Ok, so I finally got my focus back. Well at least for now, hopefully I can keep it up to finish this story. Soooooo, here is 11, hope everyone has enjoyed the story so far. I know these last two chapters were maybe a little out there, but nothing like a terrifying experience to bring out a few emotions.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!

Meanwhile the girls…

The girls all sat huddled in Helga's room, crying. None of them knew what to do or how to help Helga, she was downstairs with that maniac and they were upstairs. Tears welled up in Phoebe's eyes as panic settled in, waiting on Gerald to answer felt like an eternity when it was only seconds.

The guys…..

After Arnold had text Helga earlier in the evening he decided to call Gerald and the guys to see if they wanted to just hang out. They all met at Arnold's, sitting around joking, listening to music and of course talking about whatever came to mind. I few conversations becoming pretty weird and gross thanks to Harold.

Gerald sat on Arnold's bed, telling one of his famous stories when his phone started to ring. He pause, making the guys groan, he was just getting to the good part. He raised a hand to suppress their groans as he looked at his phone, "It's Phoebe." He said with a smile and raised eyebrows.

"Oh, man just let it go to voicemail and keep on with the story." Harold wined. Gerald shot him a look, "Would you ignore a call from Rhonda?" Harold kind of went wide eyed, stumbling over his words.

"Exactly." Gerald said as he hit the answer button on his phone. "Hey babe, how's it go-…." Gerald was interrupted by a very hysterical Phoebe. Gerald's eyes widened as he shot up, startling the guys sitting around him.

"Ok, babe listen just calm down. What is going on?" Gerald's voice had started to crack as his stomach started to turn hearing his girlfriend so freaked out. The guys just stared at him, all wide eyed with questioning looks on their faces. At this point Arnold had started to get really worried, he knew that Phoebe was over at Helga's with some of the other girls.

At that moment, Gerald froze, his face showing a side of terror no one had ever seen. His eyes darted between the guys as they all shot up from where they were sitting. Harold, Sid, Stinky, Chance, and Arnold now having extremely worried looks on their faces. "Hold on I am going to put you on speaker."

The guys all huddled around Gerald trying to hear Phoebe, "Now babe try to say it slowly so we can hear you ok."

They could hear Phoebe taking a deep breath between hysteric sobs, "It's Helga…h-he….he has h-h-her!" Phoebe cried. All the guys turned their attention to Arnold who looked as if he were about to faint at her words.

"Who has Helga?!" Arnold asked in a bit of a panicked tone.

"I-I..don't k-kn-know." With that the guys all pulled out their phones to call their girlfriends.

"Phoebe, where is Helga?" Gerald said trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"He snuck in th-through the b-back door. She we-went to lock it and…." Right about that time they heard a faint scream in the background. With that the guys didn't wait for any more information, they ran out of the house and jumped in their cars. Driving as fast as they could to Helga's house, luckily the drive didn't take long since she didn't live too far away.

They jumped out of the car running up to the front door, it was locked, "Shit!" Arnold said as he quickly turned to Gerald. Then they heard a loud thud followed by Helga's scream. Gerald then motioned to Arnold and the rest to the back of the house.

Inside…..

Helga felt the most excruciating pain ever radiating from her side down her leg and up her back. The man spun her around and slammed her into the wall, making her scream out in pain. She winced in pain, trying her best to not pass out, and her adrenaline going full force at this point. Before she knew it she could no longer feel the pain, she took the opportunity to knee him as hard as she could in his groin. Just one last attempt, she thought as she slammed her knee as hard as she could into him.

He dropped almost instantly to the ground, releasing his iron grip on her. He lay in the fetal position, "You little bitch!" he said through gritted teeth. Helga jumped over him making her way to the back door, not knowing where the girls were, hoping they were safe. She glanced back seeing him struggling to his feet, I can at least lead him away so the girls will be safe, she thought as she turned to the back door.

The guys…..

They ran as fast as they could to the back door, praying that it wasn't locked too. Arnold reached for the door just as it swung open, Helga running out full force into him sending them both falling to the ground. Helga's breath was panicked as she scrambled off of Arnold, not realizing it was him at first. Arnold jump up as fast as he could, Helga was still on the ground. She suddenly turned, her eyes grew wide at the sight in the kitchen, the man had managed to regain himself and was fiercely moving towards her.

Helga jumped to her feet, adrenaline still going, "I told you, you little bitch not to do anything stupid. You just couldn't listen could you?!" The man started making his way towards Helga, a blood stained knife, about the width of his palm, in hand.

