Hello everyone, this is my first Hey Arnold story, and it's about the notorious Bob Pataki. The man isn't about to get a Father of the Year Award, but I felt very compelled to write this.
Disclaimer: Don't own. Rated T for mentions of sex. That might be a bit much (with the rating), but I wanted to be safe.
Summary: Big Bob Pataki reflects on his youngest daughter, Helga, as well as past moments in his life. Told in third person POV. Please note: This takes place when Helga is about 22 years old, so obviously, way after the series ended.
It all started the day she was born. On March 26th (1) at St. Catherine's Hospital in Hillwood. His wife Miriam, blonde haired, sweaty and very heavily pregnant, arrived at the hospital with him, about ready to deliver their second (and final) child.
Then, at 10:20 PM, Miriam delivered a healthy, blonde haired, blue-eyed baby girl with a pair of lungs that could put any siren to shame. His first-born, Olga, just nine years old, was very delighted at the fact that she had a new baby sister, and the baby was named Helga. Helga Geraldine Pataki.
That was years ago. As Big Bob sat in his favorite green arm chair, watching the game, he wondered where all of the years had gone. It only seemed like yesterday when Helga was being brought home from the hospital.
Oh yes, he remembered that day all too well. Helga was a very loud baby, always making it well known when she disagreed with something, or just plain old didn't like it. He remembered that Olga wasn't too much of a crier, and was overall a very quiet child. But Helga? Helga was the exact opposite. Truth be told, Bob still got a headache even to this day, just from thinking about it.
When Helga was a little over a year, is when she first learned to walk. Another day that he remembered. He, Miriam and Olga were all sitting in the family room, having friendly conversation, and congratulating Olga on her newest achievement, of course.
And then, they heard babbling noises. The three of them stopped what they were doing to see little Helga, chubby arms stretched out to keep her balance, uni-brow furrowed in determination as she slowly, yet surely inched her way towards them on wobbly legs. Bob and Miriam could scarcely believe it. He ran to get the video camera, proudly announcing that he was planning to show it all his friends at work (a few of Bob's friends had kids of their own, about Helga's age. And they were still crawling.).
That was the last time Bob ever actually paid attention to Helga. By the time she entered pre-school, the girl was walking herself to school. He would have driven her, but he didn't. He never did.
He was just too busy with Olga. Bragging about Olga, fawning over Olga, showing Olga's trophy's and medals off. Boasting about how proud he was of Olga because she was a winner. Not surprisingly, this caused Helga to resent her older sister greatly, because she was always being compared to Olga, and how she should be more like her. Helga started to resent Olga, because Olga had what Helga did not, but secretly craved: her parents' unlimited love, recognition, and support. And while all this happened whenever Olga was home from college, Helga went about her life, not giving a damn about anything, and believing that her parents never really would notice her, or even understood her. To keep things peaceful, she managed to tolerate her sister, even put on (pretend) displays of affection. A simple hug, really. Helga never was one for overly affectionate sweet stuff, but it pleased her parents' just fine. In her opinion, they never knew the truth.
But Bob knew. Hell, he believed Miriam even knew it. But they never said anything.
Bob knew all too well Helga's feelings towards Olga. After all, when he was Helga's age (nine), he was just like her. However, he had an older brother, Howard (2).
Howard William Pataki was about eight years older than Bob, and just like Olga, he excelled at everything, thus gaining most of the attention from Bob's parents. Bob remembered that he felt a lot of resentment towards his older brother, just like Helga did towards Olga.
But it was Howard that pushed Bob to be the successful man he was today. Yes, Bob gave up on feeling jealous of Howard, so he took matters into his own hands. Studied harder, became more competitive. Eventually, he got his parents to be proud of him too. But most of all, Bob was proud of himself. He had finally gotten the recognition he wanted, all through hard work and determination.
He had seriously hoped that Helga would have gotten somewhat of a hint and did the same. Bob had high hopes for the Pataki's, claiming so often that Pataki's were winners. Pataki's were the cream of the crop, and everyone else were losers, suckers and saps. And Olga and Bob played the role of proud Pataki very well. Although, Olga was a little more accepting of others than her father was.
And maybe she had gotten the hint. Because there was another thing that Bob noticed the most about his youngest daughter. Olga may have taken after her mother, in beauty, brains and charm. But Helga? Helga was just like her father. Not even the fact that Helga looked the most like Bob, but it was because she reminded him of, well, him! Helga was just like Bob when he was nine years old. Gruff, bossy, and to the point with everything. They never let anybody push them around, and if anybody did, it was lights out (however, Helga seemed to be doing it more often than Bob ever did, punching students that it, which earned her more trips to the Principal's office, way more than Bob ever had.). Whenever that happened, Bob didn't know whether to proud of Helga or frustrated. He supposed it was a bit of both. Proud that although his youngest daughter was certainly no Olga, she could certainly stand her ground. Frustrated because he was getting quite tired of all of those phone calls come from the school. Eventually, it became so repetitive that whenever the school called, Bob would pick up the phone and in a very bored voice would say, "What did she do this time?" or "So tell me, Wartz, how hard did she hit this sucker?"
