Where We're From
By Arnoldnhelga4eva
Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold.
Hey, sorry it was like three weeks for this story, but I haven't gotten around to typing till just recently, and posting it till tonight. Anyway, here's chapter 7. You're in for a big surprise toward the end.
Oh, and don't mind anything I say about football, because I'm completely clueless when it comes to that game. I know nothing about it, except the different positions and some things people have attempted to teach me.
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Chapter Seven: Broken Dreams
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Helga and Arnold watched Jeana sleep more peacefully now, in an air tent. Arnold hugged Helga and wiped her tears away as Helga held Jeana's hand. It had scared Helga and Arnold so much. She had looked like she was choking on air, but it was really something else. She had croup.
Helga recalled the conversation they had with the doctor, about when Jayme had woken them up with her cries.
'I think she knew her sister was in trouble but couldn't say anything, so Jayme told you for her. Twins have a strange intuition. Jayme saved her sister's life.'
She had, though. If it hadn't been for Jayme crying in the night, they would have found Jeana the next morning, dead. Life is cruel, but you need to hit back every curve ball thrown at you.
Phoebe and Gerald entered the room, carying Jayme. Helga and Arnold smiled up at them, Helga wiping a few tears back.
'Look,' Arnold said to Jayme, 'It's our little hero.' Helga smiled and gave Jayme a small kiss on the nose.
'You take it after your father, don't you?' Helga said as new tears formed in her eyes. The doctor returned and checked Jeana's vitals. He smiled, putting hope in their eyes.
'Well, I think she's about ready to go home,' everyone in the room smiled. 'She's breathing normally again so just check up on her so she doesn't have a hard time breathing again. If it happens again, you can take her outside when it's cold, but remember to bundle her up. If it's warm out, put the shower running as hot as it can go and let the mucus break itself up. She should be fine otherwise.' The doctor smiled. Helga and Arnold thanked him and started to get their things to leave as the doctor wrote Jeana a prescriptoin for her medication. That awful twenty four hour wait was over, and Jeana was well enough to come home.
*~^~*
Sean looked down at his hands, then back up at the audience, with a lone tear flowing down his cheek. Jeana and Jayme started to cry, because they knew what Sean would say next.
'Jeana wasn't the only one to go to the hospital that specific year.'
*~^~*
Helga and Gerald crowded around the TV, watching Arnold's game in Denver. Their team was on fire that day. Arnold alone had made a total of five touchdowns by half time, and they were now into the third quarter.
Arnold ran down the field; the men from the other team chasing him. Helga started shouting, as if somehow Arnold could hear her.
'C'mon football head! Run! Run! Run!' Gerald was equally excited.
'C'mon buddy! Make another touchdown!' Arnold was almost to the field mark when the linebacker from the other team started to catch up to him.
'No! No! Go away you fat slob!' Helga yelled at the other team, 'you'll never catch him! C'mon run, Arnold run!' The guy caught up with Arnold and tackled him from behind, as fell on the ground. Helga could swear at that same moment, she could hear a faint sharp cry of pain coming from him. Helga got up off the chair and ran over to the TV.
'No, no! Is he okay?!' she started yelling. Gerald got up as well.
'Oh no, he can't move! That's not good! Get off of him!' Gerald yelled at the other team's player even though he knew the man couldn't hear Gerald. But almost as if he could hear Gerald's command, the man got up, off of Arnold. Arnold lay there still, not moving. Helga became hysterical.
'No! No! What happened!? What the hell happened!?' she broke down and began to bawl. Gerald hugged her, hoping himself that Arnold was okay. Hearing Helga's cries, Phoebe rushed into the living room with one of the twins.
'What's wrong!? What happened?' she asked frantically.
Gerald pointed to the TV, 'Arnold got hurt, but we don't know what happened yet. He's not moving.' Phoebe's eyes grew with every word Gerald said. She put Jeana in the play pen and rushed over to the TV to see what was wrong. The announcer spoke.
'Well, it looks like the NFL's MVP has been hurt, pretty badly too.'
'Yeah, who knew Sampson could put so much power into a single tackle! Wait, we're getting a report on what is happening,' Helga, Gerald and Phoebe gazed up at the TV, staring at it intently. The screen switched back to Arnold, with medics and his team mates all around him.
