Scars and Summer Days
Marshall and Lily have just gone, and the slew of medication he's on ensures that Barney's feeling no pain as he looks up at Robin where she's leaning over his bed.
"I can't believe you almost died," she whispers, softly tracing the cut on his forehead with a lone fingertip. But once she realizes what she's doing she quickly pulls her hand away.
"Nah, not me," Barney answers her. "I have too much awesome inside. No bus can take me down."
"I'm glad for that." She rubs the scant inches of his skin between his arm cast and his hospital gown – until the voice in her head chimes up again, asking her what in the hell she's doing, and she steps firmly away from his bed. It's not her fault. Despite all of her anti-miracle talk, almost losing him has left her emotional and out of sorts.
Barney observes her cagey behavior and the way she's now standing just far back enough that it makes it difficult to see her without turning his head – which at the moment he can't do. He figures it's a sign of her discomfort with hospitals; it happens to a lot of people. "Aren't you gonna take off too?"
Robin recognizes that tone, that need to be brave when what you truly want most in the world is a hand to hold. "Uh-uh. I don't have any place to be but here."
Barney smiles softly. "Thanks." It's exactly what he wanted to hear. Coming out of surgery, his eyes immediately honed in on her out of all the others. Seeing her there at his bedside was like the sun coming out to stop the rain. "But you don't…..you don't have to stay. I'll be all right."
"What? Are you trying to get rid of me? We may not be brothers, like you and Ted and Marshall, but we're still bros, and it's Bro Code law: a bro does not leave another bro alone at the hospital. When said bro is actually injured and not just trying to pick up women, that is."
"I don't remember that bylaw."
"It's a new one. Article 151."
That makes him grin because she has been paying attention. The Bro Code as he's written it – no, not him, Barnabas Stinson – has exactly one hundred and fifty articles. "Well, if it's in the Bro Code then I guess you have to stay."
"Yep," Robin nods, her lips forming into a tender smile. "And as my first action as said fully mobile bro, I'm going to see what's taking so long about getting you a real room."
A few hours later, they both settle into his permanent room – more like a suite, really. It's the nicest hospital room Robin has ever seen and she knows he must have pulled strings to get it but that's the thing about Barney. Hanging out with him she gets the chance to see how the rich and powerful of New York live.
Between rushing out of the newsroom to see about Ted's non-injury, then learning about Barney's actual wounds, waiting through surgery, and sitting by his side since, it's already the dark of night and all she's had to eat since breakfast is the one granola bar she stepped out to buy. But Barney manages to wrangle up dinner for her, delivered to the room and everything. His dinner is lacking in comparison, broth which she spoon-feeds him because he's unable to use his arms. It reminds them both of the time he was sick and she took care of him. Unfortunately, his injuries are serious enough now that being awesome instead is not an option this time.
Knowing what it feels like to want someone by your side but having too much pride to ask, Robin refuses to leave him while doctors and nurses go in and out, monitoring his vitals and giving him more medications. She winds up falling asleep in the chair beside his bed, and Barney just watches her with something between panic and contentment. Mostly his heart is just full. And with her in his room with him, he's never been so thankful to be alive.
All at once coming to awareness, Robin wakes up, blinking the sleep from her eyes to see Barney watching her. "Hey," she murmurs across to him. It's no longer just the lamp lighting the room. Now sunlight peeks through the curtains, so she knows it must be morning. "What time is it?"
"Just after six."
"Oh." She stretches, continuing around a yawn, "I can't believe I fell asleep. How are you feeling?"
"Better. The nurses were in here throughout the night to poke and prod – and not in a sexy way. But still," he says cheekily, "they were nurses so…."
"Absolutely," she smiles. "Nurses on the nightshift, coming in to your bedroom. Sounds like something from your porn collection."
"Eh, it wasn't as good as it sound, though. None of them were as hot as you."
The way he says it, the way he looks at her, sends a disobedient little shiver through her that makes Robin suddenly edgy and on-guard. It's bad enough she had a crying jag in the bathroom while he was in still in surgery and she couldn't see him and no one was sure of his prognosis. But she can't be feeling shivers for Barney Stinson. This is why you don't sleep with a friend; you can't turn off the knowledge afterwards of what it's like to be their lover. "I should go," she states suddenly. "But….but I'll be back."
