A/N: Hey all. Well, Helga and Arnold are probably the first "ship" I fell in love with, long ago when I was young. I haven't written anything in a long time, but this idea, this story kind of just developed itself many months ago, and as I've struggled with changes in my own life, school, relationships, crazy friends, Helga has sort of kept me company. Haha. I hope some of you like this twisty-drama filled story; I wasn't going to post it till it was all finished, but I figure that might take a while since I keep jumping around all over the place with this story, so there's that. Enjoy.

DREAMS OF PHILIPPA

Chapter 1

By: EliNa

She glared at the piece of paper in front of her, and when it didn't burn under her glare, she sipped a bit more of her odd chocolate-milk-protein concoction, and glared at her mug instead. It was a disgusting pink thing with her face all over it. Who knew her "It Girl" days were just the beginning of a long career in a world she didn't understand. A world she didn't want to understand.

She wanted change. She couldn't do it anymore, the photo shoots, the interviews, being a person she didn't want to be. She was done with it.

She was determined to gain 20 pounds. She wasn't going to be a role model for young girls; at least not in a body she hated and resented.

"Ugh! This bites!" She yelled loudly, and her dog, her lovely golden retriever, replied by barking at her.

"Oh, shut up Riley" She groaned. She hated all animals. They were annoying, they needed to be fed, they wanted exercise and play; they pooped. They were just like children. She'd only ended up with Riley when her ex boyfriend had wanted him back. There was no way that was going to happen. Lorenzo could definitely bite her is the a...

The 3 year old whined and nudged her. "Hold on a moment, she replied, already searching for her running shoes. "You're totally going to be the death of me, I hope you know that!" He probably didn't. It was early. Her hair was a frizzy mess, her t-shirt and sweats combo would definitely give her whole agency a heart attack. Good.

She was getting his blue leash when her phone began to ring. A loud annoying tune coming out of her iPhone.

Miriam.

Helga, the young, beautiful model groaned and turned to the golden retriever already at the door. "Let's go, pup"

Miriam had stopped being her guardian a long time ago, as for being a mother? Maybe she'd never really been that.

'Bitter much?' The voice inside of her tried to nag at her, as she opened the door and felt the cool air on her face.

"Absolutely" She mumbled to herself. She was successful, she was bright, she was beautiful, she had everything, and at the same time, she had nothing. she knew that. She could spend an eternity letting it get to her, or she could get over it. She was still deciding on which road to take on that one.

2 months later

Standing in the rain now, holding her pink umbrella, and wearing a black dress that was perfect after her 10 pound weight gain, she knew she must look a lot better than she had when she was too busy and stressed for a decent meal. Still, she felt totally disgusted with herself as she stared at the headstone.

She had been wrong not to pick up the call.

Phoebe was waiting for her in the car, eager and ready to fill Helga in on all that had happened since she'd left, but did Helga really want to know? No. Hillwood, The old neighborhood, it was too much for her.

There were too many memories. Her father's company had crumbled in this city. Her mother had betrayed her in this city. Helga had become famous here first, but before all of that...there had been a boy, with the cornbread hair...

"Helga, are you okay?" The soft, sweet voice could only belong to Phoebe. The blond turned around, to see her short best friend. Phoebe was wearing jeans, and a plain shirt...and she looked like, well, like a mom. Helga couldn't help but resent her for it.

"Of course Phoebe!" Her confident voice, her cheery, fake voice. She wanted it to be real though, and Phoebe knew it, and her best friend let it be.

"Helga, would you like to go have lunch with me? I know you have a lot of things to do, but I thought we could..."

How long had it been? Helga knew she was getting older, definitely not wiser, but how long had it really been? She and Phoebe talked a lot, thanks to the internet, social network, the telephone. Helga, being the selfish twat that she was, always talked about herself, her problems, her mistakes. Looking at Phoebe now, hearing her go on and on about the pros of having lunch with her, Helga's guilt increased.

"Of course Phoebe, wherever you want...I guess I don't really know this place anymore" 7 years. It had been 7 years.

"Wonderful" Phoebe cheered, and helped Helga to the car. This was wrong, the mother of 2 knew it. It was wrong to conspire, and plot, and hope that she could get Helga G. Pataki and Arnold in the same room, but she had learned it from the taller girl, so really, she couldn't be blamed.

