I don't own Hey Arnold characters and locations. Also, the Jungle Movie never happened.

…

…..

ARNOLD:

…..

Arnold looked up at the Boarding House and smiled. It had been a long six years. Studying and being a fulltime single dad at the same time had not been easy, but he'd done it. He'd completed his studies at University, and come home to get a job and raise his son. And to send his son to school. He'd be going to P.S 118, just as he had. He wondered briefly if his son would acquire a bully as he had, the smiled and shook his head. Hopefully not.

"James, time to wake up," he called through the open window. His three year old son stirred, but went back to sleep. Arnold sighed and opened the door, picking the boy up and carrying him up the stoop and knocking on the door.

"Arnold!" Mrs. Kokoshka's voice yelled. "Everyone, it's Arnold!"

"Hello, Arnold!" Mr. Hyun called out.

"How's it going, Arnold?" he heard Ernie say in the background.

"Oh, shhh shhh, the little one's asleep!" Susie whispered, shooing them away from the door, and giving Arnold room to get inside.

"I'll just take him up to my old room?" Arnold asked.

"Oh, yes, there's fresh sheets on the bed, and I went through with the vacuum. It's nice and clean and ready for use," she said, smiling and nodding. "I have dinner on as well. It'll be done soon. Should I put a plate aside for him?"

"No, he had dinner on the way here," Arnold said. "But if you don't mind making up a plate for me that would be nice."

Suzie nodded and moved away, leaving Arnold to go upstairs and pop his son in bed.

He'd only been home once since leaving for University, and that was for his Grandpa's funeral. He had passed only a year after Gertie, yet no one was surprised. When Arnold's grandma had died, his Grandpa had all but given up on life. Tucking his son in he sighed. It was three months after his grandpa had died that Arnold found out he was going to be a father. He'd been shocked and scared and worried. He had no family to fall back on. Well, there was his aunt from his mothers side, but they were . . . not well acquainted. It would have been too awkward. And he honestly didn't feel like dealing with Arnie, who was a father himself now, to some girl named Lulu. He'd never met the girl, but remembered Arnie telling him about her in a letter as kids and he'd had a dream that she was like Lila only more forward. It had freaked him out so much he had run to Gerald Field the next morning in his pyjamas' and had hugged Helga. G. Pataki.

Helga . . . how was she these days? He wondered. He'd lost contact with her and Phoebe and even Gerald. He thought of maybe looking some of his old friends up, but that would leave him open for questions. That he was still not ready to answer. He kissed his son's head, whispered that he loved him, then went downstairs.

…

HELGA:

…

Helga sighed, and resisted the urge to fall asleep in the back of the cab. Hillwood. Ugh! But she owed her family a visit, and she really had no choice because she had missed Thanksgiving and with Christmas coming up, at least she would be there.

She had gone to University, but picked up some modelling and acting work alongside her sister. Unlike her sister, however, Helga had flourished and was known as a "rising star", and had dated many young and sometimes older men. But her first love was art.

Besides, after the latest scandal to hit the headlines, she wanted to keep her head low. Having an affair with a married man . . . Not a good idea. Or at least, it wouldn't have been if it had actually happened! Some silly goof of an extra had gone blabbing about seeing her and her co-star kissing off-set. Money fuelled lies unfortunately. And her co-star wasn't as high up on the acting food-chain as she was, so this kind of publicity was gold for him.

As her cab went past the old familiar boarding house, The Sunset Arms, she saw that familiar shaped head, with the unruly blonde locks that she had spent many days and notebooks swooning over.

Arnold. What had become of him? They had been friends in high school, but University, distance and hobbies and new friends, had taken up time in, what was essentially, their new lives, and contact had been lost. Though she always found time to stop and gossip with Phoebe, and had even invited her to be on movie sets, and had gotten her a talking role in one. But Phoebe had no desire for acting, though she had had fun. But it had been six months since she had been able to really sit down and talk with her childhood best friend. She wondered if she was still seeing that doctor . . .?

…

…

The next day Arnold decided to take his son for a walk around his old neighbourhood. He took him to Tina Park and showed him the lake and told the legend of Big Caesar to him. He realised his mistake though, after he said they could catch frogs.

