Arnold walked into his office the next day still feeling slightly woozy but determined to get back to his patients, one in particular. He asked that all his other appointments be bumped and that Helga be brought to his office immediately after breakfast. He had just sat down when the door opened and Claire walked in. Her gray dress and red shoes made her look classy, but still elegant as ever and she still walked like she owned the place.

"Arnold, I heard you went to the doctors yesterday. How did it go?" She asked shutting the door.

"Fine, just fine." He said setting down the carboard box he was carrying.

"What's in the box?" She asked.

"Nothing." He said.

"Look, I know you're mad at me, but I'm still your boss." She said crossing her arms.

"I'm not mad at you, I'm dissapointed." He said.

"I know and I'm sorry. What's in the box?" She asked.

"Okay, I'll tell you. When Helga had been missing I don't know seven, eight years something like that her parents decided to have kind of a memorial service for her. They went through her room looking for pictures and stuff they could use. They found things...personal things. The gave some things to her friends pictures of them and Helga, and these are the things her parents gave me." He said motioning at the box.

"You're going to give them back to her?"Claire said.

"I don't know, on one hand I'm hoping it will help to remind her of who she was, but one the other hand...she's not that person anymore." He said.

"It's risky, it can go either way. I'd say hold it for just awhile, get a feel for her and then decide if this is the jump she needs, or the push that sends her off the edge." Claire said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." He said.

"So tell me how it really went at the hospital." She said.

"I'm fine, it's stress. Nothing for you to worry about." He said.

"Arnold, don't over work yourself. Trust me the last thing you want in life is to wake up one day and realize that while you were building a career you let life pass you bye" She said.

"Look at you though, you have everything you want now. Jack is cray about you." Arnold said.

"Yeah, but it still cost a lot. I can't have children now, I'm too old. I missed out on a lot and that career doesn't keep you warm at night." She said.

"I don't need someone to keep me warm at night." Arnold said.

"I used to say the same thing, then I met Jack. You're going to meet someone Arnold, she's going to take your breath away. When she leaves the room you'll feel unbarably cold and alone...she'll be the one." Claire said.

There was a soft knock at the door before Arnold could reply and they both turned. The door opened and a nurse motioned Helga inside she smiled timidly at Claire but didn't make eye contact with Arnold.

"I think you may have already found her." Claire said softly, and it was then he realized he was staring.

Claire offers Helga a friendly smile on her way out of the office and shuts the door behind her. He takes a deep breath and three steps forward motioning to the couch nearby.

"Helga, I'm glad you came why don't you have a..."

He didn't have time to finish his sentence or his train of thought. The second he was close enough she grabbed his face with her hands, rose up onto her tip toes and kissed him. He grabs her arms with the intent of pushing her away, but instead her responds to her kissing. He slides his tongue across her lips and this time she opens hers without any hesitation. He wants her on his couch, his desk, his bed wherever he doesn't really care, but in the back of his mind he knows it's wrong. With a strength he didn't realize he possessed her pushed her away from him gently.

"This is wrong, okay? just stop." He said softly.

"But, after yesterday I thought..."She didn't finish and she didn't have to.

"I care about you I do, but this isn't right." He said.

"Why?"

"You're confused, you're lonely and you're reaching out and that's a good thing, but I can't help you and make love to you too." He said.

"I just I thought that..."She was getting upset he could see it in her eyes, the fear and confusion.

"I'm going to help you, and you're going to get out of here. When you do get out you're going to find a terrific guy to spend the rest of your life with, one who deserves to be your man. I'm not him." He said.

"Oh, okay." She moved to sit on the couch but her posture was stiff.

"I won't push you to say anything you don't want to." He said taking a seat on the chair across from her.

"I know." She said.

"How do you like your roommate?" He asked.

"I like her a lot, she's really nice." Helga said.

"I'm glad." He said with a smile.

"She's in love with that guy." She said.

