Disclaimer: Hey Arnold!is owned by Viacom, and was created by Craig Bartlett as well as the rest of the crew behind it. I own none of the characters or plot elements that are taken from the show.

Well, here we are. Been a long time coming. This is the start of my rewrite of my older story, Of Mothers and Daughters. But it is also kind of a prequel too. For quite a while the events you see here will be set entirely before that one. This will show how the Helga, Olga, and Miriam of the show became the versions of themselves I featured in that story.

For new readers who haven't read that older story, I ask you: don't. It will spoil elements of this new rewrite, and while I'm sure some of it holds up I think it had moments of overindulgence and poor pacing (there's a chapter where 80% of it is Arnold showing Helga around the Boarding House). When we get back to those events it will be a leaner, meaner, (hopefully) better written version of it.

But if you're really curious, I've left up the original story as a curio as my first big piece of fiction writing.

For those who are returning, I hope to stay on schedule this time. One chapter a week, published Sunday night. For example, I'm currently working on Chapter Seven, so you should see that one six weeks from now.

That said, tonight you're getting a twofer. First the Prologue, then the first chapter.

Now, let's get to it!

Becoming a Real Family

Prologue

Early March 1997, shortly after Spring Break

"And as they looked out at the sun,

Setting beneath the waves,

She felt her feelings stir,

She hoped things had only just begun,

And that his heart craves,

The same as her.

...Eh, not my best." Helga G. Pataki had written plenty of poems based on her recent Spring Break vacation anyway. One dud wasn't the end of the world. She set aside her current little pink book she had been writing in as she looked at the clock. Three-forty. Time to go.

Going out of her room and down the stairs, she saw her mom talking on the phone. "Okay, okay, I'll leave in a few minutes. Okay, yeah. Be there soon." Miriam Pataki sighed as she hung up.

"Hey, mom, you ready to go? Movie starts in less than half an hour and I want to get there early," Helga asked.

"I'm sorry sweetie, one of my friends needs a ride to our AA meeting, and she lives all the way on the other side of town."

Helga furrowed her unibrow. "But you said you'd drive me and Arnold to the movie theater! If we have to walk or take the bus we're going to miss half the movie!"

Miriam held her hands up in placation. She wasn't about to let her daughter be disappointed. "I know, so I'm not stepping out of this house until you have another ride."

They went into the family room, where Big Bob Pataki was in the recliner, chatting into his cell phone. "-agree it makes sense to change the name with the new location. Beepers are on their way out. No need to have a bunch of new signs and branding that are just going to be changed in a few years anyway. I just can't think of anything as catchy as the current name."

Miriam walked around the chair and faced him. "B, honey, my friend Doris needs me to pick her up, so I need you to drive Helga and her friend to the movie theater."

"Hey, one minute." He put his hand over the transmitter. "Criminy, Miriam can't you see I'm working on a deal?!"

Miriam scowled. "Bob, you've been working on that deal constantly for two weeks now. Can't you leave your work at the Emporium?"

"Miriam this is going to make us all filthy stinking rich. Make Olga take her." Miriam rolled her eyes and started off, Helga following as Bob resumed his call.

Before she left the room, she turned back around and waved her finger at her husband. "Fine. But remember you have to cook dinner."

"Aw, Miriam, I had a long day at work!" He complained.

"And I had to turn in a five-page essay for my business class today," She retorted. "B, We agreed that on Monday nights you would cook dinner. I've cooked dinner nearly every night for twenty-three years. It's time for you to start pulling your weight here at home as well."

"Okay, okay, jeez, fine. But I'm making ribs again, and I don't want to hear any complaints about them."

Miriam pinched her nose. "What is it with you and barbeque? C'mon Helga, let's find your sister." They started for the kitchen, from which a humming could be heard.

Helga saw her sister sitting at the table, a pair of headphones on her head, marking worksheets that belonged to Helga's classmates. It was part of Olga's job as student teacher. "'She was, an American Girl,'" Olga Pataki sang the last line of the song she was listening to before she spotted her mother and sister and paused her CD. "Oh, hi Mom, hi Helga. You two about to head out?"

"Olga, I have a favor to ask you. I have to take a long detour, so I need you to drive your sister to the theater."

"No problem. I would love to." Olga smiled at her sister, set aside her marker, headphones, and CD player, and stood up. "Anything to help out my sis."

"Mom, Arnold?" Helga reminded her.

