Author's notes: As of now, I have no official update day. First it was Tuesday, then Monday, but I'm sick of waiting to post a completed chapter for no reason! Rookie mistake, I guess.

Two things before I begin: First, you can get Author Alerts for my story if you want now, since I just got the Support Services (which also means my story's ad-free! Think of the precious seconds you'll save not having to wait for the ads to load!) Secondly, "Married" was on CBS Saturday morning (9/20/03). I couldn't believe they actually aired it, I'd never seen it before then! (Great episode, by the way.) Now I know most of you are screaming, "Big deal! I'm waiting for them to show [insert rarely seen episode here]!" Right now it looks like CBS is our best bet at seeing some of these rare episodes again. Who knows, maybe they'll show "Curly's Girl?" (Sure, right after the Jungle Movie.)

Back to my story, I'd like to thank all my reviewers, especially my repeaters (Helgagurl46, kim, fantasymichelle14). There's more motivation to write when you've got a "fan base," so to speak. And J.B., you're the first one to comment on the title's connection with the Led Zeppelin song. I chose it partly for the title itself, and partly for the lyrics, especially the line, "you will be mine by takin' our time."

Okay, here's chapter four, and it came out nothing like I originally planned, but in a very good way. It's a lot longer than I thought it would be to say the least. And I changed the end of it three or four times. Plus, I decided to italicize all the character thoughts to make things easier to understand. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold!

Helga peered around the corner from the end of the block. Two houses down, she caught sight of a young man standing by the front door. Even from the distance between her and the boy, the anger could be read on his face. He turned and faced the street, putting his head down and grabbing his hair in frustration. After this, he took his hat off and twisted it in his hands, as if he wanted to tear it in half. The whole time it looked as if he was ready to scream, yell out every obscenity in the book, but he never did, as if he couldn't find the right words to use.

"Wow. I don't know what she did, but he looks like he's ready to go off the deep end. He almost reminds me of Curly." She realized what she just said. "So then do I really want to go talk to him now? I mean, even if I wasn't afraid to talk to him like I always am, I'd probably better keep my distance from him now anyway. Who knows what he might do?"

As Helga continued weighing her options, Arnold brought his temper under control enough to put his hat back on and begin walking home. It was almost a seven-block walk; he figured he might as well cover some ground while he let off some steam.

"Oh no, he's moving! What should I do? I don't think I can pull this off right now; I should probably go home and avoid him until tomorrow. But then again, how many opportunities do I need before I finally do something? No, he's too mad to try it right now. There's always tomorrow, I'll just—"

"Hey, kid! Can't you read the sign?"

Startled, Helga turned around to face the owner of the store she had been hiding by. She followed his pointing finger to the sign: "No loitering—especially kids!"

"Oh, sorry about that, I was just—" She backed into someone as she was babbling at the storeowner. Uh-oh, please, be anyone but him!

"Sorry, Helga," came the familiar response.

Guess that ends the debate, now I have to talk to him! Maybe I should just tell him off like I always do? No, better not, he's still fuming. Okay, just be calm and polite and try to get away from him.

"That's okay, Arnold, it was my fault." She paused to let him continue speaking, as he usually would when he ran into her like that. Instead, he turned and kept walking without another word.

Initially, Helga was relieved, but then, for some reason, she felt insulted. He always stopped to talk to me when he did that before, why didn't he do it now? I don't care how upset that little shrimp is; no one walks away from Helga G. Pataki!

Well, doi! You're usually the one doing the walking!

Helga ended her internal conversation and took off after Arnold, making sure she didn't catch up until she was ready. Being as observant as she is, Helga was noticing all the subtleties that gave her a better idea of Arnold's mood. He was walking at a slightly faster pace than normal, but Helga could also tell his posture was different. Usually he carried himself tall and proud, with his head in the clouds. But now his head was down, and he looked like he was lugging the entire world on his shoulders.

She began whispering to herself, trying to find something she could say that wouldn't put him off. "So, how's it going, Hair Boy? Hey, I couldn't help but notice you were kind of getting the cold shoulder back there at the bowling alley." No good, he'd wonder how I could have observed that much. Then again, things are usually pretty obvious when it comes to reading him. She glanced up to see if she'd gained on him. Instead, he'd gained on her and rounded the corner already. Geez, someone's in a hurry! Slow down, bucko, what's the rush? She ran to the corner and went to peer around, but instead ran into Mr. Green.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Helga, I was just closing up the store and—"

"No, I'm fine, happens all the time!"

