I wanted to get this story updated before I torture myself with watching Castle from yesterday. At least Bones is finally back! :-)

Enjoy!

Chapter Two

Ted could hear the shocked intakes of breath echoing through the whole church, could see Robin's eyes widen in shock before his gaze went back to Barney who looked at him in utter disbelief. It was the first time since Ted knew Barney that he rendered him speechless. Barney opened and closed his mouth, trying several times to say something but wasn't able to actually speak. Sarah stood beside Barney shooting daggers at Ted and he felt guilty for ruining their wedding day. But he had just realized that Barney didn't make the right choice. He didn't choose the right tie. The tie was all wrong.

The priest finally yanked himself out of his surprised stupor and licking his lips he asked quietly.

"And what would that reason be, son?"

Ted locked eyes with Barney, shrugging his shoulders apologetically, hoping that Barney wouldn't kill him afterwards before he spoke for everyone clearly to hear.

"Because he isn't in love with the bride, he is in love with someone else."

"What are you talking about?" Sarah stepped one step closer to him so that she could hiss it in his ear, her face red with anger.

"I'm sorry, Sarah." Ted stated quietly. "He isn't in love with you. He might love you. No, he definitely loves you! But not the way he should love the woman he is going to marry. His heart belongs to someone else."

Now that he'd interrupted the wedding it was better to open Sarah's eyes and he couldn't stand beside Barney and let him make the biggest mistake of his life.

"And you know that how? With whom is he in love?"

Barney gulped hard and Ted suddenly knew that he'd made the right decision. He could see it in Barney's eyes. Barney knew of whom he was talking and he didn't look surprised. He didn't look angry. He knew whose name Ted would say and he didn't move a finger to stop him from saying it. He wanted him to say it and Ted could swear that he even saw Barney nod in silent approval.

"He is in love with Robin." Ted said quietly, his glance shot to the entrance, locking eyes with Robin. "And she is in love with him."

The last sentence caused an uproar in the church, everyone started to whisper. Judging by the confusion on some faces, some people didn't know who Robin was. Others started to look frantically around to catch a glimpse of the woman who destroyed the wedding, clearly knowing who Robin was.

Robin used the distraction to slip out of the church without anyone noticing or so she thought. But Barney did notice it. He'd followed Ted's gaze and caught the last glimpse of her dress, disappearing out of the door. He couldn't hold it against her. He would leave this mess if he could.

Barney's mother was sitting motionlessly in the first row, watching her son intently. She had known that something was wrong with the wedding but her son being his old evasive self had denied it. She needed to thank Ted later. Her son had definitely been too much of a coward to blow off the wedding or he had really managed to convince himself that he had no feelings for Robin anymore. But he hadn't said anything against Ted's assumption which spoke volumes of his feelings. Clearly Sarah thought so too.

"You!" Sarah turned towards Barney, pointing an accusatory finger at him, her voice thick with hardly contained rage. "Why are you so awfully quiet?"

"I had nothing to do with that!" Barney said, realizing the second she saw the fury in her eyes that this had been definitely the wrong answer. He should have denied Ted's statement. But he couldn't tell her that Ted was wrong, because he wasn't.

"You bastard!" Sarah shouted as she raised her hand and slapped him in the face. "You lying, cheating bastard!"

"I didn't cheat!" Barney rubbed his hand over his cheek, feeling the burn of her fingers on his skin. For such a small person she had slapped him pretty hard.

"Maybe not physically, but it still counts as cheating." When Barney stayed silent without defending himself, Sarah suddenly got quiet, her voice full of hurt and betrayal. "So it's true? You are in love with Robin?" Sarah looked at him inquiringly and Barney averted his gaze to the ground. He wasn't even able to admit it to himself. How should he be able to say it out loud in front of all those people? "I think I should be thanking Ted for stopping this wedding, before I ended up being married to a man who doesn't love me."

"I do love you, Sarah!" Barney felt the need to interject.

"But you aren't in love with me!" Sarah replied softly, tears welling up in her eyes.

Barney looked in her watery eyes and shook his head slowly. After all of this the only thing he could do was telling her the truth, even if it was only by shaking his head.

"You are a jerk! I hope I'll never see you again." Sarah said, before she turned around and stormed out of the church, leaving him behind to deal with the mess.

~B&R~

"Are you okay, Barney?" Lily slipped quietly in the room, her worried eyes landing on her friend.

"What do you think?" Barney replied harshly, rubbing his temples in the hope to ease the pounding in his head.

Sarah's parents had yelled at him for an hour, her mother looking as if she would slap him any second, only hold back by Sarah's father, so he had looked like he wanted to slap him too. Not that Barney was in the slightest shocked. He deserved it. He should have never proposed to Sarah, knowing deep down that he would never stop loving Robin.

"I'm sorry, Barney." Lily said softly.

"Sorry for what? Ruining my wedding?" Barney snapped back. He was exhausted, though he should be grateful that Lily had taken charge of throwing the wedding guests out of the church.

"Technically, I ruined your wedding." Ted said when he entered the room, followed by Marshall. "Lily was only looking frantically back and forth between you and Robin."

"And because Lily looked weird, you've stopped the wedding?" Barney asked him surprised.

"Not exactly." Ted replied. "I've looked for Robin before the wedding and found her in here. She didn't look good. She looked as if she had been crying but she didn't want to tell me why and of course she denied it when I've asked her if it's because of you."

"Maybe it wasn't because of me." Barney murmured quietly. "Did you ever consider that possibility?"

"Yes!" Ted told him. "But that was before I've seen that Lily had the same concerns."

"Why didn't you tell me before the wedding?" Barney asked confused. "When I ask you if I was making the right choice?"

