MacLaren's With Stan: He waxes poetic for the boys, so that they can have their "Holly" say things like that she thanks God for her mistakes because they led her to Ted. Marshall and Barney are choked up at this. Cut to Ted reading "Holly's" message: "And when we finally come together, I want you to hold me... " Cut back to Stan: "Hold me all night, Stroke my hair. Tell me I'm a woman and show me you're a man. Until there was only now. You and I... and now." The way Marshall shouts out yes, makes me want to hustle him home to Lily, ASAP. And we cut to...

The Apartment: We hear Holly's voice as Ted reads her text message. "I do not ask of the night explanations. I wait for it, and it envelops me, and so you and bread and light and shadow are." Ted struggles to hold back his tears. Cut to MacLaren's, where Stan tells the guys, "That's Pablo Neruda." Hee. Great callback, Show. Marshall's voice shakes as he points first to his heart then his head and says, "That touched me here, and here." Barney's eyes are red, his voice husky as he adds, "Well if Ted won't say it, I will. I love you." He takes a sip of his Scotch as Stan thinks over his confession. Finally, Stan nods and says, "That's cool."

Time passes. The guys are still waiting for a reply. Marshall is fretting. "Maybe he's not in love with us." Hee. Barney is indignant. "How can he not be in love with us? We're everything he's looking for!" Marshall's disgusted. "I don't get men." Stan rises to leave. He has to get to work. Marshall grabs Stan's shoulder and chest. "Will you -- will you be back?" Softly, Stan says he'll be back "when the wind and fates and chance bring me back." His voice returns to a regular tone. "Which will be tomorrow. It's cheese steak day." And we flash forward to...

MacLaren's; Present: Robin teases the guys that it sounds like they were all over Stan. "Hope his girlfriend didn't get jealous." She playfully taps Barney on the arm then adds, "Did he mention a girlfriend, or...?" The guys don't answer. Clearly, they can't stand to share Stan with anyone else. Instead, Barney gets back to the point, which is that Marshall accidentally used the "Holly" phone to send Lily a text message, but instead sent it to Ted and ruined everything. Robin reminds them that that no longer matters, because it's over and orders them to call Ted right now and tell him the truth and apologize. Barney says they will, but when Robin walks out, he says, "OR..." We jump to...