Bob later came to learn that the kid Helga was always punching, was some weird boy named Brainy. On her tenth phone call home that year (Bob had to greatly "persuade" (3) Wartz to let Helga continue with school), and when Helga got home from taking the bus, Helga told him who brainy was and why she had socked him in the kisser one too many times. And Bob had to admit, very honestly, if someone was standing behind him while he wanted to have a private moment alone, and that someone did not understand the concept of personal space, and was breathing down his neck, he probably would have socked them too.
When she turned 16, Helga started dating that weird kid with the football shaped head. What was his name? Arthur? Archibald? Oh, who cared? Bob never remembered the names of Helga's friends. He'd see them around from time to time, but he never actually got to know them.
And, he didn't mind Helga dating at 16. His eldest, Olga, was now happily married and had two kids of her own, with one on the way. Plus, it gave Helga something to do, other than be in her room all day. He just had one rule: no sex in the house, or as he put it, "Now listen here, Helga. I want no funny stuff going on in your room. You're too young for things that only adults can do." The word sex was never mentioned, but the statement was quite clear. And Bob made sure that Arnold was there when he said it. In fact, he was looking directly AT Arnold WHEN he said it, causing the football head to blush with embarrassment, and Helga to blush with anger.
And low and behold, when Helga was 17, the whole sex thing happened. Bob ended up letting Olga and Miriam handle it (Bob still chuckles slightly at the look of disgust on Helga's face when Olga pulled her into a bone crushing hug and sobbed, "Oh! My baby sister is finally growing up, and becoming a woman!" After struggling super hard to get out of her sister's grip, Helga made Olga swear that she would never bring this up to anyone.), and Miriam had Helga be put on birth control (after the long talk of STDs and pregnancy, all done by Olga, of course). Bob however, did NOT want to be a part of it. His youngest had sex. That was just fine, but he had no desire to hear about it.
Or even hear it, for that matter.
When she was 18, she got accepted into Santa de Luca University(3), in New York City, planning to major in English literature, with a minor in Art History. But, from watching Helga deal with people, Bob always thought that Helga would have made a great businesswoman. In fact, eventually Helga decided that Art history, while she enjoyed it, wasn't really her thing, and DID switch to minoring in business.
Now, Helga is 22 years old, and had grown taller. Her hair had gotten longer, and instead of her usual pigtails, she had it up in a high pony tail. Her unibrow was gone as well, for she had decided to have her eye brows waxed. What was once thick and bushy was now in two long, slender lines above her blue eyes.
Now, Big Bob Pataki, sits in Agatha Scott Hall, at Santa de Luca University, along with Miriam, Olga, and Helga's current fiancé, Arnold. Now, Big Bob Pataki watches with pride as his youngest daughter accepts her diploma, and graduates from the university.
Helga Pataki certainly was no Olga. It was true, she didn't really win any awards, and she certainly did not shine as bright as her sister. But it not matter anymore to Bob. She was simply Helga, and she was just like her father in every way imaginable. What was once a rough childhood had shaped Helga Pataki into the fiercely independent, strong willed woman she was today.
And Big Bob Pataki couldn't have been prouder.
Notes:
1) I'm planning to upload a second Hey Arnold Story, called Memoirs of Miriam. That fic will explain why I chose this date as Helga's birthday.
2) Another made up character that's just mentioned. I wanted to give Bob a reason why he is so competitive.
3) This university is not real. I simply made it up. New York City, however, DOES exist, but you guys already knew that.
This story was born from the relationship Helga had with her father, which, from time to time, wasn't an ideal father-daughter relationship. It's often seen that Big Bob obviously favors Olga over Helga, and often Bob can't even remember how old Helga is, and he rarely calls her Helga, instead calling her Olga or "The girl."
But, Bob truly does care about Helga. In the Halloween episode, Big Bob is actually quite upset and disturbed that he almost killed his own daughter, and in the Mighty Pete episode, when the bull-dozer was about to tear down the tree, Bob visibly protested against it, as his youngest daughter was up in said tree.
Also, many people have portrayed Bob as an abusive, cold-hearted father who didn't give a rat's ass about Helga. Now, my fellow fanfic authors can depict him in whatever way they want. I, however, wanted to depict him in a different light. Sure, he can be a real asshole at times, but I wanted to depict him as somebody who really did know what was going on in Helga's life, but decided to stay on the sidelines, simply because he really didn't know what else to do. I think he truly loved Helga, he just didn't really know how to relate to her.