Marshall and Lily's Apartment
Ted had headed home after finishing off the last pancakes, and Lily and Marshall were left to clean the kitchen.
"Ted's out of control." Lily pointed out.
"Well, yes, I agree, he needs to leave Barney and Robin alone, however, I kind of get it too. He's still not over her, and I mean they broke up because she didn't want the same things out of life then he did. And now? She is married, and thinking about kids. That must sting." Marshall defended his best friend.
"And with Barney of all people." Lily added.
Marshall nodded in agreement, "I would have never seen this coming."
"Me neither, but they are extremely happy together, so whether Ted likes it or not; he really has to stop being such a jerk."
"Easier said then done. Hanging out with them all the time doesn't help either."
"All the time? I feel like we have barely seen Barney and Robin these last couple of months." Lily pointed out.
"That's true, they haven't been around much."
No big surprise there, Ted and Barney were not getting along these days, and almost every encounter ended in a scene.
"Do you think they are really thinking about having a baby?" Lily asked.
"I was going to ask you the same thing, did Robin mention something?"
"Nope, but why would she. I would think that Barney and Robin wouldn't tell anyone about a baby until there is a baby to tell people about."
"True. Man that would be extremely odd; Barney and Robin having a kid before us, come on?"
"I know, that would be weird." Lily agreed.
Robins Apartment
U okay? Call me.
She hit send, hoping that Barney would finally react to her texts. She was worried again, not because someone might be following her, but because he didn't answer.
She needed something to distract her, and so she ended up thinking back to Las Vegas.
Las Vegas 13 Months Prior
The seats and the show were magnificent, and she really enjoyed it. Barney got them Champaign during the recess, and she actually snuggled up to him for the second half of the show.
It occurred to her how happy she was right then and there. She felt very content, and was glad that she had turned to Barney for help. She looked down on her ring, and thought that whomever Barney would end up with was a very lucky girl, because underneath all the suits and repulsive sex stories was a truly awesome guy.
Barney suggested going on a walk after the show and they roamed the streets for about half an hour, enjoying the vivid ambiance.
He draped his suit jacket around her shoulders when he noticed that she was getting cold, and she thanked him with an intimate kiss.
"Let's get back to the Bellagio, we don't want to miss the fountains." He said, wrapping his arm around her waist and stirring her in the right direction.
Barney asked someone to take a picture of them in front of the fountains, and made Robin laugh when he told the elderly couple that they had gotten married today.
"Too bad we can't tell anyone about this." Barney whispered, as he pulled her closer.
They were watching the fountains, and Robin asked, "why is that?"
"just because." Barney shrugged.
Robin contemplated whether or not she should dig deeper but left it alone.
"Should we head upstairs?" Barney whispered softly into her ear.
She nodded. Finally.
They didn't talk on the way up, and Robin briefly worried whether or not this would be super awkward and whether or not Barney had tried too hard with this romantic evening.
But then Barney caught her off guard when he lifted her off the ground with ease.
"What are you doing?" she asked laughing, and wrapping her hands around his neck for support.
"Carrying you over the threshold." He replied, while goofing around.
She laughed, and suddenly it wasn't awkward anymore.
They got to their suite and Barney stopped in front of the door,
"Are you ready for this Mrs. Stinson?" he asked.
"Are you?" she replied.
"Not even a little." Barney grinned. "Can you get the keycard out of my back pocket and open the door?"
It made Robin laugh again, it took her a few tries to get the card, but she finally opened the door.
Belize Earlier Today
"Look, I am just here to make sure the contracts are still being executed precisely." Barney said, it was a weak attempt to stir the conversation topic away from Robin.
"The contracts, thanks for bringing them up. I think we need to renegotiate them, given that now there is so much more at stake." Scott smiled.
"The contracts are final." Barney said stern.
"No they are not, unless of course you want something to happen to a certain Canadian newscaster in New York?"
Barney laughed about that, "extortion, nice."
"Right? I should really thank you for that idea, after learning what you did to Russell I thought it would be interesting to see how you would handle something like that."
"I am not playing along with your games." Barney made clear.
"Oh you will, trust me. Tell me Barney, why the rush at the airport yesterday? Your wife seemed a little dumbfounded when you left her like that."
Barney squinted his eyes, "what?"
"But I guess she got over it, two guys spend quite some time at the apartment with her. Or actually at your apartment, she didn't go home until this morning."
Barney tried not to react.
"Your wife sure has a lot of male visitors while you are away, the guy from last night actually came by again this morning. You sure she is faithful to you?" Scott teased.
