Circus

"Barney…" Robin said, "You have got to be kidding me…"

"You said you'd never been to the circus!"

"Yeah, about a half-hour ago… How could you possibly-"

He cut her off with a finger to his lips, shrugging on the red tail-coat and smoothing it down. The colour suited him. The cut was flattering, skimming his broad shoulders, his slender waist. She found herself staring.

"Do I even want to know where you got that coat?" Robin asked as he took her hand and they ducked into the side door of the huge, sprawling tent. Everyone else was leaving, it seemed. There was a stream of people, families, screaming kids, parents, young couples… all walking away, down a well lit path. "I hate to say this…" Robin said, stumbling as one of her heels spiked through the muddy ground. "But I think the show's over…"

Barney merely chuckled, leading her quickly past the pens of animals - horses, ponies, llamas, even a pair of zebras… (and, seriously, were those camels?) "It… kind-of smells in here…" Robin complained, just as they came to a pen which contained four completely adorable miniature Shetland ponies. "Aww!" She couldn't help it… they were just so tiny. But Barney didn't let her linger, yanking her forward. "Hey!" She protested, but his thumb brushed across her palm as he pulled her into his arms, making the skin tingle.

"We can come back again tomorrow, if you really want to…?" He said in an overly-loud mock-whisper, leaning forward so that his lips brushed her earlobe. "But all you're missing are a bunch of clowns and screaming kids. And I really didn't think that would be your thing…"

"Barney…" She said warningly, but he let her go. "Why did you bring me here now? It is just closing, isn't it…?"

"For the really good stuff, you have to come after hours!"

"What are you talking about?" She spluttered, still off-balance, as they emerged into the brightly-lit circus ring. Robin stood, open-mouthed, as they lingered next to the black-velvet curtain where the performers would normally emerge. The place was far from deserted. Acrobats were rehearsing new tumbles and throws, clowns were joking with each other, filling the air with cigarette smoke and blue language. It was the strangest thing Robin had ever seen. The atmosphere was colourful, electric, exciting… "Wow…" She said.

Barney laughed as she watched one of the acrobats leap from a gantry holding on to some kind of semi-elastic rope, only to swing precariously over the heads of the other members of his troupe.

"You wanna try it?" He asked with a knowing grin, nodding to one of the acrobats, who he obviously knew well.

"No!" Robin replied, then giggled. "Okay, maybe a little. But I'm really not dressed for it."

"Just take off your shoes, you're good to go."

"Barney, in this skirt?"

"I promise not to look if it ends up round your waist?" He winked. "Wait, you are wearing panties, right?"

She hit him in the arm.

"Seriously though," He said. "It's a buzz. You'd love it."

She shook her head. "No way. It's really high. Isn't it dangerous?"

He grinned. "That thing? Nah. If you want really dangerous… that's the tightrope…" He pointed over to a high wire, which crossed the big top on the diagonal, just above a too-small-looking net.

Robin gaped. "I've never… I mean, I've seen it on TV but you just don't realise how high up… You'd have to have nerves of steel. A really good head for heights…"

"Scherbatsky!" Barney said, shrugging off his jacket again and handing it to her. "I accept your challenge!"

"Barney, I didn't challenge-"

But he was already kicking off his shoes, undoing his tie, looking up at the gantry, the ladder, narrowing his eyes as if judging space and distance.

Robin gulped. "Seriously, Barney, there's no way-"

He waved her silent, putting his left foot on the metal ladder and hauling himself upwards.

"Barney don't!" Robin yelped, covering her mouth as he rapidly ascended the gantry - she could hear it creak and groan under his weight. She wondered how stable it was, she wondered how far he'd go with this because there was no way he was going anywhere near that tiny, very thin piece of wire. But her body didn't seem to believe her. Her heartbeat raced him to the top, her palms were slick with sweat. He was definitely, definitely not doing this. "Barney!" She gulped.

She squinted. He righted himself on the top of the gantry, steadying himself on the end, placing one foot, hesitantly on the wire. Ohmygod he's going to- she thought, just as he stepped forward into thin air.

He wobbled. Robin's heart shuddered in her chest, time halted, her breath froze in her lungs. He was going to fall… fall… and that net was too small…

Robin blinked.

