A/N: This one-shot has been written by both Kisstriss and I. It's a little late for Christmas, but at least it's still winter! So here you are, enjoy.

-No FTi references. This story considers that it doesn't exist.

-This is about 7th or 8th grade for them.

Disclaimer: We do not own HA! or any of the characters seen in the show.

When Helga woke up at 9 o'clock in the morning, she knew what day it was. Every kid knew what day it was. It was the day that children stayed up the previous night in hopes of hearing footsteps on the roof. It was the day that they had looked forward to ever since it had ended the previous year. However, Christmas wasn't what it was cracked up to be for Helga. What had once been a nice holiday had now become just a regular day.

Helga didn't bother with the normal tradition of going down stairs in her pajamas. There wasn't any point. The video camera never focused on her on this "joyful" day. It was always on perfect Olga and her perfect gifts and that perfect look of surprise she always got on her perfect face. Helga couldn't stop a small growl from escaping her mouth as she finished getting dressed in her usual clothes. Well today, she wasn't gonna put up with her wonderful sister. Oh no siree.

She descended the stairs, yet stopped before she would be in full view of her family. Slowly, she leaned her head and peeked at the scene before her. Miriam didn't look completely drunk. Bob was laughing.

And then there was Olga. Olga wearing her pink tank top with a little chicken on it. Olga wearing her light blue pajama bottoms that went perfectly with the top. Olga smiling. Olga opening a present. Olga being happy.

Criminey, this is gonna make me sick, she thought. She sighed and took the final step that brought her down to be with her family.

No one noticed with Helga G. Pataki entered the room. Not Miriam, not Bob, and to her surprise, not Olga. It's a miracle, Helga thought with glee. She casually walked over to the Christmas tree and began digging through to boxes to find one with her name labeled on it. For the most part, it was all Olga's presents with the occasional one to Miriam or Bob. Not a single one had Helga's name on it.

She took a deep breath. A very deep breath. "Bob," she said in a quite menacing voice.

When he didn't acknowledge her, Helga proceeded to stand up to face him. He was sitting on the couch, his arm over Olga's shoulder while Miriam videotaped Olga's next reaction. She stomped over to him and pushed Miriam's camera out of the way while doing so. "Bob."

He looked up and glared. "Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm questioning you! Are any of those presents for me?" she questioned, hoping that maybe he had just put her name as Olga on the presents that belonged to her.

"No." It was a short, simple answer that contained no sign of regret or remorse that he hadn't got his youngest daughter a single gift.

Her hands immediately balled up into fists, and Big Bob noticed it. Standing up, he said, "Don't get an attitude with me, missy. I didn't get you anything for a good reason."

Helga raised up one side of her unibrow. "What reason? Spent all your money on your precious Olga?"

"That," he said, "and I spent money on that new camcorder that you just shoved! What did you think you were doing?"

"What did you think you were doing just leaving me out of the holiday?"

Olga, who had been watching the scene with teary eyes, looked up at her father. Apparently, from what Helga could gather, she didn't know what was really going on either.

"There was a poll that Big Bob's Beeper Emporium took with its customers and we found out that people would buy more from a store that has a family man in charge. And Olga, you're so damn depressing and sarcastic all the time that you'd just ruin it."

The fists clenched tighter. "So you just decided not to involve just cause you felt like making a few extra bucks? Bought a camcorder to record your happy 'family' time, minus one daughter? A daughter whose name you can't even get right?" She walked past him, past Miriam, and over to the door.

Olga spoke up quietly. "Baby sister?"

Helga turned around. "Well I guess this unwanted child is gonna get out of your way so you can have a nice enjoyable Christmas." She glared at Bob. "I hope you choke." She yanked open the front door and stormed out into the cold weather.

Arnold was having one of the best Christmases of his life. Everything he had wanted he had gotten, and everything the boarders and his grandparents had wanted they had gotten. The entire day just seemed to bode well with everyone, until now.

It was noon and all the boarders and his grandparents decided that it would be a lovely time for a nice nap. A long nap. Arnold wasn't one for naps and he sure didn't wanna take one on Christmas day. He thought about walking over to Gerald's to hang out with him and his family, but they were in New York for the week. He had listened to some CD's for a while, but he they just weren't enough to drive the boredom away.

A walk might be nice, he thought. It'd be refreshing to hear little kids squealing about their new toys.

He ran downstairs, now eager to take a walk, and grabbed a jacket and walked out the door. He was immediately met with a frigid blast of wind in the face that instantly made him zip up his jacket and lifted up the hood. He couldn't believe it was this cold and there was absolutely no snow to show it. For a moment, he considered walking right back into the boarding house, but decided not to. He wanted to go for a walk and dang it, he was gonna go.

