Uh-Oh, I'm gonna be on vacation for the next two weeks! Gasp! More explained on the bottom.

Oh, and B-T-Dub, some person named Clammie said "…shouldn't it be "every time she loves him", since he's always in love with her?" And the answer is, yes. Yes it should. But I feel like it makes more sense to me if it's everyone time he loves her because he's the one always being sent back. PLUS, yah gave me a great idea for the story where it could be questioned if she loves him back, because if you think about it, he'll practically be forcing his love onto her. (Gasp!)

First Times, Part One.

"I'm sure you've heard these words before
And I know it's hard for you to trust them once more
You're afraid it all might end"

Barney groans into his pillow and reaches over his bed to turn off the radio. That was probably the hundredth-billionth time he's heard this song. At this point, he'd rather just be rick roll'd to death.

As he lies in his bed his mind wanders off onto a question: when was the first time he heard this song? Obviously, it played on September 1st, 2001, but it might have also played before that. Now that he thinks about it, on his first September 1st, 2001, he vaguely remembers what he did on that morning. It seemed so insignificant to him at the time, so that might be why he can't remember it. He wonders if he let the song play on or if he had just turned it off immediately like he does now.

After lying around and trying to remember, he realizes that his throat is dry. But he doesn't want any water; because two years from now he'll be taking Robin to Liberty Island where the ferry they are on crashes into anther ferry aaaaaaaaand he drowns to death. So, no, he doesn't want any water… not for at least a couple more days.

Maybe he should just lie there all day. He remembers doing that once, so he knows what's going to happen. But, he has to make sure to be on a certain street to meet a certain someone at a certain time. He's never taken the chance to miss that moment. Or maybe he should try missing that moment and see what happens? It'd be his first time, and first times are what he's finding to be a rarity in his loopy life. So he just lies there and tries to remember other first times.

Like the first time he froze time.

He was six. They were in the kitchen. His mom was yelling at some man. He doesn't exactly remember why, but he remembers the angry faces and the plates flying across the room, smashing into walls.

He doesn't remember what he thought to make everything stop. Was it an angry thought of STOP or was it SHUT UP? Stopping time for him now was like raising his eyebrows. When he wants everything to stop, it just stops.

He does remember the amazement of seeing a plate in midair and the grown-up's angry faces with floating spit coming off their mouths. He remembers that there was a plate floating next to a wall, it was half shattered, and he had pulled out one of the floating shards. When he let go of it, it fell to the ground with normal gravity, but everything else was still frozen. Stopping time for him now isn't all that amusing anymore. Sometimes it's cool when he stops time while walking past a sprinkler and brushes his hands against the individual floating water droplets. But now he's just too used to it.

When time finally came back, he remembers that all he could do was stare at the shard that he had dropped. He didn't come back into reality until James came in and dragged him out of the room.

And then there was the first time he read minds.

He was 10. They were at school, taking an important test. And all of a sudden he hears a voice. It was Tracey's. The girl who sat in front of him. She was one of the smartest kids in class. He remembers thinking, "why is she saying the answers out loud?" But he writes down her thoughts and fills out the answers according to what she says. When they got their tests back, he remembers the teacher accusing him of cheating. They had to bring his mom in and she says, "My son would never cheat!" But he can hear her thoughts and they totally disagree with what she says.

He hates reading minds now. He can barely control it. He hears everyone's thoughts raiding into his head all the time. He measured his radius and learned that he can hear everyone up to a mile away from him. So he decided to live in New York, where it's loud all the time anyways. But thankfully he can stop time, because when everyone is frozen, no one can think a thing. Except for him.

The combination of mind reading and time stopping left him a cold, calculating shell of a human. Everything just fell into place for him. He rarely batted an eye… that is until…

"Oof!"

Barney rapidly blinked his eyes as he stumbled backwards. Did he just walk straight into someone? That wasn't possible… He should have been able to hear that person's thoughts and avoid them… well, whatever, what happens, happens. He shakes his head and moves to help out the girl he had bumped into. She was fairly pretty…. Light brown hair, thin build, hazy green eyes.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking…" He apologized as he helped her up and picked up her bag for her.

"No, no… it was my fault too, I wasn't looking either…" She kept her head down, probably in embarrassment, as she accepted her bag back from him.

He smiled his usual smile for girls, but then stopped halfway as a realization dawned over him. Was it just him, or did things seem quieter…? Some thing was wrong. Usually when he bumps into someone, he hears the thoughts of "watch where you're going jerk!" , but this time… this time he didn't hear ANYTHING.

"Um…" His mind came back to reality when he realized that this must have been really awkward for her. They were kinda just standing there…

"Uh… yeah, be careful…" He tried. She awkwardly nodded her head. She stepped to her right and at the same time Barney stepped to his left, causing them to be in front of each other again.

"Oh sorry…" She smiled, as they tried to side step each other again, but ended up in front of each other again.

"Er…" He laughed.

Pause. He figured it'd be easier and less awkward for her if he just moved out of the way while the world was on pause.

