Ch 6: Soul Meets Body

(Death Cab for Cutie | Plans)


Barney

Exactly 20 hours after that wretched phone call from Ranjit, Barney stood in front of Robin's door, his insides roiling with nervousness, terrified of what he would find on the other side. He was actually surprised at his hesitation to knock, considering he had spent the past hours in a crazed state of mind, frantically trying to get back to New York as fast as humanly possible.

He couldn't even remember the blur of excuses and instructions he had barked at his coworkers from GNB and the hotel crew before scampering off to the airport. And he was pretty sure that he'd traumatised the airport staff as he did everything from flinging cash at them to yelling profanities in their face to try and get himself on the fastest flight back to New York.

Amidst the frenzy of throwing his clothes carelessly into his suitcase, Barney had still remembered to try calling Robin. But it hadn't even connected, filling him with even more dread, if that was possible. Maybe her phone's just out of juice, he had tried to console himself, to prevent his mind from assuming the worst.

Out of sheer desperation, Barney had called Patrice, to know if Robin had informed anybody at work, but an intern had picked up the phone instead of her, much to his irritation. The conversation had lasted less than a minute, in which, the nerd had excitedly told him about how the whole office was busy prepping for yet another press conference after Patrice and Robin had "skinned the wolf" and made "the most epic discovery of all time" before running off to do some errand. While it made very little sense to Barney, it did manage to take down his panic a notch. So at least, she's been working, so that should be a good sign…? He had wondered, trying to latch on to whatever hope he could find at that moment.

Now, as he ran his hands down the lapels of his creased suit (he couldn't be bothered by the fact that he hadn't even changed his suit before the flight, or that Perseus lay shamefully wrinkled and askew against his collar) he realised that he hadn't tried calling Robin ever since his plane had landed in New York. After the harrowingly long journey, where he had positively bitten his neighbour's ear off by spouting obscene jokes nonstop just to keep his mind off the anxiety, he had just wanted to get to Robin. He would have run all the way to her apartment if he hadn't found that cab in all but thirteen seconds of waiting.

Pushing aside his confusion and foreboding, Barney gathered himself and knocked on the door. The moment he did that, he remembered that Robin had given him a spare key to her flat. Not knowing if she would be in the condition to make it to the door or if she would even be at home, Barney began scouring through his office briefcase to find the key.

His entire body froze as he heard the soft click of the lock and the door opened, almost in slow motion, to reveal the face he had been dying to see.

The two of them just stared at each other wordlessly for the next moments. While Robin looked at him with a somewhat bewildered expression, obviously not expecting him at her door, before softening her features, Barney simply gawked at her with barely contained relief.

Robin Scherbatsky was here, in flesh and blood, and she was fine. Well, fine. Not legendary, he thought as he took in her bruised side lip, some stray cuts peppered across her forehead and neck, and her tired eyes as she gazed at him lovingly. She was wearing a loose tank top and a pair of striped pyjama pants, her slightly tousled hair falling over her shoulders, but to Barney, she looked absolutely radiant.

Eventually, Robin shifted a little aside, to allow Barney to enter, but he continued gaping at her, too overwhelmed to speak. When he didn't make any move, she arched up her eyebrows and chuckled lightly, snapping Barney out of his stupor, and he awkwardly shuffled himself and his suitcase inside her apartment.

Even once he was inside, Barney didn't know what to do or say next, and so he just continued to fiddle with his cuff links and tie until Robin finally spoke up. "You're back early," she said, her face glowing with love, "It's really, really, good to see you," she said, her eyes crinkling with a genuine smile.

The second the words left her, Barney couldn't hold it in anymore and rushed forward to pull her into a fierce hug, his eyes almost getting misty at the familiarity of her in his arms. He felt Robin's shoulders tense up a bit and then relax, and he sighed contentedly against her. And just like that, the words came tumbling out of his mouth.

"God, Robin. I-I just had the worst, absolute worst, phone call from Ranjit," Barney said, tightening the embrace, his fingers splayed across her ribcage.

