Continuing from where this left off, I wanted to show much more of B/R's relationship and their reunion. It's an important part of this story and it shows how they got to where they are in the present day. This is very present and very flashback-y so the last part of this is present. I didn't want to confuse my readers with what is present and what is flashback. But, enjoy this chapter shows just where Ted's head is at and I wanted to explain why he is thinking what he's thinking but that will be in the next chapter. There is only two more chapters to go with this then this story ends. I might make a sequel to this with B/R's life and the following years after 2030 and the inbetween years from when they get remarried to when their daughter was born.
Until then, I'm glad people seem to like this story so enjoy this chapter. Also, this chapter has some canon things in it but it's mostly non canon.
"Not exactly." Robin said in a low tone of voice.
"So, I'm guessing this is not a get together with just Tracy, then." Barney says, with a sigh shaking his head.
"I guess not." Robin, had thought this was just a nice get together lunch with Tracy whom she hadn't seen for a year so it was nice to have her ask her to lunch. But, it's obviously not a lunch between two friends rather a lunch-get together with her ex husband.
"I'm, I guess I'll go." She states, wanting to leave and not be here cause it's once again awkward to be standing in front of her ex husband and not saying much to him.
She starts to turn to leave but Barney calls out. "Robin, just wait a minute." Barney turns to look at her as she was about half way to the door.
"Tracy's right, she is only being a good friend who clearly sees that we are once again running away from each other." And, that got her to move from her spot near the exit of the restaurant and then walk back towards where Barney is now standing.
"I guess you're right." She says, now getting more closer to where Barney is still standing.
"So, please let's just talk. Please?" He tries to extend a hand out to her to take to make her see how serious he's being right now but what she does is instead she moves past him and sits down at the table.
"That's a good start, sounds like you did talk things over." Ted said, he really likes where this story is going so far.
"Yeah, but that wasn't the start of us being together, though." Robin, tells him and the gang looking saddened as she continued with the story.
"Listen, this might sound a little unlike me but I really have missed you and I was hoping that maybe we could, I don't know sit, talk and maybe start up our friendship again." Barney suggested. He didn't want to push anything, he knows how quick Robin is when she feels ambushed and wants to leave. She always finds someway to back out of a weird situation but he also knows that she will listen to him when she knows that he's serious. So, Robin sighs and then says.
"Okay, let's just talk we have not seen each other for a long time and to be honest I have missed you too." She tells him with a smile, he smiles back equally seeming satisfied with her response to his request.
"So, we talked. But we didn't really discuss any kind of feelings at that time. We just talked, after not seeing or speaking to each other for along time we just talked and had a nice meal together. I didn't want to start anything with a relationship because I was going to go off on another assignment two days after that day. So, we left things unfinished with us but did end that awkward meeting by suggesting we should try being friends again and to keep in touch. I did go off to London that following Tuesday but surprisingly, and this was such a shock to me but he..." Robin's smiles was more brighter and bigger as her tone in her voice changed to a higher pitched squeal at the memory of that time and it was the best thing that ever happened to both of them.
He knew she might not be there but he wanted to come and surprise her. He wasn't planning on going to visit her but he was alone, bored and his mind started to wander a bit thinking about her and wondering what she's doing and how she's doing. He realized that he really does miss her and the happiest he's been in such a long time was when he saw her again after being apart for two years. So, he packed one suitcase, thinking it would be enough since he wasn't going to stay in London for too longer. He just wanted to go see her, surprise her unexpectedly because he misses her.
Sure, she texted him once she was settled in in London but that wasn't enough. He wanted to hear her voice, he called her but she didn't pick up so he decided to pack a bag, book a flight and went off to surprise her which he hasn't done since they were married, when things seemed to be going well between them, the relationship had their bumps but they were happy at one point during their marriage.
He stood outside her door, she had an apartment which WWN had paid all expenses for. Robin, had really come so far from where she was when they first met each other. And, he is so proud of her and her success even if he wasn't happy in those last weeks of their marriage he was still supportive and happy that she succeeded her dream.
He sighed and took in a deep breath then let it out and knocked lightly at first hoping she heard the knock. Luckily, she did and opened the door after a second of waiting.
"Barney?" Surprised, she was talking on her phone to someone as she opened the door to a very happy looking Barney and after that she had totally forgotten about the person she was talking to on the phone.
"Surprise." He said in a more louder tone after he said hi to her.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, she still had the smile on her face as she did at first when she opened the door.
