Well, I had really good feedback after the first chapter, so I'm hoping this means it wasn't too bad! Anyway, I couldn't go to bed until I finished it and it's not almost 3 in the morning, so please excuse any glaring grammar errors. I proofread as best as I could, I promise! Thank you guys so much for all the reviews and favorites and follows, even just for reading it! I really appreciate it! Okay, hope you like it…

So that was it. Ted had called Marshall. Ted wanted to see Marshall. And the Ted, who did that, would never even reply to Barney's emails. Although, Barney hadn't tried to contact Ted in awhile. In fact, Barney had basically forgotten about Ted's existence at this point. Before he married Robin, he tried to talk to Ted. He called him, emailed him, even showed up at his house once, but it was all ignored. That was when Barney finally gave up on Ted. He stopped thinking about him and calling him and declaring him as his bro. But now that he knew Ted tried to contact Marshall…it sucked. Barney was never one to wallow or feel sorry for himself, but he had done a lot for Ted. And Ted always treated him like the annoying friend he tolerated. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the front door open. He jumped when he felt a hand on his leg and turned to find Robin staring at him concerned.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked rubbing his leg gently. "I called your name, like, five times." He managed a smile and nodded

"I'm fine."

"Barney…"

"We can talk about it later." He promised giving her a quick kiss. "Now, how was your first day back at work?" He asked as they rearranged themselves and he pulled her feet into his lap.

"It was long. And of course it only took 10 minutes for Sandy to make a pass at me." Robin rolled her eyes, but Barney's eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

"I don't like him." He muttered. Robin laughed, but humored her husband raking her fingers gently through his fair.

"I know you don't." Robin let out an exhausted sigh, letting her head rest against the back of the couch. "Is Aubrey sleeping?" She asked letting her eyes fall closed.

"Mhm, do you wanna join her?" He asked unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

"Little bit," she murmured sinking deeper into the couch. "We can talk when I wake up," she promised slowly drifting to sleep. He smiled shimmying out from under her feet and heading to the kitchen to make dinner. He almost hoped she wouldn't remember that they needed to talk when she woke up. He didn't really want to talk about it. He just needed to think about something else, anything other than Ted. He sighed glancing through the fridge and realizing that the only thing in there was formula and leftover Chinese food. They really needed to buy some legitimate food. He closed the fridge and was about to turn on the television when he heard the very distinct sound of a baby crying. He smiled slightly to himself and headed toward his daughter's room.

It still amazed him sometimes to think about the fact that not only had he gotten married, but he had a kid, with Robin no less. Honestly, that last part didn't surprise him. He knew from the first time he kissed her that if he ever did settle down, it'd be with her. He leaned over gently scooping up Aubrey, who was the perfect mix of her parents with his bright blue eyes and Robin's dark brown hair. Barney propped her up against a pillow dangling toys in front of her face, much to her amusement. He wasn't sure how long he sat there playing with her, it occurred to him that this was the most content he'd ever been in his life. There were many times during his single days where he thought maybe he would be satisfied with that being his life, but now that he had this. Well, he knew he would've never been okay with anything else.

Barney glanced at the clock noticing it was time for Aubrey to eat and he walked out into the kitchen with her, quietly retrieving a bottle from the fridge and putting it in the microwave. He held his daughter close and sang softly to her as he fed her. He glanced over to the couch where he assumed Robin was still asleep only to find her watching him with a smile on her face.

"Hey daddy," she said getting up and walking toward him while he raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Stop!" Robin instructed pointing a finger at him. "You made that innocent word dirty! And now that's what our daughter is going to be calling you." Barney shrugged in response giving her his trademark smirk while she just shook her head at him.

A couple hours later, after Aubrey had gone to sleep, Barney and Robin were lounging in their bed. "Time to spill, Barnman." Robin prompted sitting up to face him. He smiled at the nickname, but other than that remained still. He didn't want to talk about it. Of course, they said they wouldn't keep secrets from each other and he didn't want to keep this from her, but he also didn't like to be vulnerable. Even though Robin was the one person he could be vulnerable with, he still hated it. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." She offered with a half smile, but he sighed and sat up. He had to tell her about it, otherwise it would just eat him up.

"Ted called Marshall." Barney knew that pretty much said it all. She could piece the rest together herself.

"Ted?" She said shock evident all over her face, which he totally understood considering he was beyond shocked too.

"I know. Talk about a blast from the past, right?" He let out a harsh laugh and Robin's face softened as she moved across the bed toward him.

"How you doin'?" She asked running a hand soothingly over his back.

