Helga slumped down to the floor, her heart racing. No, no no no. This wasn't what she wanted from Arnold. She felt panic building in her gut, forming a lump she couldn't seem to get rid of no matter how many times she swallowed. She didn't realize her breathing was so uneasy until she heard herself panting. Why was she freaking out like this? It was Arnold, asking her to stay with him for the night in his room…wasn't that what she had always dreamed of and obsessed over when she was just a kid?

She clutched her hands to her chest, drawing her knees up to herself, trying to gather her thoughts. She had been confused before, but now? Oh, this took the cake. She couldn't help but wonder if she was scared of what would happen in Arnold's room. The only memories she had of sex were not very pleasant, and that was the only experience she really had to compare it to. And who was to say Arnold was just sweet talking her into it? How could she know for sure that Arnold wasn't just like him?

She stared at the opposite wall, feeling sad. She really couldn't be 100 percent sure that Arnold really had the best of intentions with her. Look at what she had been through with everyone else. Her sister abandoned her, her parents couldn't care less about her life, her ex was just a pervert, and she never really had a true friend other than Phoebe. How could she know that Arnold hadn't done all this just to get in her pants? Or at least try to?

She felt tears well up in her eyes before she practically punched herself on the sides of her head with her fists, trying to shake these thoughts. They were spiraling out of control, and she knew it. Arnold, having any malevolent intentions with her was absolutely ridiculous, and she knew it. Arnold just wanted to help, that had been in his nature since they were kids. He always felt the need to help his friends. And that was what Helga was to Arnold, wasn't it? But they were just friends, right? Helga buried her face into her forearms, feeling her body jerk with her sudden sobbing.

"God!" She pounded her fists into the carpet. Why was she freaking out like this? She shot up quickly, ruffling her hair, trying to calm down. Why did he have to be such an airhead? He had to know that she had feelings for him that were more than friends, and maybe he felt the same way? Why else would he ask her to stay with him tonight?

No, no, she couldn't do it tonight. There was too much running through her mind, she was a jumbled mess right now, and she didn't want Arnold to see her like that. She wiped her eyes, deciding she really just needed to lie down right now. Since she wore sweats and a t shirt home from the hospital, she just plopped into her bed, burying her face in her pillow, praying she would fall asleep soon.

Arnold walked around his room, shocked with his sudden question to Helga, and her rejection. He had no idea what came onto him when he said that. Come to think of it, why did she say no? He stopped in his tracks; he needed to stop thinking about this. He should probably apologize for what he said in the morning. Arnold looked at his phone screen; the clock showed it was 11pm. Maybe he should call Gerald and let them know Helga was home safe. He decided he would, sliding his phone to his contacts and dialing Gerald's number.

After a few rings, his voicemail picked up.

"Hey, it's Gerald, I'm either sleeping, busy, or just don't want to talk to ya. Leave a message!"

Arnold rolled his eyes at his friend's goofy voicemail. "Hey Gerald, it's Arnold. Just wanted to let you and Phoebe know that Helga is home safe and-" He heard his phone beep, looking down at the screen he realized Gerald was calling him back. He ended the voicemail and answered Gerald's call.

"Hey Gerald."

"Hey man, sorry I was in the bathroom, what's up? Helga alright?"

"Yeah she's fine, home now. I just wanted to let you know."

There was a pause over the phone.

"You sure you're okay Arnold?"

"…Yeah, well, no I guess. I feel like I freaked Helga out tonight."

"Maaaaan what did you do now?"

"Well, I got caught up in the moment and told her to stay with me tonight. In my room and everything."

"Oh yeah, because that's a GREAT question to ask an unstable recovering addict." Gerald said, clearly sarcastic.

"I know, it just came out. I'm going to apologize to her in the morning. I feel like such an idiot. She said no and shut the door in my face."

"Damn! That's harsh! I didn't think it'd piss her off that much!"

"Well, that's the thing Gerald. She didn't seem mad, she seemed…scared. Like she was intimidated by me. It was so weird."

"Well, maybe she's nervous. I don't know man. But hey, I gotta go, Phoebe and I have an appointment in the morning for a new apartment. I'll try and call you tomorrow when I can."

"Okay Gerald, I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye Arnold."