"I was bored, I wanted to come see you and so I tried to call you to ask you if it'll be alright to come see you but you didn't pick up. I just, I wanted to see you so I booked a flight knowing where you would be staying. I hope you don't mind me coming to see you." He hoped that she wasn't upset over this sudden surprise visit but from the way she looked at him with this huge smile and bright shiny eyes that says it all.
The next thing he knew was that she was kissing him.
"Aw, that's so sweet. Barney the romantic." Lily said, she had a little tear in her eyes wanting to escape thinking that Barney, the old Barney that she knew is shockingly a very romantic guy and she is eating up this story which she already knew about since she's known that Barney and Robin were back together for a few years now.
"Wait, what's that for?" After kissing for about three minutes Barney broke the kiss in shock that she unexpectedly kissed him unnoticed and unwanted but he has missed kissing her so he didn't mind the kiss. It had gotten a bit heated until he stopped it and broke from her lips.
"I realized that it's not just this surprise that makes me fall more and more in love with you. It's the fact that I can't stop thinking about you, about us, about our lunch the other day. It's everything, it's you. You're the reason I couldn't move on from the divorce. It's you who I can't get over or move on from, and the fact that you came to surprise me makes me feel the same way as I did in those two months before we got engaged. Barney… I know I haven't been very open with my emotions or feelings for you, and in the last couple of month before we divorced but I did and still do love you. I was just trying too hard to ignore how very much in love I am with you. Tracy was right. I do still want to be with you, I do still love you and the fact is… I've been really miserable without you and living in denial is not a good thing to do. Seeing you in Grand Central, was sure a little weird but it made all the memories I tried too hard to forget was still there when we ran into each other." This confession was a little shocking to him but the fact that she's now being this open, this honest and is revealing her feelings like this to him made him feel like he never should've left her. Divorcing the love of his life was the worst decision he's ever made and the best decision was marrying her.
"I love you too. So much, I've lived in the same delusion as you and it made me miserable. We never should've divorced, we should have discuss things more maybe gone to counseling or something but divorcing you was the last thing I wanted. I've never stopped loving you, Robin and now that I know how you really feel. Can we just, I don't know not be friends because that isn't working and hasn't worked in a very long time." She laughs at that but it's true they are far from the friendship zone, so far that it's pretty laughable at this time in their relationship.
"It's pretty dumb of me to ask you to just be your friend because I can't be friends with someone I love more than my career." And, that comment made him a little sad considering they ended their marriage because of it.
"I never wanted to divorce you, I was so proud of you and your career, your success was my joy and I never thought of it as anything but a great thing for you because you've always wanted the success you have now." At this point, they are sitting still dressed which is odd for them since it's well them they can't stay dress for long once they get going the way they did a little while ago.
"No, I took us for granted and I lost it. You are the only thing that was great in my life. You are what I've always wanted but tried ignoring it for along time and then I took what I knew all that time and let it slip out of my hands letting it fall to the ground before it was too late, but it was too late and then we ended our marriage because I took you for granted and wanting more than just a relationship. I'm so sorry, Barney I never meant to put so much pressure on you so much so that I pushed you away before it was too late I lost the last thing I've ever wanted… You." They are both tearing up a bit at this moment realizing how real and honest they have been since they ended their marriage. It was really good for them to realize and understand the issues they had then and to find their way back to each other before things became much more denied between them.
"I never meant to blame you for the problems I had back then. At the time I was going through some stuff and I took it out on you and your success when I didn't mean to do that when I am so proud and happy that you got to finally have the career you've always wanted. I should have tried much harder in our marriage, and I regret doing so before things got to be too much to bare we made the worst decision ever. I should have been more supportive and do things better but I regret that now and realize how stupid I was being, ok more of a jerk I was being towards you and your career when I should have handled that better." Sadly, he knew that the marriage was coming to an end and that final spat in the hotel was the last straw but he still blames himself for ruining the best thing that's ever happened to him.
"Let's just not say one of us are to blame for our marriage crumbling. Let's just agree that we are both to blame because we were both in the marriage it wasn't a marriage of one person it was the both of us and we both royally screwed up." Their heads were close together, his hand was in the back of her resting on the bed, her hand was resting on his leg, they were both in tears but tried to wipe them away and control them. It was a very emotional truthful moment and both realize how completely ridiculous they were for the way they handled that last fight and the divorce.
"Yeah, we did. I'm sorry, for everything. It would have been better if we handled it better. It's typical of our nature to do what we did and let it all slip away before it's too late to keep holding it." They had controlled their emotions and now are looking at each other for the first time since they sat down to talk about everything they needed to.
