A/N: Don't shoot, I have an excuse! I broke my arm, had to wear a sling for awhile, then I lost mobility in my arm, so getting this up took forever. Hope it's worth the wait, though! Tenth chapter! Feels like a milestone...Poll is still in zee profile, how do you guys want this to turn out? Should Barney:

Live

Die

Live, but it should be a close call

Chapter 10: You're The Reason I Come Home

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have - Anonymous

~himym~

Hospital

The scene was not unlike Barney's first time in the hospital, Robin thought. The lot of them were clustered around him, cheeks pressed to the damp blond of his hair; more because of a need for comfort themselves then to comfort Barney. This group had been the product of their whole lives, she mused. Thirty-two year old Marshall had known Ted and Lily for almost fifteen years, nearly half his life. Ted's best friend had been Marshall for that length. Robin knew how close they were, and the honour of being let in to such a close-knit group for her and Barney was something she did not take for granted. Absent family members, old loves showing up at the most inopportune times, rash house purchases, weddings, divorces, they all went though it together. They were the sum of each other, Robin thought. They defined each other and themselves, through this surrogate family they had built.

"You're that one block, Barney."

Lily's words were more apropos then she knew. What if Barney didn't survive this? Robin was an expert on running. She ran from her parents, she ran from Ted, she ran from anything serious, anything that might put a chink in the armour she surrounded herself with. If Barney didn't survive, if this thing that was taking over his body took him, how would their little family survive? They treated Barney terribly, like a burden rather than the glue that he was. Robin couldn't take starting over again. She laced her fingers through Barney's and felt him squeeze her fingers. Her eyes found his, noting with relief the same spark there that they had always held.

In public, Scherbatsky? Barney's voice whispered in her head and she scoffed, but squeezed tighter.

Two Hours Later

Robin yawned as she made her way out the door. Barney had finally convinced her to go home, after seven yawns (he had been counting) in the span of three minutes. Eyes cast down, she nearly slammed headlong into the doctor that had told them about Barney earlier.

"Oh...pardon me, ma'am." The older man excused himself, stepping past Robin in preparation to head into Barney's room. Thinking quickly, Robin grabbed his coat sleeve, yanking him to a stop. He looked at her in confusion, and Robin smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, Dr...Lloyd. That's my...I mean, I'm his..." Robin sighed deeply. This load of responsibility she had certainly not prepared herself for, but she had to know what was happening to Barney, and she doubted she'd get a straight answer from him.

"That's my boyfriend. I need to know what's wrong, specifically."

The doctor's sharp eyes appraised Robin's tired features, her rumpled, still blood-stained clothes and the dark bags under her eyes. Sympathy lit his expression, and he guided her over to a nearby chair.

"Ms.."

"Scherbatsky," Robin filled in.

"Miss Scherbatsky, were you made aware of Mr. Stinson's condition in any way?"

Robin's cheeks colored. "No, he...he never told me. All he's told me now is that he has cancer."

The doctor nodded "That's fairly common. Cancer is a very difficult thing to accept, Miss Scherbatsky, but inevitably it does not just affect the sick individual, it affects the family and friends."

Robin swallowed a nervous lump the size of Texas. "So why...did he collapse?"

The doctor gave a heavy sigh. "Mr. Stinson has advanced leukemia. Typically, cancer presents in four stages, one being the most treatable and four being mostly fatal. Mr. Stinson presented with stage three."

Robin's head spun wildly. She squinted, trying to focus on the doctor's face. "Three...so...so he has a chance of beating this?"

"Yes," the doctor replied hesitantly. "But I won't lie to you. Collapsing and vomiting blood are very bad signs. Leukemia is a disease of the blood, Ms. Scherbatsky. He is being treated with average rounds of chemotherapy, but to collapse and vomit as much blood as he did...it means..."

Robin felt a sense of doom grip her. When had she started caring so much about Barney that his disease felt like hers too? When had they become a poor man's Marshall and Lily?

The doctor left the sentence hanging in the air, but Robin needed to say it, needed to hear it out loud for it to become real.

"It means the treatment's not working."

Ted and Robin's Apartment

KER-ASSHHH!

The loud bang woke Ted up from what felt like mere minutes of sleep. Sleepily grabbing his clock, he saw that in actuality, it had been four hours since he had flopped onto his bed, too tired even to take off his shoes.

He swung his legs reluctantly over the side of the bed when the racket continued, stumbling over to the source, which appeared to be Robin's room. The door was ajar, and Ted pushed it gently open.

Robin's room had been torn apart. The dresser's drawers were scattered all over the room, clothes covered every surface he could see, and two huge suitcases were perched on top of the bed. What she was doing was abundantly clear. She was running away, Robin Scherbatsky style.

Sitting on the floor, Robin was flinging clothes into the two suitcases like a madwoman, and Ted could see the tear tracks on her face. She tensed when she heard the door creak open, but she kept her eyes downcast.

"Robin..." Ted implored, kneeling by his ex-girlfriend on the floor. She didn't even seem to notice; instead her pace became even more frantic, simply tossing clothes into the suitcase without even looking at them.

Reaching out, Ted took hold of Robin's arms, finally stilling her. Her shoulders slumped, defeated. Ted pushed her chin up with his hand, noting her exhausted, overwhelmed expression.

"What are you doing?"

"I have to go...I have to get out of here, Ted," she whispered.

"Why?" Ted hissed. "You were dealing with this five hours ago!"

"I KNOW!" Robin snapped. "But then I talked to the doctor, and he said...Barney's really sick, Ted."

"Exactly! He needs us, you most of all!"

"And when did that become my responsibility?" Robin cried, wrenching her arms from Ted's. "When did taking care of Barney suddenly fall to me? I can't do anything for him that anyone else couldn't. Just...hire someone. I've got to get out of here."

Incredulous, Ted ran his hand through his hair. "Barney doesn't want someone we hire. He wants you. He wants us!"

"Well, I can't."

"You have to!"

"I CAN'T!"

"Robin!" Ted was rapidly losing control of his temper. Robin running when she thought he was proposing was one thing, but she could not spend her whole life running. He reached out again and forced her to meet his eyes.

"This," Ted said slowly. "This is exactly why Barney didn't tell you. He knows you, he knows you'd run. And you knew you had to stay, Robin. Did you see how happy he was when you came back?"

Robin's eyes filled with fresh tears, and her eyes dropped to the ground. Taking this as progress, Ted loosened his grip.

"And now, one doctor tells you it doesn't look good, and you take off. Do you think, Robin, that if Barney dies, if you aren't here, it won't hurt just the same? All that will be different is that you'll hate yourself for abandoning him when it got tough."

Her shoulders heaved in a sob, and Robin threw her arms around Ted, sobbing into his shoulder. He rubbed her back soothingly, murmuring words of comfort.

Finally, Robin pulled back, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You guys are all I have," Robin breathed. "You guys and Barney. Me and him...it's so different than you and me, Ted. We treat him like crap, and now we might lose him."

Her eyes searched Ted's frantically, looking for an answer he did not have.

"If he dies...everything's going to fall apart, Ted."

A/N#2: And the curse of the bad endings livesss! Read and review, my pretties! I love every single review I get!