Arnold sat brooding in the hospital waiting room, kicking his feet back and forth unsure of what to do. There was of course little he could do in this scenario, apart from what he'd already done in calling the ambulance that had brought Mrs. Pataki here, yet still he felt a desire to do something, if he could only figure out what. His natural instinct was to help, almost to an obsessive point beyond human reason, but for once in his life he couldn't think of a thing he could do. He knew the hospital had called her family members, and apparently got no response from Big Bob, but then had called Olga, so he figured she'd show up before long. Arnold thought of Helga, and couldn't imagine what kind of grief this situation would bring her when she found out, of course he had no idea where she even was.

He didn't have to wait long to find out. Kicking open the door, Helga burst onto the scene, her eyes ablaze with the sort of anger Arnold had never seen even from her. Following close behind her came her sister Olga and to Arnold's surprise his own mother.

"Helga! I'm sorry!" Arnold leapt out of his chair and ran to her, "I'm so sorry, I just found her all-"

"Okay, where's the lush?" she demanded, "I'm gonna kill her if she's not already stone dead-"

"Baby sister!" Olga shouted angrily, "Don't call her that!"

"Oh shut your mouth you delusional dimwit! Don't call me that!" Helga shouted, "I hate when you call me that! It's your stupid enabling that brought us to this!"

Arnold stood to the side of the two screaming sisters, unsure of what to do. His mother approached him and placed her hands on his shoulders, trying to smile reassuringly at him, but he could see the fear in her eyes too. Normally he'd be the one to step in and mediate a situation between two fighting parties, but this was unlike anything he'd ever seen. Sure, one angry Pataki girl was frightening and not easy to console, but now there were two of them. Worse, he'd never even seen Olga angry before, and the dread it filled him with rivaled that of the fear Helga's rage often inspired. Helga was accustomed to venting her anger, whereas Olga by contrast looked as if she was about to unleash a lifetime's worth of pent up aggression.

"Me?" Olga shouted back, "This is all your fault! If you hadn't stormed out like that… if we had just gone back home this never would have happened!"

"Me?" Helga hissed, "You're the one who left her alone in the first place, dummy!"

"Because of you!" Olga screeched, "Because of your little episode, you selfish, spiteful little drama queen!"

Everyone else in the waiting room stared, and the hospital staff looked as if they wanted to intervene but were similarly frozen with fear.

"Oh, you're one to talk!" Helga shot right back, "Little miss perfect! Why did you ever have to come home anyway? No one asked for you to be around! Everything is falling to pieces enough without you dropping in to just make it more annoying!"

"I had things in this family under control before you came along!" Olga shouted, "Before you made us all even more miserable than we were!"

"I HATE YOU!" Helga screeched.

"I… I…" Olga burst into tears, and she threw her arms around Helga who struggled in her sister's grip.

The two forces of nature before them had Arnold, his mom and everyone else too petrified to move. They had all basically just witnessed two human category five hurricanes coalesce into some perfect storm, but mercifully it had all dissipated before it killed everyone in its wake. Still, the emotional damage seemed to have been done.

"I hate you!" Helga repeated, sounding tired and broken down, "I hate you! I hate… you… I… hate…" Her words slowly lost their intensity as her voice became increasingly wobbly.

"Shh." Olga hushed her, "It's okay… it's okay… if you have to hate me right now it's okay… I'm sorry Helga. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it… I didn't mean it."

Helga finally pushed Olga off of her and turned back to Arnold. Stella walked over and placed her hands on Olga's shoulders, trying to calm her down, but the girl buried her head in her hands, clearly wracked with deep shame for what she had said.

"I'm sorry, Helga." Arnold said in a quiet voice.

"Psh, it's not your fault Miriam can't stay off the sauce, football head." Helga said, trying to regain her bravado, "Now where is she?"

