Chapter Nine

"Hey, girls," Victoria said, sliding into the booth beside Robin, across from Cas and Lily. The three of them had been sitting there for over an hour looking through bridal magazines, looking for dress styles that Lily might like.

"Hey," All three of them responded at the same time.

"Hey. I'm on my way to meet Ted," Victoria said, smiling. "It's our two monthiversary, so we're going out to dinner."

"Great!" Robin said sarcastically. "Well, that answers all the questions I didn't ask."

"Robin!" Lily said harshly, at the same time as Cas kicked her under the table.

"Oh, come on," Robin said, looking put out. "We bust on each other. We're just at that place in our strong friendship."

"Really?" Victoria asked, smiling widely. "Oh." She said, then reached out to hug Robin.

"Get off me," Robin said immediately. "Oh, see? I did it again."

"What are you guys up to?" Victoria asked, scooting a little bit away from Robin then spotting the magazines. "Oh, dress shopping. You know, I make wedding cakes for a lot of fancy bridal shops. If you want, I could take you shopping, maybe get you a discount."

"Really?" Lily asked, looking up from the pages of her magazine. "That'd be great."

"Yeah," Victoria said, smiling. Her phone rang and she pulled it from her pocket, then looked at it with a frown. "Huh. I should take this. Hello?" She said, sliding out of the booth and walking out of the bar to talk.

"Hey, I thought it was going to be just us tomorrow," Robin said, leaning over the table to talk quietly. "What's with inviting Punky Brewster?"

"Robin, you've got to get over this Ted and Victoria thing," Lily said, shaking her head. "You had your chance, and now he's moved on. Can't you just be happy for them?"

"The best I can give you is a fake smile and dead eyes," Robin said seriously. Cas laughed.

"Sold," Lily said, smiling as Victoria came back in and stood at the end of the table, her face worried.

"Victoria, what's wrong?" Cas asked, looking up at her.

"I've just been offered a fellowship at a culinary institute," she said, though she didn't look excited. "In Germany." She said, sliding back into her seat, staring at the table in shock.

"Wow, that's huge!" Lily said, flipping her magazines closed and stacking them.

"I know," she said, still in shock. "I think I need to go," she said, then stood. "Want to go shopping tomorrow? Maybe around Eleven?" She asked, looking at them in question.

"Sure," Lily said, while Cas nodded and Robin just shrugged. Victoria smiled, then left.

"I've got to go too," Cas said, finishing her drink off. "I have some more notes to go over if I'm going to be spending all day shopping with you guys," she said, then walked back to her apartment to work.


The next morning Cas took a taxi to the address Victoria had texted her, and smiled, spotting the beautiful dresses in the window. She wasn't really big on weddings, or dresses, but these were just beautiful. She walked inside and was led to a private dressing room where Lily, Robin, and Victoria were talking and drinking some wine.

"Hey!" Cas said, sitting down on the floor by the table.

"Oh good, you're here," Lily said as one of the women who worked there began measuring her. Her phone rang while the woman measured the length of one arm and Lily pulled it out. "Hey baby," she said, grinning into the phone. "Everything's so fluffy and white. It's like shopping in a marshmallow. How's Barney's tailor?" She asked, frowning as the woman measured down her front. "Oh, good luck, baby." She said, then hung up.

"Now, what sort of dress did you have in mind, dear?" She asked, looking Lily over.

"Nothing too huge or-or poofy," Lily said, using her hands to sort of demonstrate what she meant. "I'm not really a girlie girl. But I would like to look like a beautiful princess." Cas laughed as she poured herself a glass of wine.

"I saw a couple up front that were nice," Robin said, smiling.

"By the window?" The woman asked, and Robin nodded. She turned to Lily and rested a hand on her shoulder. "No offense, dear, but those are a little out of your price range." She said, then walked away.

"Where does she get off?" Lily said, staring after her as the others waited. "She doesn't know how much money I make."

"Oh, these women are experts," Victoria said, sipping her wine. "They can guess your net annual income just by looking at your underwear."

"Damn you Old Navy and your reasonably-priced three-packs!" Lily said, huffing.

"At least we get free champagne!" Victoria said, holding up her glass.

"And cake," Robin added.

"Mm-hmm," Victoria said, taking a bite of hers.

"Speaking of which, Victoria, have you decided what to do about your doughnut fellowship?" Robin asked, and Lily nudged her, while Cas hit her foot. Robin rolled her eyes.

