Disclaimer: I don't own How I Met Your Mother or anything related to the show.

Lily Aldrin and Marshall Eriksen had started trying for a baby in January 2009. Lily had surprisingly become pregnant in February. She miscarried in April.

The couple tried not to let the miscarriage affect them too much. They started trying again a few months later. In August, they conceived again. By October, Lily had suffered her second miscarriage.

"I just want a healthy baby," Lily had sobbed to Robin a few weeks after the second miscarriage. She had finally broken down over both of her miscarriages and just wanted to get through a pregnancy.

"I know you do, Lily," Robin had comforted. She was worried about her best friend. Robin hoped that they got to have the baby they so desperately wanted, even though she herself didn' t like babies or kids.

Marshall and Lily began trying again in January 2010. They conceived in March, but Lily miscarried for a third time in May. The doctor warned Marshall and Lily that she might never be able to carry a pregnancy to term, but they were determined to prove him wrong.

The couple conceived on their first try when they began trying again in July. Lily had her fourth miscarriage in September.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," Lily sobbed to Robin. She and Marshall desperately wanted a baby, and it just wasn't happening for them.

"Nothing's wrong with you. You'll get your baby eventually," Robin had soothed. She wasn't so sure about that, however. Four miscarriages obviously wasn't a good sign.

Marshall and Lily decided to wait awhile before trying. Four miscarriages in two years was just devastating, and they couldn't handle it anymore.

They decided to try to get pregnant again in 2012. They conceived for a fifth time in December of that same year, but tragedy struck them again. In February, Lily miscarried.

The fifth miscarriage finally made Lily decide to stop trying. It just wasn't worth the pain of getting pregnant again. Each time, she and Marshall had had hope that the pregnancy would last, only to have that hope ripped away from them.

They decided to look at other options. Lily had placed the blame on herself, and entered therapy to try and work on her grief over the miscarriages. The therapy was helping her, while Marshall threw himself into work.

"We could adopt," he told his wife. Adoption seemed like such a good idea, but Marshall wasn't sure if his wife would like the idea.

"Or we could use a surrogate," Lily replied. Adoption was a pretty good idea, but she didn't want to go through the stress of trying to get approved and everything that came after that.

"Where are we going to get a surrogate?" Marshall questioned. It was a good idea, and they had money. He had found the Loch Ness Monster, after all.

"There are a lot of women out there willing to be a surrogate mother," Lily explained. After the third miscarriage, she had looked up surrogacy just in case. Lily had never expected to miscarry two more times. She had still had hope at that point.

"Will you be able to handle that?" Marshall was worried about his wife. He was worried that she was suffering from clinical depression, but hadn't voiced that opinion yet.

Lily sighed. "I think I can handle it, Marshmallow." It would hurt to see another woman carrying her child, but she would get through it.

"Maybe we could ask Robin to do it," Marshall joked. Robin was still a firm believer on having no children, although she had changed her mind on marriage.

Lily gasped. She was seriously considering the idea. "We could ask her to do it," she suggested. Robin was one of her best friends, and watching someone carry her baby would hurt less that way.

"I was just joking. Do you think she'll agree?" Marshall questioned. He wasn't sure if Robin would agree. Plus, it might be hard for her to give up the baby.

"We can make up a list of pros and cons and present it to her," Lily decided immediately. How could Robin argue against pros and cons when they were right in front of her face?

The couple began working on the list, and hoped that they could present it to Robin soon.

XXXXXXXX

Ted Mosby was exhausted. He and his wife Morgan were busy taking care of their newborn son Christopher. The three week old had been up all night before finally falling asleep. He had started crying again, and hadn't stopped.

"We're waiting years for another one," Morgan Mosby complained to her husband. She couldn't believe that she and Ted had been awake for nearly twenty-four hours. This was not fun.

"I'm right there with you," Ted agreed. At this moment, he had no idea why he and his wife had decided that having a baby was a good idea.

Wait a minute. Christopher had been conceived after he and Morgan had gotten drunk at Barney and Robin's wedding.

"Will you change him?" Morgan questioned. She was just going to go to sleep forever. That was a really good plan.

Ted reluctantly nodded and went to go get his son. "Hey kiddo," he murmured. Ted began to change his son's diaper.

Unfortunately, he forgot to leave the diaper over his son when he went to get the new one, and ended up getting pee all over his shirt.

"I should have expected that," Ted said. He finally changed the baby's diaper, and handed him back to his wife. Ted headed towards the shower. He felt really dirty now.

Ted and Morgan felt really guilty for having a healthy baby when Lily and Marshall had experienced so much loss. Both hoped that they got their much wanted baby soon.

XXXXXXX

Robin Scherbatsky-Stinson and her husband were watching TV. Both had taken off work today to just be together.

The couple had married ten months earlier, after finally becoming a couple in 2009. Barney had claimed that Robin was the only woman he had ever wanted to marry and that she was the love of his life. Robin had quickly agreed to marry him.

Robin and Barney had decided against children, but they knew that they could possibly change.

"What are we going to do this weekend?" Barney asked his wife. He hoped to go see James, his husband, and their son. He loved his nephew a lot.

Robin shrugged. "We can visit your brother if you want. I know how much you want to be Uncle Barney this weekend." Barney smiled at Robin and kissed her.

"I love you, Scherbatsky." He liked telling her that. With Shannon, he had told her, but she had never really meant it. He was really happy with Robin.

Robin smiled at him and snuggled close to her husband. "I love you too," she told him. Robin couldn't imagine life without Barney now.

Robin and Barney had no idea what Marshall and Lily were about to ask them. If they did, they wouldn't have spent the entire day making love and watching TV.

The group's lives were about to change, and group dynamics would be shifted.