A/N- I feel bad for not updating often so I wanted to do little one shots for in between my updates for my main stories. The ratings may vary but on the whole, they'll be K+ or T. Most of these prompts will come from a tumblr called OTP prompts. I'll also take requests.

Prompt: OTP Idea #729

"I met you at a park while you were babysitting some kids and they made you a flower crown and wow you look really cute?"

"I promise man, one hour. Maybe less," Gerald pleaded, "Look, Riley and Justine are even asleep."

Arnold grimaced and glanced down at the five-year-old and the three-year-old who were indeed curled up on the blanket, the younger with her thumb in her mouth. The down swept eyelashes brushing plump cheeks created the perfect image of innocent children, but Arnold knew better. These were the same innocent five-and-three-year-olds who were practically swinging from tree to tree on the sugar high of an ice cream cone less than half an hour ago.

"Come on, Arnold, please? Do me a solid?" His best friend continued to beg, "The airport is only twenty minutes away. And you know I haven't seen my wife in two weeks-"

"Okay, okay," Arnold gave in with a sigh, "I'll watch them while you go pick up Phoebe. But what do I do if they wake up?"

"Just play with them," Gerald was already standing up, fishing his cell phone and keys out of his 'Daddy Bag'. "The bag has healthy snacks and juice boxes, Band-Aids, and you know my number. Call me in the case of an emergency. Thanks again!"

By the time Gerald gave his final thanks, he was half way out of the park. Arnold laughed and settled back against the tree, taking a breath of the warm summer air. He really needed to move to Hillwood. New York was just too crowded, just too… city-like for his tastes when he was in between jobs. He was glad Gerald and Phoebe always invited him to stay with them every summer. He met Gerald when they were both attending NYU, and they had been pretty close friends ever since. He was even the godfather to their kids. Gerald was always trying to convince Arnold to forego his life of traveling and settle down like he did. With a beautiful town like Hillwood, he just might consider it.

There was a small noise, just loud enough to break into Arnold's thoughts. He glanced down to see, both Riley and Justine rousing from their impromptu, post sugar crash naps. Riley sat up, blinking around her sleepily. Finally, her eyes settled on Arnold.

"Why's my daddy?" She asked, her voice hovering between tearful and confused.

"He's going to pick up your mommy sweetheart," Arnold gave her a reassuring smile, "He'll be back soon, though."

Riley just stared at him, her eyes unsure. She was his best friend only an hour ago, but now without her daddy around, Arnold was practically a stranger to her. Beside her, Justine was already sniffling, her thumb creeping back into her mouth. Arnold took a steadying breath and kept himself calm despite the rising feeling of panic. If he could deal with jaguar cubs, then he could deal with children, right? And just like any wild animal, the key was not showing them your fear.

"Hey, I know what we can do!" Arnold grinned and clapped his hands together excitedly, "Let's see who can gather the most flowers!"

Instantly, Riley's confused look was replaced by a huge smile, "Can I make you a flower crown?"

"Um… sure." Arnold relaxed, happy in his success in diverting a potential crisis.

Riley cheered happily, helped Justine up, and the two began all the flowers they could get their little hands on within a two feet radius. Arnold kept an eye on them but allowed himself to fall back into daydreaming. Taking care of children wasn't so hard. Within the space of a minute Arnold had taken two children on the verge of tears and now they were happily braiding little flowers into his hair.

"You're gonna look so pretty Mr. Arnold," Riley giggled happily, "Like a flower prince."

"Pwetty Pwince!" Justine echoed.

"I'm sure you two are doing an excellent job," Arnold tried his best to match their enthusiasm, "maybe when your mom and dad gets back we can… all…"

Arnold trailed off as the cutest girl he had ever seen entered his vision. She wore a denim, sleeveless sundress, but heavy combat boots. Her blond hair was tied back in a messy ponytail with a pink ribbon and she carried a notebook in her hand. Arnold followed her with his eyes as she walked, her stride strong, lithe, and confident, and she claimed a bench not far from them. From her tangled ponytail she extracted a hidden pen and began to write.

