Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!

The Day You Will

By Moonlight

A Familiar Scene

It was nearly dark, when she finally allowed herself to stop sprinting. Her legs began to slow their pace, and came to a gentle halt, before her knees decided to give out beneath her. Collapsing onto the the pavement of the sidewalk, her labored breathing began to regulate, and her pounding heart seemed to feel relieved that she finally stopped.

Drops of water began to pool beneath her, and she couldn't tell if they were from her incessant sobbing or from the gentle rain that had begun to drizzle down.

She couldn't believe what she had just done. What had just happened. Her mind raced through other ways she couldn't have reacted to the unbelievable reality that the Patakis have been experiencing. She could have just walked away. Found an excuse to leave for a while and come back, instead of raging at her whole family and possibly ending up totally alone.

Back? Back to what? What was there to come back to at this point? The emporium was just taken away from them. All they had left, the roof over their heads, was now gone. She would have ended up homeless anyway. And as for being alone… she was always alone. Ever since she could remember, she'd been neglected and tossed aside. There was no point in hiding her feelings of hate towards them any long.

What about Phoebe's place? Her friend wouldn't mind if she stayed there. She'd done so many times in the past and things had been fine. But this was a pretty permanent situation she'd gotten herself into. Phoebe's parents wouldn't be accepting of having another mouth to feed indefinitely. She couldn't do that to them. The most she could do was stay for a few days, but then what? Where would she go then? She had no money, so a motel was out of the question.

She had absolutely nothing with her, except the clothes on her back.

And her locket.

As her breathing finally returned to normalcy, Helga began to rise to her feet. Her knees still weak from the run, they buckled beneath her, failing to help her up. Holding out her hands to cushion the fall, she let out a tiny sob, expressing her anguish.

There really was nowhere to go to.

She could hear the rain begin to fall harder around her. The sound echoing like needles in her head, as she stifled a cry.

It was as if the world were crumbling beneath her, and all she could feel was numbness. Her mind began to blank out into nothingness.

Suddenly the sound changed to a much lighter pattering above her, and she could no longer feel the droplets hitting her whole body.

"Helga…?" a familiar voice spoke softly from above her.

Recognizing who it belonged to almost instantly, she winced, hesitating to look up. Closing her eyes tightly, she wondered what the odds were that she would end up running into the one person she did NOT want to see her in this state. The one person she had been dreading to meet. And at the same time, the one person she'd been longing to be near.

"Are you alright?" the voice spoke again, and they bent down to take her hand.

"What are YOU doing here, football head?!" she spat as soon as he grabbed her, and she tried to yank her hand away from his.

Holding her hand tightly, Arnold pulled her up to a standing position before gesturing towards the boarding house before them. "I was just coming back from walking Gerald home." he said as he took in the sight of her. Her clothes were soaked from the rain. Her hands and knees were muddy. And her face was oddly reddened with puffy eyes and an obviously look of someone who had been crying.

Something was obviously wrong, as Arnold had never seen her like this. She usually would have her angry, collected, and sarcastic front on. But never like this. He wondered if he had ever even seen her cry.

Helga looked over at the boarding house and silently cursed her auto-piloted body for subconsciously bringing her there during her time of need. While she had longed to see the boy, and this occasion was no exception, she didn't want him to see her this way. Broken. Destroyed. Absolutely demolished.

Noticing her lopsided pink bow, which usually sat perfectly atop her head for as long as he'd known her, Arnold couldn't help himself from leaning close to her in order to adjust it back into place. "Your bow…" he started, but immediately noticed Helga's sudden change of expression. Her furrowed brow relaxed before her eyes welled up with tears and her lips formed a tight frown. She looked as if she would break down, and he placed his free hand on her shoulder in hopes of comforting her.

It was just like before. Just like that fateful day when she felt the world had betrayed her. A little blond boy had shielded her from the rain after her lonely walk through town. He had protected her when no one else wanted to. He had complimented her bow and given her the most genuine smile Helga had ever seen. And she had completely lost her mind. She let herself be carried away by the boy's kindness, and fallen madly in love with him. Devoted her life to him. And even when she pushed him away, and tried to conceal her feelings, he kept coming back to her. Like a boomerang she could throw around. But he didn't deserve the treatment she had given him in the past. He didn't deserve to only see her tough exterior. He was different. He was special to her. If anything, she needed to confide in the boy who showed genuine concern for her.

And now, here she was. Alone and neglected by the same family… and being shielded from the rain by that very same boy. Being acknowledged by that very same boy. Her heat felt as if it would melt from the light he was emitting. Luckily, the tears in her eyes filtered that glorious light, as the river she had cried moments before, began to flow once more.

"Helga…?" he moved his hand to her cheek and lightly brushed away a tear with his thumb.

Without hesitation, Helga let herself lunge forward to encircle her arms around him. The motion surprising him into dropping his umbrella, which fell to the sidewalk and rolled towards the stairway that led to the boarding house door.

"Arnold…" she sobbed his name repeatedly into his shoulder as she tightened her hold on him.

His expression softened and he wrapped his arms around the girl just as tightly as she held him. His hand traveling up her back to cradle her head. "I'm right here…" he gently whispered to her, "I'm not going anywhere."

