It was now 10:25 P.M.

Arnold and Helga had left the drive-in ten minutes earlier and Arnold was driving Helga home. Like earlier, they had been driving along in silence, but at least they were no longer holding any tension. Rather, they were quiet because they were happy about what happened tonight.

Finally, they came to her street and to her house, and Arnold pulled up to the curb outside.

"Well, here we are." Arnold said.

"Yeah, home again." Helga said in what sounded like a disappointed tone to Arnold.

Arnold looked over at Helga as she looked down at her feet. He could tell, given the recent events, that she didn't want to part ways with him. He smiled as he placed his hand on top of hers, which was resting on the seat.

Helga immediately looked at their hands as soon as she felt Arnold's touch, then looked at him. He was smiling at her, and that could only make her smile back.

"Do you want to come inside for a few minutes?"

Arnold shook his head. "No, thanks. I should get home. Don't want to miss my curfew, either."

"Yeah, I guess." Helga looked away again.

Arnold noticed this and moved closer to her. He brought one of his hands to her cheek and turned her face in his direction. Almost immediately, the couple leaned towards each other and held each other's faces as they kissed for the umpteenth time that night.

After they stopped, Arnold got out of his seat and came around to let Helga out. He opened the door, then stretched out his hand to help Helga out.

Helga smirked. "Thank you, football head. You really are a gentleman and a scholar."

Arnold grinned sheepishly as he shut the door. "Well, it's the least I could do."

For a moment, the lovers just stood there on the curb, looking deep into each other's eyes, thinking all that happened tonight in their relationship and what laid ahead for them in the future.

Helga finally spoke up. "Well,…um, th-thanks for the evening, Arnold." She started to blush. "I'll, um,…I'll…see you tomorrow."

Arnold smiled at her, blushing a bit himself. "Sure…I'll see you tomorrow, Helga."

"Well, see ya." Helga smiled back, then started to walk to the steps of her house, looking at Arnold for a moment before turning around.

"Helga, wait…" Arnold called and ran after her. Helga turned around, and Arnold caught her at the bottom step, taking her hand in his own.

Arnold and Helga looked into each other's eyes again before they wrapped their arms around each other into a tight hug. Arnold hugged Helga around her waist, though he took a chance and brought one of his hands up to stroke her hair and kissed her neck. Helga wrapped her arms around Arnold's head and neck, where she planted several light kisses on him. When they brought their faces forward, they kissed on the lips again, still locked tight in their embrace.

"I love you, Helga." Arnold brought a hand up and stroked her cheek. "I love you so much, now more than ever."

Tears brimmed in Helga's eyes, but she managed to get the words out. "I love you, too, Arnold, now more than I ever have in my life."

They smiled at each other, then they shared a brief but sweet kiss as they embraced again. Arnold gently wiped Helga's eyes with his thumbs before any tears could fall from her eyes, then he kissed her on the forehead, while she closed her eyes in bliss as she felt Arnold's lips touch her head.

"Okay, I have to go now." Helga let go of Arnold and walked up her steps.

Arnold began to walk back to the Packard, then turned back to Helga. "I'll call you when I get home."

Helga looked back at him. "I'll be waiting by the phone, Arnoldo." She smiled, then blew a kiss at him, and he made sure he caught it.

Arnold finally got back into the Packard and started it up. But before he pulled away, he noticed Helga was still standing on her front stoop. He waved to her, and luckily, she saw and waved back. Then he pulled out from the curb and drove away.

Helga watched him until the Packard was no longer in sight. Wearing a half-lidded gaze, she let out a lovesick sigh before she turned the doorknob.

"Mom? Dad? I'm home!" Helga called out to her parents as soon as she opened the door.

"We're upstairs, sweetie!" Miriam called to her.

Helga closed the door, then walked upstairs and came to the doorway of her parents' room, where she saw her parents sitting on their bed. Bob was watching The Wheel while Miriam was reading a book. Bob was the first to notice Helga at the door.

