‘How I Met Your Mother’ Season 9 Spoilers: The Mother Meets Patrice In New Sneak Peek Photo; Is Robin In Cristin Milioti Scene Too?

"How I Met Your Mother" season 9 spoilers reveal that the Mother and Patrice may meet in an upcoming episode, according to a new sneak peek Instagram photo. Does Robin meet The Mother, played by Cristin Milioti, in the same scene of "How I Met Your Mother" season 9?

According to IB Times, actress Ellen D. Williams, who plays Patrice (Robin's caring yet annoying WWN co-worker), posted a photo to her Instagram of her hugging Cristin Milioti.

"Finally got to meet #CristinMilioti #TheMother she's so sweet and wonderful," Williams wrote on her Instagram with a photo on Saturday.

Does this mean Patrice meets the Mother in "How I Met Your Mother" season 9?

The photo contains a Christmas tree in the background, meaning this could be a holiday cast party where Williams and Milioti would be hanging out. Yet there are also cameras on the side of the photo, suggesting that the actresses are on the set of "How I Met Your Mother" season 9.

IB Times speculates that this could be a flashback or a flashforward, which would explain Patrice and the Mother meeting during the holidays. Patrice worked at World Wide News with Robin - maybe the Mother's band played at a holiday party for WWN? Or Cristin Militoi's character's boyfriend worked at WWN and she accompanied him to his holiday party?

This could also suggest that the Mother could have met Robin before her wedding weekend!

The photo may depict a flashforward on "How I Met Your Mother" season 9: perhaps the gang throws a Christmas party and Patrice and the Mother are guests?

We won't know until new episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" season 9 continue to air again on Jan. 13, 2014. The finale is set to air on March 31 with a special hour-long episode, IB Times reports.