So I have been using my boyfriends laptop to updates these stories with library internet. I thought that this would solve all my issues but as luck would have it I'm pretty sure my bf's laptop has a short. So Everytime I use it it randomly shuts off. Theres a pop and suddenly the entire machine is off. If anyone knows about computers please tell me how screwed I am. This happens most often when I play on of my games. Anyways I saw a few HA episodes which got me writing again.

Pink Ribbons and Blue Caps

Chapter 5

Vikings and Wolves

Helga G. Pataki was playing a calming song in her head, It was the Mamas & Papa's version of Dream a Little Dream of me and it was helping her keep her cool while Arnold's mother led her inside the Shortman boarding house. Helga limped her way into the Shortman boarding house. Helga limped her way into the Shortman's living room where Stella offered her a seat with a big footrest.

"Wait right here and I'll be back with the first aid kit" Stella said as Helga took her seat.

Cabal was rolling around on the floor with a little girl the Helga assumed was Arnold's little sister. Arnold's father popped into the living room with an icepack.

"Hi, I'm Arnold's Father Miles, this little gremlin is Xitlali, but everyone calls her Lali, I thought you might need this for your knee, my mother says you took a pretty bad spill."

"Thank you Mr. Shotman." Helga said as she took the ice pack he offered.

"Please, Mr. Shotman is my Dad, call me Miles." He said as he took a seat next to her. "What kind of of dog is he?" Miles asked.

"He's a mix between a German Shepherd, St. Bernard, Bernese Mountain dog, and Malamute. I got him as a rescue pup a couple of months ago. He's only nine months old so I'm pretty sure he's only going to get bigger." Helga said as they both watched Cabal and Lali played together.

"Whoa, Do you have a yard for him to play in?" Miles asked.

"Yeah, but it's too small, especially with my Dad's meditation hut in the back. So we try to walk him two to three times a day."

Stella walked in with the first aid kit and Miles got up to help her. "Let me take care of that honey, you sit down and talk to... you know what, I don't think I know your name." Miles turned towards Helga who smiled politely.

"My name is Helga, Helga G. Pataki."

"All right Helga, roll down your sock and lets have a look at your knee." Miles said as Stella took her seat next to Helga.

"Oh, I can patch myself up." Helga said

"Nonsense, I'm a doctor and a Dad. If I can't patch a skinned knee every now and then what good am I? Now roll down your sock so I can clean the wound." Helga smiled and obeyed while Stella chatted.

"So, how do you know our son?" She asked with a conspiratorial smile.

"We were in elementary school used to play in the empty lot down the street with the rest of the kids in the school. I used to tease him about his hea-OW! Criminey!" Helga cried out & Cabals ears perked up.

"Sorry, should have warned you about the rubbing alcohol." Miles said with a guilty look on his face. Cabal drew closer to them and lowered his head to let out a growl and Helga let out a pained hiss between her teeth.

"Ok, Helga, your dog is making me nervous." Miles said as he stayed perfectly still. Helga turned towards Cabal and shushed him, then patted his head while using soothing tones.

"Sorry he's very protective" Helga said as she patted his head. Cabal licked her hand and went back to playing with Lali on the floor. Miles nodded his head and went back to work.

"So you used to tease my son," Stella said good naturedly.

"Yeah, I used to call him football head." Helga said with remorse.

"Oh, honey isn't that what they used to call you?" Miles said as he bandaged Helga's knee. Stella grabbed a pillow and flung it at Mile's head.

"I grew out of it, I have a very pretty head and now Arnold does too, right?" Stella turned towards Helga, who smiled politely and was grateful beyond belief when Arnold's grandma Gertie walked in. "Jimba's gone to change his pants." She said happily. Arnold's grandpa walked in with a wicked grin. "Miles, I think you might have another patient upstairs."