They stood still, getting completely drenched, for what felt like forever. Arnold didn't mind, however, as he wanted nothing more than to comfort the girl in his arms. To let her cry all she wanted to and whisper sweet things into her ear.

After all...all he's wanted since they'd returned from their trip...was her.

His heart seemed to pound louder than the sound of the now pouring rain, and for a second he feared she could hear it. However, he could feel a second thumping on his chest. Her heart, pressed tightly against him. And he buried his face into her messy hair as he whispered "It's going to be alright."

Pulling slightly away from him, Helga used her sleeve to wipe her still-flowing tears away. Sobbing gently, she tried to speak. "I...I-I'm so...s-sorry, Ar-Arnold…" she said through spastic inhales, and moved to turn away from him. She needed to get out of there. Fast. He didn't need this. To see this.

Helga was barely able to take two steps away from him before feeling his grip on her wrist pull her back towards him.

"Don't go!" he all but cried out as she turned to face him. His expression full of longing and defeat, "I...c-come inside…" he finally finished as a pink hue took over his cheeks.

Feeling as if she had no choice, since his grip felt like it wasn't going to let up anytime soon, Helga followed him as he ran into the boarding house and up the stairs to his room.

Knees tucked against her chest, Helga sat on Arnold's couch, opposite his bed. Her hair still a bit damp from the shower she had just taken, and her body warm and wrapped up in the scent of him from one of his shirts he had let her use as a nightgown. Keeping her head low, she stared blankly at the floor. The familiar carpet pattern bringing her some comfort.

Arnold watched her from where he sat on his bed. His hands restless from the many questions he'd wanted to ask her, however he did his best to refrain from bombarding her with them. He didn't want to push her away again. Instead, he waited for her to say something. Anything.

His wait didn't last long, as her voice resonated softly in his direction, "You...didn't have to do this…" she said to him. Her words sounding as if he had gone way out of his way for her. As if she were a burden.

He shook his head, though he knew she wasn't looking up at him, "I wanted to…" he replied just as softly as she had spoken.

Silence took over the room once more.

Their pounding hearts echoing loudly in their heads as they sat across the room from each other. Arnold's clock ticking in the background. The rain sounded loud as it poured on the glass ceiling above them.

"Stupid football head."

Helga's whisper carried through the room and Arnold looked up at her. Her head still tucked into her knees, and her loose hair covering the rest of her face. A chuckle escaped his lips briefly, before he cleared his throat and spoke, "I'm here to listen… If you want to talk." he said slowly, before adding "You don't… have to tell me what happened, though. But… If you want to tell me your frustrations, or if you want to yell at me… I'll listen."

He paused to see if she would respond, but she never did. So Arnold stood up from his bed and walked over to where she sat on the couch, taking a seat next to her. He straightened his back and looked over at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Or we could just sit here… If it helps, I'll provide you company while you think…"

Helga raised her head slightly to stare at the wall before her. "That's the same thing he said."

Curious, Arnold leaned in closer to her, "Who?"

She shook her head and turned to face him, "No one…, but thank you, football head."

Arnold let an annoyed smirk take over his face, "Could you stop calling me that?"

She furrowed her brow, "No, because that's what you ARE." she said, trying to sound like her usual self.

"I think we're past silly nicknames like that, Helga."

Turning to face him, she noticed his eyes staring at her in a half-lidded gaze. The kind of look that sent her swooning and caused her heart to do backflips in her chest. She could feel it pounding inside her, as if it were ready to burst.

"Wh...what do you mean…?" she asked, feeling as if she were being pinned down by his eyes alone.

Arnold sighed defeatedly before running a hand through his hair. "It's getting late." he said, looking up at the sky through his window, "You should get home…I'll walk you."

Helga could feel her chest tighten at the word. Home. WHAT home? She wanted to yell at him for even bringing it up. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs just from the thought of seeing that man's face again.

Jumping to her feet, she willed herself to breathe deeply. She didn't want to do anything to compromise the current situation.

Once she felt stable enough, she turned to him "Actually, I… kinda need a place to stay for a while." she said slowly.

He wanted to know why, but only looked at her understandingly and nodded. "You can stay here as long as you need to."

"I have no money to rent a room here-"

But he'd already gotten up and handed her some blankets and a pillow from his closet. "You can stay with me." he said, giving her a small smile.

She stared at him, eyes wide. Stay HERE? In his ROOM?! WITH him?! Helga in her normal state of mind would have been swooning and melting into herself at the suggestion. However, in her current state, all she could do was let her lips part as if to say something, but nothing came out.

Unable to say anything, Helga let herself relax back onto the couch and accept the offer. She had nowhere else to go, she reminded herself. This was the best option she had. Placing the bedding carefully on the couch, she looked over at the boy who simply smiled in return.

She loved that smile. She loved his kindness. She loved everything about him. And if being here with him was the outcome of her misery back home, then...she loved being miserable.

Moonlight: Yay~! Another chapter~ This one was… intense for me to translate from my fantasies to words on a page. Haha~ Thank you all for the support, once again! Please let me know your thoughts. :)