"You know, I don't know. I mean, I want to go, but I don't want to lose Ted," Victoria said, not noticing the silent battle between Cas and Lily and Robin to try to make Robin behave. "I even thought about long distance, as if that ever works."

"Ugh. All talking and no sex?" Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Kill me now." She said as the woman walked back in, a dress draped over her arm. Lily went to try it on.

"I know it sounds lame, but I actually think that Ted might be The One," Victoria continued, knowing Lily could probably hear them. "That's pretty hard to walk away from."

"Well, I don't know. I'd feel a little stupid turning down a huge opportunity to chase some guy I'd only known two months," Robin said, and Cas nudged her again.

"But this isn't just some guy. This is Ted," Victoria said, still not noticing the silent fight. "He's amazing. He's the best guy I know."

"Yeah, in America, but German guys?" Robin said smirking. "Whew! I would let them bread my schnitzel any day, if you know what I mean."

"I really don't…" Victoria began softly, looking between Robin and Cas.

"Sex," Robin said, then lifted the empty champagne bottle as the worker came back in. "Oh, excuse me, ma'am. This bastard's kicked. Thanks." The woman took it with a frown on her face and left the room as Lily came out of the dressing room in probably one of the ugliest dresses Cas had ever seen.

"Oh!" The three of them said at the same time, trying to look like they liked the dress.

"It's okay, guys, I hate it," Lily said, huffing.

"Just horrible," Victoria said.

"It's bad, it's really bad," Robin said, shaking her head.

"Short in front, long in the back? That is the mullet of wedding dresses," Cas added, grimacing at the dress.

"You know, Victoria, Marshall and I did long distance once," Lily said, sitting on the chair Robin had vacated. "In college, I did an art course in Paris. I was the only American there. It was really lonely. I only had one friend, Gabrielle. She was kind of homely and strange-looking, and she was really self-conscious about this little mustache she had. Anyway, halfway through the semester, she just stopped talking to me, and I never figured out why. And then I had nobody. The only thing that got me through was knowing that my soul mate was back at home waiting for me. If Ted's your soul mate, then it may be worth it to hang onto him."

"But how am I supposed to know if we're soul mates?" Victoria asked, her face anxious. "It's too soon." Her phone rang and she stood to pull it from her pocket. "Ooh. Speak of the devil. Hello." She said into the phone, smiling. "Cats." She said, raising an eyebrow. "Hated the musical, love the animal."

"A cat person. Why am I not surprised?" Robin whispered to them, rolling her eyes. Lily shook her head.

"Bye," Victoria said, then hung up the phone and looked at them. "Why does Ted want to know if I like cats?"

"Maybe he's going to buy you one," Lily said, standing to look into the mirror again, a look of disgust on her face, then went back in to try on a different dress.

"I did hear barking in the background," Victoria said, frowning. "Maybe he was in a pet store. Does he want us to get a cat together?"

"Maybe he's using an adorable kitty to guilt you into staying," Robin suggested, sipping her wine.

"That is low," Victoria said, shaking her head. "Do you really think that's what he's doing?"

"Oh, I wouldn't even wait to find out. I would be on the next plane to Germany," Robin said and Cas sighed.

"Awwww," all three of them said again as Lily left the room in another very ugly dress.

"Oh, God, you guys are sucky liars," Lily said frowning at them.

"Ugly, ugly, ugly," Robin said, shaking her head.

"I don't know what to say," Cas said, frowning at the dress.

"You know what? We're doing this all wrong," Victoria said, standing. "I am going to get you one of those front window dresses, just for fun." She said, then left the room.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked, turning to face Robin.

"I'm fine," Robin said, shrugging.

"Okay," Lily said, obviously not believing her. "Just kind of seemed like you're trying to hustle Victoria out of the country."

"I'm not, I'm just trying to support her," Robin said. "She got a super-important dessert scholarship."

"Stop being sarcastic," Lily said, frowning at her. "It is a super-important dessert scholarship. Wow, that's hard to say without sounding sarcastic. Look... I know you're not Victoria's biggest fan, but she seems to make Ted happy. So think about that before you use your miles to buy her a plane ticket."

"Somebody say "beautiful princess,"" Victoria said coming back into the room with a very beautiful gown over her arm.

"Oh, my gosh, it's perfect! Oh! This dress is totally going to get me laid on my wedding night," Lily said, taking it from her and running into the changing room.