'They think he may have either dislocated some joints in his back, or broken his back all together. That can't be good,' Helga's eyes flooded and she broke down again.
'No! No! He loves football! This can't be happening!' Helga screamed at the TV, pounding the ground with her fists. Phoebe and Gerald looked at one another, not knowing what to do. Gerald looked over at the TV and saw them carrying Arnold away. His eyes filled with tears and he too broke down. Phoebe hugged her husband, but during that time they hugged they never noticed Helga putting the twins in their carseats, and heading for the airport. Helga had, however, left a tear stained note so they would know where they were.Denver.
~^~
Helga wheeled the stroller into the Denver hospital, with tear stained eyes. She went to the front desk, completely hysterical.
'Where's Arnold Finnigan, the football player who got injured!? What room is he in!?' the receptionist looked up at Helga, shocked.
'Ma'am, we will tell all the fans how Arnold is when.wait a minute,' she said as she looked at Helga intently, who had taken a moment from her tears to glare at the receptionist,' I've seen you on TV, with those twins, and Finnigan.' she stopped for a moment to put it all together, 'You're his wife!'
'You got that right bucko,' Helga said, obviously annoyed, 'Now can I go see my husband now?' The receptionist clicked some things on her computer, and shook her head.
'I'm sorry, but he is in surgery right now.' Helga looked at her shocked,' They've been working on his back now for about.I believe it says here.three hours. They'll be out soon. Take this pager and we'll page you when he gets to recovery.' Helga nodded and thanked the receptionist, and sat down on a chair and looked at her twins. What if their father had been paralyzed, and could never hug them again? What if he could never play football again? Tears formed in her eyes as she thought about all the worst scenarios going wrong. What if he died?
~^~
A while later, Helga was watching her twins sleep, as she started to nod off too, the pager buzzed, shocking her. When she finally realized what it was, she smiled slightly and wheeled the stroller over to the receptionist. Before she could make it to the desk, somebody stopped her.
'Are you Helga Pataki?' the kid, looking in her late teens asked Helga. Helga just nodded sadly. When writing, she kept her maiden name, just as a penname.
'Can I get your autograph? You're my favorite author.' Helga tried to smile.
'Sure,' she said, pulling a pen out of her purse and wrote a message on the paper the girl gave her.
'Which book did you like better?' Helga asked the girl. She didn't even have to think twice.
' "Unrequited Love" because it reminds me of when I was little and I picked on a boy I really liked.' Helga smiled slightly. That book had won an award on the national level. Her other book, "Letters for Him," didn't do AS well, but it was still a major success.
'I-I need to go, but thanks,' the girl said before leaving,' I love your twins. I watched the news special on TV. They're really cute.' Helga had to smile.
'Thanks.' She said before walking the rest of the way up to the receptionist's desk. The receptionist smiled at Helga, which gave her some relief.
'The doctors have him up in recovery right now. They say that his surgery went well, and that he should be waking up soon.' Helga smiled and yet, more tears touched her eyes.
'He's just fine, he's just tired,' The receptionist said, 'We'll have someone bring you up to him.' Helga smiled as her tears flowed down her face. Arnold was okay.
~^~
Helga walked into the curtain area where Arnold was laying with an IV in his arm, and tubes coming out of his mouth. He looked stiff from the brace that covered his back; almost a body cast. She left the twins at the front of the curtained off area and walked over to his bedside. She took his hands that seemed so lifeless and stroked it with her own hand. She spoke to him softly.
'Hey football head,' she sniffed back a few tears and continued, 'Well, you did your team well today. You made so many touchdowns for them, I was watching.' As if he could hear her, his eyes opened slowly, confusedly. The first thing he saw was a blurry image of Helga, smiling down at him.
'H-H-He' he tried to talk, but the tubes in his throat wouldn't allow him to.
'Shhhhh,' she said, 'don't talk. You're okay now. Just relax,' she touched his cheek with her hand and he closed his eyes at her touch. Suddenly his eyes shot back open.
