Hey, guys.

So many of you were wondering how I could possibly add to this story given the magical events of the previous chapter. Should be the perfect way to end things right?

Well, the truth is, it's not over just yet xD Because what is about to follow will lead into something else entirely. I will explain in more detail, but for now I will leave the interpretation up to you.

This has been quite the journey. I didn't expect it to take almost 2 years but that is life for you. Things get in the way. However, words can't express my love for this series that I watched growing up and the never ending saga of Arnold and Helga. It will forever be one of my favorites.

There is one more chapter this one, or the epilogue rather. Bonus points to anyone who guesses it right but I don't anyone will haha.

Thanks, again guys! Enjoy!

Chapter 21. The Journal

Laughing and giggling could be heard from the upstairs of a three story boarding house.

"You're certainly eager today aren't you football head?" Helga managed breathe out in between kisses.

Arnold gave a wolfish grin in return.

"I can't enjoy spending time with my girlfriend?"

It still felt surreal to say those words. If someone had told him even two months ago, he would end up dating Helga Pataki by the end of sixth grade he would've laughed in their face. Now that reality gave him nothing but pure joy. The beginning of middle school was going to be that much more exciting now that he had a girlfriend and as Gerald pointed out, it made them both ahead of the curve among their peers.

Of course, that didn't mean that everything was all sunshine and roses. Helga was still defensive by nature and struggled with showing affection outside of their private time together. But, similar to when she had stopped bullying him mercilessly, the blonde girl was trying to do better. At the very least, she wasn't pranking or outwardly mocking him in front of people anymore. Their entire purpose had been to prevent people from figuring out the truth about her feelings for Arnold, and that was no secret any longer. On the positive side, P.S. 118 reacted extremely positive to the news and though Brainy was depressed for a few days, he eventually got over the loss of his long time crush and moved on.

Parental figures were another story. True to form, Arnold's grandparents had been enthusiastic and made no bones about knowing the entire time what was going on between them (Helga was positively mortified when Gertie referred to her as 'Eleanor Roosevelt'). The rest of the boarding house also responded in kind, despite their eccentric natures. Helga's parents by contrast were a tougher nut to crack and that essentially meant she had refrained from telling them. On the one hand, given their past history of neglect, they might barely notice. But Helga wasn't taking any chances- Big Bob could be temperamental about certain things and he was not the kind of father you wanted to announce a boyfriend to right away. Though Arnold encouraged her to be truthful, she simply would introduce him as her 'friend' from school on the rare occasions she permitted them to go inside the Pataki house of horror. But that could all be managed. They had one another and it was more than enough for now.

As spring slowly yielded to the heat of summer, Arnold and Helga focused much of their efforts spending time with each other. Graduation wasn't until the second week in June and school was already over for the sixth graders, so there wasn't much to do until that time other than play a few games of baseball and eating ice cream. Luckily for the two blondes, having a significant other gave them plenty of alternate ideas. Arnold noted that Helga wasn't particularly fond of public displays of affection, often shirking them. Within the confines of his room it was a different story.

Arnold continued his loving barrage against Helga's soft lips. True they had restricted their intimacy to making out, but the soon to be teenager could feel his hormones ascending to new levels every time they were alone together. He loved everything about her- her blonde hair, the rosy red lips that needed no makeup, her increasingly feminine form. She practically melted at his touch.

"You seem to enjoy it too much at times," she teased as she began sucking on his neck. "But I can be bold too, football head."

Arnold felt his own pleasure sensors raise another level as he embraced her eagerness to explore another part of the body.

"Never going to stop using that nickname for me, are you?"

"What can I say?" Helga replied, pulling back running her fingers through his feathery, blonde hair. "It's such a unique shape."

"I'm glad it's to your liking."

Helga gave a rare giggle, a sign she was truly happy.

"It's perfect. Only thing absent is the blue hat. I really do miss it sometimes."

Suddenly, Arnold stopped and sat up on the bed, a peculiar expression on his face.

"What's the matter, football head? Did I nibble a little too hard?"

"No, no, that was fine. It was what you said about my hat."

Helga raised an eyebrow.

"What about it?"

"It reminded me that I need to do something. Something that's long overdue."

Helga watched as her boyfriend jumped down from the bed and out the door, wondering just what exactly he had to do more important than making out. She recognized that dreamy eyed, head in the clouds, look anywhere. Adjusting her dress, she followed him.

"Criminy, what's gotten into you?"

"Come on, I'll show you in a minute."

Pulling down the stairs that led to the attic, the couple ascended the stairs and came across a row of shelves full of nic-nacs, old supplies, and other junk that his grandparents hadn't bothered to throw out or get rid of over the years.

"An adventure in the attic. I gotta say, not one of your better picks, Arnold."

The preteen boy laughed as he led her to a particular shelf situated on the right.

