It has been ten years since Mr. Hyunh was reunited with his daughter. Arnold never knew of the truth of what or who was behind his very own Christmas miracle. Until now. The names of Mai's children are named after the voice actors of Mr. Hyunh and Mai. I'm sorry if I have Mr. Hyunh's first name wrong. I do not recall the show ever revealing what his first name was, so I just used the first name of his voice actor.
All is Bright
Arnold Shortman smiled as he looked around the room and smiled. Man, he loved this time of year. It was Christmas Eve and his grandparents were throwing a Christmas party and invited pretty much everyone they knew. Christmas hadn't been the only reason why they had decided to throw such an extravagant party. The next morning, Christmas, would mark the ten year anniversary of when Mr. Hyunh reunited with his long lost daughter, Mai. Still, at nineteen years old, that Christmas had been Arnold's absolute favorite Christmas. That night had been Arnold's very own Christmas miracle. He still didn't know how it happened.
Arnold's smiled broadened as he watched Mr. Hyunh with Mai and her two children. Her older child, a boy, named Baoan, named in honor of Mr. Hyunh and his sister Hiep were vying for their grandfather's affection. Mr. Hyunh was smiling as he fawned over his grandchildren. He looked truly happy and Arnold couldn't help feeling just a little bit of pride having some part in that.
The sound of laughter filled the room and Arnold turned towards the sound. He sucked in a small breath. Helga Pataki. He didn't think she was coming. Honestly, he never expected her to return to Hillwood. She was attending NYU because of it's stellar writing program. Arnold hadn't realized what a talented writer Helga was until high school and later found out that she had been the 'Anonymous' of all the poems and short stories that their English teachers had read out loud since fourth grade. It was extremely impressive. Helga had moved to New York exactly two days after graduation. He didn't blame her. It was no secret that Bob and Miriam weren't very good parent's to their younger daughter.
Helga was currently talking to Phoebe and his grandma. Arnold wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed earlier. She pretty much stuck out like a sore thumb. Since it was a Christmas party all the guests were wearing Christmas-y colors. There was a lot of reds and greens. Some wore black or dark purple, or dark blue. Not Helga though. No, she was wearing a light pink sweater dress over a white pair of leggings. The out fit kind of reminded him of that old pink dress she wore all the time back in the fourth grade. Of course now her body filled it out in a completely different way.
No one could deny Helga became quite the looker over the years. Her wavy blonde hair, her blue eyes, and her naturally pretty face would make most men weak. That paired with her perfectly curvy body made it hard even for him to act like a gentleman around her. Arnold's favorite feature of Helga's had to be her eyes. Honestly, they were kind of stunning. When she laughed, like she was laughing right now, they sparkled. Kind of like sapphires.
Those sapphire eyes locked with his as she noticed that he was looking at her. Her cheeks blushed to a light pink just slightly. She offered him a small smile and waved before returning her attention back to Phoebe and his grandma. He turned away from her, deciding that he wanted a cup of Mrs. Vitello's 'famous' hot chocolate.
"Hey there Football Head." Helga greeted Arnold as he just finished pouring himself a mug of hot chocolate.
"Hey Helga." Arnold greeted her with a smile. He held out the cup he just poured, offering it to her. "Hot chocolate? And really, still calling me Football Head?" He asked, not that he really minded.
"Sure. Thanks." Helga took the cup, taking a small sip as Arnold poured another cup. "Mmm...I always forget how good Mrs. Vitello's hot chocolate is." Her fingers brushed some hair behind her ear. "And yes, I'm still calling you Football Head." She smiled, "That's who you are. Embrace it. How have you been? How is school?"
"Good and good. I'm glad it's Christmas break though. Finals were a bear."
"Tell me about it." She laughed and it wasn't her usual sarcastic laughed that he grew accustomed to when they were growing up, her laugh was actually genuine and happy. "All that studying was totally worth it though. I aced all my exams." She beamed proudly. "How about you? How did you do?"
"You seem different." Arnold observed, ignoring her question.
"You've been talking to me for two minutes. How could you possibly think I've changed?"
"Your smile. It was always also so sarcastic and usually forced..." Arnold shuffled his feet nervously, "But now it's, I don't know...Real. You just seem really happy now."
Helga rolled her eyes, "I think you just caught me on a good day." She paused, "And you know, being away from Bob and Miriam months at a time does wonders for a girl's mood." She laughed again before biting down on her lip. "Look, Arnold, one of the reasons I decided to come back to Hillwood for Christmas this year was because I wanted to apologize to you."
"Apologize?" Arnold asked, furring his eyebrows in confusion. "For what?"
She raised one of her eyebrows, "Really? You have to ask? I was pretty horrible to you for years."
"You weren't that bad." Arnold assured her. She really wasn't. Sure, she teased him in high school, but it was more affectionate than anything else. Mostly, it kept him on her toes, "Though I don't miss the spitballs."
"Pfft." She scuffed. "I haven't spit any spitballs at you since we were eleven."
"Really though, you have nothing to apologize for." Arnold promised her, "You never did any real damage."
She looked unsure, but nodded, "Okay. Good. I just really needed to get that off my chest." She cleared her throat, "I'm hungry, so I'm going to grab some grub. I'll see you around? This is your grandparent's party. You should be mingling."