'J-Je-Ja,' he sputtered and somehow she understood him. She smiled and pointed toward the front of the curtain where their one-and-a-half-year- olds sat restlessly in their stroller.
'They're right here Arnold. It's okay. We love you, you're okay,' she said and kissed his forehead. He smiled at her best he could with all those tubes, and from being on the anesthesia. Everything was so blurry, but somehow Helga seemed so clear to him, even when a nurse walked in, Helga was the only thing in focus. He couldn't see Jeana or Jayme because that would require moving, something he couldn't quite do at the moment. The nurse checked his vitals, and then walked over to the other side of Arnold's bed.
'I think we're ready for your tubes to come out. Do you want me to take those out?' Arnold nodded weakly from the lack of neck movement. The nurse nodded back and grabbed one of the tubes,' okay, this may feel a bit strange and it may hurt a little, but it'll only take a second,' she started to pull one tube out, the tube that went to his stomach. It felt like somebody had shoved their hand down his throat, and was now pulling their arm out as slowly as possible. It scratched his throat and he gagged as she pulled it completely out. She smiled at him.
'One down, one to go.'
Great, Arnold thought as she worked on the next tube that went to his lungs. She got that one out too, and the doctor came into the curtain area. Helga looked over at the doctor. He stuck out his hand and shook it.
'Hello, I'm Dr. Stevenson,' Helga nodded and smiled a little, 'I'm sorry we couldn't come tell you how your husband was doing before, but the hospital is completely swamped today. We had to tend to another emergency.' Helga nodded.
'Is he going to be okay?' she whispered, 'What happened?' Dr. Stevenson took a long deep breath and continued.
'Well, when the player tackled him, it moved some of his vertebrae out of place, severely. We've never seen anything as serious as his condition. The only thing we could think of was surgery. We fixed his spine, and relocated his vertebrae, but I don't think he'll ever play football again, unless he wants to risk having this happen again.' Helga's heart stopped, her blood ran cold and all the color drained from her face. Never play football again? What, was this man crazy!? Arnold was the best player in the NFL.
'W-w-what did you just say!?' she demanded, tears flooding her eyes again. Dr. Stevenson looked down, as if he should be ashamed of something.
'I'm sorry, but he'll never be able to play at a professional level again.' Helga looked over at Arnold, then down at the ground and nodded, accepting the awful fact that he could never do what he loved ever again, not ever.
'We should probably get him to a room,' the doctor said. Helga nodded in concurrence, but very sorrowfully. Dr. Stevenson could tell that she didn't want him to find out about the bad news. Dr. Stevenson himself was a fan of Arnold. He was going to go to the game in Denver, but got called in to work an extra shift because of the chaos the hospital was right now. He looked over at Arnold. He was treating, and operated on his favorite player of all time, and now.the best player could never play again.
'Do you want me to tell him, or do you want to tell him?' Helga looked up at the doctor. Tears poured down her cheeks. His wife, as a matter of fact, was a big fan of Helga. She loved her books. Helga hung her head.
'I-I want to tell him,' she said, looking back over at Arnold who was sleeping again. Dr. Stevenson nodded as some nurses came in and started to whel Arnold out of the curtain area. Before they left, Helga thanked Dr. Stevenson once again, and took the stroller and followed her husband.
~^~
'Was it bad?' Arnold asked, much more awake now. Helga bounced Jayme on her knee and looked down at the ground.
'I've never been more scared in my life, except for when Jeana went to the hospital.'
Arnold nodded, then sighed. 'It's gonna be a long time till I can get back up to my level and play again.' Helga couldn't look at him. She started to cry. She walked over to the stroller and put Jayme next to her sister. Jeana was sleeping soundly, very surprising because of how loud Helga's cries were. Helga abandoned the stroller and walked into the bathroom in his room. Arnold's denseness kicked in again.
'Helga, what's wrong?' Helga regained her composure and came back out. She shook her head.
'You can never play again,' she said sadly.
Those words shocked him and felt like a thousand bullets to the chest. Never play football again? Tears started to well up in his eyes, and Helga ran over to his side and took one of his hands in hers.
'No, don't cry Arnold. It'll be okay. We'll think of something.'
