Chapter nine: After effect

Alice was feeling it, the tension that is.

After Arnold had chased down that crazy lady everyone was calling Helga, and after her overemotional aunt started crying and hugging Alice, the eight-year-old was now currently sitting in the back of her aunt's car right next to Helga, while Arnold had gone with Gerald and Phoebe back to their hotel for a change of clothes.

They mostly drove in silence, which obviously making everyone in the car uncomfortable, namely Alice. What was also weird was that Helga woman, who wouldn't stop staring at her during the entire car ride. Alice wasn't completely oblivious, every now and then she caught Helga's glances, and whenever she tried to look back at her, she would immediately turn the other way.

Weirdo, Alice thought to herself, shaking her head.

"Young lady, I'm talking to you," her aunt's voice broke the little girl out of her thoughts. "Are you listening?"

"Huh?" Had her aunt really been talking this whole time? "Uh..."

"I'm talking about you running away," Olga said. "What were you thinking? Do you understand how worried I was about you?"

Alice rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. Mostly because she didn't really have anything to say to defend herself or her actions.

"Well, it's a good thing you were found by some nice people," Olga sighed. "You have no idea how lucky you were to come across them, you could have just as easily been abducted, or worse."

"Well I wasn't, so everything's fine," Alice grumbled, looking out the window. "Are we going back to England now?"

"I brought you here for a reason," As she stopped at a red slight, she turned to look at Alice. "Do you want to go back to England right now?"

"No," Alice shook her head. "I'm fine with staying, just not with you."

Olga rolled her eyes and just gave up, not wanting to start an argument with her niece. The car remained silent for the rest of the ride, until they pulled up at their destination. "Where are we?" Alice piped up.

"My place," Helga finally spoke, moving her wet hair out of her eyes so she could glare at Olga. "Wanna tell me why?"

"Well, aside from the fact that my children are here," Olga began. "I believe this is the best place for you three to start sorting out your issues."

Helga rolled her eyes and dramatically climbed out of the car. "And just where the hell do you think you're going?" she demanded, noticing that her older sister wasn't making any move to get out of her car.

"I've got to get me and the kids settled in our hotel." She then turned to Alice. "Since you don't want to stay with me, do you mind staying here with your mo...er I mean, Helga?" The brunette shot Olga a warning glare as Alice made an obnoxious sighing noise.

"Sticking me with the crazy lady," she groaned, getting out of the car just as dramatically as Helga had. "Just remember, if I turn up missing it's your fault."

Olga nodded absentmindedly while honking on the horn, calling for her kids. Almost immediately, they emerged from the home with their belongings and piled into the car. Before as she was pulling off, another car turned the corner and began to park in front of their home. Olga quickly turned to look at her sister, concern filling her eyes.

"Please," she said. "Do the right thing." Helga just rubbed her arm and looked at her feet, giving Olga a slight nod. "Thank you, I won't be gone long. Be good Alice."

"Whatever," Alice stuck her tongue out as her aunt drove out of the driveway. "Ugh she's so annoying."

"Kiddo, you don't know the half of it." Helga folded her arms, heading toward her house as fast as she could.

"Where's she off to in a hurry?" Alice spoke as Arnold appeared next to her. "She really wants to get away from you, why is that?"

"Wouldn't I like to know," Arnold frowned. "Did she say anything to you?"

"No," Alice shook her head. "But I did catch her constantly staring at me, it was strange." She then looked over at Arnold with a strange look in her eye. "Hey, what's going on? Why were you chasing after her? Why did she run?"

"Hopefully we'll both find out soon enough," Arnold's scowl didn't go away. "When she answers for all the crap she's pulled, on us."

And with that, he stormed right into the house, leaving Alice even more confused. "Oh...kay, that didn't make me any less confused," Alice rolled her eyes looking back to the car where Gerald and Phoebe were. "Are either of you going to tell me what's going on?" Both gave one another strange looks, then turned back to Alice, shaking their heads.

"Guess I'm going to have to get all the answers myself," she sighed, following Arnold's trail into the home.

"Helga!" Arnold was hollering throughout the house. "Helga, get your ass down here right now!"