"Got it Dad. Helga, you landed pretty hard on your knee, so it's gonna swell up like thanksgiving buns. Try not to do anything too strenuous with it and ice it whenever you can. I'm off to see my other patient." Helga nodded her head and thanked Miles for his help.

Gertie went up to Helga and listed all the benefits of a choke collar with a big tog to Helga as miles left the room.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Arnold rifled through his boxes to find a clean pair of pants and briefs. One of the cats claws had dug deeper than the rest and he bled through his pants. He really couldn't remember a time when he was more embarrassed. Helga looked pretty and collected in her Catholic School Uniform while he looked like a bumbling mess with the Munsters for a family. Arnold felt more than a little abnormal and was dwelling on his embarrassment when he heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, champ it's me. I came to check on your cuts. Grandma says you're bleeding a lot."

"Come in." Miles opened the door and smiled at his son.

"Now you see why I hate cats." he said jovially.

"I think I share that sentiment," Arnold said motioning toward the blood stain on his upper thigh.

"Nothing like being embarrassed in front of a pretty girl to welcome you back into the neighborhood." Miles said with a grin while he set his first aid kit down.

Arnold groaned out loud, "Don't remind me."

Miles laughed out loud and slapped Arnold on the back. "Don't worry champ. At least she'll remember you." Arnold gave his father a blank stare while he laughed.

"All right, all right, I'll stop. Now let me have a look at that cut. You may need stitches."

When Arnold took off his pants the wound reopened and fresh blood gushed out. Miles let out a low whistle and handed Arnold some cotton swabs. "I'm going downstairs for some needle and thread. Soak those in the rubbing Alcohol and clean the wound like I taught you. I'll be back in a bit." Miles hurried out of the room and Arnold followed his instructions. It suddenly struck him that this is the type of situation that Eugene usually found himself in. He sent Gerald a quick text explaining his FML moment, while he kept pressure on his wound.

Miles came back in and checked Arnolds cut. " You might not need a stitch. I'll patch it up and give you some antibiotics, then you can go downstairs and say goodbye to your friend. I'll try to keep your grandparents in line so they don't embarrass you too much."

"Dad I don't think that will ever be possible." Miles laughed at his son's statement and started to patch up Arnold's cuts. Once he finished he ruffled Arnold's hair and went downstairs to join the others. Arnold resumed his search for pants. He finally found the box that held all his clothing and pulled on a pair of straight leg pants. He changed into clean white tee shirt, checked his hair in the mirror and went downstairs to join his family in the livingroom.

"Jimba, your little friend left a couple of minutes ago, wouldn't even have ice cream." Arnold's grandma said when he walked into the living room.

"She gave me great advice on how to clean the blood stains off your pants, I never would have thought to use hydrogen peroxide." Arnold's mom added.

"Sorry champ. If you go now you may catch up and walk her home. I'm a little worried about that leg." Arnold nodded in agreement with his dad's suggestion and ran out the door. Now he was positive that Helga was avoiding him and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Helga limped along the road and let out a sigh. She looked down at Cabal who looked up at her with loving eyes. Helga gave him a stern look. "If you weren't so lovable I would so hate you right now" Cabal responded with a happy bark and by licking her hand.

Helga let out another sigh, she would have stayed longer at the Shortman's but she needed to get Cabal home for a bath, take a shower, eat dinner and get ready to go out with her friends to open mic night. Helga laughed at herself, this sounded like she was making excuses for avoiding Arnold. The truth was that she didn't want to regress to the sad obsessive girl she was in the fourth grade. Arnold was handsome, tall and he seemed to have the same effect on her that he did when they were nine.

