After finishing the story to his kids about how he did meet their mother, Tracy, Ted gets a babysitter and heads to MacLarens Pub to have a drink. He could not help but think about how his two kids just replied to his story with ""That is not the reason you made us listen to this. Let's look at the facts here: You made us sit down and listen to this story about how you met mom, but mom is hardly in the story." "No. This is a story about how you're totally in love with Aunt Robin and you're thinking about asking her out and you want to know if we're ok with it," Penny continued. "Come on, dad. Mom has been gone for six years now. It's time." "Yeah guys but Robin is married to Barney still, there's nothing I can do about it"
Barney, who still goes to the MacLarens with his wife Robin, gathers up Marshall, and Lily to comfort Ted. The gang tries to cheer Ted up by getting him very drunk and trying to hook him up with random, beautiful girls, but to no avail. His sorrow for his wife and his love and desire for Robin is too strong for him to enjoy his time with his old friends. Once Ted decides to go home to his children, Barney and the rest of the gang decide that they need to cheer Ted up.
"Let's bring him to a strip club!" yells out Barney as Marshall Smirks in agreement.
As Lily hits Marshall for smirking, her and Robin simultaneously scream "Eww no"
After shutting down many of Barneys disgusting and perverted ideas to help out his friend Ted, Marshall and Lily decide to head home.
While on their walk back to their home, Lily quietly brings up "I feel so sorry for Ted, Tracy was perfect for him!"
"Not to mention the fact that he had to watch his second best friend marry the girl he tried to woe over for most of his adulthood!" Marshall adds
"Now that you mentioned it, I did think that he was giving Robin the I love your eyes" Lily
"THAT'S IT" Marshall jumps "TED IS STILL IN LOVE WITH ROBIN"
"No way, that silly! He just has to accept the idea that Robin and Barney are together" Lily adds.
"I mean let's be one hundred percent honest here babe, do you really think Barney is the right guy for Robin? Barney had to fight himself to not go and hit on all those girls sitting at the bar! It's Barney, he will forever be the lady loving con-man that we all know and love" Marshall says.
Lily continues "Yeah but why ruin Barney and Robin's relationship just to make Ted happy. I mean Robin seems really happy with Barney! Barney also got kinda excited when Robin brought up raising a child."
"Do you really think that Robin and Barney are ready for kids? Robin has always said that she is afraid of children. Barney is just Barney" Marshall adds.
"This case is closed judge fudge! We're done talking about his today!" Lily says while they walk back into their home.
"Hi mommy and daddy" says Marshall and Lily's son, Marvin.
"How was the babysitter slugger?" Marshall asks.
"She got really mad when i beat her in monopoly, so then she took a nap on the couch"
Marshall and Lily too tired to wake up their neighbor to go home for the night decide to just leave her money on the table and write her a note that reads: Thank you for watching Marvin, hope he didn't beat you too bad at monopoly… kind of sad when a 4 year old beats you. Thanks again - Marshall and Lily
After putting little Marvin to bed finally, Marshall and Lily head to bed also.
Once Morning comes, Marshall brings up the conversation from their walk back home from MacLarens "Don't you think Ted is still in love Robin"
"For the hundredth time, yes he is, but Robin is in love with Barney! Even though Barney may not be in love with her." Lily yells
"Yeah but we can at least bring it up to Robin about how Ted still loves her! Because we both know that she is most likely clueless about Ted" Marshall suggests.
"Okay fine! But only because Ted doesn't have the guts to say anything"
Meanwhile, Barney shows up to Ted's house right after he sends his kids off to school. Barney knocks on the door and when Ted answers the door with bed head and a robe, Barney says "Woah what happened to you, you look like you got mugged!"
"Yeah that's because I did last night on my walk back to McLarens!" Ted says sarcastically.
"Wait really! Are you ok?" Barney says surprisingly concerned.
"No! I'm kidding! Why are you here? It is eight o'clock." Ted says confused
"Well you obviously needed someone to come and get you to suit up!"
