Chapter 8

The next day

Marshall had just finished signing his contract with GNB, the one he got thanks to Barney. As he headed to the lift, he reflected on last night, after getting a drunk Ted into bed, he and Lily spent a couple of hours talking about Barney and Robin's news and what to do about Ted. By the end of their talk, both had decided to apologise to their friends. Hence, the reason he was headed to the 15th floor to find Barney.

It took three wrong turns, he entered two wrong offices and had to ask one person for directions to Barney's office. Finally, finding Barney's office, Marshall knocked on the door, "Come on in" Barney called out. Heading in, Marshall found Barney with his back to him on the phone talking in French, Marshall could not believe that the entire time he has known Barney, he never knew that Barney spoke French. Marshall got lost in his thoughts while waiting patiently for Barney to wrap up his phone call.

Barney wrapped up his call and turned around to deal with the person who was waiting for him, turning around he was surprised to see Marshall daydreaming in his office, to get the attention Marshall's attention, Barney coughed loudly, jerking Marshall's attention back to him. Barney quirked his eyebrow, "Are you here for a reason or did you just miss my gorgeous face?"

"Hey man"

"Hey"

"Listen, man, I just wanted to thank you for getting me this job. You have no idea how excited I was to wear pants man."

"Please" scoffed Barney, waving off Marshall's thanks.

"Can we talk about yesterday? I and Lily really wanted to apologise for how we reacted to your guy's news and letting Ted go off the handle."

"I get it. Both Robin and I were expecting this reaction from all of you," explained Barney.

"Still, you guys did not need that. Both Lily and I need you to know that if you guys need anything we are here for you." Barney nodded in thanks. "So, how is Robin doing?"

Before Barney could answer, Bilson, walked in, "Time to go, Stinson, the group from Gallagher, Smith and Wilson is here."

"I will be there in a moment, you go ahead" Barney waved Bilson off, before turning to Marshall, "Listen I got to head off, man."

"Yeah man, I get it," Marshall said as he grabbed his briefcase and headed off to meet Ted.

/-/-/

Knowing that Robin would be awake by now, Lily decided to head to Robin's while Marshall was at GNB to sign his contract.

"Hey," Lily said as Robin opened the door to her, holding a cinnamon whirl and hot chocolate. Robin grabbed the cinnamon whirl from Lily and took a giant bite from it, before turning around and heading into her apartment with Lily following behind her.

"Why are you here Lily?" asked Robin after the two of them sat there in silence.

Lily's hands twisted together, "I'm sorry, I know I reacted horribly, we weren't expecting the news of you being pregnant with Barney Stinson's baby!"

"Yes, I can clearly see that you are over the shock" muttered Robin, before taking a bite out of the whirl.

"Marshall and I talked it over last night and we wanted to show that we are here for you guys for anything."

Hearing the sincerity in Lily's voice caused the ball of indifference that she had been allowing to fester in her to soften. At least this showed that her friends would come to get used to their news and support them. Sighing loudly, Robin devoured the last of her cinnamon whirl and mumbled "I get it" She swallowed the food in her mouth and said, "Both me and Barney I knew that Ted wouldn't be happy, we had a feeling he might react that way."

"But you weren't sure about me and Marshall," said Lily, finishing off what Robin did not say.

The two of them sat there awhile before Lily broke the silence, "So how far along are you?"

"11 weeks"

"Are you ok? Do you and Barney have a plan?"

"Surprisingly I am ok. Barney has been a rock through this whole thing." Lily stared at Robin in surprise. Robin nodded, "Seriously, he has been very supportive and great at putting up with me. As for a plan, no not now the only thing we know for sure is that we are planning to keep the baby."

"Wow, ok. Hold on 11 weeks, that means you and Barney have been sleeping together after Ted's birthday."

Robin nodded, "Yeah"

"What the hell, Robin? How come you never told me?"

"Lily, it just happened. To be honest we didn't talk about it ourselves."

Lily scoffed, "I am not surprised."

The rest of the day was spent catching up, Robin took the chance to vent about her job, the pregnancy, her morning sickness, and the stress of telling her parents bout her pregnancy. While Lily talked about the move to the new apartment, and the relief of Marshall finally having a job.

