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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
- 16
- 17
- 18
"Are you OK?" His face matched his voice… concerned. They sat at a tiny table in the corner of a tiny restaurant. A candle was lit between them, casting shaking shadows across his face as she turned her gaze to him.

She nodded, stopping her fork in mid-air, halfway to her mouth. "Yeah… I… uh… why?"

He sighed, put down his cutlery to look at her. "You're really quiet…"

She shrugged, tried to smile. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. God he was gorgeous. She barely even noticed the dark bruises under his eyes and across his nose… although other people obviously did. He had shifted uncomfortably under the curious stares he attracted, but she didn't care. He was still beautiful.

"I…" he frowned briefly. "I can take you home, if you want…"

She had no elegant answer to that. "Why… uh…" She took a breath. Jesus Helga, get a grip on yourself! She steeled herself. "I'mnervous." She breathed, finally, her eyes glancing up to meet his.

He smiled at that. "I was kinda worried… that I'd manipulated you into this or something…" He admitted, his long fingers toying with the handle of his knife.

"Manipulated me?" She blinked. What on earth?

He shrugged, smiled that rueful smile he had. "Like… um… I got punched for you, so now you owe me a date… or something." His voice trailed off.

A giggle escaped from her lips, bubbling up and bursting forth against her will. She shook her head. "No… Arnold, you didn't manipulateme… I want…" She hesitated. I want you. "… this"

He eyeballed her for a second before relaxing a little. "OK." He smiled, picking his fork back up. "So…" He stabbed at his tortellini. "Tell me about yourself, Ms Pataki." He grinned before putting food in his mouth, regarding her as he chewed.

She blushed, pushed her risotto around on her plate. She was so nervous she could hardly eat. She'd been this nervous for days, since he had asked her to dinner. "Uh… well…" She tried to smile. "What do you want to know?"

He swallowed. "What do you want to do?"

"Like, when I grow up?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Something like that." He grinned, putting more food in his mouth.

She thought for a second. "I don't know. Nina takes up most of my time now… I mean, I can't live on the bones of my ass like how I used to, eating two minute noodles for days on end while I write…" She shrugged. "I suppose I just want to be a good mum? Get Nina through to adulthood relatively unscathed?"

He nodded at that, still smiling. "Do you still want to write?"

"Of course I do… but it takes time. I need long stretches of uninterrupted time to write anything worth reading… which is something I don't have." She pushed her food around some more. "Maybe when she's a bit older…" she sighed.

"I've seen you writing recently…" His voice was softer now, less jokey. His eyes were so full of… something… something soft… She melted a little.

"Just dabbling… helps me sort my head out sometimes." Her throat felt oddly tight.

But he didn't press it. "What about travel? You always wanted to go to Paris, didn't you?"

She laughed at that. "When I was nine!" How does he remember this stuff? "Not that I'd turn my nose up at the opportunity… travellinganywhere would be amazing… but it's another thing I can't really do with Nina."

He mulled that over for a minute, his eyes on her as he continued on his dinner. His silence gave her the opportunity to pick a bit more at her food, chewing slowly.

"Do you think you'll ever want more kids?"

She choked, spluttering on her rice. Jesus! She took a deep sip of her wine, cleared her throat.

"Done dying?" He smiled.

"Uh… yeah…" She stammered. Just answer the question… he isn't asking to father your children… calm down… "Um… I don't really know?" She avoided looking directly in his eyes. "I was careful to not have any more with Mark…" she sighed. "But I suppose I haven't ruled it out?" She shrugged. "Having one kid without a dad is hard enough. I'd have to be pretty sure of, um, the relationship I was in, to have more..."

He nodded, looking totally at ease, comfortable asking heavy questions. She marvelled at him. "What about you, Shortman." She pointed her fork at him. "You wanna be a daddy?"

He nodded. "Totally. But I'm like you, I wouldn't want to have kids with someone if I wasn't totally secure with them…"

Typical… not at all flustered… She shoved a forkful of risotto into her mouth to fill the silence.

"Why are you nervous?" He asked once she had swallowed. He had let go of his fork again. His elbow was on the table, his chin in his hand as he leaned forward to listen to her.

She felt her cheeks redden. This was a different sort of question… "Uh… I don't know…" She couldn't meet his eye. Oh god… why is he so… searching? He was silent, waiting patiently for her to give him a better answer. "I'm pretty good at ruining stuff…" she ended up whispering, feeling like a complete ass as she mumbled the words.

He was quiet for a second. "Like on New Years?" He asked softly. She glanced up at him, but he didn't seem to be accusing her. She nodded, bit her lip. He was silent for a second more… "What was that about?"

She supposed it was too much to ask that such an embarrassing episode could just be forgotten about. She grimaced. "I… uh…" She sighed. Just spit it out. "You confused me…"

He chuckled at that. "Yeah… I can understand that… I was pretty confused myself for a while there."

Well, that was interesting… "Yeah?"

He nodded. His eyes darted away from hers as he picked his fork up again. He doesn't look so calm now. He fiddled with his pasta. "It took me a while to admit that I really like you." He said simply, his eyes glued to his plate. "And I didn't really know what to do about it…"

He looked up her, his green eyes catching her off guard. That sudden pushing feeling shoved up at her belly. She found herself leaning forward a little, wanting to be closer. "Sorry if I was, um, erratic." His smile came out sad.

