Arnold couldn't feel his toes. He had his arms crossed tightly in front of him, bracing himself against the cold, no concern for the crumpled paperwork in his hands. He stared at the ground, eyes fixed and unblinking. Time passed and the street lights came on; he hadn't noticed. He looked up only when he heard the jingle of keys, the sound of a lock sliding into place. The diner went dark and Maria walked towards him, unaware of his presence while digging through her purse for her keys. She did this every single time. Now it made sense why Helga didn't carry a bag, Maria never knew he was there. When she finally found her keys, she looked up to see him leaning on her car and jumped a mile.

"You're never going to stop that, are you?" She said, clutching her keys to her heart. She smiled sheepishly at him, a look of warmth in her eyes. She wanted a reunion, a romantic moment in the late spring snow, unusual for this time of year. She studied him and, upon seeing the ice in his eyes, her face fell. "What's wrong?"

Arnold said nothing but threw the papers at her. They hit her feet, spilling out of the file. She looked up at him, shocked at his coldness. He glared at her. "read it."

The words hissed out of him, quiet and full of hatred. She kneeled in the wet snow, collecting the papers before they were ruined. She rifled through them, scanning for any clue of what was going on. Suddenly she stopped, her eyes fixed on one page, the color drained from her face. She looked up at Arnold, tears in her eyes. "I can explain."

"Can you?" Arnold asked, pushing off the car and heading for the diner. "Good, because I'm dying to hear what you have to say."

She followed him and silently unlocked the restaurant, flipping the counter lights, leaving the rest of the diner in the dark. Arnold stood, waiting for her to talk. She started unbuttoning her coat and looked at him, expecting him to sit down or something, but he had no intention of getting comfortable. She wrapped her arms around herself, shifting her bag farther up her arm.

"She stayed late, that night of her going away party," Maria explained. "She wanted to say goodbye to everyone, and she did. Except for you."

Maria watched as the last cop left the diner. It was a mess; food and dishes everywhere, wrapping paper on tables from going away presents along with more tips than she had ever seen in her entire life. She would split them with the girls tomorrow, at least she would give them what they deserved. She was cleaning up after all, she stayed late every night and closed up, so she deserved a bigger cut, right?

As she collected the money, pushing dishes into her bin, she heard a sniff. Snapping her eyes up, she saw Helga sitting at the counter with her head in one hand, pushing some fries around on a plate, not eating them. She was crying.

"Care to talk?" Maria asked, coming around the counter and setting her bin down. Helga smiled sadly and sighed, shaking her head. "It's a doozy isn't it?"

"You could say that," Helga said quietly. Maria continued cleaning, sticking close by just in case. She always liked Helga; she was impressed with the way she embraced life, going for what she wanted, pushing ahead with a force that Maria could never muster. She slowed down when she noticed Helga push the plate away from herself. "I…I don't know if I'm doing the right thing."

Maria headed over again, cleaning the counter slowly, listening. "I want to change the world. I want to make things better. I had…a rough childhood…I don't know why I'm telling you this."

"Turns out I'm a pretty good listener," Maria replied with a soft smile. "Or so I've been told. If it helps, I've had a rough go of it as well, so I get it. That feeling that you don't want anyone to go though what you had to go through."

"Yeah," Helga said, nodding. "I don't know… I mean, I should have been happy. I had parents, they had good jobs, I didn't want for anything. But they didn't care about me… I didn't want any other kids to feel like they were alone. I only had one person…"

Maria stayed quiet, wondering if she could have had a better life if she had Helga's ambition. Helga pressed on, words tumbling out like a pipe had burst in her. "I just wanted to fix the world, is that such a crime? I needed to get away, I needed…I don't know what I need…"

"Change is hard," Maria said, sliding a cup of coffee in front of her. Helga smiled and held onto the cup like a lifeline. "But it can be good."

"I don't need the back story," Arnold said quietly.

"I just want you to understand how we got here, how it came to this," Maria said, gently setting the papers on the counter, smoothing them out as best as she could. "We became…sort of friends, I guess."

"When did you know?" Arnold asked her. "Did you tell her? If you were such good buddies, did you tell her what you knew?"

"This is going to sound crazy, but I'm going to South America," Helga said, sliding her palms along the edge of the counter, a nervous excitement playing across her face.

"Um…what?" Maria said with a laugh. She felt a knot forming in her stomach; this was sounding a little too familiar.

"Yeah, I'm working on water quality," Helga beamed. "It's…it's kind of a personal decision, really. It's two-fold."

"What does that mean?" Maria asked, turning her back as she grabbed plates from the order window. She was getting nervous.

"Yeah well…" Helga said, tucking one leg up under her on the small stool, elbows on the counter, leaning forward. "Can I talk to you in private about something?"

Maria nodded, not saying a word. She brought the food to her tables and announced she was taking her 15. She lead Helga to the back of the diner and out to the back. They sat on discarded diner chairs next to the dumpsters, and she let the news wash over her like a tidal wave.

"It's Arnold," Helga said, excitement bubbling in her words. "His parents, they worked with this doctor, Edwardo, and together they did anthropological research on a specific group of people in South America. They were a previously undiscovered civilization and they gained their trust and started documenting their way of life when all of a sudden the people started dying. Edwardo was an environmental chemist, so he began studying the water around them while his parents continued to help the people out. They were able to help some, but it turns out the issue was way bigger than them."

She paused for a moment to let the information sink in. Maria kept quiet, looking down at her folded hands. Helga looked at her, confused. "…a-anyway…after…after Arnold's parents died…did you know that?"