Arnold shook his head. 'But I-'
'Look Arnold,' She interjected gently, 'the doctor said that if you do any more damage to your spine, you could severely break your back, or something like that. He said you can't ever play again.' He didn't believe her, this couldn't be true. Maybe she was just protecting him.but she knew how much he loved it.
'Y-yes I can,' he said. She shook her head, but he continued, 'when my back heals, I'll go back to practice and work twice as hard. I can do it, I can still play football.'
She shook her head again. 'I wish I could tell you to continue looking on the bright side, but there is no bright side here. You CAN'T play football anymore. This is one of the few things that is impossible.' Tears continued to fall down his cheeks as she continued to wipe them away with her thumb. Then, he had an idea, if the position was still open.
'Well, I guess those things happen,' he said, not saying anymore which shocked her, 'I mean, maybe I can't play football anymore, but I'll stay with it.'
Now she was confused, 'What do you mean?' she asked.
He just smiled, 'You'll see,' was all he said.
She half smiled at him until one of the twins started to cry. She had left everything at home and only taken the twins, their stroller, and her purse along. She had no food for them.
'Arnold, you rest that football head of yours. I'm going to get Jeana and Jayme some grub. We rushed over right away when we saw it on TV, and they're probably starving. I won't be long,' she said and kissed him on the forehead, 'You sleep while we're gone.' He nodded and she smiled and left with the twins. He closed his eyes, thinking about his plan.
~^*^~
'My father was so persistent, and he never gave up on anything. My mother always supported everything he did.' Sean stopped and smiled through his tears. 'Boy was my mother in for a surprise.'
~^*^~
Helga walked in the door with a bag of groceries, and hung the keys up on the rack. She walked into the kitchen with the bag and heard Arnold calling from upstairs. Quickly she put the bag down and ran up to him. She ran into their room, to find Arnold beaming like a dumb schoolboy.
'What is it Arnold, is something wrong?' She asked not sensing his happiness.
He just smiled even more. 'I got the job,' he said vaguely. She had absolutely no clue of what he was talking about.
'W-what do you mean, what job?' she asked a little afraid of what he was going to say.
'I'm now the assistant quarterback coach of the Vikings,' he said, still laying on the bed. His back, after about six weeks was feeling better, but it was not yet fully healed. Helga just beamed.
'W-what did you say?' she asked, feeling like someone had stuck a coat hanger in her mouth.
'I'm a coach! I'm gonna stay with football! I just talked to the head coach on the phone.' She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
He winced in pain. 'Oww, oww, Helga, my back.' He said in pain.
She pulled back, remembering his injury. 'Sorry, sorry, but coach!? That's great! I'm so proud of you!' He beamed at her and she ruffled his hair. She gave him a kiss on the lips and started to walk out the door.
'I need to finish putting the groceries away and check the mail. Do you need anything?' She asked him.
He shook his head and smiled, 'I just needed to tell you.' He said sweetly.
She smiled and walked downstairs to put the rest of the groceries away, then she headed out to her mailbox to check the mail. Bills, bills, junk, postcard from Paris.from Rhonda, junk, letter from publisher, more bills.wait a second! Helga dropped all the other mail and ripped open the letter. She skimmed it and let out a cry of joy. She ran inside, leaving all the mail on the ground. Breathless, she ran into her room. She couldn't wait till Phoebe brought the twins home from the zoo. She just had to tell Phoebe too.
'Arnold!' she screamed. He looked up, best he could, a little shocked at the urgency in her voice.
'What? What's wrong?' He asked.
She smiled and walked over to sit on the bed and held his hand, 'Nothing's wrong, but I just got this letter.' He looked a little confused. Typical football head. 'They're gonna publish my book of poems, Drowning in Sea Green Eyes.' He smiled at her.
'Oh Helga, that's great! Look, two great things happened in one day!' she smiled at him, and bent down to kiss him again.
'I love you Arnold.' She said sweetly.
He smiled, 'I love you too Helga.'
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well, there's more to come. That's not the end. Helga and Arnold have only begun their new life, and Sean hasn't even been born yet. More excitement if you r/r!:D
C ya l8ter!