"Oh, look how happy she is," Victoria said, smiling after her. "You know, I've always thought of myself as one of those independent women who would never let any guy mess with my career. And now I'm actually thinking about it. I feel guilty, like it's un-feminist or something."

"I know what you mean," Robin said, sighing. Cas looked over at her in surprise. Was Robin finally going to try to get along with Victoria?

"You do?" Victoria asked, obviously also surprised.

"Well, I'm always putting my career ahead of my relationships, and... to be honest, there's a lot of lonely nights in that job description," Robin said, sighing as she slid to sit on the floor with Victoria and Cas.

"See, that's what I'm afraid of," Victoria said, nodding.

"Choosing Ted over your career doesn't make you un-feminist," Robin said, and Cas smiled at her. "Maybe it just means that you guys would be happy together."

"Robin... I think that you are the coolest," Victoria said, grinning over at her. "I'm so glad that we're friends."

"Oh, no way... you're the coolest," Robin said, and Cas nearly laughed. Talk about a 180.

"No, you are," Victoria said, grinning now.

"Okay, I am," Robin said, laughing.

"I'm going to stay," Victoria said softly when they had calmed down. Robin gave her a sad smile and Cas patted her foot.

"Awwww," the there of them said again, this time meaning it.

"Oh, I am so beautiful!" Lily said, turning to look into a mirror. "Oh, don't tell me how much it costs. Just snap my neck now, so I can die this pretty."

"Wow, you look incredible," Robin said, standing with the others to come around and look at the front of the dress.

"Oh. Okay, okay, how much is it, on a scale of never to never ever?" Lily asked, closing her eyes as Robin checked the label.

"Never ever, ever, ever, ever... times infinity," Robin said, and Lily sighed sadly, taking a step back.

"Well, it's okay. You know, what makes a bride beautiful is that she's just happy to be getting married," Lily said, backing up to sit on the table… which still had the cake on it. The three of them gasped, covering their mouths. "Oh, guys, I know I look amazing, but the important thing is that Marshall and I love each other, right?"

"Yes, you're right," Cas said, lowering her hands. "But also... you just sat down in the cake." Lily gasped and stood partway. The entire back of the dress was smeared with cake.

"But, you know what?" Victoria asked, trying to sound hopeful. "It's going to come out because it's only... chocolate and raspberry." They all groaned.

"Okay. Come on, get up, let us see how bad it is," Robin said, coming forward to help Lily stand. As she got to her feet, Lily stumbled forward and there was a loud ripping noise. They all froze in horror for a second as the woman came through the door and stopped short, staring at the dress.

"It was like this when I found it?" Lily said, phrasing the words into a question.

"And how will you be paying for this?" She asked calmly and Lily sighed in defeat.

"Credit card… s," Lily said, then went to change out of the dress. Cas waited by the changing room door and took the dress as soon as Lily had it off, carrying it back to the dressing room, ruined side up.

"Help me get some of this off," she said, laying the dress across two chairs. "Maybe we can fix it…"

The other two came over to help, though all three of them figured it was a lost cause. They got the biggest chunks of cake off, and Cas noticed that there wasn't much of the raspberry filling that had actually hit the dress, but chocolate was still hard to get out. The woman came back with a plastic dress bag and they helped her get it around the dress, then Cas held it as Lily left the room in her normal clothes, looking devastated.

They took a cab back to MacLaren's, and the others went down to get a drink while Cas dropped off her purse and things at home, which included Lily's dress since the other girl didn't want to have it in the house in case Marshall saw it. She hesitated, wondering if it was worth it to try to fix the dress, but what else was Lily going to do with it? Cas put the stopper in her sink and began running cold water to fill it up as she stripped the bag away from the dress. She knew that you weren't supposed to get this kind of material wet, but that was the only way she knew to get chocolate stains out of things. She pulled open her freezer and pulled out all the trays of ice she could find, dumping the cubes into the half full sink, then refilling the trays to put back in the freezer. She lifted away the layers of dress until she had only the thinnest top layer, since the chocolate hadn't gotten through to the next layer. She folded the dress back so she could set the large stain circle into the sink of ice water, then made sure it was balanced on her sink before she turned to leave, letting the dress soak for a while.

"Lily, you have to tell him," Robin was saying as Cas slid into the seat next to Robin. Victoria had disappeared somewhere."That dress cost a fortune."

"No, I'm just gonna wait for the next time Marshall really screws up, and then, I'll just slip this in, and it won't seem so bad by comparison," Lily said, frowning in worry.

