I needed to unwind and no better way then to write a short fic :) What do you guys think should the decision at the end be?
Black-Tie event, yet most guys showed up in blazers!
Barney shook his head as he scanned the room. It was a perfect depiction of what society was like these days, now, in 2032.
A red, velvet dress caught his attention. He couldn't catch a good look of the girl wearing it since his line of sight was blocked by others, but he could tell that the dress was real black-tie material.
He noticed the girls slender legs and licked his lips.
Was it tasteless to run a play out of the playbook at his publishers annual banquet? Probably. Would he still do it? Also, likely.
He had buried his playboy alter-ego a long time ago, the day Ellie was born to be exact, but Ellie was staying with James and Tom tonight, and he had a hotel room upstairs. Why not enjoy the night?
He started to walk towards the girl in the red, velvet dress, contemplating which play he should run, when his thoughts were cut short the second he reached her.
"Robin?!" He couldn't believe he was standing in front of his ex-wife.
"Ba…Barney, hey." She replied, clearly caught off guard as well.
"Wow…you are... what are you doing here?"
The guy she had been talking to asked her if he could freshen her drink, and she handed him her tumbler absent mindedly.
"I was on the guest list." She replied, "what are you doing here?"
"Same, I guess." He replied.
To say that he was stunned to run into his ex-wife was an understatement. They hadn't seen each other in what? 12 years?
"Are you back in New York?" he asked, even though he knew the answer to that question.
Ted had ran into her years ago and she had told him that she was back in the city permanently. But who knew whether or not that was still valid. He hadn't even talked to Ted in nearly half a decade either.
"I'm just here for the banquet." Robin replied, "what about you?"
"Please, you know better than anyone that I'm not happy unless I'm in Manhattan."
It made her laugh, "true."
He looked over to the bar and noticed that the guy she had been talking to was finally served.
"Look, this might seem rushed but…do you want to get out of here? I got a room upstairs, we could catch up?" he asked.
He could tell that she was debating whether or not that was a good idea in her head, and contemplated to add that he meant the invitation purely platonic. But truth was that he didn't, and if she agreed to come upstairs with him, that she also agreed to more. If not, well then they could talk for a few more minutes, and leave each others lives once more.
"Sure." She finally said, and he grinned his signature smile.
"Well, let's go." He quickly and assertively placed his hand in the small of her back and lead her out of the room.
The elevator ride was awkward, and Robin tried to break the silence by asking about Ellie, which made everything a hundred times more awkward.
They finally reached the room.
He closed the door behind her, as she watched him.
And then he simply stepped forward and kissed her.
It felt like their first kiss; passionate, yet new and exciting. Her hand on the knot of his tie, he had missed that.
Instinct took over quickly.
They weren't thirty anymore, and he hated her wearing her hair this short, but he discovered that she still got it.
He also discovered two new scars, and five new freckles.
And re-discovered how awesome sex with Robin Scherbatsky truly was.
Twenty years ago they would have been all over each other for most of the night, now they needed a break after their first, admittedly wild round.
The view over the Hudson was breathtaking, and both of them commented on that when he held her afterwards, both facing the window front.
He traced with his fingers over the scar he had noticed on her thigh, "what happened there?"
She chuckled, "you noticed that, huh?"
"I've noticed everything that has changed." He whispered.
"Oh great." She sighed.
"That's not what I meant, you are still super hot Robin…but you have three new freckles on your right arm, one on your back, and then one right at the inside of your thigh…right there." He let his finger move to it.
She turned in his arms, now facing him, "you've got a new scar as well."
"Please, its probably just one of the ones from the bus accident." He replied.
"Nope, right here." She moved both her hands to his stomach, teasing him lightly before stopping at a certain point.
"Appendix." He replied and kissed her, long enough so they both closed their eyes and let themselves get lost in the kiss.
"You've got the new one on your thigh, and then you have one…" he moved down in the bed until he was able to kiss the underside of her right breast, "…right there."
"The one on my leg is from a bull fight."
It made him laugh, "naturally. What about this one?"
"Breast implants?" she tried to joke.
"Nope, they are still the same…see, fits perfectly in my hand." He cupped her breast with his hand and honked her playfully.
It made her giggle.
"What is it really from?"
"A biopsy."
It made him swallow, he might have not seen her in over a decade, but the thought that something could happen to her was still unbearable.
"I'm okay Barney…it was nothing." She whispered as she traced with her fingers through his hair.
He nodded slowly, "glad to hear that."
She smiled, "I have to ask you for a no questions asked."
He pulled his eyebrow up, "ooookay?"
"I need to make a call…but you can't ask to whom or why."
"Sounds good, I need to make one as well." Not really, but he wanted to give her the space she needed to do whatever it was that needed to be done.
"I'll make mine in the bathroom while you make yours on the balcony?" She asked.
He nodded and untangled himself from her, "see you back in bed in ten?"
She nodded, "and then we won't leave it till the morning."
They kissed again.
Robin got up and locked herself in the bathroom, while he scanned the room for his boxers.
He pulled them off the nightstand and knocked her clutch off while doing so. Something besides the purse hit the ground and he could hear it roll away.
Curious, he looked around for it.
Oh fuck, was all he could think when he found the wedding band.
She had re-married? How could she do that? There was no way he could have ever gotten married to someone else.
Wait….she was married? That meant she had just cheated on her husband.
Oh god, that wasn't good. At all.
How had he not noticed the ring earlier? And when had she taken it off?
He swallowed hard and sat back on the edge of the bed.
He was still sitting there when she opened the bathroom door.
"Did you reach whoever is watching Ellie?" she asked.
He held the ring up, "I found this Robin. You are married?"
She stopped in her tracks, "no. I'm not."
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not lying." She snatched the ring out of his hand and sat down next to him, pulling the covers over her legs, "it's just a symbol, Ted wanted...but I…"
"TED?" Barney asked shocked.
Robin looked up, "I figured you knew."
"MOSBEY?" he asked.
"Didn't Lily tell you?"
"No." Sure, Lily's annual letter was filled with all kinds of information, but she had never mentioned that Robin and Ted were an item again. In fact, she had never mentioned either one of them altogether.
"It happened two years ago, I was lonely and he showed up with the blue French horn…I thought it would be my last chance to be a part of a real family."
"Oh my god." He put his head into his hands.
"Turns out that moody teenagers make it hard to be part of a family though."
"You cheated on Ted? With me?"
Robin shook her head, "if anything I cheated on you with Ted."
"What?"
"Isn't that how the brocode works? The ex-wife of a bro must clearly be off limits, right?"
"Robin, why the hell did you agree to come up here with me?" he asked.
"Same reason you asked me to come up a minute into us running into each other, same reason we just had the best sex either one of us had in a long time, same reason our conversation post-coital was so lighthearted."
He swallowed, "Robin, what exactly are you and Ted right now?"
"An old couple?" he replied sarcastically, "I don't know how to better describe it."
"But you two are…you know?"
"Having sex?"
He nodded.
"Does he fuck me? Yes. Are we having anything that comes even remotely close to what we just did? No."
"This is a nightmare. And explains your haircut."
"What?" she asked surprised.
"Nothing. Look, we should just forget this ever happened, right? I mean Ted never has to know."
She looked surprised, "that's what you want?"
"It's not about what I want Robin, you are in a committed relationship. What we did was wrong."
She grabbed his arm, "Barney, if you really mean that then look me in the eyes and tell me that we should forget this. If so, I will get dressed and leave right now, but if you can't then I'd suggest we climb back into bed and enjoy the rest of our night together."
He looked into her blue eyes, contemplating what he should do.