Frozen

Chapter 13)

"I'm a horrible person," I whispered.

Barney's laugher slowly died to a quiet chuckle and he set Barney down and walked over to me.

"You're not a horrible person," he said, cupping my face in his big hands and leaning his forehead against mine, "you're just...my girl."

I sighed and twisted my lips.

"Are you okay with sharing me?" I asked softly.

His eyes flashed with pain and more than a little anger, but he took a deep breath and closed them before he spoke.

"If that's what it takes to keep you."

I was about to speak, but someone cleared their throat. Barney and I both turned to see Jesse watching us with a cold expression, though Barney didn't let go of my face.

"I should probably go," Jesse said, turning and walking towards the door.

"Jesse wait," I said hopping off the stool, giving Barney a 'one minute' look and walking after him. I caught him when he was almost to the car and he stopped and whirled around on me.

"Why did you say yes?" he demanded in a hard voice.

"What?" I asked, stopping a couple feet in front of him.

He took two steps towards me then stopped.

"When I asked you out," he clarified, "why did you say yes if you knew nothing would come out of it?"

"I didn't know-"

"How long have you been in love with him?"

I froze.

He hadn't asked that one in a hard or cold voice. It had been delivered softly, gently but it hit me harder than anything else could have.

"Barney?" I asked stupidly, as if he would be talking about anyone else.

He chuckled with zero humor and look to the side, taking a deep breath as if for patience, before looking back at me and meeting my eyes.

"Yes. Barney."

I swallowed.

"I'm not in love with Barney."

That was whispered.

He searched my face for something and apparently found it because his mouth twitched up on one side.

"Apparently you've convinced even yourself of that," he muttered.

"I'm not in love with Barney," I said with more conviction.

He shook his head and looked at me like he pitied me.

"Yeah," he said in that same soft voice, "you are."

"I think I would know," I bit back.

"Brianna, you're gorgeous. Absolutely fucking gorgeous, and funny, and smart and I'm really tempted to pretend you're not in love with another guy and stay with you just because I know I'll never find another girl like you. But as long as Barney is in your life, I can't be with you because it is so fucking obvious how in love with him you are and how in love with you he is. I just couldn't deal with knowing that my girlfriend would leave me for her best friend in a heartbeat. And just an fyi, any other guy you date is going to feel the same way. No guy would be happy sharing your heart with some other guy, especially one as intimidating as Barney."

I was silent for a long time, and one line kept repeating in my head.

"He's...Barney's in love with me?" I asked in a soft voice.

Jesse looked at me for a second before nodding.

"Yeah, he is. By the way, it's very telling that that's what stuck with you out of everything I said."

"Jesse, I don't-"

"Look," he said in a gentle tone, "because you look really conflicted right now, I'll give you a choice. You can either explore this thing with me, putting your friendship with Barney on the back-burner, or I'll walk away, right now, and you'll never see me again. Now, I know he's your boss so you can't completely put him out of your life, but minimal contact only. It's up to you."

Barney

Barney watched as Jesse and Brianna talked beside Jesse's car and he would have given anything to have heard that conversation. When he realized that Bentley had joined him in eavesdropping, he scooped up the six year old and slung him over his shoulder.

"C'mon, kiddo, spying is bad," Barney said.

"But you were doing it," Bentley argued.

"And I was very wrong," Barney said as sincerely as he could, wishing that he could keep watching without setting a bad example. He set Bentley down on one of the tall stools and stirred the pasta, waiting impatiently for Brianna to come back.

The door opened about thirty seconds later and Brianna walked in with a guarded expression on her face.

"Bentley, baby, I need to talk to Barney, okay? It'll just take a minute," she said.

Bentley nodded easily, but watched them warily.

Barney noticed as he was walking with Brianna into the office that Jesse was leaning against his car as if waiting for something.

Brianna shut the office door and turned to face Barney, a nervous expression on her face.

"We need to talk."