AN: new idea I had a few months ago, and only now I got the muse to right it. I'm hoping to make it long, but I'll have to see where it takes me. Hope you'll like it. Please read and review and tell me what you think!

Twist of Fate

Chapter 1- the accident

It was already dark outside when her boss called. She always hated when it happened, because whatever story she had to cover, must be something bad to be happening at this late hour.

She sighed as he told her about the car accident outside of town. Just as she thought; another tragedy to cover. She was well familiar with those. She put on her coat and grabbed her purse and umbrella, and got down to the busy street, waiting for the van to arrive.

It was the beginning of winter, and though she was used to the cold, she pulled her coat tighter around herself. She always loved winter in New York, especially when it rained. The streets were bright by the lights and full of colorful umbrellas.

She had missed it.

It had been a while since she had the chance to enjoy this city. For six years she traveled the globe, from one country to another, doing her job as WWN correspondent reporter. She loved her job, but she started to miss New York, and the ability to call a place her home, so when the channel offered her to be the lead anchor back in America, she couldn't say no.

She was only back for two months, and everything still felt so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. Every corner of the city reminded her of all the things she lost when she moved away, and that's what she was afraid of. She still couldn't bring herself to call her old friends. She hadn't spoken to any of them for so long, that she didn't even know if they were still living in New York, or if they would be willing to get back in touch with her.

So she delayed it as much as she could.

When the van finally arrived, ten minutes later, she closed her wet umbrella and entered the warmth of the vehicle.

The man who sat next to her smiled friendly at her as the van pulled away from the sidewalk. It was Jimmy, the camera man. He was a sweet guy, always being nice and smiling. He had short blond hair and bright blue eyes.

"Hey, Scherbatsky," he said, making Robin's heart ache. She stopped herself from thinking of what that nickname used to mean to her, and of the person who used to call her that. She hadn't thought about him in a long time.

"Hi, Jimmy," she smiled back. "So, what are we covering tonight?"

Jimmy's smile disappeared, to be replaced by a sad frown.

"Some truck hit a car, probably because of the rain. The car got off the road and into a gradient, and last I heard they were still trying to rescue the passengers."

"Wow," Robin whispered, "sounds awful. I hope everything will turn out okay. I'm sick of covering sad stories. It seems that's all we do lately."

"Yeah," said Jimmy, nodding his head. "Poor guy. The driver, I mean. And I think they said something about a little girl, too."

"Oh, no," said Robin, her hurt aching for the victims of the accident. "I really hope they'll be okay. How long 'till we get there?"

"Fifteen more minutes, I think. We're lucky it's late so there's not too much traffic."

It turned out to be half an hour later that they arrived at the accident zone. There were other cars around the big truck, policemen and firemen everywhere.

Luckily for them, the rain had stopped. While Jimmy got all the equipment ready, Robin came closer to find more information on what was going on.

"Excuse me," she tapped a tall policeman on the shoulder. "I'm Robin Scherbatsky from World Wide News." She showed him her badge, "Can you tell me what is going on? Have you rescued the passengers yet?"

He looked at her, annoyed, not pleased with her interrupting him from doing his job. "We got the girl out. Her father is still down there," he pointed at the edge of the road, where a big red fire truck was parking.

"What about the truck driver? Is he okay?"

"Yes. He hit his head on the steering wheel, and he's on his way to the hospital right at the moment, but he seemed to be okay."

"And the others?" she continued to press. "Do you know who they are?"

"No," he replied, still sounding annoyed. "The girl is unconscious, and her father is still in the smashed car, so we don't know details just yet. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my job."

"Yes, of course." She said, as he walked away from her.

She got back to the van, just as Jimmy finished preparing the camera and microphone for her.

"Are you ready?" he asked her, and she shook her head in response.

"There's not enough information yet. Maybe you should just film the area for a little while until they pull the poor guy from the car and then we'll know more."

"What ever you say," he smiled at her sadly and walked past her to get a closer look.

She started to walk around, trying to find more information about the situation. She saw an ambulance parking near by and came closer to it. On a tall stretcher, accompanied by two medical people, lay a small figure. When Robin came even closer she saw it was a young girl. Her blond curls and her pink dress were stained by blood. It made Robin sick to her stomach. She was used to see things like that, but to have it happen to a child seemed so unfair. She hoped that little girl was going to be alright. She seemed so young, maybe five or six years old.

She hoped her father would also be okay. She suddenly wondered where her mother was. She felt sorry for her, to have both her husband and her daughter hurt like that. She never knew what that would feel like, since she never could have children, but she could imagine how awful that must be. Poor thing.

"Hey, Robin!" she heard someone call her, and when she turned around she saw Jimmy waving at her. "Come here! They got him out!"

For some unknown reason, that got Robin to feel relief, and she let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding. She hurried towards her camera man, and tried to look past the crowd of people.

When she saw the man, blood covering almost every inch of his body, his face white and red, laying on the wet road with all those people gathering around him, her heart stopped.

Only one word ran trough her mind.

Barney.