A/N – I know I'm slow at updating, I'm so lazy, sorry :') and sorry if any of the characters are a bit OOC in this chapter...or basically the whole fanfic, it's just hard writing them in this sort of situation. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, there is a flashback of the proposal in this chapter, so it's a bit of a change to the story thanks again to everyone who has reviewed/followed xx

CONFESSING & CONFIDING

Barney entered the room and smiled at Robin. She looked exhausted and weak which made Barney a little sad, yet he refused to show it. Although she was awake, she was only faintly aware that people were around her.

"How's she doing?" Barney asked the doctor, realising Robin was far too frail to even smile.

"Well the good news is she is awake, the bad news is she probably won't be able to be her normal self for a while. There may be some memory loss as she's experienced a huge trauma and we'll need to run a few tests tomorrow. For now, she just needs rest," he explained.

Robin lay in the bed, feeling worse off than she had ever felt before. She hardly remembered the details of the accident, it was all a huge blur, but she knew vaguely what had happened. She felt her eyes gently close but a flash of images flew through her mind, making her jump and her eyes shot open again.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here," Barney smiled, reaching for his fiancé's hand. Robin looked into his eyes and she'll admit it, she felt safer.

"The doctor says you won't be back to your normal self quite yet, you don't have to rush anything you know, just relax," he said softly, gently caressing her hand. He could see what was happening; she was having flashbacks. It's understandable, she had been in a terrible accident, but Barney hadn't even thought of that. He didn't even think for one minute that she would be traumatized when she woke up. Robin looked at him and slowly nodded, wincing in pain as she discovered she had a terrible wound on her head.

"Careful!" Barney said protectively, reaching to smoothen down her hair.

"I'm sorry," Robin whispered, her voice hardly strong enough to hear. Barney frowned in confusion.

"What for?"

"Making you worry, I...I heard you when you came to visit me."

"You did?"

"I did."

"Oh, Robin. You don't have to apologise. I should be the one apologising. I made things worse, didn't I? I almost made you...crash," Barney looked down in shame, recalling what he had done earlier. He had no idea Robin could hear everything he had said.

"I saw you. When the car crashed into the cab, I saw you," Robin confessed, playing back the memory in her head.

"Want to know a secret?" Barney said, looking in to her eyes.

"Yeah."

"Remember when I got hit by that bus a few years back? I saw you. I saw you and it scared the hell out of me because that's...that's when I realised I was in love with you, Robin," he looked at Robin's expression and he couldn't believe how shocked she looked.

"Really?" her voice was still just louder than a whisper, but he could tell that had cheered her up a little.

"Really."

All of a sudden a friendly female voice came from the door. "I couldn't wait any longer, I had to come and see you!"

Barney was quite glad the moment had been interrupted, it was getting surprisingly cheesy. Lily rushed over to the bed and stood over her best friend, "How are you doing, sweetie?"

"I could be worse, I suppose," Robin managed to say; trying to force a smile but it was no use.

"I've missed you so much!" Lily smiled, gently hugging Robin, being careful not to cause her too much pain, "We all have!"

"Aw, that's sweet, Lil," Robin said.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted anything, by the way..." Lily suddenly noticed the expression on Barney's face, suggesting there had been some form of emotional conversation beginning, which was completely unlike Barney and Robin.

"No, it's fine, honestly," Barney said, truthfully. He loved Robin and he wanted her to know that but neither of them had ever been good at the emotional stuff so Lily had somewhat saved them from what could have become a very Ted-like situation. Confessing their true feelings had never been what Barney and Robin do best.

"Okay, well, I think Marshall and Ted are dying to come and see you, Robin," she looked towards the door and saw her husband looking through.

"Aw, tell them to come in."

The next hour went over quite quickly. It had seemed like forever since the five of them had a decent conversation. No baby talk was involved for once, much to Barney and Robin's delight, and it was amazing to have Robin back, and even though she was definitely far from her usual self, it was just a blessing for everyone to see her awake again. Slowly, though, Robin began to tire.

"Thanks you guys but...I think I need to rest now," she said, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Oh, of course. You get your rest, honey," Lily smiled, hugging her best friend again.

