A/N I struggle to even read sad stories, let alone write them, especially when I don't know if there's going to be a happy end to it all. Still, this is my first attempt; a short conversation that might take place if certain events come to pass. I honestly can't speak for the quality (I'm way out of my comfort zone!), but I hope you enjoy.
WHAT WE OWE
The boarding house was silent, for once.
Normally, this would be a welcome change of pace. It could be challenging to find peace and quiet in the lively, bustling Sunset Arms, particularly in the dining room where the couple now sat. Ordinarily you could at least count on Oskar to be skulking around, likely waiting for an opportune moment to raid the kitchen… But the building was otherwise empty for now. The boarders were good at eavesdropping, and each had apparently elected to make themselves scarce for what was likely to come. It was probably a wise decision. Left alone, Miles and Stella Shortman occupied the room's oversized dining table, side by side, each attempting to drink the cups of herbal tea in front of them. Stella had developed the blend herself; it was both delicious and calming, and she was proud of it. Both had been allowed to go cold. It had tasted bitter.
"How do you think it's going?"
Miles' words had been the first either of them had spoken in a long while, although the question had been weighing heavily in both of their minds. A great many things were weighing heavily, as it happened.
"I think it's probably going exactly the way you'd expect." Stella didn't meet her husband's eyes when she answered. Her gaze remained fixed to the contents of her cup, and her tone was flat.
Miles sighed. "She's never going to forgive us for this."
Stella shook her head, a hand sliding over to rest gently on his own. "She will, you know. It probably won't seem like it, and it might take a long time." She allowed a tiny, half-hearted smile to cross her lips. "It'll probably take even longer for her to admit it, knowing her. But she's going to understand why we needed to do this."
"Understanding and forgiving are not the same thing, Stel…" Miles practically groaned. "And even if she gets why we have to go through this again, she won't understand why Arnold's coming with us."
"Well, if anyone can help her to understand, it's him." Stella tried to cling on to some optimism. "You know how well he can get through to her."
"Yeah." Miles pinched the bridge of his nose. They had barely slept since hearing the news, and he was already so tired. "And we're taking him away."
"We gave him a choice, Miles." Stella insisted, but her face was pained. "A difficult choice, yes, but still. It's his decision too, and he wants to come with us. We aren't forcing him." There was a pause before her husband answered.
"Aren't we?"
Miles finally found the strength to lift his eyes, his gaze locking with his wife's. His words had left her frowning, and her fingers, which had been soothingly stroking the back of his hand, froze in place.
"What do you mean?"
Miles did his best to swallow the lump in his throat. "I mean that our son probably has the biggest conscience in the world, Honey! You know it's true – if he thinks something's the right thing to do, or that he has a responsibility, then he'll do it, even if it kills him. And we basically opened the conversation with 'the Green Eyes are dying again'! He was never going to say no to that!"
"No!" Stella firmly argued, unable to keep her voice from rising. "We made it clear that it wasn't as bad as the last outbreak! Not even close! We're doing more than just swooping in to treat them again – this is so much bigger, he knows that, and that's why he wants to be a part of it. And in any case, we also made it clear that if he wanted to stay, then we could handle it by ourselves!"
"Oh, like last time? We left him, Stella!" Even years after being reunited, Miles couldn't contain his disgust at the fact. "We left him, and we screwed up, and because we screwed up he spent nine years of his life without us! Worried about us! What's he supposed to do when we're threatening him with that again, wave us off at the airport?!"
What might have evolved into a shouting match came to an abrupt halt at that. Miles' growing frustration abated at the sight of tears in his wife's eyes. Even years later, the events of the last time, the mistakes and their consequences, haunted the couple. He quickly pulled Stella forward, wrapping his arms around her.
"I'm sorry…" He murmured into her shoulder. "I know this time's going to be different. I know the risks aren't the same. And whatever his reasons are, I'm so happy that Arnold wants to come with us. That we can do this as a family. The idea of being apart from him again, for who knows how long…" He took a shaky breath. "I'm just so relieved he said yes. But I hate how much this is going to hurt them both. Especially her."
