The next night, Robin slides into the booth, knocking Ted's knees accidentally, and waves Wendy the waitress over.

"Hey, Robin!" Ted drawls way too happily. Suspiciously eyeing him, Robin chalks it up to post marriage bliss. Vivid memories of her own post marriage bliss flash, and she remembers spending most of them in bed. Eyes scanning the room, they land on Barney looking like a million bucks opposite her. He's been letting the scruff grow out a bit, she notices. Blushing, fingers go up to her chest, where a few tiny red indentations remain from his handiwork. His eye catches hers at the moment and she watches him swallow roughly, giving her a brief sense of satisfaction. The thick tension is, like always, immediately shattered.

"Hey Birdie!" Tracy says, mimicking her husband's tone, peering from the other side of Ted. Two peas in a pod, those two."Okay, first of all, that nickname is NOT going to be a thing." She vigorously states, waving her finger between them,"- and, second, what's with the crazy look?"

Both studiously ignore her.

"All right!" Ted exclaims, clapping his hands. "Now that the whole gang's here, we've got some things to discuss."

He reaches down and pulls out a colour coded binder, slapping it down on to the table. Barney and Robin groan simultaneously, and the two chant, "Oy Vey." in unison. The group share a look.

"Simultaneous emotion-five!" He yells, and the two slap their palms together and laugh. Ted rolls his eyes, Tracy laughs fondly, and Marshall and Lily seem to be giving them weird and hopeful? Looks. She feels like she's travelled back in time.

She's shaken out of her reverie by Ted.

"Honeymoon destinations. We can't decide, so we thought we'd take it to the group. Ten minutes each with the binder, and a two minute discussion period, and you each give one destination." Ted instructs, lacing his fingers between Tracy's, and watching them. Looks like there was a new Marshall and Lily in town.

"Hawaii." Marshall and Lily crow in unison, and Lily coos, nuzzling further into Marshall.

"Thailand." Barney chirps. "Wait, no, Thighland. Ted, Ted, look at me, look at me, Ted-"

"Barney, I'm married." Ted laughingly points out.

"Well, technically, in Thailand, it's legal to have several marital and or sexual partners. True story." Barney says, in his mock sincere voice, slurping his scotch loudly. The ice clinks.

"Not true story." Robin counters." Ted. Argentina. It's beautiful."

"Not a good place to start a marriage. End one? Sure." Barney mumbles into his drink, scoffing. Everyone turns, shocked faces aimed at him. She sits perfectly still, a chill running through her spine, and a stab of hurt courses through her.

Wendy comes over, to take Robin's order, and does a three sixty, judging the cold quiet as a sign of distress. Barney finally seems to notice everyone's looks and the eery quiet after a few minutes of watching his ice melt.

"What?" He asks, petulantly. "There's no rule that you can't say things about your failed marriage. Plus, Robin's cool with it." He says casually, waiting for her to agree. Her lips tremble slightly as she keeps them pursed.

"Well, if there was, it'd be your rule." Lily snorts, fighting for the bowl of pretzels with Marshall, and something equivalent to a lightbulb dings in Robin's head through her blind anger.

"Rule No. 2-" she says, trying not to seethe. "-Only two comments about our failed marriage allowed per person." She folds her arms and gives him a challenging look.

He knocks down the rest of his scotch. Laughs, and relief washes over her like a wave. The anger simmers a bit, but she studiously ignores him for the rest of the night. The coldness settles into bustling chatter soon, and Robin orders a Glen Mckenna and jalapeno poppers once Wendy's seen fit to come back to the table, willing herself to drink the anger away.

Marshall tells them about his new job, and Lily gushes about Marvin, and it's like listening to a broken record but she loves it. Robin's heavily missed this, the gang, getting together, like nothing ever changed.

"Oh hey, where were you guys last night? I thought you were coming to the bar?" Ted suddenly questions, shoving a popper from Robin's plate into his mouth, earning him a glare from Robin. Barney spits his scotch. Under the table, she pinches his thigh hard, partly because of his uneasy reaction earns him a confused look from everyone, and partly because of his sharp remark. More of the latter. "GAH, bad scotch. Watered down. WENDY!" He yelps.

A quick telepathic conversation helps her figure things out, but she's pretty sure she just told him she's going to kill him and he just invited her to play laser tag.

"We had to sort some things out- with the divorce papers." She hesitatingly squeaks, and Barney points to her with a nod, reaching for a tissue to wipe his mouth. Lily tenses up.

"Oh." Lily morosely groans. "Are you sure this is what you guys want?"

There's a hopeful look in her eyes, one that Robin hates seeing, mostly because it leads to no good. It leads to incessant meddling. Out of corner of her eye though, she gauge's Barney's reaction. His face comes as blank and unreadable and she heaves a sigh.

"Lil, not exactly table chit chat material, is it?" she questions pointedly, lifting her eyebrows high and shooting daggers through her eyes. Lily sits back, looking defeated, shoving a pretzel in her mouth. The group shudders.

"Oh, come on!" Lily groans, as Marshall pulls the bowl of pretzels away from her.

"Honey, you sound like you're chewing gravel. No. AH!-" he yells suddenly as his tiny wife punches his arm. Robin snorts. The rest of the night goes by in a blur. Eventually, Ted and Tracy pick Thailand, and Barney fist pumps several times during the night, but no one asks about last night again. Barney's visibly relaxed now. Watching him talk, interact, smile into his glass when Ted cracks an architectural limerick that most definitely isn't funny but Tracy's still giggling at it anyway, coo at Marvin's stroller, doing normal people things makes Robin's stomach flutter.