Arnoldnhelga4eva
By Arnoldnhelga4eva
Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold.
Hey, sorry it was like three weeks for this story, but I haven't gotten around to typing till just recently, and posting it till tonight. Anyway, here's chapter 7. You're in for a big surprise toward the end.
Oh, and don't mind anything I say about football, because I'm completely clueless when it comes to that game. I know nothing about it, except the different positions and some things people have attempted to teach me.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Chapter Seven: Broken Dreams
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Helga and Arnold watched Jeana sleep more peacefully now, in an air tent. Arnold hugged Helga and wiped her tears away as Helga held Jeana's hand. It had scared Helga and Arnold so much. She had looked like she was choking on air, but it was really something else. She had croup.
Helga recalled the conversation they had with the doctor, about when Jayme had woken them up with her cries.
'I think she knew her sister was in trouble but couldn't say anything, so Jayme told you for her. Twins have a strange intuition. Jayme saved her sister's life.'
She had, though. If it hadn't been for Jayme crying in the night, they would have found Jeana the next morning, dead. Life is cruel, but you need to hit back every curve ball thrown at you.
Phoebe and Gerald entered the room, carying Jayme. Helga and Arnold smiled up at them, Helga wiping a few tears back.
'Look,' Arnold said to Jayme, 'It's our little hero.' Helga smiled and gave Jayme a small kiss on the nose.
'You take it after your father, don't you?' Helga said as new tears formed in her eyes. The doctor returned and checked Jeana's vitals. He smiled, putting hope in their eyes.
'Well, I think she's about ready to go home,' everyone in the room smiled. 'She's breathing normally again so just check up on her so she doesn't have a hard time breathing again. If it happens again, you can take her outside when it's cold, but remember to bundle her up. If it's warm out, put the shower running as hot as it can go and let the mucus break itself up. She should be fine otherwise.' The doctor smiled. Helga and Arnold thanked him and started to get their things to leave as the doctor wrote Jeana a prescriptoin for her medication. That awful twenty four hour wait was over, and Jeana was well enough to come home.
*~^~*
Sean looked down at his hands, then back up at the audience, with a lone tear flowing down his cheek. Jeana and Jayme started to cry, because they knew what Sean would say next.
'Jeana wasn't the only one to go to the hospital that specific year.'
*~^~*
Helga and Gerald crowded around the TV, watching Arnold's game in Denver. Their team was on fire that day. Arnold alone had made a total of five touchdowns by half time, and they were now into the third quarter.
Arnold ran down the field; the men from the other team chasing him. Helga started shouting, as if somehow Arnold could hear her.
'C'mon football head! Run! Run! Run!' Gerald was equally excited.
'C'mon buddy! Make another touchdown!' Arnold was almost to the field mark when the linebacker from the other team started to catch up to him.
'No! No! Go away you fat slob!' Helga yelled at the other team, 'you'll never catch him! C'mon run, Arnold run!' The guy caught up with Arnold and tackled him from behind, as fell on the ground. Helga could swear at that same moment, she could hear a faint sharp cry of pain coming from him. Helga got up off the chair and ran over to the TV.
'No, no! Is he okay?!' she started yelling. Gerald got up as well.
'Oh no, he can't move! That's not good! Get off of him!' Gerald yelled at the other team's player even though he knew the man couldn't hear Gerald. But almost as if he could hear Gerald's command, the man got up, off of Arnold. Arnold lay there still, not moving. Helga became hysterical.
'No! No! What happened!? What the hell happened!?' she broke down and began to bawl. Gerald hugged her, hoping himself that Arnold was okay. Hearing Helga's cries, Phoebe rushed into the living room with one of the twins.
'What's wrong!? What happened?' she asked frantically.
Gerald pointed to the TV, 'Arnold got hurt, but we don't know what happened yet. He's not moving.' Phoebe's eyes grew with every word Gerald said. She put Jeana in the play pen and rushed over to the TV to see what was wrong. The announcer spoke.
'Well, it looks like the NFL's MVP has been hurt, pretty badly too.'
'Yeah, who knew Sampson could put so much power into a single tackle! Wait, we're getting a report on what is happening,' Helga, Gerald and Phoebe gazed up at the TV, staring at it intently. The screen switched back to Arnold, with medics and his team mates all around him.
