Barney was jarred awake by a loud noise. He looked around and quickly realized it was his phone. He glanced at Quinn to see if it had woken her up, but she was still sleeping soundly. He scrubbed his hand over his face giving himself a second to wake up before flipping the phone open. He didn't even think about checking the caller ID, but he figured if someone was calling him at almost three in the morning they would have a damn good reason. At least, he hoped they would.

"Go for Barney," he mumbled quietly slipping out of the bedroom.

"Baaaarneeeeey!" A very drunk voice on the other end of the line cheered. A voice he instantly recognized as Robin Scherbatsky.

"Robin?" He asked feeling a bit more awake now.

"Yup, that's me. Robin Scherrrbatsky," she giggled. "That's a funny name."

"What are you doing?" He could hear the worry in his voice and he wanted to chastise himself for being worried. Robin was a big girl she could take care of herself.

"Having drinks with my new best friend!" He heard a distinctive male voice mutter something in the background and his stomach churned. Where was she? Who was she with? Was she safe? He hoped to God she was, but he had to resist the urge to instantly run to wherever she was. He had Quinn now.

"Your new best friend?"

"Well yeah, we can't be around each other, plus you have Quinn. Ted won't talk to me. And Marshall and Lily are having a baby," she spat out the last word like it was a curse and he briefly wondered what happened because he thought she was happy for them. He quickly moved on to the rest of her little speech, though, and he felt a pang in his chest when he realized how lonely she sounded. And it hurt even more that everything she said was true. He couldn't remember the last time they'd even had a one-on-one conversation and he knew what Ted's issue was, but it still wasn't fair to Robin.

"Where are you?" He asked, but she totally ignored him.

"But you know what? It doesn't matter! Because, because I have Carl." He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized she was at MacLaren's. At least she would be okay there. "And you know, I've got my new job. Even if it is with Sandy Rivers." He wanted to tell her how proud he was that she finally got her dream job, but he bit his tongue. He could tell her another time (even though he knew he never would). "And so what if Ted won't return my calls and Lily totally forgot about me and Kevin dumped me and you replaced me?" He wanted to interrupt her, to say something, anything, but he wasn't really sure what to say. She quickly continued before he even had the chance. "And Quinn is great. She really, really is. It's so great that you guys moved in together. I'm so happy that you're dating her. It's super awesome." He sighed. He knew Robin was lying, mostly because she sucked at it, especially when she was drunk. He heard some kind of commotion and then a rustling noise.

"Look, I don't know what's up with you guys and normally I would help her get home but she doesn't live upstairs anymore and I don't think she can get there safely by herself." Carl said and Barney nodded, even though Carl couldn't see him.

"I'll be right there." He dressed quickly and slipped out the front door of his apartment (he still had a hard time thinking about it as Quinn's too). He was thankful that he had years of experience sneaking out of apartments because he wouldn't be able to explain this trip to Quinn.

He instantly spotted Robin. She was slumped over at the bar; honestly, he was surprised she was still sitting up straight. "Robin," he called tapping her on the shoulder. She looked at him in confusion and he quickly explained. "Carl asked me to take you home." Robin turned to Carl and glared at him.

"I told you I could get home by myself." Carl laughed.

"You can't even stand up."

"I can too!" She grumbled stumbling off the stool and struggling to catch herself on the bar. Barney grabbed her waist and quickly helped stabilize her.

"Alright, time to go." He announced steering her out toward the door. She swayed on her feet every so often and he kept his hands out waiting to catch her. He tried not to touch her anymore than necessary though. Touching Robin had always been dangerous. He got them safely in a cab and looked to Robin for an address. He realized he didn't even know where she lived. "So, you got a new apartment?" He asked after she gave an address. He saw her face sober and she didn't look anywhere near as drunk as she'd been before.

"Had to. I moved out for Ted, then he gave the apartment to Marshall and Lily. And I didn't want to fight with him for Quinn's." She shrugged and glanced out the window. Suddenly Barney realized what an ass Ted had been lately and he shook his head. Some things never change. But he understood Robin's need to get drunk, to forget, to do anything to not think for a night. "I'm sorry," she said quietly after a long silence.

"It's fine. I wasn't sleeping anyway." He smiled. It might have been a lie, but he wasn't above that.

"I meant for the whole Kevin thing." He froze, but she continued to talk. "I was afraid and I made a dumb decision. But it's for the best because you deserve so much better than me. I'm such a mess." She shook her head and he could see the tears in her eyes. He hated that only drunk Robin was honest, because they really needed to have this conversation sober. "Plus, you want babies and I couldn't give them to you even if I wanted to."

"What?"

"But it's fine because I don't want them. It's not like I pictured a blonde boy in a suit or anything because that would just be insane." She giggled and he quickly reminded himself that she was beyond drunk. He would just have to remember this conversation in the morning. "Oooh, look we're here!" Robin stumbled out of the cab, while Barney was still distracted by her last statement. What had she meant by that? The cabbie cleared his throat grabbing Barney's attention and he quickly jumped into action. He handed the guy some money and bounded toward Robin, who was very slowly making her way in what he assumed was the general direction of her apartment. He quickly caught up to her and followed closely. He hated that he wasn't entirely sure where they were going. He should know where Robin lives. And he couldn't help but feel like an incredibly shitty friend. Under normal circumstances, not only would he know where Robin lived, but he'd probably have a key.

Actually, under normal circumstances he would've taken Robin back to his apartment. It was closer to MacLaren's than this place was, but he couldn't take her back there because Quinn was there. He turned back to Robin and let out a little laugh when he watched her trying to fit the key into the lock. She glared at him and he took the key out of her hand, pushing the apartment door open.

"Wow," he mumbled entering the apartment. It was big, bigger than he was expecting and everything about it was so completely Robin.

"Nice, riiiight?" Robin asked enthusiastically shutting the door.

"I see why you gave Quinn's apartment to Ted now." He joked and she faltered.

"Yeah, yeah. This apartment is great." She said unconvincingly. He and Robin definitely needed to have an in depth conversation once she was sober. She had revealed too much for him to simply ignore all of it. "You can leave now. You served your duty." She turned to face Barney, who had followed her into her room.

"Once you're in bed." She sighed and climbed in her bed and flipped the covers over herself.

"Happy now?"

"Ecstatic," he laughed backing out the doorway. "Goodnight." He opened the door ready to leave, but he realized there was one last thing he had to do. She was going to wake up with a killer hangover in the morning. He could at least do something to make it easier. He grabbed a bottle of water from her fridge and a couple aspirin from the cabinet. He quietly made his way back to her room placing the objects on her nightstand. He thought she was sleeping, so when she spoke up he jumped.

"Barney?"

"Yeah?" He responded looking down at her.

"Can you stay?" She asked in a quiet voice. "Just for a little." She amended. He paused internally weighing his options. Of course he wanted to stay with Robin, it was Robin. But he should go home and get in bed with his girlfriend, with Quinn. Although, when did he ever do what he should do?

"Yeah," he stepped out of his shoes and shrugged off his shirt before climbing into bed with Robin.

"Thank you," she whispered from her side of the bed. He found Robin's hand under the blankets and gave it a tight squeeze. He knew he shouldn't be doing this. It was just reminding him of what he couldn't have, but honestly, right now, it was okay with him. Robin was letting him in for one night and one night was better than nothing.