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Dependents	By : DancingBear Category: +G through L > Hey, Arnold! Views: 6471 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold, nor any of the characters. I do not, and will not make any money from this story. (Original creator: Craig Bartlett)

Chapter List
- 1-Dependents
- 2-Lean
- 3-Steep
- 4-Long
- 5-Hold
- 6-Slouch
- 7-Arch
- 8-Turn
- 9-Fall
- 10-Drop
- 11-Gift
- 12-Balk
- 13-Spill
- 14-Pay
- 15-Scrap
- 16-Warm
- 17-Sink
- 18-Stoke
- 12
- 13
- 14
People keep asking about Helga's divorce... Helga and Mark never married. There'll probably be more on that in the story... later...

Thanks for the reviews people :) Much appreciated. If you see any spelling or grammar mistakes, tell me? I hate looking back on something a few months later just to see I missed something!

Cheers!

"Are you OK sweetheart?" Helga put her hand to Nina's forehead. The girl just nodded, sullen.

Helga frowned, Nina looked so despondent. "How was school today?" Nina just shook her head.

Helga sighed. Great… if it wasn't hard enough having Arnold act like I don't exist, now my own daughter won't talk to me. Somethingwas obviously up, but she wasn't going to get Nina to talk about it by pressing her, so she kept her mouth shut.

She'd been doing a lot of that over the past fortnight… she was still paying for what she had done last time she hadn't been able to keep quiet.

She'd tried everything to get Arnold to act normally again. She'd made meals that she knew he liked, she'd gotten a few bottles of wine he enjoyed, she'd pre-ordered him a copy of a book he wanted that was due for release. She'd even tried to talk to him about it, but he'd just smiled and said not to worry about it… that it was all fine. But it wasn't all fine. Sure, it wasn't bad, he wasn't rude… but he wasn't forthcoming. He'd stopped teasing her, stopped seeking her out to talk to her. They were just like flatmates… not friends anymore.

Thankfully, however, he hadn't started treating Nina any differently. Nina still dashed excitedly to see him after school, to climb onto his lap and prattle on at a million miles an hour about her day… evidenced by what Arnold had to say when he came up behind Helga in the kitchen.

"Uh… Helga…" Helga found herself tensing up… his voice was hesitant, he obviously had something difficult to say. "We need to talk."

"Sure." She tried to sound nonchalant. She put down the knife she was cutting tomatoes with and wiped her hands on a tea towel. Turning to face him, she leaned against the bench. "What's up?"

He sighed heavily and dropped into one of the kitchen chairs. "I just had Nina crying on my shoulder."

Her fist clenched around the towel she was holding. She stepped forward, opened her mouth to say something, but Arnold interrupted. "She wanted me to talk to you… you wanna sit down?" He nudged the chair opposite him out from the table with his foot. She sat.

"Is she OK?" Helga could feel her forehead creasing. "I mean, I knew there was something wrong… but I figured we'd talk about it at bedtime, like how we usually do…" She chewed at her bottom lip. She didn't want to be down here talking to Arnold, she wanted to be upstairs, talking to her daughter.

He smiled that lopsided smile. Had she been less distracted, her stomach would have flipped. "Yeah… she'll be fine…" the smile changed. "It seems that – on the weekend - she and Maddy caught you and Steven… uh… well…" Oh god no. She felt the blood drain from her face.

He shrugged. "Well, in Nina's words… kissing lying down." His mouth twisted. She couldn't tell if he was about to laugh, or about to sneer.

"Oh… dear." Helga groaned. How humiliating. "She's upset over that?"

Arnold shook his head. "Not really… they…" he sighed. "They told their classmates today..." At least he had the decency to look apologetic at that. Great. Now all the soccer mums will know. "and according to Tina, adults are only allowed to kiss lying down if they're married."

She blinked. Shit. I'm going to have to have the birds and the bees talk. Shit. "Fuck I hate Tina… and her mother."

He smirked at that. "Thought you might." He sighed again. "So Nina's upset. She doesn't want you to get in trouble for… you know… but she doesn't want Steven to be her new dad."

"Oh." Oh. Her heart broke at that. Her poor little girl. "Why didn't she say anything?" she mumbled, to herself more than to Arnold, but he answered anyway.

"She didn't want to make you sad." No… that was what broke her heart.

"I'll go talk to her." She moved to stand, but Arnold cleared his throat. Don't tell me there's more… isn't this embarrassing enough?

"Uh… I kinda gotta tell you…" He swallowed, his cheeks blazing red. "She said…" he sighed. So much sighing. "She wants me to be her new dad."

Shit.

She just stared. This was horrific. "I'm sorry, Arnold… I never meant for her to, uh… become so attached?"

He frowned. "I have no issue with Nina, Helga." She could hear the implication in his voice. It's you I have the issue with.

Ouch.

"What should I do?" She asked. She didn't want to make any decision involving Arnold without knowing what he wanted. But he just shrugged.

"You're her mother, it's your choice." His eyes left her face, trained instead on the knee of his jeans. "I like Nina. If she needs a father figure, then I'm OK with reading to her and shit… but if you want me to…" His eyes flicked up to her face, "back off. Then I will."

Ouch.

"I… Nina loves you. I wouldn't ask you to do that. But… I wouldn't ask you to take her on, either." She felt herself slide down in her chair as she pushed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "I just want you to do whatever you're comfortable with."

She couldn't see him, but she could hear the resignation in his voice. "OK." She heard his chair scrape across the floor as he stood up. "Tea?"

She groaned. "No… thanks. I should go face the music."

