They sat quietly for what felt like hours before Barney spoke again.
"It's my fault."
"How the hell could this be your fault?" Marshall demanded.
"The guy…Bobby…he only wanted me. Ted was there to make sure I did what he said. He was an insurance policy." Barney shook his head. "And then, when I tried to escape—"
"Whoa, dude, slow down. Tell me everything from the beginning."
He did.
Marshall sat, enraptured and horrified. He knew it came out…well, not alright, but with everyone alive at least. The paramedics had found Adele, scared but unhurt. She was with family now, or so Marshall's lawyer-y powers had ferreted out.
"Barney…NONE of that was your fault." He said after Barney finished.
Barney motioned to their prone friend. "If he'd given me up, Bobby wouldn't have stabbed him."
"Would you have given him up?"
"Don't."
"He did what any of us would have done." Marshall insisted. "And you saved his life. You nearly killed yourself saving him."
"He never would have been there if I'd gone with James four months ago."
"Yeah, and that means Adele and whoever Bobby kidnapped would still be with him. You saved her life too; more, really, because now they can find out who he sold the other men to."
Barney paused for a moment. "Okay, I'll give you that one."
"Damn right you will." A voice spoke up from behind them. If Barney's ankle hadn't been bound up, he probably would have spun around comically. As it was, he waited for Marshall to shift.
James stood in the doorway, face pale and wan.
"How long have you been there?"
"Long enough." He walked over and dropped to one knee, face to face with his brother. "Bro…I am so sorry. You were right. Ted was right. He did everything he could to make sure you were safe—"
The words were tumbling out almost too quickly for the other men to keep track of. Barney was stunned at the flood of apologies.
"James, stop! I get it." He held up his hands. "It's cool, man."
"It won't be cool until I can apologize to Ted. I…I said some damn stupid things." James' shook his head. "I wanted to apologize as soon as I was sober, but…"
"That whole pride thing. I understand." Barney nodded.
James nodded and got to his feet. "Mom's here too. She's dying to see you."
"I really shouldn't leave until Ted's awake."
"Barney, I'll stay with Ted. Go see your Mom." Marshall insisted gently.
Seeing no easy way to opt out, he sighed and stepped into his brother's hand.
"I wish you hadn't dragged her up here, bro."
"Yeah, I dragged her."
0o0o0o0
To be continued…
0o0o0o0
A/N Okay, explanations are in order. Aside from two shows going up almost simultaneously, in the month that's passed I've managed to get food poisoning, slice my finger open (it's healed now, but I needed 2 stitches) and had to subsequently throw myself into my work to make up for lost time. I'm hoping the updates will go back to, if not their former pace, a good deal quicker than a month in-between.
Sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but at this point, I just wanted to get SOMETHING out.