Part 4

"You idiot!"

Lily thwacks Barney across the back of the head with a rolled-up MacLaren's menu before sliding into the booth beside Marshall. "What in the hell, Barney?" She rounds on him, mascara smeared across her cheeks. Marshall drapes his arm around her but she shrugs it off as she realizes the mess Barney's in, ( Read more... )

          It's funny how your brain suddenly doesn't know the way from A to B. How, in the moment after you hear that your friend's been shot, your mind decides to do a dump of unconnected thoughts, right into your frontal lobe.

But there are things that stand out; Memories and fragments, snatches of conversation.

~ "I wasn' ( Read more... )

Part 2

It gets worse over the next few days. Barney gets ragged. His usual polished appearance degrades. There's a shadow across his jaw, and beneath his bloodshot eyes. He gets drunk every night and clumsily hits on anything that moves. There's an air of desperation about him that seems strained.

Marshall's always secretly ( Read more... )

          Marshall's fingers wrap around the metal cord and yank, sending the shutters tumbling down across the window. Blinking in the gloom, he sits heavily on a conference chair and bows his head down, resting his cheek against the cool wooden table.

There are words trapped inside him, suspicions and secrets. And as much as Marshall ( Read more... )