"Oh, yes, and pick up her little boyfriend on the way." Miriam smirked as Helga turned bright red.

"How many times do I have to tell you that we're not dating!" Helga growled and stomped her foot..

"Not dating yet." Miriam laughed.

Olga giggled as well. "C'mon, Helga, you'd be such a cute couple."

"I hate you both." Helga stomped out the kitchen and down to the garage, where she pressed the button to open the garage door, and got into the passenger side of the Lincoln Continental.

Miriam came down and stood outside the Continental, and tapped on the window, which Helga promptly rolled down. "Have a good time at the movie, Helga." Olga joined them, having taken a moment to get the car keys. "Olga, you make sure your dad starts cooking dinner so it's ready by six-thirty. I don't want to get home and find his butt still glued to that chair. Again."

"Will do."

As their mother walked off, Olga gave Helga a big, crap-eating grin. "Well, c'mon, let's go." Helga told her, only for her sister to hold up a set of keys. They weren't for the Continental. "Aw, no, Olga. Not the hippie mobile."

"Oh, Helga, she isn't that bad." Helga didn't answer but got out and followed her sister to the bright pink 1960s convertible that had flowers painted on the side. "C'mon Helga, love her while she's here. Sad to say her days are numbered. She's getting too costly to maintain."

"It is a car, Olga. Just because it's a hand-me-down from Mom doesn't make it a part of the family."

She was about to get in the passenger seat when Olga stopped her. "Uh-uh-uh, Helga. We've been over this."

"Ugh, Olga, I'm almost ten! Both Mom and Dad let me ride in the front!"

"They can parent the way they want to, but when I'm driving you, I'm going by the studies that say you still don't weigh enough to safely sit in the front seat. Plus, don't you want to sit next to Arnold?"

Helga just glared at her.

Olga slipped into that voice she always used to use. The one Helga hated. "C'mon little sister. We're going to be late."

Helga cringed and got into the back. Anything so she didn't have to hear that stupid put-on Olga had only recently (mostly) dropped. I swear that dumb voice was half the reason I hated her.

"So, what movie are you two seeing on your date?" Olga asked as she started the car and they set off.

"It's not a date!" She snapped. "We're meeting Gerald and Phoebe there and going as a group."

"Ah, so a double date." Olga's cheek caused Helga to growl. "Also, you didn't answer the question."

"Evil Twin 3: The Unholy Triplet."

Olga made a gagging noise. "Helga, surely you can find a better movie than that. And they're already on the third!? I swear they're pumping those movies out faster than they did Friday the 13ths in the '80s."

Helga shrugged. "Eh, if it's like the first two, it'll be entertaining enough. Plus, we couldn't go to an R-Rated movie since both Gerald and Phoebe's parents have to be convinced to let them see PG-13 flicks. If it was just Arnold and I going I'd drag you with us so we could get into Scream."

"Oh, Helga, you and Arnold wouldn't want me there. I'd be a third wheel."

"Olga..." It was said as a warning.

"I'm serious! You two would make a cute couple. You two get along so well together."

"Yeah, as best friends! We've been over this! I'd love to be more, but we're stuck as just friends!"

"For now. Maybe that will change?"

"I wish..." Helga grumbled, propping her head on her fist and looking out the window.

Kids can be so blind, Olga mused. The looks Helga gave Arnold when she thought no one was looking were obvious, but Olga thought she had seen the boy himself give her sister certain looks as well. If they meant what she thought they did...

Helga meanwhile was looking out at Hillwood. This part of the city was old. This part of the city was poor. Even most of the newer buildings had been built closer to the start of the century than the end of it. A couple of times over the years Bob had brought up the idea of moving to either a newer area of the city or even out to a nearby suburb.

Helga couldn't stand the idea. She loved this old neighborhood. Loved it almost as much as she loved a few of the people in it. Luckily, Bob wanting to be close to the Beeper Emporium always won out over him wanting to live in a swankier neighborhood.

She was torn out of her appreciation of the city as they passed a street with men setting up for some kind of construction. Huh, wonder what's happening there?

The thought passed, and pretty soon they pulled up in front of a familiar boarding house, with a familiar football-headed boy waiting on the stoop, playing with marbles.

"Hey, Arnold! Come on!" Helga called.

Hearing her voice, Arnold scooped up the marbles before jumping up and rushing to sit next to her.

"Really, marbles? What are you, fifty?" Helga teased.

