And one more… glad everyone is enjoying reading this fic and that it is a distraction from the horrible finale. Please forget what I said about chapter 60 being the big one, I completely forgot a whole plot idea I wanted to incorporate beforehand so no clue how many chapters will really come before the game changer one.
We will see :) Can't wait to hear your thought on this chapter :)
Not just another Night
It started out as just another night at McLarens. They were all hanging out in the booth, joking and sharing stories.
Apparently Victoria and Ted's long distance relationship was on the rocks already, and Ted was contemplating whether or not he should still fly to Germany for Christmas as he had planned as a surprise.
Marshall and Lily were opting for yes, while Barney was trying to get him to make a bad choice and hook up with a girl tonight.
"Robin is coming, right?" Ted finally asked in an effort to change the subject.
"Yeah, she's be here in 13 days." Barney grinned.
"Is she staying at your place again?"
Barney nodded, "yeah, but she will only be in town for a few days, she's on the New Year line-up again, and since they aren't yet celebrating New Years in Beijing, they have assigned her to cover Sydney."
"No way! Are you serious?" Marshall asked surprised.
Barney nodded, "yep, she's going to Australia for like…five days or so."
"That's so cool. But man, that's a lot of traveling for her in that short amount of time."
"She's used to it though." Barney shrugged.
"I don't get why she is even flying out here, that seems like way too much hassle if you ask me." Ted commented.
"It's Christmas though, she always comes to New York for Christmas." Barney replied.
"I think it's sweet that she wants to spend the holidays with you even though it's a lot of trouble for her." Lily commented.
"She is coming because she likes the city." Barney replied.
"Yeah right." Marshall grinned.
Barney shook his head and glanced at his watch, Robin was doing a live broadcast from a protest in downtown Beijing, and he had promised her to be watching.
He got up and bribed Carl to switch the channel to CNN.
"Wow, she looks great," Lily said once the broadcast started five minutes later.
Barney nodded, she really did.
They were all watching Robin telling them about the protest, and why the government was opposed to it when suddenly all hell broke loose.
There must have been an explosion of some sort, because it went from a normal news report to a warzone in mere seconds. There was a large boom, and everything went grey while the camera seemingly hit the ground.
CNN immediately changed back to the New York set, and speculations as to what had happened started. They were assuring that they were trying to reach the team, and would give an update as soon as possible.
Barney starred at the TV, unable to move a single muscle, and feeling incredibly anxious and nauseous.
"Oh my god." Lily was the first of them to break the silence.
"Do you think she is okay?" Ted's question was barely audible.
"I don't know." Marshall replied.
Barney finally managed to get over the initial shock and started fumbling for his cell phone, his hands were trembling uncontrollable while he texted her.
I saw the live broadcast, Robin. Please tell me you are okay.
He hit send and looked back up, starring in the pale faces of the others.
Carl had turned the TV up and the anchor assured them that they were trying to gain more details on what had happened, but weren't able to connect with their crew yet.
He quickly scrolled through the contacts in his phone and finally found the one he was looking for.
"I need to be on the next flight to Beijing." He stated matter of factly once his flight guy had picked up.
"It's too late now, there aren't any more flights department tonight."
Barney balled his hand to a fist, "find the fastest way to Beijing."
He hung up and typed another message to Robin.
Robin I am coming, just hang in there and I will be there as fast as possible.
"Maybe you should wait for news before making arrangements to go out there." Ted said.
"Yeah…I mean it'll take you forever to get there anyways." Marshall nodded.
"I promised her to get her out of trouble if she ever needed me to, no matter where and when." Barney replied, his hands were still shacking.
…
It took over an hour before CNN was able to broadcast a cell phone video of a bystander that showed what had happened.
A car bomb had went off, and the entire area immediately erupted in chaos.
No word from their team yet. But they anticipated a high death toll.
Barney lost his dinner after hearing that.
Clinging to the toilet bowl and thinking about Robin made him cry uncontrollably.
It took him almost fifteen minutes to regain his composure and walk back to the booth.
The others just adverted their gaze, which could only mean that every fool was able to see that he had just bawled his eyes out.
He glanced back at his phone, not knowing what was going on and not being able to do something to help her was the cruelest thing he had ever experienced.
…
"Unknown number." He mumbled when his phone rang.
"Answer it."
"That might be her." The other urged him.
He took a deep breath before doing so,
"Barney Stinson?"
"Good evening, this is Patricia, I am calling from CNN, you are listed in our records as the emergency contact for Robin Scherbatsky."
"I am?" he asked surprised.
"Yes. Mr. Stinson, have you watched the news tonight or do I need to explain what happened in Beijing?" The girl asked.
"No, I watched the live broadcast, did you hear anything from Robin?" He closed his eyes, this was the moment of truth.
His mind briefly thought about the possibility that Robin hadn't made it, that things were over, just like that.
"No we have not." Patricia answered.
Maybe not knowing what had happened to her was worse than the truth, Barney thought.
"But, we did get a hold of our local technician. He was in a van when the bomb went off and therefore remained uninjured."
"Oh."
"We don't know any details yet, but he said that he went to look for the rest of the crew after it happened, and that he saw Robin kneeling by her camera man. He didn't actually talk to either of them because he couldn't get through the crowd but it appears as if she wasn't badly injured."
"She's alive then?" Barney asked relieved.
"We believe so, yes." Patricia answered.
"Oh thank god."
"I will call again as soon as I hear something else, or get a hold of Robin herself."