"I don't know how to not be mad at him. I don't care if it's irrational or childish."

"It's not. It's totally understandable for you to feel the way you do. No one's begrudging you that, okay?" He nodded, but didn't say anything else. "What if Ted came back into our lives? Could you deal with that?"

"I tried so hard and all of my attempts were completely ignored. And you know he's not going to be okay with us."

"Well he has to be. Ted's married with kids, he can't at all be mad that we're together."

"Robin, it's Ted. Of course he's going to be mad. He thinks he has some kind of claim over you because he saw you first." Barney snapped and Robin huffed crossing her arms.

"Well, he doesn't. Besides, I didn't even want to go home with him that night."

"What?"

"I had my eye on his cute blonde friend," she smirked. "But then Ted came over to ask me out and I couldn't say no…"

"So, you're telling me that you were looking at me that night?" Robin nodded and a wide smile broke out on Barney's face.

"He was so convinced that your eyes met across the crowded room, but you were looking at me."

"I was," she confirmed.

"Hah, I knew I had you from the start."

"Oh please, don't act like you weren't interested in me, I saw you watching me that night."

"Okay," he conceded. "I might have wanted to hit on you…a lot."

"I rest my case." Barney rolled his eyes lovingly pulling her in for a kiss and suddenly he didn't care so much about Ted's reappearance.

"Ted called today." Marshall blurted out as soon as Lily walked in the door.

"What?" She questioned with wide eyes. "You can't just spring that on me as soon as I walk in the door!" She scolded. "Boys, go play in your room. Daddy and I need to talk."

"He said he wants to come to the city to visit. At first, he was going to stop by the apartment because he figured at least Robin still lived there."

"No!" Lily gasped. "Did you tell him?"

"Yeah, uh, by the way your two most commitment phobic friends including the one you thought was your soulmate at one point are now married and have a kid."

"He's going to be totally blindsided."

"Maybe he doesn't have to see Barney and Robin…"

"He's going to want to at least see Robin, he probably still thinks of her as the one that got away." Lily snorted and Marshall mumbled in agreement with her. "So, when is Ted coming?"

"This weekend," Marshall sighed.

"Okay, we have to break the news to him about Barney and Robin. He's going to be devastated. The whole reason they broke up was because she didn't want any of the stuff she now has…"

"Do we really have to tell him?" Marshall didn't want to tell Ted anything that could potentially cause any sort of hard feelings if Ted wasn't even going to stick around long enough for it to matter.

"Wait! I have an idea!" Lily said, eyes lit up with her thoughts. "Okay, we know he's going to want to see Robin. So we'll trick Robin into coming over here and tell her the plan once she's already here and has no time but to just go along with it. Ted will stay for a little and leave for another couple years. No harm done."

"I don't know…" Marshall trailed off unsure of his wife's scheme. "I don't think Robin will go for it."

"Of course she won't. That's why we don't tell her until she's here and Ted's outside that door. She's not going to want to deal with Ted if he finds out about her and Barney."

"Lilypad, you are brilliant." He smiled leaning over and giving her a quick kiss.

"I know. Now, time to set this plan into motion."

"Hey, so I'm going up to Marshall and Lily's on Saturday for lunch." Ted casually mentioned to Stella as they were lying in bed ready to go to sleep.

"Aw, that's good. You haven't seen them in awhile." Stella said with absentminded smile going back to whatever she was reading on her phone.

"Yeah, did you want to come? I think I'm going to bring Aidan along. Y'know Marshall and Lily haven't seen him since he was a newborn and even then it was only a picture." He rambled on.

"Huh? Yeah, sure." She mumbled not even looking at him.

"What are you reading that is so interesting?" He asked with a laugh reaching for the phone, but Stella quickly shut the phone's screen off and slapped it on the bedside table before Ted could grab it.

"Nothing," she replied with a nervous smile. Ted studied her for a second before shrugging and sinking back under the covers.

"So, do you or don't you want to come with?" Stella bit her lip for a long while before finally nodding.

"Yeah, I haven't seen those guys in forever and I liked them. Is anyone else going to be there?"

"Uh, I don't think so. Well, it's always a possibility that Barney or Robin will stop by. I really don't know. I'm assuming they're still as unpredictable as they were last time I saw them." He laughed slightly.

"People like that never really change, I guess." Ted nodded.

"No, but it's good. It'll be nice to hear some of their crazy single adventures and remember how much I don't miss that." He commented pulling Stella into his arms.

"Yeah," she sighed into his chest, her breathing slowly evening out. Ted smiled down at her before drifting off to sleep himself.