"I'm changing out of my wet clothes!" Came a equally loud reply from upstairs. "Keep your pants on Football Head!"

"You better not be sneaking out of the window!"

"Why would I do that?!"

"Because you already jumped off bridge to get away from me!"

Alice stood there, listening to the two of them yell at each other back and forth. She tried to open her mouth to say something, but each time she was interrupted by one of them. Eventually, she found herself fed up and decided to let out a loud, ear-splitting, scream of her own. Both adults instantly stopped their yelling, Helga coming out of her room in nothing but sweatpants and t-shirt, while Alice's scream subsided and she stomped her foot on the ground.

"You two are pissing me off!" she yelled. "First you have this wild chase scene through the city, then you both jump into a freaking river, now you're screaming at each other. I'm sick and tired of it! What the heck is going on?!"

Arnold and Helga suddenly went silent, both of them looking away from the angry little girl in embarrassment. "Look," Arnold groaned, running a hand through his hair. "This isn't going to work. I'm angry, Helga's being...Helga, and Alice is confused." He plopped down on the couch. "Let's just all calm down and talk, like adults."

"Hmph, always gotta be the diplomat, don't you Arnoldo?"

"Don't push me you little..." Arnold clenched his fist and took in a deep breath. "Okay, how about we don't talk and just sit here and glare at each other?"

"Fine by me."

"Whatever."

Outside the house, Gerald and Phoebe were trying their best to ignore the loud screaming that had come from the house. They both knew when to get involved with their best friends' problems and when to stay the hell away from their problems, this was one of those stay the hell away ones.

"The screaming stopped," Phoebe offered. "Maybe they've calmed down?"

"Or killed each other." Phoebe smacked Gerald gently in the arm and rolled her eyes.

"What are we supposed to do?" she groaned.

"We've done just about everything we could," Gerald leaned against the car. "They're adults, and they'll have to fix their shit on their own."

"Yeah," Phoebe sighed, turning to Gerald. "You understand why I left now, don't you? Helga is quite unstable."

"I can see that," the VP spoke. "You could have at least told me, you know."

"No, because you would have told Arnold," Phoebe poked him in the chest.

"I wouldn't have-"

"Are you really going to try to lie to me?"

Gerald opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. "Fine," he folded his arms. "Eight years is a lot of time lost though."

"I know, and I'm sorry," Phoebe told him sincerely. "I really mean it Gerald, it was the hardest thing I ever did when I left you. But, I couldn't let Helga do this alone. Can you imagine what she might have done to herself if I weren't around?"

"It's not your job to be her babysitter."

"But it is my job to be her best friend, wouldn't you have done the same for Arnold?" Gerald shrugged his shoulders and looked away from her. "Look, Helga is like a sister to me, just like Arnold is a like brother to you. You have to look out for your family, always, even if it means making some sacrifices."

The darkskinned man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I get it," he said. "I don't agree with you, but I get it." He snaked his arms around her waist. "I'm sorry I'm acting like a prick, I just really missed you."

"I missed you too," Phoebe told him. "But I'm still remaining firm on what I said earlier, you're not divorced yet."

"Maybe not officially," he stole a quick peck on her lips. "I am divorced in spirit though."

"That makes no sense," Phoebe giggled. "And your lines are not going to work on me, I know all of your tricks."

"I've developed new ones, wanna see them?" he pulled the petite girl closer to him.

"Gerald, please," Phoebe was blushing now. "I'm serious about what I said."

"So am I," Gerald told her. "We're not doing anything too-"

He was suddenly cut off by the sound of his phone ringing, rolling his eyes he dug into his pocket to see who decided to interrupt him. Upon seeing the name his face fell and he let out a long sigh.

"Gerald?" Phoebe gave an understanding look. "It's her isn't it?"

"Yeah..." Gerald shook his head. "I don't have to answer it if-"

"No, it's fine," Phoebe broke herself from his grasp. "You're still married after all..."

Gerald reached for her again, but froze when he felt the phone go off once more. "Damn it all," he growled, putting the phone to his ear. "What do you want Mariah?"

"Dad?" Gerald stiffened upon hearing his son's voice.

"G.J.? What are you doing on this phone?"

