Guest - the one who just reviewed: You completely charmed me into posting this chapter now, rather than holding on to it for New Years Day.

I also can't wait to see what you guys think about it :)

gr8rockstarrox - Sorry I meant to post this New Years, but who knows, maybe I will write another extra long one in the next couple of days.

The Second Christmas

Barney had just gotten dressed after a long shower, and was contemplating which bar he should hit tonight.

It was Christmas Eve, and college girls returning home for the holidays were meeting up with their friends to celebrate. It would be a legendary night.

Someone knocked, and he was still tying his tie as he walked up to the door. He figured the gift he had ordered for Lily had arrived, and the doorman was kind enough to bring it up, as supposed to calling him to get it.

He was probably looking for a large Christmas tip.

Barney opened the door, and his half done tie was momentarily forgotten when he saw who was standing there in front of him.

"Surprise" Robin grinned.

"What are you doing here?" Barney asked, as he drew her into a tight hug.

"I got a week off for Christmas." She explained.

He drew back a little to really look at hear. She was wearing a coat, and a thick wool scarf, but her face showed a nice taint.

"Did you just get here?" He asked.

Robin nodded, and turned around to point at her luggage.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I would have picked you up."

"I wanted it to be a surprise. I went to McLarens first, but no-one was there, so I went upstairs, but no-one was there either."

"Lily and Marshall went to Minnesota, and Ted is in Cleveland." Barney explained.

"Oh." She had clearly not expected them to not be in New York.

"I can't believe you are here." Barney reached out to get her luggage, and they walked back into the apartment.

"Well, as I said, I got a week off to spend Christmas with my family" she used air quotes around the word.

"So you came here?" He asked while reaching out for her coat, and scarf.

"I really liked how we celebrated last year, and I thought it's a group tradition. I can't believe they all left."

Barney hung her coat up, and turned back around, she looked great. Her hair was a little longer than he remembered, and she looked like she had lost a few pounds.

"You look great Robin."

"Dude, it took me 36 hours to get here, 21 of which were spend on airplanes , I do not look great."

"You do. Are you tired though? Where are you staying?"

"Well I had hoped to crash at Marshall and Lily's, but I guess that's not happening." She shrugged.

"You can stay here, I'll sleep on the couch." He offered quickly.

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

"Are you kidding? You did not make this trip to sleep in yet another hotel room."

"I meant sleeping on the couch." She replied.

"Well, you are not sleeping on it either, if that's what you are offering." He retorted.

"Okay, I guess we have to share the bed then." She winked at him.

He opened his mouth in awe, "are you…are you saying what I think you are saying?"

"Probably not. But I mean we have slept in the same bed before, I trust you to keep your hands to yourself."

Robin turned around, and looked around.

"Do you want a drink?" He asked, quickly walking over to his bar.

"Some water would be great?" She asked.

He nodded, and went to the fridge.

"You are not big on celebrating christmas either, huh?" Robin asked.

"Well, I will have lunch with my mom tomorrow, and she has a tree." He shrugged.

Barney handed her the water.

"Thanks."

He watched her for a second, "are you very tired?"

"I am okay for now, I slept on the second leg."

He nodded, and started to grin.

"Well, then let's go." He moved past her to get her coat.

"What? Where are we going Barney?"

"You'll see. Bundle up though, it's cold out there." He threw her coat at her, and she caught it, and but the water down.

"Okay." She was grinning now too.

He went back into the bedroom to finish dressing, and bundling up himself.

…

"Are you going to tell me where we are going?" Robin asked as they got out of the cab on West 49th Street.

"Well, you came here to celebrate Christmas, right? So first stop, the most Christmassy place in the city; the tree and ice-skating ring at Rockefeller Center."

It was crowded, as per ushe, and Barney grabbed Robin's hand so he wouldn't loose her. They managed to get up to the banister, hovering over the ice ring, and he pulled her next to him, putting his arm securily around her waist.

"Ready?" He asked.

"For what?"

"Selfies." He took his glove off with his teeth, and pointed at his cell phone.

It took him a second to get them, parts of the ice-ring, and a glimpse of the tree in the frame, but he finally figured it out.

They just smiled in the first one.

For the second one Robin snuggled up closer to him, and they booth made faces.

She kissed him on the cheek in the third.

"Should we kiss in one, and send it to the others?" Robin asked.

"Yeah." He replied.

So they did, it wasn't a passionate kiss, or anything overly couply, but Robin was smiling the whole time, which actually made the picture look as if they were complete fools for each other.

"I will send it to them tomorrow, okay?" Barney asked.

"As a Christmas Morning surprise?"

Barney nodded, he didn't want to risk anyone coming back to the city to hang out with Robin.

"Fine with me, they will go nuts when they see that." She giggled.

Barney smiled, and pulled her back through the crowed.

"Where are we going now?" Robin asked as he flagged down a cab.

"We'll go shopping."

"Shopping?" She asked.

"Yeah, we need a tree, I don't have any ornaments or lights either, and don't even get me started on all the grocery shopping that needs to be done."

"What are you doing?" She asked while laughing.

