Hey guys! It's October 7th! Arnold's birthday! So I wanted to post a little drabble... my town has lots of pumpkin patches going on and it finally feels like fall, thus my inspiration for this drabble!

Happy Birthday Arnold

The crispness of the autumn morning creeped into the small pavilion tent, sending it rustling gently as it sheltered the employees underneath. On the grass just outside the kids tumbled in glee, tripping over shoelaces and pumpkins alike as mothers trailed along behind them holding armloads of small pumpkins – both literal, and some with a built in set of lungs for screeching.

The whole idea of pumpkin patches made Helga gag, but somehow or other she'd found herself trailing behind Olga and her now four year old niece, Audrey, who felt like she had to touch every single dirty pumpkin that she came across. Which meant they were moving at a pace even slower than a snail's…. But Olga laughed and patiently followed the bobbing blonde head along, and Helga begrudgingly accepted the fact she would have loved this as a little girl – if Miriam had ever taken her anywhere – so she did her best to bite down all her mean comments. Which meant she had a giant cup of coffee that she nursed every time she felt something sarcastic bubble up.

She'd only just gotten back to Hillwood the night before, and she was still a little groggy from the reunion and lack of sleep. It had been a long flight from her new hometown a nice cushy distance of 3 states over. Just enough buffer that it felt like she was enough distance away to be free, but still not so far she couldn't drop back over if she felt she needed too with a quick flight. She still had a year or so until she completed her masters, and she wasn't positive if she wanted to completely uproot and replant or just what she wanted.

But that in no way had ever deterred who she wanted, and as she caught sight of him across the sea of pumpkins with his cheeks rosy from both laughter and the chill she felt the familiar warmth spread through her chest. He always looked different, but he never actually changed. Sure, he was much more filled out with muscle and his face had a bit more sadness he'd collected in their years since High School, but his eyes still sparkled with kindness and just overall goodness like some damned Disney prince. She knew he'd gone to San Lorenzo after a graduation, a gift his grandparents surprised him with during the rooftop graduation party…. She hadn't seen him in so long. She watched as he ran his hand through his shaggy blond hair, laughing as the woman beside him seemed to be scolding a small boy hiding sheepishly behind Arnold's pant leg. The good warmth of love in Helga's chest something erupted into the warmth of rage.

"Auntie Helga, why are you staring at that man?" Audrey's shrill voice pierced Helga's thoughts. Helga quickly tore her eyes away from Arnold and back to the small girl peering up at her with wide, curious blue eyes. "Is he your fw'iend?"

"Sort of. He's an oaf," Helga said with a roll of her eyes, pulling her jacket tighter around her and resting her lips on the lid of the cup more for comfort than coffee. There was no way that was kid was his unless he'd secretly knocked someone up, well, senior year.

"Oh, okay!" Audrey accepted the response without any more explanation and continued to poke at the pumpkins in front of her. "This one isn't 'wound enough!"

Olga let herself fall back beside Helga, a knowing look in her eye. "Why don't you go say hi, Baby sister? It's always nice to talk to old friends. Audrey and I have this side of the patch about done, but there's still the other." Olga pointed to the small cluster of still un-poked pumpkins.

"What if I don't want to talk to him?" Helga retorted, shooting Olga a dark look. Like she needed to talk to her beloved, with his rosy cheeks and beautiful smile. Not while he had a woman and a kid that- oh. The woman was kissing some other guy now, and Arnold was picking his way across the pumpkins with no child in sight. "Be right back," she muttered, shrugging past her sister and trying to align herself so their meeting would look more casual as opposed to I just jumped across a diagonal line of pumpkins for you.

She slowed her pace as she got close, trying to appear as if she was immensely fascinated in the pumpkins. Hmmm, yes, exquisite orange orbs. Fascinating.

"Helga?" She heard him say her name, his voice tinged with surprise.

She lifted her head, purposefully looking around as if she had no idea where the phantom voice saying her name had come from.

"Helga! Over here!" she heard him again, and this time allowed herself to look in his direction. "Hey! I haven't seen you since, well, graduation!" He grinned, coming to stop in front of her. "How are you?"

"Arnold, hi! Yeah, it's been a while. I don't stop by much. Just here with my sister and Audrey," she pointed back behind her. "What brings you out this morning? You don't have kids to pick for." Okay, so she still wanted to make sure.

