The Re-return - HIMYM fic - 1/?
Part One
Robin Scherbatsky was in love with Barney Stinson.
For some reason, she had not been expecting it at all.
They’d been down that road before. They’d fallen for each other, dated, and broken up. They’d become friends again. They had become such good friends recently, that it was a wonder she didn’t see it coming. Of course she had been falling for Barney all over again. Robin had been stupid not to see otherwise. But if Robin Scherbatsky was anything, she was a master of denial. She was very effective at shoving any feelings into a tiny box until something exploded the lid off of it.
That something, she supposed, was Nora.
When she and Barney ran into her on the street, Robin had encouraged Barney to go talk to her. It was what was right for Barney, and she knew that. But she’d heard what Nora had said.
“It’s never too late.”
The lid came unhinged, and her emotions came spewing out.
The idea that it was never too late was one that she had never allowed herself to revisit. Robin didn’t believe in second tries in relationships. She didn’t believe in re-returns. They didn’t work. They were redundant. Robin had re-returned only once in her life, and it was with Simon. And that had certainly been one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Nostalgia had led her there. Second tries were no good. She didn’t believe in them. But what Nora had said to Barney struck a chord with Robin.
Yep, there was no denying it. Robin Scherbatsky was in love with Barney Stinson.
That was two days ago. Now Robin was sitting at their usual booth at MacLaren’s with Lily, Marshall, and Ted, drinking a beer.
Lily took a sip of her water. “Hey Robin, do you know where Barney is?”
Robin shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not his keeper.”
At that moment, Barney walked into the bar. He ordered himself a scotch and slid into the booth next to Robin, throwing her an easy smile.
She took a large gulp of her beer and looked away.
“Hey, Barney,” Lily greeted him. “Where have you been?”
He grinned. “I was out. With a woman. Named Nora. You may have heard of her? She’s agreed to give me a second chance. We’re going out again tomorrow.”
Ted interrupted. “Wait, so you were just on a date with Nora? Then where is she?”
“I would assume her place,” Barney responded. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“By herself?” Ted asked. “Wow. No sex yet, and there’s still a second date.”
Marshall spoke, “I have to say, I’m impressed. Nice work, buddy. You may just be treating this like a relationship.”
Lily beamed. “Good job, Barney. Don’t screw it up.”
Barney rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to screw it up. I’m taking her out to a really nice dinner tomorrow. Five star restaurant, the whole shebang. And then she will get banged.”
Robin laughed a little too loudly, a little too nervously. “Nice one,” she remarked in a shaky high-pitched voice, trying to act as though everything was normal. “Have fun, man. Congratulations, by the way. You and Nora. Awesome. I mean, way to go. Top notch. You guys are gonna be great together.”
She stopped nervously rambling just long enough to take a large sip of her beer and excuse herself to the bathroom.
Lily followed after her a few moments later, using her tiny bladder as an excuse.
Robin was standing with her hands on the sink, leaning into it, looking in the mirror.
“Robin?” Lily asked. “Are you alright?”
Robin let out a shaky breath, fixed her hair, and plastered a smile on her face. “Of course I am, Lily.”
“Really?” Lily asked. “Because back there you seemed kind of off…”
Robin shook her head. “I think maybe I just didn’t get enough sleep last night. I’m fine.”
“If you say so…”
Robin’s smile remained.
* * *
The next morning, Lily paid Robin a visit early in the morning, before they had to go to work.
“Hey, Lily,” Robin greeted her, opening the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to catch you before work. See what’s up.”
“See what’s up?” Robin asked. She moved into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. “Nothing’s up. Just a regular old day. Seriously. Why are you here?”
“Okay, fine. I came to ask you if you’re in love with Barney.”
Robin choked on the sip of coffee she’d been trying to swallow. “What?”
“Are you in love with Barney?”
Robin coughed, then laughed nervously. “Um. No. Definitely...no. Totally not. That would be so funny though, wouldn’t it? Me, fall in love. With someone I’ve already dated. Hilarious. Nice joke, Lil. Really funny.”
Lily raised an eyebrow. “You’re doing the same awkward rambling thing you did last night when you were pretending to be happy for Barney about Nora.”
“What?” Robin asked, an octave higher than usual. “I don’t do that.”
