Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Hey Arnold. All rights belong to Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon.

Music blared out of the speakers as many bodies danced to its rhythm. The smell of barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers filled the air and entered into the nostrils of all the young party-goers. Lights flashed in all sorts of mulit-colors, following the beat of the music.

A now sixteen year old Arnold Shortman stood by the refreshments table, punch in hand, as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. Grandpa and his father were cooking by the grill while grandma and his mother were dancing by the piano. Stinky, Sid, and Harold were snickering to themselves as they tried putting some type of bug in Lorenzo's drink only to have the bug snatched away by Nadine. Curly was trying to flirt, or maybe harass, Rhonda. Sheena and Eugene were on the dance-floor doing some type of interpretive dance. As for the rest of the gang, they were off doing their own thing.

"How you liking the party, Arnold?", Gerald asked patting his friend on the shoulder. "Not much has changed since you left but you probably already noticed that."

"Yeah," Arnold said with a chuckle, "Some thing's never change." And some things do. He mentally added to himself.

Things had changed quite a bit for Arnold after he helped save the neighborhood. When they were in the fifth grade, the entire class took a trip to San Lorenzo which proved to be life-changing for him. He unexpectedly found his birth parents with the surprising help from none other than his bully, Helga G. Pataki.

Helga...

She was another story by herself.

The years after the return of his parents were life-changing once again. Somewhere along the way, he and Helga had developed a mutual relationship with each other. She still had that bite to her but it wasn't directed towards him as much anymore and he found himself enjoying and wanting her companionship more often. After some time, he began to develop deep feelings for his former bully. He always knew that he had a soft spot for Helga but that spot was starting to grow and consume his heart. Eventually, he found himself wanting to hold her, caress her, and even kiss her. Everyday, he couldn't wait until he would see her and everyday she would stun him with her beauty. He wasn't sure when he finally realized his feelings for her but, lets just say, they snuck up on him.

The summer after their eighth grade graduation and the summer before they were to enter high school, was the time when he finally decided to tell her how he felt. He couldn't tell her that he loved her yet, because he wasn't even sure what love was, but he knew he more than just liked her. She of course was ecstatic by the news and thus began their boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.

Sadly, it only lasted the summer because just two weeks before school was to begin, Arnold's parents told him the news of returning to San Lorenzo. They were to return for a two-year excursion and they wanted their son to experience it with them. The conversation didn't go to well when he told Helga. Words were shouted out of anger and they both said things to each other that they wished they could take back.

"You're gonna just leave me! Just like that! Obviously what we have isn't special enough to make you stay!"

"If you really loved me than you'd be happy for me because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"Don't use my love for you against me! I don't even know what I was doing, thinking that you and I could actually work out and last!"

"Me neither! I should have just left things the way they were, that way I wouldn't have to deal with you!"

And with that, they "unofficially" broke up. She didn't come with the rest of the gang to his going away party and she didn't wish hm goodbye at the airport. He wrote to her everyday for the last two years and never heard a reply from her. Even now, she wasn't here for his welcome home party.

"Hello Arnold!", Phoebe said joyously as Gerald wrapped an arm around her and gave her a quick kiss on the temple. She just giggled.

"Are you enjoying the festivities?", she asked.

"Yeah, its nice to see the old gang again. I can't believe everybody showed up...well...almost everybody.", Arnold said with a sad expression.

Phoebe and Gerald exchanged worried glances. They knew all about Arnold and Helga's fall out, due to the fact that they were their best friends. Each of them had to deal with their own friend's sorrow and tried to convince them to talk to one another to straighten the whole mess out. Of course, Arnold easily agreed which started his never-ending saga of unresponsive letters to Helga. Helga, on the other hand, was too stubborn and hurt to try, so she just ignored his letters everyday they came.

"I'm sorry Arnold. I inquired to her about the party, I guess she decided to just stay home." Phoebe tried adding gently.

"Its okay, Phoebe. I'm gonna go downstairs and get some air."

Arnold walked out of the boarding house and sat on the stoop, putting his face in his hands.

Why did have to be so stupid and tell her those things! Sure, we were both mad and said stuff but I knew how sensitive she was when it came to loving me and I just threw it back in her face! To top it all off, being away from her for so long and finding my heart aching for her is what made me finally realize that I'm in love with her! Now she may never get the chance to hear it cause she won't even come near me!

Suddenly, Arnold felt a new-found determination set in.

No! I did not come back to Hillwood for her just to lose her!

With that final thought, Arnold walked away from his party and towards the direction of Helga's house.