"What guy?"Arnold asked.

"Leon, she's in love with him. She says she's not, but she just doesn't know it yet." She said with a shrug.

"You're very intuitive." He said.

"It's pretty obvoius, she's afraid though." She said.

"What do you think she's afraid of?" He asked.

"That she'll get hurt if she lets someone in again. That if she trusts another man, he'll hurt her." She said.

"What are you afraid of?" He asked.

"Bars, I'm afraid of living the rest of my life in a place I don't want to be." She said.

"You can get our of here if you try." He said.

"Then sign me out now, just do it." She said.

"I can't, you're not only not ready but Claire has to sign off on all patients being dismissed and she won't she knows you're not ready." He said.

"I am ready, I spent most of my life locked up, but I'm not stupid. I bet I know everything you do." She said.

"Okay, would you mind explaining that?" He asked.

"I was kept in a basement that much is true, but I still got a somewhat decent education. I may not have had graduations and stuff, but I was still given an education." She said.

"Your kidnapper gave you an education?" He asked not really believing it.

"Yes." She said softly.

"Can you tell me what happened? from the beginning? please?" He asked.

"I was walking home from school, he offered me a ride. Normally I wouldn't get into a car with a stranger but I knew him from my Dads work." She said.

"He worked with Big Bob?"He asked.

"For Big Bob. My dad, fired him for missing a day to attend his daughters piano recitle. Big Bob was always such a jerk to his employees, the man begged for his job but Bob wouldn't hear it. He tossed the man out and wouldn't even give him any recommendations." Helga said.

"That definitely sounds like Bob." Arnold said with a sigh.

"The man tried to get work but without a recommendation...he couldn't. His wife left him and she took their daughter with her. He remembered my dad always talking about his golden girl Olga...He wanted to hurt Bob like he'd been hurt. One day he saw me walking and saw his chance." She said.

"You're not Olga." Arnold said.

"Nope, kind of funny isn't it? All my life I never measured up to her...not to my parents, not in school nothing and one day I get kidnapped and even then it was a mistake, he wanted Olga and he got me." She said with a bitter laugh.

"Helga, you're better than Olga. You're amazing." He said.

"By the time he realized he had the wrong kid, he was in too deep. He didn't want to kill me, and I didn't want to go home...so...he kept me, and I stayed." She said softly.

"Wait...you stayed? Willingly?" Arnold asked.

"Yes." She said.

"Helga! Do you have any idea what you put everyone through? What I went through? your parents, your friends?" He stood up.

"He lost his daughter and my parents never wanted me. I stayed in the basement, but it wasn't like you think. It was nice down there like a small aparment really, I couldn't go upstairs we wer afraid someone would see me. He kept me fed, clothed and his daughter had been homeschooled so he kept paying tuition and I picked up her classes. It's not my name on the diploma, but it was me...he loved me." She said sadly.

"Helga, your parents loved you." Arnold said.

"No, they didn't nobody cared about me, nobody loved me." She said.

"I DID! I loved you, it almost killed me not knowing where you were. I thought you were dead Helga, dead. Everyone..."He said down running a hand through his hair. His chest was aching.

"I'm sorry." She said softly.

"No, I'm sorry I shouldn't have yelled." He said with a sigh.

"Bob was always so cold to me, and it made me cold too. People thought I didn't care and it didn't hurt when they said things about me but it did." She said with a choked sob.

"I know, Bob was a jerk. It's a common case of an abused child that acts out and runs away, you just had help." He said.

"I just, I'm so confused about everything. One minute I was just Helga the little sister of Olga Pataki and then one day I was somebodies daughter and I liked that. I knew something was wrong when I didn't see him one night. He always came down to see me before bed...he didn't come down...I knew the door to the basement was locked, so I waited. He never came." She said.

She started to cry and he wasn't sure if she was crying for the life she gave up as a child, or the life she had lived and lost. He suddenly realized that Helga had lived a life most kids would die for. Someone had loved her while he was hating them for taking her.