"She's in the emergency room… Helga I'm so sorry, I can't imagine how you must be feel-"

"Oh I think you've seen a pretty clear picture of how I'm feeling." Helga frowned, "Cut the sympathy. It's Miriam we're talking about."

"Well, yeah. She's your… your mother." Arnold said, looking over at Stella, "I know I'd feel-"

"Yeah. I know you would," Helga said, "Because you have a mom worth caring about."

"Helga…" Stella said sternly.

Arnold knew by now Helga was one to lash out in anger whenever she was hurting deep inside. Against his better judgement and self-preservation, Arnold threw his arms around the girl and held her in a tight embrace.

"Hey!" she shouted, "What do you think you're-"

"Helga, I know you better than this." Arnold said, "I know this isn't really you talking. I know your mom's not perfect but… you can drop the tough act."

Helga scowled and growled like an enraged animal, but Arnold wouldn't let her go. Eventually he could feel her tense body start to soften as he held her tight.

"It's like the way you used to be mean to me because you liked me… maybe it's just easier to be mad at her?"

Helga nodded slowly. She realized that amid all the fighting and carrying on she had all but forgotten the reason they were here.

"Is she… gonna be okay?" Helga whispered.

"I don't know." Arnold sighed, "We haven't heard anything."

Suddenly Olga appeared behind them, kneeling down she wrapped her arms around Arnold and sniffled.

"Thank you, Arnold…" she said, "Thank you for taking care of her…"

Arnold smiled at her, but then felt slightly confused.

"Um, Helga, or your mom?" he asked.

"Yes." Olga replied, apparently to both in question as she pulled Helga into the same hug. The three of them were joined by Stella who stood over them and put her hands on Olga and Helga's shoulders reassuringly. They all remained perfectly still and silent, all equally unsure of what to do. All they could do now was wait.

The next hour that followed the little emotional display from the sisters Pataki passed in complete silence, as both girls sat in the waiting room chairs either glancing through magazines or staring blankly into space, but constantly avoiding eye contact with one another. Arnold and his mom too had no words of comfort to offer them, and sat nearby, only looking at one another helplessly now and then. The nurses would occasionally update them on Miriam's condition, which apparently was remaining stable though she had not yet regained consciousness. Noticing people who had witnessed her earlier altercation with Olga were now staring, Helga got up and stomped out into the hallway to be by herself.

"Stupid Miriam…" she said to herself when she thought she was alone, "Stupid Bob… stupid Olga." She could feel her eyes welling with tears, but she held them back, then she smacked herself in the face and grumbled, "Stupid, stupid Helga…"

She of course wasn't alone as she thought.
"Helga?" she heard the soft voice of Arnold's mother say.

"Go away." Helga pouted.

"I understand how angry you must be feeling." Stella ignored her and continued, "This is a lot for someone so young to-"

"Angry?" Helga cut in, "Oh I'm way beyond the point of angry. Right now I'm just considering looking into how old you have to be to get emancipation papers in this state."

Stella frowned at her with a startlingly maternal look.

"Wow…" Helga actually felt slightly afraid and started rambling, "I guess that's what you'd call a 'mom' look… I wouldn't know of course, Miriam could never be bothered to even scold me. And you think with all the crap I've pulled in my life something would've eventually gotten her attention, but nope."

"Helga," Stella said, "After what you did for our family, Miles and I like to think of you as…" She stopped herself, choosing her words more carefully, "Well, we're very fond of you, Helga. Please. Let me help you."

Helga looked at Stella blankly. She wanted to open up to her. Stella and her husband may have been slightly crazy after what they'd gone through, and yet Helga had an easier time trusting them than either of her own parents. Still, there was some nagging undeserved feeling of loyalty she felt towards her own family for reasons she couldn't explain even in her own mind. Still, aside from loyalty out of obligation all she felt for them in the moment was unbridled rage.

"Wanna help me?" she asked, "You can start by getting Olga to join the Helpers for Humanity so she'll leave for San Lorenzo and never have to darken my days again."