"Barney, that sounds wonderful and all but I think I am just going to sleep. Not in the mood to suit up today" Ted replies.
""Suits are full of joy. They're the sartorial equivalent of a baby's smile. How can you not wake up and just want to put a nice expensive suit on!" Barney says.
"Because I'm not you! Now can you just let me sleep! We can do something later if you really want." Ted says tiredly
"Fine! I'll be back! And when I do, it's going to be legend-... wait for it… and I hope
You're not lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is DAIRY!" Barney smiles and walks away!
After Barney leaves, he walks down the block to Marshall and Lily's new house, He is surprisingly really concerned with Ted. Once he arrives he knocks on the door. When Lily opens the door she just replies "What are you doing here Barney?"
"I really think that something is wrong with Ted. Last night whenever I used the "have you met Ted?" pickup line, Ted would just show the girls his wedding ring! And I was just over at his house and even though he never suits up when I tell him to, he will at least let me into his house and we'll do something! But not today, he just shut the door on me!"
"Barney, I mean it's Ted! Look at what he's going though. He just lost his wife and is now a single dad of two kids, and then the whole Robin thing"
"Wait what Robin thing" Barney says confused
"Nothing, it's nothing I swear!" Lily panics and says
"Lily…. what is the Robin thing" Barney says aggravated.
"Ughhh Fine! Marshall and I still think that Ted is still in love with Robin and that he just settled with Tracy!" Lily confesses
Barney almost in shocks just takes a seat on the front steps of Marshall and Lily's house. Lily quietly sits down next to him. "It's ok Barney, Robin seems really happy when she is around you!"
"Yeah but I always kind of had a weird feeling they would end up together in the long run, it's like how you know what tie to wear with each suit ya know?" Barney jokes.
"I mean 100% honestly i don't know what that's like but I mean Robin is know your wife! Do you really want to go through all this?" Lily says confused.
"Go through what?" Barney asks.
"Divorcing Robin just to try and make Ted happy. I fully understand how much you care about Ted but what if Robin does not want to be with Ted, what if she really does want to be with you?" Lily says convincingly.
Barney decides to leave and head home. Lily tried to convince him to stay and talk to her and even said "why can't Judge Fudge have the final say in this Barney!"
After Barney gets home he decided to just take a quick nap, Robin woke him up after Robin got back. Once they ate dinner, Barney put all the dishes into the sink then went back to the kitchen table to sit next to Robin. He looks at her and asks "Are you still in love with Ted?"
"What? No, I am in love with my husband!" Robin laughs.
"No Robin I'm serious, are you still in love with Ted Mosby? If you are its completely fine but i just want to know." Barney says surprisingly serious.
Robin, who is very confused and shocked about the whole conversation "Why would you think that I'm still in love with Ted? Ted is a great guy but."
Barney cuts her off mid-sentence "Because yesterday I saw the look you were giving him, even after we got past the Tracy part of the conversation. I just don't know if I am the right guy for you anymore."
"Barney are you divorcing me? Just because you saw how i looked at Ted?"
"It's not just that! I just don't think I'm the right person for you to spend the rest of your life with. I think you would be happier and better off with Ted as of right now" Barney says.
"I don't know what to say Barney." Robin says while tears coming down her face "So does this mean we're getting a divorce?"
Barney says nothing. He places his wedding ring on the table and walks away.
Robin, still in shock with her divorce, heads to McLarens. When she gets there, she sees Ted sitting at the booth that they first meet at and that the gang has established as their booth. She decided to get two beers and sit next to him. "Here ya go grumpy" she says as she hands him the second beer.
"Thanks." he replies thankfully. "What are you doing here? Where is Barney?"
Robin starts to tear up. She does not reply but shows him her hand and Ted sees that the wedding ring is not there.
"Did you lose your ring?" Ted says confused
As Robin breaks into tears she replies "No, we're done"
Ted still confused asks "What, why?"
"Because Barney still thinks that I'm in love with you." Robin replies. "And I honestly think that i might still be."
Ted smiles and puts his arm around her to give her a hug "It's ok."