Being fully consumed by Stella's story, Helga felt her heart jump at the sound of the hard knock that had seemingly stopped time, resonating throughout the entirety of the frat house. The knock was strong and purposeful, and she could even tell it was a bit impatient. Out of the corner of her vision, she saw Arnold's shoulders tense beneath his shirt, also hearing his knuckles crack from the sound of him tightening his fists. "Shit." He murmured angrily.

Scared silent, Helga looked back toward the door, where she could see Arnie walking through the foyer toward the door. She found herself creeping forward, taking her steps as silently as she could until she was by his side, aching to reach out to him to try and sooth him. But she couldn't manage it. She simply stayed by his side and watched as Arnie reached for the knob and pulled it open.

Her eyes landed upon a rather tall man, his height towering over Arnie, whom was Arnold's height, at least a foot. He had on dark blue denim jeans and a plaid flannel shirt tucked into them, it's sleeves rolled up his forearms, a thick layer of dark hair covering them. The man's jaw was very square, and he had a dark roughage of five o'clock shadow, his hair dusty brown cut short, but still wafting out in front of him in a few short spikes. One thing was for sure, he looked intimidating.

Helga watched, along with Stella, whom Helga had felt step up to her side, as the man stepped through the door and placed a hand on Arnie's shoulder, his expression not changing from the hard stare he had on. That must be his father. She didn't want to be so quick to judge, but she could see why Arnold might have a hard time getting along with this man, considering who Arnold is. Arnie offered the man a small smile and averted his eyes down to the floor as the man passed in front of him, pacing his way further into the foyer, leaving Arnie to slowly slide the front door shut, turning around to follow him after he did so.

She could hear them talking under their breath, and she couldn't make out what they were saying, but after seeing Arnie nod his head towards the room her, Arnold and Stella were in, she knew it was obviously about them. "Who's that?" She heard Stella ask in a low voice.

Helga looked over to her, seeing her leaning over to whisper in her ear. She looked back to Arnie and what she was only guessing was his father, and answered, "I think that's your brother."

"I don't have a brother." She replied quickly.

"Then I'm guessing it's your brother in-law." Helga said, her mind quickly correcting the details of Arnold's slowly blossoming family tree.

"But Miles didn't have a..." Stella trailed off. Helga looked over when she didn't continue after a moment, and saw a faraway look in her eyes, looking away from her. Helga turned to look at Arnold to see if he had an explanation to offer her, but saw him still standing rigidly where he was before, his shoulders tense. Her eyes went up to his eyes, and she saw an emotion that she couldn't exactly place, but it wasn't a welcoming one.

Everything seemed to be shooting through her mind all at once, and she realized that none of what was happening was actually registering in her brain. She was startled out of it, however, by the sound of someone clearing their throats in front of them. Her eyes snapped over to Arnie, who was standing a could feet away from them, his eyes on her, then darting over to Stella. His eyes remained on Stella, but Helga looked past him to the man who was slowly pacing his way into the room. "This is her." She heard him say, raising his hand up to Stella.

The loud sound of the man's work boots stepping up beside Arnie were deafening. His eyes forewent going to her, going past her instead to land on Arnold, his expression still menacingly blank. "I have to say, Arnold, I'm surprised you're still here." He said just before his hand shot up, tossing something in his direction. Arnold was quick to react and catch them with one hand, seemingly expecting the action. Arnold opened his hand and she saw that he was holding a set of car keys. "That junker was taking up room in my shed."

She heard Arnold let out a long sigh and stuff the car keys into his pocket.

The man's looked back to Stella, with Helga still remaining unnoticed. "What was your husbands name?" He asked her, lifting his head in a nod.

"Miles David Shortman." Stella answered quickly, her brow in a furrowing line. There was a long moment of thick silence before Stella's voice was cutting through it, "Who are you?"

"I was his older brother. Name's Arthur Phillip Shortman." He said. His tone said that he was extending his hand for her to shake, but he never did. Stella didn't reply, only remained quiet, looking over to Arthur with a furrow in her brow. "Let me guess. Big hero never mentioned me?"

Helga looked over to Stella in time to see her shake her head.

"Don't surprise me." He said, pursing his lips. "Well," He began on a sigh, "come on, we have a long drive back." Arthur turned around and started heading for the door.

