Becoming Olga

Summary: Life is a precarious wheel. Where one person ends, another begins. For Rebecca, her end is just the beginning of Olga's life.

AN: The universe and characters of Hey Arnold belong to the wonderful and talented Craig Bartlett. I do not own them. All I own is this story premise and the changes that I make within my story.

This is an Alternate Universe. HxA, Ox?, and etc.

Chapter One

The warm morning light streamed into my classroom, and my little kindergardeners quietly read in their respective corners. I let out a relieved sigh, it had been a rather rough morning. This new term was running me ragged, but seeing their cute happy faces was well worth it. For the most part anyways. They were all behaving right now, which meant I could take a little break.

I sat down and stared at the large cupcake on my desk. One of my new colleagues had remembered that it was my 30th birthday today, and had gotten me one of those big birthday cupcakes with a lone candle on it from the Rolling Scones Bakery. While the kids were doing their quiet reading time, I snuck out and Skype called my family. They were all in Mexico while I was up here teaching in Canada. I could aptly feel the distance whenever a birthday or holiday passed by, so I always called them.

I grinned and saw their happy faces as the call went through. They all started singing happy birthday to me, as the connection stabilized. I memorized my mom's warm smile and dad's rough laugh. My four younger brothers sang off key, and my baby sister belted out her version of happy birthday. I happily hummed along, and blew out my candle. After that, they all talked in fast paced Spanish over one another, and I delighted in hearing their voices. I shook my head and chuckled when my mom asked when I would get married. I shrugged and bit into my cupcake. I still had time. Besides, 30 was the new 20, wasn't it? I swallowed the large chunk that I bit into. I suddenly felt off. The world started blurring and I let out an alarmed squeak. Was there peanuts in this?

My lungs burned as my throat started closing. I could hear my family's panicked cries as I fell onto my knees. My phone clattered out of my hands, and my birthday cupcake spattered onto the floor. I didn't have my epipen with me. I had foolishly left it in my purse. I looked around wildly as the world started blurring away. I had gone into a seldom used corner away from my classroom to get some privacy, but it seemed like that had spelt my doom. Darkness closed around me as my lungs burned, and my skin swelled. This was a sucky way to die. God damn it.

opopopopopopopo

When I woke up, I choked out water and saw a bright sun and a clear cloudless sky. I turned and felt myself slick with water dripping off of me. When I turned onto my side, I felt the hot cement and looked around. Why were all these strangers around me? Why was I wet? How did I get here? Wasn't- wasn't I dead? Why was I at a pool? What the fuck is going on?

I looked down and found that I was in a swim suit. I was much paler and smaller than I had been before. I swallowed down a scream. This was just as well since a couple of paramedics soon took me away on a stretcher. A couple followed after me. The woman with golden blonde hair, pale skin, and a haggard look shot me worried looks. I caught a glance of her frame and saw that she was obviously pregnant. The guy that was holding her shoulders as they walked towards me, had dark brown hair with streaks of gray and looked big. Why were they following me? I didn't know them. The words that the paramedics were saying washed over me. I didn't quite understand anything that was going on. They kept calling me Olga Pataki. The couple that had been following me were apparently my parents. All this was wrong though. I wasn't Olga Pataki. I was Rebecca Robertson. My parents weren't these worn out looking people. My parents were vibrant and proud Mexicans. Janice and Micheal Robertson. What the hell was going on?

They brought me to a small looking hospital and I found that the sights that I saw outside of the back of the ambulance's windows were off. None of this looked like Canada. There weren't as many trees and the buildings all looked different. Where was I?

The small hospital had a big sign that said that it was called Drymon Hillwood Clinical Hospital. They couldn't possibly mean Hillwood, Washington, could they? How the hell did I get here? Wasn't I in Vancouver, the last time I checked?

The doctor that was assigned to me told me that I had been in a swimming competition when I had accidentally bashed my head on the side of the pool while I had been turning. He said that I had been lucky that I hadn't drowned to death since no one had noticed right away. Mrs. Pataki burst into tears at that deceleration. Mr. Pataki glared holes at the doctor while he ushered his wife out of the room. I doubt that stress would be good for her pregnancy.

