The next morning, they all troop down for breakfast. The dining hall is bright and spacious, with a beautiful garden visible through the French doors. Robin blinks, her eyes adjusting.
Absent-mindedly, she takes a plate and goes for the pancakes, and then loads up on maple syrup. She throws in some bacon and eggs as well, before finding some orange juice at the drinks table.
'Good morning, folks,' Ted greets cheerfully, as he and Victoria sit down with their full plates. At least someone's happy. 'We slept very well, thanks for asking.'
'The massage really worked out my knots,' Victoria adds.
'Oh yeah.'
From the way they're looking at each other, Robin's not sure they're still talking about massages. She takes out a small flask of alcohol from her purse and pours some into her orange juice. Barney is looking at her, his eyes sky blue in the light.
'You want some?'
She pours some into his juice when he nods. 'Thanks.'
'There's more where that came from.'
She doesn't quite catch his quick smile.
Quinn is the last to come with her plate and sits next to Barney. 'So, Ted, Victoria, what are we doing today?'
Victoria takes out a map for everyone to see. 'There's a trail from here to here we can hike. The sunset's apparently breathtaking. Then, once we get back, we can get massages, hang out by the hot tub or rest up before dinner. There's a local steakhouse recommended by my chef friend.'
Ted grins. 'It's going to be awesome.'
'Hiking, the whole day?' Barney clarifies. 'That wouldn't be very good for my suit.'
'Why would anyone wear a suit going hiking?' Quinn asks.
'Exactly.'
'I've trekked through forests before. Once, my dad left me in the Canadian wilderness for three days with just a knife so I could learn to fend for myself.' She gets weird looks from everyone. 'My point is, it's nothing special. You get used to it.'
Barney nods. 'See? Can't we just spend the whole day here, just chilling out? Robin's got cigars.'
'And scotch,' she adds.
'And scotch.'
'Guys, come on. We're supposed to be in this together,' Ted says.
'Well, I think it sounds fun.' Quinn looks at Barney pointedly, smiling. 'I'm in.'
'What?'
'If you just wanted to drink the whole weekend, we could have done that at home. But since we're here, we might as well.'
Barney hesitates. 'I didn't bring "hiking clothes", whatever those are.'
'You could borrow my clothes. I brought extra.'
He shoots Ted a look.
'Hey, don't blame the Boy Scout.'
'Sorry, Ted. Pete's going to be here by noon, so I'll just wait for him here,' Robin says, sweeping a cut of her pancakes across the syrup. 'Mhmm. This is really good!'
For a second, she thinks Barney's going to insist and stay with her, which would be extremely stupid of him to do, she thinks. But then he looks at Quinn and reluctantly agrees, shooting Ted a look when she goes back to the buffet table.
XXX
They leave an hour after breakfast. Robin remembers to take a picture of Barney miserable in a pair of jeans, a hoodie and sneakers, wasting no time to send it to Lily and Marshall. Then she changes into her bathing suit and sneaks into the hot tub with a nice, relaxing cigar, glad that nobody's around to disturb her.
This is actually turning into a nice day.
Her phone rings. It's Pete. 'Hello?'
'Just so you know, I'm getting into my car right now. There's a bit of traffic though.'
'It's fine. The rest of the guys went hiking. I'll be here all day.'
'Why didn't you go?'
'I didn't feel lke it.'
'Well, okay. I'll see you in a few hours. Bye.'
XXX
Half an hour later, Robin's still at the hot tub alone, her eyes closed and covered with a towel, when suddenly she feels a shadow over her face. Frowning, she takes the towel off slowly.
'Pete? You weren't—' She stops. 'Barney. What happened?'
His jeans are muddy and a few leaves are sticking to his hair and shirt. She laughs, takes another picture with her phone.
'Quinn sent me back. I was whining too much.'
'What are you doing?' she asks, as he starts taking his shoes off.
He discards his clothes quickly until he's only in his underwear, grinning. 'Getting in!'
She moves her legs so they don't touch. 'Barney, I don't think that's a good idea. It's a small hot tub.'
'So?'
'So, you're engaged.'
He just stares at her.
'Unless she doesn't care that her fiance is in a hot tub with his ex?' she asks pointedly.
'Quinn doesn't know about us,' he admits. 'Not that I've been keeping it from her. It's just. . .I don't know how to say it all. And I don't know how she'll react.'
'But she doesn't have anything to worry about, right? We're just friends now,' she says, measuring his reaction. He looks at her, and somehow, something is telling her he didn't truly expect her to say that. 'We're past all of that.'
'Right.'
She pauses, trying to steel conviction into her voice.' I'm happy for you.'
He nods. 'I know.'
'And Quinn's. . .you're perfect for each other. Marshall says so.'
He doesn't affirm it, like she had thought he would. There is at least this small drop of satisfaction.
'She's given up a lot for me,' he says slowly. 'Her apartment, her stuff, her job. I don't deserve it. I'll try to, but I don't yet.'
Meanwhile, she thinks, she gave him up. Is that what he's trying to say?
She must be imagining things.
The silence stretches on for a few more seconds. Robin thinks of giving up and heading back to her room, no matter how much she wants to stay even for this awkwardness.
Suddenly, Barney reaches for his hoodie and pulls out a bottle of beer.
'How did that fit in there?' she asks, laughing against her will.
'Magic.'
'No such thing.'
After taking a swig, he offers it to her and they exchange, cigar for beer, beer for cigar. He grins. She rolls her eyes before giving in, mirroring his expression, settling with comfort on the fact that they aren't doing anything wrong. Just two friends hanging out.
Please review! Suggestions are very welcome, as I'm taking this chapter by chapter and have absolutely no idea what will be coming up next. :)
