In retrospect, Lily should have known it was never a good idea to walk into Barney Stinson's apartment without knocking. She of all people knew that better than most, given her short stint as "Mrs. Stinson," but she had blocked that from her mental inventory that fateful morning after she ended her self-imposed exile from Barney's life.
"Hey Barney! I - OH MY GOD!"
The lilting tune that Lily had faintly heard while walking down the hall screeched to a halt with the sound of a bow scraping against violin strings. There was a very tense moment as the two friends just stared at each other, not daring to move. Lily's eyes were wide as saucers, and Barney was frozen in place, his surprise at being caught doing something so thoroughly unawesome preventing him from running or throwing the instrument behind his Clone Trooper. Finally, Barney broke first, ending the stand-off.
"Damn it, Lily! Could you at least call first before bursting in unannounced?"
Still recovering from the shock of seeing Barney doing something so completely unsleazy, and a bit relieved at that, Lily had to shake her head to respond. "Sorry, I-" Lily awkwardly fumbled, then latched onto the first thing she could think of. "Hey, what song where you playing? That's a very pretty tune..." She trailed off, trying to place it.
"Nothing! It's just a song! No particular meaning attached to it whatsoever." Avoiding her eyes, Barney proceeded to put the instrument away.
"I know what it reminds me of! 'Sometimes' - you know, Britney's second big hit? The one where the video was set at a beach, and she's wearing white and mooning over some jock? The girl has definitely come a long way since that one."
Barney squirmed, a bit annoyed. "Okay, Lily, I get it. So why are you here?"
Softening, she said, "I thought you could use someone to listen. Marshall told me you've had a rough time of it lately with Robin, and I really am sorry I wasn't around to help you deal with it. Though considering last time I 'helped,' I had to buy a new teddy bear for my class." Lily cast a cursory glance around the apartment, seeking out the missing toy. Not that she minded Barney taking it if it meant that he would refrain from talking about sex in front of her kindergarteners.
"Yeah, well. Thanks, Lily." Barney seemed to deflate a little. "It's just... too frustrating for me to really think about right now - I mean, even leaving out the Robin part of this mess, I've got Ted to worry about - and I'd rather talk about anything else than deal with that."
Lily smiled sympathetically and sat on the couch. "Okay, Barney," she said, patting the cushion beside her. "Why don't you start with telling me about your violin, and we'll go from there."