- The gang tries to hide from Stella when they discover that they are eating at the same restaurant.
- For the two weeks following Stella dumping Ted immediately before their scheduled wedding, Ted outwardly is fine if not happy - too happy. Lily in particular thinks that Ted isn't dealing with what he is really feeling, while Barney thinks that Ted may indeed be happy in believing that Stella perhaps was not the one for him. Ted admits that part of the way he is dealing with the situation is to avoid running into Stella at all cost. But when the five go out for dinner and see Stella in the same restaurant, they go to extraordinary lengths to make sure she doesn't see them. While Ted contemplates if he should actually speak to her, the others discuss the people in their lives they most fear seeing and if they did what they would say to that person. Ted's thoughts of what he would say to her changes when he figures out her new circumstances.—Huggo
- The day after Stella ran out on their wedding, Ted is unusually happy. The rest of his friends (other than Barney, who is happy Ted isn't married) are worried about him, thinking that he is repressing his emotions. Over the course of two weeks, the group tries to be there for Ted, but he insists he is fine. Eventually, the group becomes frustrated, and pushes him to unleash his emotions (They reckon Ted should be really mad and should be smashing Stella's stuff by now). Though he refuses, he does reveal that he has a map of New York to help him avoid running into Stella. Using the map, they decide to go to dinner at a restaurant recommended by one of Lily's friends.
Unfortunately, it soon turns out that friend was actually Stella, who appears at the restaurant while the group is waiting to eat. Panicking, Ted ducks under the table, with the rest of the group reluctantly following his example. Stella places an order to go, so they decide to wait for her to leave. Lily tells Ted he is being stupid, and says he should face Stella. Ted replies that Lily would do the same thing in his position, if 'Gasser' walked in.
Lily reveals that, in ninth grade, she was sat next to a boy named Michael Sasser (Max Prado), who was on the edge of becoming a cool kid. In one lesson, Lily accidentally lets out a loud fart, and rather than be embarrassed, blamed Sasser, giving him the nickname 'Gasser', and he was teased so badly he had to move schools. Back under the table, Lily says that if Michael were to walk in, she would go over and apologize, and face her fear, inviting Ted to do the same. Barney agrees, saying that there are plenty of women he slept with he doesn't want to see again, some of them for the very first time, but he still would not hide from them. Ted mentions Becca DiLucci, which seems to upset Barney.
Becca (Meegan Godfrey) is revealed to be a girl in prison Barney used to have sex with, during Conjugal visits. On one visit, Barney tried to chat up another inmate, "Barney Stinson, attorney at law. Let's talk about getting you off!", causing a fight to break out between Becca and the other inmate. Since then, Barney has received threats from Becca on multiple occasions. Ted decides that everyone wants to hide from someone, and that they should stay under the table until the problem goes away.
Robin agrees with Ted, saying she would hide from her father if he were to walk in as well. Flashbacks show Robin's father to be disappointed to have a daughter instead of a son, though this doesn't change his plans, giving her the middle name Charles and taking her deer hunting at a young age. Things got worse, when Robin's father found her kissing one of her hockey team-mates when she was fourteen, and she decided to move in with her mom, after which she became Robin Sparkles.
After hearing about how Robin's experience with her father messed her up, Ted realizes all his friends are haunted by problems in their past, but it wasn't too late for him to face up to his. He decides to talk to Stella, but finds she has already left. They hail a cab and follow her, but Ted still refuses to get mad, and instead wants to talk things out, despite protests from his friends. When they realize Stella isn't going back to New Jersey, but to Tony's apartment, he is enraged that she wouldn't move into the city for him, but would for Tony. Finally, Ted unleashes his emotions, to the joy of his friends.
Ted imagines himself confronting Stella, and tells her she made the wrong choice, and should have been with him, as Tony will only let her down again. When he actually goes to talk to her, he sees her and Tony with their daughter, and decides that they were meant to be a family, his anger quickly subsiding. Future Ted announces that rather than swallowing your anger, or throwing it in someone's face, the best idea is to simply let it go, so you can move on. Finally, Ted gets rid of his map, so he can get on with his life.
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