"I'm sorry too, I was being my usual self and being selfish towards you and your career. I love you, I hope you know that I love that you have all this success now. I just wish I had dealt with things better then, than I did but I loved you then and I loved how successful you were. I'm still so proud of you and how you've succeeded with your career it's always what you wanted and I've always been your number one fan. Since you confessed something I will confess that I have not missed one of your segments after we split I record them whenever I know when you're doing a broadcast or segment. I have recorded every single one of you past reports too, from Metro New 1 to World Wide News." Shocked, in all the years she had known him she never knew that he recorded the news reports she had done. It was his secret and nobody knew about it until this very moment.
"You really recorded all of my reports? Even the ones that are embarrassing?"
"The more embarrassing ones are my favorites."
She shakes her head and laughs but it's really sweet that he recorded her news reports all this time. She didn't think he was that proud of her but now she realizes that he has always watched her on the news doing even the worst segments and reports of her career. She can't believe it but it's truly really sweet of him to do that.
"I love you." She says out of no where, she realized in this moment why she truly couldn't move on from him.
"I love you too." He smiles again and they were staring now at each other then she leans in again to kiss him.
"Aw, that's so sweet see I knew you two would get it together again. You really are meant for each other, I was right." Lily says patting herself on the back for being the one to bring these two knuckle heads together in the first place and knowing that it was the right thing to do for the both of them because if it wasn't for Lily and Tracy these two idiots would be living in denial for the rest of their lives.
"Yeah, well after that time we started our relationship over as a restart. I was still traveling and he was still in New York. We were trying again, which was good and bad at other times but mostly good. It took sometime to really be together even though we were back together and happy. We were apart for another year until we decided to get married again." Robin, retells this story for Lily and Marshall but tells Ted the whole story since it's him who wanted to know the full story on how they came to be, back together and married now.
"So, you did get married again?" Ted needed to be confirmed again because this is too much for him to take in in such a short time of knowing the story of how they reconciled their relationship to get to where they are today.
"Yes, we got married again right before you and Tracy got married actually it was in June of that year a month after our original wedding date and month of May. We also have a daughter, who is five years old she was born a year after Tracy's death." Barney explains, it wasn't the easiest time in their lives before they had Bri but she was a big reason why their relationship changed a lot and now it's better than ever. This is truly the happiest they've ever been.
"Wait, you have a five year old daughter. I thought you had a daughter with some random?" Ted has really told the worlds weirdest story to his children when he was in that bad state of mind he was in. He thinks Barney had a daughter, yes he knew that but not with Robin and his daughter's name was Ellie and she was much older than five at this time.
"Ted, what kind of stories did you tell your kids about me? I've never had any child with a random I didn't have any children until we, me and Robin had our daughter." Ted gives an odd look, trying to figure out why he was telling the story so very wrong about Barney's life.
"And, I went to Robin's apartment to ask her out. How are you two married with a daughter when Robin was living at another place?" Ted's back to being confused and doesn't understand what he's just been told.
"Ted, Robin was living at that place because before we got back together years ago when we did she had that apartment but she doesn't live there anymore. How do you know about her old apartment and why are you thinking she lives there?" Barney's confused himself, Ted seemed to be back to normal again a few minutes ago but it's obvious to him that Ted is still in that unhealthy mind set of thinking of the past and his past life.
"What? I can't believe this I thought you two divorced, Barney had a daughter but with some random one night stand and Robin went off traveling for her work and you two haven't seen each other for a while after that.
"No, we saw each other again at Tracy's 34th birthday party but before that ran into each other while getting a ticket for the train ride up to your house, this house. It wasn't that long that we were apart, we saw each other again, Tracy did that lunch intervention then I surprised her in London. That's the story, the real story. That apartment, Robin hasn't lived there in years it was our new apartment that you showed up at." Barney doesn't know what Ted is thinking and thinks maybe he's still not understanding what he and Robin has been telling him.
"Wow, how did I end up at your new place then?" Ted asked, wondering how he ended up at Barney and Robin's new apartment while thinking he was at Robin's apartment which Barney didn't live in.
"You did want to ask me out, but I turned you down and you left. You didn't notice my hand with my wedding ring on it because you didn't look at my hand and so you thought I was single. But, I'm not and haven't been in along time. I've been married and living with Barney for years now since we did get remarried." Robin explained, hoping that Ted understands that she hasn't lived in that apartment she rented after she left the Fortress after she and Barney divorced. She doesn't get why he doesn't understand that she doesn't have her single life anymore.
"But, you had your dogs. It was the same place you lived in when we first met." And, now everyone gets what Ted is thinking.