"No! Big Caesar will eat me!" he yelled.

"What? No he wont," Arnold said laughing. "I promise. I've met Big Caesar and he's not a bad fish that will eat you." He held his hand out for his son, but he shook his head.

"No," he said and took off up the hill. "Lets go on the swings!"

Arnold sighed. His son was obsessed with swings. Heading up to the playground he saw some people hiding behind some bushes with cameras trying to take pictures of a woman and child who were in the park. He stared at the woman a moment, but in an instant realised who it was.

"Helga!" he called out suddenly, waving like a loon. She looked his way with a scowl, that turned into a smile and wave.

"Hey Football Head! Thought it was you I saw yesterday.

He smiled making his way over when a light flashed in his face.

"Run, Football Head!" he heard her screaming at him. So he did, heading her way, while looking around for his son. Where had he gone?

"He's with me!" she called out to him. He looked in her direction and saw that his son was indeed standing behind her. So he made his way to her, looking back once to see that the photographers were taking pictures.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Paparazzi," she said. "If you've got a girlfriend or a wife, I suggest you tell her before its splashed all over the papers tomorrow that we're planning a spring wedding!"

"Aunty Helga, why are those people taking our photo?" her niece asked.

"Because they don't have a real job," she said, lifting her off the swing. "I'm sorry, Arnold. Maybe we can catch up another time?"

"Okay, how about-"

"Is this your new beau?" the male photographer called out.

"I follow you," Arnold said. He didn't like how close these strangers were getting to his kid. And their taking pictures of him.

"Hurry up then," Helga snapped. She took off and a power walk, Arnold picking up James and following after her. As he did he saw two huge men barrelling towards them.

"The football Head and his kids with me!" she called out to them. They just nodded and went past them.

"Who were they?" Arnold asked, looking back and watching as they headed toward the photographers.

"Bodyguards."

…

HELGA'S APARTMENT:

…

"So did you get the invite from Rhonda?" Helga asked, sitting down and taking a sip of her water. She was eyeing her niece and Arnold's son playing with a set of train tracks. Angel could get very possessive of her toys.

"Yeah. I bumped into her this morning, actually," Arnold said, drinking some coffee. "So is it always like that?"

"It can be worse," Helga said. "All you can do is keep moving. Stay still too long, and you get a pile of them. I don't know what they think I'm going to do at a park with my niece."

They were quiet for a moment. Helga looked over towards the kids, feeling strange. The child in her was swooning at being alone with Arnold, having a proper conversation. The woman in her was rolling her eyes at such silliness.

"So, you married, engaged, or separated?" she asked him, looking over at James.

"Abandoned," Arnold said.

"What do you mean?" she asked curious.

"Why are you interested?" Arnold asked. Man, she was a beautiful woman.

"Are you kidding? I love hearing about other people's dramas! Better than mine, half of which are made up," she told him. Arnold smiled.

"His mother and I started dating about two months into College," he started. "It was great, we were together for a year, then I came home to bury my grandpa-"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realise he had died," she said.

"Yeah, a little while after grandma actually," he told her. "Anyway, when I got back she told me she was pregnant. It's not the greatest news to hear in your second year of Uni, but what can you do? Anyway, she had the baby, and we lived together, but then one day I came back, a babysitter is there, and she's gone. The babysitter told me she had left with a suitcase, saying an emergency had come up and she needed to rush home. Rung her parents, they said they didn't know anything about an emergency, and hadn't heard from her. I called the police the next day after hearing nothing, and her parents said she'd turned up there, saying she couldn't handle having a baby."

"Wow," Helga said, putting her bottle of water down. "That's a pretty sucky thing to do."

"It gets worse," he said. "A month later a lawyer rung me up to say she relinquished all rights to the child. She wanted noting to do with him. I rung her parents and they just said if I called again they'd call the police."

Helga looked over to where the two children were playing quietly by themselves.

"So they have nothing to do with the child?" she asked.

"Nope," he said.

"Your not worried about his mother coming round when he's older? I mean, he's going to want to know her one day, surely," Helga said, looking back at him. Arnold shook his head.

