A/N: Some of you wanted Swarkles. You waited patiently for months. The wait is over! I give you the best moment of Swarkles (in my opinion) in Ollie's eyes. And don't let the title of this chapter fool you. The end of the road isn't the end of this story. There's still so much more to tell.

Chapter 36: End of the Road

As October ended, one of the video games I was excited for finally came out: Assassin's Creed 3. It was something I spent over a week on, and was one of my personal favorites of that year. During the epilogue, I saw Connor, the protagonist, remove a hatchet he had slammed into a post several years ago. It signified the end of the road for his journey. I saw soon afterwards that another road was ending. But with it, a beginning.

Juno and I agreed on shopping for Christmas presents that day in early November. It was better to get the stuff we wanted to get our families before Black Friday kicked our asses, so we did it as early as we could. It was a cold day, and even with my Team Canada toque that Robin gave me for my birthday months ago, and my old green hoodie on, it was still freezing like a bitch.

"So are you coming home for Christmas?" She asked.

"You bet I will. I'm calling my dad in a few. Right now I need to look at getting presents for the family."

"Tell you what." Said Juno. "We'll meet at the subway station in a few hours."

"Sounds good. We can keep each others gifts secret." I grinned.

Juno tapped her nose. "You got it." She headed off.

I pulled out my phone, and dialed up my dad. It was a lot easier now, knowing that I was welcome.

"Hello."

"Dad! It's Ollie."

"He-hey! Oliver! Glad to talk to you, son! What is going on?"

"Well, I thought I'd call to check in on you guys, and ask when you want me back home for Christmas."

"We'd love you back for the 22nd. How's that?" He said.

"Perfect. Also, I have no goddamn idea of what to get you guys. Can you help?"

"Sure thing, son. Your mom's been obsessing over some of the shows on TV these days. She's gotten into Grimm, if you've heard of it."

"Yeah, vaguely."

"I'd recommend getting her maybe a box set of a season of one of the shows. That might be a nice gesture. As for your uncle and aunt, I think they'd just like their nephew there."

I smiled. "And what about you, old man?"

He chuckled. "I wouldn't mind a new hunting jacket. It's been years since I bothered getting one, and well, you're coming home. Don't forget that."

"You know I won't. I'll be there."

"I'll send you a list of anything else if someone mentions something. See you later, champ."

I went all out, getting everything Dad asked me to look at. My uncle had been getting into Breaking Bad, so I coughed up a good amount on the DVDs for the first few seasons. I didn't know what to get Aunt Terri. She'd hate me just for showing up. And I got Dad a nice jacket for hunting again. Despite what happened last time, I was hoping I'd get to hunt again with Dad and Uncle Alex.

I finished soon afterwards, and headed down into the musty noisy subway station. Juno was waiting for me.

"How's the haul?"

I had gotten her a guitar pick punch. With it she could use it on any old gift cards or credits cards to get an instant guitar pick.

"Excellent." She said. "Also picked some stuff up from the drug store. Ran into some weird blonde guy."

I don't know what processed me to say "what did he look like?" I think it was because I could feel something weird going on with this. Like it was meant to happen.

"Taller guy, spiked up blonde hai,. wearing a suit, and said 'target acquired' when he saw me. He tried to get my number."

It was as if someone had hooked me up to a car battery. What the hell was this?! But I didn't respond as Juno continued.

"I told him I had a boyfriend, and then we talked about him and his sadness."

I laughed. "J, you always know what to say to someone. You're like some kinda psychic."

She grinned. "I think I made an influence on that guy's life. I wonder if he'll do the right thing."

"I wonder that, too." I muttered under my breath.

Why, of the 8 million people in New York City, did Barney try to pick up Juno? That was one question that I wouldn't get the answer to for a long time.

One night, about a week later, I had an unlikely visitor enter the bar.

I was reading the paper from earlier that day, when a rush of cold air from the street told me someone was coming in. I got up, and prepared for the order. Although I didn't prepare for what happened next. A pigeon flew right into my face from the door, and started pecking at me, flying around my head.

"WHAT IN THE HELL?! OW! GOD! DAMN! GET OFF ME!"

I tried running around the whole bar, but that seemed to piss the pigeon off ever further. And some people started getting out their phones to get me on YouTube. Soon I found why he was charging me: he had a note tied to his leg. I grabbed the pigeon, and took it from it. The bird took off, and out the door. I could feel a bit of blood drip down my cheek from a scratch the bird had left me.

"Is everyone okay? Did he shit in anyone's drinks?"

"No, bro. But you should be more worried about what he did to your face!" Said a guy sitting at a table.

I didn't want anymore humiliation, so I grabbed my jacket, and headed out to the curb. I tore open the envelope.

"Ollie. Meet me at 76th and Amsterdam, a block from the bar, in 10 minutes. Make sure you're not followed. Barney."

Ten minutes later, a black limo was driving up to the curb. The window rolled down to show Barney in it.

"Hop in, Ollie."

I did so, and saw that Barney wasn't alone. A short, plump woman with dark hair and skin was sitting across from us. She had a huge smile on her face I could tell she could not seem to get rid of.