When Arnold finally arrived he could hear his heart pounding through his ears. He swallowed away whatever fear and nervousness he was feeling, lifted his arm, and knocked his fist on the front door of the Pataki household.

Big Bob was the one who answered. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Hello Mr. Pataki. I'm Arnold, one of Helga's friends. Is she home?"

"Oh yea, I remember you Arnie.", Big Bob grumbled. "Well come in, I'll call the girl down."

Arnold entered the house behind Mr. Pataki.

"Helga! One of your friends is here so get your fanny down here!"

He actually got her name right? Thats a surprise.

"Crimeny Bob! I'm coming!" Arnold gulped. He hadn't heard or seen Helga in two years and now was the moment of truth. "Phoebe, I told you I wasn't going to Arnold's party so stop aski-", Helga stopped mid-sentence when she saw who was standing at the bottom of her staircase.

Arnold took in her entire appearance. She had grown more beautiful, if that was possible, from the last time he had seen her. She had grown taller and leaner in her body. She no longer had her unibrow and didn't wear her pigtails in that gravity defying style. Instead, her pigtails were tied to the bottom of her head allowing her blonde hair to rest on her shoulders. She had bangs that gently fell over her face and her head was still topped with her signature pink bow. That detail made Arnold smile. She was wearing dark skinny jeans with a pink v-neck top and Arnold couldn't help but notice that she still wore her locket around her neck.

She looks so beautiful...

As Arnold stood staring at Helga with a goofy grin on his face, Helga couldn't help but stare back at him as well. One, because she was in shock and two, because how much he had changed. Being in the jungles of San Lorenzo caused him to get a golden tan and working with the different tribes put muscles on his once skinny frame. His hair was still in its same pointy style with his blue hat in its usual spot but his clothes were different. He wore jeans with a dark teal undershirt and a plaid red and yellow long sleeve over it.

He looks amazing...

Helga suddenly shook her thoughts away. Calm yourself Helga ol' girl, don't fall for him again so quickly. Not after everything that's happened.

"What are you doing here Football-Head? If I wanted to go to your party I would have been there." Okay that was kinda harsh but not as harsh as what he last told me.

Her voice caused him to break out of his trance. Great...she's still mad.

"Could we talk outside? "

She stared back at him with her arms crossed over her chest, a scowl present on her face.

"Helga, please?" He asked stepping towards her, trying to reach for her hands.

She quickly pulled away. "Lets go."

She led him outside as he closed the door behind him. "What do you want?", she bluntly asked.

"Oh...umm...how are you?"

"Fine."

"I noticed that your dad got your name right. Have things gotten better between you two?"

"Yeah."

Arnold sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He wasn't getting anywhere with her short remarks. He tried a different approach.

"I miss you."

That caught Helga off guard. Her expressions came and went quickly but they didn't go unseen by Arnold.

"What is it that you want Arnold?" Helga said throwing her arms in the air and taking a seat on her stoop.

"You. I want you.", he said sitting beside her.

"No. You don't."

"Yes, I -

"No! You don't!", she said quickly standing up to turn and face him. "You don't want to "deal with me", remember?" The anger was clear on her face but the hurt was hidden in her eyes. Arnold hated the fact that he was the one who put that hurt there. Of all the people, he, the one she trusted the most, was the one who hurt her the greatest.

He finally stood up as well, "Look Helga, we both said things back then that we both know we didn't mean. I guess we were just angry and maybe even scared of losing each other because of my moving but I never stopped loving you."

"You don't love me.", she said bitterly and looking away from him, "You don't know what love is. Or at least that's what you told me, unless you were just serving me a line of bull-"

"No, no, no." He grabbed her hands in his, causing her to look at him. He locked his eyes with hers and held her gaze. "I do love you Helga. In fact, I'm in love with you. Unfortunately it took me being away from you and losing you to realize that but its the truth."

She looked at their interlocked hands. They fit perfectly into each other and the feeling of his skin felt so warm against hers. But he wasn't going to get by so easy. He had so willingly left her for two years and in that time, she spent her hardest trying to get over him. She actually got to a point where she was content and finally accepted his departure. She could go through a whole day and not think of him during every second of it.

She threw her arms away from him forcing him to let go. "So what? You just expect me to run into your warms just like that!", she snapped her fingers in front of his face. "You left me for two years and it wasn't like we even talked it over. Oh no! You just came up to me and said "Hey, in two weeks I'm leaving you!" She glared at him.

"I did not say it like that!" He could feel his own anger begin to boil.

