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Dependents	By : DancingBear Category: +G through L > Hey, Arnold! Views: 6520 -:- 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
- 8
- 9
- 10
Nina opened her mouth wide, toothpaste foam on her tongue, a gap where she had lost her first tooth the week before. "See?"
Helga laughed. "Yes yes, very good. All clean." she snatched her daughter into her arms and gave her a squeeze. "You look like a muppet when you do that, did you know?"
Nina wriggled in her arms. "Like Kermit?"
"Like Ernie!"
"Noooo!" Nina giggled, pressing her face into her mother's neck. "I don't want crumbs in bed!"
Helga laughed harder, squeezed her tighter for a second, then let her go. "Alright, you wanna go say goodnight to Arnold?"
Nina nodded, leaping about the bathroom on her tip-toes. Helga grimaced, that would be making a huge racket downstairs. "Stop jumping, Love. Go say goodnight."
Nina dashed from the room, her socked feet slipping on the bathroom floor. "Arnold!" she squeaked.
"Down here, in the kitchen."
Helga followed Nina from the room, she had to make sure Nina didn't bother Arnold too much... plus, if he was making a pot of tea, she could use a cup.
Nina paused at the top of the stairs, looking back quickly to make sure her mum was following. Satisfied, she launched herself around the corner. "Arnold! Is Lucy allow..."
Helga's heart leaped into her throat as Nina's chatter was cut off with a little scream.
Time seemed to stand still as Helga stepped forward, a rapid strumming of thumps ended with a loud, echoing crunch. Then silence.
"Nina?" Helga was somehow at the top of the stairs, her lungs heaving as she stared down at her little girl, lying motionless on the floor below. "NINA!"
She was at her daughter's side in a heartbeat, her hands at Nina's face, her fingers checking for a pulse. Lucy came snuffling up, a mournful little whine keening from her as she nuzzled at Nina's shoulder.
"Get out, Lucy." Arnold shoved her into the kitchen, ignoring the dog's upset little yaps as he shut the door on her. "Don't move her." His voice was soft in Helga's ear. "If she's hurt her neck or back..."
"She's not moving." Helga's voice cracked, her hands were shaking.
"Her eyelids..." Arnold started. He was right, Nina's eyelids were fluttering, her lashes beating against her cheeks.
They fluttered open... Helga let out a sigh of relief. "M-mum?" Nina's eyes were huge, glassy. She gazed around the hall, her eyes rolling in her head, her little arms scrabbling at the floor as she tried to raise herself up on her hands. As she craned her neck, a dribble of blood ran from her nose. "Mum!"
Helga reached out and clutched Nina to her chest. The little girl was trembling, her face bone-white. "Shhh, Sweetheart, I'm here, you're OK."
Nina's chin started to wobble, tears leaked down her face.
"Get her up." Arnold's voice was clipped, "I'll take you to the hospital." He bounded up the stairs two at a time.
Helga just nodded. She crooned to her little girl, stroking her hair, desperate to soothe Nina's terrified whimpering. Eventually, she managed to struggle upright, Nina curled into her chest, her fists around Helga's neck.
"Here." Arnold came bounding back down, his arms full. He tucked a blanket around Nina's shoulders, dabbed the blood from Nina's chin with a wad of tissues. Helga took the wad from him, holding them to Nina's nose to try stem the flow of blood.
"C'mon." Arnold jingled his keys. "We'll take the Packard." Helga followed obediently, letting Arnold take charge, letting herself focus on nothing but her distraught daughter.
"You want me to take her?" Arnold hovered over her, his face filled with concern. The emergency waiting room was full, loud, but Nina's head was starting to droop, her eyes strangely unfocused, glazed.
Helga shook her head, the last thing she wanted was to let go of Nina, but the faster she filled out the forms, the quicker someone could look at her. "OK."
Arnold took Nina gently from Helga's arms, talking softly to her, asking her questions. Nina's replies were quiet, slurred. Arnold looked over Nina's head to catch Helga's eye, his brow furrowed. "She doesn't sound right... I'll go talk to someone..."
A bubble of panic welled up in her throat. Don't take her out of my sight! But she swallowed it. Keep it together, Pataki. "OK."
He was still talking to a nurse when Helga came over, the finished form in her hand.
"Mrs Pataki?" the nurse asked, Helga didn't bother to correct her, she just nodded. "We're going to rush Nina through for an Xray, if you just want to follow me?"...
"Sit down." Arnold's voice was soft, sympathetic, but Helga still bristled. She kept pacing, placing her feet square in the tiles as she strode back and forth across the small waiting area.
"I can't." She felt like is she stopped moving, something would go wrong. She needed to stay on her feet, to be ready, in case something happened.
He sighed, stood to bar her way, stepped into her path and put his hands on her shoulders. She stiffened, felt her shoulders hunch even further around her ears. She couldn't meet his gaze, even though she could feel his eyes on her face. "Helga, come sit down. You look like you're about to keel over."
Her fists clenched and unclenched at her sides. She hated it when he spoke to her like that, in his low, gentle voice. Tears started to well up in her eyes. She blinked them away. "No."
His arms snaked around her, hugging her to his chest. "She'll be OK, you know. It's probably just a concussion."
Helga shook. The image of Nina, sprawled on the floor, her skin pale, her limbs motionless, wouldn't leave her head. The terror on her little girl's face when she came to, disorientated and scared, haunted her.