"She's not going anywhere!" Arnold spoke up for the first time since his uncle walked through the door. Helga quickly looked over to him, seeing him boring his eyes into Arthur. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Arthur halted, seeming surprised that he was being stood up to.

"Boy, I just drove four hours to get here. Unless you want to send your mother back out on the streets, she's coming with me." Arther said with blatant frustration.

"What happens to my mother is not your concern, Arthur. I'll take care of it."

"Boy-"

"I said I'll take care of it!" Arnold stopped him. "I'm not letting you take her from me." He said through clenched teeth, briefly seeing his eyes start to reflect a little more light than normal.

"Arnold," Arnie began, stepping around his father and up to his cousin, "she can't stay here. This is a frat house."

Arnold simply sent him an angry glare, "I said... I'll take care of it." With a brief thought of what exactly he was going to do, Helga was still fighting the urge to reach out to him to try and relax him, knowing that simply her touch would alleviate his stress, at least she liked to think so. "You can go now, Arthur." Arnold said darkly looking past Arnie and over to Arthur, who was standing in the entryway with his arms crossed with indifference.

Arthur shook his head widely as he turned around and started for the door, raising his arms in surrender to the situation. "Fine, but this was a one time offer, boy. So don't come crying back to me when you have no where else to go."

"Trust me, it will be a cold day in hell when that happens!" Arnold shouted in reply just as his uncle was throwing the front door open, not bothering to shut it behind him.

There was another minute of pause as all eyes in the room went to the ajar door that Arthur had just walked out through. Helga's eyes broke away from the day light outside when she saw Arnie's shoulders sink, and she watched him lower his head with a heavy sigh and start out of the room. When she saw Arnie trudge his way up the stairs, she looked over to her boyfriend, whom was still glaring at the doorway, and reached over, placing her hand fully to his shoulder, running her palm over his taut muscles on his back in a long, slow circle, hoping to sooth him.

After a few motions of her hands, feeling his breath start to slow down from the silent yet angry huffs he was breathing before, she turned to face him fully and stepped up to him, reaching down with her other hand to force his hand to unclench so she could entwine their fingers. "You okay?" She asked softly, lowering her head to try and make eye contact with him.

His head fell forward as he let out a short breath, feeling his fingers grasp hers back. "Yeah." He said in a low and very unconvincing voice, not meeting her eyes. Now was not the time to push him into confessing his real feelings and forcing him to bare his soul to her yet again. She simply looked away and kept running her hand over his back in a motion of comfort. "You don't have to if you don't want to, but if you're at all willing, I'd like for you to come with me."

She felt her brow push together in curiosity, her hand pausing in the middle of his upper back, "Come with you where?"

She felt him sigh underneath her hand, his muscles softening a bit before he turned his head toward her and looked her in the eye for what felt like the first time in days. "Home."

Helga practically ran back to her dorm room and threw a set of clothes in her backpack, which she had haphazardly emptied onto her bed with a few forceful shakes. She flung her backpack over her shoulder while she ran back down the hall and out the door toward the parking lot where he was waiting.

Apparently, Arnold had purchased an old Jeep Wrangler that was advertised in the paper as a means of transportation to and from work when he left high school and ran away. It was white with the paint starting to rust around the edges a bit. It was a two door with a small back seat, where she would cram herself out of courtesy, letting Stella take the front. Arnold had the top down with the sound of an upbeat song playing through the speakers. It was a bit of a drive back down to his hometown, but she was more than willing to go.

Helga tossed her bag in the backseat just as Stella was stepping out to pull the seat forward to let her slide in. She pulled herself in and sat herself down in the middle. She caught Arnold's eyes in the rear view mirror and smiled brightly, seeing the corners of his lips curl, his eyes softening while she fumbled to find the seat belt. Helga head Stella close her door and felt Arnold put the car into gear. "There isn't one." He said after he turned down the music.

"What?" She asked, his words not fully registering over her panic to find the seat belt.

"There isn't a seat belt back there." He said as he took the turn onto the school's main driveway.

"Oh." She replied simply, reaching down to grasp the edges of her seat. "So, where exactly are we going?" She asked as they pulled to the stoplight at the end of the driveway, waiting to turn.

"Back to the boarding house I grew up in." Helga saw Stella's head whip around to look at him with wide eyes. Arnold looked toward her briefly before he leaned forward to make sure he had the right of way before he floored the gas and took off down the road. "You can stay there." He said, looking over to his mother again for a second before turning toward the road again.

