p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"strongspan lang="EN-US"AN: Hey! Anybody out there? I know, I haven´t updated my stories for years (I was really shocked about that and I´m really sorry, if I disappointed anyone), but if any of my old readers are still interested in this or new readers get interested, I would be very happy. With Corona and everything I remembered my stories and I finally want to finish them. I haven´t written in a long time, especially not in English, so please forgive any mistakes or if I´m a little bit out of touch with the characters. I´ll try to write better again. So here´s a short chapter and I´ll update it soon!/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US"As soon as she rings the doorbell her heart speeds up again. She´s waiting for a moment, but there is no one answering the door. She rings again, but still no answer. "I´m such an idiot. Of course he isn´t there. He must be at the hospital with Loretta and James."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US"So, Robin picks her phone and starts dialing Barney´s number. Fortunately, he answers quickly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US"She finally hears Barney´s voice, "Hey, what´s up?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""Hey. I´m standing right in front of your mom´s house, but ummm…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""You are here already? I´m at the hospital! I didn´t expect you to be here so quickly. To be honest, I wasn´t really sure you would show up at all."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""Why would I say I´m packing my stuff, when I´m not actually coming?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""I don´t know, I´m just… I don´t know. I´ve been in the hospital 24/7 for almost a week now. I can´t think at the moment.", Barney sighs./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""That´s ok. What hospital is it? Should I come over?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""No, wait. Stay there. I´m coming. I´ll be there in about fifteen minutes."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""You don´t have to come immediately. I can come to the hospital or pick up a coffee somewhere."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""No, it´s okay, really. I promised my mom to get her a book from home anyway."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""Okay, great. How´s James?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""Uh, can I tell you, when we see each other in person? I don´t really like to tell you all the details over the phone."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""Yeah…sure. So, see you soon!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US"Barney ended the phone call without any goodbye. Robin stares at her quiet phone. "He sounded so broken and exhausted. Poor, Barney. Why didn´t he tell me earlier? I could´ve supported him." About ten minutes later, her phone rings again. Without looking who the caller is, she picks it up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""Hi, Robin. How are you" - Shoot, it was Ted./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""Hi, Ted. I´m fine, thanks, how are you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""You sound weird. Everything okay?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US"Robin hesitates for a second. Should she tell him? Would Barney want that? But if she did, he would want an answer, why she knows about it and why she is at Loretta´s house. She decides against it, "No, sorry, everything´s fine. I didn´t sleep well and expected a call from my boss, so I was surprised when I heard your voice."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""Oh, I hope it´s not a bad surprise", Ted says with a flirty note in his voice./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US"Robin rolls her eyes. Is he serious now? Their date has been over two weeks ago and since then he´s tried to flirt with her over and over again. Why didn´t he get it that she just wants to be friends? She really tried to give him subtle hints, that she´s not interested in him that way, but he didn´t seem to get them. She needs to tell him, she doesn´t want to date him blatantly. Robin takes a deep breath, but before she can answer Ted, a cab arrives and Barney gets out of it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""Robin? Are you there?", Ted interrupts while Robin watches how Barney pays the cabdriver./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US""Yeah, I´m there, but ummm… I kind of have to go. Sorry. I´ll call you later. Bye!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"span lang="EN-US"Before Ted can answer her, she ends the call and turns her attention to Barney. The cab is driving away and Barney stands there without saying a word. Robin remains silent too and comes closer to him. Before they say anything Barney falls into Robin´s open arms and they hug for a while./span/p