But then… things didn't pause. And he wore a confuse face.

She caught his expression and felt even more embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, I must be wasting your time…" She quickly sputtered out as she side stepped him again.

Pause…?

She passed by him, shoulders brushing against his.

Pause!

How come the pause won't work…?

He looked over his shoulder to see the girl pick up her walking pace.

PAUSE!

Ookay, panic time? He'd be SO screwed if he couldn't stop time anymore. He could feel a sick feeling building up in his stomach…

Pause, pause, pause, pause, PAUSE!

And then everything froze.

He gave a huge sigh in relief.

And then he looked for her.

She was a good 10 feet away from him.

He took one step towards her.

And then everything played.

What the hell? He instantly thought. Usually, things stay on pause until he wants it to play. This has never happened before…

She took a step forward.

And everything paused. He raises an eyebrow.

And takes a step forward.

Everything played.

She took another step forward.

And the world was on pause again.

He pauses himself for a second and thinks about what the heck is going on… did this girl make the world immune to his powers…? Or was the universe just screwing with him?

Unpause…

The world is back on play and he winces as all the loud noises and all the thoughts rush into him. He experiments and takes a step towards her to make their distance 10 feet again.

And everything was quieter.

He couldn't hear any thoughts but his own.

And he grins from ear to ear.

And he runs after her.

To her, it probably feels like it's only been a few seconds, but to him, it's been a few minutes.

"Uh, miss," He taps her shoulder and she turns around with a shy smile. He's not gonna lie, this takes him by surprise. "I know this sounds cheesy, but… are you willing to waste more of my time?"

She smiles at him with a look of disbelief.

"Yeah… that was kinda dorky, wasn't it?" He laughs nervously. This is the first time he's tried to pick up a girl without reading her mind. And frankly, it felt good, and new. "I, uh, I understand if you don't want to, but would you like to go on a date with me sometime?"

Oh geez, he automatically thinks as she takes a sharp inhale of breath and starts her sentence off with, "I'd love to but, um…"

But, there's a pause, and he raises his eyebrow at her. She puts on a face that looks like she is re-phrasing what she was about to say, and then she smiles at him. "I don't usually do this, but you are kind of cute." She rolls her eyes as he wiggles his eyebrows at her. "But the thing is, I'm just visiting here from Canada, and I'm just going to be in town until the 14th."

"Oh." He puts on his "oh" face and they awkwardly stare at each other for a few seconds. "So, you wanna go on date?"

She laughs, but says yes.

Her name is Robin.

And he's going on a date with her at 6:50.

Life couldn't possibly be any better for him. So he's a bit disappointed when he comes into work and has to go into a meeting with his game face on, because there is a meeting with some architect firm over competition on who gets to design some…building. Really now? Sometimes he wonders what the heck his company does. And he also reasons on why the heck his company decided to make the meeting on a Saturday. But they pay him, so he does what they say. And luckily, it's an easy task. All he has to do is stare down their intern, some kid named Ted Mosby. Honestly, it was actually pretty fun to watch the guy squirm and fidget, just because he's being stared at. When Barney grins about this, Ted puts on a VERY scared and worried look, and Barney nearly brakes out laughing. Not just because of his expression, but because of the 10 "I'm gonna die" scenarios that run through Ted's mind. One involved getting stabbed to death with a pen, so Barney picks up his pen, and Ted nearly wets his pants.

"So, all you do is stare this guy down all day?" Robin laughs.

"Yup." Barney says as he gives Robin a long stare.

"Oh god, don't." She laughs and reaches her hand out to cover his eyes.

After they got their giggles out, he decides to bring up a topic he's been wondering about. "So… are you just vacationing here?"

"Kind of- I'm thinking about moving into the U.S." Robin looks down and Barney tilts his head to the side in question.

Since he's been reading minds all his life, he doesn't know how to read faces that well. But, he tries to read Robin's face by matching a thought with her expression. "Problems… at home?" He slowly asks.

"You can say that…" Score! "It's hard to explain…" Ugh…

"Then you don't have to explain. The reason why you're in the U.S. now is because you didn't want to be around that problem, right? So, you don't have to explain until you're ready." He smiles. Since he's can read minds, he's not very good at talking to other people- but this he can do.

She "Pffts" at him and shakes her head.

"Heeeey…" He raises his hand. "Cheer up high five."

"What..?" She raises her eyebrow at him.

"When I'm sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story." He grins, his arm still raised.

"You're ridiculous." She gives him the high five anyways.

"Whaaa? You don't like high fives? 'Cause if you don't, I'ma keep doing 'em."

She gives him a look of disbelief and he gives her one of his trademark raised eyebrows nods.

"If you want, I can show you around New York," He smiles.

"Really? That'd be great!"

"Tourist Five!"

"…I'm not high fiving that…"

Empire State building at night:

"Hey, I dare you to go up to that girl and say, 'he's not coming'." Robin grins as she points at a lonely looking girl.