"You might as well have! You finally make my dreams come true by reciprocating my feelings to some degree and give me the best summer I've ever experienced and then you just snatch it away! Do have any idea how that made me feel?"

"I tried apologizing! I wrote a letter to you every day for two years! Didn't you get any of them?"

"Yeah."

"Did you open and read them?"

"No", she said just under a whisper. She averted her gaze from him, the guilt slowly consuming her.

He noticed and backed down as well. "Why?"

"Because - I just - I couldn't, okay!", there was more frustration in her voice than anger. "I couldn't read about your exciting adventures with the village people and you and your parents living in trees and eating bananas with the monkeys!"

Arnold cocked an eyebrow. "Really, Helga? It wasn't anything like that."

"Ugh! You know what I mean! It wasn't fair to read about you having such a great time while I was over here hurting. I didn't reply because I was still mad about you leaving and I knew I'd say something in those letters that I'd regret just like everything else I told you. Eventually, I tried getting over you and the more I ignored those letters and pretended like you didn't exist, the easier it got."

Now it was Arnold's turn to feel hurt. She tried to get over me?

"You tried to get over me? I thought what we had was special."

Pfft. Oh now he thinks our relationship is special.

"It wasn't special enough to make you stay, so it wasn't special enough to make me remember you."

Ouch! That struck a chord on Arnold's heart. Helga knew she had spat venom at him once the words left her lips and she felt tears beginning to sting her eyes. Why do I always end up hurting him?

"That's it. I'm done." She said throwing her hands up in surrender, "I can't do this with you anymore. Can't you see that we just don't belong together? This isn't how people who are in love are supposed to treat each other." Helga walked past Arnold and up the stairs to her house, trying to fight back the tears that were threatening to fall.

Just as she was about to turn the knob, she felt a firm yet gentle grip on her wrists. She turned back to see pleading eyes staring back at her.

"Helga...please. I lost you once. I can't lose you again." He sounded so defeated. "I know that what I did to you hurt but you need to know that I thought and ached and longed for you every single day that passed after I left. I love you with everything that I am. Just let me prove that to you. We can learn from the mistakes of our past and grow from them. People who are in love fight all the time but if they really love each other than they will fight their way back to each other as well. I learned from my mistake and am willing to fight for you but please, you have to let me know, if there is no chance of me winning your heart back at least give me the dignity to know."

Without her knowing, Helga's tears began to fall from her eyes and down her face. Of course she had missed him and longed for him as well but what if they had a fall out again? She just couldn't go through the same pain twice.

"But...what if it doesn't work out and we just end up fighting again?"

"That won't happen.", he assured her as he gently wiped the tears from her eyes.

"But you don't know that! Its been two years, we've both changed. What if you get sick of me in a few days, or weeks, or mon-" With that she was cut off from the feeling of Arnold's lips pressing against hers. She was caught off guard by the impact and her own shock and hesitated for a few seconds, but only a few. Eventually she leaned back into his kiss and completely melted into his arms. The feel of his lips against hers felt so impossibly good that she wasn't sure how she had gone two years without them. And the kiss wasn't just quick and simple, no, it was long and passionate and every emotion that they kept bottled up about each other was released into that kiss and onto each other's lips.

When they finally broke apart, Helga was light-headed with giddiness. She could feel an uncharacteristic girly giggle trying to escape her throat but she maintained her composure, as best she could, and swallowed it. But she couldn't wipe away the gleeful smile that was plastered on her face.

Luckily, she wasn't the only one cause Arnold too had a smile that went from ear-to-ear.

"So," he said clearing his throat and trying to act casual, "that's what a kiss between two people who are in love feels like."

Helga couldn't help it and that giggle made its way up her throat and out of her mouth.

Arnold pulled her close to him and placed his forehead on hers, "Do you believe me now?"

Helga gently pushed him away, laughing, "You know Football-Head, you kissing me all the time isn't going to get me to stop talki-", and he pressed his lips to hers once again.

This kiss wasn't as long as the first and when they pulled away she found herself lost in his half-lidded gaze. His eyes twinkled back at her as his crooked smile made its way onto his face. Helga loved that smile and Arnold knew it, that's why he only reserved it for her eyes to see. Helga could feel herself grow weak in the knees. Luckily, Arnold was already holding her but he pulled her closer to him anyways.

"I love you Helga. I always will."

"I love you too Arnold. I always have."

A playful smile appeared on his face as he added, "Who wouldn't love a football-head like mi-"

Now it was her turn to stop his words with a kiss.

But he didn't mind.

He didn't mind at all.