Marshall, Lily and Ted left the room, leaving Barney and Robin alone again.

"Is it okay if I stay? You can sleep. It's just...if I go home then I'm just going to be worrying about you, plus the apartment is empty without you," Barney asked, holding her hand.

"If you want. It's not like Barney Stinson to watch someone sleep though," she managed to finally smile, her eyes still drifting shut.

"Well, maybe I've changed."

Robin opened her eyes and looked at her fiancé. He had changed, but it wasn't necessarily for the worse. If anything, it was for the better. He had always had a soft side, anyone could see that, but he definitely had matured a lot in the past couple of years. Robin couldn't help but wonder if she had helped with that. But, however, Robin had changed too. She was more comfortable with expressing her feelings than she used to be - well, she was Robin Scherbatsky, she still wasn't perfect at it - but she knew that Barney had brought that soft side out in her. This accident had also helped, it had made her realise just how much Barney meant to her. Seeing him in that flash before she was knocked unconscious during the car accident had made her appreciate how lucky she was to have him. And soon she was going to become his wife. His wife.

"Hmmm...maybe you have."

Robin fell asleep in a matter of minutes, leaving Barney to lose himself in his thoughts. Memories between Robin and him spun through his mind and then it was his turn to realise how lucky he was to have her. He watched her sleep and he couldn't ignore how peaceful she looked and how beautiful she seemed. I'm one lucky guy, he thought to himself. He had a lot of time to spare until Robin woke up again so he started reminiscing about the day he proposed to her...

It had been a few weeks since Barney and Robin had got back together. It couldn't be going more perfectly. Barney knew what he wanted to do, he didn't know if he was crazy for wanting to propose but he knew that he wanted to do it nevertheless. Lily, Marshall and Ted all knew what was going to happen...he hoped to God Lily hadn't spilt the secret like she usually did. He wanted this day to go without anything dreadful happening; they really deserved a sweet moment without any interruptions or something going wrong. Surely the universe owed them that after everything that hadn't gone their way over the last few years? He laid rose petals over the bed and lit candles so that the whole room was gently glowing, just like the day when Robin had chosen Kevin over him. It was the least he could do for Robin and even though they were never the most romantic two people in the world, spoiling her was his guilty pleasure. He was going to pop the question after she'd got back from work, which was in less than half an hour's time. It was Robin, it couldn't feel more right but Barney was still nervous. What if she said no? Barney kept imagining all the situations that could possibly happen and it only just freaked him out more. He sat in the living room counting down the minutes until finally there was a rummage at the door.

She entered the apartment and saw Barney sitting on the couch. She was surprised he hadn't pounced on her already. "Eugh. Worst day ever," she said, sighing, "I just want to go to bed and sleep forever." She collapsed on the couch next to Barney and leant on his shoulder.

"Aww..." Barney realised he was stuck for words. This proposal was harder than when he had proposed to Quinn. It needed to be even more perfect; it needed to show all of his love for Robin in just one question. He didn't want to let her down, especially after everything they'd been through.

"Are you okay? You're acting weird...Usually you're all over me as soon as I get in the door trying to get me into bed for the 30th time this week."

"Trying?" he raised an eyebrow and laughed.

"You know what I mean..." Robin laughed. "No, but seriously, what's wrong? Had a bad day too?"

"Um..no..it was pretty good. I'm sorry about your day though. So what happened, do you want to talk about it?"

"It was just one thing after another, really. And then I came home to find my boyfriend acting weird as hell! Tell me what's wrong you idiot," she sat up and looked at him.

"Nothing is wrong!"

"Your hands are sweating, Barney. I've never seen you look this nervous. Would you just tell me already?"

"I'm not nervous...Do you want some scotch or something? I could use a drink..." he got to his feet, but as he sat up the ring box that was placed in his pocket fell out on to the floor.

"Barney...what is that?" Robin didn't pick it up, she just stared at it with confusion. Barney's insides flipped over and he muttered 'Oh, shit'.

"Barney..." Robin said again. He just stood there, wanting to reverse time.