Before the man could make a last attempt at anyone they heard sirens approaching fast, the man looked up panic spreading across his face. His distraction gave Gerald enough time to hit him with a rake that was leaning up against the outside wall. This sending the knife flying out of his hand, and Harold then in turn made a move followed by Stinky, Sid, and Chance. They tackled the man down and restrained him, contorting his arms up getting a painful shriek from him.

Helga stood shaking, her arms wrapped around herself. Arnold wrapped his arms around her trying his best to calm his girlfriend down. At their closeness he felt something soaking through his shirt, it was warm, the sensation made him step back…his eyes grew wide. It was blood.

"Helga, you're bleeding!" Arnold managed the choke out, making Helga look down quickly.

At that sight, and the fact that she had started to calm which in turn her adrenaline rush had started to subside, the pain hit. She grabbed her side crying out in pain, without the effects of the adrenaline the pain came in waves full on almost crippling. She fell to her knees in pain, Arnold dropped to his knees as well cradling her as she fell into him.

Helga lay there in Arnold's embrace, fading in and out of consciousness now. Faintly she heard the police as they approached, she heard the word "Ambulance" from someone. Then "We have been looking for this scumbag for a while." Followed by he cries of the girls, her friends, they were ok she thought relieved hearing them.

"Helga?" she heard a familiar voice, it was Arnold, his voice cracking. She opened her eyes to a very worried expression on his face, she might have been seeing things, but she thought for a second she saw tears in his eyes. She fluttered her eyes once more before everything went dark.

Later…

Helga awoke, feeling extremely drowsy, her throat was very dry which made her cough. She buckled over at the pain in her side, tears forming in her eyes. She sat back calming her breathing as the pain subsided. Looking around the room she was in realizing she was in a hospital room, how the hell did I get here? She thought. She thought back to the last thing she remembered, the thoughts making her breathing increase rapidly which made a monitor she was hooked up to go off. A few seconds later a nurse and doctor rushed into the room.

The doctor did a quick once over check on Helga making sure everything was ok and that she was still stable.

"How are you feeling Helga?" the doctor asked, studying her face as he waited for an answer.

Helga drew in a deep breath, "I guess I could say I have been better." She answered looking at the various tubes hooked up to her.

"Well I have to say that you were very fortunate. The injury you sustained missed any vital organs. There was a decent loss of blood, but we were able to stabilize you. You will just feel weak for a little while." He said as he jotted down notes on the chart he was holding.

"Do you feel any pain?" the nurse asked softly. Helga nodded her head in response, talking was even an effort for her at that moment. "On a scale of one to ten how would you rate your pain?" the nurse asked again.

Helga just held her hands up to show the nurse, "Ok, eight, let me go get something to help you." With that the doctor and nurse both left the room.

The waiting room…

Everyone that had been there to endure the event of the night now sat in the waiting room waiting to hear of Helga's condition. Rhonda was curled up in Harold's arms, holding her close to him seemed to have calmed her quite a bit. Phoebe and Gerald did the same, as well as Stinky and Nadine, Lila sat in-between Chance and Sheena, Sid sitting off to the side of them. Arnold sat closest to the door, leaning forward placing he elbows on his knees, and his head resting in the palm of his hands. It was very quiet in the waiting room, the wait seemed to just go on.

"That is twice." Rhonda said softly tears forming in her eyes, breaking the silence in the room. Harold, along with everyone else looked up at her.

"Twice what?" Harold asked her, concern filling his voice. Rhonda just looked at the floor, a single tear falling and landing on her shoe.

"I know that we never got along…she did it twice….TWICE!" Rhonda started, raising her voice slightly as she shook her head, "Why? Why would she do that?! I have been just as horrible to her…but she…." Rhonda's head fell into the palm of her hands. Everyone was now looking at Rhonda a little startled at her emotional outburst. Harold place a hand on her shoulder, "What are you talking about Rhonda?"

She looked at him, then at everyone else, "Twice…in one summer, Helga has had to save my ass twice. The first time when Big Patty threatened to beat me to a pulp, and….now, tonight." She broke into sobs, "She could have easily died, and he was so much bigger than her. I never could have stood in her place and did what she did. She risked herself to protect us." She said as she gestured to the other girls, they remained silent, nodding their heads as they began to rethink the night's events.

