A/N: Aaaannnnnd we arrive at Chapter 13. And you guys are still awesome. So awesome in fact, that I don't even care if I get any reviews. Not a bit. I'm not even going to tell you how inspired they make me to write more. Or that we may not get a last chapter if some of the lurkers don't step up to the plate. Nosiree, not me. Not going to breathe a word.

Anyhoo, enjoy. Chapters are coming to me pretty easily now, thanks to my brilliant kind of cowriters, Aimee (get a account, you dweeb) and CatherineJosephineMarie007.

Chapter 13: When It Isn't Like It Should Be

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live a day without you. – A.A. Milne

Forty-five minutes later, Robin had calmed and was sitting on Ted's couch, nursing a cup of coffee between her hands.

Ted sat a few feet away, clutching his own cup so tightly he could feel the heat burning into his fingers. Robin's sobs had stopped after five or so minutes, and now she was almost eerily calm, staring into the brown depths of her cup. Ted was fluctuating between being so goddamn pissed at her for running at a time like this and being proud of her for realizing on her own how much she needed to come back. If he opened his mouth, he didn't trust what may come out, so they sat in a tense silence, until Robin tentatively broke it.

"Ted...was it a mistake to come back?"

Ted's head shot up. "What?"

Robin gave a heavy sigh. "I thought...I thought he'd recognize that I came back. I came back, Ted, and nobody forced me to do that. But he hates me. I let him down, I was a stupid coward and I ran, and now he'll never forgive me. So would it have been easier if I had just never came back?"

And here we go in circles again, thought Ted. There was only one other way Ted could think of that would keep Robin here, even if he hated himself for what it would do to her. He cleared his throat.

"Yes."

Robin looked at Ted, shocked. "Yes?"

He nodded. "Yes, it would have been easier. You really shouldn't have come back."

Ted could understand the look of shock on Robin's face. He was a little surprised he had actually said it himself. "No, really, you're right. You should have run." Robin looked ready to object, but Ted didn't give her a chance, because he'd finally realised what he'd done wrong last time. Try to convince Robin not to do something, and she'd do it to spite you every time. If you wanted Robin to stop fucking up her life, help her.

"He spent months not telling anyone he was sick because he was afraid it would be too hard for you, and that you wouldn't be able to leave because you pitied him too much. If you don't feel that, then make it easier on him, and all of us, and just go."

"You think so?" Robin asked, looking more vulnerable than Ted could ever remember seeing her.

"Yeah!" He nodded. "Yeah, the only mistake you made was turning around. Come on. Let's get you back to Grand Central, and get you back on the right track."

Robin nodded, dazed and obviously not thinking properly. She'd been up for going on 52 hours, and had so many blows during that time, she wasn't up to arguing with Ted anymore.

Ted guided an unresisting Robin to Marshall's Fiero, setting her into the front seat, and even going so far as to do up her seatbelt when she made no move to get it herself.

He glanced at her occasionally throughout the drive, but didn't disturb her thought process. This should be the time she was realising where she needed to be, not where was easiest.

When he pulled up in front of the hospital, she finally came out of her daze enough to look around, and realize there were no trains here. She whipped around to stare at Ted, but he just smiled serenely.

"Go. I'll park."

Robin didn't say anything, just smiled gratefully, and ran.

****himym****

Robin stopped to take a fortifying breath outside Barney's room, shoving her hand into her pocket to keep it from shaking.

Her hesitations stopped when she recognized the form of the doctor she'd spoken to earlier. Desperate to hear what he was saying, she slipped silently into the room while Barney's attention was on the doctor.

"We received the results from the tests we've been running," the doctor was saying, looking grim and controlled. "Unfortunately, Mr. Stinson, the news is not good. The cancer has spread through to your lungs, which is the reason behind the blood in your vomit. This moves you into stage four, which still has viable treatment options, though they are more limited, and historically less successful than what we were hoping for. The question now is whether you wish to take these options, or chose to refuse treatment."

"Awesome people don't just give up, Doc. I can see how you might be unfamiliar with this concept, because Awesomeness is, by definition, rare, but I'm not going to let microscopic cells deprive the female population of the world of Barney Stinson."

The doctor smiled indulgently; glad to see his patient was still willing to fight. He nodded, and began to turn away, when Barney grabbed him with more strength than he should technically have possessed.

"I'm dying, aren't I?"

"No!" Robin shouted instinctively. Both men turned to her, just noticing she'd entered. Taking a deep breath at the sadness and resignation in Barney's eyes, she pushed passed it and walked further into the room. "Of course not, Stinson. You don't get to kick the bucket without that foursome first. I've talked to Lily and Marshall, and they said they were in, but not with your pale pasty ass in a hospital room. So we have to get you hot again."

Barney stared at her for a second in shock, and then said in his most betrayed voice..."You don't think I'm hot?"

Robin smirked at him, and turned to the doctor. "I'm gonna need a more comfortable chair. I'm gonna be here for a while."

"Robin..."

"Shut up, Stinson. My choice. Also, Doc, can I use the phone to make a call to work? I gotta quit."

"Scherbatsky, you can't quit. Come on, we talked about this. You're too awesome to be in this crappy hospital room. Go."

"I told you to shut up. I'm not going anywhere." Robin flopped into the unbelievable uncomfortable chair next to his bed, stealing his jello (which he had been saving for later), and leaning back casually. "Get used to me. You are stuck."

The doctor left silently, making a mental note to tell the nurses to bring extra food, and a more comfortable chair from the lounge. Barney gazed at Robin, not even bothering to hide his affection, but stole back the spoon when she wasn't paying attention.

It took him a minute, but he finally focused on the most important part of the conversation.

"Wait a minute. Lily said yes to a foursome?"