Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Hey Arnold

Prologue

"I'm telling you, it wasn't me."

"Well it had to be someone, it's not like it just got up and walked right out of the kitchen!"

"Well maybe you misplaced it..."

"I wouldn't misplace my freakin' cellphone, Arnoldo! I always keep it in the same spot every night!" Helga G. Pataki slammed the door to her apartment shut, before her long time boyfriend, Arnold Shortman, opened the door and proceeded into the place behind her, showing a rare look of impatience all over his face.

"What would I even do with your cellphone, Helga?"

"I dunno, you tell me," the blonde furiously rummaged through the drawers in her room. "Damn it, you know I'm waiting on a call from that publishing company!" She slammed the last drawer shut and let out a frustrated groan. "Why do you always pull the dumbest crap at the most inopportune times?!"

"Look, you had it last," Arnold reminded her.

"No, I told you to hold it last night remember?" Helga was facing him now. "After class I had to go back to ask Professor Williams about my grade, I left you with my bag that had my damn phone in it!"

"And I gave it back to you right when you came back."

"Doi!" Helga was now under the bed. "But you told me you heard it ring and you picked it up, what did you do with it after that?"

"I put it back in the bag."

"No you didn't, Football Head!"

Arnold bit back a swear and clenched his fist tightly. Normally petty arguments like this didn't get him so riled up, heck serious arguments hardly made him this angry, but today had been an especially bad day for him. First, he missed his first class and subsequently missed an important test, meaning he lost big points on his final grade. Then he dropped his expensive laptop that he recently bought, and it was now currently spilt in half. And to top it all off, his long time girlfriend had screamed her head off at him in the morning about him forgetting to fill the car up with gas, something she was supposed to do yesterday.

"Tch, you are so freaking unreliable sometimes," Helga muttered just loud enough for him to hear. "I ask you to do one simple thing, and you manage to screw that up. You can't fill up the car when you're supposed to, you can't hold onto a phone, you can't pay attention to me-"

"Oh here we go again." Arnold rolled his eyes. This was around the time when their arguments always shifted into the real issues. "I don't wanna hear this now."

"Well you wouldn't have to if you weren't ignoring me so goddamn much," Helga spat. "I mean, crimeny, I thought I was supposed to be your girlfriend. Yet you can't even spare two seconds out of your day for me."

"Me? You're the one that's always busy," Arnold accused. "It's either 'I've got to finish this chapter' or 'Go find something to do, I'm working here' or 'I'm tired, just go play with yourself'. I mean, it's like you don't even want to try anymore."

"Bah, don't try to come off as the good guy," Helga folded her arms over her chest. "You haven't even looked at me in weeks, much less initiate anything intimate. What's the problem Football Head? Am I not good enough to please you anymore?"

"You know it's got nothing to do with that."

Helga narrowed her eyes at him, before scoffing upon realization. "Crimeny, not this shit again."

"You're the one that brought it up."

"Well I already told you it's not gonna happen," Helga spat at him. "No matter what you say or do, or in this case don't do, it's not gonna change my mind. I don't want kids, Arnold."

Arnold bit his lip at her last sentence, this was the real source of their arguments. Before the subject of kids came up in their nine-year relationship, the two hardly ever fought over anything, and when they did they were quick to make up. But as their relationship grew more serious, Arnold began thinking about their future and the possibility of the two of them raising a family someday. That's when everything went wrong.

"I don't get it," he grumbled, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. "You're saying you won't even consider it in the future?"

"No! This isn't up for negotiation, Football Head!" Helga hollered. "I don't care what you say, I'm not changing my mind!"

"But Helga-"

"No buts!" Helga spat. "You see what my parents are like, that's probably gonna be me one of these days. I'll either end up a blowhard idiot or a stinkin' drunk that can't form a coherent sentence, I'm not putting a child through what I went through. It's bad enough that you're going to have to deal with me."

"Helga, I've already told you, you're nothing like your parents," Arnold told her running a hand along her cheek. "Maybe someday you'll change your mind, maybe in a few years-"

"No," Helga took his arms off her. "Just...no Arnold, it's never gonna happen. I can't compromise on this, not even for you."