"No that's not right." she said aloud to herself then stopped mid stride. She wasn't composing sonnets in her head, or reciting impromptu soliloquies behind the dumpsters. She was just a little flustered, that wasn't something to be ashamed of. Helga continued limping down the road as she mulled over the situation for a bit and dissected her actions. True, she didn't want to regress, but she also wanted her first encounter with Arnold to be pleasant. She was afraid she would be her old angry self and pick on him. No, that wasn't right either. Helga teased everyone, with the exception of Phoebe, to some degree. Her friends understood that when she teased them that it wasn't done out of malice but love. She only teased the people she was comfortable with, and it was always playful, never to the degree that could hurt peoples feelings. Helga called Rhonda "princess" to tease her and because she knew Rhonda kind of liked it. Helga didn't yell and threaten people with "Old Betsy and the Five Avengers" any more. She didn't think that she was a "girly girl" since she still enjoyed watching football with her father and getting into the occasional burping contest with Harold.

Helga smacked herself in the head as she limped forward. She was overthinking things and her mind was starting to wander off topic. Helga was going to treat Arnold like she would any old classmate from PS 118. She would not shove him or throw spitballs at his head, she would call him "football head" from time to time. She called Thad "Curly", which annoyed Rhonda to no end, so she should be able to call Arnold "football head".

Helga heard someone call out her name, she looked around and suddenly a jeep pulled up beside her. Wolfgang was in the drivers seat and he looked over at her with concern on his face. Helga had started tutoring Wolfgang in English, even though he was a year ahead of her, he was an excellent writer and really thought about things in depth but he sucked at grammar and assembling his thought in a cohesive manner.

"Hey Helga are you alright?"

Helga propped her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow, "Do I look alright to you Thor?" Thor was a nickname given to Wolfgang after several people, including Helga, noted how much he resembled Chris Hemsworth. It never seemed to bother him.

Wolfgang laughed and hopped out of the car to get a closer look at Helgas knee. "So, I'm guessing that I'm looking at the after effects of yet another Pataki moment of grace." He said with a playful grin.

"Helga smacked him on the shoulder, "Shut up! It's not my fault he saw a cat." She said motioning towards Cabal.

"Oh sure, blame the poor puppy. It's not like he can defend himself." Wolfgang held out a fist for Cabal to sniff before he pet him. Helga scowled at him and he laughed at her again.

"All right, All right, I'm sorry"

Helga ignored him and started to limp away but he stopped her.

"Helga C'mon. I said I was sorry. Look I'll give you and the dog a ride home." Helga was about to reject his offer but he held up a hand to stop her.

"You're limping and you have five more blocks to go, let me take you home. I'll set down a beach towel in the backseat for the dog and you can ride in the front with me. I'll even let you choose the station."

Helga felt her knee throb and she looked at Wolfgangs earnest face. "Fine."

Wolfgang set down the beach towel and managed to direct Cabal into the backseat with Helgas help. Helga was about to jump into the jeep when she felt a pair of strong hands on her waist, Wolfgang lifted her up and set her in the passenger seat.

"Wolfgang, What the HELL!" She yelled

"Hey, i know a little about knee injuries. Getting into a jeep is hell, getting out is the seventh circle of Hell. Gotta do the same thing when we get to your house.

"Like Hell you will" Helga yelled out at him again.

"FINE! You want a torn ligament!" he yelled back

Helga crossed her arms and pouted. "That's what i thought" he said victoriously. Wolfgang got into the car and Helga changed the radio to a pop station, which she knew would annoy Wolfgang to know end. As they drove away she thought she saw Arnold in the rearview mirror, but that was when they turned the corner.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Arnold jogged for 2 blocks until he finally caught up to Helga. She was limping down the road when he called out to her. As luck would have it someone else chose that exact moment to call out to Helga. too. A green Jeep pulled over next to Helga and a large guy leaned over and started talking to her. He looked like he could could star in his very own viking movie and was talking in a very familiar tone. Arnold couldn't hear what they were saying but apparently Helga had made him laugh and her dog loved him. The Viking set up a spot in his car for Cabal, then picked Helga up and placed her in the passenger seat. Helga started yelling at him and suddenly Arnold knew who the viking in the Jeep was. Wolfgang laughed Helga off and got in the drivers seat. They drove off and Arnold felt slightly emasculated.