Disclaimer: I don't own How I Met Your Mother, nor do I own any of the characters mentioned in this Fanfiction. That being said, I'm probably not among the minority in wishing that I did! Additionally, this story does contain some slight S7 finale spoilers, though I don't think it gives anything too major away. No bride spoilers, but baby Erikson's first name (as well as a hint as to the fate of Quinn and Robin) is contained within.
Last chance to run away together, he'd told her.
She can't help but wonder: what if?
He wouldn't have done it, of course. Wouldn't have left her. Not Quinn, the perfect, blonde ex-stripper, with all the moves and none of the hang-ups. Not after his fantastic, storybook proposal. Not when it took him an entire afternoon to finally declare Robin his girlfriend, yet Quinn became his fiancée practically within a fortnight.
But it hurts Robin too much to think of that, so she dwells on the impossible.
She imagines him taking her hand, casting an anxious glance towards Marvin's new room before pulling her towards the door.
"Let's do it," he should have whispered. "Let's go."
She smiles to herself, sitting alone in her apartment, the way she thinks she would've in reply. "You're crazy," she says into the empty air. Her voice is giddy. Breathless.
She pictures his grin, cocky but innocent, and the way he might have dragged her into the hall. She sees him running down the steps and out the front door, and follows him, of course. The way she wishes she'd done in November.
"This is ridiculous," she murmurs. Still smiling, always smiling, even as it kills her. A taxi honks outside her window, and she imagines climbing into it.
"To Canada!" She can almost hear Barney cry. Because he wouldn't have gone to Mexico. Not really. He would have followed her up North, driven long past the border. He would have shaken her father's hand and praised him for his daughter, internally cursing him all the while. "I don't know how you do it," Barney would have said to him later, while Robin was off shopping or gossiping or who-knows-what with her sister. "I don't understand how you can't see it. How wonderful she really is."
But then the scene distorts and Quinn is there, standing beside him, arms wrapped around his chest where only Robin's should be. "Wonderful," he says again, to her this time, and grins his cocky grin. She smiles and bats her lashes, and slowly, they come together.
Robin starts and shakes her head, and the images fade away. Of course, he would never really have done it, she decides. Never would have left her.
On the streets below, the cab honks again, and it's no longer part of her fairy-tale. Just another angry driver caught in New York traffic.
With a shaky sigh, Robin rises from her sofa and crosses to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of wine and then placing it back, staring at it for a long moment before yanking it towards her again and downing a glass. A second one follows and her thoughts begin to blur together, just the way she likes it.
An image of Barney's face starts to surface again as she walks towards her bedroom, but a third and final glass chases him away.
He'll never do it, she reminds herself. He'll never leave her.
She pulls back the covers and climbs into bed without bothering to change into her pajamas, clutching her pillow to her head like a lifeline. Vaguely, she becomes aware of the fact that she's sobbing.
Last chance to run away together, he'd said. And just maybe, if she'd said yes, he might have meant it.
Her head is swimming. Pounding. The voice of reason within her is dying out, beaten back by drunkenness, but with its final breaths it's screaming that this is all futile, that it's pointless, that he'd never have left Quinn and that he never will, that Robin is wasting her time and wasting her thoughts.
But it hurts too much to dwell on that, and she can't help but wonder:
What if?
A/N: Well, that's that! I absolutely love Barney and Robin together, and the conversation they had at the end of the S7 finale both made my day and broke my heart. That aside, I hope you all enjoyed this story! Please feel free to review, if you have the time—comments and constructive criticism are both more than appreciated. And, of course: thank you very much for reading. :)