We're at the meat shop already? But that means…sure enough, up ahead she could see Arnold was almost on his stoop. Helga ran toward the boarding house, her mind racing along with her. There's no time now, just go up to him and talk! You're an expert at making stuff up on the spot!

Arnold opened the door, and was greeted by Grandpa. "Hey, Short Man! Looks like you got home just in time, they just put out a flash flood warning!" He sulked past Grandpa into the house.

Phil stepped out onto the stoop and glanced up at the sky. It seemed like the clouds had appeared out of thin air. As he made his way down the steps to get a better view, the rain hit like a wall of water. It was pouring in a matter of seconds. "Whoa, that was quick! Better get back in the house!" He turned to go back in and caught sight of her.

She was speechless and motionless. Helga stood about twenty feet away from the stoop, caught in Phil's vision like a deer caught in headlights. She wanted to run, but she was frozen in fear. Go back in the house, don't talk to me, don't talk to Arnold, just go in and forget you saw me standing here!

"Hey, aren't you one of Arnold's little friends?"

She tried to blurt out "no" but she couldn't find the air. For that matter, she couldn't breathe. Helga hadn't been this scared since Phil had taken possession of her locket the year prior. She had never felt comfortable going in the boarding house, since she was usually sneaking around it trying to retrieve something that threatened to reveal her secret.

"Hello? Aren't you coming in?" Phil was standing in the doorframe, motioning Helga to come in the house. She was about to turn and run, but then she realized what she was standing in. The rain was falling pretty hard at this point, and what if it started to hail? Looks like I've got no choice; she ran in the house.

"About time you got in here, I thought were gonna stay out there and take a shower."

"Yeah, the thought had crossed my mind." Her mind was racing again as she blurted out the first thing she thought. Just humor the old man, and try to keep a low profile until the rain stops. Phil grabbed a towel out of a nearby closet and handed it to Helga. "Oh, thanks."

"Aw, it's no trouble. It's not like I'd let a pretty girl stand out in the rain."

Under all other circumstances, this compliment would have set Helga off like a Fourth of July firework finale. But she couldn't help but laugh. As she stood in the entranceway drying her hair, she was realizing her situation. I'm in Arnold's house. On top of that, I was invited in! And his grandpa's standing here calling me "pretty!" She began to lose control of her laughter; it was so surreal and unimaginable…

"I'm sorry, was it something I said?"

Helga put her hand up to Phil and tried to bring her laughter under control. "No…it's just…I don't hear that very often." She handed the towel back to him.

"Well then, I suppose you'll probably be heading up to Arnold's room then."

The laughter ceased abruptly. "Arnold's room?"

"Well, yeah. You're one of his little friends, aren't you?"

"Me? Uh…well, I guess that's one way you could put it…"

"Okay, then, off you go! I'll be up to let you two know when dinner's ready."

"Dinner?" That familiar feeling of panic was creeping back into Helga.

"Well, I just assumed, since you can't go anywhere in this weather you were going to stay and eat."

She was ready to nix the whole thing and run out the door when she remembered what awaited her at home. Olga was making some kind of Eastern European meal consisting of ingredients Helga had never heard of (which was usually the case with anything Olga made). Suddenly dinner at Arnold's sounded pretty good, even if she had to go through the torment of being in his presence for a substantial length of time. "Hey, you know that sounds pretty good when you mention it, Gramps."

"Wonderful! I'll go let Pookie know we need to set another place at the table then, uh…what was your name, anyway?"

"My name? Oh, it's Helga."

"Helga, of course! You're the one Arnold's always telling me about how you pick on him all the time and never really give him a reason why you do it and I told him once that it sounded like you liked him!"

Helga's heart skipped a beat. "Wh-wh-what did you tell him?"

Phil laughed at the scared look on her face. "Oh, don't you worry, he didn't think it was true!"

Helga gave him a fake laugh of relief.