"Even if we get married?"

Helga fought the urge to swoon at the idea of her getting married to him and settled for quietly shaking her head. Arnold angrily growled and pushed past Helga, storming out of the apartment with a loud slam to the door.

"Fuck..." Helga sighed in defeat, covering her face with her hands.

She hated this. After years of pining after the boy she'd love since she was a toddler, after years and years of happiness and joy between the two, it just seemed that now everything had completely gone wrong. She knew this would happen, she knew she was bad for Arnold. The past nine years may have felt like a dream to her, but she was certain that they were nightmarish to him. She tried her best to be a good girlfriend, she tried being nice and thoughtful and caring, but she just couldn't fight through her evil nature. At the end of the day, she was still that same bully from P.S. 118 that used to make everyone she came across miserable, even Arnold.

"What's the big deal about having kids anyway?" she grumbled to herself. "I mean, we don't have to have them in order to be happy together. At least I don't, all I need is him."

But that wasn't enough for him apparently, he wanted that 'normal' family life that he never got to have as a child. And who could blame him? The guy deserved it. He deserved all the happiness in the world, more than she should ever give him no matter how hard she tried.

Helga sighed again and stood up, heading toward her room and opening her closet. In side was not a bunch of clothes, shoes or any other things she liked to pack in there, the only things in there were Arnold's clothes and two suitcases. Helga held back a few tears and grabbed the suitcases, pulling them into the living room. She then picked up the key to the apartment as well as a thick envelope and placed it on the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry," she muttered to herself before heading out the door. "I love you Arnold, but I can't make you happy."

And with that she was gone.

Arnold somberly stared down at the drink in his hand before downing the entire thing in one gulp. "Christ man," his best friend, Gerald Johanssen, told him. "You and Helga had another fight?"

"Yeah, over a stupid cellphone," Arnold sighed. "I just don't understand it." The two paid for their drinks before heading out of the bar and down the street.

"Mm mm mm," Gerald shook his head. "You two have been going at it like crazy. Seriously man, I've never seen you down so many drinks so angrily."

"I'm just so frustrated," Arnold admitted before falling quiet for a second. "We started talking about kids again."

"Arnold-"

"It's not like I want them now, I'm still in college after all," Arnold told him. "But someday, I'd really like to start a family with her. I really love her, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her, Gerald."

Gerald shook his head again. "I'm guessing Pataki still isn't budging on that one?" Arnold's defeated sigh answered the dark skinned man's questions. The two walked in silence for a while before eventually arriving back at Arnold's apartment.

"I should just apologize," he told Gerald as he stuck the key in the knob. "Maybe one day she'll change her mind, but I really don't want to fight over this anymore."

Arnold pushed open the door and cautiously walked inside the dark apartment. "Helga?" he called out. "Are you still here?" He got no answer and decided to turn on the lights. "Hm, the car is still parked outside."

"Maybe she's asleep?" Gerald offered.

Arnold's eyes darted around the room before they locked onto the kitchen table where he noticed something there. His eyes widened when he saw Helga's key as well as a envelope there, opening it he found a large sum of money within the envelope. "It's over $1800," Arnold said. "This is her yearly half of the rent..."

Gerald immediately knew what was going on and he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry Arnold."

Arnold was completely shocked, he put his hands on the table in an effort to keep himself upright. "Damn it," he said before throwing the envelop across the kitchen. "Damn it!"

The envelope smacked right into the small trash can, knocking it over on the kitchen floor. "Hn?" Something fell out of the trash can that caught Gerald's eye, he pushed past his angry friend and picked up the object, his face immediately twisting in shock.

"Arnold," he said quietly. "You might want to see this."

"What is it Gerald?" Arnold snapped, not looking in his direction.

"It's a pregnancy test," Gerald told him holding it in front of Arnold's face. "Take a look at the result." Very soon, Arnold's angry face twisted just like Gerald's had a few minutes ago.

"No way," he said just above a whisper. "I-It's positive."

A/N: First Hey Arnold story, one of my favorite shows of all time. So yeah this first chapter was short, but it's a prologue so whatever. Anyway, I'm excited to finally be entering the H/A fandom. So until next time.

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