"Ranjit, drive off, and start taking laps around Central Park."

The partition in the limo opened up to show a happy looking man who I assumed was from India, but then he said he was actually from Bangladesh.

"HELLO! Taking laps around Central Park."

He drove off, allowing me to start talking.

"A CARRIER PIGEON?! YOU SENT ME A GODDAMN CARRIER PIGEON?! That flappy bastard nearly took my damn eyes out!"

Barney smirked. "I know. We saw." He laughed, along with the girl.

"What-how did you?-wait!" I realized something. "Did you set up a camera on that pigeon?"

Barney gasped. "Oliver Blake! Why I most certainly did!" He laughed again.

"Look. Can you just tell me what the hell this is about? I mean, why are we taking laps around Central Park?"

"Glad you asked, Ollie. But first, introductions. Ollie, may I introduce Patrice. She is our fellow conspirator in this scheme. And this is Ranjit. He knows of our plans, but has sworn his secrecy."

"Okay. Now, what's this about?"

"Ollie, after things with Quinn didn't work out, I realized that there is another woman in my life I want to spend my life with."

"You're referring to her?" I asked, gesturing to Patrice.

"No." Said Barney. "Check this out." Barney pulled a ring box out of his pocket. After seeing Ted do the same, I was getting tired of it. This had been the third proposal I had seen this year, two of which had already been demolished.

"Oh, cool." I said with false enthusiasm. "You're marrying 'No one asked her' Patrice."

"No!" She said happily. "He's proposing to Robin!"

"Uh, why?!" I asked. This was just as confusing as the Matrix.

"Why don't you ask her?" Barney said, laughing, because for once, someone was asking Patrice.

Patrice explained. "Barney spent all of last week writing up a play. This is all leading up to a big proposal towards Robin. Something we want your help with."

"Whoa. Sounds legendary." I said. Barney nodded at me with approval of my use of his catchphrase.

"What made you decide this?" I asked, but I had a feeling I already knew it.

"Last week I spent a whole night accepting challenges from Robin and Lily. When they sent me to run some errands for them, I ended up trying to pick up this girl in a drug store. She made me realize that I'm not supposed to be doing plays my whole life. I want to win this game."

Juno used that "keep playing, or win" metaphor on me and a few others before. It was amazing.

"So, I now realize that Robin is the one I'm going to spend the rest of my life with. And I need your help, Blake."

"What do I have to do with this?"

"You're playing a big part in this, Ollie. What I've learned from Robin through history, is that when she's denied something big, she'll do nothing but want that with all her heart."

I immediately flashed back to how heartbroken she felt when she found she couldn't have kids. That must be what it's like.

"So we're gonna take advantage of that." Continued Barney. "You're great friends with Robin, and we're gonna need help with step 4."

"What's step 4?" I asked.

Barney handed me a piece of parchment. The top read "The Robin". This was the play that he was talking about. One last play.

"'Robin goes nuts.'" He said. "We need you to mess with Robin's head by constantly reminding her that she can't be with me. We'll have you help with other parts of the play, and I hope you'll consider this."

"Have you thought this out enough?" I asked.

"Yeah. With any luck, Ted will push Robin to me, and that's when I'll propose to her." He pointed to step 13.

"That's cute and all, Barney, but what's in it for me?" I said, crossing my arms.

Barney frowned. "What do you want?" He asked.

I sniggered. "Just screwing with you. Of course I'll help. When do we start?"

"We're already in it. We've got a night in mind to think of it. It's not a big role that you have in this scheme, but if all goes well, I'll have something big for you to do afterwards."

Most people spend their Decembers getting ready for the holidays. I spent mine trying to help two people realize that they should get married. True to his word, I helped Barney with everything I could. I had some knowledge in locks, so I made sure that Barney's door would be easy for Robin to breach when she broke in to steal the Playbook. A highlight of December was a week after the meeting in the limo. Robin ended up in the bar, so this was my time to shine.

"Scotch, Ollie. Neat." She said.

"Hell, yeah." I replied. I handed it to her. "So how are you, Robin?"

"What about?" She asked.

I was trying so hard not to laugh, or even smile. My cheeks would feel like getting pressed up against a concrete wall after the shift at the bar that night.

"Well, it's just Barney. Him dating Patrice. You hate her." I said, with my most casually serious voice and face.

"I don't hate her. She's gonna have to find out that Barney's a selfish jackass who'll never commit to anyone."

"True." I agreed. "But you also gotta remember that since Barney closed the gate on you two, you can never be with him." I got up close to her. "Never. Ever. Ever." I said dramatically.

"Okay, Ollie. It's not a big deal."

If Robin had been telling me the truth, instead of bullshitting me again, she would have said how much it was killing her. But I guess since we both were lying, it cancelled itself out. As that saying goes, two wrongs make a right.

As December inched closer towards it's midpoint, I was called to the limo once more by the carrier pigeon. This time he scratched my other cheek.

"Hey, nice!" Said Barney when I got into the limo. "You got a matching set!"

Patrice was absent this time, for the WWN's Christmas party.

"Hardy har har." I said. "What's the status?"

