Ted, who seems to be their official planner now, had brought them out to a freezing day of skiing and skateboarding. Just like the Alps, he says, grinning excitedly, jabbing at those damn brochures he always carries now.

'I'm cold,' Lily sputters out, trying to warm herself against Marshall.

'Yes, let's get back to that awful hut Ted got us.'

'Barney, it's not a hut. It's a log cabin,' Ted tells him. 'It adds to the experience.'

'Whatever.'

Just then, Marshall puts a finger to his mouth and bends down, making a snowball. Lily stifles a laugh. And it lands squarely, that packed snowball thrown with Marshall's superhuman strength, on the back of Barney's head.

'Oh, dude!' Ted exclaims, laughing.

Barney shakes the snow off calmly, looking at everyone else as if he is thinking carefully. She thinks he might just suddenly throw them a few. But he doesn't. No. He's just walking to Robin beside her, turns his head to them—well, Marshall, pointedly—and stands still, for a second.

Then he kisses her.

It's hard not to feel shocked, and even Robin whose face is obscured by Barney's, seems so. They all gasp. Barney doesn't say anything. Their lips still glued to each other in the cold.

She's not stopping him either. Lily finds this cute, in a way.

Then they let go. Robin licks her lips, looking around awkwardly, then at him. And Lily tugs at Marshall's arm and looks up at him, his face shell-shocked as if they hadn't imagined this together. Ted just looks confused.

'What?' Barney asks coolly. 'The girl in a pink jacket behind us has been eyeing me all day. And she looks too, I don't know, there's something in her eyes. Weird. Figured a way to turn her down, gently.'

'So you kiss Robin?' Lily says slowly.

'Pretty much.'

'That's it.'

He looks at Robin, who shrugs. 'Should there be something else, Lily?'

'Just making sure.'

He looks smugly at Marshall before walking ahead. 'Speechless, huh?'

'I have to dial back on the Tantrum,' Ted mutters.

Marshall nods approvingly. 'Best comeback ever!'

That night she sneaks into his bedroom quietly, alone, wanting an explanation, wanting to know what the hell was going on there. Still, she promises she won't interfere. Not really. Maybe a little.

'Lily. What are you doing here? Does Marshall know?'

'Quit the charades, Barney.'

He raises his eyebrow. 'Uh, did he finally decide on a game to play tonight?'

'You never turn a hot girl down. Second, I see the way you look at her. And the way she looks at you. There's something we don't know, isn't there?'

'No, there is nothing between me and the girl with the pink coat.'

'Barney!'

'What?'

'You're avoiding this discussion because you're scared.'

'I think I'm talking, which makes it a conversation, wherein we are discussing the discussion as of this moment. Unless the discussion you're pertaining to is a different one, in which case you must clarify your point.'

Lily frowns. 'Now, I'm lost.'

Barney pats her shoulder and crosses the room away from her, bending down to fix his bag.

'I'm trying to clean my reputation,' he tells her. 'My company wants to do business with the Middle East. Tight dudes over there.'

'What about Robin?'

'What about her?'

'The person I was talking about was her.'

'I thought it was me.'

'You love her.'

She rolls her eyes and sighs at him. He's hopeless. And she can see that this finally does it, convincing him to stop denying everything. He drops his hands and sits on the bed. Still looking down.

Then she sees that he is smiling unbelievably, just a boy in love, and she has to shake her head to all his madness. It's infectious.

He looks up at her, full of hope. 'How exactly does she look at me, you think?'

She sits on the bed next to him. Sharing in his happiness, she guesses, and she bumps his shoulder with hers. It reminds her of his first confession, when he had freaked out over 'catching feelings", didn't know what to do and what he wanted.

It's so much more different now.

'It's great that you fell in love with her again. It's great, Barney. You guys are so perfect for each other.'

'Wait, what do you mean again?' he asks pointedly.