"Hm?" Maria said, looking up.

"His parents," Helga said, looking at her gravely. "They…they died in a plane crash heading back to help the Green-Eyed people. They thought the people were recovering, but they took a turn for the worse and they went back to help set up a health clinic and bring better medical services to them. It turns out they were dying of tumors, cancer."

Maria sat with tears in her eyes and nodded. "Yeah…yeah I knew that."

"You did?" Helga asked, looking shocked. "Did he…did he tell you?"

Maria snapped her eyes up to Helga to find her looking sheepishly at her feet. Maria brought a hand to her mouth, whispering under her breath. "Oh my God."

"That's when I found out she loved you," Maria said to Arnold, tears rolling down her cheeks. "And that's when I lied to her."

"Yes," Maria said, her heart bursting. "He…he told me that. We talk a lot, he and I."

"Oh," Helga laughed a little. "That…that makes sense, I guess…"

"Yeah, I heard all about his parents' research, and the crash, and the cancer…" Maria could hear her voice wavering. It wasn't a lie, exactly, she did know about these things. She just didn't hear them from him. Maria stood up suddenly, startling Helga, and headed for the door. "My 15 is almost up, I should be heading back in I suppose-"

"It's their research," Helga called, and Maria stopped in her tracks. Her head dropped, defeated. This was exactly what she didn't want to hear. "I'm using their research, following up with Edwardo's lab…I want to finish what they started. I want to save the people they cared about so much. He was born down there, with them, in their temple. They are as much a part of them as his parents were. They deserve to survive. They deserve clean water, everyone does. There are companies polluting the Rio Paraguay and those chemicals are causing the tumors. I'm doing it for the good of humanity…but I'm also doing it for him…"

"Helga-" Maria started, but Helga held up a hand.

"Please," She said. Both of them were crying now, realizing what was happening between them. The friendship they had been building since she quit the force was crumbling beneath their feet. "Please…anyone but him."

"It's not that simple," Maria sighed, putting her hand on her temple. "He's…he's special. He's always been special."

"You think I don't know that?" Helga laughed, trying to keep things light. It wasn't working. "I grew up with him, I've been with him since we were three. It's always been him. Always. So please, pick anyone but him, I-"

"I can't make that promise," Maria cut across Helga's words harshly, turning her back and heading inside the diner, leaving Helga standing outside alone. She liked Helga, she really did, but she liked Arnold more. She had liked Arnold for a very, very long time. If she wanted Arnold, she had to fight for him, and Helga wouldn't stop her.

"Why didn't you tell her?" Arnold asked. Maria shook her head, crying freely now. "Tell me."

"Because I was selfish," Maria sobbed, covering her eyes, ducking her head. "I'm ashamed, but I figured she didn't need to know. It wouldn't have mattered anyway; she was leaving and I had my chance."

Arnold could feel his compassion draining out of him. The more she talked, the less he cared about her. She was becoming nothing. "Before I leave, I just want to hear you say it."

"No," Maria pleaded, grabbing for his hand. He snapped it away. "Please, it can't be like this, please."

Arnold stood in silence. Defeated, she confessed. "I let her believe we had something between us, because I love you, and I have for a very, very long time."

Arnold grabbed the papers off the counter, holding them up to her. "So why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted you to love me back, and I thought if you knew my father was the one who called your parents away for one last mission, you would hate me. I can't help what he did, I can't help that Dr. Edwardo Ramirez is my father." She cried. She dropped her arms, the years of pain and truth bleeding from her broken heart.

"When my dad talked about your parents, he talked about how amazing they were. He told me all about you. I heard stories about you my entire life, and I fell in love with them." Arnold looked away, but she continued. "I finally got to meet you, and you had no idea who I was. I thought when I met you it would be different, that you wouldn't live up to the man I had created in my head. I had been in love with a phantom, an imaginary friend, and then you were there and you were real and you were so much better than anything I had imagined. I love you, Arnold, I just wanted to give myself a fighting chance with you."

"Stop," Arnold said, holding up a hand. "You don't even know me."

"I do," Maria protested. "I do know you; I know everything about you. I've known you your whole life."

"This is just like Brainy," Arnold laughed.

"What?" Maria asked, confused.

"You think you know me? You think that you love me, but you don't," Arnold said, his voice calm and cold. Maria's face crumbled, pain etching across her face. "You and I, we barely got to know one another. You lied to me. You let me spill my guts and confess about my parents and you sat there and acted like you didn't know a God damn thing!"

Arnold slammed the papers on the counter, causing Maria to jump. He pointed at her. "You could have stopped this. You knew all along what was happening. You knew the research, you knew she was leaving, you knew what was at stake, and you let it happen. And for what? What did it get you? A few moments alone with me? I went through hell! Everything I felt when my parents died came rushing back! You let this break me! Why? You even knew I loved her, so why did you keep this up? WHY?"

"I…I thought," Maria stumbled over her words. "I thought I could make you love me back."

"Did you think I wouldn't figure it out?" Arnold yelled. "What were you thinking? That eventually we would be together and I wouldn't learn about your family? That we would be blissfully together forever?"

Maria let his words wash over her and Arnold watched the dream die in her eyes. "I don't know what I was thinking…I don't know…"

"Fuck you," Arnold said quietly. He snapped the papers off the counter and headed for the door without saying another word. He left her in the dark diner, alone.

Driving in the dark, Arnold stared ahead, focused, hands tight on the wheel. He had work to do.