A/N: I had this idea a while back, and I hope it works out okay. Kinda AU at times, but some things will make sense throughout. Hope you enjoy!

The year was 1995, back when Barney Stinson's ponytail was larger than his conscience. Back when he met a girl who changed his life.

The coffee shop was small and cosy, the type that played soft music and where you knew each of the regulars. There were Laura and Daniel, the sweet teenage couple that stopped by every morning on their way to school, and even little old Ms Bernstein who always shared her morning latte with her cat Tiddles.

All in all, Barney enjoyed his job. The added bonus of course, being that he got to spend more time with his girlfriend, Shannon.

Shannon was the whole package: smart, funny, beautiful, and she even shared his same vegan, non-violent outlook on life. They had both taken their jobs at the coffee shop in order to raise money for when they ran away to the Peace Corps.

And for weed of course.

It was a regular Sunday morning, customers sitting in a haze of steam and the smell of roasting coffee beans. Shannon would be in and out of the shop for the next couple of weeks, a combination of taking care of her sick father and doing work experience. Of course she never planned to have an actual job—she was studying medicine so she could volunteer in helping poor third world countries. Barney sighed in adoration. She was so dedicated…

Having not seen her in a while, Barney tried to picture his girlfriend's face. Her pale grey eyes, soft fair hair and sweet features. He missed her so mu—

"Hey! Hippy kid! You're spilling it everywhere!" groaned the businessman on the other side of the counter. Barney was shaken out of his daydreams, exclaiming in surprise when he saw that he had tipped entirely too much milk into the mug and was still currently pouring, the liquid overflowing onto the floor.

"I'm so sorry, sir," he mumbled, hastily wiping it up. The man grunted, looking at his watch. Barney growled under his breath. He had always hated these types of guys, forever on their phones, those annoying headsets on, haughty briefcases… and most of all, he hated their big, ugly-

Suits.

As he scrambled to remake the purple-faced man's coffee, Barney barely noticed the light tinkling of the bell at the shop door. It was only after he had slid the coffee over to the businessman that he actually looked up to see who had come or gone.

And he stopped.

The girl stood just inside the shop door, biting her lip as she looked around for a place to sit. She looked like she'd walked straight out of 1986, wearing a denim jacket, ruffled skirt and leggings. Her hair was blonde and curly, with a random blue streak that matched the blue lace bow she wore on her head.

She was gorgeous, that much was certain. Barney found something cute in her quirky style. And it wasn't just how she looked. Her aura, man… it was crazy. He felt this magnetising pull towards her. All of a sudden, he snapped back to reality. He had a girlfriend. Barney Stinson had a GIRL. FRIEND. He had no right to be looking at that girl like that. Or thinking those wildly inappropriate thoughts about her…

As she turned around to take a seat at a booth, Barney got a glimpse of the back of her jacket. Robin Sparkles, it said. He bit back laughter. Robin Sparkles? What was she, a cleaning product?

It was then that he realized that he would have to go serve her.

Taking the pad and paper in shaking hands, he walked slowly over to her table. She was reading the café's menu, her eyes scanning quickly over the varieties of coffee and cakes. Barney stood right next to her, coughing softly to get her attention. She looked up at him, smiling.

Barney nearly felt the wind knocked out of his chest. She was even prettier up close. He smiled awkwardly back.

"Do you guys sell Wetzel's Pretzels?" she questioned.

He stammered slightly.

"Uh—no. Sorry," he blushed. "But we do have carrot cake!" he blurted out. Barney mentally slapped himself in the face for saying something so stupid. But she grinned even wider, making him feel even more dazed.

"How did you know? I love carrot cake," she said. "One please? And coffee. Black."

He quickly scribbled it down on the pad, making an excuse to get back to the counter. She touched his arm lightly to stop him.

"I'm Robin," she introduced herself. "What's your name?"

"Bar—chair!" he exclaimed, pushing her out of the way of a chair leg about to hit her in the head. Daniel, one of the other staff, was bringing in a pile of chairs and turned around once he realized what had almost happened.

"Whoa, sorry ma'am," he apologized. Robin waved him off.

"Dude, you really need to start looking where you're going!" Barney groaned, annoyed. Daniel shrugged apologetically and continued carrying the chairs.

Sometime during the time he had pushed Robin out of the way from an oncoming concussion, he had landed nearly on top of her in the booth. She met his eyes and they both flushed.

"Oh, I'm uh, sorry," he stammered. She merely smirked.

"Hey Bar-chair. I'd really like my carrot cake right now," she said, her thickly-lashed eyes flirtatious.

He gulped at her expression and hurried off to grab her order.

*HIMYM*HIMYM*HIMYM*HIMYM*HIMYM*HIMYM*

Daniel had now taken his counter shift, after Barney had refused to let him bring in anymore equipment. Robin sat at her booth, staring out the window and absentmindedly humming. Barney didn't recognize the tune, but it was catchy.

Carrying the slice of carrot cake and black coffee, he made his way over to Robin's booth. She turned around and accepted them, taking a sip of coffee and sighing.

"Ahhh, I so needed that."

"Rough day?" he asked. She chuckled.

"You have no idea."

She turned and observed a group of high-class men arguing obnoxiously in the corner and groaned.

"God I hate those stupid suits. All that work and no fun," she said.

"I totally agree! They're so annoying and stuck-up."

"They're missing out on what life is really all aboot."

He chuckled slightly.

"You're Canadian!" he grinned. She mock-frowned.

"Darn it. What gave me away?" They laughed together for a few seconds, before he noticed how tired she appeared.

"You look exhausted," he said.

"Being on tour can do wonders to your energy levels," Robin grinned, flicking her blonde/blue curls over her shoulder.

"Tour?"

Robin looked at him, intrigued.

"Maybe if I see you again, I might tell you about it," she smiled.

"I hope I do. See you again, I mean," he stuttered. She blushed slightly.

"So do I."

With that she stood up, brushing crumbs off her skirt, and gave him one last smile before she left the coffee shop, the door swinging behind her. Barney was left dumbfounded in her wake, never having met a girl like her before. He quickly shook off his inexplicable attraction towards Robin, noticing that Shannon had entered the café. He could never be unfaithful to Shannon. He loved her.

Didn't he?

A/N: Hope you guys are liking so far! There will be a few sections that will sort of explain how this fits in with modern-day HIMYM world. Please drop a review on the way out, it really makes my day! :)