"I wanted to talk to you," G.J. told him. "And I kinda forgot your number."

"Where's your mom?"

"She's...uh...around."

"Meaning?"

"Uhm..." He suddenly heard some whispering in the background followed by a loud honking sound. "She's out grocery shopping."

Gerald rolled his eyes. Only Mariah would do something as stupid as this, he thought. "G.J.," he spoke gently. "Did your mom tell you to call me?" When he heard a nothing on the other line, he got his answer. "G.J., did she-"

"Mom did tell me to call you," G.J. admitted. "She said that if I did, you would come back home."

"What?"

"Mom said you weren't coming back," he said. "She said you were leaving us, even though you promised you wouldn't."

"N-No..." Gerald cursed under his breath. "I'm not leaving you, son."

"But you're leaving Mom?"

"I..." Gerald shook his head. "Put your mother on the phone."

"Dad...I..."

"Put her on the phone, right now." There was another lengthy pause.

"What is it, Gerald?"

"What the hell kind of bullshit are you trying to pull here?" Gerald hissed into the phone.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, I just wanted you to hear your son's voice one more time before you walk out on us."

"You know that's not what I'm doing," Gerald rubbed his forehead. "We already discussed this, Mariah. It's not gonna work between us anymore, we have to just let it go. It's better this way for us and our son."

"No, it's better for you!" Gerald winced at her sudden outburst. "You know marriage ain't supposed to be easy!"

"It also isn't supposed to be this hard," Gerald's own voice was raising. "Damn it, you're not about to get me into another shouting match with you. I'm through with it Mariah!"

Mariah was quiet on the other line for a few seconds, Gerald was about to hang up the phone when he heard her speak again. "What is it Gerald? Tell me what's really brought this one." she spoke in a lower, harsher tone. "You didn't just all the sudden have some sort of epiphany about this." She paused for a moment. "There's another woman, isn't there?"

"That's none of your business."

"Tell me the truth Gerald, have you been screwing another woman behind my back?"

"Lower your damn voice, G.J. is in the car with you!"

"Oh don't worry about that, I want him to hear just how much of a cheating bastard his daddy is!"

Gerald opened his mouth to yell more, but he noticed Phoebe uncomfortably standing there with a worried look on her face. Quickly, he took a deep breath and exhaled, as a means to calm himself down. "You know what?" he said in an even tone. "I don't care anymore. Yeah, I am fucking Phoebe! As a matter of fact I'm probably gonna fuck her right now! Are you happy now Mariah?" Phoebe opened her mouth to interject, but thought it best that she wasn't heard by the angry woman on the phone.

"Phoebe? Who the fuck is Phoebe?!"

"She's the woman I've been in love with since I was a kid," Gerald told her. "The one who I haven't stopped thinking about for a second, she's the woman I deserve!"

"You bastard!" Gerald felt a slight pain in his chest when he heard Mariah's voice break. "You don't 'deserve' a goddamn thing! This isn't over Gerald! I'm not gonna let you end it like this!" The next thing you know, he could hear her sobbing on the other line, which made his chest hurt even more. Contrary to his actions, he did care for Mariah. But this was the problem, she somehow brought out this side of him that he hated. Even so, he couldn't stand to hear her crying.

"Listen," Gerald began apologetically. "Tell my son that I'm sorry, and that I love him, but I can't be with you anymore Mariah."

"So that's it huh?" Mariah was still sobbing. "After six years of marriage, you're just giving up? Fuck that..."

"I gave up long before that," Gerald told her. "I'm sorry."

Before Mariah could say another word, he hung up the phone and chucked it across the street as far as he could. "Well, that's the end of that," he clapped his hands together and opened the door to the car, turning to Phoebe. "So, would you call that an 'official' divorce?"

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

"Don't be, it was going to happen," he seemed surprisingly chipper. "I figured it would end this way, me looking like the asshole once again."

"It's not your fault," Phoebe told him.

"Yeah, well I still feel shitty right now," he then climbed into the car. "Hey I've got an idea, let's go somewhere, just the two of us."

"Gerald..." Phoebe was about to protest but suddenly trailed off and let out a defeated sigh. "Oh, why the hell not? Fine, you win."

