They play Battleship for over an hour during which no one wins but they turn it into a drinking game so they don't really care.

Eventually Barney takes a cab home, and at 3:12 a.m. when he's just climbing into bed he gets a call from Robin.

"I saw you were busy after you got home," she drawls flirtatiously.

And he is all on board; Lil' Barney twitched to life at just her tone. "I was not," he refutes with an equally flirtatious quality to his voice. "You denied me that chance, remember? But if you changed your mind…."

"I meant your new blog entry."

"Why, Scherbatsky, I didn't know you read my blog at three in the morning. Next time I'll throw in some porn for you."

"What I read was eye-catching enough."

"Well, I'm glad I could help out." She makes a soft little sound that Barney takes for a half-laugh, and he smiles. "You just rolled your eyes, didn't you?"

"I was talking about your brocabulary lesson. And I quote – "

"Are you still reading it right now?" Barney interrupts before she has a chance to begin her mocking recitation. He tsks his tongue. "You are obsessed with me."

Robin ignores that, going on with the passage. "'Since the dawn of mankind, when dudes would hunt mammoth just to get away from the cave for a few hours' – "

" – 'bros have been hanging out in chick-free but totally awesome ways that are completely platonic and not gay at all. It's called 'bro-ing out' and it's akin to a girls' night out," he finishes for her, narrating the passage he just wrote only ten minutes ago.

"Yeah, and about that," Robin says, getting sidetracked. "'Practice kissing and feeling each other's boobs'? That's what you think women do on girls' night out?"

"Don't you?"

"You're in idiot," she replies with humor in her voice. "Why would we do that?

"Because it's in all porn. Don't ruin the fantasy for me, okay Robin?"

"Fine, that's not what I called about anyway. It was your Encyclopedia Brotannica: Barney's Guide to Bronunciation."

"Ah," he nods sagely, always happy to discuss his insights and expertise. "Which part interested you? Did you learn some key new phrases? It could help my future writing to know how I'm impacting my audience."

"Sure thing, Broda," Robin teases. "It was this passage: 'Oh, interesting fact: The bro who accompanied me on my personal broings on about town this weekend? Actually a chick. A smoking hot chick. Unorthodox, but surprisingly enjoyable.'"

"Yes, and it's true. What's the problem?"

"This next part: 'And yes, I totally broned her.' Really, Barney? Is that what happened? Cause if it is I've gotta say, your skills have been vastly exaggerated. I didn't even feel it."

"Alright, so I may have embellished a little," he relents. "But, again, it wasn't exactly my proudest moment when I went bare pickle and you didn't even let your kitty out to play."

"Is it a rule that after 2 a.m. you can't stop being gross? Besides," she adds coyly, "that wasn't exactly bare pickle. The pickle was still in the jar, so to speak."

"You're welcome to reach in and grab it out anytime you like."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"In all your reading, did you happen to see that I also invented a name for you?" he questions proudly. "A bromosexual. It's a bro who's also a chick, and therefore bang-able. Congratulations, Scherbatsky, you're the first of your kind."

"I did see that."

Her voice is all lazily playful, soft, and low. It sounds very much to him like maybe she's turned on right now by all their flirting; the thought certainly makes him so. "Where are you?"

"In bed."

He couldn't have hoped for a more perfect response. "Tell me more….Better yet, let's Skype so I can see you. Are you wearing a little teddy or maybe a – "

"See ya, Barney."

"But – "

"Nope. I really have something to do." In a sultry tone, she reveals, "I'm gonna play a little 'Battleship' alone before I go to sleep."

"No, don't – Wait, does that mean what I think it does?" he asks thickly. "Because then we definitely have to Skype so I can play some too. I say it's allowed when it's over the phone."

"Good night, Barney," Robin tells him with a sexy little laugh.

That afternoon, Barney has Sunday brunch with his mom and James, who also brought Tom along as a sort of 'welcome to the family'. When the meal is through, James and Barney volunteer to take over kitchen cleanup to let Loretta take it easy in the living room and give her and Tom a chance to get to know each other even better.

