Title: Later
Author: OnAir
Fandom: How I met your mother
Disclaimer: I don´t own anything. Sadly
Later
Forty seven minutes later, he lies next to her, wondering what just had happened. He mutters „I just slept with my best friend´s ex- girlfriend," and stares at the ceiling. Robin turns her head and looks at him with a blank expression. „Ted doesn´t have to know," she finally says biting her lip. Barney nods but he knows, that he will have to tell Ted at some point. And that thought makes him more nervous than he ever thought it would.
One hour later she gets up, asking him, if he wants some coffee. He says yes and while she is in the kitchen he puts on his clothes, fumbling with his tie for ten minutes before he gives up and puts it into his pocket. The silence is killing him, and he begins to think if he should regret to have slept with Robin. But regretting to have slept with Robin would be like regretting to have won the lottery, so he simply decides not to.
Two hours later, Robin tells him, that the only way not to screw up the dynamics of the group will be to pretend that nothing happened. He says that this sounds like a good plan, so they finish their coffee and he leaves, pretending that nothing has happened.
One day later they all sit in the bar and everything seems fine, except that it isn´t. He looks at Robin, and thinks that maybe they shouldn´t have done it, because now everytime he will tell the others about a conquest, she will feel embarrassed and he will feel guilty. But when Robin leaves early, he persuades some girl to come back to his apartament anyway.
Four days later, he thinks about telling Marshall, because he simply can´t keep it to himself anymore but doesn´t. Telling Marshall would mean telling Ted and telling Ted would mean that actually something did happen. So he goes to a club he´s never been before and hooks up with the first girl that seems vulnerable enough.
One week later he asks Robin if she is o.k with how things are now and she says that she is. Barney just smiles and helps her to get the next round to the table. He decides, that maybe things will be like they used to be after all.
Three weeks later Robin brings her new boyfriend Greg to the bar, a correspondent for the Daily Mail with perfect teeth, expensive suits and a fancy British accent. Barney wants to tell him, that he's an idiot, but instead he drowns his scotch and hits on a girl that is sitting alone at the bar.
Four and a half weeks later Robin tells them, that she and Greg have broken up and Barney pretends to be sorry for her. He buys the next round and leaves early, saying that he has to get up for a meeting at eight. The next morning he stays at home, watching mindless TV- shows and ordering Chinese food. He thinks about calling the girl he met two days earlier but doesn´t.
Six weeks later, he knows that something is wrong, because suddenly he is not able to have sex with a woman without thinking that Robin´s eyes are much prettier, her breasts much bigger or her hair much softer. He tries to ignore this, but fails miserably.
Two months later Ted notices that something is wrong, because Barney doesn't hit on that girl with the astonishingly large breasts and an even more astonishingly small brain, but he doesn't say anything, because Barney always has his reasons to do something.
Nine weeks later Barney sits in the bar with Ted, looking absent-mindedly at his fourth glass of scotch. „I´ve slept with Robin," he suddenly says, and Ted just stares at him for one minute, because he doesn´t know how to react. When he finally starts to yell, Barney sits quietly, listening to his best friend´s words of anger and disappointment, until Ted falls silent for a second. „Oh my God, you actually are miserable!" Barney doesn´t answer and finishes his scotch. He knows Ted is right, and he hates that feeling.
Three months later Lily asks him what has been up with him lately, but Barney just laughs and says „Please," before he takes another sip of beer. Then he goes over to the girl at the bar and asks her if he can buy her a drink. Later that night he has sex for the first time in three weeks.
Four months later he wonders if Ted told anyone, but decides that it doesn´t matter anyway since Robin is dating some guy from Lily´s art class. He tries to chat up some girl at the bar but she tells him that she isn´t interested, so he goes home and watches TV until three in the morning.
Six months later they celebrate Thanksgiving and he remembers the time, when sitting at the same table with Robin didn´t make him feel this empty. Ted makes some joke about how Robin brought Bob to Thanksgiving last year and everybody laughs, including Barney, because his pride forbids him to be sulking.
Eight months later Barney goes to his brother and his husband for Christmas. He plays with his nephew and thinks about how he used to be around Shanon, and how the thought of being in a serious relationship didn´t scare him. He switches on the TV and watches Robin doing some live report about Christmas in Australia. She smiles into the camera and for the first time since Marshall and Lily´s wedding, Barney starts to cry.
Eleven months later Robin announces, that she will move to L.A. for eight weeks due to a programme she will be making. Barney buys three rounds in a row and by midnight they are already pretty drunk. And suddenly, it´s only him and Robin who are left, laughing madly at some joke they can´t remember anymore, but since they are both convinced that it was funny it is o.k. Robin says something about how she is glad that they are still friends and that´s when Barney stops laughing. „I love you," he says and the words echo in his head, making him feel like he is crying for help in an empty room. She stares at him, not understanding what just happened, but he only gets up, looking at her with those glassy eyes only a drunk person can have, and leaves the bar without looking back. Outside of McLarens´ he leans against the cold wall. He wonders if she will come after him, but she doesn´t and he is not really surprised.
One year later, she hasn´t called him. He knows she talks to Lily on a frequent basis, because it is Lily who always tells them about Robin´s life in California. And calling Lily means talking to Marshall and Ted because sometimes Lily simply isn´t at home. So Barney thinks that she just doesn´t want to talk to him, because now he screwed up everything.
One year and one week later Lily asks him why Robin never wants to speak about him on the phone and Barney tells her the entire story because it is so much easier to finally talk to someone. Lily repeats the words „Oh my God," about eighty times and then hugs Barney in a way only Lily can before she promises not to tell Marshall and Ted. It all seems a little easier that day.
One year and one month later Robin comes back from L.A., all tanned and happy, telling stories about how great it was to do something completely different for a change. He tries to listen and to smile, but it is too difficult to achieve, so he tells the others that he still has some work to do for tomorrow and leaves. He tries to hail a cab, but the drivers either ignore him or already have passengers, so he sits down on the stairs to Ted´s apparatment, waiting for the cab he just called. There is some click– clacking coming from the bar, so he turns around, only to see Robin looking at him. She sits down next to him, not saying a word. When she finally speaks, her voice is quite and seems hushed. „I, I wanted to tell you, that I´m sorry that I didn´t, that I didn´t say anything when you told me..." „It´s o.k.," he interrupts her. „You don´t have to appologize." She bits her lip and he smiles weakly. „I missed you," she says, and he can hear that she is telling the truth. „It´s just, I´m scared, scared it will end up the wrong way, and then you´ll be gone and I will be one of those girls you never call back. And the group will be gone too, because one break up was difficult enough and I don´t think we could handle a second..." But she is not able to say anything else, because he kisses her, just like he wanted to kiss her for over a year now, and somehow Robin knows that everything will be o.k.
A/N: I´m really sorry for all grammatical and orthographical mistakes in this story. I´m sadly not a native speaker and don´t have a beta yet, so a spell- check and re-reading the story are all I can do for now. If anyone would volunteer to be my beta, I would really be very thankfull!