"But you really do like him, don't you?"

Her face went pale again.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Now don't worry, I won't tell him, it's more fun watching you youngsters squirm. Ah, I remember when I was at that awkward age of crushes. Heddy Lamar was her name. I couldn't have told her how I felt if…"

Helga stood at the base of the stairs and watched Phil go off into the kitchen. She let out the breath she'd been holding during his last spiel. With him gone, her eyes turned up the stairs, which she began to slowly climb. And just how am I going to explain this one to him? Yeah, Arnold, I just happened to be outside your house when it began to pour rain and your grandpa sent me up here.

She arrived at his room. A few short steps and I shall once again set foot on the holiest of ground! Feeling every emotion from excitement and anticipation to unbridled fear, she knocked on his door. The answer came, "I'm not hungry, thank you!"

Helga had already dived under the attic stairs to hide when she heard his answer. He's not coming out? But isn't he going to come out and ask me why I'm here? The resentful feeling she felt when he didn't talk to her earlier returned. That's it! No one gives me the silent treatment twice in the same day! She approached his door again ready to barge in and give him a piece of her mind.

"Eleanor!" Arnold's grandma spotted Helga as she was exiting the bathroom. "Come downstairs, Mrs. Roosevelt, dinner begins in five minutes!"

Helga followed along obediently. As they went downstairs, Helga realized what she'd almost done. I almost walked right into his room! What the heck was I thinking? I have to keep a level head here, or else…

Her thoughts stopped as she entered the dining room. The tenants had already convened there and took immediate notice of Helga as she entered. "Who's the kid with the one eyebrow?"

"Oskar!"

"What, I was making an observation! She's only got one eyebrow, you don't see that very often around here!"

"Never mind him, sweetie; what's your name?"

"It's Helga."

"Hello, Helga. I'm Susie, and these are the other boarders, Ernie, Mr. Hyunh, and of course, my husband."

"Dinner is served!" Gertie brought in a huge tray of lasagna and garlic bread as Phil walked in from his "office."

"Pookie, I can't believe it, you made something normal that I can actually digest!"

"Yes, it looks delicious!"

Helga sat silent, her mouth watering. I hit the jackpot here, not only do I get out of eating Mary Sunshine's mystery platter, but I showed up on the one night where Arnold's grandma cooked a normal meal! Wait a minute, Olga! I'd better call to let them know I'm here, even if they're not going to notice anyway.

Helga excused herself to use the phone. She picked up the phone out in the hall, but she didn't get a dial tone.

"I know what I'm talking about Arnold. You're swimming upstream with her, man."

Gerald?

"I can't help it, Gerald. It's frustrating and hopeless and everything, but I can't stop thinking about her."

And Arnold? Wait a minute, that means Arnold's on the phone right now! Helga put her hand over the receiver and kept eavesdropping.

"I don't get you, man. How many clear signals does she have to send you?"

"I don't know! I guess the message isn't getting through to me. I mean, I hear her tell me that she doesn't like me like me all the time, but it's like it doesn't register in the part of my brain where I like her like her."

"Come again? Could you put that in English, Arnold?"

"Actually, Gerald, I can't. I'm still kind of upset over the whole thing. I'll talk to later, okay?"

"Okay, Arnold. You call again if you need anything, buddy."

"I will. Thanks, Gerald."

Two clicks on the line and the call was over. Helga placed the phone back on the hook and forgot about calling her house. What an airhead! Even after everything he put up with today, he still likes her likes her! I have to fix this, I must—

Her stomach interrupted her thoughts. Okay, it can wait, I'm starving!

Arnold woke up to yelling coming from downstairs. He glanced at the clock on his desk, 9:20. What's going on down there? The house rules always read "no loud noises after 9pm." He opened his door and walked down into the hallway.

"I can't believe he kicked out of that move!"

"You'd better believe it, sister! The champ's undefeated, never been pinned! And he ain't going down tonight, neither!"

Helga, Ernie and Phil were crowded around the TV watching wrestling. The night had been a blast so far for Helga. The dinner was great, and after dinner Phil got out the Parcheesi board. The game was strangely familiar to Helga; they were always playing the game at night while she was hiding up in Arnold's room for whatever reason. She whaled on them for four straight games, and then she suggested wrestling when the Kokoshkas and Mr. Hyunh left for their rooms. A commercial break came in the middle of the match, and the group stopped yelling at the TV for a moment.