"Helga, I'm sorry." He said.

"The days all rolled together...how long was he gone before they found me?" She asked looking up at him through teary eyes.

"A few days." He admitted.

"I could have died down there, and who would have know? Everyone thought I was dead already." She said.

"Your parents love you. Your mom...never gave up...your father missed you. He offered a ransom bigger than most to get you home. He wants a relationship with you, he's ready now." He said.

"I'm not ready." She said.

"That's okay." He said.

"Maybe I never will be." She said with a shrug.

"That's okay too, but this is your life now. You decided where you're going from here...don't stop here Helga. Don't just roll over and give up now...this place isn't where you belong." He said.

"Did you really like me in school?"She asked wiping her eyes.

"Yes, I suppose it started right after FTI, but I never really got the chance to tell you."He said.

"All those wasted years...I never got to tell you how I felt either." She said.

"Well...you kind of did."

He stood up and moved to his desk lifting the cardboard box he carried it over and sat it at her feet. He sat down beside her on the couch opening the lid.

"Your parents gave a few things to Phoebe, and...they found this stuff. They thought I should have it, I don't know why I kept it all these years...but I learned so much about you." He said.

She looked in the box and saw dozens of her little pink books, her locket, and a red shoe. She lifted a book and touched the cover gently. She poured her soul into those books.

"So, you know how I felt about you?"She asked picking up a book.

"Yeah." He said softly.

"I haven't changed that much..."She said.

"Helga..."He was getting ready to protest when she interrupted him.

"I know we can't, I know. Can you just...let me sit here with you for a little while, and pretend that maybe we have a future?" She asked.

"Come here." He said.

She moved closer and he wrapped his arms around her pulling her close to him. He took a deep breath inhaling the scent of her hair, and feeling the softness of her body pressed against his. She fit in his arms like she was born to be there. She gripped his waist like he was the only thing keeping her afloat in her sea of trouble and he liked that feeling.

They sat there until his arms grew tired and his back began to ache. It was then he noticed her deep, even breathing. She was asleep and he didn't want to move her, he wanted her close and suddenly he realized he was exausted as well. He glanced at his watch to see he had a few hours before he saw Irene.

Careful not to disturb her sleep he manuevered her to lay down on the couch, and then carefully he laid down beside her, pinning her body between his and the back of the couch. Confident she wouldn't fall off and that she was comfortable he allowed himself to relax.

The first few months after she disappeared he didn't get a single nights sleep. He laid awake in his bed praying that she would be returned to him. He almost laughed at the irony of her being returned and his job being to keep her at arms lenght when all he really wanted to do was sweep her off her feet, carry her to his house, lock her in his arms and hold her there so that nobody could ever take her away again.

She wiggled closer to him in her sleep pressing her small body against his and he closed his eye absorbing the feeling. Her soul and his fully integrated for one blissful day. He closed his eyes and let himself sink into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Arnold woke up somewhere around two hours later. Helga was still asleep and it took some careful manuevering to get off the couch without waking her. When he was fully standing he cracked his back and rubbed a hand through his hair. What was he doing? letting her sleep in his arms wasn't exactly proffesional, but he couldn't be anything other than her therapist.

He debated waking her up but decided against it. He checked his watch and decided that another hour of sleep wouldn't hurt her. He left her alone in his office to go find Claire.

When he reached her office he found Claire sitting on her couch. Her head was buried in her hands and she looked exausted. He sat down beside her putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey." He said softly.

"Hey."She said with a sigh.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"I'm just tired. I was out late last night, and I came in early." She said.

"Oh, out with Jack?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Can we talk?" He asked.

"Sure, about what?" She asked leaning back on the couch.

"Helga." He said.

"Ah, I figured. How's it going with her?" She asked.

"She's been lying all this time. She was kidnapped, but she wanted to stay with him. She didn't think anybody cared, she liked being there." He said.