Arnold didn't see any kids in the street. He saw a few in their homes, running around like chickens with their heads cut off because they had just gotten the newest videogame, or an instrument or something. He couldn't understand anything except their yells. The yells that told him that they were having a wonderful Christmas, as every child who celebrates it should.

He continued walking but stopped when he heard a yell. Not a joyful one. An irritated and frustrated one. And it wasn't so much a yell as it was a scream.

I wonder what's going on with that family, he thought as he got over his slight shock and kept walking. It wasn't until about two minutes later that he realized he was walking in the direction of the shriek. Soon, he began to hear a voice.

"WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO NOT BE HERE NOW?" He picked this up easily, as the person was now shouting again. He was able to tell it was a girl's voice and that it was coming in the direction of . . . Phoebe's house? It would make sense. She was in Japan for the holiday season.

He continued over there and stopped to see a girl sitting on Phoebe's steps, her head up to her knees and her arms wrapped around them. Her hands were moving in a bad attempt to keep her from shivering. He knew who it was and he knew he had to be there for her. Especially seeing as she was muttering to herself and was . . . sobbing?

Slowly approaching, he said "Helga?"

Her head snapped up and Arnold was slightly shocked to see her face. He hadn't exactly seen her face so tear-stained before. And she was gonna make sure he wasn't gonna see it for a second longer. She quickly began wiping them away and gathering up her strength to speak without sounding weak and pathetic. "What do you want Football Head?" She wasn't pleased with her voice. It wasn't snappy. It wasn't mean. It was just a simple question with absolutely no emotion.

He took another couple steps until he was looking directly down upon her. "I heard you yell. I came over here to see if you were alright," he paused. "Are you?"

Comebacks, comebacks, where on Earth are you comebacks? she thought hastily, unable to think of a smart-aleck retaliation. What's wrong with me? I shouldn't be this weak! "I . . . um . . . Well do I look alright?" Another bad response.

He sat down beside her and looked at her, a small, sad smile on his face. "No Helga. You look like you've had a rough morning. And you look cold. Where's you coat? How long have you been out here?"

"It's um . . . I forgot to grab it when I . . . . when I left," she said. It was the truth. She realized she forgot to grab it the moment she walked out the door, but she had refused to go back in to get it. It would've defeated the purpose of showing her strength. Not that that matters now, this conversation seems to be ruining it for me anyways.

Arnold began trying to wiggle his left arm out of his jacket. When he succeeded, he put it around Helga. "Here," he said. "Put your arm through it and I'll try to keep you warm."

She looked up at him. "And what makes you think that . . . . That . . . Oh screw it." She put her arm through it and instantly began feeling its benefits. She was about to actually thank him when she felt something snake around behind her. She realized Arnold, the love of her life, was putting his arm around her waist and pulling her closer. She looked at him, trying so hard to hide the blush forming on her face. While trying to prevent herself from blushing, she didn't notice that Arnold too was blushing.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I thought if you were closer, you'd be a bit warmer."

I am, she thought. You just made me warmer than I've been all winter. She thought about smiling and saying 'thank you,' but decided she didn't want to look too appreciative. So she just murmured "Thanks." and left it at that.

They sat there like that in silence for quite some time. Curiosity was plaguing Arnold, and he couldn't prevent himself from asking any longer. "Helga, what's happened today?"

Helga bit her lip and turned her head away from him. "A lot." Was the reply he got from her.

Instant regret hit Arnold. How could he ask her that? She had obviously had a terrible morning and if she had wanted to talk about it she would've said something already. "I'm sorry for prying, Helga. I just thought that maybe talking about it would make you feel better."

She shook her head. "Doubt it," she said, then paused. "But walking might. I need to get some blood pumping before I get some blood clot."

He smiled slightly. "Yeah. Why don't we go to my house? It'll be warm, and the no one would care. They're probably still sleeping anyway." He stood up and dragged Helga up with her. She noticed that he didn't take his arm away from around her waist to do so.

The pair walked to the boarding house, Helga daydreaming the entire way and Arnold wondering what had caused Helga to have such a bad Christmas and why she wasn't exploding. Normally Helga wouldn't accept a look of pity, let alone help. Well I shouldn't complain, he thought. This is the Helga I've been trying to discover and now I have a chance.

When they walked into the boarding house, all was quiet. They were still sleeping. It was anyone's guess when any of them would ever wake up.