"Nina? Sweetheart? Can I come in?" Helga tapped lightly at Nina's closed door.

"Yes." Nina's squeaky little voice came muffled through the door.

She was sitting on her bed, Lucy up on the covers. The dog slid guiltily off when Helga opened the door, but she let it go. There were more important things going on than getting upset about the dog getting up on the furniture. She perched on the edge of the mattress.

"Are you angry?" Nina's red-rimmed eyes stared at her.

Fuck this hurts. "No! No sweetheart. Why would I be angry?" She leaned forward to grasp her daughter and pull her into her chest.

"We spied on you… and we pretended to be asleep when Steven came to check on us." Helga could hear the tears in her little girls voice. She smoothed her palm over Nina's hair, gently stroking her hair as she planted a kiss to her forehead.

"That was naughty of you, you're right." She sighed. "But I should have told you that Steven and I were kissing."

"Were you having sex?"

Oh god. Where does she learn this? "No. Steven and I didn't have sex." She forced her voice to stay calm, swallowed the humiliation. "Do you know what sex is?"

"Tina said…" This should be good.

It took a while to explain the basics to her, but when she was done, Nina looked like she had just been told what goes into hotdogs.

"I don't think I want to do that." Her round little face was pale. Helga held back a giggle.

"You don't have to. It's your choice… and it's one you don't have to worry about until you're older."

"How old?"

"It depends… everyone is different."

She thought about that for a second. "How old were you?"

Helga cringed. The embarrassment Nina could cause with this information. "If I tell you about this stuff, you have to promise not to tell anyone else. This kind of thing is private, and I don't want anyone else to know. Is that OK?"

Nina nodded. "Promise."

"OK." She smoothed Nina's hair back again. "I was fifteen."

"Who was the boy?"

"He was my boyfriend, his name was Brian, but everyone called him Brainy."

She nodded. "And you did it with Daddy?"

"Yup… that's why you're here."

Nina nodded again, thinking for a second. "Do you do it with Arnold?"

Jesus… why do they ask such distressing questions? "No. Arnold and I don't do anything like that."

"Why not?"

"Because Arnold and I don't like each other like that."

"Why not?"

Aren't you getting a bit too old for the why game? "Sweetheart… I know you want Arnold to be your dad… but that kind of thing is something that Arnold and I would have to decide together. We can't do it just because you want us to."

Nina's little face fell. "That's what Arnold said."

Oh god… what did they talk about? "Aw love." She squeezed her daughter a little tighter. "Arnold will still be your friend, even if he isn't my boyfriend."

"But you're not going to marry Steven?"

She chuckled. "No… I won't marry Steven."

"But you can still kiss him?"

"I can. But I don't think I want to anymore."

Nina just nodded at that. She must have had too much on her mind, because she stopped with the questions.

"I need to go finish dinner… it's almost your bedtime!" Helga kissed the top of her daughter's head. "Think about it a bit and if you have any more questions, I'll answer them when you're in bed, OK?"

"OK Mum."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

She closed the door behind her and went into her bedroom. Pulling her cellphone from her bag she typed out a text to Steven.

-I just had a very interesting conversation…

He replied within minutes, while she was finishing slicing the tomatoes.

Steven – I thought you might have. Would you like a summer or a winter wedding?

God he could be a dork sometimes.

-Just gimme a call when you can.

Her phone buzzed a few seconds later. "Hey." She chirped.

"Good evening Ms Pataki." Steven laughed. "So… I assume we're in agreement?"

"On what, exactly?"

"That Tina's mother needs a clip across the ear?"

She laughed. "I was thinking more a shovel to the back of the head… but then, I've always had a violent streak."

"So… Nina OK?"

"A bit freaked out, but she'll live. How's Maddy."

"Excited about her new sister." He sighed. "So I suppose we have a decision to make?"

"Yeah… I suppose so."

"Either start officially dating or break it off?"

"Yeah…" She swallowed.

"You still don't want to date?" He said it lightly… but she still felt guilty.

"I'm sorry."

"It's OK." He sighed. "I can't say I'm surprised."

She didn't know what to say. "Steven…"

"Helga…" He chuckled. "Seriously. It's fine. It was fun… very fun. But I was never under the impression that you wanted anything more. You don't have to feel bad."

"I feel bad."

"I know… but you feel bad about everything. I'll see you next weekend, OK?"

"OK… are you sure you're still alright with Nina staying over?"

"Of course I am. Although now I'm not trying to impress her mother, I might get Nina to dig out a couple of stumps in the back yard… I've been meaning to get around to them for ages…"

"I'll make sure she brings her gumboots then… she's good with the hedge-trimmers too, if you're shrubbery is in need of a tidy up?"

He laughed. "Goodnight, Helga."

"Nite Steven." The phone clicked off. She just stared at its little screen for a while, watched it brightly proclaim that it was locking itself.

This. Sucks.

She hefted herself up and got back to being a mother again. By the time she finally had Nina fed, bathed, answered and asleep, she was exhausted… exhausted but wired.

She got into bed but couldn't sleep. She turned her light on, but couldn't concentrate on her book. She heard Amy and Jack come home, and Greg playing a computer game. She heard everyone knocking around, getting ready for bed, showering and brushing their teeth… until the house settled down and she could just hear the building creak, the rush of wind outside, the thrumming hiss of traffic…

Eventually, when the world outside had quietened and the city was asleep, she clicked her bedside lamp back on, threw back her covers and hunted around for a pen and a pad of paper.

For the first time in years, she wrote.
- 12
- 13
- 14
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Dependents