And so Barney drove. At 12:30 in the morning, he found himself slipping in one of the CDs. Listening to the calming tune of Spiegel im Spiegel, he thought of those short days he had spent with Robin, trying to figure out how to deal with everything when they return to New York in the morning. Do they pretend? Or do they go back to genuinely hating each other? It would be quite difficult, wouldn't it? The roads were quiet and serene, and surprisingly, so was his mind. For the first time, he was glad he had been made to drive. He knew that he was not going to be able to sleep. Besides, he liked having something to do. It gave him a sense of purpose. It was scary how time just seemed to pass by even when you're not doing anything.
He thought about her more and more as he peered over at the shotgun seat, imagining her sitting there with a grouchy expression and crossed arms when they had first set off. She had refused to do anything he said and so eventually they just stopped talking, the both bitter over nothing. She had thought he was an inconsiderate jerk, and he had decided that she was an annoying wench. Thinking about it made him chuckle softly to himself. She was probably asleep right now, her breathing heavy with a smile playing on her lips. And with the realisation, the image of Robin sitting next to him disappeared.
He sighed, eyes on back on the road, hands sturdy on the steering wheel. There was still a long, long way to go. Hopefully he would have figured things out by then. Hopefully.
At 1:50, Barney felt his eyes start to droop.
Come on, ten more minutes until you get a decent lay, he clenched his teeth as he struggled to stay awake, the thought of Robin's promise lingering in his mind. The first time they had slept together, it had felt so good. Better than anyone else he had ever known.
1:51.
The roads stretched out in front of him, seemingly never-ending and bumpier than ever. He felt his hand slip off the steering wheel out of exhaustion and he jerked upright, trying to concentrate. Suddenly, nine minutes felt like an eternity. He could just go to bed right now, but he had promised her he would stay behind the wheel until 2 and for some reason, even though it was not like she would be upset she ever found out he had slipped off early, he felt bad. So he held on for just a little bit more, despite the various protests in his mind that came in small voices.
The second the digital clock on the dashboard showed it was 2 in the morning, he pulled aside and stepped on the brake. Peering out, he could tell they were still in the middle of nowhere - or at least nowhere he was familiar with - but he also knew they would back home very soon. The thought bothered him greatly. He had still not figured anything out. The best thing would obviously to not have to pretend to hate each other still, but for that to happen, he would first have to endure a bunch of 'I told you so!'s his friends would fire at him right away, and he would hate that. Plus Ted would go into great detail why friendship is possibly the most beautiful thing on Earth, a speech that might reduce himself to tears while Lily gave him looks, as if to say 'see?', and he was not going to sit through that.
So I guess we're going with pretend, he thought grimly as he unbuckled his seat belt. Unless Robin thinks otherwise. Stretching his arms, he let out an exaggerated yawn before climbing clumsily into the back of the caravan. He wanted to knock on Robin's door to try his luck or at least to remind her of the deal they had made, but after a few gentle knocks with no response, he concluded that she was probably deep asleep and saw no reason in disturbing her. They both needed a good sleep to handle the usual loud chatter of their friends the next morning; they had planned to meet at the bar, and tonight he was going to leave her alone to rest.
He turned the knob to his own door slowly and squeezed his eyes shut as the door creaked open. It was pitch black, as expected, but as he turned on the lights, he did a double take. Robin was sound asleep on his bed, lying on her side, tucked beneath the covers with only her shoulder peeping out. She was wearing lace, obviously staying true to her deal, but she must have fallen asleep while waiting for him to finish driving. Well... he couldn't blame her. It had been a long day.
"Oh, Scherbatsky," was all he could manage as he shook his head and sighed. Walking over to where she slept, he pulled the blanket up to her chin. The light was on but she was not disturbed, her features soft and her breathing gentle. He paused for a moment before kissing her good night on the forehead, the scent of lavender in her hair creeping into his nostrils.
Barney didn't know what to do next seeing as she had taken over his crib, but later decided that they would just have to swap rooms for the night. He walked over to turn off the light, not wanting to wake her, and quietly slipped back out into the corridor and into her room to settle in instead.
It was weird, sleeping in a room that smelled of girl everywhere, but he felt a sense of intimacy he liked as his head hit the pillow. He was still thinking about all the things that would happen after sunrise, and the more he thought about pretending that the only feelings he had for Robin were feelings of hatred, the more he wanted this road trip to never end. He was usually good at pretending but recently he felt like he simply could not with feelings and matter regarding Robin. It was not until he had realised that there was a possibility of her reverting back to hating him that he thought he might have actually heard his heart break. If he were to be honest, he supposed he would not be able to make cruel jokes about her anymore, even back at the bar. Not the ones with seriously bad intentions anyway. Those were truly awful. Thinking back, he didn't understand why he had chosen to dislike her in the first place. He kind of just... did. It was the kind of thing that just happened, and so naturally, they fought, and they fought often.
But he needed to stop over thinking if he was ever planning to get a good night's sleep.
Burying his face in the soft blankets, he pleaded with his mind to stop worrying about what the next day might hold and allowed himself to drift into sleep, which he did pretty quickly as his exhaustion took over him.