"She died a month ago from a drug overdose," he finished.

"Yikes!"

"Yeah," Arnold said. "He doesn't know any better anyway, so I'm not too concerned. I think there is maybe one photo of him with her, and she's not even smiling in it."

They both fell silent, listening to the children talk to each other. After a while Helga sighed, and got up to look out her window, down to the street.

"So are you going to Rhonda's Christmas Party?" she asked, not looking at him.

"Yeah. It will be good to catch up with some of the old gang," Arnold said, smiling. Helga didn't say anything, just nodded. "What about you?"

Helga shrugged.

"I'll think about it," she said. "I don't want her place getting swamped and guests harassed."

"Do you think they'd do that?" he asked. Helga laughed.

"I know they'll do that," she said, smiling. "They will especially be wanting to know who you are, so prepare yourself for all kinds of wild guesses!"

"What's the worse they could do?" he asked.

Helga walked over to her laptop and opened it up, typing in a few things she then turned it to him, and smiled. Already there was a picture up of her, him and the kids fleeing, and another of them getting into her car. The headline was "Helga's New Love?" and "Who is he?". Under the second headline was a picture of him and his son as he was standing next to her talking.

"Give them another hour or two and they will be airing all your dirty laundry out for the world to see," she told him. "I'm sorry."

"Its not your fault," Arnold said.

Knocking on the door caught their attention. Then the door opened and her sister stepped in.

"My goodness, Helga!" she said, taking off her shoes. "You sure know how to draw attention to yourself!"

Helga rolled her eyes.

"Mommy!" Angel screamed, throwing herself into Olga's arms.

Olga looked over at Arnold, curious.

"I know you from somewhere, don't I?" she said.

"I went to school with Helga," he said.

"Oh, right! I tutored you on a subject once, too, didn't I?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling. Olga smiled back.

"Now what's this I hear about you and a married man?" Olga asked.

Olga was a pain, but she was also an awesome spin doctor, so to speak.

"You tell me," Helga said. "The only kiss I remember is during filming."

"Oh, I see," she said. "So why is his camp not saying anything to debunk the rumours?"

"Because this publicity is too good for them to pass up? I don't know Olga!" she cried, throwing her hands in the air. Olga looked over at Arnold, who was now holding his shy son in his lap, and smiled.

"Why don't you two go out for dinner?" Olga asked.

"No. that's not fair to them, Olga," Helga said, glaring at her sister.

"What? Your catching up with a childhood friend," she said innocently. "Look, they already know he's in here."

Helga groaned, then looked at Arnold. "No offence."

"None taken?"

"The point is, Helga, that it will be easier for me to fix this if you two actually put yourselves in the public eye," she said. "People will see you, and hear you, and report back what they hear and see. And no doubt there's some blabbermouth in your group of old friends who will tell them all about you two. We can easily get a babysitter for . . . Sorry, what's your sons name?"

"James," he told her.

"Right. James. See?"

Helga frowned, looking over at Arnold, then back at her sister. Then sighed.

"Want to have dinner, Arnold? My shout," she said.

"Thanks, but I can pay for myself. What time?"

…

CHEZ PARIS:

…

They had a table that was within view of the window, but not so obvious. The restaurant had been expecting them, and they were taken straight to their table, their meal ready. A bottle of wine was brought over and opened and Helga downed hers in one gulp. She was nervous, and she hated being nervous, because when she was nervous she couldn't eat.

She asked some more questions about what was going on in Arnold's life, what he was planning on doing for a job, and plans for his son.

"I was planning anthropology, then move onto archaeology, but my plans changed, as you can imagine," he told her.

Helga nodded.

"So what are you planning to do now?" she asked.

"Med school, hopefully," he said. "I couldn't do it where I was. I couldn't fully commit to it, not with James."

"Fair enough. School will always be there, but your son's only a child once," she said. Arnold raised his brows, and Helga sighed.

"My dad said that to me once," she said. "He felt awful for missing so much of my childhood, and then when he was around he was always so stressed out, he couldn't enjoy time with me. He always said in hindsight he wished he'd realised that there will always be work, but your child is only young once. Miss that, and that's it. You don't have the opportunity again."