While James is washing the dishes in the sink, Barney is supposed to be scraping the dirty ones into the trash and stacking them on the kitchen island, but he's more or less just whining to James about his situation with Robin and only occasionally poking at the dirty pile when it seems like James is canvasing to see if he's getting any work done.

"Ugh! I'm getting desperate here. I want to get her into bed so badly," Barney laments. "It doesn't even have to be a bed. I just want to get into her. I woke up this morning hard as a rock, shooting my load in my sleep just dreaming about being with her. That hasn't happened since I was a teenager! It's not like I'm not getting other women. But Lil' Barney wants her!" he whines.

James can't help laughing at his little brother. "So sleep with her then. Or is the problem she still won't let you have it?"

With some degree of embarrassment, Barney relays how Robin turned him down last night despite his giving her genuine reasons why he thinks the two of them entering into a physical relationship makes sense. "Now I know there's no budging her on this – but try explaining that to the barnana! All he wants is to make a Robin creampie."

"Dude, TMI," James cringes. "But come on, I know you. You can talk a woman into anything."

"Maybe not this one," Barney concedes. "And the other thing is….I'm afraid she might be right. As much as I want to sleep with her – and I really, really, really do; like SO bad, you can't even imagine – "

"Yeah, Barney, I got it. Go on."

"As much as I want her, I'm not sure that we could actually do friends with benefits," he admits. "I've never stayed in contact with a woman I'm sleeping with. I mean, I've never even slept with the same woman more than three times – and that was stretched out over a year and a half. I keep telling her that if we sleep together it won't change things, but I honestly don't know if it would or not."

Barney clears his throat nervously, picking up a dirty fork and absently running its tines through some runny egg yolk left over on a plate. "And I don't want to lose her."

He tried to cover it with a cough, but it didn't work since he said the whole sentence after the cough.

"You know, my bro," Barney prattles on anxiously. "I don't want to lose a good bro. Especially one with the female perspective, cause even though Robin's way more awesome than any other woman on this planet she still has some familiarity with how the lesser of her gender thinks."

He looks up from fiddling with the dirty dish to see that James is studying him, but "Ah" is all the older man says. That's all he needs to say, however. Barney can read loud and clear what he means. "Don't 'ah' me."

"Too late, I already did. So what you're saying, mon frère blanc, is that the real problem is you like this girl. You're sweet on her," James asserts definitively. He's not about to pass up the opportunity to rib on him after all the heat he took for falling for Tom. "Barney Stinson likes a girl!"

The fork slips from Barney's hand and falls with a clatter onto the top of Loretta's good china. "No, I don't! Shut up!" And his cheeks have gone a slight rosy shade.

"Oh wow," James observes. "This is even more than I thought. You have some serious feelings for her."

"Psh, yeah," Barney tries to blow it off, "penis feelings. Lots and lots of penis feelings."

"You're falling for her hard, aren't you? Oh, this is going to be so much fun to watch!"

"Shut up. There's nothing to see. You don't know what you're talking about," Barney insists, and it goes on like this the whole rest of the time they're in the kitchen.

The next day after Ted picks up Marshall and Lily from the airport, all four of them hangout for a low-key night at the apartment since Marshall claims he's exhausted from baskiceball and still being "on Minnesota time", which is stupid as there's only an hour difference. But no matter, Barney uses the opportunity of them all gathered on home turf to break the news about James.

"Oh my god, Barney," Ted gasps. "Are you suicidal?"

"I'm surprised you didn't call us in St. Cloud and insist we fly home immediately to be with you in your hour of need," Marshall jumps in.

"Alright, yes, very funny," Barney nods long-sufferingly.

Marshall blinks at him. "What are you talking about? I'm dead serious."