"Like the Terminator." And a soft smile plays on his lips.
"No, I mean it. Ted, Lily, and Marshall all said they'd be by later today, but I promise you'll be seeing me all the time."
Robin makes good on her promise too. She has to go home and shower, eat, make up for lost sleep and the crick in her back from dozing off in a chair. Then there's work in the morning, but she comes back to visit him the next evening dressed to kill, wearing the same blue dress she had on the night they all met Simon for a drink.
"Wow," Barney breathes, looking her up and down – or the best he can manage in a neck brace. "You have a hot date again tonight?"
"No….Well, only with you," she corrects with a playfully raised eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"This," she informs him, running her hand over her body like a model on some game show presenting the prize, "is all for you. You see, I wanted to bring you something to cheer you up, but you don't bring a guy flowers. My first thought was scotch, but the doctors said alcohol is a big no-no while you're still on pain meds. Then I thought a cigar, but there's no smoking in the hospital. So I racked my brain, thinking, 'What would Barney appreciate the most?'. And that's when I remembered how much you liked this dress." She does a little spin for him. "Simon wasn't deserving of it, but you are a different case. So, the half a Nerf ball and tape is all for you tonight."
"Seriously?"
"Yes," she nods readily. "I wanted to do this for you. Bring you a little enjoyment. I know how hard it must be."
Barney's eyes widen with anticipation. "In that case…." He pulls the sheet aside for her to access his hospital gown – and what's beneath – more easily.
Robin rolls her eyes. "Ach, not that much enjoyment." She shakes her head but she's smiling as she flips the sheet back down over him. "Geez, Barney."
"You forget, I'm missing the shame bone. But I've got one bone down here that hasn't been seeing any lovin'. The nurses here are strictly professional – and some of them male. And both my hands are incapacitated. You can see the bind I'm in."
"Barney, it's been two days. I think you'll survive. I'm prepared to 'inadvertently' bend my arms together in conversation to squish the girls up for you, and I'll lean down over your bed a few times, but I'm strictly offering eye candy and nothing more." There's a funny little look on his face as his gaze drifts down over her, lingering at her breasts, and for the first time it occurs to her that maybe he doesn't want to see them anymore. "Um, that's assuming you'd still consider it eye candy….you know….since you've seen them already."
"Scherbatsky, you are still very much eye candy. Seeing a set of boobs a second time isn't what keeps me from repeating – and it's certainly not what keeps me out of a relationship." He says it like it disgusts him but he watches her carefully as he pronounces the word, testing for her reaction to him saying it at all. "I'll let you in on a secret, Robin. A man is never going to grow tired of seeing you naked, no matter how many times he's been with you."
Robin smiles and feels that undercurrent again that's not supposed to be there. She just ignores it. If you ignore it, it will go away. "So, Barney….prepare yourself," she changes the subject, sitting down in the chair next to him, in for the long haul. "I have something tragic to tell you."
"What?" He's suddenly alarmed by her tone. "Is it my apartment? Are the suits okay?"
"You're apartment is fine," she informs him with an affectionate shake of the head. "It's Ted. I'm sorry to tell you this, Barney, but you're losing your wingman – again. Ted's getting married….."
A week out from the accident and Barney's neck brace is off but he's still in his other casts and hospital gown. "It's weird not seeing you in a suit," Robin tells him.
"I know. It's terrible. But right now I couldn't even get into a suit." He sighs. "To tell you the truth, what bothers me even more is this." He indicates the stubble on his face of a week's worth of very definite beard and mustache growth. "Nothing should be covering the perfection God already made…..The nurses offered to do something about it, but I don't trust them near this face."
Hearing that, Robin perks up. "I'll do it."
Barney gives her a look. "Shaving a man's face is not the same as shaving your legs." He eyes his leftover lunch tray apprehensively. "And I'll never be so barbaric and desperate as to use butter."