"Grandpa introduced me to them. It's actually kind of fun. Anyway, all ready for the movie?" He paused and looked at Olga. "Ms. Pataki? I thought your mom was going to be driving us?"

Olga pouted and put on the voice again. "I'm sorry that I'm not as good of a chauffeur as my Mummy is, Arnold."

Helga growled, while Arnold put up his hands in apology. "I-I'm sorry, I just thought that-."

Olga giggled and once more used her real voice. "Arnold, I'm yanking your chain. Mom didn't have the time so I'm driving instead. And for the last time, when not in class you can call me Olga."

"C'mon, Olga, I want to get there! Get driving!" Helga snapped. Then, almost as an afterthought: "Please."

And with that they were off, Arnold enjoying the ride and Helga enjoying sitting with him.

"So, what kind of gruesome murders do you hope are in this one?" Helga asked. "I think it's going to be tough to top the chainsaw death in the last one."

"I think I saw a grain thresher in one of the trailers. Now that should be gnarly." Arnold laughed.

"I thought these movies were PG-13? How are they getting away with all of this?" Olga asked. Helga had somehow talked her into watching some really nasty stuff in the last few months, like the movies of that New Zealand director, but those all had the appropriate ratings assigned to them.

In Olga's opinion, both Bob and Miriam as well as Arnold's grandparents let them get away with way too much when it came to what they read and watch. If it was up to her Helga would be limited to PG-13 movies as well.

"Eh, they use a lot of creative camera angles and editing to sell most of the deaths. You don't actually see that much blood and gore. It leaves a lot to the imagination," Helga explained.

Arnold agreed. "The power of suggestion does most of the heavy lifting."

Olga decided to poke the bear again. "Well, if my little sister gets scared, make sure to hold her tight until she calms down."

Both preteens went pink, and while Arnold tried desperately to find something to say, Helga blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Please! If anyone is going to hold anyone I'm going to hold Arnold!"

Arnold went from pink to tomato red. "W-what does that mean!?"

Helga sputtered. "I-it means you're the bigger scaredy cat!"

"You're the one who shrieks in terror! Remember on the 'haunted' train? Or with the Ghost Bride?" Arnold retorted.

Olga smiled as they bickered. Look at the chaos you've created... It was a friendly bickering, one that reminded her of the conversations she would have with a certain someone back in Junior High. She sighed...

Soon enough, they arrived at the theater, Gerald and Phoebe waiting for them by the ticket booth.

As Helga was about to get out, Olga spoke. "Helga, make sure you call home once the movie's over, and I'll come pick you two back up. Oh, and here..." She dug in her purse for her wallet, and finding it pulled out a five-dollar bill. "I know I shouldn't help you spoil your dinner but go ahead and get some extra snacks."

Helga got out and joined her friends, Olga waving. "Have a fun time at the movies. Don't get too scared," She called.

"Yeah whatever. Thanks for the cash." Helga led the group of friends to get their tickets and concessions, Olga watching them go.

"I love you, Helga..." She sighed and drove off. The younger girl was still short tempered with her in ways she wasn't with others like Arnold and her parents. I guess that talk is still a ways off...

Meanwhile, as the kids walked into the theater, Helga mused over how different things were from just half a year ago. She had a mother who paid attention to her. A sister who wasn't the most annoying thing in the world, and here she was going to see a movie not by herself, not just with Phoebe, but with both her best friend and her beloved. And Gerald too. Guess it can't be too perfect...

And unlike the very few times she had seen a movie with a group of friends in the past, she wasn't going to pick on anyone, she wasn't going to threaten or boss them around. She could just be herself. Maybe she'd make some snarky comments, especially if the movie got stupid, but beyond that, she saw the evening as smooth sailing.

As they found an empty spot among the rows of chairs, Phoebe sat next to Gerald, who sat next to Arnold, who was surprised and a little confused to see Helga sit next to him. "Helga? I thought you'd sit next to Phoebe."

She huffed. "She sometimes screeches when startled. I don't want to be deaf by the end of the night, so I'm sitting here. You got a problem with that, Football Head?" She grabbed a few pieces of his popcorn, having spent her concession money on soda and candy bars.

"N-no, of course not, Helga." It was too dark for her to see the blush on his face. "I have no problem with it at all."

"Good."

They continued chatting until the trailers started up, and as she giggled at clips from Liar Liar, she had only one thought in her head:

Life was good.

Alright, before we move on to the first chapter I just want to say thanks for reading so far.

Next: Rage