"A writer huh?" Arnold felt the corners of his lips lift in a smile. "Hey girls, you wanna make a new friend?"

"Okay!" Riley immediately agreed, just as social as her father.

Getting to his feet, Arnold gathered up the blanket and Gerald's "Daddy Bag", slinging it over his shoulder. Picking up Justine, he let Riley hold his hand and headed over. The girl glanced up as they approached, and he was startled by the incredible arctic blue of her eyes and her rosy lips curled up into a smirk.

"Well, hello there," She spoke first, much to his surprise, "to what do I owe this little visit?"

"Hey," Arnold smiled, feeling confident at her easy smile and twinkling eyes, "I was just babysitting my friend's daughters and we were just wondering if we could say hi. Right girls?"

"Hi!" Riley piped up, practically jumping up and down in front of the girl. "My name's Riley, what's your name?"

"My name's Helga sweetie," the girl smiled at her and then Justine, "And what's your name?"

Justine smiled shyly and laid her head on Arnold's shoulder, "Justine."

"And I'm Arnold," He momentarily let go of Riley's hand to extend it to Helga. "Nice to meet you."

Her nose crinkled as she took his hand as if she was trying to hold back a laugh.

"Nice to meet you too," Her voice even sounded like she was holding in a giggle.

Arnold swallowed back his nervousness, kept his confident smile, "May I sit with you?"

Helga gave a nod of consent. Arnold sat down, close enough to smell her vanilla shampoo and set Justine down with Riley. "You guys keep playing, while I talk to Helga, okay?"

"Okay," Both girls echoed obediently.

"So," Arnold leaned close to Helga, "what brings you here today?"

"Writing," Helga held up her notebook and continued to smirk at him, "You here to summon fairies?"

"Uh…." Arnold's smile momentarily fell, baffled by her weird question, "N-no, I told you I'm babysitting a friend's kids."

"Right," Helga giggled, "Of course. And are you a babysitter professionally?"

"Actually I'm a wildlife photographer," Arnold felt his confidence returning. He put his arm up on the back of the bench as if to lean his head on his hand, but in reality, he was making sure to flex his bicep where she could see. "So far I've been in Peru, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador… I'm thinking about going more east next."

"You don't say?" Helga's eyes danced as she smiled at him, "I've been thinking about traveling to Europe myself. Not sure if there's much interesting wildlife out there, though."

Arnold leaned a little closer, "Oh I'm sure I could find something beautiful to photograph."

Helga turned away to smother a snort of laughter, definitely not the response Arnold was expecting. He pursed his lips and moved a little away. He didn't hit on girls often, but he thought he was a little smoother than this. He had to admit, though, her laugh was really cute.

"S-sorry, sorry," Helga turned back to him once her laughter subsided, "you were saying?"

"Right, um…" Arnold cleared his throat and smiled again, wanting to get things back on track, "what do you do for a living?"

"Junior editor now, an aspiring novelist in the future," Helga declared proudly, "I specialize in art, poetry, editorial pieces…" her eyes flickered upwards and her smirk returned, "fantasy…"

She erupted into a fresh round of giggles again, leaving Arnold thoroughly confused. Was this a nervous reaction of hers? He hoped it was otherwise he was more out of practice flirting than he thought. Releasing a small sigh of frustration, Arnold lifted a hand to run through his hair and froze. Individual flowers and a flower crown were still tangled in his hair courtesy of Riley and Justine.

"Hey," Helga, still giggling, laid a hand on his knee, "it looks good on you."

"He's a flower prince!" Riley piped up merrily, "Arnold's a pretty, pretty flower prince!"

"Ha, ha, you got me," Arnold couldn't help but laugh as well, "Professional photographer by day, flower prince by night. And maybe sometime between, I could call take you out?"

It was a bold move, even for him, but hey, with a crown of flowers in his hair, what could he lose? Helga's eyes sparkled as she took his hand and wrote her phone number on his palm.

"I'm looking forward to your call," she giggled, "flower prince."