"I see. How does that make you feel?" Claire asked.

"I'm hurt, how could she do this?" He asked.

"Did she know how you felt about her? Back then?" Claire asked.

"No." He admitted.

"Well then...didn't you say her parents were abusive?" She asked.

"Yes, they were classic emotional abusers. I can see why she wanted away from them I can..."He sighed.

"But you're upset she left you?" Claire asked.

"I know it's ridiculous to feel that way. I'm her therapist, but I can't help feeling completely blindsided by this." He stood and began to pace the room.

"Arnold, you're the best therapist I know. You're talented, smart and you know your patients better than they know themselves, but you're getting too close to her. Once you cross that line of being a friend and being a proffesional it's easy to forget what side you're on." She said.

"It gets worse than that." He said.

"What?" She asked.

"I think I'm falling in love with her." He said.

"Really? I was under the impression you always have been." She said with a shrug.

Arnold returned to his office and waking Helga and dismissing her, he calle for Irene to be brought in. His talk with Claire didn't do much to help his feelings for Helga, if anything they had intensified. Irene stepped into his office closing the door softly behind her she moved to sit in the chair infront of his desk.

"Would you like to sit on the couch?" He asked.

"No, thank you." She said softly.

"So, how are you doing?" He asked leaning his arms on his desk.

"I've been okay. Have you had any news on Steve?" She asked.

"His parents posted bail, I suspect he'll be out of jail in a few days." He said reluctant to tell her.

"He'll come get me." She said, more of a statement than anything.

"Yes, he will. How does that make you feel?" He asked.

"I don't know...I don't think I love him anymore." She said softly.

"Why is that?" He asked.

"Not all men hit...I thought they did, but they don't." She replied.

"No, they don't." He agreed.

"Maybe, I could find a man who didn't hit me. Maybe, there's someone out there for me...someone who would love me." She said with a shrug.

"I'm sure there is." He said.

"I don't know, but I'm feeling better about everything." She said.

"I'm glad." He said honestly.

"Leon, he's been awful good to me. He reminds me of how my father used to treat my mother." She said with a small smile.

"What happened to your father?" Arnold asked.

"I don't know, when I was little about ten we left. Mom and I, we just left I don't know why. I never saw him again, I don't even know if he's alive." She said.

"What was his name?" Arnold asked grabbing a piece of paper.

"What?" She asked.

"Your father...what's his name? I'll find out for you." He said.

"You would do that for me?" She asked.

"Of course." He said.

"Lucas, Lucas Bach." She said.

"I'll look into it. In the meantime I don't want you to worry about Steve too much. It's going to be at least two days until he gets out." He said.

"Thank you doctor." She stood and moved from the office.

He took a deep breath leaning back in his desk chair he had the odd sensation that he had hear the name Lucas Bach before, though he couldn't place it.

Irene came out of the office and Helga was waiting for her in the hall way. She pushed away from the wall and fell into step beside her.

"How did it go?" Helga asked.

"Steve made bail. He'll be coming for me." Irene said with a sigh.

"You're not going with him are you?" Helga asked.

"I don't have a choice." Irene said shaking her head.

"Yes, you do." Helga said.

"Yeah? what live here forever?" Irene asked.

"No. Leon likes you, I'm sure he'd help you. Arnold would help you." Helga said.

"They're nice guys, but I can handle Steve. Besides I have to go back, he's my husband." Irene said.

"Irene..."Helga was about to argue when Irene interrupted her.

"He'll kill Leon, if he finds out...He'll kill him, Helga. I can handle Steve." Irene said.

"He'll kill you as soon as he gets you home." Helga said.

"Maybe, but he loves me...and he's my husband." Irene replied.

"What about Leon?" Helga asked.

"He's just trying to be nice to me. That's all when I'm gone, he'll sweet talk someone else." Irene said.