"Hey, Helga, how was your evening with…Arnold?" Bob asked, taking a moment to remember Arnold's name, which made Helga smile a little.

"It was good, Dad. I always have a great time with Arnold."

"That's nice, honey." Miriam glanced away from her book and towards Helga. "You can tell us about it tomorrow."

Helga nodded. "Sure, Mom." Well, there's one thing I won't tell you about my date with Arnold. Helga thought to herself after she answered her mom. "Well, I'm gonna turn in in a little while, so, good night, Mom and Dad."

"Good night,…Helga." Bob said, taking another moment to make sure he called Helga by her name, which, again, made Helga smile.

"Good night, honey." Miriam replied.

Helga waved to them, then headed to her room. Once she got there, she locked the door and immediately ran to her closet, shut its door, and turned on the lights.

Though Helga didn't exactly have a shrine of Arnold like the ones she had in her childhood, she did have a small doll of him so she could have something in his likeness to hold and hug. This "shrine" also contained boxes with more poetry volumes about him, which she continued well into their dating days and her teen years. She had a billboard that contained photos of him since he came back to Hillwood and others with them together from this year. She also had a few smaller boxes that included photos of both of them together from their childhood. And to top it all off, she still had her childhood locket with Arnold's photo in it, one of his nine-year-old self wearing the same half-lidded gaze.

Seeing that she was all alone now, Helga squealed in pure delight (though not too loud so her parents would hear) and hugged herself tightly and ecstatically.

"Oh, my God! We did it! We actually did it! Arnold and I finally made love after all this time! It was magnificent! Incredible! Wonderful! Oh, Arnold, my love, our love needs no mere words to describe what you and I have experienced tonight! The feeling of your lips touching mine, the warm touch of having your arms around me, the concern you showed for me when we first took the step in expressing our love this way! …Making love with you was just…absolute heaven!"

Helga picked up her locket, which was lying on the floor amongst all of her Arnold paraphernalia, and looked at it as she continued talking.

"Arnold, my flaxen-haired angel, my darling football-headed love sex God, this experience was amazing, but so much more since you love me just as much as I love you! The events of our first time tonight will be forever etched into my memory, and also into my heart, where you are always kept, just like my locket says!" She brought the locket to her lips and passionately kissed the picture of Arnold. "Oh, I have many poem ideas to describe our first time, and I must write this down in my diary! I said I will never forget it, and by writing it down, I'll make sure I never will!"

Helga took out one of books and began writing like mad. She became so wrapped up in her thoughts and writing over the next few minutes that she almost didn't hear her phone ring. Once she did, she quickly opened the closet door and ran over to the phone.

"Hel-lo?" Helga answered in a singsong voice.

"Hello, my hammer-headed angel." The voice on the other line said that Helga knew belonged only to Arnold.

"Hello, my wonderful, sweet, football-headed boyfriend!" Helga giggled.

Arnold blushed slightly, though he managed to smile. "I don't think I even need to ask how you are doing. I take it you're still well over the moon about tonight, huh?"

Helga scoffed. "Well, doi, of course I am, hair boy! Like I said, I have dreamed of it for years, and it finally came true!" Then her expression changed to a loving smile as she spoke again, this time in a sweet tone. "So I'll never forget it, ever!"

"Me neither, Helga. Me neither." Arnold smiled lovingly himself, then he looked at his clock. "Well, sorry to cut it so short, but I'm gonna head to bed soon. I just thought I'd call to say good night, since I said I would call when I got home."

"Me, too, and I still have a lot of to do in writing about tonight."

Arnold chuckled. "I figured you would, so good luck with that." Then his look turned a little more serious as he spoke to Helga again. "I love you, Helga." He made a little kissing sound into the phone.

Helga smiled widely. "I love you, too, Arnold." Then she returned the kissing sound. "Talk to you tomorrow."

"Good night, Angel."

"Good night, sweet Prince." Then Helga hung up the phone at the same time Arnold did.

