Leave Your Lover- Sam Smith

We sit in bars and raise our drinks to growing old
Oh, I'm in love with you and you will never know,
But if I can't have you I'll walk this life alone
Spare you the rising storms and let the rivers flow

Two weeks after she'd given her advice to Barney, Lily and Robin met for lunch. The former had been not-so-patiently waiting for Barney to make his move, while the latter was still oblivious to the entire thing. "So," Lily enthused as the two women scooted into their seats, "What's new with you?"
Something passed over Robin's face, almost undetectable. Lily knew immediately that there was a secret being kept. "Not much." Robin lied smoothly, opening her menu. "What about you, Lil? Is Marshall still taking those cello lessons?"
Lily refused to be distracted by her husband's hilarious (though Marshall himself took it very seriously) hobby. "Where's the poop, Robin?"
"Still?" Robin sighed, wishing that her friend couldn't read her so well. "You can still do that?"
Lily reached over the table, patting Robin's hand. "It's because you're my best friend, Sweetie." she sweetly explained. Robin smiled, touched, and Lily's kind expression dropped. "Now spit it out, Canada."
Robin shook her head, not deterred. "No way. This isn't something I want everyone to know about right now."
Lily struggled to keep her cool, mind jumping to wild conclusions. "I can totally keep it secret!" she insisted, knowing just as Robin did that the words were meaningless. "Dammit, just tell me!"
The waiter arrived then, to Robin's relief and Lily's chagrin. The two ordered, and the second the man had left, Lily was back on the horse. "Is it about Barney?" she demanded.
Robin scoffed. "Jesus, Lily, not everything in my life boils down to Barney." She shared a look with the redhead, realizing that, at least lately, this wasn't entirely true. "Shut up." Robin added.
Lily gave her a careful once-over. "So what is it?"
But Robin persisted in keeping her mouth shut. "You know," Lily mused, "If I guess, then it's not really you telling me anything." She quirked an eyebrow at Robin, whose expression stayed neutral. Lily took this as a go-ahead.
"Let's see." she said, thoughtful. "You're dating someone?" Lily speculated, worried. Robin shook her head, relieving Lily. She pressed on. "You killed someone?"
Head shake.
"You're moving back to Canada to pursue another singing career?"
No dice.
"You're madly in love with Marshall?"
No, again. Their game continued long enough for their food to arrive. After they had eaten, Lily continued as if there had been no pause.
"Uh, you're..." Lily sighed, finally out of ideas. "Would you just tell me already?"
Robin, growing tired of the questions, relented. "Fine, you really want to know what's going on with me?" she burst out, spurred on by Lily's eager nod. "Sandy offered me my foreign correspondent job back."
The question formed on Lily's lips, but the look Robin gave was answer enough.
She nodded in confirmation. "And I took it."
Lily stared at her friend for a long moment, torn between reprimanding her and questioning her. She settled for the latter. "Why would you do that? I know the first couple of weeks were difficult, but I thought you loved being back in New York-"
Robin waved her off. "I do." she agreed. "But I can't do it anymore."
Lily understood before Robin had to say it. "It's because of Barney." Lily said, not a question. Robin didn't respond, but the look on her face was enough. "But why?" Lily pressed. "Why are you two always fighting so hard to run away from each other?"
"Because all we do is make things worse by trying to be together?" Robin suggested.
Lily shook her head in amazement. "You don't seriously believe that, do you? I've never seen you guys happier than you are with each other."
"Yeah, and you all keep saying that," Robin protested, "but does either Barney or I seem happy?"
"No." Lily admitted reluctantly, "But that's because you aren't together. When you totally should be!" Lily added. She'd convined Barney at last, and now she was determined to do the same for Robin.
"Recent events have me thinking otherwise." Robin muttered. She glanced around the resturant, aware of the eyes watching them.
Lily followed her gaze, glaring at a young couple until they averted their eyes. "Because of what I said at Barney's Intervention?" she asked, exasperated. "I told you that I'm sorry a thousand times. Why do you keep throwing it in my face?"
"Why?" Robin repeated, scoffing. "Because I was saving Barney the trouble of all this. I wanted him to be able to just mourn Loretta without having to worry about me, and then you-"
"Step in so you can finally be happy again?" Lily interrupted, arms crossed over her chest. "You and Barney, both?"
Robin refused to let Lily guilt her. Good intentions or not, Lily had still messed up, and her actions had but yet another strain on Robin and Barney's already complicated relationship. "I know you thought you were helping." Robin allowed. "But I'm not trying this again. Everytime I've planned to tell Barney how I feel, it blows up in my face."
Robin sighed, tired of this talk. It seem like a weekly thing at this point. "It's not going to be easy, but I know that me leaving again is for the best."
Lily wanted to disagree again, but she knew that her words would only be lost on Robin. Lily realized that her only chance at getting Robin and Barney back together was Barney himself. She needed to tell him about Robin leaving New York. "So when are you going?"
Robin took this as a sign that Lily was done talking about Barney, and relaxed. But she was still careful not to divulge too much, on the likely chance that Lily didn't keep their conversation a secret. "Some time next week." Robin admitted.
"And you were just going to leave without telling anyone?" Lily wondered, hurt by this knowledge.
"Of course not, Lily." Robin protested. "I was going to throw myself a going away party in disguise and then text you all the truth from the airport." Robin rolled her eyes at Lily's accusation. "I'm not that awful."
Lily laughed slightly. Robin did the same, then sobered up. "But, um, do me a favor and don't mention this to Barney." She gave Lily a serious look. "I don't want this to hurt him anymore that it has to, you know? So just...don't let him know I'm leaving until I'm gone."
Lily nodded in-as far as Robin could tell-earnest. Lily hated lying to her friend, but she knew that it was in the interest of a far better outcome.

AN: So, just a very quick update to set the next chapter in motion. Because this one was completely from Robin's perspective, the following chapter will be written in Barney's voice. As always, thanks for reading!