A/N: My B/R muse has been a little - read: extremely - quiet lately. Blame the stresses of real life, my disappointment with S8, and the fact Shonda Rhimes has drawn me back into her web with an assassination attempt on the president and another baby for Meredith and Derek. But how could I not be inspired to write something after that perfect proposal?

It's been a long time coming and there were a lot of times where I didn't think we'd get there. But all that angst and pain was worth it it if it meant it's how we got to Barney and Robin getting engaged in the snow on a Manhattan rooftop - FYI proposals in the snow are my favourite kind of proposals so I'm a happy girl. I cried an embarrassing amount, especially at step ten when Barney burns the playbook because he doesn't need it anymore, and I thought that the episode was the most wonderful Christmas present Carter and Craig could have given me.

This little drabble is my contribution to what will hopefully be a wealth of post-proposal fic. I need stuff to keep me going through this holiday hiatus! It's fluffy, it's sappy, and it's completely angst-free (to quote Sam Seaborn, you just said three things that all mean the same thing). Hopefully time will be on my side and I can write a couple more oneshots but, for now, enjoy the morning after the night before.

Merry Christmas!

There's a moment when Robin wakes up, in those few seconds where the dream world and reality are strangely blurred, that it all feels like an elaborate dream. The rooftop, the rose petals, and the absurd play that only Barney could have come up with – they all feel like part of some strange dream that will have been forgotten by the time she is stood on the cold Manhattan streets flagging down a taxi to get to work. And there's an ache in her chest, a sadness, at the idea that the proposal was nothing more than a fleeting dream. It's a thing that she will never get to have and that is surprisingly painful.

But then there's a barely audible groan from the other side of the bed and she could swear that her heart stops. As her brain slowly adjusts to being awake, she registers the hand resting on her back, the warmth emanating from the person lying next to her, and the extra weight now present on her left hand. However, it's not until she blearily opens her eyes and sees the person beside her that the reality of her situation sinks in.

Barney is still fast asleep, breathing deeply and looking completely undisturbed by the world. There's always a level of bravado in the way he presents himself in everyday life but that falls away when he sleeps. The stress washes off his face and leaves behind a peaceful man so different from the swaggering egotist they normally see. When they had been together all those years ago, it had always been one of her favourite things to do in the morning, to simply watch him sleep. Barney with his defences down was a sight that so few people were privilege to that she had always relished it. And god it's been so long since she was free to look at him like that that she finds herself doing it again. It's almost automatic the way her eyes trace over the familiar features that she only ever notices when she's this close to him. There's the small scar at the edge of his hairline, the almost unnoticeable freckles scattered across his nose, and his long eyelashes that are practically golden. They're such tiny things but they're tiny things that she loves about him. They're tiny things that she thought she was never going to be free to admire again.

Then it hits her. They're not just things she can lie in bed and admire right now. They are things that she can admire forever. For the rest of her life she is going to wake up to the sight of Barney sleeping beside her. She can try and count the freckles on his nose or watch for the way his brow furrows so deeply in the few seconds before he wakes up. The intimacy of being so close to someone, of being so close to him, is hers once again and it will be forever. He is hers forever.

Such a thought should ignite fear in the pit of her stomach accompanied by an overwhelming desire to run. Forever is a terrifying an idea, and her parents hardly instilled her with a belief in the institution of marriage. But the seconds tick on and her heart doesn't begin to race and her palms don't start to sweat. Instead, all she feels is calm.

Unable to help herself, she leans in and presses a soft kiss to Barney's lips. It's barely a kiss at all but it's enough for him to stir, and she feels him murmur quietly against her lips as his brain drags him into consciousness. And it's the collection of emotions that flutter across his face in quick succession that she loves the most. The same fear that was present in her own mind when she awoke is evident in his eyes as he searches for confirmation that last night wasn't a dream. Then there's the disbelief in the quirk of an eyebrow as he blinks the sleep away from his eyes and sees her lying across from him. And finally there is the pure unbridled joy that sweeps across his face in the form of a brilliant grin. It's the same joy that he had been unable to contain from the moment she had said that magical three letter word on the rooftop last night until they had fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning.

"Hi," he says, his voice still heavy with sleep, and she'd laugh at the size of the grin on his face if she wasn't sporting one that was just as goofy.

"Hi."

There's so much she wants to tell him like how happy she feels right now and how she wishes they hadn't wasted so much time but the words won't come. All she finds herself able to do is grin like an idiot and he seems stuck doing the exact same. They lie there like that for what feels like forever and Robin can't bring herself to care about things like work and staff meetings because Barney is in her bed and he is her fiancé.

A bubble of laughter builds in her chest as she mentally rolls the word 'fiancé' around on her tongue and she can't help but let the laugh escape her lips. If he asked then she wouldn't be able to explain what she finds so funny but there's something so hilariously absurd about the fact that just yesterday she thought she had lost Barney to Patrice and now she's wearing his engagement ring on her finger. But he doesn't ask. Instead, he gives her a wry smile that's half amusement and half adoration and reaches for her hand. Threading it through his, his thumb carefully rubs against the ring that rests on her fourth finger, and he studies it intently as if he can't quite believe that he was the one to put it there.

She wants to say something, to have the perfect words for a moment like this, but she is coming up blank. Thankfully though Barney chooses that moment to lean in and kiss her, and this one is so much better than her barely-a-kiss kiss from a minute ago. It's almost overwhelming how much Barney can communicate in one simple kiss. There have been times when she has doubted his love for her but at this moment it is so painfully present in the way that he kisses her that she can't help but wonder how she got to be this lucky.

He is almost lazy in the way he takes his time to deepen the kiss. There's nothing frantic or extraordinarily passionate about it. Rather, he seems to cherish every second and to draw out a simple kiss for as long as he can. He kisses her like there's no rush, as if they have forever to do this, which she supposes they do. Her hands wander up his back and run through his hair, pulling him closer to her, but even that isn't enough for him to move faster. His hands leisurely trace her body through her shirt before drifting underneath to find bare skin. Every touch is unhurried and every kiss is slow. It's like it's only been a mere day since they explored each other's bodies while still hazy with sleep rather than the years it's actually been.

There are so many things they need to talk about. They need to break the news to their friends and families. They have choices to make like whether they're going to move in together and if they want to get married sooner rather than later. They have to learn to be a couple again, a better one this time. But as his fingers brush against the edge of her underwear, she knows that can wait. Reality will creep back in eventually with all of its questions and decisions. But there's no rush, not anymore. After all, they have forever.