"I do too." Stella pulled away, quickly turning away to wipe the moisture from her eyes. When she looked back, her face was filled with regret. She gently gripped his shoulders. "But she's not ours, Miles. As much as we act like she is sometimes, as much as we might wish she was, she's not. Maybe it was wrong of us to get that close, but… we didn't plan for something like this. We have to go, and we can't take her with us, and it's going to be terrible for both of them. But at least we can be there for Arnold-" She cut herself off, barely holding back the 'this time' on her lips.
"And who's going to be there for her?" A few moments of silence passed, until Miles eventually felt compelled to ask. "Has she talked much about her parents recently?"
"About as much as usual, which isn't much at all. But from what I gather," Stella anxiously bit her lip, "Miriam might be getting worse again."
"Oh no…"
Stella gave a small, hopeless shrug before she continued. "She hasn't said anything, barely a word. But that's just it. She actually talks about her mom a little whenever Miriam's doing well. I mean, it mostly tends to be sarcastic quips – you know how she is – but you can tell how happy she really is about it."
"And I suppose Bob's being no help whatsoever?" Miles felt his jaw clench; he tried not to be judgemental of people, but Big Bob had that effect on him.
"The same as usual, apparently. Still spending most of his time at the store, still running himself ragged to make sure he doesn't 'drop the ball' again. I swear, that man – to this day I still don't know if he's too wrapped up in that so-called 'empire' to notice what's going on, or if he knows exactly what's going on and hasn't got a clue what he's supposed to do about it… Anyway, the last time I asked about him she just said he was losing even more of his hair." The couple managed to share a hollow laugh at that, but Stella's face remained sombre. "Honestly though? I think she's worried that he's headed for a heart attack."
Miles released yet another frustrated sigh, running a hand through his own hair – it was still thick and full, to his relief. The white-grey streak had spread in the last couple of years, though. Just a little. "See, this is what I'm talking about. She's just a kid, Stella. Tough as she is, she's still just a kid. I don't like the idea of her having to deal with all that and this on her own."
"She'll still have her friends." Stella made another attempt at reassurance, for both of them. "Arnold said he was going to break the news to Gerald and Phoebe tomorrow, the others a little later. They're good kids, Miles – they'll be there for her. Probably whether she wants them to be or not. And you know how much your parents adore her – she'll always have somewhere to go if she needs to. I wouldn't be surprised if they have her still practically living here after we're gone."
Miles snorted. "Oh yeah. Based on how Mom and Pop reacted, I'm sure they can all sit around here bonding over how furious at us they are."
"And besides," Stella pressed on, ignoring that remark – their conversation with Phil and Gertie wasn't something she wanted to dwell on, "it's a whole new world compared to last time. Sure we'll be cut off when we're actually in the Green Eyes' city, but we won't be there all the time. Arnold will be able to write home all he wants, even call or video chat with her if she, uh…"
"If she wants him to." Miles finished for her, flatly.
"You know she will."
In that instant, just as Miles opened his mouth to respond, they heard the heavy front door of the boarding house open and close with a colossal slam; fast enough to show just how motivated the person behind it was, hard enough to practically shake the building, and probably loud enough to be heard right across town.
"STELLA! MILES!"
The couple flinched, and Miles winced as he turned once more to his wife. "Are you sure about that?" They shared a resolute look as they braced themselves for what was approaching, the sound of determined, stomping footsteps moving quickly in their direction.