/-/-/

2 Weeks Later:

Robin was now 13 weeks along and about the size of a peach, she had noticed the past couple of days that her morning sickness was becoming less frequent. However, there was something new that she noticed this morning, staring at the reflection in front of her. Turning from side to side, Robin noticed her stomach had popped ever so slightly. As Robin traced her belly, she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed and there was the slightest sliver of awe.

"That just made it more real," murmured Barney from behind her, Robin hummed in agreement. Barney wrapped an arm around her and cradled her growing belly, and stroked her skin with his thumb.

Robin rested her head against his collarbone and allowed herself to fully relax against him. Barney in turn allowed his hands to travel up her side and caressed all the smooth skin he could reach. One hand slowly reached her boobs, grazed, and teased her hardening nipples. Barney's other hand slowly reached down and slipped into her panties. Robin closed her eyes in pleasure and pressed her face into his neck, slowly nipping at the skin in her reach.

/-/-/

Later that day found Barney and Robin having dinner at Barney's office. Seeing as he had to work late, Robin decided to meet him, with some takeaway from one of their favourite restaurants, Zuma.

Recently, Robin quit her job at Metro News One, she has enough of the puns, and the shady news stories and the nail in the coffin had been when they asked her to fire her makeup artist. Since quitting her job, Robin had taken a few days to get her head straight before she started to apply for jobs. In the very first interview that she had for a national anchor job, Robin had walked out the moment she saw the young people waiting for the interview. It was Barney who gave her the confidence to continue applying and go for the interviews.

As the two of them ate, Robin filled Barney in about the job interview she had for a national anchor job with CBS News. The moment she had informed them that she was pregnant she knew that there was no way she would be getting the job.

"So, are you still planning to go for the interview tomorrow?"

"Yeah, there is no harm in trying", before Barney could say anything, Robin's phone started to ring, she stood up and picked up the call, she was surprised to see the CBS News displayed on the screen. "Hello?" Barney, shrugged and continued to scroll through the newest contracts he needed to sign off on, so he continued to eat his gin-dara no tempura while finishing off his work.

Just as he finished signing the last of the contracts off, Robin walked back into the office and sat down in front of him. Seeing the shell-shocked look on her face, spread a wave of concern hit him, he stood up and sat on the edge of his desk, "Robin, hey are you ok?"

"Hhmmh? Yeah, I guess." Robin looked up at him and said, "That was CBS News"

"Okay, what did they say? They realised they offered the job to the wrong person?"

"Um no, they did however offer me a job"

"That's great" Barney grinned and pulled Robin up.

Robin stood in between his legs and held onto his hands, "Barney, listen to me, they offered me a job as a foreign correspondent in Japan."

"Oh" It took a few moments for the news to sink in for Barney, "Ok, right, what did you say? They do know you are pregnant, right?"

Robin rolled her eyes and said, "Yes, they are aware that I am pregnant. I asked them for some time to think about it. What do think I should do?"

Barney looked at the woman who was pregnant with his child, was one of his best friends and said, "Let's go home, and we will figure this out."

Robin looked at Barney and nodded in agreement, he pulled her in for a light kiss before letting her go, so they could get ready to leave. Once both had got their coats on, they left the GNB tower and decided to walk home, to Robin's apartment. Both knew that halfway they would need to get a cab.

As they walked home, Barney caught Robin's hand in his as they talked about the job offer that Robin had just received, they quietly talked about the pros and cons of the job. Barney commented, "It's up to you, Robin. I can't tell you what to do."

"I am pregnant, with your baby. You get to have some input on this. "

"I personally think that you should take the job"

"What?"

"Yes"

"Huh, I really thought you would say something different."

"Robin, you need this. Plus, you will be back before you are at 30 weeks. You can have your check-ups done there. If needed I could always fly down or you could come back here, I agree the distance and travel time will be brutal but it will be worth it."

"You really think I should take the job?"

"I really really think you should." Barney stepped to the side to flag down a cab. "I also think you should take some time and think about what you want to do before you make a decision." As the cab came to a stop, Barney went to the back a held open the door for Robin, and as she was getting in Barney remarked, "Plus I promised you that I would always stand by your side any decision you make." Once he got in the cab next to her, Robin pulled him in for a hot, heady kiss that was full of promise hinting what was to come later.