Ted didn't realize it, but he was holding his breath as he listened to the sudden quiet above the pit, broken only by the soft footsteps of whomever had just won the altercation between Robin and Barney's kidnapper. His entire body was taut with fear and uncertainty, though he tried not to let his fear show, for Barney's sake.

His friend was trembling violently in his arms, a soft, keening whimper escaping his throat as he turned his head away from the approaching footsteps, burying his face in the crook of Ted's neck as if he could somehow hide himself from whatever threat they might be facing.

Ted was willing to help him hide, if only for a moment longer.

"Shh," he whispered. "It's all right… it's all right…"

He had never seen Barney so thoroughly terrified, so broken and vulnerable. He felt deeply, strangely responsible for his friend, wanting only to ease his fears and reassure him that everything was going to be okay, and they were going to get out of this.

But he wasn't at all sure that it was, or that they would.

That gunshot… God, Robin's dead… Robin's dead, and we're about to be, too. And we brought the freakin' gun that's going to do it. I should have told Robin to leave it behind; those things never help anything; they only make things worse. I should have told Robin the gun was a bad idea, but no, I just kept my mouth shut so she wouldn't think I was a wuss, and now she's dead because of my stupid…

His panicked, guilt-ridden thoughts ended in a rush of overwhelming relief when Robin suddenly appeared at the edge of the hole, looking down at them with her pistol in her hand and a grim smile on her face.

"I knew this would come in handy sooner or later."

*******************************

Robin hoped that Ted and Barney couldn't see how badly she was shaking from their vantage point several feet below her. She tucked the pistol back into the waistband of her jeans with hands that shook so much that she could hardly accomplish even that simple task.

She tried not to think about, let alone look at, the still, quiet form of the girl she had shot, lying face down in the grass a few yards away. Years of target practice and hunting and self-defense lessons had not begun to prepare her for this.

She had never shot a person before.

She's a psychotic person who's just spent the last few days torturing my best friend, and she was going to bury him alive. If there's ever a legitimate reason to shoot someone, I'd say this is probably it…

"Is she dead?" Ted called up to her, his voice trembling with relief and apprehension.

Robin couldn't quite suppress a flinch at the question, swallowing hard and once more fighting the morbid impulse to look toward her fallen opponent. "I… I'm not sure," she answered. "But she's down, and we're okay for now. I'm gonna find my phone…"

She focused on this new task, grateful for the distraction from the sobering situation she knew she'd have to come to terms with – later, once they were safe and Barney was in the hospital getting treatment for his countless injuries.

It didn't take her long to find her phone, half-buried under a pile of scattered leaves. The frantic, high-pitched voice coming through the speaker made it easy enough. Robin hadn't realized that she'd actually connected with the 911 operator before Allison had attacked her; but apparently the stunned, horrified woman had heard the entire encounter.

"… anyone there? Hello? Are you okay? What…?"

"Hello?" Robin breathlessly spoke into the phone, holding it to her ear with a trembling hand.

The operator was silent for a moment, apparently startled to actually have someone respond to her desperate, urgent questions. "Yes. Are you all right? What's happened? What is your location?"

"So that's what you have to do to get the cops to listen to you around here," she muttered, not quite into the phone. "Not much. Just shoot somebody."

"Excuse me? Hello?"

"Yes," Robin cleared her throat, speaking up into the phone. "Yes, we have an emergency…"

She explained the situation to the operator, who said she was dispatching an ambulance and police to the site immediately.

"Please hurry," Robin urged her, glancing down anxiously into the pit where Ted waited with Barney. "My friend is bleeding pretty badly. Please get here as fast as you can…"

"We're about ten minutes away from your location, ma'am. We'll be there as quickly as possible."

Robin hung up the phone, crouching at the edge of the grave, but watching the surrounding area warily for any sign of the other kidnapper. She knew very well that they were not safe yet, not until the authorities arrived and took charge of the situation. It was very likely that Allison's boyfriend had heard the gunshot, and might very well be on his way to their location right that moment.

The gun gave her a decided advantage; but not if he managed to take her by surprise.

"How's Barney?" she called down to Ted, eyes scanning her surroundings, her gun once more in her hand and ready. "How's he holding up?"

"Barney?" Ted spoke softly, gently shaking the other man's shoulder, trying to rouse him. "Barney! Come on, Barney, talk to me…" Ted let out a soft groan of worry and dismay before turning his attention momentarily toward Robin. "He's fading fast, Robin. He needs help now!"

"They'll be here in ten minutes…"

"I don't think he has ten minutes!"

Less than two minutes later, Barney stopped breathing.

Seconds after that, Ted frantically started CPR, desperately trying to keep Barney's lungs and heart pumping oxygen and blood to his brain, to keep him alive until real help could arrive.

