A/N: We've all been so harsh on Arnold lately, so I'm flipping the coin J One shot.
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"Daddy?"
"Bed, now," he said, pointing up the stairs.
"Where's mommy?" his daughter asked.
"Still at work," he said, sighing. Helga was always at work. It had gotten worse in the past six months. He pulled out his phone, and dialled her number. Again. This was starting to get ridiculous.
"Hey, Arnold, I'm on my way now!" her voice called out. She sounded like she had been running.
"Do you know how late it is?" he demanded.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I got caught up in a meeting and -"
"Just get home. Sophia's looking for you. She wont go to bed til she sees you," he told her.
"Okay, I'm getting in the car now," she told him, then hung up.
Arnold sighed in frustration and anger. He looked over at the envelope, hating what he had seen inside it. He had expected a lot of things, but that Helga would cheat on him was not one of them.
This was a girl who at nine years old confessed her love for him, who never had a boyfriend other than him. He wondered briefly if it were the seven year itch.
He also wondered if he would confront her about the pictures today, or leave it for tomorrow.
Who was he kidding. As if she would be home when he woke up. He sat down, tapping his fingers on the envelope. What hurt more was the dates. They had been taken during a family holiday he had planned for them and the kids. They just didn't seem to spend enough time together.
Helga was always working. The kids had school, and Arnold was working. And then at the end of the day, after getting the kids fed, bathed and to bed, both him and Helga were too exhausted to do much more than blob on the couch. So he had planned the holiday in secret.
Helga had been excited about the trip, though her boss wasn't. so on the second day when Arnold caught her on the phone having an argument with her boss, he had taken her phone from her and broken it, which led to a row between the two of them, that ended with Helga declaring she had to go back.
And she'd left. Family holiday over.
That was two months ago.
Then today he had come home to find an elegantly dressed woman sitting in her expensive car outside the house. He had smiled at her as he walked past, then greeted her as she got out of her car.
"Can I help you?" he asked. The woman looked angry, and Arnold was a bit worried.
"Your stupid whore wife!" she screamed at him, throwing the envelope at him, some pictures flying out. He looked down to see one of Helga being kissed by a man he recognized to be her boss. Arnold's jaw dropped and he looked at the woman in front of him with shock and hurt.
"There's more! Tons more! All those business trips!" the woman yelled then laughed. "And all the time he was screwing around with your wife!"
Arnold shook his head.
No. there had to be some kind of mistake. Helga would never do that to him. Not Helga. Never Helga. She loved him. She'd loved him forever!
His eyes stung with the tears he was holding back. He heard the front door open, but didn't get up to meet her.
"I'm home!" she called out.
"Mommy!" Sophia cried out, jumping into her mothers arms. Arnold could hardly breathe watching the scene unfold in front of him. Helga turned and smiled at him, but lost it when she saw his face.
"What? I said I was sorry," she said to him. She rolled her eyes and went upstairs with Sophia to tuck her in and kiss her goodnight.
Arnold took the contents of the folder out and laid them out so Helga could see all of them. He was glad now that they hadn't gone out on their own. The boarding house was in his fathers name, so if anyone was going to be leaving that night, it was going to be Helga. Because Arnold couldn't stand the idea of her in the same house as him.
She finally came down the stairs, and just as she walked in and looked down at the table her phone went off. Helga stood still and paled when she saw the pictures and papers.
"Are you going to get that?" Arnold asked. "Might be your boss trying to warn you that his wife gave me these today. Copies. How nice of her."
Helga looked up at him shaking her head.
"It's not-"
"Really Helga!?" he roared. Helga took a step back, eyes widening in surprise. "Because it sure as hell looks like what I think it looks like!"
"Arnold-"
"GET OUT!" he yelled.
"Arnold, please-"
Arnold blocked out her pleading voice. He looked up in time to see her pull out her phone and throw it on the table. Then she spun around and stormed out of the house. He looked at the phone to see it was their lawyer calling. Arnold frowned, but answered.
"Is Helga there?" his voice asked.
"No, she's just popped out. Can I take a message?" he asked.
"Oh, uh, Mr. Shortman?" the lawyer asked hesitantly.
"Yes," he said.
"Oh, okay, well just let her know that I have looked into it and yes she does have a case against the company. She can also file a personal grievance and sue her boss, whats-his-name . . ." Arnold heard papers shuffling around.
"What?" he asked.
"Oh, about her being fired. For not sleeping with him," the lawyer told him over the phone. "Did she not tell you about this?"
Arnold sat down and shook his head. "No."
"Oh, okay, this is a bit awkward. I cant discuss the case with you, but if you can get her to ring me as soon as she gets in," the lawyer asked.
"Okay, I will," he said. He hung up the phone and went and opened the door to find Helga sitting on the stairs.
"I made one mistake," she said. "One stupid, drunken mistake." She had her head in her hands. "I'm so sorry."
He sat down next to her.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"We got drunk after a successful business merger, slept together once, and then he decided he wanted to continue the affair," Helga finally confessed. "It came to a head last week when he tried it on in his office. He told me if I didn't sleep with him he'd fire me and I said fine, do that, and he did." She shook her head. "Jeez, why do I always fuck up?"
Arnold didn't know what to say. He was still so angry with her.
"It happened during our family trip?" he asked.
"Yeah. I was still angry with you, so drank to stop feeling so angry. God! Fat lot of good it did me!" she said. "It was stupid, Arnold, and I'm sorry. I didn't do it because I was angry, I was just drunk and happy because after months and months of meetings and bullshit we finally got what we wanted! Not that that's any excuse."
They were both quiet for a long time, Arnold letting everything she'd told him sink in. eventually he noticed she was shivering and realised he was cold too.
"Let's go inside and talk. Fill me in on what's happening and everything," he said.
"Are you mad?" she asked, looking up at him with tears in her eyes.
"More than mad. But sitting in the cold isn't going to fix it," he said quietly.
Helga nodded and followed him inside.