Robin had always been a pretty private person, history had taught her well that this was probably a good thing, with her daddy issues and the Robin Sparkles incident she had learnt that life was generally easier if she kept things to herself. Though now, almost 20 years after their first meeting her past was coming in for a visit, a person who held many of Robin's secrets which no one in New York had learnt about.
McLaren's, though fairly quiet for a Friday night was still bustling and entrenched with the sounds of drunken flirting and the smell of lustful desperation. Upon the learning of Robin's friend coming into town, Lily, Ted, Marshall and Barney had all insisted on being there for the big introduction, she hadn't seen the girl in almost 9 years, since she moved to New York. The gang were curious about the girl, what kind of person could leave Robin so jittery and nervous.
"So Robin" Barney started "Who is this girl?"
"Oh, um, she's just a friend from when I was younger"
"Like Hockey days or Pop star days?" Marshall interrupted, almost as curious as Barney, since Marvin was born he and Lily generally did not get involved with the gossip as much as they used to, but upon hearing of a possible Robin Sparkles/Simon incident part 2 they got a baby sitter and fled to the bar.
"Pop star days" Robin sighed.
"Is she…" Barney paused for a second, taking a deep breath, "Canadian?" he let out a rather overdramatized judder of disgust.
"No" Robin smiled, "She's English"
"Hot?"
"BARNEY!" Robin yelled.
"What" he shrugged, false innocence dripping from each letter.
"She is" Robin sighed, even after the whole Quinn episode Barney hadn't changed; he was still lustful for anything with a pulse.
"Good, this puppy needs some action tonight." Robin smiled at Barney, if only he knew, his mind would be blown"
"So" Lily butted in trying to change the route this conversation was suddenly heading down, "Tell us about her"
"Fine" Robin replied, taking a quick swig of her drink, "I first met Sophia when filming my music video"
"Which one?" Barney asked.
"The second one"
"Wait, what?" Ted yelled.
"There's a second one" Lily and Marshall boomed in unison.
"Oh right yeah, you didn't know about that one, sorry" Barney smirked, eyes returning to Robin who was now glaring at him, "You shouldn't have shown me" he shrugged.
"You've seen it? Ted asked surprised and slightly hurt.
"Long story, which I'm glad to tell" Barney started.
"Stop!" Robin yelled, "No you're not, now, where was I?"
"Sophia" Lily prompted.
"Ah, right, yes, well as I was saying I was filming my second music video when we met, she was an actress filming nearby"
"In Canada?" Barney asked.
"Yes Barney in Canada" Robin responded, frustrated with Barney and his interruptions.
"Would we know her?" Lily asked, "Or is this another Frozen Snowshoe scenario, where she's famous to you but not anyone else"
"She did pretty well for herself, her name is Sophia Lawson but she goes by Sophia Jensen, her mother's maiden name.
"That name sounds familiar" Barney said, thinking face prevalent along with slight excitement towards the idea of the visitor, his mind going wild with the new information, 'wait, mother's maiden name, that means Daddy issues, not bad Schebatsky, good choice in friends'
Robin smiled then looked at the rest of the group, Marshall looked like he was about to cry, "Marshall, are you ok?"
"He's fine" Lily sighed, "He's just a fan"
"Sophia Jensen as in 'Royal Legacy' and 'In a time of rebellion' Sophia Jensen"
"Yep" Robin nodded, sipping her drink once again, "You heard of her?"
"Have I heard of her?" Marshall started "She's an Oscar winner, of course I've heard of her"
"Who is she?" Ted asked clueless. Marshall just stared at him bemused.
"You know in collage that poster of a girl in the old queenly outfit next to the bed" Lily asked.
"Yeah" Ted nodded.
"Her"
"Oh right, wait, Royal Legacy, is that the film you made me go to the movies with you to watch 3 times?"
Maybe, Marshall sulked.
"And another 3 with me" Lily continued, eyebrows risen.
Robin and Barney just watched the entertainment unfold; Marshall always was a bit feminine for his own good. After a minute of silence Robin breathed in heavily and started her story again, hoping it would break the somewhat funny tension between the 3 friends.
"So, let's start again. Sophia, an actress met me back when we were 16, she and I soon became really good friends, to the point in which I was seeing more of her than I was Jessica which did cause a bit of tension between the two. I then moved to New York and we drifted apart, that's it."
"Why don't I believe that that's it?" Barney asked. Robin just blinked at him until he left it alone.
A sudden screech came from Marshall as the rest of the group followed his eye line to the door.
"Sophia" he trembled.
Robin stood and waited for Sophia to recognise her. It wasn't long until the young woman was at the table hugging Robin tightly. Sophia, though the same age as Robin seemed to hold a more youthful glow, her hair, an Auburn brown fell softly in waves past her shoulder as her emerald green eyes sparkled with joy at the sight of her old friend.
"How are you?" she asked, her English accent predominant and powerful.
"Good thanks." Robin just stared at her friend with pure adoration, unable to form a coherent sentence. Out of pity Barney butted in.
"Yes I do actually look like this" he announced taking her hand and placing a kiss on it, "You're welcome" he concluded, winking flirtatiously at the woman.
Sophia pulled her hand back, "I'm sorry about that, I'm sure there are many procedures nowadays that can fix that."
The others laughed silently as Barney dropped back to his seat. Sophia's eyes scanned the table eyeing up the other 3. "Ted, Marshall, Lily" she said identifying each person correctly as they nodded in response to her questioning guesses, Marshall perhaps a bit more excitedly than the rest. "And that makes you Barney" she said turning to the blonde who tried and failed with his previous flirtations.
"Of course" he replied fixing his tie.
Sophia turned and grabbed a chair placing it at the table, "Do you mind?" she asked.
"Yes Barney replied.
"No" Lily concluded kicking Barney's shin from under the table.
"Ouch!" he yelled.
Sophia giggled and sat down her eyes drifting back to Robin, it had been a while, she missed her friend and hoped they could get back to the way they were before everything happened.