"Ok, let's just think about this," Ted slurred a bit, finishing off his third drink. "What's the last thing you remember before you woke up and everything was... wrong?"

"Well I was here with you and we were talking about... stuff... and then I went home and went to bed. Nothing strange."

"Well what were we talking about?" Ted asked.

"What does that matter?"

"I don't know, but assuming you're not just completely crazy, something weird is going on. Anything that happened before you woke up this morning could be of importance. Don't you watch Sci-Fi?"

"Fine," Barney gave in. "We were talking about howiminlovewithrobin."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"We were talking about how I'm in love with Robin, okay?"

"Robin? The girl you introduced me to?"

"Yeah," Barney answered.

"Right, and does this Robin know you're in love with her?"

"Of course not!" Barney said. "And it's going to stay that way."

"Oookay," Ted said, raising his eyebrow at Barney. "So you're just going to be in love with her forever and never tell her how you feel?"

"What did you just say?" Barney asked, his head snapping up to look at Ted.

"I said, 'so you're just...'"

"No, I know what you said. But that's exactly what you said last night."

"Great!" Ted said with much more enthusiasm than Barney felt was warranted. "So events are repeating. This is good! I still don't know what to do, but that sounds like a good sign."

"Awesome," Barney said, though he didn't sound like he meant it. "So I'm stuck here where no one knows who I am, including the girl I'm in love with. I have no friends, well, that I know of, I called my brother and apparently I'm a jackass who can't be bothered to keep in touch, and at work I'm some evil boss that everyone's afraid of. Just perfect. You know, yesterday my life was awesome. I had money, booze and bimbos. What else could a guy ask for?"

"Well obviously your life wasn't as awesome as you thought it was. Otherwise why would you be here?"

"What are you saying? That this is something to teach me about the important things in life and make me realize that I need something more than one night stands?"

"Well, yeah, maybe."

"That's ridiculous, Ted! Why would I need more than bimbos? You know, you're starting to sound a lot like Lily. Where is she anyway? You're not usually here by yourself, are Lily and Marshall meeting you here?"

"Well Marshall will be here soon, but Lily doesn't come anymore. Not since before she left for San Francisco."

"What?!" Barney gasped. "But... but they got married! After she came back they got married. I married them!"

"Um, no you didn't. We don't know you remember? Anyway, after she came back things weren't the same with them. Marshall started dating other girls and they never got back together."

Barney sat there in shock for a while. He knew that he was the one that stopped Marshall from hooking up every time he had the chance after Lily had left and that he had convinced Lily to come back to New York, but she'd managed to get back here without his interference. They were soul mates; surely there were forces in the universe stronger than him that should have brought the two of them back together. What kind of chance did anyone else in the world have if Marshall and Lily, the ultimate couple, couldn't make it work? His thoughts were interupted by the familiar voice that he heard coming from the bar. He looked up and gasped, earning a strange look from Ted.

"Dude, what's wrong?" He asked.

"See that girl over there ordering a drink?"

"Umm, yeah," Ted answered. "So what?"

"Ted, that's Robin!"

"Robin? Your Robin is the Metro News 1 chick?"

"You watch Metro News 1?" Barney asked, surprised.

"Well yeah… I get bored. And I mean, look at her, she's so…"

"Ted, focus, I don't have time for this right now. In my world I introduced you to her and you guys dated for a year, but I don't have a year to wait, so just stay with me, okay?"

"Right," Ted agreed. "Okay, sorry. So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I don't know. Give me a second to think."

"Hey, Ted." Barney, being so focused on his current dilemma, never noticed Marshall walk up to the table. He looked up in shock, eyes widening a little. Barney briefly wondered why his friends where seemingly incapable of keeping up their appearances without him around.

"Marshall, hey," Ted responded.

"Who's your friend," Marshall asked as he sat down, eyeing Barney who resumed staring over at Robin.

"He's not my friend. Well, I guess he's my friend. He's my friend, but I don't know who he is. It's complicated. His name's Barney… there's a very good chance he's insane."

"Oh. Okay," Marshall shrugged. "Umm, is he alright?"

"What?" Ted asked, looking back to Barney and noticing him staring towards the bar. "Yeah, I think so. See that chick at the bar? He's sorta in love with her… but not in love with her, her. It's complicated.

"Barney," Ted said, snapping his fingers at Barney to get his attention. "Just go up there and talk to her."

"Psh, no, that's stupid. I can't just go talk to her."

"Well why not?"

"Ted, Ted, Ted, have I taught you nothing?"

"Well, actually…" Ted was cut off.

"You can't just walk up to a chick and talk to her. You have to have a plan."

"You have to have a plan to talk go up and talk to her?" Marshall asked skeptically. "Is he serious?" He asked Ted. Ted shrugged in reply.

"Marshall, please. You lost Lily, no way am I listening to anything you say."

"What?" Marshall asked. "How the hell would you know…"

"Marshall, don't," Ted cut him off. "Like I said, it's complicated. I'll explain all of it to you later." Marshall still looked skeptical, but nodded anyway.

"Okay, Barney's crazy, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. What am I going to do?" Barney asked, putting his head down on the table. He missed Marshall's glance at Ted and Ted shaking his head once again.

"Hey," Barney's head popped up so fast he was lucky he didn't give himself whiplash. Robin was now standing at the head of the table.

"Hi," Barney responded dumbly.

"You're that fan from earlier today, aren't you?" Robin asked.

"Yeah… th... that's me. Barney, is my name."

"Right," Robin laughed. "This is the second time you've been in the same place as me today. You're not stalking me, are you?"

"No, he's stalking me," Ted answered, yelping when Barney kicked him under the table.

"Anyway, I saw you sitting over here and thought I'd say hi. Have to keep the few fans that we have, you know?"

"Yeah, wouldn't want to turn my back on a fellow news… lover…" he agreed awkwardly, mentally kicking himself for being so lame. He smiled softly to himself, though, when he earned a laugh from Robin.

"Well, I should go. My boyfriend will be here any minute now." Robin went to walk away, but was stopped by Barney's hand on her arm.

"Hey, what happened to your eye?" Barney asked, now forgetting his two 'friends' that were sitting at the table with him. He hadn't noticed earlier, probably thanks to all the make-up she had to wear for the broadcast, but there was an almost healed bruise right under her eye.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just fell last week. I'm really clumsy," she giggled nervously.

"No you're not," Barney said back. "You're probably the least clumsy person I know."

"You know? I don't know you."

"No, you don't know… I mean, I know, you know, I don't know you know you…" Anymore of Barney's awkwardness was cut off by the tall man that walked up to the table.

"What's going on here?" He inquired gruffly.

"Nothing, Mike. We were just talking. He's a fan of the channel."

"A fan?" Mike spat back. "There are no fans of Metro News 1."

"Actually, I watch it everyday," Ted piped in, but quickly went back to observing the scene quietly with Marshall when everyone glared at him.

"C'mon, Robin," Mike said, grabbing her arm. "We're leaving now."

"Hey, wait a minute," Barney protested, not liking the way he was gripping her arm. This may not be his Robin, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let anyone treat any Robin Scherbatsky like that. "Maybe you should ease off her arm a little, buddy."

"And maybe you should mind your own business," Mike said. Barney stood up as they started to walk away.

"No, seriously, let go of her arm," he said, grabbing his arm and sounding braver then he felt.

He never saw the fist flying towards him before his world went black.