"I'm picking up a pumpkin or two for the house, as requested by grandma. You look… you look great! Like a real writer!" He held out his arms, taking in her knee length double breasted jacket along with her jeans and laced boots. She grinned, happy to model a body she was finally proud of.

"Well of course I do, bucko. I am a published writer after all!"

"I saw! When I got back, I ran into your dad at the supermarket. He was proud."

Helga felt her cheeks flush, and she tightened her grip on her cup. "It was just some reviews and magazine articles so far. But hey, how was San Lorenzo? I didn't know you were back." He'd come back on October 1st. Phoebe had texted her. Why else would she had even shown up in Hillwood for her break when she could have been in her apartment close to her work?

"A week now. It was obviously a much longer trip than any of us anticipated, but I actually got to go to a good college in the area and I learned so much about the culture and my parents!"

"So you found them?"

His face fell slightly, and he shrugged. "Well, yes and no. I've found people that knew them. I've heard stories. But I was told they moved on from the area a long time ago, and no one had heard from them either. But hey, it's okay. I have my degree in anthropology now. Turns out I've got a knack for people."

His laugh was contagious, and Helga soon found herself laughing alongside him.

"Aunty Helga!" Helga reigned in her laughter as Audrey bounded over, tugging at the bottom of Helga's jacket.

"What's up Audrey?"

"I've picked my pumpkin! Mommy says we can go get ice cream now since I was such a good pumpkin finder!" Audrey's eye flickered over to Arnold, then back to Helga, then back to Arnold. "Hi, I'm Audrey!"

"I'm Arnold. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"You're the man we saw earlier! My Auntie says you're a loaf!"

Arnold raised his eyebrows, glancing back at Helga as if asking for an explanation. "I'm a loaf?"

"I said oaf," Helga muttered, covering her face with her hand. Her cover blown by a four year old.

"I'm sorry?"

"Oaf! I said oaf!" Helga moaned, still covering her face. "We saw you earlier when we were walking."

Arnold laughed, rocking back on his heels. "And you couldn't even be bothered to say anything. I feel insulted. Listened Audrey," he continued, crouching down as if to whisper to her. "Your Aunt and I went to school together – we've known each other since we were about your age. So I guess if anyone knows whether I'm a…loaf, or whatever, she would."

"I'm four!" Audrey held out her fingers for counting inspection. "How old are you?"

"I'm 23 today!" Arnold responded, laughing as the young girl's mouth fell open.

"You're old. Is today your birthday?"

"It is," Arnold responded, standing back up and dusting his knees. "And I'm supposed to bring some pumpkins home for my birthday."

"Audrey!" Olga called, waving from beside their car parked along the sidewalk. "I've got our pumpkins loaded! Come on sweetie! Helga, are you coming with us or is Arnold giving you a ride home?" Olga gave a conspicuous wink.

Helga winced, surprised she could feel any more embarrassed than she already was.

"I'll give her a ride!" Arnold called back, giving them a wave as Olga loaded Audrey into the car before getting in a moment later to speed off before Helga could change her mind.

"Nice people," Helga muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"They're your family," Arnold replied. "You wanna help me grab some pumpkins?"

"You don't have to give me a ride, I can easily take the bus."

"We can catch up, it's no big deal. I'm actually meeting up with a few of the guys later tonight for drinks, so I've got some time if you're free."

"Let's go grab some pumpkins then, Arnoldo."

The streetlights flickered hazily, casting a cozy glow over the leaves as she walked the familiar paths of the park. She and Arnold had spent about thirty minutes just catching up, and she'd loved every second of it. But all good things must come to an end, and they parted ways with an exchange of phone numbers and a promise to get together again before another 5 years had passed. They both agreed it was much too long. Then there had been waves and quick hug goodbye, and Helga had been dropped home with a smile a renewed interest in Hillwood. She'd wanted so badly to just shoot him a text all day, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't want to scare him off by appearing super clingy. Plus, he had said he had plans for the night and she didn't want to interrupt. So at about 9 she'd ambled into a local coffee shop and decided to actually get a pumpkin spice latte, since she had renewed her interests in pumpkins. The barista was nice enough to make her one to go before closing, so now Helga and her warm and sweet smelling cup were wondering around aimlessly at close to 11…. Which was a strange reminder of her High School nights, now that she thought about it.

She jolted when she felt her phone buzz, and she fished it from her pocket.

Arnold: Hey! You busy?

Helga felt her stomach flop. Just going for a walk.

Would it be okay if I joined you?

Sure. At the park.

Be there soon.