The door practically exploded open, and into the room stormed Helga G. Pataki. Even now, the girl wore her blonde hair in pigtails. They were longer, though, than they had been in her earlier years, flowing down her back instead of jutting impossibly out to the sides of her head. Her affinity for pink was unchanged too, though the dresses had largely been replaced by t-shirts, hoodies and jeans fitted to her still-developing figure. And of course, the bow was always there; even now it sat perched on the top of her head, as much a part of her as the unibrow she firmly refused to separate. Miles, Stella, and of course Arnold, all thought she was growing into a beautiful young woman. But today, her brow was set deeply, and her eyes were both watery and alight with incredible fury. The girl's teeth were clenched tightly, and she bared them in a fierce snarl, though it seemed her fists might be clenched even tighter. Her face was red, and her chest was heaving – who knew how far she had sprinted to get here. Without missing a beat, she marched to the table, slamming her hands down with what seemed like enough force to splinter the old wood. Though that somehow remained intact, Miles' cup jolted and fell to the side, its contents spilling. All three ignored it.
"You're gonna tell me this is some kind of sick joke! Right now!"
"Hi Helga." Stella spoke, doing her best to keep her tone gentle and level. She'd been known to admonish the girl for her aggressiveness in the past, if it really became necessary. Not today.
"Don't 'Hi Helga' me!" The girl pointed an accusatory finger. "I want you both to explain to me why Arnold thinks you're all moving back to that god-forsaken jungle!"
"Because we are, Sweetie." Stella gave the tiniest of flinches as the pet name slipped out, entirely out of habit. This wasn't the time. But the first three words alone were enough to make Helga's eyes widen in shock and disbelief, her jaw dropping – perhaps the girl had been holding on to hope that Arnold was under some delusion, or that a horrible miscommunication had occurred.
"You can't be serious! No! Why would you want to go back there?! Why would you ever want to go anywhere near that place again?!"
"Because we have to, Helga." Miles finally spoke. "Didn't Arnold explain?"
Helga seethed, her tone becoming low and dangerous. "I want to hear it from you."
Their eyes locked for a moment, hers and his, and despite all the anger in her gaze, Miles could see what she was hiding behind it. "It's happening again. Not like before – thanks to Eduardo actually being allowed into the city, we've caught it much, much earlier this time. And they need our help."
The answer only seemed to make Helga's blood boil more, and threw her arms out. "Oh, to heck with that! Let someone else do it! Let Eduardo do it! I can't believe you'd both be stupid enough do this again after what happened last time! After everything you went through!"
"Eduardo can't help them like we can." Miles countered. "Stella and I know more about the Green-Eyed People and the sleeping sickness that anyone else alive by this point, plus Eduardo wouldn't be able to prepare the cure by himself. And we can't just ignore the Green Eyes – we owe them more than that. They're like family to us." That may have been a mistake; Helga's eyes grew even more tearful – and furious – at the mention of the word 'family'.
"Screw the Green Eyes!"
"Helga!" The adults spoke in unison, neither able to contain their shock at that.
"No!" The girl shook her head frantically. "I'm serious! Crimeny, you think you owe them?! Well I've got news for you – I've read the journal, I've heard the stories, and I can tell you right now that you owe them squat! You think they saved you when you went over that waterfall? You just happened to land in their stinking fishing net! And then as a big, freaking thank-you, you take on a psychopathic pirate for them AND skip out on your own honeymoon to cure that stupid disease the first time! So I'd say when they were nice enough to not let you burn to death, they were paying you back! Throw in the nine years of your life that you gave up for them last time, and I'd say they owe you the courtesy of never bothering you with their endless crap ever again!"
"We know we've already done a lot and been through a lot because of the Green Eyes." Stella's tone was resigned and firm – no-one needed to remind her or Miles of the sacrifices they'd made. "But it's not about making us 'even' with them, Helga, and it never has been. We owe it to them because we care about them, and because they're good people. As painful as it is, right now they're in trouble and they need us."
"I NE-" Helga began, before cutting herself off with a loud growl of frustration, shutting her eyes tightly. She took a breath, her next words being forced out through gritted teeth. "If you're so hot on 'owing' people, how about what you owe me? I'm the one who got your idiot son to San Lorenzo in the first place! And in case you've forgotten, you'd be into decade two of your little nap by now if I hadn't been there!" Her voice was heavy with hurt, and her hand unconsciously gripped at the golden heart still hidden beneath her shirt. "I know I don't have some kind of fascinating sickness for you to catch, but what more do I have to do to be worth sticking around for?!"