"Guys, come on, leave him alone," Lily orders as she walks over to sit on the arm of the couch beside Barney. Setting her hand to his shoulder, she asks him comfortingly, "How are you really handling this?"

"It's fine. Not a big deal." They all look at him incredulously so he grants, "It was a bit weird at first, but Tom's cool if you're gonna swing that way." Barney shrugs. "Bottom line, it doesn't really affect me."

"Not to bum you out but, uh, yes, it does," Lily opposes. "James getting married is going to have a profound effect on you." She gives him one of those maternal Aldrin glances. "And I think you know it too. That's why you're acting all macho and impervious to it."

Barney scoffs. "I'm not acting anything, Lily."

"You guys grew up together like brothers. You work together and still see each other like every day."

"And he's the one you bro out with when Ted's too lazy to leave the apartment," Marshall puts in.

"Hey, it's not that I'm lazy," Ted defends. "I just might get caught up in the latest biography, or an Architecture Vision Weekly, or the new episode of Woodworthy Manor."

"Same thing," Barney cracks, and Marshall gives him a high five.

"They've got a point, though," Ted accuses, now having a dog in the fight and going into serious Mosby Boys mode. "Why aren't you trying to change James's mind?"

"Yeah," Marshall endorses, "why aren't you trying to stop it?"

Despite an instinct to take up for Barney, Lily has to agree. "This does seem like the time when you'd be paying off a gigolo, or planting a condom, or doing something to break them up."

Ted nods vigorously. "And when that doesn't work forcing me to go on crazy, dangerous, and possibly illegal exploits with you – or at least bang a bunch of girls in college."

"Okay, first of all, Ted," Barney rails, "I don't need you to do any of those things. Secondly, what makes you think I haven't banged a bunch of college chicks?"

"He has kind of been below the radar lately," Lily acknowledges. "Always taking off or busy somewhere. A sorority skank binge would explain it."

Barney appears offended at that. "I'll have you know I stay away from the sorority set."

"Since when?" Lily laughs unbelievingly.

His eyes skirt away. "Since the Mrs. Stinsfire thing went south during the monthly breast exam."

"Well, what did you think was going to happen, Barney, when you were massaging a room full of topless girls?" Marshall smirks.

"I thought the pleating on my dress would cover it," Barney says sheepishly. "And it would have if Tiffany hadn't leaned in so close."

"Yeah," Lily snickers. "Nothing like being nudged by a massive erection to give it away that your den mother is not a kindly old lady."

"It was massive too." Barney winks at her and she shoves him.

"So if you haven't been on a college girl bender then what's up with all these weird disappearances?" Ted questions, never letting go of the mystery.

"And what's got you so distracted that you don't mind James getting engaged?" Lily wonders. "It has to be some kind of endorphin releasing activity to keep him this mellow about it," she brainstorms with Ted.

"Are you in a fight club or something?" Ted speculates.

"Ted," Marshall dismisses, "I've had some fights in my time and, trust me; Barney has never been in one. It would wrinkle his suits and ruin that pretty boy face of his. Not to mention he'd never make it out of a fight club alive," he deadpans.

"Ooh, maybe it's a sex club!" Lily suggests excitedly. Her eyes go wide and she hums to herself in exhilaration. "And with Barney you just know it's one that's into some crazy stuff. Maybe a tandem round of Cave Canem, a train of slyder2me, a little facesitting, some upside down pretzel machine, topping it off with a bit of double p ending in a pearl necklace and a – "

"Geez, Aldrin, what is with you? Marshall, haven't you been giving your woman any?"

Marshall picks at a thread on his jeans self-consciously. "This case has kept me really busy, and then we were staying at my parents. I haven't had time. But I'm – "

"There is always time to get laid," Barney interjects.

" – planning a big night for us," Marshall finishes at the same time.

A beat goes by and then Lily turns back to Barney eagerly. "Tell me about this sex club. Do they have whips?"

"Whips?" Barney laughs. "You think that's 'some crazy stuff'?"