"No, really," she laughs. "I know how. It's a long story, but my father taught me."
"He taught you how to shave a man's face?"
Robin takes a deep breath. She hasn't told any of them the truth about her childhood yet. This is the closest she's come. "….Yes," she finally settles on. He looks at her strangely when she fails to elaborate, but it's too late; she's caught up in the idea of shaving him now. He doesn't seem like Barney all scruffy this way….even if it is kind of sexy. "Come on, Barney. Let me do this for you. Ted gave me the spare key to your apartment. He's been busy with Stella, and he's knows I've been here constantly, so he gave it to me so I could get you whatever you need. I'll just pop over there. I'll bring all of your own equipment so you won't have to worry and we'll get this done."
The thought of Robin left to her own devises in his Fortress of Solitude is terrifying….but, at the same time, he rather likes the idea of her making herself at home at his place – which is even more terrifying.
She returns an hour later and, because he must have lost his mind, he lets her shaves him. It requires them to maintain a close proximity the entire time…..and maybe that's part of why he let her do it. Robin's face is near his, her eyes bright and studying. She's constantly touching him and her breath is blowing out warm and tantalizing over his lips. He'd been kidding before when he implied she was offering him a handjob. In pain, tired and wounded, still healing, and hopped up on heavy medication, Lil' Barney hadn't risen to the occasion since before the accident – and even then only the one time since Robin; it was meant as a cleansing ritual, to get her out of his system. It didn't work. Lil' Barney did twitch to life a few times yesterday when she was giving him her 'eye candy' show and she leaned over the bed far enough that her boobs nearly fell out of the dress entirely. But now, with her warm breath and her mouth so close and her hands softly caressing his face, even injured he feels his body awakening with desire for her.
"There," Robin proclaims, taking one last swipe with the razor. "Now you look more like yourself. Except…." She reaches up to fix his hair, running her fingers through it and along his scalp.
The last time she had her fingers in his hair this way they were in her bed together with his mouth on her breast and his fingers stroking decidedly lower. He'll never forget her soft sounds of pleasure at his every touch. And now Lil' Barney is unmistakably stirring very eagerly to life. But the funny thing is, at the time he wasn't thinking 'I'm getting to second and third base with Scherbatsky', congratulating himself for the feat as he normally would have been with other women. He wasn't even thinking at all. Just feeling. Because she was finally letting him be with her that way and it unleashed something in him that was barely under reins before. He was desperate for her. Every touch of her skin was like breathing, like coming alive. His entire focus was on kissing her, caressing her, loving her. And that's the problem; he loves her. Barney Stinson is in love with Robin Scherbatsky…..and he is totally, totally screwed.
But that's a problem for Future Barney to deal with. Right now Present Barney's got other pressing problems. The sheets are thick and heavy in the air-conditioned hospital, and he's hoping it's enough of a cover. But if she notices his erection she doesn't say anything.
"There," she smiles, finishing with his hair. "Now you're my Barney – uh, our Barney. You know, yourself."
She's biting her lip and it's hard to tell in this light but she may even be blushing a little at her faux pa. But he lets her off the hook and lets it pass without comment. "So, are you going to make this a habit of yours? Coming to visit me all the time?"
His voice betrays just a hint of hopefulness, but she knows if she can hear it at all that means he must want this really badly. "Metro News 1 is close by. I could pop in on my way to work. Or on my lunch hour."
But as it turns out, life without Barney is boring, empty, and dull, and Robin finds herself coming to see him every day, at all times of the day and night. She frankly has no idea how they let her in; Barney must have bribed security.
By the next week he's out of traction and she brings him some of his own clothes from home, sweat shorts and t-shirts, still Armani, and underwear. "Maybe it will help your 'no lovin' predicament if you keep the big guy all locked up."
Robin helps Barney into his clothes, pretending not to notice his nudity, pretending she doesn't like what she sees. After that, she sits through a therapy session where they teach him how to eat on his own with the casts on both arms. She talks about Ted and what Marshall and Lily have been up to, and they have dinner together again. She doesn't go home till around midnight, and it's not until she's on her way back to Brooklyn that she realizes she just spent her Saturday night in the hospital with Barney.