"But Arnold..."

"Calm down, Mom." He said, this time not taking his eyes off the road. Helga heard Stella gasp slightly, and it took a second for it to hit her that Arnold had just called her Mom. "Before Grandma and Grandpa passed, they had set aside a substantial amount money in their savings, which I took ownership of when I became of age. I've been using a little of it to pay what little tuition I have left over from scholarships, and I still had some money saved from when I was working demolition. It's enough for you to get by for a while."

She could feel Stella struggling for words, but she was left speechless. After Stella had turned back to face the front, she craned her neck a bit and looked down to her lap. "Thank you... sw-sweetheart." She said, obviously nervous to call her son by a name other than his own. Despite the blatant nervousness in her voice, it warmed Helga's heart to hear her say it.

She looked over to Arnold, bracing herself for his reaction, only to see him stare out onto the freeway he had just merged onto. She waited a minute for him to reply in some acknowledgement of her gratefulness, but he never did.

There was a long ten minutes of silence, save for the wind rushing over the top. "What was he like?" Arnold asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. Stella's eyes flew over to her son, surprised that he was talking to her, and it was a moment before she seemed to realize what he had asked her, immediately seeing sadness and grief creep into her features, but knowing what he was asking, and who he was asking about.

"He was very brave... and very kind. He always went out of his way to help others. He would always do whatever he had to to get people to smile. He was very honorable, and loyal, and loving." Stella paused, sniffling over the congestion of her emotions before she continued, "And he loved you more than I could tell you." She said, looking over to him. Helga saw that she was wracked with emotion, her eyes heavily red rimmed. "He wanted to tell you that, before he-"

"Don't tell me how he died." Arnold stopped her sternly. "I don't want to know. I just need to know one thing." Arnold said, pulling to a stop at a gas station, with the quick thought that she must have been so wrapped up in the conversation that she didn't notice he had pulled off the highway. Arnold pulled the key out and the jeep's engine stopped, and he looked over to her, "Why did you have them lie to me?"

"What do you mean?" Stella asked him, her voice still heavily soiled with unshed tears.

"Grandpa told me that you disappeared when you flew to South America to help a tribe of suffering natives. Why did they lie to me? Why not just tell me the truth?"

"That's what they told you?" Stella asked, seeming honestly surprised. After a moment, Stella let out a breath, hearing slight amusement laced into it, "Your grandmother always did have a very wild imagination." Stella sniffled again and let her eyes fall back down to her lap, picking at her unfiled nails. "I think I remember now. Whenever we found out about this experimental treatment for your father's disease, he called your grandparents up and told them about it. Your grandmother asked him what they were supposed to tell you if he didn't make it. I think I remember him telling her that she wouldn't have to say anything, because he was going to make it back. But I remember pulling her aside and telling her to say anything except him being sick. I didn't want you to remember your father that way."

"I don't remember him at all, so what was the point in me being lied to?"

"You have to understand, sweetheart, we never imagined that things could turn out the way they did. But I can tell your grandparents did an amazing job raising you."

"My grandparents are dead!" Arnold said darkly. "They were murdered in cold blood when I was ten. Do you have any idea how many nightmares I have about the night I had to identify their bodies? I cried out for you, for anyone to pull me back up from that cold floor that night and you know what I got? I half-assed apology and my soul ripped out." He threw open his door and slammed is shut, making her jump as she watched him storm his way up to the doors of the gas station

Feeling her heart start to crack, Helga was brought out of her reeling thoughts, debating whether to go after him or not, by the sound of a choked sob. Helga looked back over to Stella just in time to see her shoulders wrack, and before she knew what she was doing, her hand was reached up and being placed on Stella's shoulder. She had to say something. She knew he was just speaking out of frustration and anger that he had been abandoned. She knew that it would take sometime for him to fully realize that Stella, given the choice again, would have never left at all. "He's been through a lot."

"I should have been there." She said on another choked sob.

"You're here now. And he's just hurting right now. It's been a stressful couple of days for all of us so far. Just... give him time, and he'll come around." Helga told her warmly, earning Stella's eyes. She smiled over to the woman whose eyes were still soaked with tears. "Trust me, he'll come around soon enough."