A/N- I know its super late but I used to (still do) love this pairing and this show. This would take place after FTi, Jungle Movie, and The Patakis. I may or may not decide to make this longer depending on the response I get. Please enjoy and don't be afraid to review.

Arnold had a cup of coffee on the table in front of him, and a book held up to his face. To anyone else it would look like he was studying, but as he learned long ago looks could be deceiving. Arnold's coffee had long since grown cold and he actually hadn't read a single word in quite some time.

Instead his eyes remained locked on the blond barista at the register.

Five years. It had been five since he had seen her last. She had tormented him for years since preschool but during FTi she had confessed her love for him and even kissed him. She had taken back of course and they blamed it on "heat of the moment", but deep down they both knew what she confessed was real. And then after they got back from the island he had to admit that his feelings for her went beyond human kindness. Far beyond human kindness.

They had a relationship. A romantic relationship. It was fun for a while and it could have gone deep, but there had been problems. They fought constantly. While their best friends' relationship sailed smoothly, their relationship was stormy. Eventually they broke up and Arnold moved away to be with his parents for a while.

And now he was back in Hillwood. Maybe for a month, maybe a year, maybe for good, he didn't know yet. Arnold told his best friend Gerald and his grandparents he was coming and he begged them not to tell her. Their relationship hadn't ended badly, but still… there was no telling with Helga G. Pataki.

Arnold continued to watch her over the edge of his book, absentmindedly turning the page. Unsurprisingly, Helga had grown taller and curvier since he saw her last. Her sunny blonde hair was pulled back into a messy knot at the base of her neck. The unibrow was still present but it had been neatly trimmed and she had two pink studs in each ear. And even though her face was still round she was looking less like a girl and more like a woman.

"Look pal, I don't care what other coffee shop you saw it at, we don't have any pumpkin whipped cream!" Helga snapped irritably at a customer. "Now if you want I can give your pumpkin spice another shot of pumpkin for free, or I can toss you out on your butt. Now what's it gonna be?"

Arnold's lips twitched up in a smile. Yep, still the same old Helga. Fiery, irritable, passionate Helga.

After the customer left with his drink, Helga left from behind the counter, picked up a plastic bin, and started busing tables. Arnold took a quick glance around. It was only him and a few customers left in the store. He licked his dry lips. He should say something. Let her know he was there. When Arnold had come in it was a different barista manning the register and Helga had been nowhere to be seen so he had yet to say hi to her. He should say hi. They ended as friends so they should be able to great each other as friends right?

But as she neared his table, Arnold chose instead to bury his face into his book and pray that she didn't notice him.

"Hey man, need a fresh cup?" Helga asked, suddenly in front of him.

"Um, no thanks." He said quickly, hoping she wouldn't recognize his voice. "I'm good."

"You sure?" Helga persisted. "I'm in a good mood right now so don't ask me again in five minutes."

"R-really, I'm good." He said burying himself deeper in his book.

Helga shrugged and then finally moved on. When she was far enough away Arnold left out a sigh and slumped in his seat.

He was a coward. Helga had called him that once when they were together. A guy had said something nasty about her unibrow and when Arnold refused to retaliate Helga had called him a coward and one of their infamous fights began. They didn't speak for a week until Arnold grudgingly made up with her. Even then he had still held a slight grudge against her. But now he realized it was true.

An hour went by Helga came back around to take his stale cup of coffee without a word and he let her walk away still too afraid to say anything.

Again he licked his dry lips. He had to say something, he had so say something. He opened his mouth to speak, but then Helga moved on and began cleaning the next table, whistling a tune under her breath. Arnold looked up and realized that he was the last customer in the shop and it was getting dark outside and which meant Helga was probably closing. There was no getting around it now. It was now or never. He closed his eyes and took a breath, searching and rehearsing the right words to say.

"Hey Arnold!" Helga's voice suddenly cut through the air.

Arnold looked up in shock and saw her looking at him with her arms folded across her chest. She gave him a half smile and opened the door.

"We're closed. Get out so I can go home." She said.

Arnold smiled, feeling an enormous weight lifted off his chest. "Coming, Helga."

He stood outside patiently and waited while Helga locked up the store with a set of keys. Up close Arnold could see that she was wearing pink lip gloss.

"So," He started. "How'd you know it was me?"

Helga raised half her eyebrow. "Seriously football head? Are there that many people with your oh so rare condition?"

"Right. My head is kind of a dead get away." He chuckled.

"Actually I was talking about your overwhelming sense of justice and good will." Helga rolled her eyes. "Of course I meant you're stupid football shaped head."

Arnold smiled. It both was and wasn't an insult. It had always depended on her mood.

They began walking together in silence, probably each searching for something to say. Even though Arnold had plenty of time to think of something on his way back to Hillwood, he never could just think of the right words to string together. Before he could say anything though, Helga beat him to the punch yet again.

"So how's it been, Arnoldo?" She asked. "How's life treatin' ya?"

"Pretty good I guess." He shrugged. "Been travelling with my parents and I just had my nineteenth birthday. How about you?"

"Alright I guess. Moved in with Olga while I figure out whether or not I want to go to college. Working in that stupid coffee shop since junior year of high school. All in all pretty boring."

"Cool." Arnold kept his tone neutral but he felt far from that.

Part of him felt irritated. Helga was talking to him as if only a few weeks had passed and they had been nothing more than classmates, instead of a couple. Hadn't she realized five whole years had passed? Did she even realize he had been gone? Did she even know that he…

But another part of him understood completely. Five years was a long time. Especially with the sort of couple they had been. Heck, even he was a little relieved when they decided to break things off.

