Chapter 12

Barney and Robin had created a new routine for their small family, Barney was back at work and would leave the house after changing and feeding Arlo his morning milk. Then he would lay Arlo back in bed with a barely awake Robin (who was still on maternity leave) while he got ready for the day. Once Barney would leave for the day, Robin would return napping Arlo back to his cot while she would get ready for the day, while he napped, she would get some housework done. Arlo and Robin would spend their day at the park, joining baby groups, meeting Daddy for lunch, napping and playing. In the evening once Barney was home, they were joined by Marshall and Lily once a week, other days one of them would cook, or get takeaway. Barney would spend time with Arlo before he went down for the night. Weekends were their days to spend time as a family and meet up with friends.

Barney had just walked into his apartment, "I am home!" he called out.

"Kitchen" answered Robin.

Walking into the kitchen he was surprised to see Ted sitting at the breakfast nook while Robin fed Arlo mashed peas and chicken. Surprised Barney kissed the top of Arlo's head and pressed a kiss on Robin's cheek.

"Ted," he said dryly.

"Hey Barney, it's good to see you" Ted said in a hesitant tone.

Seeing the tension between the two men, Robin decided that the best thing would be for them to talk it out. Robin picked up Arlo, "Right I am going to this messy baby for a bath, while you guys duke this out."

Barney grabbed himself a beer from the fridge and sat down in the chair that Robin just vacated. He sipped the beer and watched Ted; he was not going to be the first one to talk not if he could help it. Ted fidgeted, "This place is amazing. And your son is the perfect mix of you and Robin." Barney nodded, taking a long sip of his beer.

Ted scoffed, "Are you seriously just going to ignore me?"

Barney raised his left eyebrow in answer to his question. Ted sighed, "I am so sorry for what happened that day, I had no right to say what I said that day. I have already apologised to Robin as well." Ted had apologised to Robin the first moment he saw her while holding her baby tightly to her.

Barney looked over the rim of his beer, "I know that you never really cared for me and that you never truly thought of me as a friend." Ted tried to interrupt but the look in Barney's eye stopped the words from leaving his mouth. "You love Robin, you will always love Robin, but you also know she isn't yours anymore and you hate that more than anything." Barney could see the moment when Ted seemed to realise the truth of his words. "Robin had forgiven you; you are Marshall and Lily's best friend. That means that you will always be around. But I want you to remember this, we are not friends, I will tolerate you being a part of my life but if you ever talk to Robin like that again I will ensure you end up in a ditch dead and unrecognisable." Barney quietly took a sip of his beer, hiding the nervousness he was feeling after threatening someone for the first time in his life.

Ted left soon after agreeing to what Barney had just proposed, he would compile to Barney's wishes for now. With the hope one day he would get Barney's wall down and their friendship would go back to where they were.

/-/-/

It took a couple of weeks for them to get used to the presence of Ted back in the group, the first time the whole group got together was in McLarens, Arlo had joined them for the evening as the only other people that they trusted to care for him were Lily and Marshall or Robin's mum. That first evening was spent in tense silence, Arlo spent some time hanging out in Lily's arms. Finally, when the silence became too much for him, Ted blurted out, "IthinkStellaisstillinlovewithTony"

"Huh?" came from Lily and Robin who had quietly been talking about Arlo's baby group.

"Come again."

Ted took a deep breath and much more slowly repeated, "I think Stella is still in love with Tony."

The rest of them looked at him confused, "What's going on Ted?" questioned Marshall.

"I went to go and see Stella today. I wanted to talk to her about us, I thought I could convince her that we should go on dates. I thought it would help and that we could have family days with Lucy. But when I got to her office, I saw her and Tony kissing" confessed Ted with a hint of exhaustion.

"Oh my god, did you confront her? Tell me you talked to her" growled Lily, Arlo squeaked at her growl and instantly turned to Robin with tears gathering in his eyes. Lily's eyes flashed slight regret as she passed Arlo back over to Robin, Arlo instantly squished his face into her neck.

Ted shook his head in answer to her question, "I left, I didn't know what to say or think. What the hell do I do now? My wife is cheating on me."

Robin and Barney stayed quiet, sharing a quick look they were both thinking the same thing. They were thinking the same thing, that Ted fell hard and fast, ignored the things that were right in front of him and married a woman he didn't really know. They both knew that Marshall and Lily had the same concerns after Barney had returned from Japan, he had told her that Marshall had told him about the concerns he had about Ted's marriage.

Marshall and Lily had shared their own look, this had been exactly what they were afraid of happening. "Ted, you need to talk to her. This could be something else, you need to find out what is happening. Only then can you decide on what to do next" advised Lily.

"If you need it, I know a couple of divorce lawyers from law school," added Marshall quietly, he knew how much Ted believed in finding the one, he knew that Ted truly thought that Stella was the one for him.

Unable to take the awkward quietness that had once again settled between the group. Barney took note that Arlo had fallen asleep on Robin's shoulder and the uncomfortable look on Robin's face had nothing to do with the drool slowly falling onto her shoulder. Barney instead took Arlo from Robin carefully not wanting to disturb his son's slumber and said, "I think we are going to head home." Robin and Barney got Arlo ready without waking him up, there was a sense of satisfaction at seeing the look of amazement on Ted's face at seeing them with a baby and handling Arlo like a pro. Once they headed out, they released a sigh of relief, "That was so uncomfortable. Please tell me we don't have to do that again."

Barney called for a cab, "That was horrible, but you know that Lily is never going let us off the hook, she wants things to go back to the way they were." Robin groaned in utter disdain as she got in the cab, taking Arlo from Barney so he could get in, "404 Riverside Drive" giving the address to the cab driver. "What did you think of Ted blurting all that out? And do you think Stella cheated on Ted?"

"Ted is Ted, he can't help himself at times and I also think he thought that it would make him seem more vulnerable to us. He probably thinks we will forgive him more quickly this way."

Barney hummed in agreement, "And Stella?"

"To be honest I hardly knew her to be able to say anything," Robin said with a shrug. Barney agreed he barely had a chance to get to know Stella either, and from what he did know about her, he knew that she wasn't really Ted's type and that she was an overcorrection.

"You mean that she is so different from me," stated Robin.

"Well, you didn't want kids, marriage, to put down roots. Whereas Stella had a kid, a house, and a job, she wanted a relationship that could lead to marriage. That's what Ted fell for," Barney explained.

"And look at me now, in a relationship, a baby. I am putting down roots," Robins kisses Arlo's head and looks at Barney, "Neither of us were looking for this, it just fell into our laps."

"The greatest surprise ever" Barney squeezed Robin's thigh. "That's why Ted lashed out the way he did because you were having all this with me instead of him. He is always going to love you Robin, he might deny it now, but he does."

Robin shook her head, "If Ted his way I would never be able to travel for work. I know what you are trying to say but I don't think of him that way. I love you, Barney, I love the life we are building." Robin squeezed the hand that was on her thigh. "I know that even with Arlo here now, I will be going back to work. We planned this life so it works for both of us, it won't always be perfect, but we will be happy. I know you support me enough to let me work and travel as I need to."

"Of course, I do. I love you, Robin," Barney whispered, kissing Robin's temple.