Ted, Marshall, Lily, and Robin sat in the apartment quietly.
" Anyone seen Barney?" Marshall asked absentmindedly. They all sat as if in a trance. He knew the answer already. Of course no one had seen him.
"What should we do?" Ted asked helplessly. Lily shook her head slowly.
"Nothing, it's his life. He's an adult, it's not our job to clean up his messes," Robin said harshly, standing up suddenly and pacing around the room.
"Robin Sherbatsky, how dare you speak that way!" Lily screeched. She stormed over to the taller woman and stared up at her. "He is one of your best friends, don't act like you're not a little bit concerned for him!" She said scathingly.
"I'm going on the roof," Robin replied coldly.
"Maybe he really did get attacked by a dog," Marshall suggested. Lily just glared at him. "Or, I'll, uh, go check his office and see if he's there," Marshall backtracked. Lily nodded. Ted followed Robin up onto the roof.
Robin leaned against the wall, slowly smoking a cigarette and staring up at the night sky. Her hands were visibly shaking in the cold January air.
"Isn't it a little cold to be up here? I feel like i'm going to freeze," Ted offered, trying to lighten the mood. Robin shot him a glare, effectively cutting him off. "Can I bum one?" He asked halfheartedly, giving up on his attempt at cheeriness. Robin handed him the box of Marlboros.
"I just don't know...why," Robin began quietly.
"Well his fiance just dumped him," Ted explained, balancing the cigarette between his two front teeth and rubbing his hands together to keep warm. Robin sighed.
"Yeah Ted," she said pointedly, "I get that part. I just don't know why he's resorted to this ya know?" Ted nodded. It was a little odd. "I mean, why didn't he just go fuck some whores like he normally does?" Ted shook his head.
"You really should go talk to him," Ted suggested. Robin's eyes widened.
"What? Why me?! You're his best friend!" She shrieked.
"Calm down! Robin, you know how much you mean to Barney. It's not that hard to see," Ted explained. Robin sputtered.
"B- but no he doesn't feel that way anymore. Not since, not...," she trailed off remembering when she chose him over Kevin a year ago. She never understood how he was able to put that behind them.
"Robin, he loves you. That's never going away," Ted continued, silently noting that that statement also applied to himself.
"But you're so much better at this stuff than I am Ted. I can't deal with this type of stuff," she said, exasperated. She ground her teeth for a moment before continuing. "What if he tells me he loves me? What if he acts like nothing ever happened? What if he's having sex with someone and I just walk in?" She paused for a moment. "What if he cries Ted? I don't know what to do if that happens? I can't handle crying Ted," She said wildly, gripping Ted's shoulders Ted patted her back.
"You'll be fine Robin, let's go see if Marshall found him," Ted replied, walking down the stairs into his apartment. He walked into a conversation between Marshall and Lily on the phone.
"Really, they said he's there..Are you going there? Why didn't we check there first...yeah I can ask Robin to watch Marvin...No, why would we need that?" She looked up. "Oh, Robin and Ted are here, I'll talk to them," she put the phone on speaker. "Marshall said Barney's secretary said he's at home. Someone brought his paperwork there for him today. Didn't we check there this morning?"
"Yeah, but he wasn't there," Ted answered.
"Anyways, Marshall's going there now, and I'm going with him. Robin, could you watch Marvin for us?" She asked, automatically assuming that Ted would be going with them. Robin picked up the phone.
"Marshall, you can come back to the apartment. I'm going to go talk to him," she spoke into the receiver. Ted smiled.