"I think he-he was trying to get back at me for the time I made him drive all the way up to Philadelphia just to see the dog in a bra at that strip club," he continued, trying to laugh it off, but the tension was apparent in his voice, "It was a sick prank, Robin, sick," the words continued to spill, like he just needed to get it out of his system, "He-he said you… that he… God!" he paused to inhale her unmistakable scent – lavender and a hint of lemongrass – that always calmed him down, "But you're here, and-and you're okay and that's all that mat–"

His rambling was cut short when a pained moan escaped Robin's lips. Barney immediately pulled away, as if he'd been burnt, and scanned her face. His panic returned in full force when he saw her eyes scrunched up, her jaw clenching and unclenching. Barney stumbled back, alarms going off in his head, when he saw her hands pressed against her left side.

He forgot to breathe as his eyes zeroed in on the growing red stain on the shirt material behind her hands.

"Robin," Barney whispered, "Did I…? How did you…? What happened?" he questioned desperately, stepping forward to hold her.

Robin tried to school her features back to a poker face, but Barney could see she was still hurting. "Yeah, uh, this," she croaked, her voice weak, "I… I might have gotten my ass whooped," she tried to scoff, but it came out as a grimace. Barney had so many questions, but concern triumphed over curiosity and he gently led Robin to her couch to get her seated first. He noticed that she was hobbling as they went deeper inside her house.

He was going to help her get lowered into the couch, but she shot him a withering glare that made him instantly back off. His heart briefly beamed with pride for her, because even when she was bleeding and in pain, Robin Scherbatsky didn't need anyone's help. He watched in anticipation as she slowly got herself into the seat, ready to jump to her aid if she needed it. But she didn't, and managed it herself, her deadpan mask only cracking infinitesimally when her body made contact with the couch.

He moved around the cushions to get her into a more reclined position. Once he was satisfied with the adjustments, Barney raced into her bedroom and emerged several seconds later with the first aid box in his hand. He set his suit jacket aside, rolled up his sleeves and then looked up at her gingerly, asking for her permission.

If she found it strange that she was asking her before lifting her shirt, given that they'd seen each other naked far too many times, she didn't react. She simply blinked in approval, and he gently pulled up her tank top. His heart broke at the sight of the white gauze that was now lined with blood wrapped across what appeared to be a long gash, and the angry bruises along her ribs.

"The antiseptic cream is on my dressing table," Robin said in a voice barely audible through her gritted teeth.

He fetched the cream and then quickly got to work, carefully removing the ruined bandage and disposing it before reaching into the first aid box to get some cotton swabs for wiping off the blood. His breath was visibly shaking as he took in the string of stitches across the cut. He was relieved when he saw that the stitches hadn't really opened. She flinched the moment he touched the wound, making him stop and look at her apologetically. But she just shook her head and pursed her lips, probably in too much pain to even talk. He continued the work, applying the cream on the cut and efficiently bandaging her up using new gauze.

Once he was done, he looked up to find Robin staring at him with a puzzled, almost reverent, look. He could see the gears turning in her head as she contemplated how to explain everything to him. But Barney simply sat still, silently imploring her to open up and let him in.

"Okay," she began, when she could finally find the strength, "I promise there's a legendary story behind all of this…"

Barney reached out to hold Robin's hand, his pulse quickening as he braced himself for what would come next.


Robin

Robin knew she owed Barney an explanation. She began to summarise the whole Atwood scandal, "Okay, so around a month ago, we got a tip about Jonas Atwood at WWN. You know, the rich banker-turned-businessman who was accused of insider trading…?"

"Pssht, yeah, I know that guy," Barney said, indignantly, "He's created quite an uproar with his latest scandal…"

"Yeah, well, so, essentially I was assigned to investigate him. To see if we could get any dirt on him. I had a team of some interns with Patrice as their mentor," Robin said sourly, her annoyance was but a reflex, "Basically, long-story-short: after ages of searching, we – well, Patrice, actually – finally landed a hit, this Saturday."