"Well, here's hoping he cheats on you," Robin said, raising her glass. Cas smiled.

"Yeah, but only, like, second base," Lily said seriously, then leaned back as Barney and Marshall approached them, both wearing suits.

"Look at us: two guys in suits," Barney said, lifting his drink. "You feel that slight tingle? That's every girl in the bar wanting you, and every guy wanting to be you. Actually, it's mostly me, but you're getting some of the splash." Marshall shook his head, then slid into the booth beside Lily as Barney pulled up a chair.

"Hey, babe. Dollar beer night, so I splurged and got us each our own," Marshall said, sliding a tankard over to Lily, who smiled.

"So, have you thought more about coming to work for Barney Corp?" Barney asked, grinning.

"Oh, please... your company is not called Barney Corp," Marshall said, shaking his head.

"Yet," he said, smirking. Then he reached inside his jacket. "Oh, I almost forgot. Sergei sent me your bill." He handed the paper over to Marshall who took it, then frowned.

"B... Barney, this says $4,000. I thought you said that it was one-third price," Marshall said, looking up.

"Yeah, must be a $12,000 suit," Barney said, shrugging. "Oh, well, guess you'll have to come work at my company."

"You set this up! You set this whole thing up!" Marshall said, his face almost angry. Barney gasped and looked offended.

"I most certainly did…" he said, then smirked.

"Well, it won't work," Marshall said. "Even if I have to get two extra night jobs, I'll pay your precious tailor. I'm not selling my soul." He looked over at Lily. "Baby, I know that this will make things harder, but I will make it work, I promise."

"I destroyed an $8,000 wedding dress," Lily said guiltily, then looked down at the table. Marshall looked at her for a moment, then looked back up at Barney, resigned.

"What time is the interview?" Marshall asked, looking sullen.

"9:00 a.m., and you'll need new shoes. Don't worry, I know a guy," Barney said, still smirking. Cas shook her head then slid out of the booth.

"I need to go," Cas said, waving farewell. When she got back to her apartment, she drained the water from the sink and lifted the fabric up to look at it better. A lot of the brown spots had come off of the white fabric, but there were still a few darker stains, and the lighter stains that looked almost yellow against the white fabric. Cas got out a bottle of stain remover and sprayed the darker areas, hoping to god it wouldn't ruin the material. She watched the stain remover sink in for a few minutes, then used her fingers to rub it in more to the areas that needed it. Afterwords she rinsed it and draped the wet material over a chair to dry, not letting it touch the rest of the dress.


The next few weeks passed by quickly. Most of the dark stains were out of Lily's dress, but there was still an obviously yellowish spot covering the entire area of the fabric that had touched the cake. Cas wasn't really sure what to do about it, and even though Marshall knew about it now, Lily hadn't asked for it back.

Victoria had left for Germany, despite telling them all that she would stay. Cas had been too busy with work to really see much of Ted, but he seemed to be doing okay with it.

"Columbia University Medical Center, this is Cassie Reynolds," Cas said, picking up the ringing phone at her desk. Usually there was a receptionist in the building to answer the calls, but the woman was on maternity leave for two months, so now all the doctors there were pitching in to answer the calls. Most of the calls were to schedule appointments, which one of the other Psychologists in the building was doing now, so Cas hardly listened to the callers before transferring them over to him. She was writing as she talked on the phone.

"Wow, that's so professional sounding Cas," the caller said, and Cas sighed, recognizing Lily's voice.

"What do you want Lil?" Cas asked, her voice no longer the polite professional one. "I'm at work."

"Wow, that's so not professional," Lily chirped, and Cas seriously considered hanging up on her.

"Sorry," Cas said, then cleared her throat. "Hi Lily, you're call is important to us, please hold," she said in an overly polite voice.

"Okay sorry!" Lily said quickly and Cas smiled. "I was calling to ask if you would come in to my kindergarten class and tell them about your job? It's career week," Lily said. Cas sighed.

"What day?" Cas asked, opening her schedule book.

"Well Marshall and Ted are coming on Wednesday, And Robin and Barney on Thursday, so either one of those works," Lily said.

"I can't do Wednesday…" Cas said, running a finger over all the time slots she had filled that week. "I might be able to do Thursday if I can come in on my lunch break, between noon and one," Cas said, tapping a finger on the empty slot on Thursday.

"That works!" Lily said, sounding excited. "See you then!"

"Bye," Cas said, hanging up the phone as she wrote over her lunch hour for Thursday.

