Ted took a deep breath as the limo approached the reporter's apartment. "Okay. Moment of truth. Wish me luck,"

"Ted's gonna get it on with a TV reporter," Barney smiled. "'This just in'. Okay," he held up his hand for a high five.

"Kiss her, Ted!" Lily cheered, "Kiss her good!"

"Kiss the crap outta that girl!" Marshall said.

"Marshall, remember this night. When you're the best man at our wedding, and you give a speech, you're going to tell this story,"

"Why does he get to be the best man?" Barney argued.

"Because he's known Marshall longer," Annie pointed out.

"I'm his best friend!"

Ted rang the doorbell, and a rupture of dog barks escaped throughout the building. "Not good. Not good. Not good. Not good. Not good," he hurried back towards the taxi.

"No!" Lily exclaimed, "Get back in there!"

"You're wearing a suit!" Barney reminded.

Ted moved back towards the door.

"Ted?" a female voice called out from the upstairs window.

"Hi," Ted greeted. "I was just, uh..." he showed her the blue French horn.

The woman smiled. "Come on up,"

"He's in," Annie said.

"So..." Barney spoke up "Ranjit, you must have done it with a Lebanese girl?"

"Okay, that's my Barney limit," Lily said. "I'm gonna see if that bodega has a bathroom," she crawled over Marshall.

"Actually," Ranjit replied, "I'm from Bangladesh,"

"The women hot there?" Barney questioned.

"Here's a picture of my wife,"

Barney leaned towards Annie. "A simple no would have sufficed,"

Annie hit him. "She's lovely,"

"So, Marshall, this olive theory, based on you and Lilly?"

"Yeah," Marshall nodded.

"You hate olives. Lilly loves them. You can't stand them,"

"Yeah. Hate olives,"

"Two weeks ago, at a Spanish bar on 79th street, a dish of olives, you had some..." Annie recalled.

Marshall looked around. "You have to swear that this does not leave this cab,"

"I swear," Barney and Annie said.

"I swear," Ranjit added.

"On our first date, I ordered a Greek salad," Marshall explained. "Lilly asked if she could have my olives. I said, Sure. I hate olives,"

"But, you like olives," Annie reminded.

"Well, I was 18, okay? I was a virgin. Been waitin' my whole life for a pretty girl to want my olives,"

"Gross," Annie said.

"Marshall," Barney smiled, "I will give you an early wedding present. Don't get married. Come on, man, you said your stomach's been hurting, right? You know what that is. Hunger. You're hungry for experience. Hungry for something new. Hungry for olives. But you're too scared to do anything about it,"

"Yeah, I'm scared, okay? But, when I think of spending the rest of my life with Lilly...committing, forever, no other women...doesn't scare me at all; I'm marrying that girl,"

Annie couldn't help but smirk when Lilly came up to the window and was listening.

Lilly leaned over to kiss Marshall.

"Lilly." Marshall said, "Lilly, I like olives,"

"We'll make it work," Lilly smiled as she kissed Marshall.

"Ya'll are grossingly adorable," Annie nodded.

"Why are we still sitting here?" Barney voiced, "Let's go. We can still make the last call. What do you say, Lil? Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum?"

"I'll slap him for you for five bucks," Annie said.

"What? She's a pirate,"

"Okay, eye patch, gone," Lilly said as she removed it. She threw it at Barney. "And we can't just abandon Ted. If it doesn't go well up there, he's going to need some support,"

"It's been, like, 20 minutes." Marshall pointed out. "You think they're doin' it?"

"You think they're doin' it in front of the dogs?"

"Doggy style," Marshall laughed.

"Remind me again, why hang out with you guys," Annie groaned.

"Hey, there was this girl in college; she had this golden retriever..."

Anna looked to Lily pleadingly.

"Okay, we can go to the bar. Just stop talking," Lily said.

"Hit it, Ranjit,"

***

"And that was it." Ted said at the bar, "I'll probably never see her again.

Anna hit him in the back of his head.

"What?"

"That was the signal," Marshall argued.

"That long, lingering handshake?" Lily added, "You should have kissed her,"

"There's no such thing as the signal," Barney said.

"But, yeah, that was the signal," Anna agreed.

"Signal," Ranjit nodded.

Carl, the bartender, came over and gave the table a bottle of champagne.

"Ah, Carl, thank you," Marshall said. "Something I gotta do,"

Carl placed a hand on Ted's shoulder. "By the way. You should have kissed her,"

"Carl!" Ted exclaimed, "You guys weren't there,"

Marshall uncorked the champagne.

"I am so turned on right now," Lily mused.

"Guys, trust me. I've seen the signal. That was not the signal,"

"Yeah, Ted, we're not on you anymore," Anna said as she grabbed sparkling cider.

"To my fiancee." Marshall toasted.

"To the future," Lily added.

"To one hell of a night!" Ranjit said.

"That was not the signal," Ted argued.