As soon as Arnold hung up the phone, he walked over to his bed and sat on it. He had already said good night to his parents and grandparents, as he announced he was going to turn in soon. Luckily, he kept a straight face when he came home, like Helga did, so they didn't suspect a thing.

Arnold wore a goofy, lovesick smile on his face as he reflected on all that happened between him and Helga tonight. He also thought back to when he was in fourth grade, after he was paired up with Helga by Rhonda's love calculator. He was dismayed and terrified of the possibility of marrying Helga, especially when he took the test 110 times and always got her!

Despite Rhonda's declaration, Arnold was determined never to marry Helga and called the whole situation a nightmare, which led to him actually having a nightmare about being married to Helga, with only her bad side coming out. Though in the end, he confronted her and it ended up on an okay note, which was how their lives together were often reflected. He later decided that the possibility of marrying Helga wasn't bad at all.

Once Helga confessed her real feelings, Arnold's own true feelings began to awaken, and he finally reciprocated them in fifth grade, after they found his parents in San Lorenzo. Once he had a new-found relationship with her, he was even more welcoming to the idea of marrying her, though he thought there was still time to decide on their future.

But now, with both of them having grown up more, having reunited and realizing more than ever how much they were meant for each other, how much they wanted each other, and how much they needed each other, Arnold concluded that he no longer wanted to date or try to be with anyone else.

No, the only girl he wanted to marry one day was none other than Helga Geraldine Pataki.

"Man, if Helga had never confessed her true feelings for me on the FTi rooftop…my own feelings might never have been awakened." He smiled wider. "I guess it's a blessing in disguise. Before then, I said she was the one girl I would never marry, and I called the idea a nightmare. Now I know for sure that she's the only one, true girl for me, and I do want to marry her someday. I don't want anyone else but her."

As Arnold got into his bed and under the covers, he looked at a picture of him and Helga that was located on his nightstand. He picked it up and smiled at Helga in the shot.

"Helga, I may not be as passionate as you are in terms of your feelings, but I can honestly say now that I love you and I want to be with you forever one day. One day, I'll make your next lifelong dream come true. I love you with all my heart, my angel."

Arnold kissed Helga's side of the photo, then put it back down on his nightstand. He used his remote to turn off his skylights, then he lay back on his pillow and closed his eyes, all while wearing a big smile.

…

Helga climbed into her bed and pulled up the covers as she started talking to herself, not unlike she did back in fourth grade when she overheard Arnold get paired up with her after he took the love calculator, and she was overly ecstatic about it all.

Like Arnold, she thought back on her dream of them getting married, but she also remembered what Arnold had told her about his own dream. Though she knew her dream was less realistic of married life with Arnold, she was certain, even more than she was as a child, that she and Arnold were going to get married one day.

"Oh, Arnold, I realize now more than ever that my confession of my true feelings for you on the FTi rooftop is a blessing! It may not have been the best way for you to learn that I truly loved you, but at least I eventually got what I wanted from you! I always knew that you were the one boy I hoped to marry, and the idea was a dream come true! Though you were at the opposite end of the spectrum at the time, my confession helped you to awaken your own feelings! My feelings and desires have never changed since that day, Arnold! I want to marry you, and that's another lifelong dream I hope to accomplish with you one day!"

Helga glanced over at her locket, which was located on her nightstand. "Arnold…Arnold…" She swooned as she picked it up and kissed it.

After she kissed it, she gazed lovingly at it before putting it back on the nightstand and turning off her light. She immediately shut her eyes, and smiled a great big smile as she began to drift off to sleep.

…

So the next chapter here is the aftermath of Arnold and Helga's lovemaking. I decided to have Helga go straight to her closet and reflect with joy and delight over what happened to her and her beloved Arnold. I hope you all think I didn't stray away from her character too much.

And Arnold and Helga's little monologues are a reference back to "Married," when they were paired together by the love calculator and each describing their feelings on the situation. Now Helga is well over the moon over everything that has happened, and while Arnold's not as passionate, we know he is happy about it, too, and has changed his mind about Helga since fourth grade, and for the better.

Ah, I just love this pairing so much! :D