PART 11

Beta: roland44
A/N: Okay I think I can make it in... *counts* 15 or 16 chapters? I'm not positive though... Could take longer =/
A/N/N: If I say please will you comment? Srly, I hate to ask but... pretty please?

"Yeah, well, it wasn't that long ago." David followed Barney into his living room. "So come on, you can tell me. Was she a bimbo you just had meaningless sex with and will never call again?" He sat down on the couch; his Uncle a few feet away from him was observing his beverage once more.

"Veronica..." he slowly admitted, "is a friend –"

"So you two aren't dating?" He quickly asked.

"Well no," he frowned, "not really –"

"Have you ever slept together?" He persisted again. This time Barney paused and turned to David.

"Aren't you a little young to be –"

"Would you be willing to move to another country for this Veronica?" He continued to question Barney in the same curious and sober tone he began with, unwilling to let his Uncle change the topic.

"David, what are –"

"Are you secretly in love with her?" The question shot out of him

"What?" Barney asked utterly confused and too perplexed to answer his newly found nephew.

"Not-secretly in love?" He ventured.

--

Lily tried her best to convince him otherwise, but Barney's mind had been made. And after a difficult discussion, Lily seemed to understand where he stood – she was still against it, still doe-eyed and believed they could live happily ever after. What a joke – he'd laugh if his circumstance didn't make his stomach churn and his heart numb with pain.

He knew what he should do, what was best for everyone; the only thing left to do was to talk to Robin.

Barney stretched his legs, trying to wake up the best he could. He had a bruise on his thigh, he knew that, but he barely noticed it. He had to get up; he had to get up and get dressed. Get up, get dressed, and talk to Robin. Talk to Robin Scherbatsky.

He delicately found the floor and made his way to the bathroom, collecting his belongings on the way there. Ronny was still asleep, head sunk into her pillow and buried in blankets. Before leaving he left her a note – along the lines of: 'early meeting; like we said: nothing happened right?; might not be at the bar tonight'. He couldn't quite shake off the guilt or the recognition of what an awful idea he had had last night. Sleeping with someone to forget someone else? He had tried it for a year before finally coming clean about his affection for Robin – it didn't work then, why would it work now?

But it had to work. Some time and distance... and in no time Barney Stinson was sure he'd be able to sleep with another woman without a second thought, or a first for that matter, about one Robin Scherbatsky. But right now; right now he still needed some time...

A face to face encounter would be hard, and a phone call... A phone call would be just as hard.

This way, at least he'd be able to see her again.

--

"Look, David, what do you what me to say?" Barney asked after an awkward silence between the two of them.

"Hey I'm just trying to figure out what's going out between you two wild cats." He shrugged casually.

"Wild cats?"

"Isn't that what you guys used to say back then?" They once again found themselves frowning in confusion. "Never mind."

"Alright," Barney sighed, "so you wanna know who's the lucky lady in my life?"

"Yes!" David exclaimed.

"Fine. You see, David, your Uncle Barney was once totally awesome – ask Sam if you don't believe me."

"Sam?"

"Yeah, my nephew, great guy, you should meet. Anyways, as time went by I became... accustomed to a few high choices –"

"Sorry?"

"You know, I kept the best of the best, to revisit." He grinned and cocked his head, in the best of intentions.

"Oh, okay – the actual saying is top choice..." Barney's brow creased in disappointed shame – though he then raised his eyebrows and smirked lightly, remembering Ted's obsession with correcting everyone. David readjusted his legs position and awkwardly said, "But yeah; go on."

"Well, time passed and as it so happened Veronica is," he rolled his eyes and sighed before adding, "a top choice."

"Ah, I get ya."

"Yeah, she and I got real close during her divorce, back in '21 and '22. They'd been separated when I started hanging out with her gang of friends." He smiled nostalgically, though something deeper, something darker flicker to the surface, forcing him to twitch his eyes and purse his lips.

"So... you two are, kind of together?" David said, intrigued by his Uncle's reactions although his words were disappointing.

"Yeah," Barney shrugged, "I guess, sort of, not really, a little." He stared with discontent into his empty cup.

"More tea?" David asked. "Or something stronger?"

--

Robin still had to get supper ready, David's nap would finish in about 40 minutes and there wasn't any more milk. Great. 'Course the garbage was full – she grunted – one more thing to do. She stuffed the potato peels in the bag and tied the ends together.

For the past month, Ted had managed to resume work at school and she'd changed her hours to better suit her new lifestyle. She'd taken the night and weekend shift and cut most of her out of town trips – Maddie, the new girl, was covering all that stuff now.

Robin pulled the bag out of the kitchen, headed out the back door, to make her way to the bin.

She didn't mind, Ted needed her help and how could she say no when Lindey and David needed someone. Her thoughts spun around, back to supper and to cooking. The potatoes were done, so all she had to do now was mash them up, the ground beef was already browned and now she just had to arrange it all with the corn and put it back in the oven for 10 to 15 more minutes to warm it back up – shit she needed the milk to make the mashed potatoes...

With these busy thoughts, Robin didn't notice the man standing outside.