Robin left Barney's room and went to the nurses' station, which was on the way to the waiting area. She knocked on the door and opened it afterwards. A young nurse was sitting on a desk and looked up at her.
"Hello, I'm Barney Stinson's fiancee", Robin said.
The more often I say it, the more naturally it feels.
"I'm supposed to let you know, when he's awake."
The nurse smiled at her friendly.
"Thank you. I will check on him in a moment."
Robin nodded, closed the door and continued her way into the entrace hall.
The others sat on chairs, their backs turned on her, and didn't see her coming.
"Hey", Robin said and they turned around.
"He's awake", she informed them with a bis smile on her face.
Ted, Marshall and Lily sighed relieved and followed Robin, who was already on her way back to Barney's room.
In front of the door, Lily grabbed Robin's arm, so the brunette turned to her.
"Robin, what you told the doctor..."
"I'll explain it later", Robin interrupted her. "No word, as long as the nurse is in the room."
With that, she opened the door and entered.
The bedhead was raised and the young nurse took Barney's blood pressure.
He looked up and smiled, when he saw Robin and the others. Robin smiled back at him, but the rest of them seemed confused and Ted looked back and forth between him and Robin.
Obviously, Robin didn't tell them about the fake-engagement, he thought.
Robin came closer and sat down on the chair next to his bed. Barney smiled, grabbed Robin's hand and stroked it's back with his thumb.
He did it to 15% as a show for the nurse. She smiled and seemed touched.
He did it to 15% to baffle their friends. He could see their mouth fall open out of the corners of his eyes.
But he did it to 70%, because he wanted it. It felt incredibly good to hold her hand.
Robin played along. She smiled fondly at him, but she didn't have to fake it.
She smiled, because she was glad, that he was okay. And because he held her hand.
The nurse wrote Barney's values down in a file, nodded them goodbye and left the room.
As soon as the door closed, hell broke loose.
"Oh my god! You guys are getting married!", Lily screamed.
" I, I, I can't believe it. Ha-how did this happen?", Marshall stammered.
"How long has this been going on? Why didn't you tell us?", Ted asked.
Robin stood up, walked up to them and hissed: "Pssst! I told you, I would explain it later."
She waited until everybody was quiet, before she continued.
"We aren't really engaged."
Ted and Marshall looked very confused, while Lily seemed to be especially disappointed.
"You heard the doctor", Robin explained. "I'm not wearing a ring, I don't have the same last name, so I couldn't tell him, I was Barney's wife or sister."
Finally understation dawned on their faces. They sighed because of the excitement, while nodding.
"You were just so convincing. That was worth an 'Oscar' !", Ted told Robin impressed.
"Almost as good as you, Barney, when you're picking up women", Marshall said laughing.
"I even think she managed to cry, when she was begging the doctor to see you, even though she was 'only your fiancee' ", Ted said, while making quotation marks in the air, laughing now too.
Robin didn't want to admit, that she really has been crying, because she had been desperate to see him. So she decided to play along.
"Well, I guess, I learned that from Barney."
"What are you going to do now?", Lily spoke up.
Robin shrugged and answered: "Guess, we have to play a lovey-dovey couple, until Barney's released."
"In two weeks", Barney threw in and everybody looked at him questioningly.
"The nurse said, that's how long a wound of this size ordinary needs to heal", he explained.
"Uuhm, you know", Marshall said. "You could also pretend to break up."
"Oh no, no. It won't be necessary. What are two weeks? That's not a problem", Robin answered and Barney was relieved.
If they pretended to break up, she wouldn't be able to visit him, during the two weeks of his stay.
The thought of fourteen days without Robin made him feel sick in his stomach.
But why does Robin not want to pretend to break up? , he wondered. Why did she even want to see me, after everything she had been put through because of me? None of this would have happened, if I didn't ask her to meet me.
