This is my first fanfiction. I am fascinated by the characters of Barney Stinson and Robin Scherbatsky. I do not own these characters.

This is the first chapter. I hope to write the next chapter soon.

THE BUTTERFLY FLAPS ITS WINGS

She stared at the view of the city from the corner office she now occupied. The soaring windows lent a breathtaking view of Manhattan. The lights flickered from the office buildings and row houses below. The streets were empty, it was past 10 pm. It had taken her 7 years since she moved from Calgary to be here. She paid a steep price to own this.

February 2012

There was gnawing feeling in the center of her belly, it was almost painful, and she was lightheaded and feverish. It felt like hunger, yet she could not even swallow the beer that was in her mouth. She rarely felt this way; the last time was when she found her father in bed with someone who was not her mother. That was more than 20 years ago. She had forgotten that sensation until today in Quinn's apartment. It started when they arrived in the building. Robin's escape plan was to pretend to receive a phone call from the head office asking her to come to work for a journalist who called in sick. But Lily and Ted were bickering all the way from their apartment about how they should act in front of Barney's new girlfriend. Before she knew it, she was being led into the living room by a very attractive bosomy self assured blonde woman with sharp eyes and a knowing smile. She immediately could see why he had taken to her so quickly. She was different. Her diction, her mannerisms, her clothes bespoke of a woman of means; she was not like the usual women who worked in her trade or other women who hang out in bars trying their luck for the evening.

Robin stood up and excused herself to go to the powder room, which was decorated with an eclectic collection of knick knacks, "Boho chic", she thought to herself. The rest of the apartment was well appointed, a combination of treasures from the antique flea market to an expensive leather sofa from the high end furniture shop in the mall. The journalist in her could not help but question the disparity between what she saw and what she thought a woman like Quinn can afford. Or maybe … she stopped. She could not allow herself to go there. Even if Robin was his friend, she was more importantly his ex- girlfriend. It was not her place to question this. But whatever this he was in, it did not feel right.

Robin had not seen Barney for weeks. She has been living in a haze, living from one day to the next. It was a good thing she at least had a job to keep her mind from dealing with her issues, like the 24 hour engagement with Kevin, the awkwardness of having to deal with Ted and the fact that she was legally homeless. Otherwise, she had not thrown herself off the George Washington Bridge and she managed to get off the bed everyday, dress up, go to work, face people and meet her deadlines, so she considered herself to be quite well off despite the mayhem that was churning inside her brain. She did not let herself go and no one called on the chaos she was in. She did not allow herself to stop, because when she stopped or even slowed down, whether it be under the warm soothing shower or in the stillness inside the taxicab, her mind wanders to a place, which now seems ages ago... An age when she had a chance, a promise of love she did not believe could be possible, with him... Barney. And so she was alone. She was, as he had aptly described her, a mess.

She could not look at him. She could only catch glimpses of him while he ran around the apartment following his girlfriend. She wanted to look at his blue eyes, smell him and touch him, but she relinquished the right to any of it. He was now someone else's, not hers.

She did not pay attention to Marshall, Lily and Ted when they left Quinn's apartment while they heatedly discussed about what they saw between Barney and Quinn, how she ordered him around, how he looked flustered and besides himself. Even when they returned to Marsall and Lily's, Robin kept silent. She had more important things on her mind. Most importantly, she felt sick and she did not want to throw up on Lily's new carpet.