"Man, I can't remember the last time I had this much fun with one of Arnold's friends! How come you haven't come over before?"

"Cut me some slack, Ernie, I live farther away than most of the kids."

"Well, that's not a problem. You know we could always bring you over here in the Packard."

"Aw, you don't have to bother, Gramps. I can just take the bus."

"Yeah, well either way, you make sure you keep coming back here, kid."

"You know, I think I just might do that." Not bad, old girl. Three hours in the house and you're already friends with every one them.

"Grandpa? I heard some yelling and I wondered what was going on. And who's that sitting next to you?"

From the back of the couch, Arnold had seen Grandpa and then noticed something pink sticking up next to him.

"Well, there you are, Short Man! I thought you were going to stay up there all night! Hey, come in here and say hi to your little friend!"

His "little friend" had almost fainted in her seat. Her boarding house fantasy had quickly returned to reality. You're in Arnold's house, doi! How long did you expect to stay here without him noticing you? She was ready to let Old Betsy remove her from consciousness and avoid the whole situation when Arnold sat down next to her. "Helga?"

"…Hi." She sat paralyzed in fear. A quick slap would have snapped her out of it, but she didn't want to do it with everyone watching.

Phil whispered to Ernie, "Let's give these two a minute alone."

Ernie nodded and stood up with Phil. "Well, I'd better be turning in, got a big one to knock down tomorrow."

"Yeah, guess it's about that time too, I guess. It stopped raining a while ago, I'll bring the Packard around to take you home, Helga."

Helga didn't respond. On top of the fear was now some anger directed at the two adults for leaving her alone with Arnold. She bit her lip as Arnold started to talk to her. "So why are you here?"

"It was… raining… your grandpa… invited me in… dinner… Parcheesi… wrestling… you know…"

"Helga, are you OK?"

She eyed him and noticed he was looking off to the side in the same manner as her. She seized the opportunity and slapped her face.

"Of course I'm okay, Football Head! Your grandparents took care of me and I'm just fine, no thanks to you! You were the life of the party, staying up in your room for hours on end!"

"Well, I had a pretty rough day today."

"Let me guess, did Ms. Perfect break your heart again or something?"

"How did you know?"

Looks like I'm having the talk with him. Okay, play it by ear. "I'm a very astute observer."

"Was that what you were doing from behind the control desk?"

"What? Oh that, I was up there making sure nothing happened while the manager ran an errand."

"Sure, Helga."

"Hey, can we stay on subject here, Arnoldo? Did Lila shoot you down again or not?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but she did."

"Guess you're pretty upset then, huh?"

"Yeah."

There's your cue, now start in with the mushy stuff! "Gee, I'm sorry, Arnold."

"Thanks, but I don't need you to feel sorry for me. It's my fault, I keep bringing it on myself."

She went to continue her act, but she took notice of his tone. He's right, but more importantly, he's being honest with himself. I think I should be honest with him, too. "Anything I can do to help?"

He looked up at her in disbelief. The whole situation hit him in the same way situations were hitting Helga all day. Helga Pataki is in my house asking if she can help me out; something has to be wrong here. He then saw in her eyes that she meant it. "No, that's okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." The Packard horn sounded out front. "There's Grandpa, you'd better get going."

"Okay. I'll see you later, Arnold."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

Helga headed for the front door, proud of herself. I did it! I was honest with Arnold! I talked with him like a normal person! I made him feel better! I am so good!

"Oh, Helga? One more thing."

She turned back with a questioning look on her face. I'm trying to leave on a high note, Hair Boy; you'd better not screw up the moment.

"I, uh, just wanted to thank you for your concern."

"What do you mean?"

He smiled at her with a coy look on his face. "You know what I mean, Helga."

Oh no, he's onto me! I knew I couldn't act nice without him bringing it up! "Look, bucko, don't start getting ideas like I'm turning over a new leaf or something. I was just making sure you weren't going to start crying in front of me; I wouldn't have been able to stomach something that pathetic."