"C'mon." He pulled her harder against him, stroked her back, leaned his cheek against her hair. A shudder ran through her, coming up from her toes, pushing a sob from her throat. She tried to stop it, bit her lip to try keep it down, but when she tried to take a breath, it was ragged, full of tears.
Her fingers uncurled and searched for his shirt, pinching together to grasp the fabric of his top. Another sob escaped, and another, and with each one, Arnold made this soft, crooning noise that cut right through her. It hurt, but at the same time, it felt cathartic.
"Oh, Helga..." his whisper was so soft, so tender... it was the last straw, she sniffed, held her breath to try hold it off, but when she let it go, she collapsed against him, her hands gripped at his shirt, tears flowed freely down her cheeks.
He just held her, one hand clasping her to him, his palm curving around her ribs, the other stroking her back, his fingers rubbing at her neck. His voice hummed as he softly told her everything was going to be OK. She leaned heavily against him, her face buried in his familiar old shirt, her shoulders heaving as she bawled.
Eventually she quietened, her lungs rattling as she drew long, unsteady breaths. She pulled away, her face turned from his. She needed to blow her nose.
"Tissue?" Arnold asked, his hands still at her waist, his voice low. Another sob bubbled up. Why is he so nice to me? She didn't know how to handle it. It just made her sad, it made her ache. She nodded.
He stepped away, her skin feeling suddenly cold where his hands had been. A moment later, he held out a box of tissues. "Thanks." she mumbled, pulling a bunch from the box.
"Feeling better?" His hand was on her shoulder. She nodded, hiccuping. "Come sit down."
She perched, uncomfortable, on the edge of one of the waiting room chairs. He sat next to her, leaning forward, the box of kleenex still in his hands. "Remember when I knocked you out with a baseball as a kid?" His low voice chuckled.
She giggled, a raspy noise. "Actually, no..."
He chortled. "Yeah... sorry about that..." They sat in silence for a second. "C'mere." He grabbed the top of her arm and pulled her into him, leaning her shoulders into his chest. His chin rested on the top of her head. "You Pataki's have hard heads."
She sighed. "Yeah, I get that from Bob."
He laughed again. "That's not what I meant..." his hand slid down her arm, rested on the inside of her forearm. If she hadn't have been so distracted, she would have stiffened, started stammering. As it was, she relaxed, too busy thinking about Nina to do anything but be comforted by how close he was.
"I know, but it's true. You know that scene in Matilda where the kid eats the chocolate cake and the headmistress breaks a platter over his head?" she could feel his chin move on her hair as he nodded. "Yeah, Bob has a head like that... a sack of wet concrete."
"What does Bob do now?" Arnold turned his head slightly, resting his cheek against her hair.
Helga shrugged. "Couldn't tell you. Last time I spoke to him I had just started uni."
Arnold drew in a breath. "He's never met Nina?" his voice was incredulous, Arnold couldn't fathom the idea of a man not caring about his family.
She shrugged. "He might know about her... if he's spoken to Miriam."
Arnold sighed, his fingers brushed at her skin. "That's really sad."
"Sure." Helga agreed. "But there isn't much I can do about it. I don't know if I'd trust him to be a good grandfather to Nina. He might just treat her how he treated me."
Arnold had nothing to say to that. She could almost feel him hold back his questions... she sighed, her back pressing harder into Arnold. The armrest dug into her ribs.
"Would you like a coffee or something?" His voice cracked.
"No thanks." She closed her eyes. She didn't want to move. He let out a deep breath, leaned more heavily against her. They just sat there. His hand ran up and down her arm.
"Ms Pataki?" Helga flinched, her eyes flew open. She stood up, Arnold's hands falling off her.
"Yeah? Yes? Is Nina OK?"
The doctor smiled. "She'll be fine. I'm Brian Conner, I just took a look at her Xrays." He stuck his hand out.
"Uh, hi, Helga." She took his hand and shook it.
"And you're Nina's father?" Brian leaned over to take Arnold's hand.
Arnold grinned at Helga while she floundered. "No. uh... he's not... uh... he's my... we live together." I am such an idiot.
The doctor just nodded.
"Arnold." Arnold smiled, shook Brian's hand.
The doctor leaned back. "She has a concussion, but she'll be fine." He sat down on the seat next to her. "The Xrays came back clear, she's got no fractures or anything." Helga sagged with relief. "You can take her home." Arnold's hand gripped the top of her arm, squeezed her.
"I need you to keep an eye on her, though." The doctor leaned forward. "You'll have to wake her up every two hours tonight, ask her a few basic questions, like her name or age." Helga stared while the doctor kept talking, rattling off symptoms she had to check for, how she had to keep Nina home for a few days...
Nina was asleep, her mouth slack. Arnold hefted her out of bed, let Helga open doors for him as he carried her out to the car. He twisted around in his seat as they sat at the lights, smiling at her over his shoulder.
"She's alright?" His smile was gentle.
Helga nodded. "Yeah, she's out to it."
He pulled away from the lights. "Long night, huh?"
She grimaced... hours and hours of getting up and checking that her daughter's brain hadn't started bleeding. "It will be." She sighed.
She could see Arnold's mouth twitch up. "Wanna watch Pulp Fiction?"
- 8
- 9
- 10
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Dependents