Over the next weeks, Robin tries to bring him more distractions to keep what she knows to be a very active mind busy. First, she presents him with a treat in the form of Battleship. He lies in bed and stacks his ships on top of each other and tells her with a wink, "I like the other way we play it better."
A couple weeks after that, it's a deck of cards instead. "Strip poker?" Barney beams. "Nice! I haven't seen a naked woman in a month."
"Nice try, Barney, but your drought lasts some more. I brought these – " She presents a jar full of pennies. " – to bet with."
"Pennies?"
"Ah, yeah. You have a bit of a gambling addiction, so in about five minutes you're gonna be acting like these pennies are gold."
But the next week Robin takes pity on him and brings him a stack of dirty magazines. His eyes light up like a kid presented with a hot fudge sundae. "Help me out here, Scherbatsky."
"Barney, we've been over this. I'm not servicing you."
He blows out an amused breath. "With the magazine. I'm getting better with a spoon but I still can't quite manage books."
Robin wonders what's the matter with her, how it came to this, how he's so easily able to wheedle his way beneath her defenses and talk her into just about anything, but somehow she's sitting on the edge of his bed, willingly holding up pictures of naked women for him to ogle.
The next week he convinces her to smuggle in some actual DVDs from his collection, and somehow it's not weird or the least bit awkward when he asks her to put one in and they end up alone, behind the closed door of his private room, watching a porn together. They cheer on the impressive moves, critique the bad ones, admire the man's stamina, point out the implausibility of the plot, rank the difficulty level of various positions, and laugh over the actress's obviously faked orgasms.
"She wouldn't have had to fake it with me," Barney boasts as Robin puts the DVD back into its case, but she doesn't say a word. "Really? You have nothing to say to that? No teasing retort?" He eyes her suspiciously. "Or perhaps a willing, wholehearted agreement."
"No comment." He chuckles wickedly, a low and dirty rasp that sends a shiver down her spine that really should not be there.
"I know you didn't fake it, Scherbatsky." The sounds and looks a woman can fake alright, but there was no faking the way her body writhed and tensed beneath him, contracting around him tightly both inside and out while she rode the waves of pleasure. She was every bit as far gone as he was.
"Didn't fake what? I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing ever happened."
"So we're back to that, huh?" And that's just it; he knows it happened. Of course it happened. They both know it happened. But the maddening, sickening, disheartening truth is that it isn't enough for him merely to know that he can please her and that she wants him sexually. Getting hit by that bus, seeing images flash before his eyes in those last moments and knowing they were all of Robin, has woken him up to the sad truth that his battered and bruised but somehow not completely atrophied heart has come alive again for her, and wants a whole lot more from her than just knowing he can give her an intense orgasm. "Well, just so you know, you gave a much better performance on our video." She opens her mouth to protest. "Which I kept my word and did not put up on the internet, since you were such a good bro that night."
She comes to see him just after nine p.m. on July fourth. His arms are out of the casts now, but his leg still has another few weeks – and then he has to learn to walk all over again. He's sitting by his window, depressed that he's missing out on all the fun, when Robin comes walking in. Surprised, Barney asks her, "Don't you have plans for tonight?"
"Ted's off with Stella and her kid. Marshall and Lily are busy 'honoring America'." She makes a face. "Which means they're doing it like bunnies."
"And you?"
Robin shrugs. "I'm Canadian, remember?"
"As if I could forget. It's your one 'but'. Still, I'd think it would be an excuse to get drunk, see a good show."
"Funny you should say that." She grins mischievously. "I may be Canadian, but you are the most fiercely patriotic American I've ever met. I couldn't leave you hanging on the Fourth of July. I've got a surprise for you, Barney….."
It seems that Barney has quite a lot of pull at this hospital. Besides charming the female staff, she's sure he laid out a lot of money to get exactly what he wants, whenever he wants, rules be damned. And that extends to her too, including getting her unlimited access to normally restricted areas.
Robin wheels him up to the roof of the hospital – a quiet wing away from the heliport – and Barney can hardly believe his eyes because she has it all.