Lily gave her a stern look.
“Fine. I may do that on occasion. But I’m definitely not in love with Barney.”
“Okay, then explain the awkward rambling!”
“I just feel uncomfortable because…Nora and I work to together. Awkward, right? She’s dating my friend. So that’s…weird for me.”
“You basically set them up,” Lily said skeptically.
“Yeah…I didn’t know it would weird me out?”
Lily shook her head. “I don’t believe you. I still think you’re in love with Barney.”
Robin sighed and fixed her eyes on the floor. She took a drink of her coffee.
“Should I be taking your silence as admission?” Lily asked.
Robin bit her lip and raised her gaze to meet Lily’s. She gave her a short nod.
Lily squealed. Robin rolled her eyes,
“I’m so excited!” Lily exclaimed.
“Don’t be. Nothing’s going to come of it. You know how badly things ended last time. You even tried to break us up yourself. I’m not going back down that road again. Barney agrees.”
“Wait, you’ve talked to Barney about this?”
“Well not in so many words, but we did kind of talk about our failed relationship a couple days ago. We had reasons for breaking up. And they’re still reasons.”
“Are they, though?” Lily asked.
“I’m too dysfunctional. Nora will probably be good for him.”
“Barney is dysfunctional! You’re perfect for each other.”
Robin shook her head. “Two crazies do not make a sane, Lil. Putting two dysfunctional people together doesn’t cancel out the crazy. It just adds to it. We learned that last time.”
“But you understand each other! Nora will never really get Barney like you always have. You understand him better than any of us. And Barney has done a lot of growing up since the last time you guys dated. So have you. You’re different people than you were back then. Maybe your reasons aren’t reasons anymore. It may have been a bad idea a couple years ago. Neither of you was really ready to commit. But what about now? Can you honestly tell me you don’t want a future with Barney?”
Robin did her best to ignore the lump in her throat that had developed over the course of Lily’s argument.
“I…maybe I could want a future with him,” she admitted. “But that doesn’t change the fact that Barney is dating Nora. He deserves to be happy.”
“He could be happy with you!” Lily exclaimed. “I could put my skills to good use and break Barney and Nora up…”
“Don’t go there, Lily. Not again. Leave it alone, okay? Please.”
“Fine…”
“Promise me,” Robin requested.
Lily sighed. “Okay, okay. I promise to leave it alone.”
“Thank you.”
Lily grabbed her purse. “I have to get to work. But call me if you need anything, okay?”
Robin nodded and showed her to the door.
* * *
Barney brought Nora to MacLaren’s that night. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. Robin had managed to get her nervous rambling and laughter under control and put up her usual cold exterior and fake smile. Lily seemed to be the only one who realized any different. Barney was too wrapped up in his date to really see the change in Robin.
Barney whispered something in Nora’s ear, and she giggled. It wasn’t long after that they headed out, presumably back to her place.
Robin seethed quietly to herself and ordered a second scotch.
The rest of the group left one by one, and she was left by herself, making her way through her fourth scotch. She was admittedly a little tipsy at this point.
“Hey!” she heard a surprised male voice say from next to her.
Robin looked up at the man. She let out a loud laugh. Of all the people to run into. It was the guy she had happened upon at Hopeless that she’d had a crush on for so long.
“Hi there,” she replied. She gestured to the empty booth. “Take a seat.”
“How’s the fiancé?” he asked.
“Fiancé? Oh, Ted. No, we were never actually engaged. We actually broke up years ago. It’s a long story.”
He smiled. “So you’re single?”
“That I am,” Robin replied. “We’ve run into each other a few times now. What’s your name, mystery man?”
“Matt. And yours?”
“Robin.”
Matt held out his hand, and Robin shook it.
“It’s nice to meet you again, Robin.”
She finished the last portion of her scotch and set down her glass. “This is probably going to sound very forward of me, but it’s been one of those days. My apartment is right upstairs. Would you like to come up, Matt?”
He seemed to consider the offer for a moment and then nodded. “Sure. I’d love to.”
“Great.”
Robin took his hand and showed him the way to her bedroom.
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Part 2
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End of Part One.
A/N: Try not to totally hate me for the end of this part, okay? Okay. It won't last.