Barney woke up to his alarm buzzing annoyingly at him. He hit the off button a little more forcefully than he should have. He sat up and rubbed his eyes with his hand. He took a deep breath and walked to the bathroom, throwing the water on in his giant shower. He undressed and stepped into the shower, not minding the scalding water on his back. He thought back to last night at the bar and frowned.

"And that is why you never ask a girl if she has a sister," Barney said solemnly before cracking into a smile. Ted and Marshall both laughed while Lily frowned, disapprovingly.

"Barney I don't think I'll ever get you," Lily said.

"It's okay, Lily. I don't think anybody really gets Barney," Robin said walking over to the booth and sitting at the end of the table.

"Ah, Robin! Glad you could join us," Ted said jokingly.

"Hey! Its not my fault that the cab driver I snagged tonight was new to the city," she rolled her eyes. Barney laughed and felt a flutter go through his stomach. He loved this side of Robin. Barney let the conversation go on, carefully letting his eyes wander around the room when in reality, all his attention was on Robin.

She looks great tonight. That shirt is great on her. Wait…

Barney's eyebrows furrowed as he connected the dots. Robin looked even more beautiful than normal which meant….

"So when is this guy gunna show up?" Lily asked confirming Barney's worst fears. The fluttering in his stomach turned into a lead brick. He started fidgeting with his glass of scotch, failing in his attempt to act natural.

"Well he should be here in about ten minutes," Robin said nervously. That piqued Barney's interest. What did Robin have to be worried about? The only things that come to his mind did nothing to sooth his frayed nerves. The two reasons Barney could come up with were that this guy was REALLY hot (Robin is usually the one to make dates nervous) or there's something about this guy that the group wouldn't like. Barney, a man whose beliefs usually did not involve a God or religious figure, prayed to God that Robin's date was the latter. If he was some doe-eyed pretty-boy, Barney wouldn't stand a chance. But on the off chance that he had some weird dark past, Barney would be able to work his magic and twist the situation to his liking.

"What's wrong, Barney?" Robin asked, pulling Barney from his train of thought.

"Oh… uh… My scotch. I think Wendy mixed up my order," he said taking another sip from the glass. "Yepp. This definitely isn't neat… I ordered it neat!" Several people stared at their table as Barney yelled at Wendy.

"Jeez, man it's just a drink…" Marshall mock whispered to Barney.

"Just a drink. Just a drink? This-," he said holding the glass up, admiring it, "this is more than just a drink. This simple glass of tainted scotch represents, nay, embodies the essence of the average American bimbo. At first glance, it looks like any other glass of scotch but if we look closer we start to see its true nature. The scratched, well-worn glass stands for the bimbo's daddy issues. See, the cracks in the glass, and therefore the girl, may make enjoying it a little difficult, but they also make vulnerabilities easier to expose."

"Umm, Barney? How does a glass of scotch have vulnerabilities?" Ted asked. Barney stared at Ted for a moment.

"Ted. Please. As I was saying. The slightly off color, that I should have noticed earlier, represents not only the likely mental instabilities but also the bad spray-on tans that they usually have. And finally, the glass itself represents the tough exterior that bimbos have up to protect themselves from stalkers. Trust me, they have stalkers…" Lily was about to say something when Barney put his hand up. "Please save all questions and or comments until after the presentation. That glass also brings up another aspect: fragility," Barney said knocking back the last of the scotch. "Bimbos are as easy to break as an old scotch glass." Barney raised the glass above his head, prepared to fling it to the ground, and laughed as everyone's face changed from feigned interest to surprised horror. Barney laughed and gently set the glass back down on the table. "I would do it but I don't want to have to break a hundred dollar bill to replace the thing," he said honestly.

"Barney, can I talk to you?" Robin said pulling him from the booth. He couldn't help but to let his eyes linger on the hand that was pulling him away from the group and out into the ally behind the bar. His mind wandered back to the nights that hand was tugging gently on his tie.

Dude, you're so drunk… he thought as Robin spun to face him. Her perfume washed over him as her hair fanned out around her. Even in the dirty, dark ally, her beauty shone.

"Barney, I need to ask you something," she said quietly. Something in her voice made his stomach drop. The goofy smile that was plastered to his face dropped to the ground and shattered.

"Yeah?" he asked hesitantly. Robin looked down at her hands and sighed.

"I want you to go, Barney," she said.

"Go where?" he asked.

