A/N: This is kind of my sequel to "You and Your Flaws" I hope you guys like it! There's a lot of Robin/Ted friendship.
"The bride wants to see you." Lily said told Ted. Lily had to admit that she was kind of hurt that Robin didn't want to talk to her about whatever problem it was that she was having, she was after all, her best friend, but it was Robin's wedding, and you NEVER argue with a bride on her wedding day.
Ted smiled at Barney and left for the bride's room. He too was kind of curious as to why Robin would want to talk to him instead of Lily, but he knew better than to question it. "Hey." He said, noting that she looked perfect in that wedding dress.
"Ted." She said, sinking to the floor, her back against the wall. "I need you to tell me that I should marry Barney."
"You should marry Barney." He said, smiling and sitting beside her.
"I'm sick." She said with a sigh. "I've been puking all day. I'm scared that it's a sign."
"Since when do you believe in signs?"
"Since I got sick this morning. Actually, I've been sick all this week. What if it's the universe's way of telling me that I'm not supposed to do this?"
"Or maybe it's your body's way of telling you to stop eating corndogs from that one stand."
"I'm being serious, Ted. What's wrong with me?"
Ted sighed, putting his serious face on. "You've puked every day this week, any other symptoms?"
"Well, sorry in advanced, but I haven't gotten my period in two months, and that's not normal for me because-"
"Your time of the month usually follows a normal cycle." He finished for her, mentally noting that there was no mystery between these two anymore.
"Yeah, so I made an appointment with my special lady doctor, but she couldn't see me until next week. I don't know if it had anything to do with why I'm sick."
"Robin," Ted said, knowing that he shouldn't say this because he didn't want to get scare her, but maybe… "Maybe you're pregnant."
He saw something in her eye that looked an awful lot like hope. He would say it was hope if he didn't know Robin "the baby hater" Scherbatsky better.
"But, Ted, I can't have kids. You know that."
He shrugged. "Anything can happen."
She shook her head, trying not to think about little baby socks and baby smiles and baby hugs and drool and smells. "The doctor said that I can't have kids." She repeated firmly. She wasn't going to do that. Not today. She wasn't going to think about everything that she couldn't have.
"Okay, but crazier things have happened. Maybe you should… take a test."
"That would be a waste." She said, laughing to herself, wishing that Ted would just stop talking so she could stop imagining what it would be like to have a precious little baby growing inside of her.
"I'll go get one." He said, jumping up. "I'll go get one now."
She tried to protest, but Ted was already on his feet and on his way to the convenient store. If Ted was one thing, it was determined.
She spent the time that he was away pacing in the bride's room; tears were now rolling down her face. She wanted a baby more than anything, though she'd never admit that to anyone, not even Barney, and now Ted was telling her that maybe she had one inside her right now, and it made her cry, because if it was true then it was the best wedding gift she could possibly imagine, and if it wasn't true she had to remember that she couldn't have children. She had to think about the fact that she would never have Barney's child.
She tried to make her mind stop wondering, but all she could think of was what a mixture of her and Barney would look it. Stop, she told herself, but she couldn't because her imaginary baby looked so cute and wonderful and perfect, and she wanted to reach into her imagination and hold it. She wanted to cuddle it and tickle its little toes.
Damn, she wanted that baby bad.
Ted ran back into the room, panting with a bag full of pregnancy test. "Oh Robin," he said when he saw her tears. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sure that you're not pregnant. Do you want to wait until after the wedding to take the tests?"
She shrugged. "Now I have to know." She knew that he thought he was being helpful when he said that he was sure that she wasn't pregnant, but it still killed her to face that truth.
He opened the bag and handed her four boxes. "I thought that you would feel more comfortable if you tried a bunch of different brands, then you could know for sure."
She nodded. She could tell that Ted wanted this for her and Barney. He always thought that once she had a baby she would change her anti-baby ways.
