Reunion

"I'm so glad you came." Lily said as she led him and Ellie into the living room.

"I know, we haven't seen each other in ages." Barney replied, his hand on Ellie's shoulder.

Lily had called out of the blue to invite him and Ellie to dinner and Barney had decided that it would be a good thing to rekindle their friendship.

"So much has happened." Lily said as she called for Daisy and Rose.

Barney nodded, he wondered whether or not Lily was planning on telling him about Ted and Robin tonight.

"And you got so big Ellie." Lily said and smiled at the little girl, "do you even remember me?"

"Hey, you are already there, I was just heading up the barbeque." Marshall said as he walked back into the livingroom.

"How are you bro?" Marshall and Barney hugged.

"We are doing great." Barney answered.

Daisy and Rose appeared on the stairwell.

"There you are, look who is here, you remember Ellie, right?" Daisy nodded, she had grown into a beautiful teenager.

"Hi."

Ellie nodded, she was the youngest of the bunch and clearly uncomfortable.

"I was thinking that the three of you could make a trip to the Bodega to grab the ingredients for smores?"

"Can I take daddy's car?" Daisy asked excited.

"You sure can sweetheart." Marshall replied.

Ellie looked up at him and Barney could tell that she wasn't thrilled to go with them.

"Here, you can get some sweets too." He pulled his wallet out and handed her a twenty.

"Daisy is a great driver." Marshall pointed out.

"Yeah, come on, it'll be fun." Rose encouraged Ellie and she finally followed them outside.

"She'll be fine, both Daisy and Rose have looked forward to spending time with her." Lily explained.

Barney nodded, "so how are you doing?"

Lily recollected the entire last year for him, and eventually ended with how Marvin was doing now that he wasn't living at home anymore.

Barney nodded, "must be weird to have one of the kids move out, huh?"

"Yeah it was a change. How about you, how are you and Ellie doing?"

"Good, she's really liking school so that's good and I'm working on my next book." He shrugged.

"Any ladies in your life?" Marshall asked.

"I actually just got back form a trip with one this morning. Ellie doesn't know that, she was with James and Tom, but I spend two days in a beach house enjoying life, if you know what I mean." He winked.

"Seriously?" Lily asked surprised.

Barney nodded, "yep, but as I said, Ellie thinks I went on a business trip so I'd appreciate if you wouldn't tell her."

"Who's the girl? Something serious?" Marshall asked.

Barney was just about to answer when he heard noises form the hallway and turned around, expecting Ellie and the girls to be back.

Instead he heard a male voice.

"Are you expecting anyone else?" he asked while Lily was already walking towards the hallway.

"You guys are late." She pointed out.

"Yeah sorry."

Marshall walked towards the hallway as well and Barney followed him, wondering how they had invited to join them.

"Dad insisted I had to change before leaving." A teenage boy who was now in Barney's eyesight, explained.

"Well, we actually got a surprise planned." Lily explained in her high-pitched voice.

"I cannot deal with another welcome-home surprise."

He recognized the voice instantly. Robin was here. Lily and Marshall had invited everyone.

He stepped into the hallway, "oh hey, I didn't know this was a group thing."

"Surprise." Lily exclaimed.

"We thought it was time to get everyone together again." Marshall explained.

Barney exchanged a look with Robin, who was just as stunned to see him here as he was to see her.

Then he forced himself to look at Ted.

He had gotten a lot older, and basically was now the old professor he'd always been on the inside anyways.

The two teenagers looked just as surprised as everyone else.

"Hi Barney, we haven't seen each other in ages, how are you doing?" Ted finally broke the silence.

"Great." Barney replied, looking back to Robin.

Ted must have noticed it since he moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Did you know that Robin and I are a couple again?"

Barney hesitated, what was he supposed to say?

Robin was clearly just as uncomfortable as he was. She pushed Ted's arm off of her and stepped forward.

"How have you been?"

"Good." Barney replied.

"Barney, Robin just got back from a six-month assignment in London." Lily explained.

"This morning." Ted grinned, he was trying to re-establish physical contact with his girlfriend but Robin kept him at arms length.

"So you still travel?" Barney asked.

"Sometimes." She replied.

"Sometimes?" Penny asked, "you are constantly gone."

Barney caught the harsh tone the teenager used.