Now Arnold was surprised. He had never known Bob could have such a deep thought.

People were looking at them by now, making Arnold uncomfortable, and a few came over to ask for her autograph for their daughter/son, or niece/nephew, or friends daughter/son, or younger sister/brother. They both got their meals for free, and permission to tell the story of their childhood jaunt there in which they had ended the night doing dishes.

When they left, they left through the back, jumping straight into her limo and driving away. They both had a good laugh. Both were giddy on wine, and Helga invited him back up. They continued talking into the night, reminiscing and catching up.

"I think I will go to Rhonda's party after all," Helga declared.

"Great. Want to be my date?" he asked. Helga laughed.

"Sure why not?"

…

THE MORNING AFTER:

…

"CHILDHOOD SWEETHEARTS!? Together Again?", HELGA'S FIRST LOVE!".

"Oh, man, Arnold I am so sorry," she said. Arnold had fallen asleep on the couch while they were watching infomercials. Helga had given him a blanket and pillow then gone to bed herself. They ordered breakfast the next morning, and the paper had come with it, along with a gossip mag.

"How did they get it out so fast?" Arnold asked. "This was only last night!"

"Faster than a herpes virus," Helga said. Arnold laughed.

Opening the magazine he saw old pictures of them and their classmates. There were old school pictures, including one from so long ago, Arnold had almost forgotten.

"Our tango!" he cried out.

"What? Where?" she asked, coming and looking over his shoulder. Sure enough, there were several pictures of the two of them doing a tango, one of him dipping her. "Oh, my GOD! I hope they don't get the story behind that one!"

They both burst out laughing. Helga pretending to be blind to get back at Arnold was pretty funny to remember all these years later.

There was also an old article clipping describing their adventure of saving the neighbourhood when they were young, with a picture of him, Helga, and Gerald smiling at the camera. In a side column there was a bit of information about Arnold, including that he was a solo father. He pulled out a mini booklet, that also had pictures from their school plays: Romeo and Juliet and the Thanksgiving one from the fourth grade. Also their High School Yearbook pictures.

"This is kind of embarrassing," he said, his cheeks turning pink.

"No, embarrassing is having her bare derrière and breasts splashed all over the internet for everyone to see because some peeping perv has taken pictures of you coming out of a shower in your own home!" Helga said angrily.

Arnold raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" he asked.

Helga nodded.

He got out his phone. "Just going to check on James." Then went into the kitchen.

Helga sighed and looked walked out onto the balcony. Standing there she looked down to see people gathered outside the building. Arnold was going to have an interesting time leaving.

"James is fine, but I should probably get back to him," he told her. Helga just nodded.

"Good luck," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked, picking up his coat.

"Your gonna be mobbed. Do you want me to send Jeremy down with you?" she asked, finally turning to him.

"I'll be fine."

Helga laughed.

"Famous last words, Football Head!"

….

SUNSET ARMS:

….

Helga hadn't been wrong. As soon as he'd exited the building he was swamped with questions about what he and Helga had talked about, were they lovers, and all manner of other questions. Arnold just pushed his way through ignoring them all. He finally saw the limo Helga said would be waiting for him, and jumped in, only to be greeted by Helga's smiling face.

"Hey, a girls gotta get out too, ya know," she told him, leaning back into the seat.

"I was a distraction?" he asked.

Helga just smirked at him and looked away. When they got to the boarding house, Arnold got out first and opened the door, Helga coming out afterwards and rushing inside, carrying a bag.

"Staying the night?" Arnold asked, closing the door. Helga smiled and pulled out a wig and sunglasses.

"Nope. Disguise!"

Arnold laughed.

"Daddy!" a voice screamed. Helga flinched. Did that noise really come from something so small? She didn't spend a lot of time with her niece, for obvious reasons, but was pretty sure she'd never heard that kind of noise form her. Helga watched father and son hug, then looked away feeling awkward. She wasn't great with kids. They made her uncomfortable. She was always worried they would break or cry and she wouldn't be able to stop them. Angel was different. She was more like Helga than her mother, lucky her, so Helga wasn't to worried. But with children she didn't know, she was just . . . awkward.

