A/N: Robin and Barney fanfic. I always say that they're probably going to be a one shot, but then people ask me to write another chapter and I usually do. Anyway I hope you like this! I would also like to say I proofread, but am not the best, so I apologize if I made any mistakes.
Cause if you jump I will jump too,
We will fall together
From the building's ledge,
Never looking back at what we've done
We'll say it was love.
-Skyway Avenue, We The Kings (I know it's corny, but really I had to!)
Barney was never the romantic. Robin never remembered any grad gestures or sweeping her off of her feet. He was always nice to her, sure, but she never saw him make half the effort he did with the bimbos at the bar.
Her name was Cassidy, and apparently she wasn't like the other bimbos. Robin tried really hard to hate her, but the truth was that Cassidy was perfect. Robin decided that was the perfect reason to hate her. And she didn't put up with Barney's games which meant she was perfect for Barney. She was perfect for Barney that same way that Robin always thought she was. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. If that world came anywhere near Robin's mind again, she was afraid she might lose it.
She was pretty and blonde and funny. She wanted kids; she could give Barney the kids that he wanted. She wanted the happily ever after that Robin tried for years to avoid and Barney was now desiring.
In a nutshell, Cassidy had everything that Robin had and then some more. It was why Barney loved her. Yes, Barney loved her so very much. That's what he said at least. It had only been a couple months, and most of the group wasn't convinced that it was love, but hearing Barney talk this way about a woman was rare. It made Lily smile, hoping that her friend had finally changed his perverted ways. It made Robin want to puke. They were so lovey dovey with each other. It wasn't Barney.
"It's like… she's perfect." Barney said with a goofy grin on his face. Robin had to physically stop herself from punching him. The five were all at MacLaren's, it was just like they always were, only it was different because Barney had just told them that he and Cassidy were getting married… in a few short months. The news hit Robin hard as she thought about Cassidy walking down the aisle in her beautiful wedding dress, smiling at Barney then taking his hand and looking lovingly into his eyes. They would promise to love each other forever, and make all of the other promises that were Robin's to make to him.
"This is so exciting." Lily said. She was genuinely excited, which yanked at Robin's heart strings. Why did her friends have to like this girl so much? Why couldn't they all tell Barney how awful she was and what a mistake he was making. It was hard to dislike Cassidy, though. She was one of the nicest people that Robin and ever met, yet somehow that made her hate that bitch even more.
Robin sat quietly, looking down in her drink. It wasn't her first one of the night. Ever since Barney had broken the "good" news to his friends, she's been downing the scotch like a pro, but every drink just made her feel worse.
"I just never thought that something like this would happen to me, but I don't know… I just guess that people change." For some reason this enraged Robin. He could change for some random skank that he barely knew and was now going to marry, but he couldn't change for her? She was Robin. You never asked him to change, she reminded herself. She never told him that she wanted to marry him and have his babies. She was never going to have his babies; this news was still sinking in, and now she found out that her chances of ever being with Barney were getting slimmer and slimmer.
"I… I have to go." Robin said quietly, walking as fast as should could out of the bar. She didn't want her friends to see that she was starting to cry.
She went to the place where it really all began for her and Barney. It was the place where she first told him that she loved him, sure she was just Mosbying him, but now that she looked back on it, she probably did love him at that time. She wasn't sure when it started, when she realized that she loved her best friend, but on that day, that seemed like decades ago, she was pretty sure that she did.
She took deep and frantic breaths, as if the air was going to disappear at any moment. When she went up to the roof it wasn't her intention to go to the ledge, but it was where she was drawn too. She remembered how her and her friends jumped to the other side, and how symbolic it was of each of their dreams and future. She was back on the rooftop though, back on the other side.
She looked down at the cars that drove under the building. Her vision was blurred from tears and scotch, but it didn't make it any less real. She could see the ground where she would hit if she took one more small step forward. That was all that she needed to do and she would be dead.
Dead. She never thought about actually being dead. She thought about making the pain and hurt stop, and never having to see Cassidy and her perfect blonde hair again. She never thought about leaving everyone that she loved behind her.
It would be so easy to let herself jump. She could take one big leap and that would be it. She closed her eyes, thinking of everything that had brought her here. There were a million things wrong with her, but right now the only thing that she could think of was the thought of Barney… Barney and Cassidy. She thought that it would become less real if she closed her eyes, but it had the opposite effect. She heard the sounds of New York City below her more clearly then before, and it scared her more then she thought that it would.
"What are you doing?" She heard a voice whisper behind her. She didn't have to turn around. She knew that it was Barney.
"Barney… go back to the bar." She said uselessly. She knew that he wasn't going to go back.
"Get down from there, Robin." She heard fear in his voice. It was an emotion that he didn't often show, but she recognized it instantly. "You're… you're going to fall." He said, knowing that that was her intention.
"Just go." She replied louder. "I just need you to go so I can think."
"Well why don't you come down from there and think in the apartment."
"No." She said, determined. She knew that she had to make her decision up here. If she got down, she wasn't getting back up. Barney knew this too. "Barney just-"
"I'm not going to go." He said firmly, and she knew that he wouldn't. What Barney did next surprised Robin, and few things that Barney did (not including the spontaneous wedding, that was a pretty big shock) surprised her.
Barney climbed up next to her and grabbed her hand. She looked down at his warm fingers intertwined with her's. "Barney, what are you doing?"
"Well if you plan on jumping then you're going to have to take me down with you."
Something inside of her came back to reality. What was she thinking? Because Barney was going to marry another woman? That was her reason for standing a step away from her death. "I'm not going to jump." She said, almost with a laugh. "You just… you can see the city so much better from right here."
He smiled at her, and stepped back down onto the roof, not letting go of her hand. He held her waist with his other hand and made sure that she was standing next to him safely before he let go. "Maybe the rooftop isn't the best place for you."
"I like it up here." She said quietly.
"Because you like living on the edge?"
She nodded; wiping the tears that she just remembered had fallen down her face only moments before. She knew that Barney had seen them, but she was grateful that he didn't make a comment about them.
"Well you scared the hell out of me." He said quietly. "I thought you were really going to jump."
"Why did that scare you?" She asked. She knew the truth. Or maybe she didn't, either way she wanted to hear what Barney had to say.
"Because you're my best friend, Robin, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." He sounded so sincere, and Robin knew that she was one of the few women that Barney was always sincere with.
She held his hand. "That was pretty brave of you, and also kind of stupid."
He smiled at her. "I knew that you wouldn't jump if I was there with you."
"I wasn't going to jump." She repeated.
"Okay." He said, nodding, but he knew that he could have just saved Robin's life, and he would have gotten on that ledge a million times if it meant saving Robin.