"Guys, guys," Marshall stops this once and for all. "Your debate is pointless because I know where Barney's been." They all look to him curiously, Barney with perhaps a small twinge of fear. "He's doing community service," Marshall reveals.

"Come on, Eriksen! No fair!" Barney pouts petulantly like he's been caught; better to throw them off his tracks, he reasons. "That's got to be some kind of lawyer-client confidentiality violation."

"Hey, it's all public record now."

"So I guess that's it then," Ted declares portentously. "Barney's been doing his pee pee time – "

"Not the kind he'd prefer," Marshall quips.

"And another Mosby Boys case has been successfully solved."

"Wait, you didn't solve a damn thing. I'm the one who solved it," Marshall contends.

They affably bicker for the next twenty minutes and forget all about Barney's odd behavior – all of them except for Lily, who still isn't sure it quite adds up.

By Wednesday morning when James gets into the back of the town car to head into GNB with his partner, the first thing out of his mouth is: "So this Robin situation is really escalating out of control, huh?"

Barney turns to him with a confused look. "What do you mean? We've been texting but we're both busy with work. I haven't seen her since the night of no sex."

James can't resist a crack. "Isn't that every night with you two?"

"That's not funny."

"I think it is. You know what else is funny? The fact that Marshall, Lily, and Ted don't know a thing about her."

As James suspected it would, that gets Barney acting cagy. It's not anything a layperson would be able to recognize, but James knows him like he knows himself so it's something he can easily pinpoint.

"What makes you say that?" Barney finally replies.

It's a safe non-answer and his brother is well aware that he's very clearly digging to see how much he knows. "I got a call last night," James reveals.

Barney makes an audible sound of frustration. "What is it with these people? What do they want, for me to lock you in a room until you agree to sleep around forever?"

"Lily called me asking if I knew why you weren't freaking out about my engagement."

"For such a tiny thing she's sure got the biggest nose in everyone's business," Barney grumbles, shaking his head. "And what did you say to her?"

"I told her not to worry about it because clearly you've changed and matured and come to see the beauty of serious committed relationships." When Barney's eyebrows furrow in bafflement James shots him an expression that plainly reads 'Get your head out of your ass'. "What do you think I told her? I said you were having a delayed reaction and you'd probably object at the wedding."

"And that shut her up?"

"Not really. The whole gang suspects there's something up with you."

"Just because I'm not reacting the way they expect me to?" he snaps back, starting to get defensive.

"I gotta be honest, man, I fully expected you to be more negative about it too," James confesses. "I know what it's been like with us, and Ted and Marshall too. There was a time when one of us getting married would have been the same as dying in your mind."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Barney sharply retorts. "Throw a tantrum? Tell you it's not too late to back out of this stupid marriage thing and question how you could even consider it in the first place when we were raised in the same house with the same values? Remind you that it's always been you and me together, being awesome, while the rest of the world walked two-by-two onto their ark of sexless boredom, but now you've crossed enemy lines and are abandoning me?" He's a little out of breath after his outburst and straightens his cuffs that don't need straightening just for something to do. "Come on," he mutters quietly, "that's embarrassing."

"Look, Barney, I won't say that just because I'm getting married it doesn't mean things are going to change. They will. They already have. Tom is number one in my life; that's just what happens when you fall in love. And there's something else: we've both agreed we'd like a kid right away."

That has Barney's attention. After a moment, he finally replies. "However anyone expects me to act, James, I can't tell you I'm not going to let you do this, because you're a grown adult. I can't even tell you that you're making a huge mistake….because the truth is I don't know if you are," Barney admits. "I've never seen you happier. You have a new…calm, I guess you'd call it, about you that I've never seen before."

James's mouth stretches into a smile. "I'm glad you feel that way. Because, no matter what, you're always going to be my brother. And I'd like you to be my best man." He pauses, letting it sink in. "Is that something you think you could do?"

"Yeah," Barney nods. "I can."

