AN: I'm uploading a lot more frequently now because it's the holidays and I obviously have nothing better to do than to sit at home with a pen and a notebook! Here's Chapter 15. :)

"I'm sorry, but you're not sleeping tonight." Robin announced as she stood in the doorway, hands on her hips. "We need to play catch up."

Sat on the couch rearranging the pillows and a blanket, Barney looked up in alert, ready to talk back. "I need the sleep! Stop being a pair of bossypants. I'm meeting your boyfriend tomorrow and I can't look like a hobo who has not had decent sleep in sixty-four years. It's calling making a good first impression." Though that would be the correct term to describe Luke, he had often clicked his tongue unnaturally when using the word 'boyfriend', clearly still not quite close to letting his best friend go.

Noticing the tension in his voice, she could tell he was nervous about tomorrow. "Relax. I've made your first impression. He thinks you're brilliant. So let us settle on the couch and play a game of catch up where we talk about how we've been recently, because I need to know all about it."

"Surely we can do that tomorrow!" He yawned, happy with the arrangement of his temporary bed and not paying attention to a thing she was saying. "Unless what you really meant was hook up, which, in that case, we can do tonight."

"Barney! I know what I meant, and I meant catch up. For any other person, yeah, we can do that some other time, but for you, I'm afraid not." She declared, headstrong.

Silence.

The seconds ticked by and the firmness in her voice turned into a nag as she pleaded with him.

"Come on! This is important. I need to know what you've been up to."

"First of all," Barney raised a finger in the air, as if making a point. "Does he know I'm spending the week over at your place? He's your boyfriend after all, and as someone's girlfriend, I feel like you shouldn't be accepting random – though very attractive and awesome – Americans in your flat for a week's stay. There'll definitely be some hanky panky going on around."

"No!" She yapped, settling on the couch. "We've talked about it and he's completely fine with it. He knows you're a pretty decent human being, and I know I'm not going to mess with things and put my relationship in jeopardy, because I think he is who I would want to spend the next few years with." She concluded, a smile forming on her face.

Barney rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, I get it, sweet gestures, a confession, big romantic speech, blah, blah and blah."

She chuckled softly at his eyes rolled up the ceiling as she nudged him on the shoulder. "I knew you'd understand."

Barney cleared his throat and sat up slightly more attentively. "Now where do we start?"

"What do you want to talk about?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You brought it up."

"Fine, I'll start."

"Okay."

"The people at my workplace are really friendly-"

"Yep. Know that."

"-And I met Luke because he was-"

"You told me that, too. You told me everything through email!"

"Gee! Fine. Tell me about the gang, then."

"Ah, the gang."

A thoughtful grin spread across Barney's face as he was reminded of New York.

"Everyone's fine. Just the same old mundane activities that have been going on. Lily's been doing a bit more of painting these days and Marshall's quite happy with being a father. Ted's still moping about finding the love of his life, and we, as true friends do, have been teasing him tremendously about it. Oh yeah, plus he's also been designing a few buildings. I think the architecture thing is really doing him good." He paused. "And of course, we all really miss you."

"Wow! You guys are really…" Robin hesitated, unsure of the choice of adjective she should put. "…Boring." She finished, seemingly happy with the conclusion she had come to.

"But it's really good as well. You know." She spoke up, quickly. "The life I've left sort of left behind has made me miss all the things I've never thought I would. I mean, I miss Lily's loud chewing."

Barney gaped at her confession.

"Wow. Even Lily's loud chewing?"

Nodding, she ducked her head. "Even Lily's loud chewing."

"So that's really saying something, huh."

"It is."

She bit her lip and an awkward lingering moment passed by, but the two was glad they were next to each other again, after so long.

"Okay," Robin muttered, rubbing her eyes. "I'll let you go to bed then. That's enough for a night and frankly I'm getting a little sleepy myself. Plus it's nearly two in the morning and you know what Ted always says."

Shrugging, he could only agree. "Nothing good happens after 2 in the morning."

"That's right." Getting up, she nudged him on the shoulder, her eyes twinkling despite her exhaustion. "Good night, Barney."

"Good night Robin."

He watched her shadow disappear down the hallway and smiled in simple satisfaction and reminisces. Turning out the table light she had put on the coffee table for him, he settled on the couch, stared into the darkness as he tried getting used to some newly found jet lag.

He thought he would stay up the entire night from the hours of time difference between New York and London, but thankfully that was not the case. It had been a long day and he was sound asleep in a matter of minutes, excited for the arrival of a new day.