The arms of an angel

Chapter10:

Don't go chasing waterfalls. Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that your use to. I know that you're going to have your way or nothing at all. But I think your moving to fast.

~TLC, Waterfalls

It had been two days since the twins had been taken. Helga wasn't doing so well without them. Arnold, Gerald, and Phoebe were worried because she refused to leave the house. One day Arnold stopped by. Using the key underneath a plant on the stoop, he unlocked the door and walked in. He found Helga curled up on the couch with Rocky's head on her lap. She was flipping through a photo album. " Hey…" he said shooing away Rocky and sitting down.

She glanced at him, her blue eyes looked so tired and they were red. She had been crying.

" Have you gotten any sleep?" Arnold asked.

Helga said nothing and continued flipping through the book. He stared at the picture she was staring at. It was an old portrait style picture of her and Chad during their engagement party. He had his arms around her and she smiling wide. Helga turned the page to yet another photo of them. This time they were on the couch in their Los Angeles apartment. Chad had one arm wrapped around her waist while the other hand was resting on her "Baby Belly" so flatteringly called by her friends and family. There something Arnold noticed in this picture that he hadn't in the other. Helga's arms were bruised. " Did he beat you while you were pregnant?" he asked.

He looked up at her and could tell by the look on her face the answer was yes. After a long silence she said, " He told me that I used Trent and Jenna as an excuse to avoid him and to stay out all hours of the night. But that wasn't true. I hardly ever left the apartment without him alone. I was too scared to. And besides whenever I did leave I was always with him."

" Do you want me to stay here with you tonight?" he asked.

" No I'll be fine. I just need some alone time. That's all"

Arnold nodded then got up and her left her alone. As he walked down the sidewalk he thought about her. " She sure has changed," he thought.

This once pushy and bossy girl whose life mission was to make everyone around her miserable was now a woman stuck in a relationship most women can't get out of alive.

*****

Helga sighed. It was almost dinnertime and for the first time since the twins had been taken she was actually hungry. She went into the kitchen and made a sandwich. As she bit into it there was a knock on the backdoor. She opened it without thinking. Chad was standing there. She was about to slam the door close but stopped when she saw his eyes grow wide. They brimmed with tears. He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her waist. Burying his head into her stomach he began crying and saying I'm sorry over and over again. She stood there bewildered. He had never done this before…. He looked up at her, tears streaming down his cheeks, " What have I done to you?" he said, " I'm so sorry. I don't blame you for leaving."

That old familiar feeling began pulling at her heart. She got eye level with him, " You did hurt me…" she said gathering his hands into hers, " But not with just with your hands. With your broken promises too. I loved you and I trusted you."

" I know. I will get help. Hell I have been getting help. I ask you please give me one more chance…."

She stared hard into his eyes. They seemed sincere but then again all of his promises seemed sincere. " All right." she said after awhile.

She hugged him not noticing the evil glint in his eyes…