The two went up to Arnold's room where Helga immediately started her mental gushing. He was letting her into his room to keep her warm. To keep her safe. And probably to prod and poke at her with questions about her life. But for some reason, she didn't feel like holding it back now. It was as if his room had just opened a door in her and now she was free to tell him anything without regretting it. Or at least, regretting it for now.

She sat down on the couch, and stretched back. "Arnold, ya know I really don't need your sympathy, right? Or your really, really warm house?"

He smirked. "You don't need it. You want it. And if I can give you something you want, then today is the day to give it to you."

I want you to tell me you love me. I want to tell you I love you, and that everything I've ever done was because of you. I want you to know that I only live for you. "Well at least there are some people out there that are still into the whole Christmas spirit thing."

He frowned slightly. "You're parents?"

She nodded. "Yup. That idiot Big Bob decided his company was more important and that he should use Christmas as a day to show that he's a great family man by celebrating the day with his 'lovely' daughter and his 'wonderful and devoted' wife." She rolled her eyes.

He tilted his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. "I mean . . . Bob decided to celebrate Christmas with his family. Olga and Miriam. I'm not included because I'm not happy enough and I'd ruin his moment to promote sales."

Arnold blinked. "Helga, maybe you have it wrong. No father would just leave out their dau-" The look she gave him shut him up.

"Arnold, face it. Big Bob has always been a crappy father. He can't get my name straight and everything he does requires some sort of profit, no matter what expense it is on the humans around him. I have it right. He told me I did."

"But . . . that doesn't make sense."

"The world's not supposed to make sense, is it?"

He shrugged. "I guess not. But I find it hard to believe you dad is all that bad. There's good in everyone."

Helga laughed. "Right, 'Alfred.' Keep on believing that."

Arnold grinded his teeth slightly. This conversation wasn't going the way he wanted it to. He wanted her to talk more about herself. "But look at you. Everyone at school just seems to think you're completely evil, except Phoebe. And now I know for a fact that you're not."

She stopped laughing. "What makes you say that, Football Head?"

"Well, you've been there for me before. You show that you have a kind heart in small ways, but it's there. And you actually opening up to me . . ." he shrugged. "You're just not as bad as you make yourself out to be."

"And if you say that to anyone, I swear I'll prove you wrong Arnoldo!" Her voice didn't have a shred of anything that would make Arnold even hope that she was just kidding. "I have a reputation and I don't plan on letting anyone wreck it, got it bucko?"

"Helga, I wasn't trying to threaten you. I swear! I was just saying that I know you're a good person and it was my way of proving that everyone, even you, has some bit of good in them. Besides," he had a slight glint in his eyes that scared Helga. "I wouldn't brag about that reputation if I were you. It's not a good one to be proud of. And reputations are only built up to hide something."

Oh criminey. He's figured it out, Helga tried to remain calm and not panic as he finished what he was saying. She made sure not to make direct eye contact with him in the meantime.

"So Helga, what are you trying to hide from me and the rest of the world?"

What do I say? I can't tell him the truth . . .can I? I mean, it'd be off my chest and maybe, just maybe his perfect football head would accept my feelings and return them. Maybe he'll tell me he's in love with me too! Helga tried to prevent a small smile from forming on her face. But what if he doesn't? He knows something's up and I don't think I can hide that I'm hiding something much longer. Oh criminey.

"Come on Helga. Tell me. It can't be that bad."

She lifted her head up and looked him square in the eye. She figured out what she was going to say. "You're right Arnold. I am hiding something."

He was taken aback. He really hadn't expected her to even admit she was hiding something, let alone act like she was going to tell him. It was a shock he truly wasn't prepared for.

"Of course you are. But what are you hiding?"

She stopped looking him dead in the eye. How was she going to put this? "Well . . . it's huge."

He nodded.

"I mean . . . I'm not sure you could handle it . . . I'm not sure I can handle telling you."

"You're strong Helga. You can tell me." He gave her a confident smile.

She bit her lip. How, how, HOW was she going to figure this out? "Well . . . I refuse to tell you the whole thing."

Arnold was disappointed at that, but he figured even part of her hidden secret would be enough to crack the mystery of Helga G. Pataki, so he didn't try to protest or convince her to tell him more than she wanted to.

"Go on."

Helga closed her eyes. "Arnold . . . I'm hiding the fact that there's someone . . . who . . . . well means a lot to me. And they don't know that they do. And . . . well I'm afraid to tell them they mean that much to me, or to let anyone else know that I actually have someone that I really care about so . . . . I hide it."