A few moments into the narration, Robin had decided that she would tell him just the work side of it, leaving out the bit where she ditched her friend and took off with her kid to pursue a story. She would have to tell him eventually, because knowing Barney, he would know how to extract the complete truth. And she wasn't going to hide it. It's just that she didn't want to lead with that, unaware of what Barney would make of that move. Because while Barney was not necessarily the most considerate and mindful person, he was an intensely loyal friend. And what she had done didn't exactly scream of loyalty.

"And so," Robin resumed, "That day, Patrice called me over to this super shady, deserted place. And when I went there, we ended up discovering that the Atwood guy has been running a drug trafficking ring under the pretence of one of his projects," Robin continued, the thrill of the find still exciting her. She went on to tell him about the proof they had found and how they had missed it throughout their initial research.

"But, turns out, Patrice isn't quite the master of stealth," Robin said, rolling her eyes to downplay what she was about to say, "And she'd managed to make some people very angry for taking a few documents." She saw Barney's features get increasingly severe.

She then brushed through the whole almost-being-held-at-gunpoint-and-then-battling-and-getting-knifed-by-a-big-scary-dude part, but Barney didn't seem mind. She could see that he was already teetering at the edge of the seat (and his sanity) with just the superficial details that she gave him of the encounter, his grasp on her hand getting tighter. She paused after that to catch her breath – she was still weak from her wounds and all that talking was waning her energy – and to give Barney some time to digest the butt load of new information.

Robin was astonished at how relaxed she was as she recounted the madness of the past days. She inwardly knew that it was yet another effect of Barney's charm, working wonders on her despite the simplicity of the act of holding hands. The man was just one-of-a-kind; he seemed to be able to excite and calm her heart all at once.

When she had reached to open her apartment door earlier that evening (after a whole lot of hobbling, grunting and biting back curses), she had been ready to give a piece of her very pissed off mind to anyone who wasn't the food delivery guy. But she had been so pleasantly surprised at the sight of her would-be husband. Barney's hair had been all mussed up, his beloved suit had creases that would normally drive him insane, and he had a day's worth of stubble lining his jaw. His eyes were dim and exhausted, but when he'd looked at her with all the love in him, he had never looked more handsome to Robin. And she hadn't been able to help but smile at him like a lovesick idiot.

He'd appeared to be so utterly distraught that Robin was rendered completely speechless. She had guessed that he must have found out about her little adventure – probably from Ranjit, since she hadn't told anyone else – and freaked out. She cursed herself for not letting him know herself, but it wasn't that she didn't want to tell him. She had just thought that informing him over the phone would have just made him worried, which wouldn't have helped either of them. It would be much easier to soothe him face-to-face. But she could understand that finding out from someone else must have been a whole new level of terrifying.

Which was why when Barney had hugged her like he was a drowning man grappling onto a straw, she had let him, mirroring his need to eliminate any distance between them. She'd had to stifle her cry as the tides of pain nearly blinded her, but she hadn't pulled back. But when he deepened the hug, his fingers pressing against the still-tender wound, her tolerance had crumbled, and she hadn't been able to hold back the groan.

And Barney's reaction after that left Robin totally dumbstruck. The way he had helped her get seated, removed her bandages, cleansed the wound and put on the new bandage, like a pro, without any theatrics – just pure, unadulterated concern – it almost brought her to tears. His hands had been so gentle as he went about the medical procedures, as if she was made of glass and would break if he made the tiniest mistake.

Throughout the exercise, he hadn't said a word, only observing her through those beautiful, expressive orbs of his, and it was the longest Robin had seen him be silent. It was so un-Barney of him, and yet, Robin was not unnerved. Despite the lack of overly romantic gestures, they both were familiar with the depth of love and care they had for each, their softer sides only surfacing during their private and crucial moments.

Robin knew that Barney would never force her to share her feelings. He knew exactly when to curb his outrageous curiosity which she knew he had often used to gather dirt on the rest of the gang over the years of their friendship. In spite of being sociopathic too many times to be considered healthy, Barney Stinson had the heart of gold, and Robin knew and appreciated that. And so, she knew he deserved an explanation, considering that she must have caused him a major panic attack.