'They think he may have either dislocated some joints in his back, or broken his back all together. That can't be good,' Helga's eyes flooded and she broke down again.
'No! No! He loves football! This can't be happening!' Helga screamed at the TV, pounding the ground with her fists. Phoebe and Gerald looked at one another, not knowing what to do. Gerald looked over at the TV and saw them carrying Arnold away. His eyes filled with tears and he too broke down. Phoebe hugged her husband, but during that time they hugged they never noticed Helga putting the twins in their carseats, and heading for the airport. Helga had, however, left a tear stained note so they would know where they were.Denver.
~^~
Helga wheeled the stroller into the Denver hospital, with tear stained eyes. She went to the front desk, completely hysterical.
'Where's Arnold Finnigan, the football player who got injured!? What room is he in!?' the receptionist looked up at Helga, shocked.
'Ma'am, we will tell all the fans how Arnold is when.wait a minute,' she said as she looked at Helga intently, who had taken a moment from her tears to glare at the receptionist,' I've seen you on TV, with those twins, and Finnigan.' she stopped for a moment to put it all together, 'You're his wife!'
'You got that right bucko,' Helga said, obviously annoyed, 'Now can I go see my husband now?' The receptionist clicked some things on her computer, and shook her head.
'I'm sorry, but he is in surgery right now.' Helga looked at her shocked,' They've been working on his back now for about.I believe it says here.three hours. They'll be out soon. Take this pager and we'll page you when he gets to recovery.' Helga nodded and thanked the receptionist, and sat down on a chair and looked at her twins. What if their father had been paralyzed, and could never hug them again? What if he could never play football again? Tears formed in her eyes as she thought about all the worst scenarios going wrong. What if he died?
~^~
A while later, Helga was watching her twins sleep, as she started to nod off too, the pager buzzed, shocking her. When she finally realized what it was, she smiled slightly and wheeled the stroller over to the receptionist. Before she could make it to the desk, somebody stopped her.
'Are you Helga Pataki?' the kid, looking in her late teens asked Helga. Helga just nodded sadly. When writing, she kept her maiden name, just as a penname.
'Can I get your autograph? You're my favorite author.' Helga tried to smile.
'Sure,' she said, pulling a pen out of her purse and wrote a message on the paper the girl gave her.
'Which book did you like better?' Helga asked the girl. She didn't even have to think twice.
' "Unrequited Love" because it reminds me of when I was little and I picked on a boy I really liked.' Helga smiled slightly. That book had won an award on the national level. Her other book, "Letters for Him," didn't do AS well, but it was still a major success.
'I-I need to go, but thanks,' the girl said before leaving,' I love your twins. I watched the news special on TV. They're really cute.' Helga had to smile.
'Thanks.' She said before walking the rest of the way up to the receptionist's desk. The receptionist smiled at Helga, which gave her some relief.
'The doctors have him up in recovery right now. They say that his surgery went well, and that he should be waking up soon.' Helga smiled and yet, more tears touched her eyes.
'He's just fine, he's just tired,' The receptionist said, 'We'll have someone bring you up to him.' Helga smiled as her tears flowed down her face. Arnold was okay.
~^~
Helga walked into the curtain area where Arnold was laying with an IV in his arm, and tubes coming out of his mouth. He looked stiff from the brace that covered his back; almost a body cast. She left the twins at the front of the curtained off area and walked over to his bedside. She took his hands that seemed so lifeless and stroked it with her own hand. She spoke to him softly.
'Hey football head,' she sniffed back a few tears and continued, 'Well, you did your team well today. You made so many touchdowns for them, I was watching.' As if he could hear her, his eyes opened slowly, confusedly. The first thing he saw was a blurry image of Helga, smiling down at him.
'H-H-He' he tried to talk, but the tubes in his throat wouldn't allow him to.
'Shhhhh,' she said, 'don't talk. You're okay now. Just relax,' she touched his cheek with her hand and he closed his eyes at her touch. Suddenly his eyes shot back open.