"Robin! That's horrible!" He gives her a look of disbelief, then shrugs, and walks up to the girl Robin had pointed at. Robin nearly doubles over laughing as the girl starts crying and tackles Barney with a hug. She laughs even harder when Barney looks over to her and mouths "help meeeeeee".

At an art museum:

"Hey, Robin, guess what?" Barney snickers as he approaches Robin from behind.

"Hmm-? What the frick!" Robin jumps back in surprise as she sets her sight on Barney's weirdly positioned eyes.

"'excuse me ma'm, but would you mind describing this painting to me?" He laughs.

She rolls her eyes and slaps Barney on the shoulder. "What are you? Some sort of guy going blind?"

"Yup." He grins as he sets his eyes back to normal.

"Doesn't that hurt…?"

"…Yup…"

At Central Park:

"… Catch anything yet?" Barney questioningly tilts his head to the side to Robin.

"Nope. Nothin- oh my god! I think I got a tug!" Robin jumps up from her spot next to the pond and pulls.

"Let me help!" Barney drops his stick and wraps his arms around Robin to help her pull.

"…Mommy, what are they doing…?" A six-year-old asks as he passes by a crazy couple pretending to be fishing with tree sticks.

At the Empire State Building:

Silence hung between the two as they stared at the New York skyline from the observation deck. Barney sighs as a comfortable wind flows by.

"Oh… you're totally right! They ARE having sex in that office building!"

Over the course of the week, Barney showed Robin around New York and the two practically ended up being inseparable. Of course Robin had to leave on the 14th, but the two chose to ignore that deadline so that they could just enjoy each other.

Sunday, September 9th:

"So…" Robin starts as she opens the door to her hotel room.

"Are you inviting me in for sex…?" Barney interrupts with a plain face.

"No!" Robin smacks his arm and smiles. Yup, they hadn't had sex yet. It's only been a week and they hadn't wanted any drama to come in between them… or to have any huge regrets. "I'm thinking about applying for a work visa…"

Barney's eyebrows practically fly through the ceiling in surprise and his jaw drops- in a good way. "Really?"

"Yes, really! But the thing is, it takes a couple of months for it to actually be approved, and I need to go find an employer too." She sighs.

"Geez, way to put some bad news on good news." He crosses his arms and leans against the door frame. "…So…"

"No Barney! We aren't having sex!" She laughs.

"I wasn't gonna ask that…" He chuckles and looks down. "I was gonna ask if… if you and I are going to continue… this." He points his finger back and forth between the two of them.

"Well, why else would I be thinking about getting a work visa?" She smiles.

He tilts his head at her with a grin. "Alright then Scherbatsky. Y'know, I'm also thinking about going on a vacation to Canada sometime next month." He winks.

"Oh? And what are you going to Canada for, eh?"

"To, ya know… try and spread around my overflowing awesomeness to make it an actual country!" She smacks him in the arm again and he laughs it off.

The two continued to chat until someone in a nearby room "politely" asked them to… how did they nicely put it…? To shut up. So, Barney gives her a good night kiss on the cheek and is about to walk off when he suddenly remembers something and takes a step back.

"Oh, Robin, you're still going to that business break feast meeting with me, right?"

He's asking her now, because when he had asked earlier, she said she'd think about it because of how weird it'd be to be at a business meeting and all he'd said was that all she had to do was "suit up!"He doesn't know if it's a good or bad thing that he had asked her to go to a business meeting with him, considering that she makes it so that he can't read minds. And he needs to be able to read minds for business.

"Yeah, I've decided to go." She smiles. "This Tuesday, September 11th, right?"

"Yup! I'll see ya tomorrow then." He winks and waves like he always does.

She smiles and close the door like she always does.

Like nothing was going to ever go wrong.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Whaaaaat? I gave Barney the power to read minds and freeze time…?

Sorry, I HAD to. I mean, otherwise, it really wouldn't make sense as to why he loves Robin, and I wanted there to be a VERY strong point. Plus, it'll add to the other stuff I had in mind later into the story! Insert smiley face here.

Also, also! I didn't intend to add 9/11 into the story... it's just that Barney meets Ted in 2001, so I decided to just put it in. I'd also like to say RIP to all those who fell and I'd like to say "god bless all those who survived and all those who have lost someone," but I'm not a very religious person... so, I hope truth and love to all those who had anything to do with 9/11, especially to the firefighters. Moment of silence?

...

Okay.

So, this was originally going to be the first chapter, but it makes more sense when this is the second chapter that explains everything… right…?

And, like I said, I'm gonna be on vacation for like 2 weeks. Insert sad face here. Well, not sad face for me! I'm going to friggin Disney World! WOOOOOO!

And. Yeah. There are two parts to this chapter. The second part I will upload when I get the chance to use my dad's laptop while on vacation!

I hope this chapter was all right XD (I didn't re-read... cough cough)

I think I'm kinda horrible at voicing the characters. Please, tell me, did I sice this too hard…? Any who, more Ted next chapter, and then we'll see what else happens.