She must have made him happy, she supposed. They certainly got along well enough. The year flew past, and more often than not, they were together. Dan and Brent, Arnold's old roommates were always over, and they regularly had dinner with Dyna (who was a bit of a history buff, so always had something new for Arnold to read about), but they rarely did stuff apart.

They hardly ever fought, either… surprisingly. Sure, they snarked at each other sometimes, and there were raised voices, but real anger never really raised it's ugly head.

October 5th was the last day she had those feelings, too… to any real degree, anyways. Just before she got her period she was always prone to more, uh, carnal urges. But she was used to it by now, and barely paid them any attention, just shut herself in her room with her music up and her favourite vibrator between her legs.

They went back to Hillwood for Christmas (he got her a vintage box set of the Gormenghast trilogy, and she got him a book of Winston Churchill's letters), and spent New Years Eve at a party on campus, vehemently defending Game of Thrones from the attacks of a militant feminist.

So, basically, any doubts she may have had about moving in with the Shortman were unfounded… she was doing well, both socially and academically. She had an A average, had been accepted into a limited-place paper she'd been dying to do, and had nothing but good feedback on her work. She was doing well enough that she put the study on hold for a weekend to drive down to some beach with the guys during spring break…

"Oh, Helga, you're really sunburned." Arnold put a finger under the neck of her T-shirt and tugged up to check her neck.

Squealing, she jerked back. "Careful, Football Head!" She laughed, shaking her head. "I know I'm burnt, I can feel it." She dropped her voice to a whisper, not wanting to give Dan any more ammunition to be lewd with. "It already hurts so bad I had to take off my bikini top."

He grinned, leaning forward to murmur into her ear. "You don't need to whisper, I'm pretty sure Dan's already noticed."

She blinked. "Oh." She could feel herself blushing. Had they all noticed? Was it that noticeable? Oh god, she hoped they hadn't been watching her jiggle or anything… she glanced down, suddenly paranoid that her nipples were visible through her t-shirt.

Arnold chuckled, shaking his head and moving to look out the window. Helga wriggled. It was really uncomfortable, jammed in the back of Brent's car like this, sandwiched between Arnold and Dan, her hips hurting and her leg threatening to go to sleep. She shifted again.

Brent, Arnold's other roommate from the year before, grinned, the reflection of his wide smile visible on the windscreen as he peered over the steering wheel. "Toni's asleep, listen."

His girlfriend, the gloriously loud Toni was murmuring in her sleep, a continuous babble of high-pitched nonsense. They laughed softly, not wanting to wake her up.

"Man, I could so follow her example, if you boys weren't so damn uncomfy." Helga raised her knees, her thigh pressing hard into Arnold's, turned as she was away from Dan. "There's no room back here, with you two sitting all …akimbo like that." She glared at them, their legs splayed out in that way guys have, making sure their nuts weren't smothered. She squeezed her eyes shut at the mental image. Gross.

Dan laughed. "Come sit on my lap, sweetheart." He waggled his eyebrows. "You'll be comfy then."

"Push off, dweeb." Helga grimaced, laughing. It was a weird kind of relationship she had with Dan. Or, it was weird in that it was so familiar. She'd alwayshad some guy puppy-dogging after her. It had been Brainy in school, but now it was this skinny little brunette guy, the Nickleback fan. Pity he was more like Curly in personality than Brainy… he did sometimes cross the line from vaguely annoying to actively creepy. But he was trying… he was just a little socially inept.

"You're doing it again, Dan." Arnold slid further down in the seat, his eyes closed.

"I… oh… sorry Helga." Dan sighed.

"Apology accepted Danny Boy." She leaned over a bit, curling herself into Arnold's side when he raised his arm to lay it over her shoulder, doing her best to ignore how much it hurt her burned skin.

"You can sit on my lap, if you think it'll be more comfortable." Arnold said quietly. "Or we could swap places. I don't mind."

"Aw Shorty." Helga smiled. "You sure it'd be OK?" She'd sat in the middle on the long drive to the beach, doing it on the way back seemed to be more than her legs could take.

"Sure. Here." He unbuckled his seatbelt. "Don't crash, Brent. Helga n' I are shifting."

"I'll try not to." Brent grinned again. He was a nice guy, Brent. Innocuous, the kind of person Helga normally wouldn't even notice… but having been forced to befriend him, she enjoyed his quiet company.

They shuffled around in the back seat, twisting and swearing as Helga slid over Arnold's lap. His hand grasped her ribs, steadying her, laughing when she slipped and ended up half in the foot well. Eventually she got herself sorted though.

"Better?" Arnold asked, spreading his legs again.

"Much, thanks Shorty." Helga yawned, turning to nestle into the blanket they'd jammed between her and the door so that she could curl up, her legs over Arnold's thighs.

It was hot, with five sweaty bodies in the car, the balmy evening air coming in through the open windows not doing much to cool her down… probably not helped by the sunburn. She thought as she drifted off to sleep…

…"Helga… Helga… See, I told you she's still asleep."

Helga barely registered Dan's voice. They're talking about me? She had just decided not to care and to go back to sleep when Arnold's hand tightened slightly where it lay on her thigh.

