Three Days Later
Ted's parents were coming to visit for their anniversary celebration. The plan was to go to brunch, and Ted had invited his friends. Robin was extremely nervous about being introduced to Ted's parents as his girlfriend, especially after hearing stories about how Ted's mother would ask all his girlfriends about when they were going to have children, get married, and other such topics Robin wouldn't know how to answer.
Ted had invited Alyx via text, but she hadn't responded. With Robin's added insistence—going so far as to track her down at the gym to convince her—they managed the seemingly impossible: getting her to agree to meet up with them again after weeks of distance. Even more so, with Marshall and Lily also invited.
Ted's Narration, 2030
"Kids, in retrospect, inviting everyone to that brunch wasn't my best idea. Introducing Robin as my girlfriend with her nerves, reuniting the three of them after their breakup, having my parents there—who don't handle awkward conversations directly but rather change the subject or escape to other uncomfortable, sad, or unhappy topics—and lastly, Barney being... well, Barney at the most awkward and inopportune moments."
Day of the Arrival
That morning, Robin was getting ready nervously, thinking about how to redirect the topic of babies with Ted's mother or, better yet, how to tell her she wasn't going to get married or give her grandchildren anytime soon. Meanwhile, Ted was strategizing how to maneuver baseball talk with his father and how to prevent his mother from bringing up awkward topics.
It didn't take long for Barney to arrive first, excited to meet Ted's parents and see how they would react to meeting him based on the "incredible stories he assumed Ted had told about him." He was offended to learn Ted hadn't mentioned him at all and overcompensated by dominating the conversation when they arrived, not giving Robin a chance to make a good first impression.
But the awkward moment, aside from that, came when Marshall and Lily came out of Marshall's room carrying boxes of Lily's things, arguing about which items she wanted to keep after the separation, with Marshall not yielding on some records. They quickly fell silent to greet everyone.
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Mosby," said Lily.
"Lily, Marshall. It's good to see you," said Ted's mother.
"Just stopping by to pick up some of my things," said Lily, holding a box.
"Yes, we were so sorry to hear about your... you know, the... Well..." Ted's mother hesitated, unsure how to broach the subject without making things worse.
"Lily calling off the wedding and leaving me? Now Alyx leaving us too because of it?" said Marshall dryly.
"Me begging Marshall to take me back and him rejecting me?" said Lily, sidestepping the topic of Alyx.
"I love your hair," Ted's mother commented, completely off-topic.
To avoid the tense atmosphere, Ted's mother invited them to brunch, surprising Ted, who hadn't expected that. He and Robin had only just convinced Alyx to go yesterday, hoping to reconnect with her and see how she was doing. But before he could even make up an excuse for them not to go, he witnessed the scene between Lily and Marshall.
"Well, we were all planning to go to Casa Pezzi at 8:00," he said, leaving the invitation open to both of them.
Lily hesitated and looked at Marshall.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Well, I don't want to go if it would make you uncomfortable."
"Why would it?" he asked, still not quite understanding.
"Well, I mean, yeah, we're... we're okay, but you have to admit there's still something between us," Lily finally said.
"Uh... no. To me, it's more like we're friends or brother and sister," Marshall said with conviction.
Meanwhile, the rest of the room watched the conversation, but Robin and Ted, upon hearing the "brother and sister" comment, found it so absurd that their expressions shifted comically.
"Brother and sister?" Lily asked aloud, now annoyed. "Well. Fine. See you at the restaurant, brother," she finished, angry at the strange comparison for two people who had once been a couple and knew each other so well, as she left the apartment.
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