"Okay, I wanted this to be the most perfect night ever and I wanted to wait until later...but I guess it's not going to go to plan now, I should probably just come out and say it." Robin's face was as white as ghost. She knew what he was about to say. To be honest, she hadn't even thought about marriage with Barney. After everything that had happened with Kevin and everything between Barney and Quinn, marriage or engagement were the last things she wanted to think about. He got on his knee, picked the box up off the floor and held it open.

"Robin Scherbatsky, will you marry me?" She stared at it for a while before saying anything - it was perfect. It looked like it must have cost him an absolute fortune and the size of the diamond blew her mind.

"Oh my God, Barney..." He sat back up onto the couch, the ring still on show.

"Just listen to me. I know we have only been back together a few weeks but how perfect have they been? I'm never happier than when I am with you, Robin. We have been through a lot, you and I, and it's about time we just stop messing around and do what both of us really want. I know you want this. The truth is, I proposed to Quinn because it was the safe option, it was less risky than admitting I was still in love with you. Because I was, Robin, I always was. There has never been a day when I stopped loving you. At the time I thought marrying Quinn was what I wanted, when really it was the complete opposite. I was just...I was scared to tell you the truth because I was afraid of being hurt again. Now we're together again, it made me realise that it wasn't proposing that was wrong, it was the person I was proposing to. I want to marry you, Robin, and I know you want to marry me too."

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes," she blurted. Robin would never admit it but Barney knew there was definitely a tear or two in her eyes. The words registered in his mind and he broke out into a huge smile. He placed the ring on her finger and he looked into her eye.

"I promise you this will be the best marriage of all time," he smiled. He attacked her with a kiss.

"Whoa dude, we haven't got married yet. Just the engagement," she paused for a breath and laughed.

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do. I love you Barney, and that speech. You almost got me crying..." she smiled, knowing full well that she had shed a tear.

"Should I just pretend to ignore the tear I saw roll down your cheek then?"

"Yeah." They laughed and got back to kissing. Even though it hadn't been how Barney imagined it, it had been perfect all the same.

"I've got something special to show you," Barney stood up and took Robin's hand in his. He led her to the bedroom doorway and she gasped.

"Oh wow, Barney...this is perfect." He was going to tell her that he had done this once before, back in a November not that long ago, but he decided that bringing up that day would only cause friction between them and hey, enough emotional stuff had already been said for one day.

"For a perfect person," he put his arms around her waist and brought her in for a gentle kiss.

"I love you so much."

"I love you too."

Barney smiled at the memory. It finally felt like things were getting back to normal again. He looked down at Robin and sighed happily, it was comforting to know that she was just sleeping and that he could wake her at any time. He caught sight of the clock and realised it was getting particularly late. He knew that Robin was going to have to stay overnight in the hospital for the next couple of days at the least and he wished he could stay with her the whole time. For the next half an hour Barney walked around the hospital room, taking in the environment for the hundredth time in the past few weeks. He was flicking through her get well cards when he was shocked by a movement from the bed.

"I was surprised at how many of those I got," Robin said, her eyes meeting the card Barney was holding.

"Why? You know how popular you are," he laughed, sitting back down on the seat next to the bed.

"Have you really stayed here the whole time? Haven't you been bored?" she asked.

"A little. But it was nice to watch you sleep."

"Creep."

"You love me really."

"Yeah, I do," her eyes glistened with a hint of vulnerability.

"I think I'm going to stay the night tonight," Barney said, tucking Robin's hair behind her ear.

"Really? At the hospital? You don't have to do that," her voice was still croaky, but Barney could tell the sleep had helped.

"Nah, it's fine. I told you, I can't sleep without you at the apartment anyway."

"I love you." Barney smiled at the words. It really did seem like since this accident they had formed some sort of cheesiness in their relationship that never used to be there. It was different, but Barney didn't mind, he loved Robin with all his heart and nothing would ever change that.

"I guess the visiting hours are supposed to be over now, I'm going to get kicked out aren't I?"

"Since when has that stopped you?" she grinned, and Barney leant over her to kiss her gently.

"I've been waiting to do that for way too long."