To most, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement, but James knows that in the world of Barney Stinson it's an irrefutable symbol of his blessing.

And it is groundbreaking.

"Believe me, Barney; I fought this for a long time. It felt unnatural to me too at first. But I fell in love. And Tom and I realized you can't fight love." James notes a slight twitch of Barney's head and a cocking of his eyebrow in concession to that. "I don't know about the others, but I'm proud of you for the way you're handling this. A few years ago you would have freaked. Even the Barney of earlier this year would have reacted a lot more radically. There's obviously a difference here…." He proceeds tactfully, delicately. "Maybe you're even opening up to the idea of love and feelings?….And I think that difference is Robin."

"Ech," Barney dismisses in revulsion. "You sound like Lily. Rest assured, James, the only opening I plan on doing is hers."

James glances over at him frankly. Barney always goes to the over-exaggerated lechery when he's feeling vulnerable, when things are striking too close to home. One look and they both know that's what's happening. "Are you ever going to tell them about her?"

"What is there to tell? She's a friend. She's a bro."

"If there's nothing to tell then why haven't you told them?" James calls his bluff. "Don't you think they'd find it interesting that Barney Stinson has a new friend he hangs out with all the time, and that friend just happens to be a hot woman – a hot woman who he hasn't slept with?"

"Yeah, they'd find it interesting. They'd find it too interesting. That's the problem. They'd make a big deal out of it. Lily would never let it go. She'd want the two of them to be some kind of bestie girlfriends, and that's the last thing Robin would want. She's already got her hands full with Patrice."

"….Oh, I see what this is about," James says knowingly. "You don't want to share her. You want to keep her all to yourself. You don't want to have to share her time. And you're a little bit afraid she might like one of them better than you and then maybe you won't get to spend so much time with her."

"I don't – that's not – " Barney sputters. "Look, this is my business okay. Let's just drop it. Let's focus on work and get this case closed so the last ten years of my life weren't wasted."

The car is quiet for a long while after that until the GNB tower eventually looms above them. And all the while Barney knows that James can see right through him and his obvious defense mechanism.

"It's – it's not like I introduce them to everyone I meet," Barney says suddenly, making it clear he's been thinking about it the whole drive over. "They don't know Arthur either," he tries.

James shakes his head. "That's not the same, Barney."

"She's just a friend," he insists again.

"Okay..." James lets it go, but as the car pulls to a stop in front of the GNB building he has one last piece of advice to impart. "Friend or something more, they're going to eventually run into each other, you know. But once they do, she's still going to want to hang with you. I love those guys too, but you're by far the coolest of the bunch."

"Of course I am; I'm awesome," Barney readily concurs, as cocky as ever, as if none of their messy exchange had occurred at all or he'd even for the smallest second revealed himself to be an ordinary, susceptible human being. But after a moment he quietly adds, "And so are you, bro."

"Does that mean I get to meet her?" James grins.

Barney elbows him. "What's this fascination with everyone meeting her? It's weird. I don't go around just introducing her to people. She's not my girlfriend. We're not a thing. We're – " He cuts off, leaving it at that. "…..but if I did, then yeah, I'd want her to meet you first."

"Because I'm awesome," he smirks.

"That's why together we're going to break this case and nail Greg's ass to the wall."

"Damn straight," James agrees, and they do an exploding fist bump before getting out of the car.

Friday night, Barney meets Robin at her Metro News 1 bar for drinks. It's the first time he's seen her in days and there's no denying the extra twist of excitement he feels when he spots her waiting at a table.

He slides into the seat across from her, taking a sip of the drink she already has there for him. "Works been keeping you busy," he remarks.

"You too. That goes both ways."

Barney resists the obvious joke there and simply acknowledges, "It's been a rough week….But I've been watching you trying to keep Sandy in line. That's not an easy task, and I've got to hand it to you; this is the most actual news content I've ever seen on your channel. How do you like the new job?"