'J-Je-Ja,' he sputtered and somehow she understood him. She smiled and pointed toward the front of the curtain where their one-and-a-half-year- olds sat restlessly in their stroller.
'They're right here Arnold. It's okay. We love you, you're okay,' she said and kissed his forehead. He smiled at her best he could with all those tubes, and from being on the anesthesia. Everything was so blurry, but somehow Helga seemed so clear to him, even when a nurse walked in, Helga was the only thing in focus. He couldn't see Jeana or Jayme because that would require moving, something he couldn't quite do at the moment. The nurse checked his vitals, and then walked over to the other side of Arnold's bed.
'I think we're ready for your tubes to come out. Do you want me to take those out?' Arnold nodded weakly from the lack of neck movement. The nurse nodded back and grabbed one of the tubes,' okay, this may feel a bit strange and it may hurt a little, but it'll only take a second,' she started to pull one tube out, the tube that went to his stomach. It felt like somebody had shoved their hand down his throat, and was now pulling their arm out as slowly as possible. It scratched his throat and he gagged as she pulled it completely out. She smiled at him.
'One down, one to go.'
Great, Arnold thought as she worked on the next tube that went to his lungs. She got that one out too, and the doctor came into the curtain area. Helga looked over at the doctor. He stuck out his hand and shook it.
'Hello, I'm Dr. Stevenson,' Helga nodded and smiled a little, 'I'm sorry we couldn't come tell you how your husband was doing before, but the hospital is completely swamped today. We had to tend to another emergency.' Helga nodded.
'Is he going to be okay?' she whispered, 'What happened?' Dr. Stevenson took a long deep breath and continued.
'Well, when the player tackled him, it moved some of his vertebrae out of place, severely. We've never seen anything as serious as his condition. The only thing we could think of was surgery. We fixed his spine, and relocated his vertebrae, but I don't think he'll ever play football again, unless he wants to risk having this happen again.' Helga's heart stopped, her blood ran cold and all the color drained from her face. Never play football again? What, was this man crazy!? Arnold was the best player in the NFL.
'W-w-what did you just say!?' she demanded, tears flooding her eyes again. Dr. Stevenson looked down, as if he should be ashamed of something.
'I'm sorry, but he'll never be able to play at a professional level again.' Helga looked over at Arnold, then down at the ground and nodded, accepting the awful fact that he could never do what he loved ever again, not ever.
'We should probably get him to a room,' the doctor said. Helga nodded in concurrence, but very sorrowfully. Dr. Stevenson could tell that she didn't want him to find out about the bad news. Dr. Stevenson himself was a fan of Arnold. He was going to go to the game in Denver, but got called in to work an extra shift because of the chaos the hospital was right now. He looked over at Arnold. He was treating, and operated on his favorite player of all time, and now.the best player could never play again.
'Do you want me to tell him, or do you want to tell him?' Helga looked up at the doctor. Tears poured down her cheeks. His wife, as a matter of fact, was a big fan of Helga. She loved her books. Helga hung her head.
'I-I want to tell him,' she said, looking back over at Arnold who was sleeping again. Dr. Stevenson nodded as some nurses came in and started to whel Arnold out of the curtain area. Before they left, Helga thanked Dr. Stevenson once again, and took the stroller and followed her husband.
~^~
'Was it bad?' Arnold asked, much more awake now. Helga bounced Jayme on her knee and looked down at the ground.
'I've never been more scared in my life, except for when Jeana went to the hospital.'
Arnold nodded, then sighed. 'It's gonna be a long time till I can get back up to my level and play again.' Helga couldn't look at him. She started to cry. She walked over to the stroller and put Jayme next to her sister. Jeana was sleeping soundly, very surprising because of how loud Helga's cries were. Helga abandoned the stroller and walked into the bathroom in his room. Arnold's denseness kicked in again.
'Helga, what's wrong?' Helga regained her composure and came back out. She shook her head.
'You can never play again,' she said sadly.
Those words shocked him and felt like a thousand bullets to the chest. Never play football again? Tears started to well up in his eyes, and Helga ran over to his side and took one of his hands in hers.
'No, don't cry Arnold. It'll be okay. We'll think of something.'