Once she was convinced that Barney had gotten somewhat of a grasp over the story thus far, she decided to continued. "So, yeah, there was a little bit of a… skirmish," Robin said, carefully, "After which the police arrived, and the guy was taken away by the paramedics. Then, after completing the formalities –"

"Wait, why did the paramedics take him away?" he asked.

"Uh, he might have been a little bit hit on the head. With a golf club. By me," Robin answered, flippantly. For a whole 10 seconds, Barney stared at her blankly. And then he rewarded her with an affectionate smile so dazzling, Robin didn't even realise she was blushing until she felt his thumb caress her cheek.

"Bad. Ass," he said, appreciatively, no sign of the frown that he had on all the while, "Guess you can say that his balls got putt a little too hard. What up!" he added, because of course he had to.

"Yeah, anyway, so, after I finished all the formalities," Robin said after giggling at his pun, "I told the cop to call Ranjit for me, to drop me home. I hadn't realised I'd been knifed until then, after all the craziness of that evening had ended. So, Ranjit took me to the hospital instead, and then I guess he had some emergency of his own, so he left," Robin continued, all serious again.

"The cut wasn't too deep and there was no internal damage, luckily. But the doctors still made me stay the night and discharged me the next morning. I came back home and mostly just slept, thanks to the painkillers they'd given me. But the day after that I realised that there was still a lot of stuff to be done about the press release," Robin explained, tired at the memory.

"So, I spent that day instructing the geniuses at my office about that," she continued, clearly irritated at her subordinates, "And thankfully, they managed to get it done. So, after going through a hellish few weeks, and a nightmare of a night, we finally exposed the scam that the scum was running," Robin, finished, prouder of her wordplay than the national-level reveal of a scandal that she had pulled off.

Barney remained silent for a long time, before breaking out into a smile. "'Exposed' the scum?! Kid, you eviscerated him!" he chortled with childlike excitement, reaching out for a high-five instinctively. And Robin returned it, although less energetic than him, simply because his enthusiasm was infectious, and it felt good to be praised.

"Damn straight we did!" Robin laughed back, "Turns out, the police were able to dig out some solid incriminating stuff from the papers we found." She didn't quite want to brag, but she was really pleased with the work her team had done. It was weeks of hard work that had finally paid off, and given all her emotional confusion, it was just the boost her wounded ego had needed. Barney, then, launched into a soliloquy filled with obscene quips and lame-but-ingenious puns about how royally screwed Atwood was, and how insanely epic Robin was to do all of that. And Robin couldn't help but laugh along at his antics.

"I hope you know," he said eventually, once the laughter fizzled out, "I'm proud of you," he said simply, and Robin found herself drowning in his eyes. The gorgeous pearls that were brimming with veneration. The look on his face was so solemn, his words ringing with such unfiltered conviction that Robin knew he meant it; it wasn't one of those things that one said just to make the other feel better. She looked down at their intertwined hands as she tried to blink back the tears that had sprung in her eyes.

Once upon a time, those were the words she had been dying to hear from her father, the one man whose validation she so deeply desired. Barney had said that to her before, on the phone, after what had been dubbed as 'The Helicopter Incident: A Stroke of Awesomeness.' After rambling about how he was dating a stripper, he had quietly said the words, instantly brightening Robin's heart. But at this moment, hearing him say it to her, seeing the appreciation in his eyes, Robin realised she didn't need that from her father anymore. Coming from Barney, it felt, somehow, more intimate, sincere and genuine. Because Barney had seen her through the highs and lows of life; he knew her inside-out, warts and all, and yet, he was proud of her.

She looked back up at him, trying to pour all the love that she couldn't possibly articulate into her gaze. And the smile he returned told her that he had received it. Warmth and satisfaction buzzed through her body, and for that magical moment, there was nothing more in the whole world that Robin had ever wanted.


Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in this story.