Wait For It (Sequel to Challenge Accepted)

Chapter Two: Miracle

By some miracle, I got to the hospital at the sime time Robin, Marshall, and Lily did.

"Oh, thank God you're here." Lily told me. We ran up to the front desk.

"Ted Mosby?" Robin asked. The nurse looked at her record book.

"Right through there." We rushed across the hallway, bursting through the door. Ted was wearing a hospital gown,in a hospital bed...eating jello and looking just fine.

"Hey, guys. Jello?" His eyes fell on me. "Lauren, you didn't fly all the way out from San Diego for this, did you?"

"No, I had just gotten back to my apartment when I got the call."

"I can't beleive this. So you're totally fine?" LIly questioned.

"No, I'm not fine. I made the biggest mistake of my life. I want Stella back.  I've left her like ten messages but ehr phone's off. She's at that arcade, Kiddie Funland, with her daughter." A guy nurse came in,picking up Ted's chart. "Please, let me go to Kiddie Funland."

"You can say that all youwant, buddy, but you're not getting any morphine." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Who refers to Morphine as 'Kiddie Funland'?" I asked.

"Beleive me, Ma'am, you'd be surprised."

"Huh."

"No, I'm serious. I gotta get out of here."

"You're not going anywhere until we get the tests back. You could have internal bleeding. Your brain could be all full of blood. You think that's good for it? It ain't."

"This sucks. This sucks. This sucks. This sucks. This sucks."

"Are you...are you kidding me?" Marshall asked him. "You walked away from a car accident without a scratch,and Lauren is back in our lives. Two miracles took place today."

"I'm not a miracle." I said quietly.

"Oh, here we go." Robin said.

"You don't think these were miracles."

"There's no such thing as miracles."

"March, 2006, Ted...Barney, and I," marshall said hesitantly"were trying to get pencils to stick in the ceiling at McLaren's. One pencil, from the ceiling fell, boucned off of the table on the eraser, into Barney's nose. Miracle!"

"A pencil went up Barney's nose, and you call it a miracle." Robin pointed out.

"Well, do you have a better explanation for it?"

"A drunk idiot with a box of pencil's?"

"A drunk idiot called 'God' and a box of pencils called 'destiny'."

"I feel like saying God is a drunk idiot is a bit sacreligious, and destiny is a stripper name." I pointed out.

"My gosh, I've missed you." Marshall told me. I smiled at him.

"Speaking of Barney, I should give him a call." Lily said.

"Why? We're not friends anymore." Ted tol dher.

"You'd want to know if this happened to him."

"May I?" I asked, holding out my hand for her phone.

"Are you sure?" She asked. I nodded, and she handed me her phone. I stepped out into the hallway, dialing Barney's number.

"Go for Barney."

"Thanks for the car. Nice touch, really."  There was a moment of silence.

"Lauren?"

"I'm at St. Anthony's hospital. Ted was in a car accident. Everything-" He hung up. I sighed, hanging up too. I walked back into the room. "So, I talked to Barney, and-"

"He hung up, didn't he?"

"Yeah." I said, handing Lily her phone back.

"See, I told you. We're not friends anymore."

"I didn't have anything to do with that, did I?" I asked.

"No. That was me." Robin said awkwardly.

"I'm not mad at you. In case you were wondering." She came over, hugging me. Lily questioned Ted:

"So, what made you change your mind about Stella?"

"Well, I was in the cab, and the car was coming at me, and you know how they say that your whole life flashes before your eyes in a near-death experience? It doesn't. You don't see everything. Just the things your love. I realized in that moment that Stella is the most important thing in my life, and I have to get her back."

"Aw..." I said quietly.

"Miracle!"

"Very sweet. Very romantic. Not a miracle." Robin told him. The nurse came back in.

"Hey Mosby. You got a visitor." A blonde woman I'd never seen before came in. I could only assume it was Stella.

"Hey, guys." She greeted.

"Hey."

"You must be Stella. Lauren."

"Barney and Ted's ex?" I nodded.

"The very same. I'm not a whore, I swear." She smiled.

"Can you guys give us a minute." We made our way out. I uttered 'Nice to meet you' in passing and we all headed out to the hallway. She came out a few minutes later and Lily hugged her.

"We're just so glad you and Ted are back together."

"Wait, what do you mean 'Back together'?"

"Crap." I muttered.

"Oh, you know, since you guys broke up."

"What? Oh, no. It was just a small fight. That wasn't a break-up."

"Oh. We must've misunderstood." I tried.

"Was that a breakup? Did he think that was a breakup?"

"What?" Robin walked away and Marshall pretended to take a phone call while Stella stormed back into the room.

"Great to meet you, again." I told myself quietly.