Well, I suppose that explains a bit… She thought about his odd behaviour. How he ran so hot and cold for a while. She still couldn't quite believe it though… Arnold liked her? Enough to get all weird over it? It just didn't compute. "When did you, uh, realise?" She asked, before she even realised she was talking.

He smiled, one corner of his mouth curling up. OK, so he apparently liked it when she asked questions…

"Ah…" He closed his eyes for a second. "I don't really know…" She waited patiently for a better answer. Eventually, he sighed. "Can I tell you this when we're alone?" His eyes, open now, pleaded with her.

Alone.

"So, you still owe me an answer…" Helga grinned cheekily before stretching in a yawn. This is so nice… it couldn't possibly be any better.They were so much more comfortable around each other at home…

He chuckled, the arm around her shoulder tugged her into his chest a little further. "You don't wanna watch the movie?" His voice was impossibly soft.

She shook her head. "There's no dialogue…" she waved dismissively at the TV, where The Triplets of Belleville was playing in all of its sepia glory. "I think I can keep up with the storyline…"

He sighed. "OK. So the question is, when did I realise I like you… like you?" She nodded, holding her breath to stop herself from giggling like a moronic schoolgirl.

He took a second to think about it… "Remember the blanket fort?" His hand searched for her under the blanket, found her knees. He pulled her legs to lie across his thighs as she nodded, her heart suddenly in her throat. "That was the first time I figured it was more than just liking how you look… and just feeling protective…"

He likes how I look? From her new position, twisted so that she was basically cradled against him, she stared up at him. "But… that wasages ago…" He liked her from all the way back then? It made no sense!

He smiled sadly, shrugged. "I know… I tried to forget about it, I mean, I was with Rose… and you're… Helga." He grinned. "I never in a million years thought I would…" he trailed off, his forehead creasing in a frown for a second, before he just laughed.

"It got so much worse when you started seeing Steven…" he admitted with a sigh. "I was so jealous."

She stared. It did kind of explain stuff, but she didn't quite believe it. "Jealous?" She parroted, too stunned to think of a real question.

His eyes screwed shut for a moment. "That first time, when you came back in the middle of the night, and just wandered around the house in your… uh…"

"I remember…" Helga groaned. She had been so embarrassed, having Arnold see her in nothing but a t-shirt and panties.

He squeezed her tighter. "I honestly had no idea what to do. I was so…" he sighed.

"So… what?" She asked gently, surprising herself.

He smiled, the hand on her knee pulled out from under the blanket and came up to tug the fine gold chain around her neck, out from under her shirt. He regarded the dangling heart charm before speaking.

"So jealous… so confused… so guilt-ridden…" His thumb brushed her jawline, making the breath in her lungs whoosh out as her ribs cramped. "… and, uh, pretty turned on… to be honest with you…" He blushed at that. "Which just made me more jealous, confused and guilt-ridden…" He shrugged. "Sorry…"

She didn't know what to say… the idea that she turned him on had completely fried her brain.

He lowered her charm back to her chest, the backs of his fingers brushing lightly over the skin of her throat… please kiss me… He sighed. "And it kinda culminated when Nina took her fall." He said finally. "Rose was supposed to come over after her shift that night… and I realised that I would rather be sitting in a cold, shitty waiting room with you - even if you were crying and your daughter was hurt – than be at home in bed with my girlfriend…"

She knew she was staring… but what could she say?

"So, your turn." He grinned. His hand came up to her face, stroking the backs of his fingers down her cheek. She shifted, pushed harder against him. His mouth twitched up. Watching her face, the hand at her cheek moved around to grasp her hip, to pull her closer, her thighs riding up over his as he dragged her up so that she was almost sitting on his lap. "Do you… like me too?" His hushed question made her heart flutter… their faces were so much closer now… she could just lean forward…

She nodded.

"Since when?" He asked, the hand at her hip slipping up to her waist. She couldn't stand it, her thighs were tingling, her arms felt like jelly. A slow heat was burning up low in her belly. She bit her lip, conscious that his eyes were on her.

"Since…" Shit… "we were kids…" Should I be telling him this… The words had just kinda rushed out before she could think about them.

He laughed. "Really?" his hands gripped tighter at her, pulling her a little closer. She nodded again. She didn't care, she didn't want to talk anymore… his mouth was so close to hers. "That's… interesting." He was smiling. His gaze ran between her eyes and her mouth. He pulled her a little closer…

"You look beautiful tonight…" He breathed. His hands were both flat on her back, holding her close. She reached out, put a palm experimentally against his ribs. The other curled the hem of his shirt between her fingers. This can't really be happening.

"What do you want… from… uh… us?" His eyes were on her lips as he whispered his question.

Everything. Everything you could possibly give me. I want your skin, your mouth, your gaze. I want to own you, the way you own me.She had to give him an answer. "Everything." She murmured, really not sure what she was saying. "Anything."

His dimple creased as he smiled. "Everything?" His voice was breathless, his gaze was on her mouth. His fingers were gripping at her, pulling her in closer. He held her, his mouth just a breath from hers. "Does that mean I can kiss you?"

She didn't bother answering, just leaned forward, met him as he pushed his lips against hers.
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Dependents