"Phoebe Heyerdahl!" Helga stopped walking as she saw the best friend with an odd smile on her face. "What is with the evil little grin?"

Phoebe stopped as well, seemingly nervous. "Uh... Helga, It's Phoebe Johanssen now." She replied, and walked on, leaving a puzzled blond to follow.

"Right...right..."

"Arnold, come on!" Gerald was close to pulling out his own hair. This was driving him crazy. It was one thing when he and Phoebe had started dating in high school, and how they'd both wanted Arnold and Helga to just admit that they both had feelings for each other, and then they could finally 'double date', though that was more on Phoebe, but this, this was ridiculous. They were all nearing their 30's now, and he no longer wanted to go out with friends and his girl, what he wanted now was some peace and quiet with his wife, and the occasional family night out with the kids.

"Gerald, man, you know I'd love to take you up on the lunch offer, but I honestly can't. I have two potential boarders coming today, and...I just don't have time. I'm sorry. Rain check?"

"At what time? I mean we could fit it in, how long could it possibly take...?"

Arnold looked up, surprised at Gerald's obvious insistence. The blond man raised an eyebrow, completely stopping his food preparations.

"Okay, what is going on?"
At the blunt question, the taller man had the decency to blush. Phoebe really owed him one.

"Hey man, I just thought you might need a break from your crazy life"

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm doing fine, and I also promised Miles we'd go see a movie after my meeting"

Oh, right. Yeah, that made sense. Not for the first time, Gerald wondered why his wife had this power over him, the one that made him do whatever she asked.

"I mean, what about you? Why don't you bring Phoebe and the twins? It'll be a family thing" Arnold proposed, going back to chopping up carrots and celery, and the moment was so familiar, that Gerald let his guard down.

"I don't know man, Pheebs was hoping she could get you and Helg…" He caught himself, but it was too late. Arnold stopped chopping again, and his gaze held an almost murderous glare. With the knife still in his hand, Gerald didn't exactly feel safe.

"Helga?! You were seriously tricking me into seeing HELGA?!"

Well, when he put it that way…

"Man, come on" His hands were up, clearly hoping to calm his best friend with a 'please don't hurt me' stance. "It's Phoebe. She asked me to ask you to lunch"

"Gerald! This isn't high school, I don't need you two meddling in my life like this- especially with Helga Pataki- does she even know?"

Of course she didn't. Deep down, Arnold almost wished Helga did know, and approved, but he knew the blond, beautiful woman hated him- and maybe he hated her right back.

"Look Arnold, I'm sorry OK? I'll talk to Phoebe, I know you don't want old history coming back and …"

Old history? Is that what Helga was to him? He hadn't seen her in what? 7, 8 years?

It could have been long enough for him to forget her, to call their story 'old history', but maybe he still dreamed about her every now and again, her silly teasing in Elementary School, the cheesy dances in Middle School, the passion, the drama, the hurt of High School, and so, she never seemed so far away. Maybe.

"Uncle G!"

The two men looked up. In the doorway stood a very blond, very happy 6 year old boy, still in his blue PJ's.

"Hey little man!" Gerald greeted as the little boy ran up to him, jumping into the man's arms. The boy was so much his father's son.

"Woah! You get bigger and bigger every time I see you Miles!"

The boy giggled at the grown-up.

"Of course Uncle G, I'm a growing boy!"

"Well then, the real question is, are you just as ticklish as the last time I saw you?"
Arnold smiled, as he saw his best friend tickle his son, making squeals and more giggles emerge from the kid.

Yeah, this was his present. His son. Miles. The boy was his whole heart.
Helga G Pataki, and old memories couldn't compete. Which is why he didn't understand why he was still wondering when she'd gotten in to town, and when she would leave…

"I am NOT staying Pheebs" She wasn't yelling, but anyone could tell that the blond ex-model was not happy. She ignored the look on her best friend's face and grabbed her water, drinking and looking away. For all of Phoebe's comments on how the town had changed, Helga still saw it the same. It was a hole of darkness. It was pure evil.