Stella sighed and shook her head disapprovingly. Helga had only been half kidding, but didn't expect any other kind of response.

"You know, I haven't spoken to my own sister in over ten years." Stella said.

"You were asleep in a lost civilization in the middle of nowhere for ten years…" Helga retorted.

"Yes, but…" Stella paused, "I guess that is basically the entire the reason we became estranged, so to speak, but still… we were very different when we were girls. She liked to put on makeup, dress up, and I just wanted to play in the mud, throw rocks at things, and hit boys… and we didn't exactly play together much, but when you get older Helga, you might realize that our siblings are all we have in this world."

"I'd say you'd got a bit more than that…" Helga scoffed. A strange thought suddenly occurred to her, and she asked, "Your sister… didn't happen to have a weirdo kid named Arnie did she?"

Stella looked at her strangely, "She… she did. I still haven't met him but… yes, we both named our boys after our father. We didn't really have a chance to coordinate that…"

"Yeah, I wouldn't bother. If you've met a parking meter you've pretty much met Arnie," Helga said, "Anyway, you were saying something about sibling bonds? Yeah… Olga and I uh… well we hashed it out earlier pretty good, but… I think we're gonna need a little more time apart after this. Anyway, thanks for the advice, I see why Arnold is so full of crap beyond his years now."

Helga turned and started to walk away but Stella called after her.

"Just so you know, Helga," Stella approached her from behind and placed her hands on her shoulders, "I would never try to come between you and your family, but if you ever feel unsafe in that house…"

Helga looked at Stella with pleading eyes. She wanted nothing more than to take her up on the implied offer, but did feel some reservation about leaving Miriam after what had happened this evening. As she had blatantly told Miriam in the past however, she was the parent, she was supposed to take care of her, not the other way around.

"Excuse me, Miss Pataki?" Came the voice of one of the hospital staff. Both Helga and Stella turned to face him, "Your mother is awake."

Helga turned to Stella who smiled at her and gestured for her to go with the doctor.

"Go on, honey." she said, "Arnold and I will be waiting down here."

Helga smiled, "Rain check on that." And she followed the doctor to the elevator.

When Helga reached Miriam's recovery room, she found Olga already there kneeling at the bed and holding her mother's hand. Miriam was lying down hooked up to an IV and a cardiac monitor beeping rhythmically.

"I'm so sorry I left, Mommy dearest…" Olga sobbed."

Mom?" Helga asked, "Mom are you… okay?"

"Oh, hi Helga… yeah sure, just fine… just a throbbing headache… nothing I'm not used to…" Miriam sighed, "Be sure to thank Arnold, and tell him I'm sorry he had to deal with all that…"

"It's just what he does," Helga said.

"No really, if he hadn't come along… I might've… well…" Miriam trailed off, the looked at her girls. "Olga, Helga… I'm so sorry to put you through this…"

"Uh huh. Heard that before." Helga frowned. "Not to this degree, but still. Heard it."

Miriam looked at her youngest daughter and said, "And I'm sorry for that too."

"Uh huh. That's a step further." Helga shook her head, "But sorries aren't going to solve anything, Miriam."

"I think what Helga meant to say is that all is forgiven, and the important thing is that you're okay," Olga smiled, slowly slipping back into her windup doll state, "Right, Helga?"

"No, Olga," Helga said sternly, "We can't just keep pretending this is all okay anymore! That's what got us here… I just don't get it, mom. Why you do it?"

Miriam considered her next words carefully, unsure how much to unload on a young girl, unaware that Helga had heard an earful from Olga already.

"Well Helga… let's just say that I've been just a little… down recently." Miriam said.