She tried to calm down, but it seemed no time had passed before she saw a familiar figure jogging across the park. "Whoa there, what's the rush?" She asked, eyes wide as the man skidded to a stop in front of her. His breathing was a bit ragged and his hair more disheveled than usual.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a crush on me in High School?" he blurted through gasps for air as he braced his hands on his knees.

Helga felt all the previous happiness drain away into anxiety. "Excuse me?" she retorted, trying to sound resolute.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He looked up at her, his cheeks flushed. "If you're wondering, Gerald told me."

Helga sucked in air through her nose, narrowing her eyes. She would stab that piece of shit, Phoebe would just have to move on. "It was High School," she responded, trying to keep her voice cool. "You were on the football team. I was a nobody. You always had some girl trailing you. It didn't mean anything."

"Okay, maybe to you, but this is actually kind of a big deal to me, believe it or not." He straightened his posture, bringing him about a head taller than Helga.

"It was like, five years ago!" she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"If we'd talked about this five year ago, do you realize we could be in completely different situation than we are now?" he snapped, his voice rising.

"Like one where you aren't yelling at me? Because that'd be preferable."

"More like we could have been one of the families at the park this morning, picking pumpkins for a completely different reason!" he shot back. He gave a deep breath, bringing his palms to his forehead.

"Did you say family?" she whispered, trying to stop the cup from shaking in her hand.

"I…yeah, I guess I did," he replied, dropping his gaze as he rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just… look, I really liked you in High School. I tried so many times to make you realize, and you seemed to purposefully block me at every turn."

"You never said anything!"

"I invited you to prom, Helga! And you told me no!"

"I thought you asked me out of pity! Rhonda said you only asked me because-"

"Fuck what Rhonda said, okay!? I asked you! YOU! I even invited you to Rhonda's New Year's Eve party, and you ended up making out with Wolfgang on the balcony!"

Helga gave an ugly laugh, "Excuse me? The jerk jumped me. Did you just overlook his black eye he had the next day? Why didn't you ever just tell me?"

"You could have told me!" Arnold shot back, gesturing. "I kept trying. I kept asking you to parties and stuff like that."

"If you didn't say date, how was I supposed to know?" she shot back, gesturing back at him. "Besides, it's not like it mattered. You left the fucking country."

"Because you moved almost 20 hours away! I almost thought about declining. I was going to be blunter about the whole thing the night of graduation, but right before the party Phoebe told me you'd already accepted your room assignment and everything. I couldn't bring it up then….try and expect you to make a 20 hour distance thing work, not when you were just starting out somewhere new. So the trip seemed like a good way to, I don't know, get away. But whatever, like you said, it was five years ago, right? Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. It's just… I thought by this time I'd have someone to share accomplishments with. Someone to come home to. When I graduated in San Lorenzo, I went back to an empty apartment with a pizza. And you know what? I got home and wished you could have been there. You always made me laugh and knew what to say when I was upset. We just…really fell apart."

Helga sniffed, nodding her head. "Yeah…we kind of did. I always wanted to call you, but I didn't have any of your information after you moved. I always assumed you'd be back so much sooner, but then I heard you'd gone to college…and, well, I could never actually make myself confront you. It seemed like a lost cause."

Arnold nodded in response, and Helga sipped her latte in silence. What else was there left to say now? They had each already forged completely different lives now.

"Do you…want to get a coffee tomorrow?" he asked suddenly, his voice rattling Helga back from her thoughts.

"Like a date?" she teased.

"Not like a date, just a date," he confirmed. "You seem to like coffee." He smiled, pointing to her cup.

"Pumpkin spice," she explained, shaking the cup. "Apparently pumpkins are pretty lucky for me right now."

Arnold laughed, scuffing his shoe on the path. "Grandma liked the pumpkins you picked, by the way."

"I knew she would. We have similar tastes."

"I know. She always really liked you, too."

Helga felt a surge in her chest, and before she knew it, she was kissing him. Her hand had woven its way into his hair, the sweat from his neck cool against her hand as she pulled him down to her. His lips were warm and tasted of coke, but she broke away before allowing herself to get completely sucked in.

He blinked, his eyes wide and somewhat confused.

"Sorry, I just…. Five years is a long time to wait for a kiss. Happy Birthday."

"It's was worth it, best birthday so far. 23 looks good so far. You taste like pumpkin," he babbled, grinning widely.

"It's the coffee," she explained, biting her lip and shaking the cup.

"I really like pumpkin."