"Again, loving the shit chat, but we have business to get to." Barney had set out to say it in a very carefree tone, but failed.
"Oh we will talk about that in just a second." Scott snickered.
Barney pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and tried to text Robin while being as subtle about it as possible.
Marshall and Lily's Apartment
Robin couldn't take it anymore, all the waiting for Barney to call drove her crazy so she decided to head over to her friends apartment to see how they were doing.
Marshall was out running, which left Robin and Lily alone.
"How are you doing sweetie?" Lily asked pulling her best friend into a tight hug.
"I am okay, you?" Robin asked.
"Me too. Man, what a night, huh? I am so glad you and Barney are fine. I really thought that second gun shot had killed you." Lily was close to tears, and Robin pulled her in for another hug.
"But everyone is fine, and Barney will have an awesome story to tell about gun fragments lodged in his shoulder, stay tuned for that. I've heard the rough draft of that story, and it's pretty legendary."
The comment had the effect Robin had hoped for, and made Lily smile.
"So he is okay?" she asked while sitting down on the couch.
"He's fine." Robin nodded, hoping that is was true.
"Everything happened so quickly. I didn't even realize Barney was shot until he came back from the gunman. Marshall said it looked like a brutal blow."
Robin didn't really want to think about it anymore, seeing Barney's shirt soaked in all that blood had terrified her.
"He's fine though." She repeated.
Lily nodded, "where did you get the gun?"
"Initially from my purse, Barney tugged it in his waistband before we got up." Robin explained.
Lily nodded, "I still can't fully wrap my head around what happened. So when will Barney be back?"
"I'm not sure." Robin replied.
"That's unusual, usually Barney tells you how long his trips are, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, but this one was a last minute emergency thing." She shrugged.
"Where is he?" Lily asked curious.
"Belize." Robin answered.
"That's where the gun man was from, right? So the shooting had something to do with his job after all!"
Robin swallowed, she did not want to down this road, so she said the first thing that came to her mind, "I slapped Ted this morning."
It worked. "Yeah, he told us."
"Did he also tell you what he accused Barney of? I am telling you Lily, I am so sick of Ted's accusations and comments. I really tried to be patient and understanding, but quite frankly, I am done trying and Barney has been for a while now."
"He just mentioned that you and Barney are thinking about kids, and that he tried to talk you out of it." Lily responded.
"See, the fact that he told you alone pisses me off. He only found out by being a intruder in Barneys apartment, and now it's his news to share?" Robin shook her head.
"So you are thinking about having kids?" Lily asked.
"Barney and I have talked about it, yes."
"Wow, I can't believe all this is happening." Lily commented.
Robin felt her cell phone buzz, and hurried to get it out of her jeans pocket.
Can't talk right now. Just b careful, ok? Love you babe.
Robin hurried to type her response, hoping Barney would be able to answer if she was quick enough.
R u ok? Pls call l8r.
"Everything okay? You look worried." Lily noticed.
"Yeah, sure…it's just Barney."
"Is he okay?" Lily asked.
Robin nodded, "yeah, he's gonna call me in a minute, I should head out." She didn't want to discuss Barney being in Belize or his job with Lily.
"Okay, sure. Let us know if you need anything, okay?" Lily asked.
"I will, and tell Marshall I said hi." Robin said before leaving the apartment. Her cell phone buzzed once more.
Don't worry about me, I am fine. Just back 2 back meetings.
Robin knew that there was a big chance that he was lying, but it still helped her calm down a little.
She got a cab, and while looking out the window reminiscent about Las Vegas ones more.
Las Vegas 13 Months Prior
Barney had carried her to the bed, and let himself pretty much fall forwards. The soft covers softened the fall, it made her laugh.
They started kissing again, Barney's hand on her stomach while he was kneeling her legs apart.
He pulled back once more, "you are sure about this, right?"
She nodded, and it occurred to her that she had probably never been so sure in her life. "Yes, 100% Barney."
He grinned, and kissed her again before pulling back one more time,
"can I ask you a favor?" He asked.
"Already? I figured you at least wait with asking for sexual favors until the second round."
It made him laugh, "I love the dirty talk, but that's not what I meant."
She wrapped her hand around his tie, impatiently waiting for his request.
"Spill it."
"Don't fake it with me, okay?" he asked.
It surprised her for a second, but she recovered quickly "why, do girls usually have to?"
"Haha, very funny. No, I just hate when girls do that. I am not 19 anymore, and neither are you. If something isn't working then tell me, don't fake it."
She nodded, "okay, I won't."
And it was on.