"I love the opportunity. Like you said, Sandy's a pill, and it's still very much an uphill battle." Robin continues to tick off the obstacles ahead of her. "The network only wants to do this grim combination of fluff and sensationalism, and Sandy is always a loose cannon. Landing an interview with the city councilwoman embroiled in that cheating scandal was a real coup for me. I wanted to ask her about the allegations that they used taxpayer funds to cover up the affair, but Sandy didn't even give me a chance what with all his disgusting puns about the things she could do to his legislative body." She shakes her head, waving it off. "But it doesn't matter. I'm not going to let him get to me. I've finally got my foot in the door and I'm giving it all I've got."

"You should, Scherbatsky. Give him hell."

He takes another long drink and Robin watches him, notices he seems off tonight, a bit distracted and weary. "You look tired."

"Tired from all the tail I've been getting," he attempts, but then modifies, "Besides, Barney Stinson never gets tired; he gets awesome instead."

She levels him with a glance. "Barney, I'm serious."

"I may have pulled a couple of all-nighters – and not the fun kind." The past two days brought some big disappointments at GNB and it's starting to become clear to Barney that they really might not be able to bring this in by the deadline. If that happens all of his and so many other people's efforts will be wasted, criminals will go free, and he'll have lost everything he's fought for all this time. He's been living for this revenge for the past decade. He doesn't know what he'll do if he doesn't succeed, if he never gets his retribution. "I'm having some trouble at work too," he ultimately confides.

"Oh? Has there been a bank run?" she teases him.

"For the hundredth time, I've told you, I'm not a banker," he sighs.

He seems alarmingly downtrodden, particularly for Barney, and Robin experiences an immediate stab of remorse followed by a pang of empathy for him that's so sharp it takes her a moment to recognize this new feeling.

"Sorry," she offers gently. "I do want to help." He's basically responsible for getting her the co-anchor position. He went out of his way for her, and she wants to be there for him too. "After everything you did for me at Metro News 1, it's the least I can do."

"Nah." He shakes his head. "You don't have to do anything for me; that's not why I did it."

"I hate to play the 'bro' card, but I will if I have to." Robin gives him a sly smile. "According to the Bro Code, a bro – and I'm yours – is 'a lifelong companion you can trust will always be there for you'."

"'Unless he's got something else going on'," he finishes.

"Lucky for you, I've got my whole evening free. So talk to me; what's going on?"

Barney sighs again, finishing off his drink. "I'm not really at liberty to discuss it." Seeing suspicion cloud her expression, he improvises. "Uh, because of client confidentiality. But as a financial and data analyst we do some…auditing…of accounts, bank accounts and such," he embellishes, because the more authentic details you add, the more believable the lie. "And with one of them we've been working on for a very long time things just aren't adding up. It's all on me now; I have until the end of next month to figure out why or my company is going to have to write it off and we lose years' worth of work – and I probably lose my job."

"Wow," Robin mumbles after a moment. "That sucks."

"Yeah," he says with a humorless laugh. "It more than just sucks."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to say." And he notes that she looks disappointed in herself. "I'm not very good at the whole supportive thing."

Barney captures her gaze, not wanting her to believe he meant it as some deficiency in her. "I think you're better than you give yourself credit for."

Her mouth curves into a small smile. "Well, without knowing the specifics it's hard to give very useful advice, but I will say this: back when I was in journalism school – yes, believe it or not, I have been trained to do more than just read off a teleprompter – they used to assign us to shadow professionals in the field as a way of honing our investigative skills. I was placed with a private detective, and he was working a case about a woman who had been assaulted and murdered. Her family didn't trust the police to carry out the investigation so they hired him on their own. From the very beginning suspicion fell on the Mountie who discovered her body in the street, not only because the circumstances of the discovery were dubious but he was also her recent ex-boyfriend who she'd just dumped. Everything pointed to him; it seemed like it should have been an open and shut case. But he had a rock solid alibi, so both the police and the family's detective looked elsewhere and the trail turned cold. The case went unsolved for months and it looked like there would never be a break in it, but Pierre – that was the name of the detective – never felt right about the Mountie. Everyone told him he was wasting his time but he kept digging and eventually hit pay dirt. Turns out the Mountie's alibi was bogus and a couple of his buddies from the Force had been covering for him the whole time; Pierre had the horseshoe tracks to prove it. Plus the guy had killed her sled dog too because he didn't want a witness."

