A few weeks after Barney and Robin found their way back together, Marshall came to a crossroads himself at the famous statue of a needle and button at Seventh Avenue and 39th Street. It had been a rollercoaster year for the lawyer, from losing his father and job to finding the position of his dreams and learning that he was going to be a father. Everything was finally starting to look up, and he was feeling typically optimistic that Thursday morning. If only he could just find the gown.
"Marshall, we have to get that gown."
Biting down on his tongue to prevent himself from snapping at his pregnant wife, Marshall pasted a patient smile on his face and nodded obediently. "I know that, Lilypad, I heard you the first twelve times you told me. That is what I am trying to do," he reminded her gently. Her hormones were raging, and he had been the recipient and observer to a number of mood swings in recent days. "We are going to find this gown and you are going to look like an angel, just like in the picture."
As he followed his wife down the street toward yet another boutique, he wanted to kill Robin. If she hadn't had the brilliant idea to give Lily parenting magazines last week to distract her while she drank scotch, she probably wouldn't have gotten it in her head that they needed to have pregnancy pictures. She wasn't even showing yet, but she was already planning for things to come. After seeing the article impressive photo spread of a radiant pregnant model looking unrealistically effervescent in a garden, she had decided that she needed to replicate the entire scene, right down to the dress. Thus, he had spent his entire Saturday looking for a flowing white gown that she wouldn't wear for another seven months.
"C'mon, you baboon," Lily barked before stopping. She watched happily as a mother passed by pushing an old fashioned carriage. "Aw, Marshmallow, that will be us soon."
She was all over the place, but he knew it was his job to lead her in the right direction. "Yes, it will," he agreed with a quick kiss to the top of her red hair. "Look, there's the store over there."
Marshall was glad when Lily took off on her mission, leaving him to follow slowly in her wake. He was less than enthusiastic about visiting another shop while she tried on different dresses and lamented the fact that none of them were her dream dress. This was worse than he imagined wedding dress shopping to be, only because he really had no clue. He only knew that he was going to be a father, and his primary job until the baby came was to keep its mother happy.
Lily was already deep in the racks when he made it inside the air-conditioned store. Taking a seat in the impossibly uncomfortable wooden statues that passed as chairs in the trendy boutique, Marshall pulled out his phone and busied himself with sports news, texting Ted and playing games. Fifteen minutes later, Lily announced that she was feeling queasy and dismissed her husband to retrieve her morning tea. Marshall pulled up a neighborhood map on his phone and quickly made his exit before she decided she needed his opinion after all.
Five long hours later, Lily still didn't have her dress and Marshall still didn't have his peace. Her feet were swollen, and she was tired and cranky. In turn, this made Marshall feel antsy and impatient, neither of which was helped with the heat. Lily seemed defeated, and for the first time, Marshall had no idea how he could help. However, instead of fessing up to it, he put her in the backseat of a cab to send her home and promised that he would not return until he had her dress. Lily needed a hero right now, and Marshall was just the man for the job.
Retracing the route he had made that day on the map, he relied on an application to tell him what other stores were nearby. Then, he headed over to a newsstand and looked through twenty magazines until he found the one with the photo spread. Armed with a designer's name and a description of the dress, he set to work calling all of the stores until he finally found a glimmer of hope. It had only taken visiting seven stores and calling sixteen, but he finally had his gown.
He felt a little out of place as he literally skipped down the sidewalk toward the small couture boutique on Seventh. Within fifteen minutes, he had paid for the gown and had it professionally wrapped in a bright pink box complete with white ribbon. Like a valiant soldier returning home from war, he had fought the good fight and come out on top. Standing at the corner in the Garment District, in front of the statue, he raised his hand to hail a cab and then smiled up at the sky. In some strange way, it was the first time he felt like a father.
Years later, Marshall and Lily still had photographs with Lily in that dress on their mantle. Even more importantly, they had that dress professionally sealed so that her daughter could have it someday and perhaps even pass it on to future generations of the Erickson clan. And on the day that daughter, his first born, comes home to tell her father that she is going to have a baby, Marshall takes her to the corner of Seventh Avenue and 39th Street and tells her that this where he first fell in unconditional paternal love with her.