Arnold tossed his phone onto his bed and sighed. Even Gerald thought it was dumb for suggesting such a thing. He was right though, Helga wasn't exactly stable at the moment. He raked his hand through his hair, yawning. He should probably get to bed; he'd deal with it in the morning.

He crawled into his bed, pulling up his covers in the process. Surprisingly, he fell asleep rather quickly, Helga still on his mind.

Helga woke up around 7:30. Wow, that was early for her. She got up, stretching and wincing at the slight pull of her stitches. Man, she forgot about that. She gingerly touched her side before getting up and heading to the bathroom. She looked at the gauze around her waist and noticed a bit of spotting. Maybe she should go ahead and change them.

After a bit of effort and mumbled profanity, Helga managed to change her bandages. Looking at her satisfactory job in the mirror, she felt her stomach growl. Time for breakfast. She headed out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, grabbing her cereal and newspaper, looking for anything of interest in the headlines today.

Arnold came in a few minutes later, still wearing his pajamas. He grabbed orange juice out of the fridge while his toast finished up and he sat down across from Helga. There was an awkward silence before Helga spoke.

"Morning Football Head." She said with a mouthful of cereal.

Arnold looked at her, a bit surprised at her speaking to him. "Good morning. Hey, I'm sorry for last night by the way. I feel like I crossed a line with you and-"

"No worries, just drop it. Never happened." She said, taking another spoonful of cereal.

Arnold was about to bring it up again, but Helga shot him one of her infamous looks and he quickly shut up.

"So why aren't you in your scrubs?" She asked, setting down her newspaper, not finding anything to her interest.

"Oh, I don't work at the hospital. Dr. Witz gave me the day off to make sure you're alright. How are you feeling by the way?"

Helga shrugged. "Fine, my side feels a little tender but I'll live. I had to change the bandages because there was a little blood seeping through."
"Helga, you probably shouldn't put anymore gauze on after that. You have to let your stitches breathe. And you should probably stick to loose fitting shirts so it doesn't pull on them. At least until Friday when you can get them taken out."

Helga waved him off. "Yeah yeah yeah nurse. I got it, I'll take off the bandages when I'm finished eating."

Arnold sighed, exasperated. He then realized, it was 7:45 and Helga was already up? That was weird. "Why are you up so early anyways?"

"I felt a little sore and didn't feel like sleeping anymore. What are ya? The sleep police?" She said, sarcastically.

Arnold just rolled his eyes. "It was just a question Helga. But hey, since we're both off, why don't we rent some movies or something? Maybe we can go to dinner later, depending on how you're feeling."

Helga seemed a bit caught off guard. "Uh…sure. What movies should we watch?"

Arnold shrugged. "Well you know we've got plenty to watch, why don't you pick?"

Helga nodded. "Sure, let me just shower and all that good stuff and then we can."
"That's fine; I'm going to be upstairs. Just let me know when you're ready."

"Sure thing." She said, standing and setting her bowl in the sink and headed out to her bathroom.

Helga finished showering and headed up to Arnold's room. She knocked on the door and he opened it, following her downstairs so they could start watching movies. Helga picked 28 Hours Later, much to Arnold's dismay. He wasn't a big fan of zombie movies, but Helga obviously did so he decided to stick it out to humor her.

They finished up that movie, and kept the movie marathon on with a couple comedies, and finished it off with a horror movie. Before they knew it, it was almost four o' clock. "Hey, do you want to go ahead and go to dinner?" Arnold asked, hearing Helga's stomach rumble.

Helga looked down at her stomach, hearing it rumble too. "We might as well; we've watched almost seven hours' worth of movies. Just let me go change." She said, standing up and heading to her room. Arnold decided he should probably go change too.

Helga picked out a sundress for her to wear, so that it wouldn't snag too much on her stitches. She put on a little make up, mainly just eyeliner and mascara. She tossed her hair up in a messy bun and after looking at herself in the mirror, she decided she was presentable enough and walked out. "Ready to go?" She asked, coming into the front hallway where Arnold was waiting.

"I was about ten minutes ago." He teased. Helga smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Very funny. Let's go."

They started walking to the restaurant, heading left. Arnold had suggested the nice little Italian restaurant that was down the street a little ways. Helga could live with Italian; it wasn't the worst food in the world to her. They went inside and were seated quickly. They chatted here and there, trying to break the random awkward silences that would pop up every now and again.