When Thursday rolled around, Cas was very happy when her appointment for one cancelled, giving her an extra half hour at Lily's school. She took a cab, even though the subway might have been faster. When she got there, Robin and Barney weren't there yet, but Lily let her go anyway.

"Hey guys," Cas said, smiling at the class. "So Ms. Aldren told me it's career week, what do you all want to be when you grow up?" Cas asked, sitting in one of the little chairs in front of the gathered group, smiling softly. She really did like kids, at least, when they were behaving. A few raised their hands, and she pointed to the one at a time.

"I want to be a vet!"

"I want to be a dancer!"

"I want to be a dinosaur!"

Cas laughed lightly at the last one.

"Well, I don't think you can be a dinosaur," she said to the boy, and he began to pout. "Because your parent's would miss you. But you can be a scientist, they dig up dinosaur fossils and learn all about them, like how they lived and what they ate."

"They learn that from fossils?" The boy asked, his eyes wide.

"They sure do," she said, smiling. "You can learn a lot of things about an animal from how their bodies work."

"Is that what you do?" Another kid asked.

"Sort of," she said, smiling again. "I don't study animals though, I study people. I'm a psychologist."

"What's a symocigist?" A girl asked, frowning as she didn't recognize the word.

"A psychologic," Cas corrected automatically. "It's a person who studies humans, like their brains and how their bodies work. Sort of like when your mom tells you to eat your vegetables," she said. "Your mom knows that vegetables are good for you, even if they might not taste too good." Some of the kids nodded and she smiled again. "Well, I know about how vegetables are good for you, and what they do to affect your body. They give you energy so you can play, and they help your brain develop so you can learn more," she said, and a few of them were nodding. "I also study brains and thoughts, and emotions, and how they all work together," she said, trying not to use any technical terms that would confuse them. She glanced at Lily, not sure what else to say.

"Alright, are there any questions for Ms. Reynolds?" Lily said, standing up. A girl raised her hand.

"So you look at brains? Like a zombie?" She asked, looking a little afraid.

"No, not at all. We have a machine that takes a picture of your brain inside your head, and we can tell if your brain is hurt, or if something is wrong," Cas said, smiling again. Another boy raised his hand.

"Can you look at my brain?" He asked, and then all the kids were jumping up and wanting their brains looked at.

"I don't have the machine here with me, but I'm sure your brain is just fine," Cas said. "I brought some pictures though, if you would like to look at them." The boy and some others nodded eagerly so Cas pulled out a little folder of generic CT scans and different diagrams.

"That doesn't look like a brain," one of them said as she held up a CT scan and showed it around the circle.

"That's because it's the inside of a brain. See all these different sections?" Cas said, pointing to them. "This one controls your memory, this one controls your emotions, this one tells you when you are hungry," she went through them for a little while longer, knowing that most of the kids would forget this immediately.

She answered a few other questions, though they were getting more ridiculous as they went, until Robin arrived, followed by Barney.

"Okay, my time's up," Cas said, standing from the center of the group and picking up her photos. "Next you get to learn about being a News Reporter," Cas told them, ushering them back to their seats and glancing at the clock, then at Lily.

"Okay class, say goodbye to Ms. Reynolds," Lily said, smiling at Cas.

"Bye Ms. Reynolds," they all said together, and Cas waved at them, smiling again, then grabbing her bag and rushing out the door. It was 1:15 now, and she would be lucky if she made it back to her office in time for her next appointment.


"The kids loved you!" Lily said, sliding into the booth later that night. Cas usually didn't go out on week nights, but she had stopped by for an hour or so tonight. She was finally used to the amount of work she was doing, and her appointments had slowed until she could go back to her normal hours of 9-5 weekdays. Barney scoffed.

"Whatever, everyone loves me," he said, straightening his tie.

"Not you, idiot," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Cas." Cas looked up from her drink and grinned at Lily as Barney huffed, frowning.

"I was way cooler than her," he protested.

"How would you know, you got there as I was leaving," Cas said, rolling her eyes.

"Nuh uh. I could hear from the hallway," Barney said, and Cas sighed, turning back to Lily.

"They really liked me?" She asked, smiling.

"Yeah, well, mostly because they think your job is being a zombie," Lily said, rolling her eyes. Cas laughed.

"Well as long as they like me more than Barney, that's fine," Cas said, looking sidelong at Barney as the others laughed. He huffed and stood to get another drink, making the others laugh harder. Cas smiled, very glad at that moment to have friends like these.