[A/N: I'm breaking chapter 16 into two parts because I have a few pieces of content that I won't be able to get to for some time (ugh, school work...) but I wanted to go ahead and at least post SOMETHING. So here's another emotional chapter for y'all lol]

Present Day

Arnold wouldn't be able to get back to Concordia until late that night at the earliest so Helga was forced to deal with the stunning news of Rich's death alone. At first the nurses hadn't wanted Helga to leave her room considering her questionable mental status but thankfully, William had come to escort her, all the while assuring that he would keep watch over her.

Helga held her breath as she approached Rich's room. Over and over again she told herself how she'd failed him. It'd been too late. She was supposed to save him. These conflicted with her rediscovered desire to live and forgive herself for her mistakes, all the while the two dichotomous emotions spun together, twisting and pulling at one another until Helga found herself choking in the entanglement.

It was amazing how quickly things could change. She'd spent many year depressed and drowning in self-loathing and in only a few short weeks, a month or two, Rich had inspired her to imagine a future again. His collapse and hospitalization, along with the thought of that future disintegrates just as quickly as it had appeared, sent her into another downward spiral but with the realization that Arnold had been alive all this time, everything she'd done and felt about herself came into question. The rollercoaster ride of emotions left her feeling nauseated and she wasn't sure she could handle any more twists or turns lest she completely lose her mind.

When she first saw Rich lying in his hospital bed, she could have imagined he was only asleep. There was still some color to his skin and he looked peaceful, lying on his back with his glasses resting on the nightstand beside his bed. Several of the family members were there including Sandra, Henry, and Adrienne. Helga vaguely heard someone mention Marcus and Linda arriving at the airport in an hour and remembered that those were the names of Rich's parents.

As Helga approached Rich's bedside with William's hand gently resting on her shoulder, guiding her, she felt a wave wash over her and steal her breath. Tears welled in her eyes but she fought the instinct to let them fall. She wasn't among friends, after all.

So she stood next to the bed, arms crossed tightly over her chest and her gaze fixed on Rich. She studied every part of his face and marveled at how she'd never noticed how long his eyelashes were before now.

Adrienne stood on the other side of the bed, weeping, as Henry looked on from the foot of the bed. William stood next to Helga, holding Rich's hand and Ronald stood, ever faithful, at William's side. Sandra sat in a chair toward the foot of the bed on Adrienne's side, occasionally lifting her glasses to wipe tears. They all remained in these positions for the better part of an hour, silently saying their goodbyes and mourning the loss. Nurses came in and out and one of Rich's doctors spoke directly with William about Rich's condition leading up to his passing.

All the while, Helga stood by – half watching, half thinking, but mostly lost in her own world. She was so caught up in how surreal this was that part of her couldn't process the fact that he was gone. She struggled even to process how quickly he'd come in and out of her life. She wished desperately that Arnold would arrive soon so that she could seek comfort from him and in the same moment, felt guilt for wanting him. Though she couldn't be certain as to who her guilt was directed toward. Did she feel guilty for becoming so connected to Rich or because she still longed for Arnold?

When Rich's parents arrived, the other family members started to trickle out of the room. It was almost ten at night and everyone was tired and emotionally drained. William appeared behind Helga again, gently coaxing her to leave the room but right at that moment, her attention had been drawn elsewhere. She waited until the other family members were mostly out of earshot before leaning in to William to whisper, "What is that on his neck?"

"I'm sorry?" William replied, confused.

"Look at his neck," Helga said, discreetly pointing at a small mark on Rich's neck. "Do you see that?"

With everyone out of the room, William leaned in and squinted. Helga watched his face as his eyes widened and his lips tightened. "I do," He said in a low voice.

"Do you think –"

"Let's speak about this later," William cut her off. "We must leave the room now,"

Helga nodded, looking back at Rich once more before following William out into the hallway.

. . . . . . . .

Arnold's sense of time was completely out of whack with all of this travel. At this point, he was running on autopilot and by the time he arrived back at the hospital in Concordia, he felt like a robot.

It was just after midnight and one of the late shift nurses had told him that Helga was back in her room.

Arnold took in his appearance as he passed by the reflective glass of several rooms. Thankfully, he'd had the opportunity to take a shower and change his clothes when he got back to Hillwood otherwise he probably would have looked just as exhausted as he felt. The only sleep he'd gotten had been a few hours in that hospital chair that offered no comfortable position to rest. He hadn't combed his hair after his shower so his blond hair was a tangled, unruly mess atop his head, random tufts sticking out in every direction.