"Hello Helga," a small, shy voice said. She looked down at Arnold's son. He had taken after his father, with his odd shaped head, blonde unruly locks, and facial features. The only difference being the eyes. They were blue.

"Hi," she said. The two stared at each other for a long moment before Arnold broke the silence.

"Helga and I went to school together," Arnold told him.

"Yes dad, I know, you told me yesterday," his son said in an exasperated voice.

"Still does that, huh kid?" Helga asked, smirking.

"Yeah. Want to see my treasure?" he asked.

"Sure, why not?" she said, following him up the stairs. Arnold came up behind her, and they trudged up to what had been Arnold's old room. She remembered briefly that his room had always been neat. But his son didn't pick up that trait, obviously. Clothes were sticking out of a desk drawer, toys were all over the place, the blankets were half off the bed. She smiled. Maybe this was just a three year old boys room?

"Look! See!" he said going over to a table and lifting out the middle of it. She heard Arnold take a breath, but walked over and looked in.

A spoon, that had its own universe growing on it, old mouldy . . . play dough? Some dried up green bits from strawberries and what Helga guessed must have once been an orange. There was an Iron Man and Batman figurines in there too. Helga resisted the urge to curl her top lip back in disgust.

'Boys are so gross!' she thought, giving James a smile.

"Cool," she said.

"Sally hated it and always tried cleaning it out," he told her. Helga looked at Arnold, who shrugged his shoulders and looked at the skylight. "So has dad."

"Really?" Helga asked, not really interested, but feigning it for James' sake.

"Yeah. I just put stuff back in there," he told her smiling.

…..

HILLWOOD AQUARIUM:

…..

"Look at that shark, dad!" James squealed in delight. It was a nice change from "What's that?".

James turned around to look at Helga and smiled. Helga was staring at her phone but looked up when she heard him call her name.

"What?"

"The big fish eat the little fish, eh?" he repeated.

"Uh, yeah, big fish eat little fish," she said, looking around for Arnold. She saw him talking to a curly haired red head. Arnold looked over and waved. James waved back.

"Come on, come on," he aid, grabbing her hand and tugging.

Helga let him lead her over to Arnold and the other guy. Getting closer she started to recognize him as Eugene.

"Helga, you remember Eugene?" Arnold asked, as she came to a stop.

"Why aren't you on Broadway or something?" she asked, not bothering with greetings. Eugene laughed.

"I love musicals and such, but I didn't want to make it my job," he told her grinning. "So I became a marine biologist instead."

"A marine biologist, huh?" she said.

"Yeah. I love it," he said. "And you? All famous and what not?"

Helga nodded. Eugene fidgeted a bit.

"So . . . Uh . . ."

"No," Helga said. "We're not dating. We're not sleeping together, we had dinner and a catch up," she said to him.

"Oh, well that must have been nice. Will you be at Rhonda's party?" he asked.

"Yeah," Arnold answered. Helga nodded.

"It will be good to catch up a bit more then. I have a school group about to come through, so I have to get going, but I guess I will see you guys on Friday night," he said to them both, smiling. He waved to them and walked away.

"Who was that?" James asked, before they heard a big commotion coming from behind them. They all turned to see Eugene sitting on the floor, a rubbish bin on him.

"I'm okay," they heard echoing through the bin.

"Klutz."

….

BOARDING HOUSE:

….

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Arnold asked, as he, James and Helga entered the boarding house

Helga shook her had.

"I have dinner with my parents and sister tonight," she told him, taking a seat on the couch. James sat next to her and pulled out his new nerf gun. Helga had snuck it into her shopping bag for James while Arnold wasn't looking. Helga helped him open it, and load it, and showed him how to shoot it. "Don't aim for the windows, though, only the walls or door, okay?"

James nodded and took a shot at the door. She smirked at Arnold who had a slight frown and was shaking his head.

"It's harmless, Arnold," she said, sitting back.

"He'll lose the ammo," Arnold pointed out. Helga shrugged.

"Then you buy some more," she told him. "Look, I couldn't buy toys for my niece and not get him something. You never take a kid into a toy shop to buy toys for another kid, without getting the child with you something."