After five minutes, his arms, his lungs, ached with the effort, but he could not stop – not until someone else could take over. Robin was crying quietly, forcing herself to keep alert for signs of danger while feeling utterly helpless and useless. However, she knew she couldn't help anyone by allowing their enemy to overtake them again. The best thing she could do was to stand watch and make sure that Ted's efforts were not interrupted.

Ted had been performing CPR for twelve minutes when they heard the sound of sirens tearing through the stillness of the woods. Robin ran toward the sound, arms waving, intent on flagging down the ambulance at the road and directing the paramedics toward exactly the right spot. She knew it could be difficult for them to find without help.

There were in fact two ambulances, closely followed by a police car and a fire truck.

Whereas Ted and Robin had not been able to get Barney out of the makeshift grave, it took the paramedics mere moments to get him onto a stretcher and out of the pit, while simultaneously taking over the artificial breathing and CPR for Ted. One of the police officers helped Ted out, and immediately started asking questions.

"Please, can we do this at the hospital?" Robin pleaded, glancing anxiously toward the ambulance into which Barney's still form was being loaded. "Can't we go with him?"

"I need to know what's going on here," the officer who seemed to be in charge insisted. "I need a statement."

"Can she go with him if I stay and talk to you?" Ted suggested. "Please, we don't want him to be alone…"

"You'll be at the hospital, Miss?" The officer sounded reluctant.

"Yes, yes, I won't be going anywhere until I know he's okay!" Robin insisted before turning toward Ted with grateful tears in her eyes. "Ted, are you sure…?"

"Just go, Robin, hurry," Ted urged her, giving her a gentle push toward the ambulance, watching to make sure she got inside before turning to face the officer again. "Okay… here's the way it happened…"

******************************

Two hours later, Robin and Ted were together again, sitting in a waiting room at the nearest hospital.

They had both told their story to the police – more than once – and the disturbing amount of evidence both found in the cabin and provided by Ted and Robin had been more than enough to convince the police that Allison needed to be officially under arrest, despite her condition. She had survived the gunshot wound, despite considerable blood loss and damage to her left lung. She was still unconscious following emergency surgery to save her life, but was already cuffed to her bed – just in case.

Ryan had not been found.

Ted and Robin had no idea whether or not he'd ever even known they were there. Perhaps he'd seen or heard some part of the altercation between Robin and Allison, seen the gun or heard the shot and thought it best to avoid contact. Perhaps he'd simply heard the shot and thought it was the police. At any rate, it seemed that he'd decided to save his own ass rather than hang around and make sure his girlfriend was all right.

Because Barney's second attacker had not yet been found, a police guard was waiting in the room with Ted and Robin, assigned to keep a watch over Barney once he got out of surgery, to make sure no further harm could come to him.

As soon as they were through giving their statements to the police, Robin and Ted had called Marshall and Lily, filling them in briefly on what had happened, and Barney's condition. They had promised to get there as quickly as possible, and were on their way by cab.

Robin and Ted sat together in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, playing over the fears and questions and dark memories of everything that had happened in the past few hours.

Neither could get the image of their friend's bloodied, battered body out of their minds.

The initial report from the doctor had been grim.

Barney had suffered numerous broken ribs and a compound fracture to his right leg, as well as countless burns and cuts and other marks of vicious torture. There was internal bleeding as well, for which they would have to immediately operate in order to repair his damaged organs and drain the excess blood.

"Is that all?" Ted had asked, immediately feeling foolish – because wasn't that more than enough?

The doctor's averted gaze had been enough to fill them both with dread, even before he spoke in a cautious, evasive tone. "We're going into emergency surgery now to stop the bleeding and repair the broken bones. We'll let you know as we progress, and as soon as there's any change in your friend's condition."

Once the doctor had left, both Ted and Robin tried not to think about what injuries he might not have been at liberty to discuss. Neither wanted to broach the topic with the other, each feeling more comfortable avoiding it completely – but neither could think of anything else.

Ted thought of the traumatized state in which they'd found Barney, flinching and shaking and terrified of the slightest touch.

What could have caused that intense a reaction? What must they have done to him to make him so scared? What can't the doctor legally tell us about?

Robin's mind focused on the fact that they'd found him bound and naked, every inch of him covered in the marks of brutal torture.

Every inch of him… God, what did they do to him? Surely they didn't… they wouldn't…

Their thoughts were abruptly interrupted as they saw the surgeon coming out of the doors leading from the operating room, pulling his mask down off his face as he approached them. The expression on his face was grim, and Ted felt his stomach lurch with fear, as he braced himself for the worst.

It didn't look as if it was going to be good news.