"Oh Helga, sweetheart, no!" Stella's chair scraped against the floor as she hastened to her feet. She moved toward Helga, a hand outstretched, but the girl jerked away from her touch. The older woman's heart ached. "This isn't about anything you've done or haven't done – please don't think that, and please don't ever think that we don't care about you! Of course we do! We never thought we'd have to…" Stella trailed off, biting her lip – what they'd hoped and planned didn't matter by this point. She took a heavy breath. "We wish we didn't have to do this again. The last thing we'd ever want is to hurt you."
Helga shot the woman a betrayed glare. "Then why are you taking Arnold with you?"
At that, Stella and Miles could only share a fraught glance, neither knowing how to respond at first. There was more than one answer to that question, and some were easier to say out loud than others.
"Go on!" Helga pressed on, their silence reigniting her ire. "So the Green Eyes are in trouble, and you two need to fly off and be their heroes again. FINE! You know how to make the cure, and you know how to make nice with the locals." She pointed to Stella and Miles respectively. "So tell me where Arnold fits into all that! Is he going to hold your test tubes? Get you the deity discount when you're staying in the Green Eyes' city? Oh! Maybe you can use his pig-keeping skills to help wrangle whiskers from those boars!" Her voice was becoming frantic. "If you two want to go, then go ahead, see if I care! Just tell me why you have to take my boyfriend away with you!"
"Because your boyfriend is our son." Stella had tears in her eyes as she spoke, the frank, sorrowful reply causing Helga to freeze. "We want him with us. We already missed out on so much with him, Helga – we can't bear to lose any more. But we still gave him a choice. I know it was an unfair choice for the two of you," she glanced in Miles' direction – her husband was rising to his feet, "and I'm so sorry, but he wants to do this with us and we're not going to tell him that he can't."
Helga opened her mouth, trying her level best to retort, to continue her argument. But even she couldn't find the words to respond to that. She desperately wished that wasn't the case – she needed to stay angry. Her shoulders began to slump.
"And I know it might not seem like it," Miles spoke as reached his wife, placing an arm around her shoulder, "but Arnold being there is going to make a difference. Did he… get a chance to explain you why we're going back there for as long as we are?" He badly wished he knew just how long, so that he could at least give Helga that. As it was, the girl gave a tiny, mute shake of her head, tears finally staining her own cheeks, and Miles pressed on. "We're not just treating the sleeping sickness this time. We're ending it, once and for all, so that it can never hurt the Green Eyes or our family again. Instead of just curing this outbreak, we're going to work on developing a vaccine that'll stop every future outbreak too. And even more than that," he released a worried breath – he would be lying if he said he was happy about this part, "we're going to make it so that other people will be able to help in the future, instead of us. The Green-Eyed People have decided to reveal themselves."
"What?" That revelation was enough to spark a shocked reaction from Helga, in spite of everything.
"It's true." Miles nodded, solemnly. "This is the third time in less than twenty years that the king has seen the sickness devastate his people – just about everyone in the city is a survivor from last time, and they're scared. Not to mention, his own daughter is about old enough to be affected now if the worst should happen. Lasombra's no longer a threat, and the Corazón is still lost anyway, so maybe they feel like there isn't as much left to protect… With all that, I guess they finally decided it just wasn't worth hiding from outside help anymore. But that's not to say they're just going to open the gates to everyone – they've asked us to act as ambassadors for them, to make sure the people that find out about them first are people that can be trusted, and who can help further down the line. We need to make sure the Green Eyes' land and culture is protected. They revere Arnold more than ever after what you all did, so having him there to vouch for the people we introduce is going to make everything go so much quicker and easier. All the same, it's going to be a huge undertaking. That's why we're… moving down there. We honestly don't know for how long… But by doing this, just this one last time, we're making sure that we're never going to be forced to put our lives on hold like this again. Or leave anybody we care about."