"Two years ago, I took off my blue hat and stored it into a box with the rest of the stuff I had to remind me of my parents and put it up here. I was tired of always being reminded I would never find them. That pain was too deep to carry on."

Helga was beginning to understand. Her eyes softened as she held onto his hand.

"That pain never left, did it? Even when you tried to forget."

"Nope," Arnold shook his head. "But I'm ready now. I'm ready to let those memories back into my life now, even if I don't know that mom and dad will ever return. Better to honor them by living the best life I can than pretending they didn't exist."

"That's very mature, football head. Even for you."

"I am two years older," Arnold shrugged while giving a sly smile. "Maybe it's all a part of growing up."

"So if you were a preachy, wet blanket before does that elevate you to a divine Buddha or something?" Helga teased.

"No, but it does make me something else."

"What's that?"

Arnold leaned forward and placed a tender kiss on his girlfriend's lips.

"The luckiest guy in the world with you by my side."

It was amazing that even after all this time, the boy retained the ability to completely rob her of the function to speak and reduce her to a pile of good on the floor. She didn't even bother to hide the extreme shade of magenta that flushed her cheeks.

"Anyway, I figured I should show you some of this stuff," Arnold said, resuming his digging. "Ah, yes here we go."

It occurred to Helga that he had no trouble reaching to grab the box full of mementos. Come to think of it, he was just as tall as her now….perhaps taller?

Ugh, I'm really not looking forward to losing that advantage she inwardly sighed. Then again, one image of a tall, toned, muscular Arnold picking her up bridal style and kissing her silenced those concerns.

Perhaps puberty won't be so bad after all

Arnold opened the box and sure enough, the blue hat was there, dusty, but intact and no worse for wear. Smiling, he reached down and placed it once more on his head.

"What do you think?" he grinned.

"Better than ever," Helga smiled, reciprocating his kiss with one of his own, except it lasted considerably longer. It also left her boyfriend a little whoozy.

"You don't have to make everything a competition you know," he laughed.

This time, it was Helga's turn to act sultry.

"Maybe, I just happen to like you, football head. As in like you, like you," she purred.

"You've made that abundantly clear."

Helga swung her arms around his neck and began the slow, repeated pattern of soft, tender kisses on his lips and slowly made her way down. However, inexperience and youth reared its head, as Helga pressed her weight too far forward causing Arnold's back foot to slip. The newfound couple to bumped into the shelf and fell to the ground to the heap.

"Nice going," Helga barbed at him. "I'm wondering if I should bring back 'paste for brains' as a nickname."

Arnold rubbed the back of his neck, out of genuine pain this time.

"Hey, you fell into me. It wasn't my-"

He paused when he noticed something laying on the ground next to him. An old, brown, leather bound book that had gone unnoticed for years, completely unmarked as to who the owner was. As always, curiosity got the better of him.

"Whatcha got there?" Helga asked, peering over his shoulder. "For the record, I wasn't really planning on calling you that."

But Arnold wasn't listening as he slowly flipped through pages, his eyes widening with simultaneous shock and excitement.

"I-I don't believe this…"

His girlfriend remained confused.

"Uh, earth to Arnoldo, what's big idea?"

But she found out soon enough. Looking closer at the writing on the page, she saw it was a journal. And at the end of each entry was the signature of someone named 'Miles Shortman'.

Her jaw just about dropped.

"This…this is my dad's journal that he kept while he was in San Lorenzo," Arnold said, his voice steadily growing in its amazement. "It details everything- what they did, how they met, even when I was born!"

But while Arnold was skimming through the pages, practically drunk from the newfound information he was receiving about his parents, Helga noticed something else. It looked like the end of a thick piece of paper sticking out at the end of the bottom right corner.

"Arnold, hold on a sec," she said, easing his hand. Delicately, she pulled the piece of paper out from under the last page of the journal. Unfolding it, the two preteens saw that this was a map of the jungle area in San Lorenzo itself. Markings where everywhere- waterfalls, rivers, swamps, pathways, and most intriguing aspect of all- the location of a local indigenous tribe labeled the 'Green Eyed People'.

"If I wasn't laying on the floor already, I'd need to sit down," Helga muttered.

"Do you know what this means?" Arnold practically whispered.

The blonde girl could see the passion and fire return to his sparkling emerald eyes, a fire she had not witnessed in quite a long time. She didn't need to answer the question. The implication was already clear.

"We can find them, Helga. We can find my parents. Somehow, we're going to get to San Lorenzo and discover what happened to them. I won't rest until I do."

There was a drastic change in the atmosphere of the musty attic as though a cosmic wind blew in from some far-off land.

In the summer of 1998, a brand new adventure awaited.

Well, well. What have I done here? A new quest perhaps? A new story?

Stay tuned ;) Epilogue to follow soon