I quietly sat upright in my hospital bed and stared at my now white hands. They were so small. Was I child. My body certainly looked like it when I was changing into a hospital gown in the bathroom. I looked nothing like myself. I was pale, slim, and blonde. My blue eyes were the same, but I wasn't tan, buxom, and I didn't have my dark black hair any more. Was I reincarnated? Because I sure as hell wasn't in my original body. Was I in a crazy dream?

The doctor cleared his throat, "Miss. Pataki?"

I looked up and shot him a sheepish look, "I'm sorry. What was that?"

He sighed, "Since you're just a 10 year old child, you can't decided if you want to stay here. I'd have to ask your parents, but it's my recommendation that you do stay here for a little bit. Your hippocampus is swollen which might mean that you may have slight memory loss from that collision into the wall. Do you understand?"

I slowly absorbed the fact that this man just called me a 10 year old child. Fuck. That was messed up. It did explain why I had mosquito bites for boobs though. I nodded, "Can you test me to see if...if I'm okay? You know, in the head?" Was this all a delusion?

He smiled, "Sure, sweetie. Do you know what the date is?"

I looked around and then back at the doctor when I noticed there wasn't a single digital clock or calendar in the vicinity. In fact, everything look oddly old. Most hospitals were technologically updated, but that old TV in the corner looked like it belonged in the 80s. I shrugged, "I dunno."

He frowned and noted that down in my hospital file, "It's March 24th 1985. Do you know your name?"

My heart thudded away and I swear I felt like it would burst out of my chest. I went back in time. Is that how reincarnations worked? If I were to go to Mexico in a year, would I see my original body as a newborn baby? I felt muddled and just a little hysterical. I bit my tongue. I wanted to say Rebecca Robertson, but now I wasn't too sure. I let out a breath and meekly stated, "Olga Pataki?"

He grinned and nodded, "That's right. Can you say Peter picked a picked pepper for me?"

I quirked my brow and frowned, but repeated the phrase back at him, "Peter picked a picked pepper."

He looked relieved and jotted it down. His strange line of questioning continued on and he tested my range of motion after a little while. After all these questions and tests he deemed that I would be alright for now.

He smiled at me as I tucked myself into my hospital blankets, "I'm going to bring your parents back after I have a little talk with them, okay? If you need anything, just press that red button beside you. That'll call up a nurse to help you."

I silently nodded. When I had first spoken I had been surprised, but all this was slowly sinking in. I must've died, because you surely can't feel pain in a delusion, can you? Otherwise, this was all some terrible dream. I would have to call my actual parents to see if they were alive in this world, if this wasn't all some sort of nightmare. I wondered if I was in a parallel dimension. If time travel and reincarnation was real, then at this point I believed anything was possible. Was there magic in this world? So many questions swirled around my head.

I sighed and picked up a nearby book. My 'mother' had left it for me. I idly wondered if Olga liked to read as much as I did. I speedily read through the first chapter. I recalled every single word. Huh. Did this chick have an eidetic memory? I would have to test that later on. I tucked that thought away.

I heard the door open to my room and found myself looking on at Olga's parents...my parents now I supposed. Would they be as kind as my original parents? I would know soon enough.

Mr. Pataki sat silently on one of the chairs across from my bed. Mrs. Pataki took a seat beside my bed and held my hand. She shot me a watery smile, "Do you remember me, honey?" I wanted to tell her the truth, but I glanced down at her belly and worry washed over me. What if I did say that I didn't and she miscarried because of the stress. That could happen right? Or was that just in soap operas? I bit my inner cheek. To tell the truth or not to? This woman looked strangely familiar though, reincarnation aside. Her blue eyes, glasses and hair, rang through my head and I couldn't pinpoint where, but I did know this woman.

I shot her a wary smile and decided to go for it, "Of course I do, mommy." Kids still called their parents mommy and daddy, right? My baby sister from my original life did that and she was 10.

Mr. Pataki let out a loud sigh of relief, "See. I told you Miriam. That doctor is a quack. Our girl doesn't need any time in this place. She's fit as a fiddle. She can get back into the swing of winning more awards and trophies."

I inwardly made a face. I wouldn't be participating in any competitions of those sorts thank you. I wasn't all that competitive, and I personally didn't see why I had to be. I voiced my displeasure promptly, "I don't want to compete any more, daddy."

I felt Miriam pull me into a hug. Her shoulders were no longer tense as she firmly added, "Bob, it'd be safer if she didn't. We almost lost her today." She smelt of sherry. Didn't she know that drinking was bad while you were pregnant? I frowned inwardly.