"I'm not asking you to. I'm just saying, if you need more time to get everything settled, and don't want to stay in your old home, you are welcome to stay with me"
She almost didn't dare, but since Gerald hadn't come through, she had to comment.
"or the Sunset Arms boarding house…"

"Oh, don't you go there!" Helga stuffed a piece of chicken into her mouth, noticing people looking over. Gawking. Screw them.
Phoebe chose to remain silent, knowing Helga would open up as soon as she swallowed. The woman wasn't always predictable, but when it came to Arnold, when it came to that old song, Helga was always dying to talk about it, no matter how much she insisted on the exact opposite.

"I would rather sleep in the streets. No, phoebe"
She raised a hand when she saw Phoebe opening her mouth to object.

"Don't okay? I came to deal with Miriam's will, and I have, so as soon as this lunch is over, we'll be saying our goodbyes."

Well, when she said it that way…

Phoebe, the 6 month old pregnant principal, smiled.

"Well in that case, we definitely need to get dessert"

The blond let a smile grace her lips. Good old phoebe. Always and forever her best friend.

"Are you okay Helga?"

The 17 year old looked at Pheobe and shook her head, 'no'. She hadn't wanted to seem weak or vulnerable, but there was something about Pheobe's voice that allowed her to break down.

"You're human Helga...It's okay to be afraid" the short girl took Helga's hand, knowing that it would only help. The blond girl squeezed, and began to wheeze.

"I...I'm sorry..."

"Don't be sorry Helga. It's okay. It's okay to be afraid, It's okay..."

Dessert didn't go as planned. Phoebe kept trying to bring up old memories, Helga kept dodging. Phoebe didn't give up, but she did start talking about other things. The school wanted to make the library bigger.
They were hoping to have a reading group for the kids. Gerald was the new coach at Hillwood High School. Rhonda and Harold were recently engaged. The Market place was expanding. They'd opened up new stores. Ludwig was the proud owner of a Flower shop…

"Wait, What?" she'd only been half listening, but having her ex boyfriend's name brought up definitely caught her attention.

"Ludwig is here? In town?!"

"Uh, yes. For about 5 months now…" Phoebe knew Helga quite well, they'd been best friends for a long time, the look of complete shock she wore now was not one Phoebe was really familiar with.

"You…didn't know?"

Helga's unibrow, the one that had made her an instantly famous model, scrunched up, and she had a vague memory of Arnold telling her he loved the look- She quickly buried it the memory.

She and Ludwig had met up in the Dominican Republic of all places, he'd been volunteering to help build new schools in Haiti, she'd been shooting a commercial for a new tourist resort in the Dominican Republic. They'd both been drowning their sorrows away at a club one night and sparks had just…been there.

They'd been in an on and off again relationship for years before they agreed it wasn't going to work out- ever. They'd instead become best friends.
They hadn't seen each other in almost two months but they'd talked over the phone 3 days ago, surely him moving back home 5 month ago and opening a flower shop should have come up? Surely…

"No. I didn't know. Look Phoebe, I appreciate everything, really. I love you, but I should be on my way."

The pregnant mother of two quickly stood up, following Helga's lead. The taller woman put some money on the table and started leaving. No hug, no proper goodbye, and Phoebe knew immediately that something was wrong.

"Helga, Helga!"

She could hear her best friend following after her, but Helga had no plans to stop. She couldn't believe it! How could Ludwig just shut her out like that? After Arnold, and the heart break, and after Lorenzo and his stupid way of shutting her out, Ludwig was the man she'd fallen for, the man that made her smile, the man she had almost loved, and right now, she felt betrayed. Again.

"Helga, can you please stop for a second?" Right as Helga was crossing the street, Phoebe caught up with her, grabbed her arm, and Helga was suddenly furious. It wasn't fair! Ludwig was supposed to be her rock, he wasn't supposed to lie to her!

"Let go!" She yelled, pulling away, temporarily forgetting that this was the woman that had always been there for her, forgetting that Phoebe was pregnant, forgetting that they were in the middle of the street, and that cars had not stopped moving for them… and, and it was a blur. A horrible blur, and she couldn't speak. She couldn't speak at all, but she must have been able to, because she heard her own voice, and it was a hideous, sound, the one she'd only heard once before, a long time ago, and she was screaming for help when she saw the impact of a yellow taxi hitting the small pregnant woman.

"Phoebe!"

To be Continued...

A/N: The original Ch. 1 was too long, I thought, and so I split in two. This seemed like a good place to stop since the next scene includes Helga, Arnold and Gerald.

Happy Days!