Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!

The Day You Will

By Moonlight

Drowning

"Please stop doing that."

The faint sound of a hum stopped at his words, and Arnold shuffled in his chair. "Stop what?" He asked as if unaware that he'd been humming and sighing to himself for the past two hours. The act had be driving Gerald nuts, as he tried to concentrate on the assignment they were given. Things between him and his best friend had been growing completely out of hand, since Arnold had lately been frequently caught with his head in the clouds and a nonexistent attention span. Gerald closed his textbook in a huff and tossed his cellphone at his best friend, nearly hitting him in the face if Arnold hadn't reacted quickly enough.

Arnold glanced over at his friend, giving him a confused and surprised look.

"Stop with the humming. And the sighing. And the daydreaming!" Gerald said exasperatedly, "I know you're concerned and upset, but REALLY…you have GOT to just do something about it instead of just sitting around!"

Holding the phone up, Arnold eyed the contacts list. "I'm sorry," he started carefully, "It's just that...I have no idea what to do." He turned to look back at his notebook, which was practically devoid of any writing, despite the amount of time they had supposedly been spending on homework. His mind had obviously been on her. What she was up to. What her home life was like at the moment. How she was feeling…

"Just call her." Gerald stated flatly, "If you're so worried, then call."

"You know I've tried. She won't answer me-"

An annoyed sigh escaped his lips, "That's why I gave you MY phone, Arnold. She might answer if it's my phone number on the caller ID."

Arnold looked back at the phone in his hands as if realization hit him. Of course, that was brilliant! "Oh!" he exclaimed excitedly, almost dropping the phone as he jumped in his seat.

Gerald rolled his eyes, "Mm-mm-MM! Arnold. You need to snap out of this whole...thing...this mess you've gotten into." He watched as Arnold punched the numbers into the phone and pressed call.

Riiiiiiiing… Riiiiiiing…

Feeling as if his heart would beat straight out of his chest, Arnold inhaled deeply and held his breath for a few seconds before finally exhaling as the sweet sound of Helga's voice answered on the other end of the phone.

"Hey Gerald." she said sounding rather exhausted, "lemme guess. You're having trouble with number 12? That problem was a pain and a half to figure out, but I can-"

Before he let himself get lost in the sound of her voice, Arnold willed himself to speak, "H-Helga. It's...it's me, Arnold."

He waited to hear her response, but only got silence in return. A silence that lasted a good while, as he ran his hands nervously through his hair. Thumbing the side of the phone absentmindedly, he tried again, "I-I was wondering if we could talk for a bit? If you're not busy-"

"Actually, I am...very busy." she said, cutting him off before she fell into his spell and agreed to chat, "I have to go. There's a lot of beepers that need to be restocked." Of course, she wanted nothing more than to hear him speak. She wanted to tell him everything that was hurting her. She wanted to run to him and have him drown away her stress and anguish. However, she didn't want to burden him. Not with the crap she'd been putting up with. Knowing Arnold, he would internalize her pain and feel it for her. It wasn't worth it. "I have to go."

Fearing that she would hang up, Arnold pressed on, "Wait! I just wanted to say that I-"

"There's nothing to say, football head! I need to-"

"Helga, please. I just want you to know that I'm here for you…" his voice dropped to that of a whisper before continuing, "...If you need anything, I'm here for you."

Silence.

"That's…um…" her voice seemed to crack as she tried her best to keep her composure. "...th-thank you...Arnold."

Arnold exhaled a breath he didn't even know he was holding. His heart finally calming down to a normal pace as he sunk into his chair. Opening his mouth to say something, he heard her begin to speak again.

"...But you don't have to do that. I'm fine."

"Helga, I-"

"Goodnight."

The phone beeped once, signaling the end of the call, and Arnold dropped his arm to his side.

Gerald got up slowly and walked over to his friend, who now appeared to be in somewhat of a trance. Taking the phone carefully out of Arnold's hand, he let out a sigh. "You have got it BAD."

Shaking his head, Arnold got out of his chair and walked over to his bed, where he let himself collapse face-first and groaned into his pillow.

"From the sounds of it, I take it she didn't want to talk to you?"

He said nothing, and instead turned his head to face Gerald, giving him an annoyed look.

"Face it, Arnold. You need to either be more assertive, or give up. Augh. I don't even know why you're trying so hard anyway. I mean, it's HELGA we're talking about."

Arnold's heart sank, "You don't get it, do you…?" he said softly.

She released the phone slowly, once it was nestled into its base. Her hand trembling slightly as she reached into her pocket, only to pull out her most cherished possession. Her eyes brimming with tears, and her head feeling as if it were about to explode.

"I...want to see you." she whispered to herself as she pressed the locket tightly to her chest, "I'm sorry, Arnold…"

Sinking to her knees, Helga finally allowed herself to free her tears in a quiet sob. She leaned against one of the large boxes of electronics next to her in the storage room which doubled as her bedroom. It was dark and cold, despite how tiny the space was. Her arms encircled her torso for both warmth and comfort. Feeling herself shake violently from the effect of the phone call, she let her head drop, trying to control herself.