"Rhonda, it's ok, she is ok." Harold tried his best to reassure her.

"Helga is a strong girl, and stubborn as a mule. She'll be alright." Stinky spoke up.

"I agree…I don't think any of us guys could have done a better job." Gerald said, pulling Phoebe in tighter. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement as they continued to talked, keeping the awkward silence at bay. The conversation helping to calm everyone's nerves a little, but Arnold continued to sit in silence looking at the floor hiding his face as a single tear fell to the floor.

Right about that time everyone silenced as they heard the door knob turn and the doctor walk in. He didn't look happy, but there was no trace of upset either, he was just calm. As he stared around the room at the others, "Any family of Helga Pataki present?"

"No sir, her parents are out of town. I called them to let them know what had happened, but they claimed they could not be back until the business trip was over." Phoebe spoke up, everyone groaning at this information. "Her big sister is out of state at the moment but will be in later in the week." She concluded.

The doctor looked a little stunned, "So no relatives are here for her?" Phoebe shook her head sadly.

The doctor took a deep breath, "Well all I can tell you is that she is stable, and awake. She can have visitors here in the next 15 minutes, just try not to overwhelm her at this time. She is very weak and needs her rest, and to relax as much as possible. Understand?" He said looking at each and every person in the waiting room.

Everyone nodded in unison, the doctor then turning to walk out after giving them her room information.

In Helga's hospital room…..

Helga's mind was racing, thinking about everything that had happened, and how she was so happy that everyone was ok. With the exception of herself she felt that one sacrifice was better than several. Helga could hear the faint sound of rain hitting the window, this calmed her down, rain is so relaxing, she thought.

As she took in the piece, she then turned her attention to the door as she heard a knock, followed by, "Helga, may we come in?" It was Phoebe's voice. Helga tried her best to muster up the strength to answer, "Yes." It wasn't very loud but audible enough for Phoebe to hear. As the door opened Helga saw everyone walk in, the sight of her friends making her smile weakly. They were all safe, she thought. Phoebe was the first to make her way to Helga's bedside, giving her a hug. Out of everyone Rhonda seemed to be the happiest to see her, which surprised her.

Everyone stood around her talking for a few minutes, all the while Helga had noticed someone was missing. Where was Arnold? She asked herself.

Once all questions had been asked and answered everyone made their way out, saying their goodbyes some promising to visit again. Helga signaled for Phoebe to come closer, "Hey, where is Arnold?" Phoebe signaled to the door, "He wanted to let everyone else speak to you first, he wanted to talk to you alone." Phoebe said. Helga sat back on the bed sighing, she was hoping that he would have been the first person in her room, but she liked the idea of being able to speak to him without everyone around.

As Phoebe gave Helga one last hug, she turned and made her way out stopping just outside the door. At the same time Helga saw Arnold round the corner, his hands in his pockets. He turned to close the door slowly, then focused his gaze on Helga. She studied his face as he walked closer, has he been crying? With that he walked to her side pulling her in such a tight embrace she groaned in pain, he immediately loosened his grip, "I'm sorry!" he said a little startled.

"It's ok, it isn't as bad as before. The pain medication helps." Helga replied with a reassuring smile.

Before Helga had a chance to speak another word, Arnold had kissed her. This kiss was different, not like before, there was a feeling of longing in it as if he were kissing her like it was the last time he could. He broke the kiss leaning his forehead against hers, a single tear now trailing down his face as he closed his eyes.

"Helga…." He said almost breathless, "I have never been so scared in my life. The thought of that..that, monster hurting you….." he trailed off, his voice beginning to crack. He slowly opened his eyes, placing a hand on her cheek, caressing it as he took a deep breath.

"I don't know what I would have done had he…." He broke off.

"Arnold?" Helga said softly, now looking into his watery eyes her own began to tear up.

"I love you Helga." He said breathlessly. Helga's breath caught in her throat for a second as she processed what she had just heard, did he just say he loves me? Helga sat in silence for a moment, trying to process what Arnold had just said, this not going unnoticed as Arnold shifted his gaze to her face. Helga could tell that the wait was making him uncomfortable, if this is a dream I am going to be so pissed, she thought. This was something she had waited so long to hear, even if this is a dream I am not going to screw this up.

Helga placed a soft kiss on his lips, "I love you too." She said slowly. A low sigh left him, as a smile formed on his face. The two sat in the room, listening to the rain, letting their presence do the rest of the talking.

Reviews please and thank you! More to come...