"Who?"

Helga opened her eyes and smirked. "That's what I'm not telling you. That's about all I'm telling you."

Arnold tried processing the information. Helga liked someone and she was afraid that fact would show weakness. But who? It couldn't be Stinky, or Harold, or Brainy, or Gerald. Sid? Curly? Who?

"That question's gonna eat you alive all night, ain't it Football Head?"

He looked up and realized that Helga was watching him intensely. She was obviously afraid that he'd find out and was looking for any sign that he had discovered the person.

"It probably will. I'm assuming that it's not Gerald?"

Helga laughed. "Are you kidding? That'd kill poor Phoebe. She's always had her eye on him, even if she won't admit it to anyone. She thinks it's not obvious."

"And it's not Brainy?"

"Never."

"Please tell me, Helga."

"No."

"Do you not trust me?"

Helga gave him an odd look. He wasn't able to distinguish what the emotion was on her face. The only thing that it even slightly resembled was a look of disappointment, but where would that fit in with any of this. "If I didn't trust you," she said slowly. "Then I wouldn't have told you a single thing. If I didn't trust you, I would've refused your help and your sympathy. If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't let you get near me. I trust you Arnoldo. Maybe not as much as you'd like me to, but I do trust you. And me even telling you that should show you that I do."

He hadn't thought of it like that. He thought of trust as pretty much a one hundred percent deal or not. But Helga was right. There was no point in pushing it. He had some of her trust. That was enough.

"Can we move onto a different subject, please?"

Arnold sighed. He really didn't want to. He wanted to keep going. He wanted to figure out everything. But he let her have her way. He had made headway with the mystery of Helga G. Pataki. No use in continually working to figure out more.

Arnold and Helga talked. And talked. And kept on talking until Arnold finally looked up to see that the stars were out. He couldn't believe that he had just had a conversation with Helga that had lasted this long. She was so interesting. Her views on everything seemed to be different from his, yet they made just as much sense. It was weird.

Helga hadn't gone into a daydream once during their talk. Granted, she knew quite a bit of the things that Arnold had told her (not that he knew she already knew them) but there were a lot of things she didn't know. She didn't know he had fallen off his bike when he was five and busted his kneecap. She hadn't even fathomed that he had a scar on his shoulder from when a Great Dane had bit him. He had even let her see it. She could honestly say that this was the best conversation she had ever had in her life and was approaching the best day of her life. That is, until Arnold suggested that they should get her home.

"What?" she asked, in a slightly frantic tone. "Why can't I just stay here, ya know? Hanging out with you is no where near as terrible as going home. Or going back in that cold weather right now. I mean think, the temperature had to have dropped even more since sunset. Do you really wanna face that freezing wind again?"

Arnold laughed. "Helga, as much as I would love to not go outside, I have to. So do you. Your parents are probably worried about you."

"Betcha they aren't. Why don't I just stay over here for the night? I swear I don't snore. And I don't sleepwalk anymore. I don't have anymore bad nighttime habits that would in anyway interfere with your regular sleeping habits!"

"They will be worried."

"Either way, I don't care. I don't want to go."

Arnold sighed and stood up. He held out his arm to her. "Come on Helga. You can borrow one of my jackets for the walk, and just give it back to me when school starts again."

Helga frowned and pretended to pout but grabbed his hand all the same. Arnold jumped as soon as she grabbed it and she gave him a puzzling look. He blinked a few times and shook his head. "I uh . . . I think you shocked me."

"Oh, I'm sorry." It was so odd for her to just apologize like that. She didn't do it often and here she was, wasting one of those rare opportunities to say sorry on a little electric shock.

They walked downstairs together, both consciously aware that they were still holding hands. Arnold wasn't sure what was going on. He was looking at Helga differently, in a more positive way. He hadn't realized how perfect pink looked on her before. It just . . . fit. As they reached the door, they both let go to grab coats for themselves. They faced each other after they were all zipped up and then faced the door once more.

"You can always change your mind and let me stay here," Helga said jokingly.

Arnold considered it. He really didn't want to take her home and say goodbye to this great day. He was given a Christmas miracle. He had opened up the shell that was Helga. Now, he wanted to keep her close.

"I could, but I won't," he said as he reached for the door. With a twist of the doorknob, and one single step, they were once again immersed in the bitter cold.

They walked to her house at a brisk pace, trying to get there as soon as possible in order to quickly receive warmth. Arnold kept glancing sideways at her. How was information about her life so vital to changing his . . . his feelings? Did he like like Helga? Since when? How?