"So far Robin has gone to extreme measures to try to expose my motives. You've done well, young Blake."

I smirked. "Yeah, I worked hard. So now what?"

"We have a date planned for the play to finish up: December 17th. The night of GNB Tower's opening. It seems appropriate. After all, it was how we became friends with you, in a way, and it's what this has all lead up to."

"Good plan, brother." I said.

Barney sighed, rubbing his hands together.

"You really think I'm ready for this?"

"Hm." I laughed a bit. "The way I see it, fate's had a plan for us. We've always been on the course that would send us to the place we were meant. Like a dark road. If this is meant to be, then fate will let it happen. Lucy always said that."

"You think I ever could've hit that if I knew her?" Asked Barney.

I smirked. Some things may never change. "Hell no, man. She wasn't that stupid."

Barney pulled out a good rum under the seat he was sitting on, and poured two glasses.

"Cheers, brother." He said.

"End of the road." I replied.

Later that week was the GNB tower opening day. The day was slow, and Ted and Marshall were the only ones of the gang who showed up. But they left before nightfall, to go to the opening.

"Hey, Ollie." Ted said before leaving.

"What's happening, Ted?"

"Listen, you might want to see something tonight. Be within the view of GNB tower at 9:00 tonight. It's gonna light up like a Christmas tree!"

"Got it. I'll see it." Trying hard not to crack and tell him.

Barney had specifically told me not to tell anyone, especially Robin or Ted. But Ted I knew had to know, most of all. After all, he had a history with her from all that I heard. But my mouth remained free of secret spilling. The rest of the night was slow. At around 8, Carl spoke up.

"Hey, Ollie. You want to call it quits early tonight?" He said.

"Yeah. I got a thing in a while."

So Carl and I gave Last Call before everyone started clearing out. No joke, there were like 5 people in there, more than willing to leave.

"You okay, Ollie?" Said Carl as I started locking up. Carl had promoted me to one of the highest positions at Maclaren's recently.

"You look kinda rough." He said.

"I'm okay. I just know things are happening tonight."

"I feel the same way, bro. I'll see you tomorrow night!" He headed up the steps while I finished up, and headed back up to the curb.

Barney had instructed me to help out with the last parts of the play. I called for a taxi, and it soon came.

"Where to, Mac?" He asked.

"World Wide News." I replied.

I checked my watch as Barney as I were putting the finishing touches on the proposal's area. Rose petals littered the floor, and it was a huge bitch trying to hand up the mistletoe. But finally, we got it done.

"Proud of you, Barney." I said. "This is everything that we have led up to."

This was wrong. There was much more in the following months. More on that later.

"I know. You helped make this happen, Ollie."

I looked over the side of the building to see a long black car pull up to the curb.

"They're here. Let's get into positions." I said.

Barney made good hiding spots for both of us. For some reason, he wanted me to be there to see the proposal.

I hid behind one of the decorative bushes on the roof, pulling out my camera. This I had to get for Barney's Blog.

It took a while, but finally, Robin came out of the stairwell, and out onto the roof. She looked around, then picked up the parchment on the ground as I turned on my camera and got the record button. She spent the next few minutes before looking up at the mistletoe which I had worked so hard to make sure it was secure. Then she looked over. Barney had appeared out of nowhere. But she didn't see me.

"Seriously Barney?" She said. She looked to be on the verge of tears. "Even you, even someone as certifiably insane as you must realize that this is too far!"

I tried my hardest not to laugh. Meanwhile, Barney kept maintaining a smile at her. It was like water off a duck's back.

"You lied to me!" She snapped. "Manipulated me for weeks! Do you even think that I could ever kiss you after that?! Do you ever think I could ever *trust* you after that?!" She held up the parchment. "This! This is proof of why we don't work! Why we'll never work!" She started sobbing. "So thank you. You've set me free because how could I be with a man who thinks that this trick," she gestured around the display we had worked so hard to make for her. "This enormous lie could ever make me want to date him again?!"

Barney just smiled, and said the 3 words that wrapped this whole thing up: "Turn it over".

As she did, and read the last step, he got down on his knee. Step 16: Hope she says yes.

"Robin Scherbatsky." He said. "Will you marry me?"

She stared at him for a second, and then said tearfully with joy "yes".

As they kissed, and Barney slipped the ring on her finger, I stepped out, slowly clapping. Snow started to fall.

"Bravo! Bravo! Encore!" I laughed. "Isn't this how all rom-coms should end?"

Robin was just as confused as she was happy, but she laughed as soon as she put it together. "You were in on it too, weren't you?"

"I got it all on camera, Robin." I smirked. "And let me be the first of many to say to you, congratulations." I walked over, and hugged them both.

"Thank you, Ollie." Said Barney.

"My pleasure." I replied. "Smile!" I took out my camera for an engagement picture, and they both smiled.

Both the video, and the photo Barney put on his blog. For Christmas, the next day they left for a little trip to tell Barney's family about the engagement. That was the last I saw of them for a whole month. I saw the others, but very little as I got ready to head back to Port Angeles. This truly marked the end of the road. I'm glad that I was one to share in the end.