Arnold shook his head. 'But I-'
'Look Arnold,' She interjected gently, 'the doctor said that if you do any more damage to your spine, you could severely break your back, or something like that. He said you can't ever play again.' He didn't believe her, this couldn't be true. Maybe she was just protecting him.but she knew how much he loved it.
'Y-yes I can,' he said. She shook her head, but he continued, 'when my back heals, I'll go back to practice and work twice as hard. I can do it, I can still play football.'
She shook her head again. 'I wish I could tell you to continue looking on the bright side, but there is no bright side here. You CAN'T play football anymore. This is one of the few things that is impossible.' Tears continued to fall down his cheeks as she continued to wipe them away with her thumb. Then, he had an idea, if the position was still open.
'Well, I guess those things happen,' he said, not saying anymore which shocked her, 'I mean, maybe I can't play football anymore, but I'll stay with it.'
Now she was confused, 'What do you mean?' she asked.
He just smiled, 'You'll see,' was all he said.
She half smiled at him until one of the twins started to cry. She had left everything at home and only taken the twins, their stroller, and her purse along. She had no food for them.
'Arnold, you rest that football head of yours. I'm going to get Jeana and Jayme some grub. We rushed over right away when we saw it on TV, and they're probably starving. I won't be long,' she said and kissed him on the forehead, 'You sleep while we're gone.' He nodded and she smiled and left with the twins. He closed his eyes, thinking about his plan.
~^*^~
'My father was so persistent, and he never gave up on anything. My mother always supported everything he did.' Sean stopped and smiled through his tears. 'Boy was my mother in for a surprise.'
~^*^~
Helga walked in the door with a bag of groceries, and hung the keys up on the rack. She walked into the kitchen with the bag and heard Arnold calling from upstairs. Quickly she put the bag down and ran up to him. She ran into their room, to find Arnold beaming like a dumb schoolboy.
'What is it Arnold, is something wrong?' She asked not sensing his happiness.
He just smiled even more. 'I got the job,' he said vaguely. She had absolutely no clue of what he was talking about.
'W-what do you mean, what job?' she asked a little afraid of what he was going to say.
'I'm now the assistant quarterback coach of the Vikings,' he said, still laying on the bed. His back, after about six weeks was feeling better, but it was not yet fully healed. Helga just beamed.
'W-what did you say?' she asked, feeling like someone had stuck a coat hanger in her mouth.
'I'm a coach! I'm gonna stay with football! I just talked to the head coach on the phone.' She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
He winced in pain. 'Oww, oww, Helga, my back.' He said in pain.
She pulled back, remembering his injury. 'Sorry, sorry, but coach!? That's great! I'm so proud of you!' He beamed at her and she ruffled his hair. She gave him a kiss on the lips and started to walk out the door.
'I need to finish putting the groceries away and check the mail. Do you need anything?' She asked him.
He shook his head and smiled, 'I just needed to tell you.' He said sweetly.
She smiled and walked downstairs to put the rest of the groceries away, then she headed out to her mailbox to check the mail. Bills, bills, junk, postcard from Paris.from Rhonda, junk, letter from publisher, more bills.wait a second! Helga dropped all the other mail and ripped open the letter. She skimmed it and let out a cry of joy. She ran inside, leaving all the mail on the ground. Breathless, she ran into her room. She couldn't wait till Phoebe brought the twins home from the zoo. She just had to tell Phoebe too.
'Arnold!' she screamed. He looked up, best he could, a little shocked at the urgency in her voice.
'What? What's wrong?' He asked.
She smiled and walked over to sit on the bed and held his hand, 'Nothing's wrong, but I just got this letter.' He looked a little confused. Typical football head. 'They're gonna publish my book of poems, Drowning in Sea Green Eyes.' He smiled at her.
'Oh Helga, that's great! Look, two great things happened in one day!' she smiled at him, and bent down to kiss him again.
'I love you Arnold.' She said sweetly.
He smiled, 'I love you too Helga.'
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well, there's more to come. That's not the end. Helga and Arnold have only begun their new life, and Sean hasn't even been born yet. More excitement if you r/r!:D
C ya l8ter!
Arnoldnhelga4eva