"And we get to visit her in the most amazing places." Ted tried to salvage the situation.

"We got to go to London." Luke explained, "it was great!"

"I bet it was." Barney nodded.

The door was opened again and the three girls appeared.

The second Ellie saw Robin, she started running and threw herself into her arms, "you are back!"

Robin caught her and pulled her into a tight hug.

Barney could see that Robin had closed her eyes while she held onto Ellie, he also noticed the confused looks all around.

"I missed you so much..." Ellie said as she drew back, she whispered her next sentence but everyone was still able to hear it, "daddy did too."

"Who are you?" Penny asked confused, "and how do you know my stepmom?"

Ellie looked up at Penny, clearly confused.

"I got you a surprise, but I don't have it with me right now." Robin quickly told Ellie.

"From London?" Ellie asked excited.

Robin nodded, and noticed the bag Ellie was carrying and asked if she should take it to the kitchen.

Ellie nodded, "it's the ingredients for the s'mores."

Robin quickly, and without making eye-contact with anyone, walked into the kitchen.

Penny was about to charge after her but Ted stopped her by holding his arm out, "I think you should go outside and check on the fire. All of you."

He then followed Robin.

Barney could feel Lily's eyes on him, while Marshall tried to get all the kids to join him outside.

Neither Ellie nor Penny were moving though.

"What is going on?" Lily hissed.

"You should have mentioned that you invited everyone." Barney replied as he placed his hand onto Ellie's shoulder and walked her into the living room.

…

Robin was standing by the sink, looking out the window. She could hear someone entering the kitchen and took a deep breath.

"Please tell me there is another explanation for why Ellie knows who you are other then the obvious one." Ted asked behind her.

Robin hesitated before slowly shaking her head.

"Since when?" Ted finally asked.

"A couple of months before I left for London." She replied.

This hadn't been the plan. She was going to find herself an apartment first, find someone to walk her dogs, have a plan.

They were going to take things slow and simply date first.

The break-up with Ted wasn't supposed to be about her infidelity. And it certainly wasn't supposed to happen in Lily and Marshall's kitchen.

"Oh my god." Ted whipped his face with his hand.

"I ran into him one night and we…" she shrugged, "I'm really sorry Ted."

"You are sorry? You cheated on me with your ex-husband and that's all you've got to say."

"It's Barney." Was all she said.

"Exactly! How could you do this? We have a family Robin."

"You have a family." She corrected him.

"And so does Barney." Ted replied.

The door was opened again and Barney entered the kitchen as well.

"You fucking bastard, you seduced my girlfriend, who the fuck does that?" Ted nearly charged at him.

"He didn't know." Robin interjected.

"What?" Ted asked confused.

"Barney didn't know that we were together when it happened."

"You didn't tell him?" Ted asked surprised.

"Not initially." Robin replied.

"I can't believe this." Ted shook his head, "how could you do this to us?"

Robin didn't have an answer, other then, "I'm very sorry Ted."

Ted left the kitchen, leaving Barney and Robin by themselves.

They exchanged a long look before Barney stepped forward, "I'll get Ellie, and then we can get some things from the house and go back to the city."

Robin nodded, "thanks."

Barney turned back and looked at her, "I'm sorry that Ellie spilled the beans."

"It wasn't her fault, she didn't know." Robin replied, and added, "did you see how excited she was to see me?"

Barney nodded, "told you."

Barney hesitated, unsure of whether or not he should go over there and hug her, or not. But maybe now was not the right time, so he left the kitchen to summon Ellie up.

Penny and Lily were standing by her side, clearly asking her questions about Robin.

"Ellie? Come on, we are going to leave."

Ellie responded immediately, running over to her dad.

Lily and his eyes met briefly but he just turned around and walked back into the hallway, where Robin was already waiting for him.

…

They had almost reached the car when Ted stormed out of the house and caught Robin's arm, swinging her around.

"Wait." He said and glanced over to Barney and Ellie, who had also stopped in their tracks.

Barney got the message and pushed Ellie further along, even though he really wanted to have a say in this conversation too, he understood that this was between Robin and Ted.

"There is no going back if you leave now." Barney heard Ted say.

"I am not happy Ted, I haven't been for a long time. I am not cut out for this live, for the suburbs, for being someone's stepmom." Robin replied calmly.

