- Marshall suspects that he is the reason Lily can't get pregnant after meeting a fertility doctor who also happens to be Barney's doppelganger. Meanwhile, Robin's embarrassing past is revealed at work by her former co-anchor.
- Despite only having tried for six days, Marshall and Lily are worried about not yet having conceived a child. So their doctor sends them to Dr. John Stangel, the best reproductive endocrinologist in New York City. He ends up being Barney's doppelgänger, although Lily is convinced that he's actually Barney in disguise. Both Lily and Marshall have problems going through the tests with Dr. Stangel for different reasons. They are both on tender-hooks as they await news from Dr. Stangel if there are any issues in them being able to conceive a child. Other news in their life may overshadow whatever Dr. Stangel might have to say. Meanwhile, Robin has just started her new job at Worldwide News. She hates it primarily because the anchor, her old co-host Sandy Rivers, divulges some facts and not so facts about Robin to the rest of the staff which make her the laughing stock among her colleagues. Ted helps her come up with a way to deal with this new embarrassing situation.—Huggo
- Future Ted tells his kids that Marshall and Lily are anxious and worried about their chances of having a baby. After several months of trying to conceive without success, their doctor refers them to a fertility expert. As they tell Ted the news at MacLaren's, Barney arrives and announces to Ted and Marshall's dismay that he needs a partner for a laser tag tournament.
Lily goes to her appointment with the fertility expert, Dr. John Stangel (Neil Patrick Harris), only to discover that he looks exactly like Barney, save for a beard and dark brown hair, raising her immediate concern that he is in fact Barney in disguise. When Lily confronts Barney, Marshall vouches for Barney, saying that they spent the whole day together. To convince her that Stangel and Barney are not the same person, Marshall attends Lily's appointment and also immediately assumes Stangel and Barney are the same person. Barney shows up, acknowledges the similarity, and leaves. Lily still thinks Dr. Stangel is Barney in disguise upon hearing him say "Scoot up", mistaking it for Barney's catch phrase of "Suit up." After getting Barney and the doctor in the room together throughout the procedure, Lily is convinced that they are in fact two different people.
When Lily's tests reveal that she is extremely fertile, Marshall is about to call his father with the good news, but stops when he considers that his sperm may be the problem. He admits only talking about good news with his father and decides to get his sperm tested before calling him again. When Marshall is unable to produce a sperm sample at the doctor's office, he returns home to produce the sample, only to find that his parents have dropped by for a surprise visit. He eventually reveals to his parents his concerns about possible infertility, to which they reassure him that they love him regardless of whether he and Lily will give them grandchildren and suggest other options, such as adoption and sperm donors.
Meanwhile, Robin's new job at World Wide News has started badly, beginning with the revelation that the network's lead anchor is her old Metro News 1 colleague Sandy Rivers (Alexis Denisof). He promptly tells the entire office that they had sex and continues to harass her in front of her new co-workers with increasingly embarrassing stories from Robin's past. The group tells Robin to play along with the mockery, insisting that it will only get worse if she resists it. However, after an especially humiliating day, Ted decides to help Robin by confronting Sandy at his apartment. Ted learns that Sandy is bald and wears a toupee; he snaps a picture, and tells Robin to use it to put him to shame. At work the following day, Sandy takes another shot at Robin. Instead of showing the office the picture of him, however, she pulls out her old Robin Sparkles denim jacket, embracing the mockery and moving on (with Future Ted telling his kids that while Robin never shook off the nickname of 'Sparkles', she went on to do great things while working for World Wide News).
Having spent the entire day anticipating bad news, Marshall receives good news about his fertility from Stangel (after a failed impersonation by Barney attempting to trick Marshall into becoming his laser tag partner). While at MacLaren's, he tries to call his father about his good news, but Mr. Eriksen does not pick up the phone. At that moment, Lily pulls up in a taxi and tearfully informs Marshall that his father has been rushed to hospital after having a heart attack, and that he did not survive. Shocked and grief-stricken, Marshall embraces Lily, and begins to weep, repeating the words, "I'm not ready for this."
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