Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!

The Day You Will

By Moonlight

Gerald

The walk to Gerald's house was long and dreadful. As her head filled with thoughts of what if and maybe, Helga clung to her only lifeline. Her only sense of comfort. Arnold; who was very much aware of the troubles she was facing as they made their way over to confront his best friend, and he gripped her hand tightly in return.

"It'll be okay…" He said, trying desperately to reassure her, as they paused for a moment on the corner of the block that led to Gerald's.

She shook her head, unable to look at him, and instead gazed down the road ahead of them. "I know, I just… I want to squeeze the-"

"No." He cut her off with a hand to her mouth, "There will be no squeezing of anyone's anything, okay?"

Helga paused and looked at him intently before breaking into a small chuckle, which grew into full-blown laughter.

"What..?"

She continues to laugh, "Squeezing…!"

Narrowing his eyes, Arnold sighed, "Very mature… Come on. Let's go."

Lightening up a bit, she took his hand once more and followed after him. "Admit it. You thought it was funny too." She could hear him chuckle, making he smile widen. Pulling herself closer to him, she rested her head on his shoulder as they walked. "Hey Arnold…"

"Yes, Helga?"

She inhaled deeply, trying her best to relax, "...thank you."

A deep red filled his cheeks, but he couldn't find the words to respond to her, so instead he nodded.

As soon as they made it up the steps of the Johansen home, Helga could feel the dread spreading through her again. Pulling slightly on Arnold's sleeve, she stopped him from knocking on the large, green door. He turned to face her and sighed, taking he hands in his. "It's alright. We'll sort this out, and talk to Phoebe…" She stared up at him from a step below and nodded slowly.

Turning back to the door, Arnold finally knocked softly and waited for one of the Johansen's to answer. It didn't take long for the door to swing open, revealing the one and only Timberly. Her brightly colored pajamas nearly blinded the two.

"Arnold! Are you here for dinner?" she said excitedly.

He shook his head, "Actually, we need to talk to Gerald. Is he around?"

Timberly peered around the boy to see Helga standing awkwardly on the steps. She narrowed her eyes at the blonde, "Oh. You brought a girl." she grumbled as she opened the door wider to let them in. "Gerald is in his room." She pointed to the stairs and they two began to ascend; Timberly's glare never leaving Helga, who gave her a trademark Pataki scowl in return.

"Sheesh," she breathed when they were out of earshot, "What's WITH that girl anyway?"

Arnold rolled his eyes as a small blush filled his cheeks, "Um… she used to have a crush on me, I guess…"

Helga scoffed in response.

When they approached Gerald's bedroom door, Helga took in a long, desperately needed breath. She felt as if she would pound the boy if she didn't do her best to maintain her composure. They waited in what seemed like an eternity of silence. She could feel the demeanor she had worked up to begin to melt away into the anger and uncertainty that she had been feeling before.

Knocking once more, Arnold looked at his watch. "There's no way he'd be anywhere but home at this hour." he said, more to himself than to his companion.

"M-maybe this wasn't a good idea after all." Helga stammered in response, "Let's just forget about this whole thing and go home."

"What?" Arnold turned to face her, disbelief on his face.

Words continued to flow right out of her in hopes that they two of them would back out from this situation they had gotten into, "I-I mean it's not even our issue, and we shouldn't-"

Just then the door opened.

"She's right, Arnold. It ISN'T your issue." Gerald's voice came from behind them.

"Gerald!" Arnold exclaimed, taking a step towards his friend. "I was beginning to think you weren't home."

The boy looked slightly annoyed at the two standing in his doorway, "Well, I was trying to sleep, but you two woke me up."

"Sleep? At 7pm? Really…" Helga rolled her eyes at him.

"Nice to see you too, Pataki." he said to her before lookin back at Arnold, "...Why are you here anyway?"

Arnold felt a big hurt by his words. It was a common occurrence that he would stop by Gerald's place with no prior notice, just to spend time with him. Usually, he would be welcomed happily and the two would just enjoy eachothers company while they did their own thing in the same room. So to be asked why, felt like they didn't have that sort of bond anymore. He silently blamed himself.

"We...we need to talk."

Gerald rolled his eyes, "I already told you everything. Arnold-"

"I know." Arnold stopped him from heading down a slippery slope of negativity again, "...I just want to talk it over… Give you my point of view...OUR point of view." he said, looking over at Helga, who stood quietly next to him.

Without saying anything else, Gerald opened the door enough to let them both through and closed it after them.

The group found seats in the room and faced each other in a somewhat awkwardly. It was quiet for a few moments as Arnold fumbled with the hem of his shirt, and Helga did her best to avoid eye contact with Gerald, who seemed like he was fully prepared to kick them out of his room at any moment.

Finally, Arnold cleared his throat, "Gerald, I'm sorry."

"What?!" Helga perked up and shot a death glare at the blond next to her.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there when you needed me."

"Stop. We talked about this, Arnoldo. It's NOT your fault!"

Gerald raised a brow at his friend.

Arnold continued, "I know I should have been more attentive to you, but Helga's right."

"Arnold it's- wait, I am?" the girl straighten up in her seat.

"This whole thing with Phoebe… maybe I could have done something to help you, but what you did was ultimately your choice." Arnold looked straight ahead at his friend, trying to get him to understand.

Gerald scoffed. "I keep thinking back at what I could have done differently, you know."

Arnold listened intently.

"But I couldn't come up with anything that wouldn't ultimately hurt her…" Gerald finished quietly.

Helga's knuckles began to turn white from how had she was clenching her fists. Her body itched to jump out of her seat and yell at the boy.

"I just wish I had my best friend to help me through that, you know…? But you weren't there. At least, not mentally there."

"It's NOT Arnold's fault, Gerald." Helga finally spat, "Any issue you may have had with Phoebe was YOURS. You had every chance to ask for an opinion, but you chose not to. Why? Because your friend was dealing with his own issues. I get that, but why would you think he wouldn't help YOU?" she did her very best to stay in her seat, and Arnold's hand on her shoulder made sure of that. "You know what I think, Gerald? I think you were just a coward."

Leaning towards her, Gerald whispered a soft "What?!"

"You heard me."

Arnold pulled on her sleeve, "Helga, don't-"

"Don't try to defend him, Arnold. That's what he is. He couldn't handle an issue with Phoebe on his own, so he decided to find someone else to fall on! He didn't want to works things out with her, so he decided to hurt her instead!"

"That wasn't my intention, Pataki!"

Helga finally free'd herself from Arnold's grasp and stepped towards Gerald in an angry daze, "But you DID."

Arnold got up as well and took hold of both of her shoulders, silently pleading her to stop fighting.

However, much to his surprise, Gerald didn't fight back. Instead, he sighed and leaned back onto his bed. "I did… You're right…"

"You know what else I think?" Helga started, eyeing the framed picture on his night stand. "I think you still really like Phoebe…"