Eventually they were laughing and goofing off with each other and dinner seemed to end too soon. Arnold paid the bill and they left the restaurant. Arnold looked at the clock on his phone, seeing it was only 6:30. "Hey, do you want to take the long way home? It's pretty nice out tonight."

Helga shrugged. "Sure, there's nothing else to do. Might as well."

Helga and Arnold walked around for quite a bit before Helga's phone started ringing. She pulled her phone out of her dress's pocket and immediately noticed it was the area code of Detroit. Uh oh. She shakily answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Olga?"

"…it's Helga, dad. What do you want?"

"Hey, don't speak to me like that. I figured since you've been gone for six months you might want to know something."

"I've been gone for FOUR YEARS Bob. Why the hell are you calling me all of a sudden?"

"Miriam's in the hospital for liver failure."

Helga got quiet, stopping in her tracks. Arnold noticed she had stopped and turned to her, giving her a questioning stare as she continued to be silent.

"Olga?" Bob asked on the other line.

"It's HELGA Bob! And what the hell do I care? Neither of you have seemed to give a shit about me these past four years!" She hung up the phone and tossed it onto the ground in frustration. Arnold jumped back, dodging the thrown phone. Helga started walking towards the boarding house quickly; she just wanted to get home now.

Arnold scooped her phone up, jogging after her to catch up. "Helga?" She didn't answer. She just kept walking at her fast pace.

Arnold didn't press her anymore; he just followed her, just kind of there in case needed. They reached the boarding house and Helga rushed up the steps and into the hall, quickly running to her room and shutting the door. Arnold stood in the hallway, not really sure what to do. He decided to wait around for a while, in case Helga came out. He sat down in the living room, turning on the TV. He didn't want to pester her, so he decided it was best to wait it out.

He waited for quite a while, noticing it was almost ten at night. He should probably head upstairs; Helga was most likely asleep by now anyways. He stood up and headed into his room, changing into his pajamas. He checked his email on his laptop before going ahead and slipping into bed.

Helga angrily paced her room, breathing heavily. She was so, so frustrated. How dare Bob call her out of the blue like that? Why couldn't he call when Miriam was going downhill? She kicked her dresser angrily. She almost didn't even want to care. Why should she? They didn't care when she left, they didn't care when they snatched her up out of her life in Hillwood when she was a child. She was sure Olga was being a dramatic mess about this too. Hell, she was probably already leaving for Detroit.

She slipped on her pajamas and plopped into bed, punching her pillow in the process. She felt her eyes starting to well up with tears. Why couldn't she get a break? She needed to sleep this off. She lay in bed, tossing and turning. She gave up, tossing her covers off and going to the kitchen. Maybe a glass of water would help her calm down. Chugging the water and feeling no relief, she leaned back on the counter, sighing. She was still crying.

She stood there for a few minutes before a thought came to her mind. She sighed again. "Oh screw it." She said, storming through the hall and up to Arnold's room. She gently opened the door, seeing that Arnold was already asleep. She took a deep breath and quietly padded across his floor to his bed. She crawled in next to him and Arnold woke with a start. "Helga? What-" Helga covered his mouth with her finger, silencing him. "Ask in the morning. Right now I just really need some comfort…" She said quietly.

Arnold searched her eyes, noticing they were a little red from her crying. "Okay, sure Helga." He said, sleepily and pulling the blanket around so she was under it now. He pulled her up against his chest and started running his hand through her hair, trying to comfort her. He didn't know why she decided to randomly show up in his bedroom, but he didn't really care. He could tell she clearly just needed him right now, even though he had no idea why.

He had to assume it was her dad that called earlier, seeing as she was calling the person on the phone "Bob." He really hoped it was nothing too serious, but judging by Helga's reaction to the phone call, it clearly wasn't a friendly chat. He continued to stroke her hair, looking down and noticing she had fallen asleep rather quickly. He stared at her for a moment before pulling the covers up a bit more and starting to fall asleep himself.

*Sorry for the delay! I'm soooo sorry guys. Between working doubles and dealing with writer's block I didn't have anything to write ): but here it is finally! and I made it nice and long for y'all. I'm not too sure about the first part, I feel like it was a little forced on my part, so sorry for that. How do you guys feel about Bob's sudden phone call? Let me know what you guys think. Questions, Comments, Reviews, you guys know what to do (: *