She stops his wheelchair in the center and darts around in front of him to show it all off. "Lawn chairs, for authenticity. A case of beer is must. A cigar for each of us, fresh from the club just a few hours ago. Sparklers, of course." She points to the blow-up pool full of water. "A kiddie pool for –"
"Please tell me you brought your bikini, Robin."
She rolls her eyes affectionately. "For wading with your good leg."
"Hmm." That actually does sound nice. For weeks he's had to settle for sponge baths, and now half showers, because he wasn't allowed to get his casts wet.
"But I'll join you," she adds as incentive.
The jean skirt she has on is certainly short enough to allow her to soak all the way up to mid-thigh without getting it wet. He knows; he's already ran his eyes over every inch of bare skin.
"I've got hot dogs on the mini-grill down here," she indicates the small box next to her lawn chair. "And the most important part: we'll have one of the best views in the city of the fireworks. I couldn't let you miss that."
"Robin," Barney says using that soft genuine tone she's only ever heard him use on rare occasions, "you are one amazing woman. Thank you."
She puts her hand fondly on his shoulder. "Well, I know red, white, and blue runs through these veins. If any civilian deserves to see fireworks on July fourth it's you."
He smiles, laughs a little. "That's true." Then he turns uncharacteristically serious, looking up at her intently. "But I meant for everything. You've been a good bro to me through all of this." He's quiet a moment, nodding to himself contemplatively. "You really are my best friend. But don't tell anyone I said that," he grins. "Especially Ted. I'll deny it for all I'm worth; I mean I'll call you a liar straight to your face."
"Duly noted," Robin giggles softly. "We'll be secret best friends."
Her laughter on the air is the sweetest sound Barney has ever heard, and the look between them stretches out, the two of them smiling into each other's eyes until the first firework lights up the sky.
"Oh, it's starting!" Robin exclaims, plopping down onto the lawn chair beside him.
But he can't tear his eyes away from her to even look. She has such a hold over him; he'll never be able to break it.
"Here," she says, sweet and oblivious, passing him a hotdog into one hand and a lit sparkler in the other before turning back to watch the colors light up the sky. He just keeps on watching her. "Happy Fourth of July, Barney," she whispers, turning away from the firework show for a second to wave her sparkler cheerfully at him.
After the fireworks, they smoke Cubans while wading in the pool, staving off the mugginess of the warm summer air. They sit outside talking and laughing and burning through the sparklers one by one, and by two of o'clock they've gone through half the case of beer. And even in sweats, on the roof of a hospital, it's the best Fourth of July he's ever had.
By the end of July, Barney's arms are strong enough to use crutches, and the cast comes off his leg tomorrow. Then his intensive physical therapy begins to get him walking again while the strength training continues for his arms; he'll need them to be more than just back to normal to support his weight on the bars. They've already warned him his leg will be too weak at first to hold him up.
Robin is in the room, at his choice, when they go over all of this with him, and she knows it has to seem a daunting task. When all the doctors and nurses leave and it's just the two of them alone again, she puts on all the brightest, exuberant optimism she can muster. "Alright. It'll be challenging, but you can do this. You're Barney Stinson. You never turn down a challenge. And you're the most determined person I've ever known. If you want something, you never give up until you get it."
She's right. That's always been true, and he has no doubt that he'll power through and get his physical therapy finished in half the time of an average man. He'll be back to walking on his own by the time they discharge him in two weeks. Walking again, physical struggle and pain, he can handle. It's the emotional stuff that's tripping him up. Robin is the one chink in his armor, though she has no idea. If you want something you never give up until you get it. But he's given up before he even started because he'll never get her. She'll never see him as anything other than her good friend and bro, Barney – always 'that' guy, always out for a good time, ever on the lookout for his next one night stand, never wants to take anything seriously, never feels real love at all. The trouble is he does. He feels it for her. And he has literally no idea what he's going to do about it.
"I'll be right there with you the entire time," Robin vows her support. Her eyes suddenly perk up with excitement. "Ooo, I'll be your therapy wingwoman!"
