Like most fanfiction adventures, this came on me with little to no warning. So I apologize for the (lack of) quality that may be reflected in the story below.

I've long had a difficult relationship with the finale to this show. I defended it for a very long time, and I still continue to believe that most of the show's fans would have had a far easier time accepting it if all of the plot twists that were revealed in the show's final hour were introduced to us slowly instead of just throwing it in our faces for shock effect at the last minute. However, much like the other fandom I write (a lot of) fanfiction for, that finale undercut the show we thought we were watching and gave almost all of the characters the future that they least wanted.

I haven't been able to watch the show since it left the air. It's just too painful knowing what eventually happens to Ted's wife and Barney and Robin's relationship. So if the characters don't sound exactly like you remember them, it's because I haven't gotten close to the source material for a very long time.

That said, if you are at all interested in what I've put forth here please feel free to leave a review.

Ted and Robin's seemingly long-awaited reconciliation lasted just short of six months.

Five months, three weeks, and two days, to be exact. Not that anyone was counting, least of all Robin.

It had started off buoyantly and joyfully, full of all of the hope and vitality that a new relationship typically brings. Robin had thought she was long past this sort of thing, to the extent that she even acknowledged that she still wanted to awaken those feelings in herself. She'd buried that kernel of hope that she could revisit this long-ago dalliance of her youth a long, long time ago. Time moved on, her friends were happy, and she had gotten to live the life that she wanted, hadn't she?

She could wallow in selfishness and loneliness while everyone else seemed settled with families and children, or she could move on and have the courage to be happy. She chose the latter.

Still, in isolated moments, she wondered. Maybe it was an idle curiosity. Maybe it was a fantasy she clung to when she was reminded of all the things that she could have had. However, she couldn't lie and say the thought never occurred to her.

She thought about Barney, too, but that was different. They had tried and failed. The bitterness of that failure was long behind her, and Barney had found contentment in his own particular favor of family life. She knew that she hadn't been capable of giving that happiness to him. Somehow that knowledge made it easier for her to be in his life, for them to be bros again, for her to be the carefree aunt to his daughter that she was to Lily and Marshall and Ted's kids. It hadn't been what either of them had once wanted, but she treasured it nonetheless.

The prospect of this new relationship with Ted presented something different to her – something that brought the energy and newness of youth, but without being weighed down by the dread of the day when their paths would diverge. They had both accomplished what they had wanted in life and had changed enough to find a way to be together again. Or at least that's what they hoped.

The problem was that they hadn't changed as much as either of them had thought.

Ted was firmly enmeshed in family life in Westchester. He was also firmly enmeshed in clinging to Tracy's memory, even though he likely would have denied it if Robin had ever asked. Robin continued to live in Manhattan and visit Ted on weekends, but scheduling and logistical difficulties often made their relationship seem incredibly taxing even in its better moments. Penny and Luke's changing attitude towards Robin didn't help matters. They had adored and cherished her when she was the hip, slightly reckless aunt ready to introduce them to new adventures. However, her role as their potential new stepmother seemed to slowly breed a resentment in both of them, especially since Ted constantly expected her to back him up as they continued to test his boundaries.

Then there were the feelings that she expected herself to have. Robin had always had trouble summing up that romantic ache that she felt came so easily to other people, most of all Ted. She wasn't built like that, and when those feelings did arise in her, they were almost always unexpected. She waited and waited and . . . they just didn't happen this time. She was finding it increasingly difficult to compensate for their absence with the other positive aspects of this relationship that simply didn't exist.

She knew that both of them deserved a clean break, but she couldn't bring herself to do it yet.