Barney had been listening attentively the whole time and when she finishes he says slowly, "That is the most Canadian story I have ever heard."

Robin shoots him a smartass look. "That may be, but it taught me a valuable lesson I keep in mind whenever I'm working a story: when you've come to a dead-end, always go back to the start. And that's my advice to you too. Return to the basics of the case and go from there. Sometimes the most obvious lead is overlooked as too simple when it can actually be the key to uncovering the case if you only dig a little."

Barney ponders what Robin said for the rest of the night. It even creeps into his dreams when after forty-eight long hours he's finally able to get a solid night's sleep.

Always go back to the start. Sometimes the most obvious lead is overlooked.

Her words swim around and around in his mind until finally it hits him at 6 a.m. when he wakes with a start: the Costa Coffee folder.

Barney had briefly spotted a manila folder with that marking when he was working with Greg in his office this past summer. He'd dismissed it at the time in favor of the Wharmpess file that turned out to be nothing. All of his training dictates that he should have given it further thought, but his past obliterated his objectivity.

The truth is he doesn't like to think about those days back at Costa Coffee, doesn't like to remember his humiliation there and the dark time to follow. But if he hadn't been so caught up in his own shame he would have recognized how out of place that folder was.

Robin said go back to the start, and Costa Coffee is where everything started.

That's where it started for him anyway. It led to his FBI career. It led to him swearing off feelings. It's what first made him suit up. Hell, the fallout from his time managing Costa Coffee is what made him who he is today.

But while Costa Coffee has everything to do with him, it has nothing to do with GNB other than one executive who just happened to pick up a girl there to be his sex buddy, and that doesn't even remotely pertain to business.

There should be no folder for Costa Coffee.

It's a front. A run-of-the-mill, unremarkable alias Greg didn't expect anyone to recognize or care about and therefore never look inside – but he underestimated Barney.

And whatever's actually in that folder, it must be something well worth hiding.

There's no way he's sitting on this till Monday…and doing it on the weekend is actually his best shot at going undetected.

Barney hurries from bed, suits up without taking the time to shower, and heads in to GNB bright and early.

At this time on a Saturday morning, there's no one there yet but janitors, cleaning women, a few of the twenty-four hour guards, and two commissary employees preparing breakfast – one of whom just happens to be Louisa Mendoza.

Bingo.

Maybe Ted's right about the Universe because it turns out there was a reason – other than a second round of mediocre sex – why he didn't brush off Louisa in the usual manner after she somehow came to believe they're engaged!

Right now, he uses it to his advantage in convincing Louisa to get her janitor friend to drop his other work and come do the window frame repair in Greg's office that he's been requesting…..which puts Rafael up on a ladder directly in front of the security camera, blocking out Barney's actions as he slips into the office, picks the lock on Greg's filing cabinet, and retrieves the Costa Coffee folder.

Once he's got the folder safely outside of the GNB building, the very second he's back in the town car with Ranjit at the wheel, Barney whips open the folder.

What he finds inside is enough to bring tears to his eyes – but not out of them; that would be a violation of Article 41: A Bro never cries. Because, finally, after all these years he's got it, the smoking gun that will send Greg and all the others like him at GNB to federal prison for a very long while.

All this time Barney was right. It does go back to the AltruCell merger. A merger that was financed at least in part by Kim Jong-il. And now he holds in his hands the files to prove it.

This means everything.

His world is about to explode in the best way possible, and it's all thanks to Robin.