Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold or any other recognisable characters other than my own.

"You know you want some, Helga," Alex taunts her, waving the ice cream cone in front of her face.

"Yeah, if you would just give it to me already," she replies, reaching out for it only to have Alex pull away and lick from it himself. "Ugh, I knew we should've bought separate ones," she says and crosses her arms over her chest, head tilting sideways. "I wonder if that ice cream man is still around."

"Oh, no. I'm not letting you buy another one," Alex says, taking Helga's hand into his free one and pulling her towards him.

"And why not?" Helga asks, a defiant tone in her voice. She couldn't help it though; a wide smile breaks out on her face as she gets closer to him and seeing how the edges of his mouth are smudged with ice cream. "You eat ice cream like a 5-year-old."

"I've always been a kid at heart," Alex says and shrugs, pulling her closer still. "Wanna clean my mouth for me?" he asks, eyebrow twitching up and smirking.

"Gross."

Helga and Alex turn their heads toward the source of the third voice and see Sally standing a few feet away, a look of disgust on her face. "Do you guys have to act like that here? In public?" She turns away and walks down the sidewalk. "Get a room," she says over her shoulder. Helga stood paralyzed, face red from embarrassment.

"She has a point," Helga says in a small voice, taking a step back from Alex. She looks up to his face to see him pouting, robbed of a potential kiss. She laughs and steps forward again to hug him. "Don't worry, we can kiss all we want later."

Alex shakes his head slowly. "I'm not a very patient person, Helga. You should know that by now," he says and leans down to kiss her gently. He feels her smile against his lips and lets out a laugh. They pull apart, and Helga's eyes are closed. She opens them slowly and sees Alex staring lovingly at her, a goofy smile on his face.

"You should wipe that grin off your face, it might get stuck there," she says teasingly.

"I wouldn't mind, it drives girls nuts," he replied, laughing. "But the only one I want to impress is you."

"Save the cheesy lines for a girl who'd fall for it and eat your ice cream already." Helga rolls her eyes and takes a step back. "Why can't I get my own again?"

"Because then I can't do this," he says and slowly feeds her the ice cream he's holding. "Sharing is caring, remember?" He wipes off a bit of ice cream that got on her nose and gently kisses it.

"Are you just going to smother me with kisses all day?" Helga asks, blushing at how shamelessly he's showing affection.

"If you don't say no, I will."

Helga just smiles and keeps her mouth shut.

Helga's eyes slowly drift open as sunlight pours through her window. She sits up on her bed and rubs her eyes, looking around the room. On the floor she sees Sally, still sleeping soundly.

Sally… Helga's brow furrows; and suddenly she remembers the dream she had the night before. For a moment she smiles, feeling warm and fuzzy inside at the thought; only to have the feeling replaced with a sense of guilt. I shouldn't have had that dream. I shouldn't be thinking about Alex that way. I definitely shouldn't be having dreams about me kissing him. Numerous times. Well, technically he's the one who kissed me but still. That should not have happened. It shouldn't have. What about Arnold? We kissed for real. That wasn't a dream, right? For a split second Helga panics, thinking that maybe the kiss she shared with Arnold really was a dream. No, no that was real. I know it was real. I didn't dream that up. I've had dreams of kissing Arnold for years; that wasn't a dream. She starts to calm down, clutching the locket she has under her shirt. She smiles again, this time because of remembering the short moment of bliss she had with Arnold last night.

A knock on her door startles her from her thoughts, and wakes up Sally as well. The little girl stretches her arms and yawns, before slowly getting up. "Good morning, Helga," she says cheerily. Helga just smiled and nods in reply. The knocking on her door continues. "I'll get it," Sally says and moves to open the door. "Oh, Alex!" she exclaims, making Helga feel a rush of panic and she quickly pulls her blanket up to her chin.

"Morning, Sally," his deep voice fills the room. Helga could feel the blood rush to her cheeks; though she doesn't understand why. That should not be happening. Crimeny, Helga what the heck is wrong with you? "Mom told me to call you down for breakfast, and Helga too." He pauses for a moment. "Is she awake yet?"

"Yeah, of course she is!" Sally says and opens the door wider. "She's right there! Oh, Helga. Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine," Helga says quickly. "Why'd you ask?"

"Well, your face is all red," the little blonde girl says bluntly.

Helga's eyes widen, and she feels the blush on her face grow a deeper shade of red. "Uh, no I'm fine," she stutters out. "Hey Alex," she greets the tall boy standing in the doorway timidly. "Tell everyone I'll be down in a minute."

"Me too!" Sally interjects, standing in between Helga's bed and the doorway. "Tell Mom I need to brush my teeth first and everything."

"Yeah, sure," Alex says coolly, moving his gaze from Helga to his little sister. "Don't take too long, Squirt." He lightly ruffles her hair and walks off. Sally doesn't close the door straight away, instead she leaves the room to use the bathroom. Once alone, Helga breathes a sigh a relief. I feel so confused. Why? I shouldn't be. Get a grip, Helga. Get. A. Grip. She slaps cheeks lightly, closing her eyes and sighing some more. She stops when she hears Sally returning from the bathroom.

"Aren't you going to get dressed?" she asks, passing by Helga's bedroom door and poking her head in. "I think I smell pancakes."

"You go ahead. I'll be down soon," Helga replies, putting on a fake smile to get rid of her. The little girl finally walks away, leaving Helga to slump back into bed and stare at the ceiling for a few minutes. She begrudgingly gets up again when she hears her mother calling out her name from the bottom of the staircase. "Yeah, yeah I'm coming already!" She slowly walks to the bathroom, taking her time as to avoid sitting at the table full of people very long. Hopefully, by the time I get down there everyone's done eating and gone to do their own business. The thought makes Helga smile bitterly. And I used to think I would've liked to eat breakfast like a normal family.

