Hello my wonderful readers! We have officially hit the 20th chapter! I want to thank everyone for their reviews, because they make my day better whenever I read them. Alright, I'm not going to prattle on in the forward, so enjoy that chapter!

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Hey Arnold, but I just write the fanfiction.

Chapter 20

The next morning when Helga woke up she lay in bed for a few seconds savoring being in the boarding house in Arnold's shirt. Correction: her shirt. Arnold had done the seemingly impossible and gifted her with one of his shirts. She snuggled deeper into the soft material.

After a minute Helga's stomach let out a loud grumble, and she decided she had better get up. She went to find her clothes, which she had left in a pile next to the door, only to find them folded on the chair just inside the door with a note on top.

My grandma thought you might like your clothes washed. They should be dry, but if not I left

my bathrobe for you.

Love, Arnold

Well now Helga had quite a dilemma; her clothes were dry, but...Arnold's bathrobe! Helga looked between the two items and finally made a decision: she would just try on the bathrobe, then get dressed.

Helga lifted the bathrobe from the corner of the chair and wrapped it around herself. 'Holy cow! This is...oh wow! Did he wash this thing in his shampoo?!'

After Helga danced around the room a little she got dressed, but she decided to leave her hair down. 'I'll put it up later. Besides, Arnold likes it down.' She opened the door and skipped downstairs to the kitchen, and was met with Arnold, Gertie, and something that smelled wonderful!

"'Morning everyone! Wow, something smells great!"

"Good morning, dear. Glad you like the smell; it's bacon and eggs," Gertie smiled.

"Good morning, Helga. Did you sleep well?" Arnold asked as Helga sat down to the plate Gertie set in front of her.

"Yeah, I slept great. You?"

"Yeah, pretty well."

"Oh," Helga remembered suddenly, turning to Gertie, "Thanks for washing my clothes, Arnold's grandma."

"Oh call me Gertie, dear. And you're very welcome."

They finished breakfast while making small talk, then Arnold and Helga went up to Arnold's room.

"So, what do you want to do?" Arnold asked.

"Honestly, Arnold? I'd really like to...to just sit and enjoy being with you, if that's okay. So much has happened lately, and it's kind of hard for me to absorb it all."

"Yeah, a lot has happened, huh? I think just sitting sounds nice." Arnold sat on his couch and picked up the remote. With the press of a button, soft instrumental music filled the room. Arnold turned to Helga and patted the spot on the couch next to him.

"Coming, Helga?"

Helga didn't need to be asked twice; she all but flew to the couch and snuggled into Arnold, who put his arm around her. They sat like that that for a time, just happy to be together, until Helga broke the silence.

"Hey Arnold, not that it's that big a deal or anything, and I'm certainly not asking you to make some big event of it or whatever, but this Saturday is our one month anniversary of us officially being together." Secretly, Helga had been counting the days to their anniversary for weeks now, and part of her hoped Arnold might do something special with her to celebrate.

"That it is, Helga. I've been thinking about a special way to celebrate, but if you don't want to-"

"I never said I didn't want to celebrate, did I?"

"I didn't think so. So, um, are you free for most of Saturday?"

"I'm free all day. Why, what has that adorably football-shaped head of yours come up with that could take all day?"

"Helga, wouldn't it be better if I left it a surprise?"

"But I don't want to wait!" she said in mock impatience.

"You'll be fine until Saturday. But I will tell you..." he whispered in her ear, "...that it going to be very special" he sat back and winked at her.

"Arnold...oh wow that was...Okay, now I really do need to know. What are you planning, Football Head?!"

"Sorry, Helga, my lips are sealed." Helga glared at him, but it didn't quite have the effect it used to, what with it being full of love and all.

"Oh, alright. I'll be patient," she sighed, "But that means you get no hints from me about your surprise!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Arnold smiled, hugging her.

"Helga? Are you in here?" Arnold had arrived at Helga's house Saturday morning to pick her up for their anniversary. Her mother had said she was up in her room, but upon arriving at said room Arnold that that was not the case.

Just as he was turning to go look for Helga elsewhere, he spotted a pink book laying open by the door. 'Helga wouldn't just leave one of her books out like this. Unless she was in a hurry to do something really important. Or maybe...maybe she left it out for me. After all, she knew I was coming over. So, maybe...' Arnold picked up the small book and looked at the page it was open to.

Arnold my love,

My sultry preteen,

Why must I hold you

only whilst I dream?

Will I be forever enslaved by your spell?

Why must I worship you and never tell?

Arnold, you make my girlhood tremble,

My senses all go wacky.

Someday, I'll tell the world, my love...

Or my name's not Helga G. Pataki!

'S-s-sultry?' Arnold was dazed and a little shocked at how...mature...the poem was. He was trying to process everything when he heard something that he had long ago learned to fear: an angry Helga.

"Arnold?! What are you doing?! Did you...did you read this?! Arnold! How could you? How could you invade my privacy like that? You know how personal my poetry is!" Helga yelled. She had been up in her closet shrine, praying for luck on their anniversary, and upon climbing down to wait for Arnold had found him reading the poem.

"I'm sorry, Helga! Really, I'm so sorry! I was looking for you, and your mom said you were in here, and when I saw it on the floor first I was just going to pick it up so no one accidentally saw it, I swear! I didn't want someone to find it and for you to be upset. But then I wondered if you had meant for me to read it, since it was right by the door. I'm really sorry, Helga! Really really really sorry! I'll never do it again, I swear!" By this time Arnold felt completely awful; Helga's poetry was like a diary to her, and he had just read it univited.

Helga took a deep breath; she wasn't really as mad at Arnold as she had sounded. She just wasn't used to people even knowing about her poetry, let alone reading it, and even though she did want to share it with Arnold, she hadn't expected to find him reading it when she came out of her closet.

"Arnold," she started, "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have yelled. I'm not happy that you read my poetry without my permission, but I'm not mad. I was just scared. I'm sorry I freaked out like that."

"No, Helga, you have every right to be mad at me. I shouldn't have read your private poetry like that. I'm really sorry."

"Arnold...why don't we just call it even on apologies? Otherwise we'll just stand here apologizing to each other, and that's not how I want us to spend our first anniversary. Besides, today's supposed to be happy!"

"Alright, Helga. That sounds good. But I really am sorry."

"Arnold," she smiled and kissed Arnold's cheek, "So, what has my prince planned for our celebration today?"

"Oh no, you have to wait until we get there to find out. C'mon, Grandpa's got the Packard out front."

"The Packard?" Helga asked. They needed a car to get to wherever they were going? What had the Football Head planned?!

"Yeah, it'd be kind of hard to walk there, so I asked Grandpa to drive us."

"Arnold, you really went all out, didn't you?"

"Of course, Helga. Nothing but the best for you."

Arnold opened the door to the Packard for Helga, then went around to his own seat next to her.

"Well hello there miss Helga! How are you today?" Phil asked while Helga fastened her seatbelt.

"I'm pretty wonderful today, thanks. How about you, Phil?"

"Well I'm just dandy! Oh, and happy anniversary to you two."

"Thanks Phil," Helga smiled. She loved the way it sounded; anniversary. She and Arnold's anniversary. 'I've waited so long to be able to say that, and now I can! It's our anniversary! Arnold and I have been dating for one whole month! I'm his girlfriend and he's my boyfriend, and we're celebrating our one month anniversary! Okay, if I'm dreaming I don't ever want it to end!'

For the rest of the drive Arnold and Helga never stopped holding hands. They enjoyed stories Phil told them about when he and Gertie were kids, and Helga kept reminding herself that yes, this was real.