"I knew you'd see it my way," Gerald grinned. "Oh by the way, sorry about what I said earlier, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," Phoebe held up her hands. "I understand you didn't mean it like that, you were just angry."

"Oh no," Gerald gave her a stern look. "I meant it, I meant every word of it. I just wanted to apologize for blurting out your name, that was dumb of me."

Phoebe felt a blush start to creep up on her face. "So wait, you're telling me you intend on-"

"Yup," Gerald smirked. "That is if you're willing to, of course."

The petite woman looked around slightly. "Um...should we really leave them alone?" she asked, nodding her head in the direction of the house.

"Look, I don't know about you, but I'm about sick and tired of worrying too much about those two and not enough about us," Gerald said. "We've done that for way too long, since we were kids actually. I don't want to sound like a jerk, but right now I want to focus more on my own damn love life. I just got divorced from my bitchy wife because I'm still in love with my childhood sweetheart, and I'm fucking ready to celebrate! What about you?"

Phoebe looked at Gerald, slightly shocked and is seemingly ecstatic demeanor, then glanced back at the direction of the house. If she were going to be being honest with herself today, then she had to admit to herself that she felt mostly the same as Gerald did right now.

She was still dead worried about Helga, Arnold and Alice, but it was about time she let those two figure things out on their own. Besides, she just technically got back together with the love of her life, and she wasn't totally against what he wanted to do with her.

"You're right," she said, getting into the car with them. "I'm with you a hundred percent. They have to figure this out on their own."

"And if they don't by the time we get back, then we'll just kick their asses until they do!" Gerald laughed while putting an arm around Phoebe. "Now let's see how much of eight years we can make up in a day."

The room was still silent, it had been that way for the past hour and a half, three sets of eyes all glaring at one another simultaneously.

Arnold hadn't even budged, he just sat there in the chair, glaring at the woman across from him as if he were trying to mentally set her on fire.

Helga matched his glare, but on the inside she was freaking out. The man she had loved since preschool looked as if he were about to murder her, while her daughter that she hadn't seen since she was in diapers looked as if she wanted to slap the both of them.

Alice, well she was mostly angry because these two idiots still hadn't told her what in the world was going on. And if there was one thing Alice Penelope Pataki didn't like, it was being kept in the dark about something that was obviously a big deal.

"So," Arnold finally broke the silence, though his word almost went unnoticed. "I see that you did a lot to change your appearance."

"Yeah well, I felt it was time for a change ya know?" Helga shrugged nonchalantly.

"You got rid of the uni-brow."

"It got annoying after a while."

Arnold almost looked as if he took offense to that as he folded his arms and grumbled "Whatever."

Alice turned to Helga with a questioning look on her face. "You had one too?" she asked. "So I wasn't the only one..."

"It's not that uncommon, kiddo," Helga relaxed in her chair. "I had it for a long time though, I kinda miss it."

"I used to have one," Alice touched the space in between her eyebrows. "But Aunt Olga made me get rid of it after first grade."

"Why's that?"

"Because it was causing too much trouble for me in school."

Arnold arched an eyebrow. "What? Were you being teased about it by the other kids?"

"Eh, not really," Alice shook her head. "I kept getting suspended because I was beating up the kids who did make fun of it."

Arnold chuckled and shook his head. "I was right, you are a problem child."

"Yeah well, I'm not as bad as you two," she gestured at Helga and Arnold. "Seriously, who chases a lady all throughout town? And who's crazy enough to jump into a river to get away from someone?"

Arnold's face went sour once again as he started glaring at Helga again. "Why don't you let Helga explain that to you?" he spat.

Helga, instead of matching his glare, looked away from him in shame. "Arnold, please-"

"Do you have anything to drink?" the CEO interrupted.

"Um," Helga was slightly taken aback by his sudden request. "I think we have some juice somewhere in there."

"No, I meant a real drink," Arnold said. "Something that might make me less angry and more likely to listen to your crap."

All the sudden Helga frowned and narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, if you're gonna be an asshole about it, then we don't have anything to drink."

"Sucks for you then," Arnold shrugged. "Guess you'll just have to tell me your bullshit later when I find some alcohol."