"But a gun, Helga?"

"Stop being a goodie-goodie," she laughed. "He's having fun. Take it as a chance to teach him about gun safety or something, Arnoldo." She looked at her watch.

"Oh, shoot, I better get going," she told him. "Don't want to keep Dad from his food."

Getting up she picked up her bags, and started to the door.

"Are you coming back later?" James asked.

"Dunno," Helga answered.

"Can you please?" he asked.

"I'll see what I can do, kid, but no promises," she told him. James came over and hugged her legs.

"I want to marry you, Helga," he said.

Arnold and Helga both laughed.

"Maybe when you're a little older," she told him, giving him a quick hug. "Now I really gotta go, okay?"

James nodded, then went into the lounge making banging noises and shooting his gun.

"Thanks, Helga," Arnold said, opening the door for her. "He had a great day today."

"I did too," she said smiling. "Apart from, you know, getting photographed every ten minutes!"

"Well, at least the day was caught on film," Arnold pointed out. "And we don't need to pay to have the pictures developed. We can just cut them out of magazines."

"True," she said, smiling. "Might ask for copies anyway."

They stood awkwardly for a second.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in a couple of days," Helga said.

"You can come over again tomorrow," Arnold suggested.

"Maybe," she said, looking distant. Then she sighed. "See ya."

…..

PATAKI HOUSEHOLD:

…..

"Helga, honey, I'm so glad you could make it!" Miriam cried out, hugging her youngest daughter. "Olga, Angel and Carlos aren't here yet, but they will be soon. B is in the lounge watching a game."

Helga hugged her mother back then went to greet her dad.

"Did you see that, girl? What an idiot!" he roared at the T.V.

"You really shouldn't get so wound up, Dad," Helga said, sitting down. "You'll give yourself a heart attack or something."

"At least I'll die happy, doing something I love," he said.

Helga rolled her eyes. Typical of her father.

"We're here!" she heard her sisters sweet sing-song voice call out. Helga saw her dad roll his eyes. Olga had fallen from grace when she decided to give acting a go. Bob had been so angry with her.

"All that wasted money!" he had yelled. "Get outta my house!"

Helga smirked at the memory. Olga hadn't moved out, of course, she'd just gone to her room and cried all day. But for the first time in her life, Bob didn't go soft. Instead, he pretended she didn't exist. Then Angel came along, and he couldn't help but fall in love with her. Helga had heard him comment to Miriam once that Angel took after Helga.

"It's like getting a second chance with the girl, Miriam," he'd said. Miriam had nodded, a little disturbed, but had said nothing. Bob's desire to make it up to Helga sometimes worried Miriam, but what could she do?

During dinner she got a text from Phoebe, saying she was at her parents. Helga sent her a quick one telling her where she was staying and to stop by tomorrow morning. Helga was excited. It had been a while since she had seen Phoebe.

Dinner went as well as could be expected in the Pataki family. Bob ignored Carlos and Olga. Miriam made up for it though. Helga didn't have much to say, except that she had another movie coming up.

"What's this one about?" Bob asked.

"Some world war two romance," Helga said. "I start filming in spring."

"Yeah, well let me know when it's due for release," Bob said. "Miriam and I can make a date of it."

"I'll send you tickets to the premier dad," Helga said. She looked up to see Olga staring hard at her plate. She knew there was resentment from her sisters side. "I also heard back from a publisher today."

Miriam looked up at this.

"Oh, is it the one you gave me a draft of to read last month?" she asked.

Helga nodded and smiled.

"They're doing it under an assumed name," she told her mother.

"Oh, I can't wait," Miriam said. "I told my friends in the book club a little bit about it."

Helga's hand froze half way to her mouth.

"You what?" she demanded.

Miriam suddenly realised her daughter might be thinking she had given away her secret. She hadn't.

"Oh, of course I didn't tell them you had written it, dear," she said hurriedly. "I just told them I knew the author and she had given me an advanced copy of the book to read."

"Oh, thank god," Helga said. "Do you want a couple more copies for your club, mom?"

"Oh, Helga, that would be wonderful!" Miriam said, clapping her hands together.

Helga smiled. Things had improved in life.