Ch. 15

The next morning Robin prepared for her day out with Ellie and Barney. She went through some summer clothes to see what she needed and called her job to let them know she was going to need a week off. Right when she was about to walk out the door to meet Barney and Ellie in the lobby of her building, her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Robin, hey its Lily. We need to talk."

"Okay, what about?"

"What about? Robin are you serious? A couple days ago you called me asking for Barney advice because you were going on a date with him and yesterday you told me you misunderstood him. You have some explaining to do."

"Well there is really not much to explain. I must have picked up the wrong signals from Barney. Turns out he was asking me to watch Ellie while he went out, not asking me to go out while Ellie stayed home."

"Oh really? Because you two seemed awfully chummy last night. Are you sure there isn't something you need to tell me?"

"Yeah Lil, I'm positive, I need to go though, I have stuff I need to do. I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Okay Robin, you win this time, but just remember, you have been my best friend for 19 years. If you don't think I can tell when you're lying, you have another thing coming." And with that Lily hung up the phone. Robin knew Lily had been able to tell when she was lying in the past, but Robin wasn't all to concerned now because Lily had no proof, plus Robin was going to tell her next week anyway. Robin walked downstairs to the lobby of her building, expecting to see just Barney and Ellie waiting for her. They were there but so was someone else, Lily. Why was Lily here? Oh no, she must have figured it out! If Robin made pretend she didn't see them maybe she could walk out of the building without being seen.

"ROBIN!" Too late. "Hey Robin, look who I found. These two were just standing here, in the lobby of your building. I wonder why?" Lily was trying to act clueless, but she had figured it out.

"Hey Lil." Robin said defeated.

"I knew it! I knew there was something going on. Spill it now!"

"Do you want to tell her or do you want me?" Robin asked, looking at Barney for some help.

"I got this." Barney said. "Okay Lily, you caught us. No use in keeping it a secret anymore. Robin is now Ellie's official babysitter. I came here to drop her off before I went to run some errands."

"Guys stop lying. I know that's not what is going on here."

"Fine. Lily, Barney and I decided to give us another shot. We have no reason not to anymore, and we think this might be really good for us. You happy? Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"WOOO!" Lily seemed more excited for their return to each other than both Barney and Robin combined. "Oh my god I knew you guys would go back to each other!"

"You were right, what can I say. Why are you in my apartment building anyway?" Robin asked, realizing that Lily didn't even live in the city anymore.

"I had some things to do here in the city and figured I'd come visit you. That's when I saw Barney standing here and decided to give you a call."

"You knew when you called me before?"

"Yeah, Barney was standing right next to me and everything." Lily said, feeling awfully proud of herself.

"Well played." Robin said, feeling duped.

"Okay well I'll let you lovebirds go do what ever it is you were going to do, but don't think for a minute I wont be calling you tonight Robin."

"I'll be waiting by the phone." Robin said back sarcastically. Lily gave Robin, Barney and Ellie hugs before she walked out of the building.

"So much for keeping it a secret for the week." Barney said to Robin.

"Lets be honest, that was never going to work. Our friends always find a way to know everything that is going on in our lives. We're all kind of invasive." Robin said with a grin.

"Speak for yourself Scherbatsky, I don't want to know anything that you guys don't want me to know." At this point the trio walked out of the building and started their journey to Macy's.

"That is bull Barney. You're just as bad as the rest of us."

"That is so not true. Give me one time when I was invasive."

"Okay, how about the time Marshall and Lily wanted to keep Marvin's gender a secret and you practically frisked the paper off of Marshall. Or the multiple times you searched for my Robin Sparkles videos even though I made it clear I did not want you guys to see them. Or, when…"

"Okay okay I get it."

"Wait I'm not done. All I need to say for this next one in old king Clancy."

"Oh God, I remember that. Yeah I guess I did use to pester you guys. Sorry about that."

"Its okay, we all did it to each other and I think there is a part of all of us that enjoyed it."

"Yeah I guess." Barney and Robin continued to reminisce about old times until they got to Macy's. They immediately went to the kids department to look for bathing suits for Ellie.

"Okay Ell, you can get two new bathing suits. Any ones that you want." Ellie tugged on Barney's hand, dragging him towards the bathing suits. Robin followed the daddy-daughter couple and looked at the bathing suits on display. They were so cute and tiny. Robin picked up a blue and purple flowered one and fell in love with it. She didn't know why she cared so much about a child's bathing suit but she did.

"Hey Ellie, do you like this one?" Robin handed Ellie the bathing suit and Ellie got very excited.

"Daddy I like this one. Can I get it?" Ellie handed her dad the bathing suit and he looked it over.

"Yeah sure whatever you want baby. We just need to get you the right size. You found that pretty quick though."

"Robin gave it to me. Its really pretty."

"It sure is! Good eye Robin!"

"That's just how I do!" Robin said in a playful voice. Ellie started laughing at her and Robin realized that she had just made a 4-year-old laugh. How did she do that? Oh well, it didn't matter, all she knew is that it made her feel good. After an hour in the kids department looking for summer clothes for Ellie, they made their way to the men's department to shop for Barney.

"Okay, I need new bathing suits and tank tops. If you guys see any that you like let me know." The trio started to look through the racks when Ellie found a bathing suit.

"Daddy, daddy I like this one!" Ellie ran over to Barney and handed him a bright pink bathing suit.

"Pink baby, really?"

"I like pink."

"Okay, I will try it on." Robin walked over to Barney with a suspicious look on her face.

"You're going to wear a pink bathing suit?"

"No, I just have to tell Ellie that to make her happy."

"Oh so lying to the kid is acceptable?" Robin said with a mock smile on her face.

"You know what I mean, don't make me kick you out of our super fun shopping day."

"Oh no don't do that!" Robin continued to say in a mocking tone as she playfully threw her hands in the air.

Barney continued to look for bathing suits and tank tops until he had a good selection and went into the fitting room to try them on. Robin turned to Ellie when Barney was gone and said, "I hope your daddy likes the pink one." This put a smile on Ellie's face as she agreed with Robin. A minute later Barney came out to the waiting area in one of the tank tops that he had picked out. Robin had to admit, he looked good showing off some muscle, and he had a lot to show off. His arms were nice and toned and Robin certainly wouldn't be against him in a tank top 24/7.

"I like it. It fits you nice and the color brings out your eyes."

"Then I shall get it! I got more to try on, I'll be back." Barney ran back to the fitting room to try on more clothes. He tried on three more tank tops before he got to the bathing suits. When he finally did come out in a bathing suit, Robin couldn't help but stare. Barney had definitely been working out. He always had a nice body but he was now more defined than ever. You could see each muscle that made up his chest and abs. Robin wanted nothing more than to walk up to Barney and run her hands down the length of his body. She just wanted to be wrapped in his arms and rest her head against his amazingly fit chest. She didn't know how long she was staring but her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Barney calling her name. "Robin? Robin, do you like this one?"

"What? Oh yeah, I do. I think you should get it." Robin was still at a loss for words and had to gather her thoughts.

"Okay then. Let me try on the rest." Barney tried on four more bathing suits, Ellie's pink one included before he settled on a red and black bathing suit, and the purple and white one that had Robin drooling over him. Robin now knew one thing for sure, she couldn't wait for Hawaii.