With that, she marched down the stoop in true form as Arnold closed the door behind her. "Whatever you say, Helga."

Big Bob was asleep in his chair, the Wheel on TV as Helga came in the house. He woke up at the sound of her shutting the door. "Is that you, Helga?"

There's a bad omen, he's calling me by my name. "Yes, Bob."

"What are you doing coming home at a quarter to ten on a school night? Your mother and I were worried sick about you, and your sister had to throw out what you weren't here to eat!"

"I was at a friend's house when it started to rain, Dad! I couldn't go anywhere!"

"Well, you could have at least called! Helga? Hey, where do you think you're going?" Bob now stood at the base of the stairs as Helga was reaching the door to her room.

"I was going to get ready for bed. After all, it is a school night."

"Oh, giving me the smart mouth, eh? That's it, go to your room! I don't want to hear a peep out of you the whole night, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Bob," as she slammed her door. She took her shoes off and lay down on her bed. The conversation with her father was quickly forgotten; total calm swept over her as she recalled her conversation with Arnold earlier. "I actually pulled it off. I was able to talk to Arnold without getting into a fight… well almost, I did tell him off at the end… but still! I wonder if this means I'm almost ready?" A familiar scene began to play over in her head as it had before hundreds of times, and a huge smile came over her face as she faded into sleep.

Phil came out of the upstairs bathroom and was about to head off to bed when he noticed the lights were still on in Arnold's room. He went up and knocked, "You still up, Short Man?"

"Yeah, Grandpa, come in." Arnold was lying on his bed, staring up into space with a glazed look in his eyes.

"Something on your mind?"

"I was just thinking about what happened today."

"Oh, really? I heard from your little friend that you had some problems with another girl over at the bowling alley."

"What? Helga told you that?"

"Oh, yeah, she told me all about it while we were playing Parcheesi. Said you were pretty upset."

"Yeah. I kind of still am."

"I see. So what did it? You bowl bad?"

"Yeah."

"And you were embarrassed?"

"Yeah."

"And the worse you bowled, the harder you tried and the worse you stunk up the place?"

"How do you always know about these things ahead of time? Did you have a day like that once?"

"Me? Heavens no, I would have quit after one frame! I always recognize my limitations! Of course that wouldn't apply to bowling in my case, I've carried a 180 average all my life. Anyways Arnold, the point is you just need to find something you can do with this girl where you don't have these sort of problems."

"But I've been trying everything, Grandpa! I've taken just about every approach I could think of with her and I still can't get her to like me like me."

"Hey, there's always tomorrow."

"I'm not so sure, she told me we should stay away from each other for a while."

"Really? Well that changes everything! Sounds to me like it's time to give up on her Arnold, she hates you!"

"But Grandpa—"

"No 'buts', Arnold. You need to start looking towards the future, find someone else you can pine after."

"I don't know any other girls that I'm interested in."

"Sure you do! What about your little friend that was just here a little while ago?"

"Helga? Grandpa, I thought we had this discussion about her last year. Don't you remember when I kept coming home with feathers on my pants and paint on my sweater?"

"Strangely enough, I do remember that. Hold on, you mean that girl was the one you were having all the problems with?"

"Uh-huh."

"And she's the one who's always jumping rope across the street?"

"Yep."

"Was she also the one who came crashing through the ceiling that one morning?"

"Helga crashed through our ceiling? When did this happen?"

"Come to think of it, I'm not all that sure of it now. I might be thinking too fast again and mixing things up. Look, we can talk about this more later, we should both be getting to bed."

"All right. Good night, Grandpa."

"'Night, Short Man."

Phil turned off the lights and stepped out of Arnold's room. Arnold sighed and went back to staring at the stars. "Grandpa's right, I should probably just give up on her already. Still…" Arnold glanced across the dark room and looked at his picture of Lila, taped to his computer monitor, illuminated in the moonlight. As hard as he tried, he couldn't shake her from his thoughts as he fell asleep.

More author's notes: I originally ended the chapter when Helga left Arnold's house, but when I got the idea for chapter five, I decided to advance the story up to this point, and you'll see why in the next chapter. It's about halfway done, but I should be able to finish it off in time to post it next week. Thanks for reading.