What was she doing? Why couldn't she just accept the concern and consideration he had for her? Things had gotten too out of hand. She needed to run to somewhere. To someone.

"Phoebe." she resolved, bringing herself to a standing position, "I'll go see her. I need to-"

Suddenly, the door cracked open, revealing a very distraught looking Olga. "Baby sister? Are you in here?"

Helga tried to wipe away her tears as fast as she could before the door fully opened, letting in the light from the narrow hallway outside. "Why are you in here with the lights off, silly..?" Olga's voice was abnormally shakey.

"Uh. I was SLEEPING. Or at least TRYING to, before YOU barged in." Helga lied, trying to regain her composure.

Seeing Helga's reddened, puffy eyes, and rosy cheeks, Olga paused.

"WHAT?!"

Wringing her hands, Olga began cautiously, "I guess you already heard the bad news…?"

"Huh?" Helga's eyebrow rose in confusion, "What bad news? What more BAD NEWS could there POSSIBLY BE?!" Her voice grew more and more agitated as she spoke, "We already lost our HOUSE. We lost our STUFF. We're practically BROKE! All we really have anymore is this STUPID STO-"

Olga's cracking voice cut her off "No baby sister…" she began to tear up, ruining her mascara instantly in a true Olga fashion. "We just lost the store too…"

Helga's shoulders instantly dropped. Her eyes dead focused on her pathetic looking older sister's ugly crying. They lost the store? That can't be. If they lost the store, then they would have absolutely nothing. Olga must have heard wrong.

"Ahhh suck it up!" Helga yelled in obvious annoyance as she pushed her way passed Olga and headed towards the front of the store. "You most likely heard wrong."

Olga chased after her and stopped in front of the blonde, "It's true, Helga."

"I'll find out for MYSELF." Helga brushed past her sister once more and looked around the corner to see Bob sitting at a table with two other men. One was of obvious importance, as he sat before Bob, wearing what seemed like a very expensive suit, and carried a briefcase. His dark hair slicked back neatly. The other, who stood behind the first, was dressed in a similar style suit, but wore his hair back in a low ponytail. The men appeared to be running the meeting as she watched her father rubbing his temples in obvious distress.

"You can't take it!" Big Bob yelled angrily, refusing to take a pen from one of the men. "It's all I have!"

Straightening his tie, the man at the table pushed the pen back at Bob, "You need to sign, Mr. Pataki. I can only guarantee severance if you willingly sign it over to us. We'll have to take it regardless."

"I need this business!" Bob tried again.

"Look," the man began, "I'm only considering this severance because you have a wife and child, Mr. Pataki. We need to take the business, but I also don't want to leave you with absolutely nothing. Think about your child."

Bob turned to look towards the hallway. Helga stood watching in the forefront. However, Bob's eyes were gazing straight passed her.

At Olga.

"Mr. Pataki." the man slid the documents towards Bob.

"Fine." he said finally, "I'm doing this for my daughter. For my Olga."

Helga's eyes widened. She stood frozen to her place, watching in shock as the men finalized the deal and walked out of the building. Her hands slowly and firmly becoming fists, she finally managed to take a step forward towards her father.

Olga called from behind her, "See Helga…? It's true…"

Ignoring her, Helga finally made it to the table and slammed her hands strongly down on its surface in front of Bob. A few papers and a cup of pens shook violently from the impact and slid off of the table onto the floor.

He jumped up to see her leaning on the table across from him and rubbed his temples, "We're not restocking today," he said, angrily waving his hands to dismiss her from his sight, "Go do your homework or something. Can't you see I'm thinking here?!"

Helga could only watch him in disbelief as he stood and began to walk towards the back hallway.

"HEY BIG BOB!" she called out. Her voice full of disgust and rage.

He turned to face her once again, "Little lady! I SAID I was trying to THINK!"

"You know what?" her voice trembled slightly, "You're a HORRIBLE father and an even WORSE businessman! You've SINGLE-HANDEDLY DESTROYED everything we had! All because of your damn PRIDE!"

Both Bob and Olga watched in surprise as Helga appeared to be dissolving into herself.

"Baby sister-"

"SHUT UP!" she yelled, "You know NOTHING about me, Olga! You live in your own little world where EVERYTHING is perfect, and you completely ignore the fact that I've been SUFFERING for the last 11 years of my LIFE!"

Taken aback, Olga dropped to the floor and began to cry once again.

"Hey! That's no way to talk to your sister!"

Footsteps could be heard coming towards them, and Miriam stepped into the room, looking as drunk as ever. Her hair a complete mess. Her eyes bloodshot. Her dress covered in stains from whatever it was she fell asleep drinking that day.

"I heard yelling. Is everything okay?" she said lazily adjusting her glasses.

Helga let out a blood curdling scream before letting her frustration completely take over her, "I HATE YOU! I've always HATED you! ALL of you!"

With that, she grabbed her coat and ran out the front doors of the emporium.

Moonlight: Thank you for the follows! I hope I'm living up to expectations!