He entered Helga's room with a soft, "Hey,"

"Hi," Helga responded. She was sitting up in bed but leaned back against a mass of pillows supporting her back.

Arnold dumped his belongings, a duffel bag with a change of clothes and several other important items, into the chair in the corner and walked up to her bedside.

What could he say? What should he say? They'd never been terribly close to Rich growing up but he obviously had to be important to her if she'd almost sacrificed her own life to save his, right? Could she have loved him? A sick feeling fell over Arnold's stomach and he wondered why that should bother him. They hadn't seen each other or spoken in so many years; what right did he have to have any sort of opinion on who Helga was involved with? She certainly wouldn't approve whenever she learned that he'd married Lila.

Lila.

He suddenly felt ashamed at how little he was thinking about that whole situation now. He still suspected that something wasn't right about Lila's disappearance and that he was being set up by someone but it still felt wrong to not even be thinking about her. If she was really hurt, shouldn't he be worried? If she was fine but somehow staged everything to torment him, shouldn't he be heartbroken? Betrayed? How could he feel so indifferent to such an immensely important thing happening in his life? Maybe something was wrong with him and he wasn't the "good guy" everyone always claimed him to be. Maybe he was just as flawed and broken as the rest of them.

It'd been quiet between them for several minutes now and Arnold felt inclined to speak. "I'm really sorry," He said softly and Helga bit her lip. Arnold noticed the way he eyes glistened and his heart immediately ached for her. She turned her head but he saw a tear escape the corner of her eye and so he sat down on the bed beside her, reaching for her hand.

It was so seamless, the way she immediately turned and clung to him like she was caught in the raging current of a river and he was the only rock for miles. Arnold wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug and her soft blonde hair tickled his eyelid but he ignored it. He held her tight as her shoulders heaved and intuitively whispered, "Helga, it's… it's not your fault,"

She heaved a hearty sob at that, clutching his shirt desperately and burying her face against his chest.

"It's not your fault," He repeated, more clearly and her once silent sobs became audible, though incoherent.

She pulled away from him and attempted to speak. "If I—if I – If I—" She struggled to form a sentence through her hysterical hyperventilating. Though Arnold had never seen Helga Pataki so broken and vulnerable, he acted on instinct. Somehow, comforting her felt natural.

"Shh," Arnold hushed her, gently grasping her arms and looking directly into her eyes, though she wouldn't meet his gaze. Her eyes were cast down as she whimpered, her breathing staggered. "It's okay. Helga," He looked at her, asking for her attention. "Helga," He repeated and she slowly lifted her gaze to meet his. Her crystal blue eyes seemed to sparkle from the reflection of fluorescent light. Tears hung in beads from her eyelashes like dew on a twig and he watched as a few slid down her now bright red cheeks.

He wasn't sure what came over him. Maybe it was how pitiful she looked. Maybe it was his own sense of empathy. Maybe it was the fact that her pain reminded him of how it felt when he'd lost his grandparents. Either way, he found his own eyes watering and he held Helga's arms firmly, his gaze still locked on hers and she must have felt something, too because she never broke their eye contact and her breathing slowly calmed.

"Please –" Arnold started. He wanted to tell her not to cry but crying was natural. Crying was normal in situations like this. What could he do? He wanted to take her pain away but there was no way to do that. He took a deep breath and in the most serious voice he could muster, he repeated, "Helga, it was not your fault,"

He watched her lip quiver and just for a moment wondered if he should kiss her but he immediately stopped that thought in its tracks without another moment's consideration. Instead, he leaned his forehead against hers and let her cry. She eventually turned such that their temples were side by side, a more comfortable position that led to a deep hug, their heads resting on one another's shoulders.

[A/N: I hope you guys liked this. We're gonna get into some real action and drama later but I needed to process these emotions first.

Next up: What was that thing on Rich's neck? Arnold and Helga discuss their history (and the method by which Arnold was able to find her...). What's going on with Lila and what is she going to do? Will anyone figure out what happened to Marguerite?

Also, I'm going to try and start replying to reviews! I so appreciate it when you guys take the time out to review and tell me what you think so I think they deserve personalized responses. :) With that being said, please review! I genuinely want to know what you think of the chapters, whether everything makes sense, what you want to know/what you think will happen, etc. It gives me liiiife XD. Bye for now]