Author's Note: My first Swarkles fanfic.

Disclaimer: I don't own HIMYM, but if I did, I would totally change the ending.

As Robin approached the entrance to MacLaren's Pub, her gut twisted, and she had a bad feeling. She shouldn't have agreed to meet her friends—it would be too awkward and uncomfortable. Maybe she should call them and tell them that she came down with the flu and didn't want to spread her germs, and postpone the meeting until tomorrow. Maybe she should postpone it until next week. Maybe never.

It didn't matter anyway, because just as she was about to turn around and race around the block where they wouldn't see her, Marshall swung the door open and stared in shock. The glass of beer in his hand clattered to the floor.

"ERIKSEN, YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT!" someone's slightly-familiar voice screamed from the bar.

Marshall ignored it, and gave Robin a huge bear hug. After they pulled apart, he called over his shoulder.

"Guys. You CANNOT believe who it is."

"Who is it, Judge Fudge?" another man's voice called back.

Ted.

It seemed like yesterday that he told her that he loved her and she rejected him, but in truth, it was about one or two years ago. Robin had an insane urge to reach out to him, to call out, to tell him that she was there and he missed him. She knew that Ted's feelings for her had never quite disappeared, but she felt nothing but platonic love for him.

"Is it the real estate broker we called yesterday?" another voice chimed in – a woman's. Lily. Of course it was Lily, unless the gang had replaced her with someone else.

"No," said Marshall, steering Robin into the bar.

MacLaren's had never changed in the years that she had been traveling over the globe. Carl and a teenage boy, probably his son, were standing behind the bar and serving the customers. A new, shiny jukebox stood on the table in the corner.

And finally, she saw the booth that she had sat in practically every day for eight years. Four familiar faces stared back at her, blankly at first.

"May I present…the new, famous, just-tanned Robin Scherbatsky!" Marshall said, smiling.

Lily was the one to jump up first.

"Robin?" she whispered.

"Yeah, it's me," Robin told her. Immediately Lily reached out, slapped her in the face, and then proceeded to hug her tightly.

"Oh, my God, Robin," she cried. "We haven't seen you in two years. Nothing's changed except for you."

Robin smiled weakly. "Well, first of all, you're kind of crushing me. Literally. My face hurts, and you're crying on me."

"Sorry," Lily said, pulling away. "I just don't know what to say. Tomorrow morning, you're going to come over to the apartment and tell us everything!"

Robin chuckled lightly. "I will."

Then she turned to face the group.

"Hey, Ted," she said, hugging him. "How's Tracy?"

"Pretty good, actually. You probably don't know this, but we had a daughter, Penny, a year ago," he replied, mussing her hair.

"Penny?" Robin giggled. "Did you name her after the 'lucky penny' you found on the subway floor? Nice idea."

"Of course, Robin. It was actually a 1939 penny, which is extremely rare nowadays—"

"Okay, whatever, Ted. It's really good to see you again." She patted him on the shoulder and took a deep breath. It was time to talk to Barney.

Except he wasn't there.

Robin spun around, eyes darting for any sign of a tall, lean, blonde man.

"Lily? Where's Barney?"

"Oh, he wasn't feeling well today, so he decided that he didn't want to come," she replied.

"Barney? Sick? Not likely," Robin told her sarcastically. "I have a feeling that he's still a womanizer at heart. Even after he's had a child."

"Cut him some slack, dude," Marshall cut in. "The whore he impregnated a year ago died in a car crash last week."

Robin felt as if a bucket of ice cold water came crashing down on her. She blinked and stared at Marshall for a good minute, before he actually poured water on her head.

"Dude. Focus," he said.

"I know. I know. But I cannot believe what you just said. Wow. I didn't really know her, but I don't understand how important she could be to Barney."

"I don't think he's really affected by it at all," Ted told her. "I think he's just mad that he has to take care of Ellie all by himself now."

"Wow. Well, it's getting late, and I have some work to do—"

"C'mon, Robin. It's only four-thirty. And you're so famous you can hire people to do your work for you. After we're done talking you're going to go over to our place and use the guest bedroom," Lily told her. She hadn't changed either. She was still bossy, as usual.

"I already booked a hotel room—"

"C'mon, Robin," Marshall said. "C'mon. You've got to admit that we have some catching up to do. Why don't you come over for dinner?"

She finally agreed.

Robin sat up suddenly and looked at the clock siting on the nightstand, which read 3: 46 AM in blinking red lights. She sighed, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and fell back on the covers. They were a soft baby blue color, so unlike the terrible nightmare she had just had. She could hear the snoring of Marshall and Lily in the room across the hallway.

In her nightmare, she was sitting in the back of a MTA bus, reading a book called A Feast for Crows, by George R. R. Martin. Somehow, she knew that it was the fourth book in the series, and she grudgingly admitted that it was pretty good.

As she watched, Barney and a dark-haired, pregnant woman boarded the bus, each holding a handle of the huge baby stroller in front of them. A set of twins were sitting in it, gurgling and happily sucking their thumbs. Robin immediately looked away, partly in disgust for children and partly because of the fact that she couldn't handle seeing Barney with another woman.

Who had a huge diamond ring on the fourth finger of her left. Barney and the woman were married.

She remembered everything about Barney from the day they met to their wedding night. To the day that they admitted they just couldn't work anymore because of busy schedules, and to the day of their divorce.