Bob looked at me and sighed. His expression did soften as he got up and walked over to us. He sat down onto the bed and frowned, "Fine. No more out of school competitions. Wouldn't want our princess to mess around with those plebeians, anyways." He sounded serious when he said plebeians.

I tucked those comments away. It seemed that Bob was really competitive and kind of mean. I would have to figure out how to navigate this life, but for now I would just enjoy the hug Miriam was giving me. I felt, what I assumed would be, my little sibling kick against me. I glanced down at Miriam's bulging belly. I would protect that kid since these people didn't seem like the right sort of parents. Well, I would try to at least...as long as I wasn't stuck in a coma dreaming all of this somewhere and this all turned out to be real that is. I was still on the fence about that.

I settled into my bed while my 'parents' left to go convince a doctor to discharge me. I stared at my hands and wiggled my fingers. They were piano fingers, slim, long and hairless. Mine had originally been small, not as slim, and kind of hairy. I hummed and flinched when I heard my own voice. I pulled at my chin length blonde hair and grimaced. This was all too surreal. I missed my long black hair. I closed my eyes and pushed down the tears that threatened to pour out of me.

I heard the door creak open and glanced at the source of the noise. A disgruntled looking doctor shuffled in with Bob pushing behind him. Miriam waddled behind all of them, and I couldn't help, but shoot her a soft smile. A smile that she warmly returned.

Bob grunted and stared down at the doctor, "Well, doc. My little girl is perfect, as usual. Let her out of this joint."

The doctor shot Bob a dirty look, "I personally think your daughter needs more time to recuperate..."

Bob interrupted the doctor, "Well then, she can just take a load off at home. Wouldn't being in a familiar place be better any ways, doc?" Bob smirked at the doctor and I didn't think that they'd get along at all. I idly wondered what the doctor's name was. I think it might've been Dr. Stieglitz, but I didn't get a good enough look at his name tag when he was talking to me.

The doctor let out an indignant huff and scribbled on some papers, mumbling under his breath all the while. Miriam sighed quietly and waddled over to my bedside. She sat her seat down and made my bed creak just a little. I felt her hands smooth down my hair rhythmically.

Bob smirked while the doctor shoved some sheets of papers, probably discharge papers, into his awaiting hands. He shot me an apologetic look before he hurried out of the room. Yeah, I could see that Bob was a bit of a bully so far. I hoped that facet of his personality didn't leak into how he treated his family though.

Bob shot me a blithe look and gathered up the small bag of things that lay on a nearby chair, "You're free now, princess. Out of this joint. Come on Miriam. Get our little lady dressed so we can blow this pop stand. I'm going to get the car and wait in front of this hospital." With that, Bob ambled over, gave me a kiss on the head, and caressed Miriam's face before heading out of my room. I hadn't expected that and I pondered on whether I had misjudged him.

Miriam sighed and stared at the door after Bob had gently closed it. She turned back to me and pulled on a tired smile, "Alright, my love. Your dad's in a good mood so you should get dressed quickly, okay?" She kissed my cheek and gave me a tight squeeze. I felt her murmur against my hair, "I brought your favorite green pinafore dress and that shirt that you like." When she pulled away, I could see that her smile was strained. Was she in a happy marriage? Or was she just sticking around for us?

She pulled out the aforementioned pieces of clothing and I pulled on a weak grin, "Thanks, mummy." I took the clothing as she nodded and proceeded to waddle away. When I heard the door close behind her, I was desperate to scream, but I pulled that urge down. It wasn't time to have a break down. Not here.

I pulled on the shirt and the dress that she gave me. It was a deep emerald green, one of my favorite colors, so that gave me a modicum of comfort amongst all this damn confusion. I slipped on flats that I had found under my bed and I stood up. I took in a deep breath and calmed my thudding heart. You're okay Rebecca. If this is all just some dream, you'll wake up and see your family again. Everything's okay.

I shook my arms out and caught my reflection against the window in my hospital room. I flinched. I bit my lower lip and whipped away from the window. I- I just couldn't look. I marched out of the room as quickly and quietly as I could. I found Miriam waiting outside of my room in a faded plush chair. When I looked up around the hallway, I internally shivered. It reminded me of those old hospital hallways in those video games. This just made me want to leave this place even faster, dream or no dream.