As she makes her way down to the kitchen, she could hear the voices of the people talking over breakfast drifting up to her. At first she doesn't bother listening, but Alex's subdued reply makes her pause mid-step and tune in to the conversation they're having.

"Alex, don't be rude," Alex's mother scolds. "Sit up straight and answer Mr. Pataki properly."

"Sorry," Helga could hear Alex mutter before a chair scrapes across the floor gently. "I was just thinking of walking around the neighbourhood today."

"What would you want to do that for?" Bob's loud voice booms around the house. "There's nothing interesting to see around here." He pauses. "Well, if you really want to then tell Helga to show you around." Helga widens her eyes, first in surprise but then she shifts to anger. The nerve of that guy! He didn't even ask if I wanted to! Pfft, like Bob would care what I wanted anyway.

"No," Alex says hurriedly, which makes Helga feel slightly sad. She realizes what she just felt and shakes it off without another thought. "There's no need to bother her. I can make do by myself."

"Nonsense," Mr. Robinson said. "You should go with Helga. You said you two were friends already, so why not?"

A short pause in the conversation makes Helga think that everyone at the table is waiting for Alex to answer. A part of her thinks that maybe he's frantically thinking of a reason to get out of spending the day with her. But why should I be worried about that? Didn't I just get mad at Bob for suggesting it in the first place? Get a grip, Helga. Stop contradicting yourself.

"I just thought that it's not necessary to have someone babysit me," Alex says with an edge to his voice. "And I don't want to bother her if she'd rather spend her time with someone else."

"Watch your tongue, young man," Mrs. Robinson reprimands him. "Learn to use the proper tone when speaking to your elders." Alex doesn't say anything in return, be it an apology or a nasty retort that would've gotten him into trouble. Helga still doesn't make it a point to show herself, still on the staircase and hidden from view. She doesn't want to face anyone right now. The adults must be sore because of his disrespectful tone. Sally must be sitting there awkwardly and not knowing what to do. Alex seems to be pissed, whether from being treated like a kid or some other reason, she couldn't be sure. Why did he have to put it that way? Then it suddenly strikes her. Does he know about happened between Arnold and me? Helga shakes her head, as if willing the thought to go away. No, even if he did, why should it matter? Am I really that pompous to believe that he might like me too? She scoffs at the thought. Don't be so full of yourself, Helga.

"Well, not that I was implying that you need a babysitter," Mr. Robinson continues as if his wife didn't scold Alex, thus creating the terse silence. "I thought that you'd like to spend more time with her. We're leaving in a few days, and it's not as if these visits are going to happen very often."

Alex pauses, as if considering his father's words. He sighs after a moment and says, "If you really want me to hang out with Helga today, then fine. But only if she doesn't mind," he adds as an afterthought.

"Where is Helga anyway?" Sally asks.

I guess that's my cue. "I'm here," Helga says loud enough for them to hear, making her way down the rest of the stairs and takes a seat at the table. She smiles apologetically. "Sorry I'm late." No one says anything in return, to Helga's relief. At least Miriam isn't throwing a fit.

A silence fills the room while everyone eats their breakfast, either because they don't know what to talk about or are simply refusing to address the elephant in the room. If I didn't know better, I'd say they finally ran out words to speak. But of course, that's not the case. She could sense Sally's eyes darting from face to face, probably trying to guess who would break the silence first. Well, it's definitely not going to be me.

"So, Helga," Mr. Robinson says suddenly, making everyone jump at the sound. "Alex told us he's planning to explore the neighbourhood today. What's your plan?" His tone is light and cheerful, and the question rolls off his tongue smoothly as if he asks the same thing every morning. Now that I think about it, maybe he does ask this question every morning. She glances at Alex. I know I'd be fed up if someone asked me that every day. Maybe that explains why he was so angry before. Mr. Robinson looks at Helga expectantly, as does everyone at the table except Alex.

"Uh…" Helga trails off, not knowing what to answer. The truth is, even she doesn't know what to do for the day. "I haven't really thought about it yet," she replies slowly and shrugs. "Maybe I'll stay home and watch a DVD or something."

"Go with Alex," her father says, and not in a way that makes someone think it's a suggestion. No, it sounds more like an order. Helga could feel her anger flare up at being told what to do. She opens her mouth, but closes it again when Alex speaks up too.

"You don't have to," he says, glancing at her for a second before returning his gaze to the plate in front of him.

Something about his tone makes her start. She doesn't know why, but suddenly the words are out of her mouth before she could stop them. "I'll go with you. I don't mind."

Okay, this is completely, ridiculously overdue and I'm incredibly sorry. I really am. I could blame it on the fact that I haven't had very good internet connection for a while, but that's no excuse. I know I said I would write more and update more often after I finished my exams, and I'm sorry for not keeping my word on that. I'll try my best, but let me warn you that I may or may not be updating again soon.

In any case, thank so so so much for all the reviews and favourites that you guys have given me. I really appreciate that people take time to read this even though it's not the best you can find out here. I love you guys to bits, and don't ever forget that. :)

Also, if anyone is pissed at the lack of Arnold in this chapter, I'd like to point out that though I am a Helga/Arnold shipper, I feel like Alex needs to play a part in this (but that may be because of my own biased opinions). Also, the majority of this fic is centred around Helga, even though there are times when it's in another character's point of view. In other words, Helga's the main one here. So expect an absence of Arnold once in a while.

(In which the author's note is longer than the actual fic.) I'm sorry! I'll try and update as soon as I can. In the meantime, thoughts? Reviews? Ideas? It might help move the story along.