Lily, Marshall and Alyx's Wedding
Ted stood up with his notebook in his hand.
"Good evening, I'm Ted Mosby, Marshall's best friend and also Lily and Alyx's friend. Although the three of them are my family, so I guess I'm something like a cousin."
Everyone laughed.
"I've spent days trying to write the perfect speech. I've written ten versions. I've tried jokes, anecdotes, poems, even a version with a unicorn."
More laughter.
"But in the end, I realized that the perfect speech isn't written. It's felt."
Ted looked at the three of them.
"Lily, Marshall and Alyx have been together for a while. I don't know exactly how long, because the math of love isn't exact, but I know they love each other, and that shows. In the way they look at each other, in the way they share french fries, and in the way they can't sleep apart."
Lily smiled. Marshall took her hand. And Alyx looked at both of them.
"When I started writing this speech, I wanted to find the perfect moment of their relationship. But then I understood that there isn't one perfect moment. There are millions of moments, and all of them are perfect because they are together. The three of them."
Ted raised his glass.
"To Lily, Marshall and Alyx. For the years they've been together and for the years to come. May they never have to sleep apart, may they never stop sharing the sink, and may they never, ever, stop eating from the same portion of french fries. The three of them."
"To Lily, Marshall and Alyx," everyone repeated.
The three of them kissed. It wasn't an easy kiss, because there were three of them, but they managed. Alyx kissed Lily. Lily kissed Marshall. Marshall kissed Alyx. And then the three of them laughed.
Barney at his table was crying unashamedly.
"Are you crying?" asked Robin.
"It's an allergy to happiness."
"That doesn't exist."
"Well, it just hit me now, and it's triple because there are three of them."
Robin smiled and gave him a tissue.
The Wedding Exit
The three of them left the ceremony under a shower of petals. And there, parked, was the dune buggy that Barney had won.
"What is this?" asked Lily.
"My wedding gift," said Barney. "I didn't know what you bought from the registry, so I bought you this."
"A dune buggy?" asked Marshall.
"It's the best gift I've ever received," said Alyx.
"And the strangest," said Lily.
"But the best."
The three of them got into the dune buggy. Lily sat next to Marshall, and Alyx sat behind, hugging both of them.
Barney tossed them the keys.
"Enjoy it," he said. "And have many children, but not too many. Three is fine, four is greed, and with three you already have an advantage because there are already three of you."
Marshall started the engine. Lily held onto him, and Alyx hugged them tight.
"Ready?" asked Marshall.
"Ready," said Lily and Alyx.
And they drove off in the dune buggy, towards their honeymoon. The three of them together.
Barney watched them leave.
"Are you okay?" asked Robin.
"I'm fine. Just... just happy."
"Well, smile."
Barney smiled.
Living room, 2030
"And so, kids, Barney didn't tell Bob Barker that he was his son, but it didn't matter because he had found something better: the certainty that he was happy and that he had a family that loved him."
"And the dune buggy?" asks Penny.
"They used it on their honeymoon. The three of them traveled the California coast with the wind in their faces, laughing like children."
"And Alyx?" asks Luke.
"Alyx kept drawing. Like on the wedding day, years later on their wedding anniversary, she gave Lily and Marshall a huge drawing of the three of them in the dune buggy, laughing. They hung it in the living room, and every time they looked at it, they remembered that love isn't perfect but it can be fun, and that sometimes, the strangest families are the happiest."
The dune buggy appeared in several family stories. Years later, when Lily, Marshall and Alyx's children asked where it came from, Marshall said: "Your uncle Barney won it on a TV game show and then gave it to us. Because that's your uncle Barney. A man who wins cars and gives them away. A man who cries at weddings and says it's allergies. That's Barney Stinson. And he's an idiot, but he's our idiot."
And Alyx, who was drawing in her corner, looked up and said: "He's not an idiot. He's a big kid who never stopped dreaming."
And everyone fell silent because it was true.
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