"So are you planning on following me home or what, Arnoldo?" Helga asked impatiently. "Do you need some place to stay or something?"

"Can't I just talk to you for a minute?" Arnold said irritably. "I haven't seen you in years remember?"

"Yeah I know that." Helga mumbled. "But don't you have other old friends? Geraldo? Stinky? Curly? Sid?"

Arnold frowned. "Aren't you even a little happy to see me Helga? I'm glad to see you? At least I was!"

Helga's lips twitched up in a small smile and her blue eyes twinkled. "My heart hadn't stop pounding since I saw that football shaped head of yours."

Arnold stopped walking for a minute out of sheer surprise. Her constant mood swings still baffled him. She glanced at him over her shoulder, half an eyebrow raised.

"You coming or what? I ain't got all day." She snapped.

"Yeah, yeah hold your horses." He quickly caught up with her and was dismayed to find that he was still an inch or two shorter than her.

Helga chewed on her lower lip for a minute and then impatiently pulled her hair out of its knot. It fell well past her shoulders messily and he caught the faintest whiff of her vanilla shampoo.

"So," She said slowly. "How long are you staying? A week?"

"I'm not sure yet," Arnold admitted with a shrug. "I have… a lot of things to consider."

Helga nodded and he wondered what she was thinking. Was she relieved? Disappointed? Or maybe she just didn't care? It almost didn't seem possible. Helga had held so much passion for him not that long ago. Even if she was downright furious with him, wanted to cream him, it still would have made more sense than this indifference.

Arnold shoved his hands deep in his pockets. Helga started whistling again. They eventually came up to a small house. Helga climbed the steps of the porch and turned to look at him.

"Wanna soda or something? I didn't actually see you drink any coffee."

"Sure sounds good."

Helga nodded and went inside, leaving the door ajar. Arnold leaned against the stone sides of the porch and waited. His mind wandered back to Helga's earlier question of why he was with her and not visiting someone else. Of course he visited his grandparents and Gerald the first day he got back, but why exactly was he spending so much time with Helga?

"She was my first serious girlfriend." Arnold muttered to himself. "My first girlfriend period. It would be rude not to spend at least a day with her."

"I hope you still like Yahoo." Helga came back with two bottles and handed one to him. "It's all we had in the fridge."

"Thanks." He took one gratefully. "It's been a while since I had soda that wasn't mango or coconut flavored."

"That actually sounds awesome." Helga chuckled. "The mango, not the coconut. Coconut soda sounds disgusting."

Arnold laughed. "Trust me. It's worse than it sounds."

There was considerably less conversation after that. They just drank and Arnold told her a few stories about his adventures. Helga listened politely but didn't say much. Their eyes met every few moments but Helga always looked away quickly and took another sip of soda.

Again Arnold was confused and a little frustrated by her demeanor towards him. Where was the Helga that loved him so fiercely? The day he left she could barely look at him, and her eyes had been red and watery. Now he was back, why wasn't she throwing her arms around him? Or threatening to pummel him? Did she even care about him anymore!?

"How come you never wrote me back!?" He asked suddenly angry. "I wrote you over and over again for a year! For almost two years! How come you never wrote me back?"

Arnold's face felt hot and his emerald eyes searched her blue ones. Helga looked surprised and a thousand emotions seemed to flit across her face. At first he thought she would get angry or even deny it. But then she took a heavy breath and turned her head.

"I did write you. Arnold." She said quietly. "I wrote you a three page letter every day for three years."

Arnold frowned. "Oh really, Helga? I guess a monkey ate them huh?"

"I wrote, Arnold." Helga repeated softly. "I wrote the letter, put it in an envelope, I even put it in the mail box. But then I just took it out again and kept it."

Arnold's anger quickly disappeared. Helga's tone was genuine and her eyes shone with tears. His hand itched to reach out to her but he gripped the stone railing instead.

"Why? Why didn't you send them to me? I waited and waited and-"

Helga snorted out a laugh and hastily brushed a tear away. She gave him a look that was part amused and part angry.

"You broke up with me, doi!" She scoffed. "I thought you ran to San Lorenzo to get away from your psycho ex-girlfriend, not be bombarded with letter after letter saying how much I missed you and still thought about you."

Arnold's jaw dropped. "Helga," he paused to get his thoughts together. "Helga we both broke up because we thought it was best, I never thought of you as a psycho, and I went to San Lorenzo to see my parents, not get away from you. I care about you a lot Helga, even when we weren't a couple anymore. Why do you think I wrote you so often? I didn't even write my grandparents or Gerald as much as I wrote you. Why do you think I did that?"

"Because you're a goody-two shoes saint who felt it was the right thing to do." Helga said dryly. "Now if you'll excuse me Arnoldo it's late and I need to get dinner started."

She stood up and started to go inside but Arnold quickly grabbed her arm. She tensed up and threw him a glare but at least she didn't move.

"Helga," He moved slowly until he was standing close to her.

She sighed in irritation and turned to face him completely. "What?"

"I missed you." Arnold said, moving his hand down to hold her hand. "I missed you a lot."

Helga blushed and tried to look away, but Arnold turned her face towards his. She stared at him with a mixture of disbelief and apprehension. But what he said was the truth. He just didn't realize it until he saw her again in person. Even when he was watching her from afar in the coffee shop he couldn't bring himself to leave.

"I've missed you so much." Arnold brushed his mouth against hers.

Tears welled up in Helga's eyes and she threw her arms around his shoulders.

"Oh Arnold!" She cried, hugging him close. "I missed you too!"

The breath left his body due to the crushing force of her hug, but he just laughed and hugged her back. Now it felt like he was home.