I've stumbled upon some of these old Hey Arnold! episodes and an idea just came to my head. I'd forgotten just how good of a show this was in general, and the story around the Pataki family in particular. I know I have other stuff on here, and some of which I haven't updated in a while but still intend to finish, but when your creative juices get flowing it's hard to resist, even when working on more serious projects.

Anyway, tell me what you all think.

This story takes place a year later, so all the kids are in 5th grade now.

"That's it Phoebe, take five minutes and get your head back in your script!" Helga yelled, annoyed that her best friend, for all her smarts, simply malfunctioned at times when she came under pressure.

"Taking!" Phoebe nervously squeaked out to disarm her sometimes intimidating friend.

Helga growled. "From the top people! From the top!"

"I don't know Arnold, why exactly are we doing this for Helga Pataki again?" Gerald Johanssen asked his best friend.

"C'mon Gerald...it's not that bad." Arnold answered with his distinctive tone of voice, always trying to do the right thing. "This play means so much to Helga, and at least we aren't fruits this time." He grinned, remembering last year's play.

"Arnold, remember, this is the girl that teases and torments you on a daily basis." Gerald answered skeptically.

"She's not that bad." Arnold answered. "It can be annoying but I don't think she means anything by it."

Gerald sighed, remembering that it was useless to argue with Arnold over these kinds of things. "Whatever you say, man."

Helga was the playwright and director of another theater production at P.S. 118. In honor of the upcoming Presidents' Day, this time her play was one about the various Presidents.

Helga paced back and forth on the stage. Everything needed to be perfect. She was quite pleased with the costumes that Sheena managed to make, and her teachers and even Principal Wartz had been very encouraging. Helga watched over her actors like a hawk, nodding in approval at the exchange between Rhonda, who played the part of Harry Truman, and Nadine, who for this occasion was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

"Now that, people, is how you act!" Helga lectured. Rhonda characteristically soaked up the praise and posed in its limelight.

"C'mon Helga it's been over two hours already!" Harold Berman characteristically complained.

Helga growled and seized him by the collar, threatening with her fist.

"All you need to do is be a buffoon! I don't think this part should be so difficult for you!" She growled again, referring to Harold's role as President James Buchanan.

"Helga...I do think it might be time for us to leave. We do need to eat dinner to feel refreshed for tomorrow, after all." Phoebe said, characteristically delicate.

Helga released Harold.

"Fine. All of you go home. I want to see you all tomorrow after school at the same time to practice and for you to get your costumes." She ordered.

With mutterings and musings, the 5th graders of P.S. 118 began to disperse.

"I'm telling you Phoebe, our vacation is gonna be a blast." She said rather nonchalantly.

"Yes, it should be exciting." Phoebe agreed. "But the play's the thing right now. The vacation will be your just reward for a play well-done." Phoebe stated with a small smile.

Helga smiled back at the shorter girl as the two arrived at Helga's building.

"So Helga, do you think I can eat dinner here with you?" Phoebe asked.

Helga was about to reply in the affirmative when a loud, piercing voice filled the air around them which seemed like it could shatter glass.

"OH FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD MIRIAM! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS BURN WHATEVER IT IS YOU COOK!"

Helga looked at Phoebe with an expression that was ho-hum and did not betray any surprise or even discomfort.

"Better make it another time, Pheobs."

"Making!" Phoebe smiled before exchanging her goodbyes and tip-toeing quietly away, as if not to draw the voice's attention towards her.

Helga stepped inside, putting her backpack in the closet and her coat on a rack.

"Bob, Miriam, I'm home!" She said in a mock niceness, not expecting a response from either.

Helga stepped toward the kitchen to eat whatever it was that Miriam made, and then get to her room as quickly as possible.

"So, uh...Helga..." Miriam slurred, taking another sip of her usual smoothie. "How's that...play...that you're working on...?"

"Just peachy Miriam." She gritted, unnoticed by her mother.

"So, uh, Olga, when's the thing again?" Big Bob Pataki asked without looking up from his food.

"Next week." Helga again gritted. She did not even care that her father again used the wrong name.

"Oh good I thought it was gonna be tomorrow!" Big Bob sighed in relief. "I've got a clearance sale, then we get a whole new shipment of the latest and greatest beepers!"

Helga grumbled in mockery.

"You say somethin' little lady?" Her father asked.

"No." Helga said innocently.

Helga had just finished brushing her teeth and was preparing to go to bed. She closed her door and leaned against the wall, looking both ways and listening to make sure that all was quiet. Satisfied that the conditions were right, Helga hurried into her closet and shut the door behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it- a statue with a football shaped head. Her idol to Arnold.

"Oh Arnold!" She bowed before it, kissing the floor at the statue's feet. "As the play draws closer and closer, please give me the strength I need!"

Suddenly a loud voice interrupted her, but uncharacteristically in her house, it was one of joy.

"OH OLGA THAT'S TERRIFIC! I'M SO EXCITED!"

Helga felt like she had just been punched in the stomach, her eyes wide as saucers. She put her ear to her wall. Any mention of her sister's name set off a siren in her soul.

"You managed to complete your degree a semester early?! Oh I'm so proud of you honey!" Miriam's muffled voice made its way through the walls to Helga's ears. "Oh you're kidding! You're coming back home?!" She could barely contain her excitement.

Helga felt like she was dropped off a cliff.

"Oh of course we'll get you a ticket for your sister's play, dear!" Miriam continued to gush. "I'm sure it'll mean so much to her that you're there for it!"

Now Helga felt like she was bitten by a shark after being dropped off the cliff.

"Sure thing honey, we'll come pick you up at the airport the day after tomorrow." Miriam planned. "OK I'll see you then, bye." She hung up the phone.

"B, I'VE GOT SOME GREAT NEWS!" Miriam gushed as she rushed down the hallway.

Helga only looked at the statue of Arnold with a scowl on her face, which softened as its image entered her mind.

"Arnold, fate has decreed that I must now, and so unexpectedly, face the nightmare that I dreaded the most. Why, oh why, did the worst news in the world need to reach my ears, and when I was with you? Now, my dear, sweet, love, I must call upon your strength and bring it into my heart! Give it to me so that I may face the onslaught of Olga with bravery and success!" She began to kiss the idol's lips when Miriam knocked on her room's door.

"Helga! Helga!"

Helga moved out of the closet and gave a meek "Yes mother?"

"Did you remember to take...your constipation medicine?"

"Yes, Miriam." She answered daintily.

"Alright...dear, I've got some good news to tell you tomorrow."

Miriam walked away and Helga slumped onto her bed, burying her face in her pillow, and then banging into it over and over again. Finally, she managed to fall asleep.