He was walking across. She could see the wire digging into his feet from below. She could see his white shirt billowing out behind him. Staring upward, Robin stumbled across the ring, tracking him, not even able to cry out. She absolutely could not believe her eyes. This literally could not be happening!

There was a point, about half way across, when she swore, absolutely swore he was going to fall. He hesitated, he wobbled, his threw out his hands and she let out a tiny squeak. But then he moved forward again, faster, practically skipping across the wire until he reached the other end. Once he was safely across to the other gantry (which suddenly seemed so much more solid) the world started moving again. Robin could hear sounds again. She could hear the clowns again.

Shit. Crap!

"That wasn't funny!" She yelled out, causing several of the acrobats to stop tumbling and stare at her. Barney grabbed the railing at the side of the ladder, wrapped a leg around it and slid down it like a fireman's pole. Robin wanted to hit him. She wanted to scream at him. But what she did do was grab him and pull him as close as she possibly could.

Finally, when she'd convinced herself he was real and whole and not smashed into broken pieces at the bottom of the tightrope, she let him go.

He beamed, slowly lifting up his hand. "High wire five?"

She obliged him, smacking his hand smartly. "You've done this before…" She said, laughing. "You bastard, you've done this before!"

He shrugged. "I came here all the time as a kid. Me and James. Hey..?" He shouted out to one of the clowns, who threw him a couple of juggling wands, which he caught deftly and began to toss into the air.

Robin shook her head incredulously. "The magic..? You learned that here too?"

Barney laughed, not even looking at the wands, or his hands, but grinning at her and winking. "So, you want to try it…?" He looked up at the bungee rope.

"Oh yeah!" She said, her voice still shaky, adrenalin pumping through her veins. "What's one more near-death experience?"

After throwing the wands back over to the clown, Barney took the ringmaster's jacket from her numb hand and led her over to the other acrobats.

*--*--*

Barney secured the harness around her waist and showed her how to wrap the rope around her wrist and foot. One of the acrobats helped her circle around the floor until she was confident with the feel of the rope, the way it pulled against her and until they'd gauged her weight. They checked things over and double checked them until she had almost lost her nerve.

Then she leapt into the sky and flew…

She felt a little ungainly and she could feel the woosh of air resistance around her limbs where she couldn't quite hold herself still. It was surprisingly hard on the muscles of her back, on her shoulders and arms. But the pain was easy to ignore because the world rushed and tilted around her and her stomach flip-flopped and dropped suddenly, like she was on a rollercoaster. She threw herself into the arc with sheer abandon, her body flipping over so hard that it almost wrenched her arm from its socket. She laughed out loud, joyously, because this was the most fun she'd had in years and the people on the ground were a blur of upturned faces and brightly coloured wigs and noses and everything was just so surreal.

Eventually, she got tired and the rope stopped swinging and the soles of her feet brushed the sand. Someone caught her, unbuckled her and held her upright, because her legs had turned to spaghetti and her stomach was still flying up above her head somewhere. She had never felt so alive.

Slowly, slowly, she regained her balance and became aware of her surroundings - of his arms around her, of his scent in her nostrils, of the scratch of stubble against her cheek. She let out an involuntary chuckle, turning her head just a fraction so that she was staring into his eyes, nose to nose. His smile was so bright, his eyes were so blue that she had to squint to see him. He shone with happiness. He looked how she felt.

"Not bad for a first-timer," He said.

"Quite a rush…" She replied. If he moved forward right then, just a tiny bit, he'd be kissing her and she really didn't mind.

She really wouldn't mind if he moved his hands a bit lower.

Was that his heart, beating so loudly against her breast, or was that her own?

God, she really wouldn't mind if he kissed her.

But before he could, one of the clowns came over and patted her on the back. "Not bad, girly," He said, his voice heavily accented. She broke away from Barney, brushing herself down.

"Thanks… It was…" How could she describe it? The thrill of flying through the air, hands outstretched, the ground rising up to meet you? "It was…"

What was the word? She glanced at Barney, his eyes crinkling around the edges.

"It was awesome…" She laughed.

Barney grinned at her.

It really had been.