She took the tests into the bathroom. No pressure. Only her and Barney's whole future was riding on this. She mentally thanked herself for drinking that whole bottle of water a half an hour ago, because she managed to get through one tests from each box. She sighed as she lined them all up, staring at them like they were going to change at any second.
"Are you okay in there?" Ted asked from the other side of the door.
"Yeah," She said softly. "You can come in."
He opened the door, and came in without a word. She looked so anxious standing over those tests, so he took her arm and made her sit down on the lid of the toilet.
"You're going to have an anxiety attack if you don't relax."
"How can I?" She asked. "How am I supposed to relax when so much is depending on this?"
"It'll be okay." Ted said, patting her back. "You're probably not pregnant."
"I know." She said, looking down at her new designer shoes. She tried to hide the disappointment in her voice, but Ted could hear it.
"Wait… Robin, do you… do you want this?"
"What?" She asked, immediately looking up at him. "A baby? What? No. I mean not really. I mean I guess kind of. I mean… yes. I really want to be pregnant right now, but I know that I'm probably getting my hopes up for nothing and I should just forget about it, because… I can't have kids. She told me that I can't, but now all I can think about is having kids, because when you find the right person, it's different, and you start wanting all of these crazy things... like kids."
He pulled her into a hug. "I shouldn't have said anything today, I'm sorry."
"It's okay." She said, even though it wasn't. Damn Ted, why did he have to bring this all up today?
"How long have you known that you wanted to be a mother?" He asked, trying to pass the time.
"I've known since Barney told me that he'd love me even if I wasn't."
"For the record, you would be a great mom. You'd be… the perfect mom. Why do you think I tried so hard to get one of my babies in there?" He joked.
She forced a little smile. "Well no offence, but I'm glad that you didn't get one of them in there. I love you, but it's not your baby that I want."
He smiled, knowing that it was Barney that had changed her mind on children. She had been with Ted for over a year. Ted. The guy who wanted kids more than anything, and she never once changed her mind, but one conversation on the roof with Barney and everything was starting to change inside her mind. "I'm so glad that we didn't work out, because if we did you would never be here, marrying Barney, and I would never really make you as happy as you deserve to be."
She smiled. "Same goes for you. I could have never given you everything that you wanted." He nodded.
"They're probably done." He said after a moment of silence.
"Can you?" She asked. "I… I can't."
He took a deep breath. He wanted this for Robin. He wanted this for Barney.
She closed her eyes tightly, feeling a small tear fall out of the corner.
"Robin." Ted said, quietly and sweetly. The voice scared her, like he was about to tell her some really bad news.
"Robin… You're definitely pregnant."
Now she was really crying. She looked at the tests, wanting to see for herself. "I never thought I would be crying because I was pregnant, and that they would be happy tears."
"Robin." Lily called from outside the bathroom door. "Robin, come on, we have to do your make up." Robin wiped her tears, and came out of the bathroom. She didn't want to tell Lily yet; she didn't want to tell anyone until she told Barney.
"Are… are you okay?" She asked, not questioning why Ted and Robin were in the bathroom together.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine, just wedding jitters." She lied.
-xxx-
"How about some champagne?" Barney asked his new wife. There were hundreds of people at their receptions, but the only one he could look at was Robin.
"Maybe I should just have some grape juice." She suggested.
"You spent three weeks picking out the champagne, and now you're saying that you just want grape juice?"
She smiled. She couldn't hold this in for another second.
"Barney, I'm pregnant." She blurted out.
"Pregnant? But Honey, you can't have kids."
"I took a test." She said, her smile growing wider, "Actually four tests, and they all said that I'm pregnant."
His smile soon matched hers. "We're… we're going to have a baby?"
Then his tears of joy matched hers.
"We're going to have a baby." She said, jumping into his arms.
Neither of them had ever wanted children, yet it was the happiest moment of their lives.
This is what Ted was always talking about when he said "the one." "The one" isn't the person that you think you can see yourself with for the rest of your life. It's the person that you know you're meant to be with.
It's not the person that changes you. It's the person that you change with.
