The mood was tense in the Mosby household, the next morning.
The daily routine was carried out, but the usually cheerful atmosphere was missing.

When Penny and Luke came down into the kitchen at 7am, the breakfast table was laid like on any other day.
But instead of making plans and talking about the day ahead, the little family ate in heavy silence.
Afterwards, the kids brushed their teeth, put their lunch into their bags and followed their father to the car.

Ted drove them to school and finally talked, when Luke and Penny were about to exit the car.
"Please, come straight home after school. We'll go to see Uncle Barney."

Barney stepped through his apartment door after a long day at work and groaned, when he saw the pens and folders spread over the couch table. He could hear music coming from the door to Ellie's room.

"Ellie?", he shouted, but she didn't seem to hear him.
"ELLIE!", he repeated, louder this time, and the volume of the music was turned down. Ellie came out of her room.
"Hi, Dad", she greeted her father.

"Why is your school stuff lying in the living room, again?", he asked her accusingly.
Ellie sighed annoyed and reluctanty started to pack up her stuff.
"Why did I buy such a beautiful writing table for your room, if you continue to do your homework in the living room?", he asked.

"The living room is so much cozier", Ellie replied.
"'cause there's a TV in it, right?", Barney asked, to which Ellie said nothing.
She silently brought her pencil case and books into her room, her father following her, and let everything fall onto her already full to overflowing writing table.

"You know, it disturbs your concentration to watch TV, while doing your school work", he said, trying to sound strict.
"The worst grade, I ever got was a C+", she told him irritated.
"And we want things to stay this way, right?", he said and kissed her head lovingly, before letting his gaze wander over her room.

The walls of Ellie's room were painted in a light violet. A pink bordure with flowers ran around the room near the ceiling. Her furniture consisted of a white queen-size bed, a matching three-door wardrobe and the already mentioned writing table.
She also had a glass cabinet filled with knick-knacks and a dresser for personal things.

A fluffy, purple-colored carpet lay on the light wooden floor, with her newest puzzle on a flat wooden board on top of it.
Barney looked around in his daughter's messy room and couldn't understand, how he could have raised such a chaotic kid.

"Maybe, it would be nice, if you tidied up in here", Barney suggested.
"Why?", Ellie replied. "It's my room and it'll look just the same way in a few days."
"We'll have visitors in half an hour", he explained.

"Who?", Ellie asked interested.
"Uncle Ted's coming by", Barney said and Ellie lost interest and wordlessly sat back down on the carpet.
Barney thought for a moment, sighed and added: "He's bringing Penny and Luke, too."

Ellie leaped to her feet immediately and started sorting things on her table, which Barney knew had nothing to do with Penny.

When Barney realized, Ellie had a crush on Luke half a year ago, he was NOT happy about it.
In his opinion, she was much too young to take an interest in boys.
He had wanted her to stay his little girl for quite a while longer.

But some time ago, after crying on the gang's shoulders (figurative, except for that one conversation with Lily) he realized, that the situation could be worse. He accepted, that Ellie had to grow up someday. He couldn't change that. What he could do, was to take care of her and be there for her.

At least it was Luke, whose father he was friends with.
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.

And Luke didn't seem to have noticed Ellie's affection for him.
Which was quite alright with Barney. As far as he was concerned, Luke never had to know.
Barney didn't want him to get funny ideas and take advantage of his daughter's crush on him.

He left Ellie's room and started tidying the living room and kitchen.
It wasn't long before there was a knock on the door.
Barney turned to the door, but already Ellie came running from her room and shouted: "I'll get it!"

"Hello, Penny. Hello, Uncle Ted", she greeted Pennny and Ted casually, after opening the door.
When she turned to Luke her smile widened: "Hi, Luke", she said, while twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

They responded to her greeting and came in.
"I'm almost done with my new puzzle already. You wanna see it?", Ellie asked Penny and Luke.
"Yeah, sure", Penny said.
"Okay", answered Luke.
"Okay", Ellie repeated grinning and lead them to her room.

"She still has that crush on him?", Ted asked amused, when the door closed behind them.
Barney nodded and replied: "And it seems that he still hasn't noticed."
"Maybe, we should tell him", Ted pondered.

"Are you crazy?", Barney asked. "The longer it takes, the better it is. He'll realize it soon enough."
"I don't know", Ted said and looked at Barney earnestly. "Sometimes we need help to see the most obvious things."
"You're talking in riddles again", Barney said. "I don't think, I want to know what this is about."

Ted let his eyes wander around the room.
He visited all the time, but now that he knew about the story with Robin, he noticed a lot of things he didn't before.
Barney's refrigerator for example.
He saw maths tests, school reports and paintings from Ellie. And in between were cut-out newspaper articles. All of them concerned the famous journalist Robin Scherbatsky and the adventures she experienced.
Ted also saw postcards. A lot of them.