"Celebrating Christmas with you," he replied as he guided her into the cab that had stopped in front of them.

…

"Is it straight?" Barney asked.

Robin crooked her head, and answered, "I think so."

"Okay, I will fixate it then." It took him another minute to figure out how the mechanism of the Christmas tree stand worked, but he finally emerged from under the tree.

"We should have just gotten a fake one." Robin said, she was busy unclipping the lights from their mount in the box.

"My apartment doesn't do fake anything's." He paused for a second, before adding, "that includes orgasms, what up?"

It made her laugh, "I knew you would say that."

He grabbed the first set of lights, and started to put them on the tree.

"Are you tired yet?" He asked.

She shook her head, "I am fine."

"Cause I don't mind doing this by myself if you want to lay down for an hour or so." He offered.

"Nah, I can stay up for another hour or two."

They decorated the whole tree together, and Barney had called a high-end restaurant, and bribed them to deliver a delicious Christmas meal.

"I think we did a really good job." Robin said as she picked up her red wine, and took a swallow.

They had already made it through the main course.

"I have never decorated a tree before." Barney confessed.

"Really? Me neither." Robin said.

Barney smiled, "I hope all this makes the long flights worth coming?"

She nodded, "just seeing you again made it worth it Barney."

He grinned, and suggested, "how about we turn the couch around, and finish the dessert there? That way we can admire our Christmas tree better?"

A few minutes later they were sitting on the couch, gazing at the tree, and the view of the other skyscrapers around them.

"Do you want it?" Robin asked, and handed him her bowl.

Barney nodded, and started eating.

"When do you have to go back?" He asked.

"The day after tomorrow."

"Wow, you came all the way from South Africa for two days?"

"I have to cover the New Years Celebrations…you know how they always cut to different cities? Well, I am going to be one of them this year."

"That's incredible. I know I say this a lot, but I am so proud of you."

Robin turned her head towards him, and smiled, "you have to come visit me sometime Barney."

"I will. Do you know where you are heading after Cape Town?"

"Not really, Singapore was mentioned again, but recently my boss has talked about sending me to Athens to cover the financial crisis there." She shrugged, "who knows what will be in two months Barney?"

He nodded, and put the bowl down.

"Do you even care?" He asked while slowly scooting closer to her.

"No." She replied.

"Why not?" he asked while putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Partly because I just want to travel, just arriving at another place is so exciting, you know? But also because it would be really unlikely that I'd get assigned to a place I dreamed about, so I would just be disappointed." She shrugged.

"Well sure, if you were narrowing it down to a city, but what about a country?" He asked, while he slowly raised his other hand, and started stroking her cheek.

She looked him in the eyes, and didn't miss a beat; "I'd like to have worked on each continent once."

He grinned, and moved his hand to her neck, slowly pulling her closer as he leaned in for the kiss.

She didn't resist it, and he brought his second hand around to cup her face while simultaneously deepening the kiss.

He could feel one of her hands on the knot of his tie, and the other one sneaking around his waist.

And suddenly his mind started racing, he hadn't planned on making a move. Not even when he proposed this romantic Christmas setting, would she think that he had? Was she feeling obligated to go along because she was at his place, and he had done all of this for her?

Would this completely ruin their friendship?

He didn't want to break the kiss to ask her, so instead he slipped his tongue into her mouth, and leaned further into her, putting more weight onto her.

There was no way she didn't get his intentions, and if she wasn't on board with that then now would be the time to reject him.

But she didn't. Instead she leaned back, and pulled him on top of herself by his lapels.

He gave her another minute to push him off. She didn't, and he put his hands on her hip, pulled her onto his lap, and then got up with her.

There was no way he'd nail her on the couch like one of the bimbos he brought home.

As they walked towards the bedroom she wrapped her legs around his waist, and her arms around his neck.

They didn't break the kiss until he laid her down on his bed.

He was hovering over her, and searched her eyes for an assurance that they weren't about to make the biggest mistake of their life.

She smiled at him, and pulled him down into another kiss.

That was all the permission he needed.

…

She fell asleep shortly afterwards, and he couldn't blame her, it had been a long day for her.

He ended up getting up again, and cleaned up the mess in the living room.

Adrenalin was still pumping through his veins, and he couldn't believe that he had finally slept with Robin.

Never in a million years would he have guessed that the day would end like this.

Never.

And he had never envisioned having sex with her like that either. In his fantasies it had always been dirty, and quick, but tonight...he wanted it to mean something.

Not in the having feelings kind of way, but in a 'you aren't just another hookup to me' way.

He didn't want her to feel bad about herself, or taken advantage of tomorrow morning, so he was as gentle, and attentive to her as possible.

But then again, this was Robin.

Undressing her, seeing her naked, and being allowed to touch her for the first time had greatly weakened his self-control.

They had both climaxed, and he could have gone for another round, but Robin had snuggled into the sheets, and fallen asleep within minutes.

Parts of him were surprised that she had made it through their four-hour shopping trip, and subsequent Christmas celebration without passing out.

He grinned as he turned the lights on the tree off, and went back to bed.

Best. Christmas. Ever.