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Not exactly the ugly duckling	By : DancingBear Category: +G through L > Hey, Arnold! Views: 5459 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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-Not exactly the ugly duckling
- 2-2
- 3-3
- 4-4
- 5-5
- 6-6
- 7-7
- 8-8
- 9-9
- 10-10
- 11-11
- 12-12
- 13-13
- 14-14
- 15-15
- 16-16
- 17-17
- 18-18
- 19-19
- 20-20
- 21-21
- 22-22
- 23-23
- 24-24
- 25-25
- 26-26
- 27-27
- 28-28
- 29-29
- 30-30
- 31-31
- 32-32
- 33-Epilouge
- 15
- 16
- 17
Helga was silent on the taxi ride home.

"Are you sure you want to go back to yours?" Arnold had asked her softly as he helped her into the car. "You're welcome to stay at my place."

"Thanks." She had replied, truly grateful, but really just wanting to sleep in her own bed. "Really. But I just want to go home." She slid along the seat, making room for him to climb in next to her.

As the car pulled off, Arnold put his arm around her again, and she leaned heavily into him, her mind a million miles away.

Bob was alive, but sick. They had performed an emergency surgery, and inserted stents in his arteries, or something like that. She couldn't concentrate properly while the doctor was explaining everything. Anyway, he'd be in hospital recovering for a while, then home. Where he would need care, and a complete lifestyle revamp.

Caring for Bob. Her worst nightmare.

Her mother had found it so stressful that she had drunken herself to the grave… and that was just trying to please him, Helga had to nurse him, and force him to do things he wouldn't want to do (like eating vegetables). He had turned into such a mean old shit since Miriam died, that Helga could barely stand being in the same room as him, let alone interacting with him on any real level.

She genuinely wished that he had just died, and knowing that she wished that made her feel so amazingly guilty that she kept feeling like she was going to throw up.

She pressed harder into Arnold. He shifted closer and held her tighter. Man, if one good thing had come out of this…

But try as she did to focus on how nice it was to be in Arnold's arms, her mind kept coming back to how she was going to have to play nurse to her horrible, demanding father. She tried some mental calculations. She had been saving most of her paycheck since she left school. She hadn't looked at her balance recently, but it might be enough for a deposit on a small apartment. Bob could afford to pay for a nurse, he just wouldn't bother if she was around.

She sighed. Fuck. She didn't want to live there anymore. She had stopped noticing how oppressive and goddamned depressing living there had been, until she started hanging out with Arnold. Now, she never wanted to go home. Half the appeal of heading back home now was because she knew Bob wouldn't be there.

The taxi pulled up outside her building. She reached for her wallet, but in her rush, she hadn't grabbed her bag.

"I got it." Arnold smiled, and handed the driver a twenty. "Keep the change."

Helga opened the door and climbed out of the car before Arnold could come around and open it for her. He caught her hand as she moved to go inside. "Do you want me to come up with you?" He asked, his eyes solemn, questioning.

Helga smiled. He was just so… gentlemanly! "Yes… please."

Dave was still at the desk, he let them into Helga's apartment, and gave her a hug before he left. Helga closed the door behind him and slumped against it, pressing her face up against the cool wood.

"I feel like I've been hit by a truck." She groaned, her voice muffled. She struggled up and smiled weakly at Arnold. "Hungry?" She asked?

"Starving." Arnold replied, rubbing his stomach. "I can go get us something if you like."

Helga shook her head. "There'll be something here, or we can order in." she leaned against the wall as she struggled out of her boots. "Fancy Thai?"

As they waited for the food to turn up, they slouched around the place. Arnold helped her clean up a glass that had been knocked off the counter and smashed when Bob had gone down. Helga put a stack of empty beer bottles in the recycling and left a message on the office answerphone, saying why she wouldn't be at work in the morning. Arnold put the kettle on and made a cup of tea. They were quiet, they hardly talked at all, like they had been doing this together for years.

It was amazing.

Helga had never had companionable silence with anyone but Phoebe before. She was so used to the silences in her life being tense, filled with either simmering anger or loneliness, that she once again realized how horrible her life with her father was.

She was staring into space when Arnold set a mug by her elbow. "Hope it's ok." He smiled. "Milky, no sugar, right?"

Helga nodded and took a sip, absolutely glowing from the attention. "Perfect." She used her free hand to jab him lightly in the ribs. "Thanks. Wanna watch a movie?" what she really wanted was to go to bed, but she wanted him to stay longer even more.

He moved closer, bumping her hip with his. "Sure. What you got in mind?"

So they set up the lounge, pulled the coffee table in so they could rest their feet on it, pulled cushions off the armchairs and added them to those on the sofa, got out plates and cutlery ready for their (already late) Thai food. They sat shoulder to shoulder as they went through all of the DVDs, and sat thigh to thigh as they went through the movies on Helga's laptop. Eventually they settled on the first Die Hard movie, and put the DVD into the player, just as the delivery guy knocked at the door.

It was perfect.

After they finished the food, Arnold stretched out, his socked feet on the coffee table, half leaning against the piled up cushions. "C'mere." He whispered, just as McClane got the C4 from the dead henchman. Helga bit her lip. Oh my god. With her feet tucked under herself, she snuggled in under his arm. This wasn't like in the cab, where he had held to for comfort, this was… couple stuff.

The companionable silence was replaced with a sweet tension. She wriggled even further into him. She tentatively reached out and placed her fingertips against his ribs. She felt him shift a little, and looked up to see him looking down at her. He lowered his head to press his forehead against hers. "This is nice." His voice was a whisper, and his fingers squeezed at the top of her arm.

"Yeah…" and it was. It was better than nice, it was amazing. She felt her breath catch a little as the enormity of what was happening hit her. Arnold. She was here, with Arnold. She felt her body stiffen, she was excited, yet terrified.

"You ok?" He asked, pulling back a little to look at her face. But she just nodded dumbly in reply, biting her lip. "Good." He smiled, and leaned back further into the cushions, turning slightly and pulling Helga with him, so that she was almost half-lying on him…

…By the time the movie finished, she basically was lying on him. They were stretched out side by side on the massive sofa. Him with one arm around her shoulders and one hand behind his head, turned to face the TV. Her snuggled between him and the back of the sofa, her head and hand on his chest, her leg over his. She wasn't paying any attention to the movie, she had been sleepily wondering how hairy his legs were, how they would feel against hers.

"hmmmmmmm" Arnold groaned groggily. "Sleepy yet?" He twisted around a little, forcing her to heft herself up and settle against him again.

She shifted against him. "Yeah, getting that way." She stifled a yawn.

His hand moved from under his head to stroke her face with the backs of his fingers. "I suppose I better get going, huh?" he asked, but made no move to leave.

Helga shook her head. "Nah…" she took a deep breath, forced herself to meet his gaze "…stay."

There was a long pause as they just stared at each other. He let out a long breath. "I want to..." He paused again "…I'll sleep out here?" He said it like it was a question, but it sounded like a statement.

Helga fidgeted. "You don't… have to…" she started.

"Yeah I do." He sighed. "I do. You're too tempting." He shifted, grimacing when she broke their eye contact. "Argh. I'm trying to be the gentleman here. I can't sleep WITH you, but I'll be here when you wake up." His fingers moved to cup her chin, tilt her head up so that she was forced to look at him. When their eyes met, he smiled. "Is that ok?"

She nodded. She so desperately just wanted him with her, but she understood.

He looked unconvinced. She nodded again, then sighed, defeated. "Yeah. It's ok. I'll get you a blanket."
- 15
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- 17
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Not exactly the ugly duckling