Too many questions, he thought. He kept walking with Helga and to his surprise, she stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong?"

She gave him a confused look. "Uh, Football Head, you in there? This is my house." He looked and saw that it really was.

"Well we got here quick," he said.

She nodded. "Sure did," she gave him a small smile. "I wanna thank you for today. You . . . . you really made my day."

An idea popped into Arnold's head. It seemed ingenious. "It wasn't a problem. I really liked spending time with you." Suddenly, he looked up at the sky. "Oh look, a shooting star."

Helga moved next to him and looked up. "Arnold, you idiot, you must be imag-" She felt his lips touch her cheek as she was looking up. She instantly froze in place. They were warm and there . . . on her cheek . . . willingly. She started to look down to look at him. To see his face. To see if she had just imagined it. But instantly, his lips moved away. She heard his voice whisper quickly, "Good night Helga. Merry Christmas." When she turned her head around to find him, he was gone. She could see his figure, taking off down the street, as she remained planted to the sidewalk.

It took her a full four minutes to recover. In that time her mind processed the events and tried to come up with rational reasons as to why he would do that. She couldn't come up with anything completely insane because they were all cancelled out with the fact that she was with him the entire night and knew he wasn't . . . well on medications or drinking anything that resembled Miriam's smoothies.

So she blamed it all on the fact that he was just crazy.

She felt her feet begin to move to the house. She climbed up the steps, and opened the door into her house. She didn't hear Big Bob yell at her, questioning her whereabouts. She didn't feel Olga's gripping hug, or her tears on her shirt. She didn't notice that Miriam was in the kitchen. None of it mattered.

She had received happiness from someone she never thought she would.

(A Week Later)

"Helga, I'm not sure I can apologize enough! I tried calling you but your father told me you had departed from the household and I was frightened for you and I'm not quite able to believe that I wasn't there for you when you truly needed me. How can I ever deserve your forgiveness?" Phoebe asked, her voice pleading for acceptance.

Helga laughed. "Forgiven."

"I mean it Helga, I'm so very . . . . Pardon?"

"I said 'You're forgiven.'"

Phoebe didn't seem to comprehend. "Helga, are you ill? How long were you out in the cold?"

She hugged the small girl. "Phoebs, honestly, it's fine. I had a nice time after I left the house. A great time." She let go and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a football shaped head moving towards her. She quickly pulled out a dollar bill. "Pheobe, would ya mind getting me a soda, and could ya take your time about it?" She handed Phoebe the dollar and pushed the confused girl off. Helga turned around once she was sure Phoebe was gone and faced Arnold for the first time since the kiss on the cheek.

He blushed slightly. "Hey."

She too maintained a blush. She had practiced this moment in the mirror a billion times over to prevent any blushing, but her long practice didn't help in the actual situation. "Hey."

"So . . . I uh . . . just came for the jacket."

"I know." She pulled it off the table next to her and handed it to him. "There you go."

"Uh, thanks."

"No problem."

They just stood there for a moment in an awkward silence. Helga broke it. "So uh . . . did the question keep you up?"

His blush deepened a little. "Yeah, it did. But I decided that I don't care."

Helga blinked, obviously perplexed. "You don't."

Arnold shook his head. "No, I don't. I figured it doesn't matter too much because whoever he is, he must not know you too well."

Helga was taken aback at this remark. "Why do you say that?"

"Because he doesn't see you the way I'm starting to see you. Helga, I li-"

"Here Helga, one soda, as you requested!" Phoebe's perky voice interrupted whatever it was that Arnold was going to say and Helga was slightly frustrated at that.

"Uh, thanks Phoebs. Arnold, what were you saying?"

Arnold looked at Phoebe and then at Helga. "Oh, um that I really liked your science project. I didn't get to tell you before break. It really should've been first place in the fair."

Helga frowned. She knew that wasn't what he was going to say and she couldn't push him into telling her. Not in school at least. Time to put on a game face. "Arnoldo, you freak. I could care less about what you or anyone else think about that stupid project. But what I do care about is why you think that you can just come up to me and start talking to me like we're friends or something! Did you lose your mind over break or what, Football Head?" Instead of waiting for an answer, she picked up here books and stormed off with Phoebe in tow.

Arnold sighed. Sure, he knew she was only doing it to keep hiding. Or at least, that's what made most sense. It was too bad that Helga was still just as much of a mystery now as she was before break. But at least she was a mystery he was going to enjoy solving.

We tried to keep them in character. Probably didn't work much. Oh well. Like it? Hate it? Review it.

Kisstriss and Kreepi Spicer