MacLaren's Bar
Barney was at his usual table, in a new suit with a smug smile.
"Robin," he said. "What brings you here? Did Ted stand you up?"
"Barney, I need to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"Do you know anything about Alyx's family?"
Barney raised an eyebrow. "The artist?"
"Yes."
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because we don't know anything. Not her last name, not where she's from. Nothing."
Barney was quiet for a moment.
"You know what? Once I tried to investigate her."
Robin leaned in. "And what did you find?"
"Nothing. I hired a private detective. I gave him the name 'Alyx,' the address of her old studio, everything I had. The detective came back a week later and said he'd found nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing. It was like she didn't exist before she showed up here."
Robin felt goosebumps. "And what did you do?"
"Dropped it. Because if someone doesn't want you to know something, you have to respect it. Besides, if she doesn't exist, even better. No past means no drama."
"Barney, that doesn't make sense."
"It makes perfect sense. The Alyx we know is the one who's here. The one who draws. The one who makes you a portrait when you're sad. The one who stays up with you when you can't sleep. What does it matter where she came from? What matters is where she is."
Robin looked at him. "You think that too?"
"We all think that. That's why we never asked. Because it doesn't matter."
Robin wanted to believe him, but deep down, something wouldn't let her rest.
Lily, Marshall, and Ted's Apartment
Robin was on Ted's sofa, her head on his shoulder.
"Still thinking about Alyx?" asked Ted.
"I can't stop. She has no social media, no last name, no past. It's like she appeared out of nowhere."
"Maybe she did. Maybe before she met us, she was no one. And we made her someone."
"That's very poetic, Ted. But it's not realistic."
"What is realistic? That her past is terrible? That she escaped from something? That she had to erase her identity to survive?"
Robin looked at him. "You think so?"
"I don't know. But if that's the case, do you really want to know? Do you really want to dig up something she's decided to bury?"
Robin was silent.
"What matters," said Ted, "is who she is now. And right now, Alyx is our friend. She's Lily and Marshall's partner. She's the one who draws us when we're happy, who listens when we're sad, who never judges, who's always there. What more do you need to know?"
Robin closed her eyes. "Nothing, I guess."
But it wasn't true.
She needed to know.
She needed to understand.
Lily, Marshall, and Ted's Apartment – Later
Robin went to visit them. She found the three of them on the sofa: Marshall, Lily, and Alyx, watching a movie.
"Alyx," said Robin, "can I talk to you for a minute?"
Alyx looked up. "Sure."
They went out to the terrace. Robin took a deep breath.
"Look, I know this is weird, but... can I ask you something about your family?"
Alyx looked at her. Not with anger. With calm. That terrifying calm.
"You can ask. But I don't promise to answer."
"Why don't you talk about them?"
Alyx was quiet for a while. Then she said: "Because there's nothing to say."
"But your parents are alive, right?"
"Yes."
"And you don't see them?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Alyx looked her in the eye. "Because I'm not the person they expected. And they're not the people I expected."
"And your grandparents? Your cousins? Anyone?"
Alyx shook her head. "No one."
"How is that possible?"
Alyx smiled. It was a sad smile. "Sometimes families aren't like they are in the movies. Sometimes, the family you choose is the only one you have."
Robin felt her throat tighten. "And you never miss them?"
Alyx thought. "I don't know if you can miss something you never really had."
It was exactly what Lily had said.
"Can I ask you one more thing?" said Robin.
"Sure."
"What's your last name?"
Alyx looked at her, and for a moment, Robin saw something in her eyes. It wasn't anger. It wasn't sadness. It was... fear.
"Alyx," she said. "Just Alyx."
And she went back inside the apartment.
Robin stayed on the terrace, her heart pounding. She had seen something. Something Alyx didn't want her to see.
Several Days Later
Robin was at her computer again. She'd spent the whole week searching, and she'd found nothing.
Ted came in with two cups of coffee. "Still on this?"
"I can't find anything. It's like there are no records, no documents, no photos. Nothing."
"So what are you going to do?"
Robin closed the computer. "Nothing. I can't do anything. There's nothing to do."
"Are you going to drop it?"
"No. But I'm not going to keep searching. Because if there's nothing, it's because she doesn't want there to be anything. And I have to respect that."
Ted hugged her. "That's best."
But in her head, Robin knew she wasn't going to drop it. She was just going to wait. To see if fate gave her a clue.
Alyx's Studio
Alyx was in her studio, drawing. It was a different drawing. Not of Lily, or Marshall, or Ted, or Robin, or Barney.
It was a house. A small house, in the middle of a field, with a tree in front. And a figure of a child sitting under the tree, drawing.
Lily came in. "What are you drawing?"
Alyx closed the sketchbook. "Nothing. Just an idea."
Lily didn't ask more, but she had seen the figure. And she had seen the sadness in Alyx's eyes.
She didn't say anything. She just hugged her.
Because sometimes, you don't ask questions. Sometimes, you just are there.
Living Room, 2030
Ted looks at his children.
"And you never found out anything about Alyx's family?" asks Ted's daughter.
"Never. Robin searched for years. She hired detectives. She checked records. She never found anything."
"And Alyx never said anything?" asks Luke.
"Never. When Lily asked her to marry her and Marshall, she asked if she wanted to invite her parents. Alyx said no. That there was no one to invite."
"And that didn't seem strange to you?"
"Of course it seemed strange. But Alyx was Alyx. And the Alyx we knew was the one who was there. The rest... the rest never mattered."
"But it mattered to you, didn't it?" asks Ted's daughter. "That's why you're telling this."
Ted smiles. "Everything about my friends mattered to me. But I learned that there are mysteries that don't get solved. Questions that don't have answers. And there are people who are exactly who they say they are, even if you can't prove it."
"And was Alyx who she said she was?" asks Ted's son.
Ted thinks. "Alyx said she was an artist who drew because she didn't know how to do anything else. She said she didn't have a family because the one she had wasn't the one she needed. She said she was where she wanted to be. And that was true. Everything else... everything else was hers. And we didn't need to know it."
Over the years, Robin kept investigating. Without success. Once, in 2015, she found a record of a girl named "Alyx" at an orphanage in Vermont. But when she went to investigate, the orphanage had closed decades ago, and the records were lost.
She never knew if it was her.
She never asked.
Because Alyx was still Alyx.
And that was enough.
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