Around 2 am, she bids her goodbyes, avoids eye contact with Barney and

turns off the corner of the street to the park. The air is brisker now, and leaves are fallen in the sludgy snow. She pulls her scarf tighter and reaches into her coat pocket for a cigarette, sitting on a grey park bench. She's bitterly reminded of the time she sat, drinking spiked eggnog and mourning the loss of her imaginary kids. The lighter clicks. She's halfway through her first one when she hears a pair of footsteps squelch in the snow.

"Hey, can i bum one?" Barney asks, blue eyes sharp and bright. He adjusts his burberry coat, and she wants to say no. She wants to ask him what the hell happened in the bar. Opening her mouth, though, is all she can do. For a few seconds her jaw flaps up and down but finally, she clamps it shut. Her phone buzzes in her pocket.

"Sure." After a few seconds. She hands him a cigarette, which he accepts hesitantly, and plucks the lighter from her gloved hand. She blows smoke rings and knits her eyebrows together. Catches him staring at her. Silence has always been good with them. It's never awkward when they don't talk, because there's so much unspokeness can do more than any words can.

"I didn't know you started smoking again." Barney observes quietly, flicking the butt of the cigarette into the sludge. She listens to it fizzle out. Puts the cigarette to her lips again. He doesn't sound accusing per se, more like, a kid who's been chided.

"Yeah well, i figured, since we're divorced, i've got room for a new bad habit." She bitterly replies. Barney flinches back, if only for a second, and the imperceptible mask goes back up. His eyes are hard, but his voice mellow, as he shifts closer and mutters, "I'm sorry." A buzzing again. He doesn't sit.

Robin hums, discontented, still staring at the bark of a tree, and blowing smoke rings. He sighs again, runs his hands through his hair. It's shorter now, and less blonde. She doesn't want to admit she likes it this way. The poor bastard looks so kicked down, and that facial hair, it makes him look almost like, he isn't invincible anymore.

That theory gets proved further when she nearly tears up at his next words.

"I guess- i haven't been handling the divorce as well as i should." He sighs, mournfully and twists his mouth in a Barney way, kicking the dirt under the snow. It's incredible how everything he does, every movement, is so quintessential 'Barney'. She pats the concrete of the bench, staring at him with a sad smile.

Taking another long drag of her cigarette, Robin coughs, and stuffs it into the snow below. "I know it's hard. It's even harder because we're friends. But- if you go for the easy hard joke here we're not friends." She trails off, seeing him open his mouth. He raises his hands in defence, smiling a bit, and his teeth look whiter through the stubble.

"-but," she begins again, "-we're Barnman and Robin dude. We can work through all the crap that needs to be worked through." She tries for a smile, but it's watery. Before the courage that welled up, dies down again, she lifts her numb fingers and traces his jaw lightly. He shivers and she draws her hand back. Barney's body radiates warmth, and warmth would feel so undeniably good right now. Senses tingling, she shifts closer and nudges his shoulder with her own, and tells herself it's not just to make contact with him.

"I like the stubble." She murmurs. He smirks, and it doesn't reach all the way up to his eyes. Robin wonders then, how many of these silhouetted moments they'll keep having, longings in the dark, whispered words and mourning broken promises, because she and he just know, that they're toxic together. Always butting heads so hard the recoil damaged others.

"You know, seeing Serious Barney is always weird. You're like-" Robin gazes at him with awed amusement. "-a chameleon. Just one second and, you're there then you're here." She snaps her fingers.

Barney's eyebrows go up comically, and an adorably boyish smile graces his features. "Serious Barney? What, is that my superhero name?" He jokingly says, lightening the mood and flicking a bit of snow with the end of shoe onto her bare legs. God, she and her core body temperature could endure a blizzard in shorts.

"Whatever." She rolls her eyes. And just like that, all the emotions they've just experienced feel like an act, like they never happened, or they happened a lifetime ago. Robin finally pulls her phone out, sifting through the texts. All three are from Lily.

Where are you?

Hope you're okay.

Dinner tomorrow at our place, be there by 8, and bring wine!

She smiles, shoving the phone back in, and gets up. Barney follows her lead, brushing his coat off and pulling a stray autumn leaf from his hair.

"So. I gotta take off. But not in a 'this was really awkward and we can't be friends' way, but in a 'i really gotta go and get my chops busted by my boss'." He exasperatedly sighs.

"Working late?"

"Mm."

"Well, tomorrow, dinner at Lily and Marshall's, don't forget!" She yells, remembering last minute as they walk off in opposite directions. He points to her and taps his forehead, turning off towards the exit. She circles around the park for while, feeling relieved at having saved her friendship. Still in her own world, Robin knocks into a tall guy, in a navy overcoat.

"Sorry aboot that." The man apologizes, in a thick Canadian accent. His radiantly white teeth flash her. Robin goes wide eyed and giggles. The man's smile gets wider, and he stretches his palm out.

"Daniel. Daniel Jeffrey." There's something cheesy about the way he introduces himself like James Bond but he's Canadian and tall and pretty and she hasn't been attracted to anybody since her divorce and she's far too gone to care. Shaking hands with him, she takes in his sandy blonde hair, and only a teeny tiny part of her thinks he can't pull of the blonde like- don't go there, her more rational ego butts in.

"Can i buy you a donut?" Robin blurts out. She tries to reason that's it not because she wants to get over Barney, or maybe even make him jealous, although that would be an extreme plus point. He nods happily and presses his hand on the small of her back, gently nudging her to walk and it just doesn't feel the same. Ignoring the feeling, she walks down what could hopefully be a new fresh path, a path that would lead her away from that feeling inside that made her feel like drowning and flying all at once. No, she wouldn't miss that, would she? (She would)