Helga groaned in frustration, "What do you really have to be this depressed about? Sure, I know you had to sacrifice your dreams to have a family, and have been living vicariously through Olga for twenty some years," Olga waved at her mom and gave another forced smile as Helga continued, "You still have everything you need… even if it's rapidly shrinking… but what about me? You and Bob never give me any-"

Suddenly Helga's phone began ringing, as she reached for it she groaned and then looked at the caller ID, and groaned even harder.

"Speak of the devil." Helga sighed, It's the Beeper King."

"Calling to check up on you, Mommy." Olga said sweetly as she clasped her hands together, "How very thoughtful of him."

"Yeah, hello?" Helga answered.

"Olga?" Bob's voice thundered through the phone so all present could hear, "Your mother's not answering her phone and no one's at the store. Where is she?"

"Right here, Bob…" Helga muttered, as she handed Miriam the phone, "And it's Helga!" she shouted.

Miriam took Helga's phone and spoke, "Oh hey B… how was the trip?"

"What do you mean how was the trip?" Bob shouted, "What gives Miriam? I get home from my business trip and I find the place empty! No sign of you or the girl, and worst of all just a half prepared dinner! How am I supposed to rebuild a beeper empire on an empty stomach?"

"Well actually B I'm in the-" Miriam tried to explain.

"And what the heck happened to the beeper display?" Bob demanded, "This place looks like it was ransacked! Don't you ever clean up around here anymore? We're running a home business for criminey sake!"

Miriam stuttered, "I-I uh… well I, there was a little accident, and then I had to go to the emer-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah whatever, no need to apologize, just get back here with the girls pronto! I'm starving!" Bob declared before abruptly ending the call before leaving his wife and daughters in a stunned daze.

A hush fell over the room. Olga avoided eye contact with both of them as she rubbed her arm uncomfortably. Helga locked eyes with Miriam. She'd heard it from Olga, and she'd even seen it before; her dad riding all over her mom without a single care for her feelings, but to see Miriam now so broken and run down, and for Bob to not even show an ounce of concern was devastating to say the least.

"Some things in life you just need to drown out…" Miriam said softly at last.

Helga and Olga lowered their heads in sadness.

"But that's not an excuse." Miriam said, with some newfound vigor in her voice, "Helga… I want to do better… for you. For both my girls."

"Mom…" Helga sighed.

"Oh Mommy…" Olga smiled, and wrapped her arms around her mother, "Yes, we've got tomorrow, who needs yesterday? Every day we have a whole new chance to do things right from now on. Mommy? Will you be staying here tonight?"

"Under normal circumstances yeah," Miriam said, "But I don't think B is gonna be able to cover the bill. Soon as they discharge me let's all go home, the three of us."

"Are you kidding?" Helga shouted, "You were nearly singing with the choir invisible less than an hour ago!"

"Now Helga," Olga said, "Don't you worry, Mommy has the two of us to take care of her. She's going to be just fine. We'll all just go home, I'll smooth things over with Daddy and everything will be back to normal."

Miriam and Olga looked at Helga and smiled, as Olga opened her arms inviting her to join in their family moment. Helga pondered for a moment. Back to normal? Was that really the best they were offering? Helga had long struggled to do the right things in life, but most of the time she had a clear idea of what that was even if she didn't want to do it. This time she had no idea what to do. Helping her mother seemed like the most obvious right thing to do, but where did she draw the line? Thinking back over everything that had happened in the last three days; getting into her mother's smoothie, all the fighting, and now this, it became apparent to her what she had to do. It would be a painful choice, and possibly not even the right one, but it was the only way to make her position heard loud and clear. Helga took a deep breath, looking at her mother with apologetic but decisive eyes.

"I… I want to believe you but…" Helga choked back on tears, "I think I need to be away from the house for a little while."

Both Olga and Miriam were shocked. They looked at Helga with wide eyes and neither of them could speak. Miriam looked at her daughter pleadingly for a moment, but quickly realized she had no case. Olga similarly lowered her head, and seemed to resign herself to reality.