"I know it sounds insane, but you've asked me before I've seen Robin."

"If I understand you correctly, she didn't say anything. She didn't say that she is in love with me. You'd just interpreted her actions."

"Yes, but Barney ..." Lily inhaled deeply. "How long do we know Robin?"

"Almost ten years." Barney said softly.

"Ten years, Barney! She might not have said anything but seeing you actually standing at the altar with the intent to marry another woman threw her."

"Maybe." Barney said reluctantly, not willing to fully accept that his friends might be right, refusing to let hope rise up his chest.

"Where is Robin anyway?" Marshall asked.

"She fled the scene." Barney told them. "I wished I could have fled too."

"Barney?" Ted asked cautiously, waiting until Barney looked him in the eyes. "Did I make the wrong decision?"

Barney stayed quiet for a minute, staring over Ted's shoulder, his eyes fixed on the opposite wall. Taking a deep breath, he looked at his friend again, a small but sad smile lifting one corner of his mouth.

"No. You were right. I'm not in love with her."

"So, are you in love with Robin?"

Another silence stretched between the friends. Ted, Marshall and Lily looked intently at him, waiting patiently for his answer. Barney's gaze was glued to the floor, arguments racing through his mind but suddenly Robin's face appeared in his thoughts, lit up by a smile and his heart skipped a beat. He couldn't deny it any longer.

"Yes." He said barely above a whisper. "God help me, yes!"

Yanking angrily at his tie, he threw it on the floor the moment he'd untied the knot, rubbing his fingers through his hair before he collapsed into a chair, burying his face into his hands.

"Barney!" Lily stepped forward, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"But I shouldn't love her, Lily." Barney mumbled into his hands. "I don't wanna love her. It hurts too much to love her."

"Obviously your heart still wants her." Lily reasoned and Barney looked up, his eyes full of despair.

"But she broke it, Lily."

"I thought you'd both decided breaking up would be the best decision." Lily frowned, surprised by the vehemence in his voice.

"He is not talking about the break up, Lily." Ted spoke quietly.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked him confused.

"You remember Barney and Robin sharing a cab after Barney got rid of the ducky tie by giving Marshall more slaps?"

"Sure. That was about two years ago. Why?"

"We spent the night together." Barney replied softly, his voice hoarse with emotions. "And the next day we'd decided to give us another chance. Well, apparently I'd been the only one who wanted this second chance."

"What happened?" Lily asked, shocked that they had been able to hide it from her.

"She chose Kevin." Ted replied, when Barney didn't make a move to respond.

"And you just gave up?" Lily asked Barney incredulously.

"What was I supposed to do, Lily?" Barney asked harshly, surprised by Lily's outburst.

"You two are the biggest idiots I've ever seen in my whole life!" Lily exploded and Barney's eyes widened in astonishment when she stabbed her finger into his chest.

"What?" Barney asked completely baffled, rubbing over the spot where Lily had just pinched him.

"We've always thought that you two are perfect for each other. You are our best friends. We want you to be happy. Both of you. But it looked like you couldn't make each other happy." Lily shook her head slightly. "She'd told me that there is nothing between you two anymore, even after I've told her that this kind of chemistry doesn't just go away."

"When did you tell her that?" Barney asked surprised.

"Do you remember Punchy's wedding?"

"Yeah, vaguely."

"I've told her to tell you the truth." Lily said. "If she doesn't want you, she should tell you."

"We've danced together but she didn't say anything, though I think she wanted to tell me something but then ..."

"Nora called." Lily finished his sentence.

"Ahh, that's why she said 'timing is a bitch'!" Ted interjected, sounding as if he'd just solved a puzzle. "I knew something was bothering her and that it didn't come completely out of the blue."

"Huh?" Barney looked completely lost now. He didn't knew how much had been going on at this wedding behind his back.

"She found me on the balcony that night." Ted explained. "I've told her that I've stopped believing in destiny. But she'd told me that I should start believing again. She said if you have chemistry you only need one other thing and that's timing but that timing is a bitch."

"Shit! And I've asked her to help me out with Nora." Barney groaned loudly, burying his face in his hands again.

"What exactly did you do, Barney?"

Barney flinched when he remembered what he'd asked of Robin. In light of what Lily and Ted had just told him, the sadness he'd thought he could detect in Robin's voice that day made a lot more sense. But he had been so happy that Nora had given him a second chance, so he'd dismissed the feeling that something was wrong with Robin without questioning it further.

"Barney?" Lily pressed further.

"I've asked her to tell me what I should say to Nora. That I wanted to know how it feels to not screw things up for a change."

"Do you remember what she'd told you?"

Barney pressed his eyes shut, letting out a huge sigh. "Every single word. Unfortunately. Damn, she was talking about us and I've been completely clueless."

"What did she say?" Lily asked curiously and Barney recited Robin's exact words with still closed eyes.

"The reason I've called is to tell you how I feel about you. I know we didn't work out the first time and I know it doesn't make any sense. But I can't shake the feeling that we belong together. Is there any part of you that wants to try again?"

Barney slowly opened his eyes and Lily felt sorry for him when she saw how crushed he was that he hadn't understood that Robin was talking about them.

"Don't you think it's time to stop running away from each other?" Lily asked softly. "You apparently can't live without each other."

"Maybe!" Barney replied thoughtfully. "But ..."

Suddenly the ringing of Lily's cell interrupted him and Lily threw him an apologetic glance.

"It's from Robin." Lily furrowed her brows in confusion as she opened Robin's text, suppressing a curse when she read it.

"What?" Barney asked urgently when he saw the odd expression on Lily's face. "Everything okay with her?"

"She just got on a plane to Vancouver."