"Listen here, Football Head-"

A ringing sound interrupted her, prompting Helga to dig into her pocket and look at her phone. "Sorry, gotta take this," she shot at him, standing up from her chair and going up the stairs.

"Don't lose that attitude while you're on the phone," Arnold called after her. "I want to see just how much of a 'bad-ass' you think you can be today before I lay into you."

He heard Helga say something, probably a curse word, but couldn't make it out as she slammed the door to her room. "Bitch," Arnold growled before noticing Alice sitting there with wide eyes and a big smile. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be, I like it when adults curse at each other." the little girl bounced. "So tell me, before the crazy lady comes back, what's the story here?"

Arnold sighed, not looking in her direction. In the past few hours, he'd nearly forgotten all about how Alice was most likely his child. Seeing Helga again brought up so many emotions that the last few days were all a blank to him right now. Just how the hell was he planning to break the news to her? Should he just tell her right now? What harm could it do, it's not like she's going to be angry that he's her father...will she?

I know one thing, he thought to himself. Helga damn sure isn't going to say a thing, she's going to pretend it's nothing until I bring it up.

Arnold scowled again and shook his head, this wasn't getting him anywhere. He needed to take this whole process step by step. The first step was to catch Helga, and now that he's done that he needs to move on to the next step, which he himself wasn't sure what that was. He wanted it to be grilling Helga on what she did and giving her hell for it, but he knew that it wasn't as important as letting Alice know the truth.

"Hey Arnold," Alice's voice broke him from his thoughts. "What is it?"

"If it's alright with you," she began softly. "Can...can we talk about my parents again?"

Arnold furrowed his brow in confusion, where did that come from all the sudden? "Um...okay."

"You said that you know my mom," Alice continued. "But you didn't want to tell me until you were sure. Have got gotten any surer?"

"I said that I didn't want to get your hopes up."

"You also said you didn't want to get your hopes up either." Arnold gave her a strange look, he hadn't expected that she'd heard that last part. "I'm not stupid you know," the girl stared at him hard. "I may be only eight, but I'm smarter than people think. You know something, but you won't tell me, why is that?"

Arnold stared at her pleading eyes, feeling them tear through his heart painfully, and sighed. "It's not my place to tell you," he started. "Well, actually it kinda is, but...look, it's complicated."

Alice huffed, then quickly stood up and stomped in front of Arnold. "Alright," she sounded as if she had come to some sort of decision. "I'm going to ask you something, something very serious. Will you promise not to lie to me?"

"Um..."

"I want you to tell me the truth," she said. "I think I at least deserve to know this much. So will you be honest?"

The CEO slowly nodded his head as Alice moved in closer to him. "I've been wondering about this for a bit, since we met actually," she began. "I felt strange around you, like this connection or something. Every time I looked at you, I felt close and attached to you. At first I thought it was a little weird of me at first, but then I got this crazy idea in my head about you and more I thought about it, the more it kinda made sense."

She looked directly into his eyes. "What I wanted to ask you is...are you..." she bit her lip for a second. "Are you my papa?"

Arnold immediately stiffened at her question, his eyes widening and his mouth dropping in complete shock. He stared at the girl, who was blushing madly despite the determined look on her face. He also noticed she was trembling slightly and her lip was quivering, and looking into her bright blue eyes, he saw a flash of confusion, frustration and hopefulness.

"Um..." Arnold shifted slightly. "Alice, what-"

The sound of something dropping to the floor cut him off, forcing the two to look toward where the sound came from. Standing about halfway down the stairs was Helga, looking both shocked and angry at the same time.

"You told her?"

A/N: Well, this seems like a good place to end the chapter. I gotta say, I expected to make it a little longer, but the Gerald/Phoebe stuff was actually longer than I though. Ah well, I'm pleased with this chapter, are you? Well you know how to tell me, until next time.

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P.S.: Only 9 chapters and I've already got over 100 reviews? I gotta say thank you to all the people who read this, you know it's you guys that make this writing thing even more enjoyable. Without you, I'm just a guy making up scenarios about my favorite shows and characters. So yeah, thanks to everyone who reads, favorites, and/or reviews, you have no idea how happy it makes me as an author.