Ok, realized what I'd forgotten to do in the last chapter. This is the wedding that they show at the end, but I'm proposing it happens somewhere in the seventh season, and this is all stemming from the glimpse we'll be given.
Their hangovers pounding in their respective heads, Robin and Lily were sitting up as best they could in the morning after brunch. Nora had a pair of dark shades on the table in front of her, but was otherwise fine, talking animatedly, and loudly, to the girls at the table with them.
"Goddamn perfect… can't even get a hangover… stupid accent…" Robin was muttering under her breath, stabbing the pancake on her plate and tearing at it with the knife. It made her feel somehow better, as she looked up and pretended to smile at some joke Nora was telling. Lily bumped her knee under the table with her own, leaning in to whisper in her ear.
"God she's chipper…" She had a tuna melt beside her plate of bacon, and had finally relented to her non-milkshake fate (the restaurant had guaranteed it impossible). Robin nodded.
"I know… this is every morning at work."
"How can Barney stand it?" And there it was, that shock, like a splash of cold water in her face, like ice trickling down her back. She hoped her face didn't give it away. Then again, with the grimace she'd been fighting all morning a wide-opened blank look might be an improvement.
"I don't know, he's comatose most mornings, unless he's dashing out of some girl's room." She pushed her fork around in the pile of eggs half-heartedly, her appetite suddenly diminished. Lily continued scrutinizing the 5 other women at the table, Nora's mother, two friends from England and 2 others from the WWN. Only 3 of them were in the actual wedding, the two girls from England and Robin herself. One was tiny, built like lily with piles of blonde hair on her head, the other about Nora's size, with dark hair and eyes.
Lily was fiddling with her water glass, and Robin could almost see the words of the sentence burning her lips.
"What?" She said, steeling herself for the worst.
"Nothing." Lily answered.
"Lily…" Robin drew out the last syllable. Lily huffed and blurted out her next sentence.
"It's just, are you really over Barney?" Robin felt the ice along her spine again, and fought to keep her face impassive.
"What? Of course." She said, willing the threatening blush away from her cheeks. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know, call it a Lily thing." Lily said, looking at Nora again, blissfully chatting away to her mother.
"Well you have to get a hold on your Lily things." Robin flicked a piece of non-existent lint off of her pants, just to drag her eyes away from Lily's. "They're running rampant."
"I know." Lily looked at her. "Hey, maybe it's a hormone thing. Maybe I'm pregnant!" Hope flashed in her eyes. Robin rolled her own. "I know I know." She laughed, but the hope was still there.
"It'll happen." Robin said, answering Lily, her eyes suddenly somewhere else. "If its meant to be… it will…"
Zoey hadn't exactly left Ted hollowed out, but then. He wasn't exactly whole either. The break up was horrible, true, but it could've been worse.
The thoughts were racing through his mind as he sat in MacLaren's with Barney and Marshall, joining in the play by play of Barney's surprisingly tame bachelor party the night before.
"Guys, my dad was there." Barney hid his smile of pride. "I couldn't go all out. Believe me, Pandora was all set to open her box, if you know what I'm saying. Up top." He lifted his hand and Marshall high fived it.
"I don't know if I'm supposed to feel dirty or excited." Marshall said, Barney laughed.
"A little of both." The trio laughed again.
"What is up with strippers and these deep, thought out names." Ted interjected with the first thought in his mind, before they heard how quiet he was. "Like Pandora, or Artemis."
"Yeah, like they're boning up on their Greek while they're boning up some Greek. Up top!" He said it again and Marshall obliged again. Barney was in his zone. A night out, a new suit waiting for him to pick up in the morning (His wedding suit, how ironic, a suit made for dividing and conquering handing him up to be quartered and conquered) and a glass of scotch with his bro's.
But still it was there, that little niggling. A tiny pinprick at the back of his mind questioning his motives. Whether or not it was right to do as he was, for fear of closing himself off to what he was never sure if he wanted or not. A quick button job on his suits as opposed to the torn lining that he should have been getting repaired.
Marshall and Ted had moved onto naming strippers, and he chimed right back in.
"Candy." Marshall raised his eyebrows.
"Angel." Ted shot back.
"Chrystal Jumblers."
"Jiggles Galore." Barney jumped in with gusto.
"Ivanna Cumalot." This time Ted's eyebrows leapt skywards.
"Gypsy."
"Cherry Pie."
"Tawny Melons."
"Satine Smoothe."
"Destiny!" Barney laughed out, and then swallowed hard. Yeah… Destiny…