"Anywhere but here. This guy that I'm meeting, he's great and I want him to feel welcome. Ted, Marshall and Lily have that down. But you? You're different. I want to have him see how good our friends are before I introduce him to you. You understand, right?" she asked. Barney felt like he had been slapped harder than he ever had before. Worse than a Marshall slap.

"Wha- I don't- Jeez, Robin. That's cold…" he managed to stammer. Robin looked at him apologetically. She stepped forward and Barney stepped back. Hurt flashed in her eyes.

Ha! You think I'm hurting you? I'll show you hurt.

"I'm sorry, Barney. It's just-"

"No. Don't." He turned away from her and walked back into the bar. He made it halfway to the front door when Robin caught up to him. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. He shrugged her hand off.

"You wanted me to go? I'm going! Just don't expect me back anytime soon," he said quietly.

"Barney! What's wrong?" Lily asked appearing beside Robin.

"You want to know what's wrong? Just ask her," he said nodding towards Robin. Lily looked at Robin with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Robin you didn't…" Lily said.

"I did," she said firmly.

"Barney, please stay!" Lily pleaded.

"I can't. She wants me gone so I'm gone. Scherbatsky gets what Scherbatsky wants," Barney said coolly. Ted and Marshall popped up next to Lily.

"What's going on here?" Marshall asked worriedly.

"Robin just kicked Barney out," Lily said solemnly.

"What?" Ted asked. Barney rolled his eyes.

"Look it doesn't matter," Barney said angrily.

"Yes it does!" Lily said.

"What's up?" asked a new voice from behind Barney. The group's attention turned to a man slightly taller than Barney with dark chocolate eyes and gently spiked brown hair. He looked to be in his late twenties. Barney's eyes widened as he realized whom this must be.

"Jake. I'm so sorry. Were having a bit of an argument…" Robin said.

"That's okay, babe. These must be the friends I've heard so much about," he said. Barney's worst fears were confirmed. Robin's new boy toy was the definition of pretty-boy.

"Oh yeah. This is Lily, Ted, Marshall and-"

"Nobody. I'm nobody," Barney interrupted. "See you later, guys." Barney walked straight out of the bar despite Ted, Marshall, and lily's protests. He stood on the side of the street and replayed what had just happened. The argument had sobered him up pretty quickly.

"Whatever… I'm awesome. She'll come crawling back to me," Barney said unconvincingly. He raised a hand and hailed a cab.

"Barney! Wait!" came Robin's voice from the stairs to the bar.

Right on cue.

"Please don't go. I'm sorry I said that. I shouldn't have. I just really like this guy," Robin said.

"Forget it, Robin. I'm not going to hang around someone who doesn't have the decency to just ask me to behave myself. I would have, Robin. I would have for you." Robin's mouth hung open in shock. There was so much more that Barney wanted to say. He wanted to tell her that he thought she was making a mistake by going out with this guy she didn't want knowing about him. He wanted to just pull her into the cab with him and go to the nicest restaurant in New York. He wanted to go see a movie with her and end up not being able to tell anyone who the characters were or what the plot was. He just wanted her. He would do anything for her. He would give up suits for her. He had once said that "Nothing suits me like a suit" but he realized that he had to change that.

Nothing suits me more than suits like Robin Scherbatsky.

"Barney, I-"

"Save it for someone who cares," he said getting into the cab and slamming the door. He did care though. He cared a lot. And that's why he had to leave her standing on the street like that. He knew that Robin would never love him like he loved her. He had to distance himself from her and he would do it the only why he knew how.

Barney stepped out of the shower and ran his fingers through his wet hair. He wrapped a towel around himself and stepped out into his living room, not minding the wet footprints he left on the way. He grabbed the sheet that the girl had left on the couch from that night and tossed it onto his bed. Barney stood there for a moment, and let his thoughts swirl about in this head. There were memories from the one night stand. Good memories. There were also memories of Robin. Memories of kissing her and holding her hand and comforting her. There were memories of her face as she told him to leave. There were memories of her smiling at the sight of any of her other boyfriends. That look was always the same but somehow when she smiled at him, it was different. It seemed more exposed and vulnerable. Barney knew it was probably just his own longing that made it seem that way but he couldn't help hoping.

Stop it. Do you not remember what happened? You can't think about her anymore. She's done. Over. Move on to bigger and better things, okay?

Barney knew that his inner voice was right but ignoring Robin would be easier said than done.