Arnold nodded, "Yeah, I'll see you around." He just stood there for a long moment, watching her walk away.
"Excuse me, kid." A man with a gruff voice pushed past him to the hot chocolate.
It took Arnold a few seconds to recognize the man, "Mr. Bailey!" Arnold grinned, "It's so nice to see you. Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas..." Mr. Bailey's voice trailed off. It was obvious he didn't have any idea who Arnold was.
"Arnold Shortman." Arnold reminded him, "I was the one who asked you to find Mai for Mr. Hyunh." He scratched the back of his neck. "I don't think I ever got to thank you properly. Thank you for locating Mai even though Gerald and I couldn't find those Nancy Spumoni boots."
"You're welcome." Mr. Bailey paused, "I wish I could tell ya that I found her out the kindness of my heart, but you really should be thanking that little friend of yours."
"Friend of mine?" Arnold asked, "You mean Gerald?"
"No. I don't remember her name, but it definitely wasn't Gerald." He shook his head, "Anyway, she gave me the snow boots and convinced me to find her, even though I had just closed up. She gave me this whole speech. This I remember, she told me if I didn't find Mai a certain Football Headed kid would never believe in miracles was annoying little thing. By the looks of it she was talking about you." He held up a cup of hot chocolate. "I gotta get this to my wife. Merry Christmas kid."
Arnold didn't acknowledge Mr. Bailey as he walked away. He was speechless. She told me if I didn't find Mai a certain Football Headed kid would never believe in miracles again. There was literally only one person in this world that he could be talking about.
Helga.
His heart was racing. Helga was his Christmas Angel.
He scanned the room. He had to find her. He turned only to feel a spitball land in the middle of his forehead. He saw Helga lower a straw, smile innocently, and then look around the room as if nothing happened. Wiping the spitball off his forehead, he marched right up to her. He didn't speak, he just looked at her.
She grinned, "Sorry Football Head, after you mentioned the spitballs I just had to see if I still had it and I do." She bragged, "I nailed you in the back of the head four times before you turned..." She paused. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Arnold didn't say a word. Instead, he cupped the back of her head and pulled her into a deep, consuming kiss. To his happy surprise she kissed him back. Slowly, he pulled away and looked into her confused, beautiful, questioning eyes.
"Arnold..." Using his actual name for the first time that night. "What..."
"Merry Christmas, Helga." He kissed her again. This time it was a closed mouth kiss that lasted longer than a simple peck. "Can we go some where talk?"
Wordlessly, Helga nodded.
Seven Years Later
"Thanks for coming! Merry Christmas!" Twenty five year old Arnold shut the door behind the last guests. He yawned, "I think we're getting old babe. It's eleven thirty and I'm exhausted." He sat down on the couch next to his wife. "I think everyone had a good time tonight though, don't you think?"
"They always do." Helga smiled, snuggling up next to her husband of two years. "As much as I like our Christmas Eve parties I'm glad it's just us and our parents on Christmas day." Around the time Helga turned twenty her relationship with her parents changed drastically. She even called them Mom and Dad now.
He smiled, "Me too." Neither of them mentioned his grandparents. Gertie passed away just a week after their wedding and Phil was gone with in the next month. He kissed the top of her head as he draped an around her, holding her close. "Happy anniversary Helga."
"We didn't officially start dating until January." Helga reminded him.
"But tonight is the seventh anniversary of when I realized you were my Christmas Angel. Not to mention the first time I kissed you. Besides I proposed to you four years ago tonight."
Helga rolled her eyes, "You really need to stop calling me your Christmas Angel."
"But you are my Christmas Angel. If it weren't for you I think I would have lost a lot of faith." He kissed her again as she rested her head on his shoulder, "I don't think I can ever thank you enough."
Helga cleared her throat, pulling away from him. "By the way, I think Santa left something in your stocking that he wants you to open tonight."
Arnold's face lit up in excitement. "Really?" Like a little kid, he jumped up and jogged to his stocking that hung on the fireplace mantel next to his wife's and blindly pulled out what ever was inside. It was small, folded up white piece of fabric. "What is this?" He unfolded it and the first thing he saw was the word, Daddy.
He blinked. It was a white onesie with the words I Love My Daddy.
He looked at a smiling Helga with tears in his eyes, "You're pregnant?" She nodded. He leaned down and kissed her, "You're sure?"
"I'm positive." Helga managed out between kisses. "My first appoint is the twenty sixth. We'll get to hear the heartbeat."
He placed his hands on stomach, searching for the tiniest of baby bump. "Well look at that...My Christmas Angel strikes again." Ignoring his wife's eye roll Arnold pulled her into another lingering kiss, knowing this would now be his new favorite Christmas.
End.
Woohoo! I'm actually posting this on Christmas! I did not think that was going to happen. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
I apologize for the lack of updates. I had some computer problems. First my WiFi went out and shortly after that was fixed my laptop crashed. It took my a little bit to find someone to look at it and uncomfortably it was unfix-able. I bought a new one last month and with all the holiday prep I just didn't have time to write. Hopefully I'll get an actual update up really soon.
Again, I hope everyone had an amazing holiday and if you enjoyed this one shot please make sure you review.