"Thank you, thank you so much for calling me too."
"Of course. I will talk to you later."
Barney nodded and hung up, the others were all starring at him in anticipation.
"Well, that was CNN…they have an eye-witness who saw Robin after the explosion, so she's alive, but they couldn't tell me whether she was injured or where she is right now."
The others immediately started cheering and Carl came over to ask if they had heard anything.
While Lily filled him in, Barney wrote Robin another text.
CNN called, they said you were seen after the explosion. Just get the hell out of there Robin!
…
They went home around two am, CNN had continue to cover the story with more and more eye witness accounts flowing in.
The 25 was the estimated death toll by the time they left McLarens, but Barney assumed that it would rise even more judged by the pictures and clips that were shown.
He got home and re-watch her outtake video in an attempt to pass the time.
His phone finally rang again at 3:47am, another unknown number.
"Yes?" He answered before the first ring had even subsided.
"Hey, it's me."
"Oh thank god Robin, are you okay? Where are you?"
"I at a hospital."
"Why? What's wrong?" He asked panicky.
"John…" he couldn't hear the rest because she had started crying.
"It's okay…everything will be okay Robin, just calm down. Are you hurt?"
Gosh he wished he could have been there for her.
"Just cuts and bruises."
"So they will release you soon?"
"They stitched me up on site…I am here to find John."
"What do you mean they stitched you up? How bad were those cuts Robin?"
"Barney…I think he might die." She was crying again.
"Who? John? Is that your camera man?"
"Yes. I promised him he would make it home, what if he doesn't Barney? I…oh my god, he has two little kids back in New Jersey."
"Calm down Robin. Where are you right now? Which hospital?"
"I don't know."
"Did you talk to CNN? They are trying to get a hold of you too. I think you need to call them, they will be able to get in touch with John's family and maybe someone can fly out tomorrow morning to be there with him."
"You are the first one I called."
"Okay, here is what you do, call CNN, and tell them what you just told me, okay? There is a flight at 8:35 am leaving from JFK, maybe they can book his wife on it. I am going to be on it too, okay? I will be there as soon as possible, okay?"
"You don't have to come Barney, I am okay. I am just…in shock right now. But I am fine, I am a little disoriented but I will be okay. Besides, I am flying to New York in a couple of days anyways, just stay were you are, okay?"
"Robin I don't mind."
"I know, but I'd rather get the hell out of here than you coming. I will talk to CNN, maybe I can leave tomorrow too? After John's wife arrived that is."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"Call me after you talked to CNN and figured out what is going to happen, okay?"
"I will."
Barney nodded, "I am so glad you are okay Scherbatsky, you have no idea."
…
He talked to CNN once more and offered them his reservation for John's wife. Robin was right, it was smarter for her to fly to New York than for him to fly out there.
Yet things didn't quite work out that way.
Robin stayed at the hospital the first night, where John was in critical condition.
And then volunteered to cover the events for a couple more days before returning to New York as planned.
"She's tough." Lily commented when Barney told her about it.
"I wish she'd just gotten onto the next flight."
"I know, she might so, I mean it's only been 24 hours. Her adrenalin is probably still pumping."
…
He noticed the little skype symbol jumping up and down and glanced at the hallway in front of his office before answering her call.
He tried to avoid skyping with her while at work, especially on days like today where Bilson was fuming anyways.
"Hey." He said once the connection was made.
"Hey."
He checked the clock, it was eleven thirty am, which meant that it was night time for her.
And sure enough, she was lying in bed.
"Oh wow Robin…you look…bad." The cuts and bruises had been covered by makeup during her broadcast earlier, but now nothing was hiding them.
"That's nothing, you should see my leg…and this." She held her right hand up, displaying her wrist and parts of her lower part of her arm bandaged up.
"Six stiches…eight on my calf." She put her head back down onto her pillow.
"I am so glad you are okay Robin." He said once again.
She nodded, they had already agreed that they would talk about all the details when she was back in New York.
"Can you do me a favor Barney?" she asked.
"Anything."
"It's really dumb, but… it's the first time that I am alone and back at the hotel and I… I don't want to be alone right now, I tried sleeping but even though I barely slept a wink last night, I just can't fall asleep right now."
"No problem Robin, we can talk."
"Thank you."
He nodded, and since he figured that she didn't really want to talk about what had happened, he decided to tell her the latest of the drama between Victoria and Ted.
He continued working while he talked to her, typing a mail here and there, or glancing at reports.
"Long story short, he's going to Germany to surprise her. And Marshall and Lily will be visiting his parents, so they won't be around either when you are here next week." He glanced over to his laptop, and noticed that she had fallen asleep.
He sighed as he was letting go of the mouse that was connected to his desktop. She looked so fragile right now.
He really couldn't wait to hold her in his arms again next week.
…
"Hey sleepyhead." He greeted her once he noticed that she was moving again.
He had put his microphone on mute but kept the laptop on all day, even during several meetings. Glancing over to her every now and then to make sure she was still okay.
It was probably the creepiest thing he had ever done, watching a girl sleep for hours on end. But it didn't feel that weird to him, knowing that she was okay actually calmed him down quite a bit.
"Barney?" She asked surprised as she rubbed her eyes.
"You were tired."
"What time is it?"
"Almost ten."
"Were you watching me this whole time?" She asked surprised.
"I kept the laptop running, but I did other stuff too. I just didn't want to sign off like that."
"But it's late, you could have been home hours ago."
He shrugged.
"Thanks Barney."