Robin wrote many postcards to all her friends, when she was away.
Ted thought that he kept maybe two or three especially pretty ones.
Barney seemed to have kept them all.

Another thing he now noticed was the black jewelry box on the dresser in his living room.
Ted knew, it contained Robin's engagement ring and both their wedding bands, that he just couldn't get rid of.

Barney grabbed a pile of mail from the kitchen island and leafed through it.
"So, what's up, Theodore?", he asked.
"I wanted to talk to you about something", Ted started.
"Mmh-mhm", Barney mumbled.
"It's about Robin", Ted said.

"Robin? What about her?", Barney asked decidedly calm and dismissive.
He had always been a great actor as far as his feelings were concerned and if it wasn't for the slight pause he made while shuffling through the letters in his hands, Ted wouldn't have believed him.

"So, yesterday, I told Penny and Luke the story of how I met Tracy", Ted said.
"What's Robin got to do with that?", Barney asked confused.
"My story started the day we met Robin", he explained.

"What?", Barney asked. "That was, like, what? Nine years before Tracy?"
"7 years and 8 months", Ted corrected.
"Why did you start this early?"

"So they'd understand all the connections", he answered. "After breaking up with Robin I got the tramp stamp, which brought me to Stella, who brought me to Tony, who got me the job at Columbia. If one of those things didn't happen, I never would have met Cindy and Tracy's band wouldn't have played at your wedding. And if I hadn't fallen in love with Robin at first sight, she wouldn't have become a part of our group, so you could get to know her, fall in love with her and marry her later."

"Your poor kids!", Barney said. "How can you even remember all this stuff? That was party twenty years ago."
"So you don't remember anything from back then?", Ted asked rhetorically.

"Wuhswuhswuhswuh... a date tonight", Robin said and grinned provokingly at Barney.
Barney stared at her, speechless for a moment. He couldn't believe it.
She just taunted him in front of his friends.
Quick like a shot, a funny and smart answer to his rhetorical question.
She was somrthing else. Different from every other girl he had ever met.
Funny, gorgeous, witty and intelligent.
Way out of Ted's league.
She was dangerous. Because of her otherness.
Barney had never felt such a strong attraction to a woman. He knew, he had to be careful around her.

"I'm not sure, I like her."

"I still don't understand, what you want to talk to me about now", Barney said.
Ted took a deep breath.
"The reason, I told them this story is that I would like to ask Robin out."

Barney felt his heart skip a beat, when his brain registered the meaning of Ted's word.
Ted wanted to date Robin. Would she want that?

He's been a little down these last few days, after the incident on Ellie's birthday.
Wouldn't things get worse, if she started dating someone? Not just anyone, but his best friend?
Of course, Barney wanted Ted to be happy and he should be excited, he was ready to date again. But Robin?

After the divorce, Robin hadn't dated again. She seemed to have lost interest in relationships.
Somehow, the thought was comforting. Barney liked to think, that - even though they didn't work out - he was special to her.
That she didn't look for another relationship after him.

But she had been with Ted for a whole year. They'd been serious. Talked about living together.
She had lost her "I love you"-virginity to him.
What if she wanted to date him again.
His best friend and his ex-wife. With whom he still was in love.
It felt like someone ripped his heart out of his ribcage.

"Really?", he asked. "Awesome!", he said with a lot of enthusiasm in his voice.
"Are you sure? I wanted to know, if you'd be okay with it", Ted said.
"What?", Barney asked in a high pitch. "Why should I not be okay with it? I totally am! I'm sure, she'll say yes. Oh, I'm so happy for you. Robin is great and you are great. It's gonna be so... great! I couldn't be more okay with it!"

"Really? I could totally understand, if this was weird for you", Ted said.
"No, no, not weird at all. That's just... great!", he said again.

"So, just to be clear", said Ted. "You have absolutely no objections to me asking your ex-wife out on a date? I just want to be sure because of the Bro Code."
"No, absolutely not. Robin and me, that was such a long time ago. Does the Bro Code even apply after so many years?", Barney asked.
"And besides, you two are completely over, right?", asked Ted.

Barney clenched his teeth and gulped, never losing his fake smile while doing so.
"Absolutely over", he confirmed.
"Alright, then I guess, I'll call her sometime", Ted said.
"Yeah, do that. I wish you good luck, Bro!", Barney said excited.

When Ted, Luke and Penny left a short time later, Barney closed the door behind them and then slumped down on his couch with a heavy sigh.
What have I done?

In the meantime the Mosbys entered the elevator. Luke pressed the button for the main floor and the doors silently slid shut.
"You were right", Ted said suddenly, when the elevator started to move and his children looked at him. "Barney and Robin belong together."

Penny saw how much this realization hurt her father.
He seemed to have really thought, he could be happy with Robin, since he once loved her and she had always been his second love after their mother.
"I'm sorry, Dad", she said and hugged him.

No, it's okay", Ted answered and stroked her back. "I could have never loved her the way I loved your mother. The way Barney still loves her."