"The kids love you." Ted countered, "you can't do this to us. We are a family."

"Ted, I'm really sorry."

Marshall, Lily and all the kids had come out as well, standing on the front porch watching the drama unfold.

"You are making a mistake Robin. I get that you and Barney have a lot of history together and that being with him is more exciting than here in the suburbs with me, but it's a mistake."

Robin looked over her shoulder, where Barney and Ellie were already sitting in the car.

"I can forgive you for the affair, it'll be hard, but we can work through our issues, but if you leave now, if you walk out right this second, then that's it Robin, you'll loose this family. Think about that."

"I have thought about it Ted, I had six months to think about it. This break-up was inevitable, it's what I want." Robin turned around and walked the past couple of steps to the car, quickly getting in.

"Go?" Barney asked.

"As fast as you can." Robin replied.

"Did I say something wrong?" Ellie asked as they exited the street.

"No sweetie, you didn't." Barney replied, he glanced over to Robin who had closed her eyes.

"But everyone was excited about the BBQ and making s'mores and now we are leaving without eating." Ellie pointed out.

"Ell? You didn't do anything wrong. But can you please be quiet for a little while? How about you draw something? There should be paper and crayons in the backpack, right?" Barney instructed her.

"It's okay." Robin said and turned to him, he could see that she had tears in her eyes, "you don't have to be quiet Ellie, and Barney is right, you didn't do or say anything wrong."

"But the s'mores." Ellie said once again.

"We can make some, just the three of us, okay? We'll stop at a bodega and grab the stuff we need." Robin offered.

"You don't have to do that." Barney said.

"It's okay." Robin replied.

Barney sighed, this was not at all the evening he had envisioned.

…

They arrived at Ted's house twenty minutes later.

"Are you coming?" Robin asked as she was already halfway out of her seat.

"I don't think we should." Barney replied.

"They aren't coming home anytime soon, and Ellie can play with the dogs. I need at least fifteen minutes to grab the most important things, she doesn't need to sit in the car for that."

"I don't think Ted would want me in there."

"Well, he's not here and it's not like we are going to sneak one in or anything." Robin said under he breath so only Barney could hear it.

He chuckled, "that would be kind of hot." He told her as they met on the front of the hood of the car as he was walking around to get Ellie and she was already walking towards the house.

…

Ellie clearly had respect for the dogs and stayed behind Barney as they came up to sniff them.

"They won't do anything." Robin told them and walked them through the study and towards the back door, "how about you guys play with them in the backyard? There should be toys all over you can throw for them."

Barney nodded and stepped out first, Ellie close behind.

"I'll hurry up." Robin promised as she closed the screen door.

Ellie quickly became more comfortable around the dogs, running around with them in the yard and Barney decided that it was okay to leave them alone for a moment so he could check on Robin.

"Robin?" he called out as he entered the hallway.

"Up here." Came the reply, shortly afterwards she appeared on the top of the stairs, "is everything all right?"

"Yeah." He quickly walked up the stairs, taking two steps at a time, trying not to think about being in Ted's house and overstepping all kinds of boundaries by being up here.

He'd reached her, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to get my work stuff and I'll be good to go."

"No I mean, with all of this."

"Can we talk about this later? I know I said that Ted wouldn't be back anytime soon but I really don't want to risk running into them here either."

"I know, it's just…look, we can drop Ellie off at James' and Tom's, that way we would have the apartment to ourselves."

"It's okay, I don't mind Ellie being there, it's her home. And I don't mind her asking questions, or not understanding the situation. I don't want her to feel like she can't talk to us about this, you know? And I think it's a good idea to make s'mores tonight, it'll be a positive start into this whole new chapter of our lives. Yes, this wasn't exactly how I pictured the break-up from Ted to go, but it happened and if anything it's my fault, not hers or Lily's."

Barney nodded, "but you've got to be craving some quiet time, right now."

"I'm a reporter Barney, I get paid to pretend to be happy and carefree. I can pull through a couple of hours of doing that for Ellie's sake."

"I'll try to get her to bed as early as possible."

She nodded and started to turn around, but Barney caught her arm and pulled her back around, the other hand finding the nape of her neck as he kissed her passionately.

Her arms moved around his torso and their tongs found each other.

"I love you." He whispered as he finally drew back.

"I love you too." Robin replied, equally whispering.