"I broke up with Nora." Barney announced, leaning against the bar, swirling a small glass of scotch in his hand. Ted, Marshall and Lily gasped, stood opposite him, looking shocked.
"Oh no, what happened?" Lily said sympathetically.
"I.. Don't really want to talk about it, I just think the worst part is over now." He turned to look at the enterance just as Robin walked through, she was smiling, radiant, more beautiful than ever in Barney's eyes, she was just perfect to him. Words he had never ever used to describe a girl before, not even one like Nora, who meant so much to him, never had he said perfect, but Robin, she was something else. She walked towards them and a chorus of "Hey Robin!" rang from the four of them. Barney grinned sheepishly at her, while catching her glance, but then the smile was instantly ripped off his face. "Hey Kevin!" came next but only from three this time. Kevin, Robin, Ted, Marshall and Lily made their way across to the usual booth, Barney however lingered at the bar. He looked up, as Robin turned towards him, and he gestured a sort of confused expression, as if to simply ask "what?", but it was only greeted by Robin's deadpan face, a slight shake of the head, and then time just stopped. Tick, tick tick... It stood still, Barney's heart sank, his face dropped, smile gone, glint in his eye vanished, his quirky happiness despite breaking up with Nora obliterated, he was like a shell, stuck in time, he felt like he was going to be sick. He sipped his drink before putting it down on the bar, and he just sat, sat and watched. The whole bar filled with statues in his own bubble of time, and then slowly, but surely, everyone filled with character again, and began to move again, tick, tick, tick, time moved, and everything sprung into life, except Barney, life just seemed to evade him, just as Robin had.
Later that very same evening Ted walked back up to the appartment, quietly he shut the door behind him and walked through the main area towards his room, but on his way he stopped, noticing slight noise and light from the room opposite. He paused for a second then gently and slowly moved across to it, peering in, there he was Barney, silently collecting the red petals of a rose from the bed, and placing them back in a bag, and then holding his tie back while blowing out the several candles he had placed around the room. Ted backed away slowly, staring thoughtfully for a second, before turning, and walking into his own room.
Back in the other room Barney lay back on the bed, his head spinning, his mind racing, the emptiness had now been replaced by pain, confusion, anger, every emotion just throwing itself around inside him yet externally he sobbed, silently, tears dripping down his face, tricking out from his mind, which was a battle zone of pain, she was perfect, beautiful, she was the trouble he wanted, the trouble that didn't seem so troubling. He closed his eyes and tried to dream of a better place, a place where she was with him, he pictured their kiss, the times they'd been happy together, everything good between them, he pictured it, tried to shut out what had happened, and after a few minutes he could feel his body falling, heavy, falling into darkness, was he falling for Robin? He didn't care, he just fell, until he slept, until it was over.
The next morning Barney awoke to light streeming through the window, he'd almost forgotten about the night before, everything seemed so calm and peaceful now, somehow, better. He stretched but his arm nudged against something. He looked across the bed and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw Robin lying there next to him. He had to sit breathing heavily for a couple of minutes, but as he did he watched her, at first it was calming, seeing her sleeping, knowing that she'd been there with him, knowing she must have come back. Nothing could have happened, of course, he was asleep the whole time, but she'd been there. He sighed, and smiled down at her beauty, but then it came flooding back, the pain, the rejection, he didn't want to cause anymore trouble, he didn't know if he could cope. His stomach suddenly felt like a never ending put again. Slowly, he got to his feet, put on his clothes, and did exactly what he did most mornings, but as he was putting on the last bit, his suit's blazer, he turned to her, looked down at her, and muttered the worst Thank you Robin, and softly blew a kiss towards her, then, he turned and left. The door clicked quietly behind him, and at that point Robin sturred, she yawned, stretched, and sat up, whincing at the sunlight, she caught a glimpse of something on her bedside table, a note - she grabbed it, and opened it up, and as she read the contents she began to grin like a little school girl, lying back and giggling to herself, clutching it to her chest, then she lifted it up again to read it one more time - "Love you 3 x "