"You scared me mom…" Helga said, "I don't think I've ever felt so scared… but I need to be away from all this. I can stay with Arnold's family. They offered. Y'know, if I wasn't feeling… safe at home."

That word seemed to drive a stake through Miriam and Olga's hearts, but neither of them could find any words to counter with. Helga sadly lowered her head with her eyes closed, and then turned and slowly departed the recovery room. She decided the best she could do to make things at home better was to stay out of it, thus not causing any further damage and making it clear that she wasn't going to put up with the status quo anymore.

After exiting the elevator back on the main floor, Helga slowly walked towards Arnold and Stella who were still standing by the door expectantly. Helga said nothing, but they could tell loud and clear by her expression that she had made the decision to go with them. As she neared them suddenly she heard Olga's voice from behind.

"Helga!" she cried out, "Wait…"

"You're not talking me out of this," Helga said, "My mind is made up."

"You're my sister, Helga. I love you." Olga said tentatively.

Helga fixed her sister with a blank stare. Their relationship had reached some serious highs and lows just in the past few hours, and now she wasn't sure where they stood.

"I know you do," Helga said, in the most adult tone any of the others had ever heard from her, "But this isn't about you. I can't do this anymore."

"I know. And I think you're making the right choice." Olga said.

"No, no, I don't care what you say, you're not gonna- wait, what?" Helga halted, "You… support this?"

"Yes." Olga nodded, "I want you to be where you feel safe, Helga. I'm sure somewhere in your heart you must also want to help Mommy as much as I do but… you're still just a kid. You shouldn't have to shoulder this kind of responsibility." Looking past Helga she called out to Stella, "Thank you, Mrs. Shortman. I know she'll be in good hands."

Helga nodded silently, then turned and walked towards Arnold and his mother who both looked unsure of what to say, but Olga once again interjected.

"I was a little girl, just like you, Helga" she said painfully, "I was afraid too. All I wanted to do was make it through each day… I did what I thought I had to, and I never thought about what they were doing to you… what I was doing to you."

Helga said nothing, but knew Olga was right. The two of them had just been trying to survive in a less than ideal home life, and while Helga still resented her, she knew that Olga too was a victim of their upbringing, and she was wrong to place all the blame on her. She of course couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Whatever." Helga said at last, "Your baby sister will be just fine."

"You're not my baby sister." Olga shook her head, "You're… my Helga."

Helga turned back to Olga, suddenly feeling the impulse to run to her and hug her, but found she just couldn't.

"Olga? I… I… " she breathed deeply as a single tear trickled down her cheek, "See you later…"

And without another word Helga turned and walked away. Stella placed her arm around the girl, and gave Olga a reassuring look as she walked off with her son and Helga.

Olga stood in silence, watching in sad resignation as her young sister exited the building with another family, and one who had been more of a family to her in the few short months she had know them than she or her parents had been in a lifetime. As the sliding doors closed separating her from her sister, she watched them disappear from sight. The burden of having to keep the family together once again fell heavily onto her shoulders, but she did feel some small sense of comfort knowing that her little sister wouldn't have to share that same burden. She realized ironically that may have been the best thing she had ever done for her sister.

The End

The end… but also to be continued. Hope that ending wasn't too bleak… still opens things up for a few Helga living at the boarding house episodes to follow before things work out again. I hadn't planned on this story being as heavy as it turned out, but I guess that's just what happens when you write about broken families, child abuse and alcoholism. I even originally intended for it to end with Helga going home and helping Miriam and Olga but... I saw another opportunity and decided to go the harder route. Now the ball is in Olga and Miriam's court, we'll see how they try to win Helga's trust. Who knows... maybe it'll have to be Big Bob. For those of you who noted he seemed a little out of character in Second Biennial Parents Day, I think I made up for it by portraying him at his absolute worst here.

Up next however, as briefly hinted at it's going to be a little visit to the country for the Shortmans plus Helga... uh oh...