Helga had been standing silently, allowing all of this to wash over her. She dimly remembered Arnold trying to say something vaguely similar, though mostly all she had heard at the time was the blood pounding in her ears and her own appalled shouts.
"But what if you get sick again?" Without the fuel of her rage, her voice was small – she tried not to waver as she spoke. "W-what if Arnold gets sick? He's old enough now too."
"What happened last time happened because we were impatient, and reckless." Stella replied, unable to keep the bitterness out of those words. "Never again, and especially not when it could put Arnold in danger. We're not going within a hundred miles of that place until we have enough medicine to treat us ten times over. Eduardo has already started working to gather the ingredients. And we're taking other steps too. I know it's frightening, but I promise you we'll be ok – all of us."
There was no counter-argument, Helga realised. Or at least not a one that could outweigh the fate of the entire Green-Eyed People. There would be no changing of their minds. As if her mad dash to the boarding house had finally caught up with her, Helga's legs began to feel weak.
"Why can't you just stay? I… I don't want y- This isn't fair." She looked desperately back and forth between the two adults. "This isn't fair!" She had nothing left to say. The hurt and grief finally broke through then, in a single sob, and Helga bent forward. Her hand quickly moved to cover her mouth, the other gripping the table like a vice, and her eyes slammed shut once more. As Helga's body began to shake, Stella quickly moved to her side, pulling the girl to her tightly, and Miles followed in his wife's wake to lay his arms around them both. Helga didn't fight or pull away. The couple had comforted Helga many times, usually through kind words and sometimes through small, reassuring touches. They had never held her before.
Stella spoke gently as the girl continued to cry against her chest. "No it isn't. It isn't fair. And if you need to hate us for this, we understand." She heard Helga try and fail to form words at that – whether they were to confirm or deny it, Stella couldn't tell. "But even if it doesn't seem like it right now, you're going to be ok. You're one of the strongest, most amazing people we've ever met. And you're going to keep on being extraordinary, even if we can't be here to see it."
"And when we come back," Miles added, "because we will come back, I hope we'll get to see it for ourselves again."
There was a pause, but only a small one.
"They're right, Helga."
All three raised their heads to see Arnold standing in the doorway, sadness etched across his own face. In an instant, Helga detached from Miles and Stella's embrace, and she flung herself at the boy, latching to him fiercely. The impact left him reeling, for a moment, before he could move to hold her back just as tightly.
"I'm sorry!" Helga's voice was muffled by his jacket. "I didn't mean what I said! I didn't-"
"I know." Arnold's soft voice cut off her apology. "I'm sorry too." They stayed like that for a short while, until her breathing became more level – Miles and Stella looked on, knowing better than to disturb them. Eventually, Arnold pulled back, just enough to see his girlfriend's face. "Will you come up to my room with me? We can talk about this some more."
Helga consented with a small nod, moving a hand to clumsily wipe her face. She and Arnold spared a glance in Miles and Stella's direction, though they said nothing, before both turned and exited, never breaking contact with each other as they headed for the stairs. As before, the older couple was left alone. Exchanging a look of their own, the adults shortly moved to retake their seats.
There would be many more conversations about what was to come, in the short time they had, and some of them would be just as angry and full of hurt as this. The conversation between the two teenagers once they reached Arnold's room, the parents suspected, would be calmer this time around. And the result might be far worse.
The couple sat, hand in hand, and watched the spilled tea stain the table.
A/N A lot of fans theorise that Arnold's absence in the proposed spin-off 'The Patakis' would be due to his family moving back to the jungle, presumably to further help the Green Eyes. The decision to leave would surely be hard for Arnold. But a lot of fans also hope that Miles and Stella could become the supportive and loving parental figures that Helga needs in her life. If that were true, how much more painful would the decision be for them and her?
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.