Throughout the whole ride from Central Park to E 81st Street, Robin watched them sneak kisses and lovingly caress each other. They were obviously too engaged in their PDA that neither of them noticed her.

Robin curled back up into a ball, but her mind refused to shut down and sleep. So instead of burying herself beneath the blankets, she went downstairs to make herself a bowl of midnight cereal.

It was a Sunday, and morning had just freshly arrived. The four were back at the bar, still trying to give the latest information to Robin.

"So did you know that Victoria became the president of a cooking club in Berlin?" Ted was trying to tell her.

At the same time, Marshall and Lily were talking.

"Did you know I passed the law that bans the overfishing of bluefin tuna?"

"One of my kindergartners accidentally stabbed his mother in the -"

"OKAY, OKAY, STOP!" Robin practically screamed as information smothered her. "JESUS! Can you try to tell me one thing at a time? I know I haven't been updated in a long time, but still!"

And fifteen minutes later, a lean, tall blonde man in a suit walked into the bar.

It was Barney. Jesus. Robin was totally unprepared for his arrival.

She dropped to her knees and crawled under the table, ruining her jeans. The dark tablecloth covered her perfectly, and she stayed still, hoping that no one would notice her disappearance. Of course, they did.

"Where did Robin go-"

"Robin? Robin was here?" Barney's familiar voice washed over her. "Why didn't you guys tell me?"

"Uh, guys? I think she's under the table," Ted said.

Dammit, Ted!

Giving up, she crawled back up the table and smoothed her shirt over. "Hi, Barney."

"Robin," Barney started, "I don't think this is a good idea - "

"You don't think this is a good idea? Well, I don't think this is a good idea. We've been divorced for two years! Why did you come back?!"

"Calm down, Robin. You're being irrational." Lily put a hand on her shoulder.

"Okay. Okay. We're just going to have a small talk outside. C'mon, Barney."

Robin took his suit-clad arm and pulled him outside the bar, ignoring his expression of protest once she wrinkled the expensive fabric. Once they were outside, she let go and he smoothed down his sleeve.

"Jesus, Barney. Your suit can't possibly be worth that much-"

"Robin, you know absolutely nothing about the cost of suits, since you've never worn one-"

"Whatever, Barney. I have a lot of questions. Why aren't you grieving, or anything?"

"Because I'm awesome."

"Seriously."

"Okay, okay." He sighed. "We weren't even legally 'married'. Gabriella might not have been-"

"Her name was Gabriella? Wow, I didn't know that."

"-my future, but Ellie certainly was. And she's the thing that matters most to me. I don't want her to grow up just to be a stripper. She's the best, smartest girl in the world."

Robin pondered this for a while. After a while of silence, Barney added, "Besides, I didn't love Gabriella as much as I loved you when we got married." He slid his hands into his pockets.

Her heart caught in her throat.

"You - still love me?"

Barney cleared his throat. Time was suspended in the air, and she couldn't breathe.

"Yes. I guess. I don't know."

Robin's heart sank. She hadn't been expecting a sappy, romantic answer, but she hadn't been expecting an "I don't know."

"I don't know either," Robin told him. "Every day in Argentina, in Japan, in Paris, I thought about you. Why we divorced. Why we couldn't work out. And I still loved you."

"Well, there's one way to figure that out," Barney replied. His lips came down over hers in a fit of raw energy, and a fiery pit of passion stirred to life in her stomach.

It was the best and worst night ever.

Lily, being Lily, found Barney and Robin sleeping together in the guest room, arms and fingers entwined.

"Marshall! I knew this was going to happen! This is the last time I'm telling you. You better hand it over. Now."

"Jesus, Lil'. Fine." He dug out a twenty from his old wallet and handed it over to his wife.

"Barney, we can't just possibly ignore this!" Robin cried, sitting up, clutching the coverlets around her chest. "We have to talk."

"Or..." he trailed off, hovering over her. She immediately sensed what he was going to do, and put out a hand to stop him.

"Robin, I left Ellie with the nanny."

"And who's the nanny?"

Barney pouted, then shrugged. "Whatever. The point is, we can have sex again. I'm wide awake, energized, and ready to go-"

"Stop it, Barney. You have to go over to your apartment and take care of your own baby daughter. What father in his right mind wouldn't do that?"

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "You're right. I'm going to go over to my apartment, and you're coming with me."

"What? No! I hate children!"

"I know, Robin. But just give her a chance. She's not that bad."

"From her father's point of view."

"C'mon. You made me do this, so you're coming along."

And he was right. Ellie wasn't that bad...at first.

She was actually pretty smart. Robin cringed and looked away whenever she held a spoon to Ellie's lips to feed her, fearing that her hand would get bitten off and swallowed along with the food.

Something inside her flickered as she watched Barney cradle his daughter in his arms, rocking her back and forth gently. Ellie wasn't a baby anymore, but she could tell when his paternal instincts kicked in. He was a great father.

"Robin."

She looked up, meeting his eyes.

"I know it hasn't been long since my own 'wife' died, but give me a chance?"

"Why?"

"I thought about it when you were sleeping yesterday, and I was awake. I realized that I loved you two years ago when we got married, and I still do love you. I remember everything about you, even if it doesn't matter. We have to start over, together."

"I love you too," Robin said, smiling.

Then Robin and Barney got married again, Tracy survived, Lily and Marshall fell more in love with each other every day, and everybody (including Ted)lived happily ever after.