"I don't – I don't know," Barney hedges. "That's asking an awful lot."
"I don't mind."
"But I'll be all sweaty and unawesome and – "
"Come on, Barney. I know I said it never happened, but you already got me to admit that it did back when you blackmailed me with our sex tape – which I still don't believe exists. We were at my apartment; how would you have even recorded us? I would've noticed if you were holding up your phone. Anyway," she gets back on track, "since I've admitted it did happen, I can say that I've already seen your…." She pauses, thinking of a way to put it less graphically, and borrows the phrase from him. "….'Oh, Canada' face. And you're seen mine. It really doesn't get more intimate and down and dirty than that."
He doesn't want to hurt her feelings after everything she's done for him, but he really can't bear to have her there during his physical therapy sessions, witnessing firsthand how weak and feeble and ineffectual he is at the moment. "Look, Robin, I really appreciate the offer – and – and everything you've done for me this summer but….I would rather you not be there."
A flash of hurt zips across her face before she instantly controls it, shoving it down where all the unruly emotions go. "Yeah, sure, of course."
"It's not that you're not great," Barney jumps to assure her.
"No, I get it. We've been seeing so much of each other while you're cooped up in this hospital. I'm sure you're sick of the sight of me by now. New is always better," she recites.
"No." He looks at her like she's insane. How could she ever think he'd get tired of being with her? "Of course not. It's nothing like that. Nothing personal."
"Ahhh," Robin nods, onto him now. "I bet you've got your eye on a slutty-looking therapist, right? Well, in that case I can be a real wingwoman too."
"No, that's not it." He hates admitting embarrassing truths that leave him open and vulnerable but it seems he'll have to. It's either that or hurt her, so the choice is clear. "Actually, Robin, it is personal."
"Oh." Her voice is quiet and she stares down at the floor.
"Not the way you think, though. It's just….it's going to be a real struggle at first," Barney acknowledges, picking nervously at the edge of his shorts. "And I – I….I don't want you to see me that way," he finally confesses.
The last part was spoken so quietly she could scarcely make out the words, but when she does realization suddenly dawns on her. "Oh – oh, I understand, Barney." She reaches out to gently stroke his arm, her thumb rubbing soft circles into his skin, and her touch feels something like heaven to him. "I understand it probably better than anyone else." She lets out a harsh, humorless laugh. "Like I said, it's a long story but part of it is that I used to play team sports."
She said it as if that's a difficult admission, which he can't quite understand, but he nods encouragingly.
"So I get it; I know. Once, I severely sprained my ankle in a game; it was so bad I was sure it was broken. The pain was so much I felt like throwing up, but I just kept playing. I couldn't let my teammates….." Robin pauses, scratching at her neck in agitation. "….or my dad," she spits out in a hurry, "know that I couldn't take it. It wasn't until after the game when the coach from the other team saw me crying that I admitted I was injured and let him get me an ice pack. So, yeah, I understand what you mean. It's hard when it's someone you know, someone you're close to. It's hard to let them see you hurting and weak that way."
"Yeah, exactly. I guess we're just two stubborn people, aren't we? Never let anyone see us sweat." Which is yet another reason why he can never be with her in anything resembling an actual relationship. Even if she could feel this same way about him, both of them are too closed off and stubborn – and scared – to admit it.
"But that's no problem. I can still be your physical therapy wingwoman," Robin reasons. "I'll just come by after work, when your sessions are done, to hear about how great you did and see all of your progress."
"Okay," Barney nods. "You're on." He'll walk for her. That will be his motivation in every session – so he can brag and see her proud smile, showing her all that he can do already. "And, Robin, one more thing. Our sex tape? I don't have one. I made it up."
"I know."
He looks at her curiously. "Then why'd you come that night?"
She just smiles evasively. "No comment."
On a Thursday afternoon two weeks later, the day before he's discharged from the hospital, Robin comes to Barney straight from her Metro News 1 broadcast. It was demoralizing, another horrible pun – about dogs this time – and a slew of "news stories" there weren't really news. She wishes for once she could be taken seriously. Her career is an absolute dead-end and it makes her wonder what she's doing with her life; it makes her question all the choices she's made. But seeing Barney again calms her and quiets her brain. She'll talk it out with him; he'll know just what to say.
