing? What, is he a really rough kid?" asked Marshall, concerned.

"No, no" Ted answered quickly. "No, he's great, really well behaved, extremely charming. No, it's just that, well, I haven't seen him since... well, since... anyway, I haven't seen him in a while and last time I saw him he wasn't doing too great. I've talked to him on the phone and stuff, I just don't know if he's, well, OK now."

Marshall walked over and patted his best friend's shoulder.

"It'll be alright. It's OK with me and Lily if he wants to stay. We'll all be nice to him. Well, I don't know about Barney, but the rest of us will be sympathetic and kind and all to the kid. We all know how tough Junior year is." Marshall joked.

Ted nodded silently, deep in thought.

"C'mon, dude, let's go down to the Bar! Everyone's already there!" Marshall suddenly said.

"OK. Sure, let's go" replied Ted.

Down in the Bar, Robin and Barney were having an argument about Canada, and Lily was texting. Marshall and Ted came in and sat down in their booth with them.

"Hey guys" said Marshall cheerfully.

"S'up? Hey, how's my bro?" Barney asked Ted, "feel like I haven't seen you in years, man."
"It's been, like 3 days" replied Ted, confused.

"Ah well, I missed ya" Barney was practically bouncing. "How come I haven't seen you then?"

"Well, you may have forgotten, it was kinda a big event but MY FIANCÈE LEFT ME AT THE FREAKING ALTAR AND I'VE BEEN SORTA DEPRESSED ABOUT IT!" Ted snapped.

"Whoa, dude, I'm sorry. Was just trying to make you feel better" Barney said quietly.

"No, look, dude, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have got mad. I'm just tense." Ted apologized.

"Do you really think it'll be OK for you to have this cousin stay with you? I mean, if you're this cut up about Stella?" Marshall said softly.

"Cousin? What cousin?" asked Lily, interested.

"My aunt from Ohio wants to send my cousin Blaine here for a bit of a vacation. He's 16 and hasn't exactly had the greatest life, but he's a sweet kid. Polite. Is it alright with you if he stays with us?" Ted looked at Lily.

"Sure," she answered. "If it's OK with you. Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Yeah, I mean, I guess he'll take my mind off the whole Stella thing" replied Ted.

"When's he coming?" asked Robin

"Saturday"

"OK, well that gives us 2 days for you to tell us every embarrassing story about him ever" said Barney, with a mischievous look in his eyes.

"No. Look, Barney, last time I saw Blaine he was in a really vulnerable state. Just... be cool OK? Be sympathetic" Ted said with conviction.

"Ugh, fine" said Barney. "I'll try but I'm not promising anything".