"I don't care. Shut up." He growled. His voice was low, making Helga's ears prick up. What was going on?

"I kinda have to agree with him, Arnold." That was Brent. Helga forced her eyes to stay shut, her breathing to stay even. "I mean… you've had a helluva dry spell. You don't think maybe it'd be worth a shot?"

"Jesus Christ." Arnold sounded fed up. "Why do you two never drop this? No, I don't think it'd be worth a shot. I've known her my entire life, I'm not about to drop my pants and ask her to climb on up, she'd rip my head off!"

Climb up? Oh dear… they'd been talking about… that?

"So why won't you let me try?"

Yuck. Dan sounded downright whiney. She bit her tongue, forcing herself to stay quiet… this was interesting… even if she did feel a little guilty for eavesdropping.

"Dude, I don't stop you from trying, you try all the time!" Arnold's voice was incredulous. "She doesn't like you like that man, give it up." He sighed. "Seriously, she might wake up at any second. Just listen to me when I say that I'm not interested in her like that and drop it, OK?"

There was a sullen silence. She didn't get why… it wasn't anything new to her. She and Arnold weren't like that. It should have been clear to them by now.

"OK?" Arnold growled.

"Fine, OK." Brent laughed.

"I dunno." Dan sounded like he was thinking, which was never a good sign. "How can you stand it? I'd have the biggest boner if she was lying on me like that."

Arnold just snorted in disgust at that, a response that Helga whole-heartedly approved of. But then he sighed. "She is hot, huh?"

"Duh." Dan grunted.

"I kinda forget sometimes… I've known her so long you know?"

She didn't like where this was going. She tried to stop herself from tensing, from opening her eyes to see where Arnold's gaze was.

"Man… her bikini…" Dan's voice was reverent, the silence that followed trailed on far to long for Helga's liking.

Thankfully, Toni chose then to grumble awake. "Whose bikini?" She yawned, her high voice all bleary with sleep.

"Helga's." Dan stated simply, making Toni laugh.

"Yeah yeah, we all saw Helga's hotness. You need to stop barking up that tree, man. It's never going to happen."

Ah, good old Toni. Trust her to inject some normality into that increasingly weird conversation. She relaxed as the conversation returned to safer, saner banter. Was this a suitable time to pretend to wake up? She was wide awake now, with no chance of nodding back off. She stifled a sigh…

… but she was saved by the bell. Arnold's pant leg started to vibrate, the Star Spangled Banner blaring tinnily from his cell phone… the ring tone he used for the Sunset Arms.

She opened her eyes, blinking as Arnold twisted to dig his phone from his pocket, his fingers edging under her thigh, tickling. "Sorry." He mouthed before answering the call.

"Hey guys, pipe down? I'm on the phone here." He called to the rest of the car, "Hello? Grandma?" He grinned into his mobile.

…

"Uh… Grandma? Whats…."

…

Helga watched, her stomach dropping, as Arnold's face turned white. "Brent." She shuffled up, her back against the door. "Stop the car."

"But we're… uh…" Brent frowned, instantly understanding that something was going on. "Hold on." He indicated, pulling off the road onto a safe-ish stretch of shoulder. He flicked on the hazard lights, and the car was filled with their ticking…

tick tick tick tick

"When?" Arnold was whispering, his eyes huge, glassy. He barely seemed to notice as Helga pulled her legs from his, unlocking the door and struggling to clamber out, picking up the blanket as it fell out onto the ground.

He followed her out, stumbling blindly as he moved to lean against the side of the car.

"What's going on?" Dan called, earning him one of Helga's best scowls as she shut the door in his face. Dan was a sweetheart, really, but he was totally oblivious.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

She could see it in Arnold's face, in the slack set of his mouth, in his unfocussed eyes and suddenly pallid skin. He was hunched over, like his stomach hurt, his free hand ran through his hair.

"A nap?" His voice was small, disbelieving. Helga's heart twisted. It must be Phil. The old coot was in his nineties now… it made sense. Poor Arnold.

She stepped up to him, put her hands on his cheeks. The orange blink of the hazard lights lit up the side of his face, shining on the unshed tears in his eyes as he raised his gaze to hers.

"Yes… I will… tonight, yes… I'll call you as soon as I know what's happening… Is there anything else I can do?" He sniffed. "OK… I love you too Grandma… Of course… I'll be there as soon as I can… OK…"

"Fuck." He groaned as the call disconnected. His shoulders hunched, his teeth bared, he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

She slid her arms around his neck, leaning hard against him as he dropped his head to her shoulder. "Phil?" She asked, amazed at how her voice cracked.

His hands shook as he put them on her waist. He nodded, his head rasping her shirt against her sunburn, but she didn't care. Poor Arnold… poor Gertie… "Just went in his sleep…" His voice was breathy, gasping, like he was trying not to cry. "He always said he wouldn't… live past ninety one…"

"Oh… Shorty…"

"I have to go home…"

"Of course you do."

There was a pause, his chest shook as he drew in a deep breath. "Come with me?"

"Of course I will."

Like it was ever in question.