"Did you see my broadcast?" she asks as she comes bursting through the door. But the rest of her words die on her tongue when she sees Barney, propped up shirtless in bed, eating their famous Super Bowl wings. The sight's enough to make her water – literally. She blames it on the smell of the wings; it's the least alarming option. "Whoa, how did you manage this?"
"It's my last day here. Thought I'd do it in style. One of my favorite foods, dinner in bed, let the staff wait on me one last time."
Robin laughs, shaking her head. "Barney, this is a hospital, not a four star hotel."
He shrugs. "Same difference."
"Well, scooch over; you're sharing," she declares, climbing up into bed with him.
He smiles over at her, making room on the bed, ignoring the warm tingles he gets when her thigh presses into his. "Yes, I saw your broadcast," Barney answers her original question. His fingers brush hers as he passes Robin a wing and he pretends he doesn't notice the way his heart skips a beat.
"Did you see how awful it was?" she grouses, biting viciously into the chicken. "I always knew Metro News 1 was bad, but I had no idea how low they'd sink. And drag me right down with them." She sighs, dropping the now-empty bone onto the plate next to his. "I thought I was going to be a legitimate journalist."
Barney bumps her side with his. "You are," he promises, but she won't be cheered that easily.
"No, I'm not. I'm just…..I read stupid jokes off a teleprompter. That's what I actually do." Robin shakes her head, discouraged.
"Maybe I was wrong all these years. I mean, my career isn't panning out. Maybe I should have just gotten married, had kids."
He gasps in horror. "Bite your tongue, Scherbatsky. No matter how bad things are, it never calls for that."
Robin smiles. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just I've only got so many options, you know? And lately, sometimes, I'm starting to wonder if I should have just settled and gone the Ted route. At least that way I'd have something."
"Here," Barney says, passing here the entire bucket of wings. "Your blood sugar must be low. You must need to eat. Because you're talking crazy. Robin Scherbatsky doesn't have many options?" He says as if it's the most ludicrous thing he's ever heard. "You have all the options in the world. You're smart, funny, talented, beautiful. You can do and be anything that you want. You hate your job? So go find another." The next part he says with a hardness she didn't image him capable of. "But don't throw your life away settling on a man and a marriage just so you have something to call your own at the end of the day. You've already been there and almost done that. Don't make me sit by and watch you nearly destroy yourself again selling out to some dream that isn't even yours." He captures her gaze, holding it fixedly. "Go after what you really want. You can have it, Robin. There's no one stopping you but yourself."
She sighs, nodding vigorously. "You're right, Barney. Of course you're right. I don't know what I was thinking…..I guess I wasn't."
"Damn straight, you weren't."
Robin laughs, nudging his shoulder with hers. "Here," she says, passing him back the bucket but snagging a single wing out first. "Death by wings won't be necessary. I've gotten myself together again." She smiles over at him thoughtfully. "How is it you always manage to straighten me out?"
"It's a gift," Barney grins brazenly, tapping her leg with his once-broken one, his socked toes running along her sandaled foot.
"It must be," Robin grins along with him. "So….they spring you at eleven o'clock tomorrow, right? I'm sorry I couldn't get out of work."
"No sweat, Marshall and Lily are coming to bring me home."
"Well, I'll be there tomorrow night. I'll bring takeout and a bottle of scotch. We can have a welcome home party. Plan your return into the world. I know you must be dying to find your first mark." She smirks at him. "It's been a long cold summer for Barney Stinson – and I have to tell you, MacLaren's has been full of big boobed, easy looking women lately."
What Robin has no idea of is that even with his injury – and the pain, and the physical therapy, and being stuck inside a hospital all summer long, and abstinent for the longest run in his life since he lost his virginity – spending the days with her has been the best summer, and Barney wouldn't trade it for anything.
All of that is screaming out of his smile, but he knows she doesn't hear a word of it. It's probably better that way. "Yees," he nods enthusiastically. "Daddy's home."