Helga stopped walking but Irene continued. Helga knew that Leon was madly in love with Irene, and it wasn't a hard guess that Irene felt the same. Until one of them admitted it to the other the it was pointless to argue with either of them. She threw her hands up in exasperation and turned on her heel heading towards the television room.

Irene stepped into the cafeteria and saw Leon approaching. He smiled at her and she forced herself to smile back past the lump in her throat. He was soo nice, and good. She couldn't allow herself to believe that someone like him could ever have any real feelings for someone like her. He reached her side and handed her a tray. She was about to speak when a nurse approached carrying a paper cup with the tiny pill that she had been told not to take.

"Here you go Irene." The nurse smiled setting the pill on the tray.

"Thank you." Irene said hoping the nurse would leave.

"Can you take it please?" The nurse asked.

"I'll make sure she takes it." Leon spoke up.

"Sorry, I'd feel better checking myself." The nurse said.

Both sets of eyes turned to Irene. She looked at Leon for any hint of what she should do. Most nurses would allow Leon to make sure she took it, and others didn't do a thorough enough check, but Sally was thorough. There was no way Irene could hold it in her mouth and Sally not find it. Leon winced clearly out of ideas, Sally smiled waiting excpectantly. Irene swallowed her throat suddenly dry. An idea sprung to her mind, it was a long shot and would get her in trouble, but she had no choice. Less than confident in her plan she put it to action before she could change her mind.

With a shaky hand she picked up the tiny paper cup. She took a deep breath and looked at Leon. She tossed back the pill and the second it hit her tongue she made her move. She dropped the tray she was holding and launched herself at Leon. Her lips sealed over his and was she intended as a short kiss went out the window.

His arms slid easily around her waist despite the shock. His lips instantly responded to hers, she should have pulled away isntantly but she wanted more. She let out a small moan and deepened the kiss. She'd never get enough ever.

Almost as quickly as it began it stopped. Sally grabbed her arm tearing her from Leons. She began yelling and nurses ran from everywhere. Irene stared at Leon he looked completely blown away by what she had done.

"I'm sorry." She said in a voice low enough only he could hear.

He didn't say anything and she dropped her head. The nurses dragged her down the hall towards solitary confinement screaming about her attacking Leon. As they shoved her inside the small padded room she took a second to herself. Remembering his strong arms around her, his firm, soft lips pressed so deeply against hers. She felt herself shivering at the thought.

As soon as the nurses were out of sight Leon spit the tiny pill into his hand. Irene had slipped it into his mouth the second her lips pressed his, but even knowing why she kissed him he was reluctant to let her go. There had been an attraction between them since day one, but it still hadn't prepared him for the jolt of electricity he felt when her lips touched his.

Arnold stood staring at the file on his desk in shock. He ran a hand through his hair not wanting to believe what he was readin. The name Lucas Bach was written in the short choppy handwriting of the police report.

According to the official statement he had no relatives to contact and lived alone. He knew now that wasn't true, but what blew him away was the report itself.

Lucas Bach had been found dead in his livingroom, and Helga G Pataki had been found alive in his basement.

AUTHOR NOTE: So, I did this before in Shattered Sunlight and it went over really well, so I'm going to make it a common thing in my stories. If you have ANY questions at all please leave them in the form of A. a review or B. a PM and I will answer them here below the following chapter. We will do this right up until the last chapter. You can ask any question and I'll happily answer it in the next chapter. I can't wait to hear the questions you all have for me, and anything goes.

AUTHOR NOTE 2: I know this is getting pretty Irene/Leon heavy so with this chapter I leaned more towards Arnold/Helga. We will be getting more Arnold/Helga very soon, but Leon/Irene needed to have their time too. They will be a center pillar at one point in this story. Clarie/Jack will resurface too in this fiction. I'm sorry if you feel cheated by all the Leon/Irene that was going on, but I promise Helga/Arnold is coming up very soon.