"Okay, let's see here. Feed her some lunch? Check. Give her plenty of nap-time? Check. Changer diapers when necessary? Ugh, double-check."
Spike looked over the list before him several times, slowly nodding to himself as he looked over everything he'd been supposed to do. After a while, he was satisfied that he'd covered just about everything, and so took on a slightly prideful smile. But, after rolling up the scroll, he turned, looking to the one he'd been looking after today. Flurry Heart was there beside him, happily giggling to herself as she played with her favourite toy, her snail, Whammy. She was the very picture of happiness right now, content and smiling as she played. Naturally, Spike himself couldn't help but smile back to her, as he set his scroll aside and took a step closer. Getting to his knees he leaned in towards her.
"Hey there, Flurry. Having fun?"
The infant looked up to her carer for the day, gurgling in-between her laughs.
"Ba! Ba-ba-boo!"
Spike chuckled.
"Yeah, I think I've done alright here too. Wasn't expecting so many ponies to be unavailable, but here we are."
He sat down in earnest, sighing to himself before again looking to the youngster beside him. She happily continuing to bounce her snail up and down on the floor, eliciting another smile from Spike, who started to look around. After a while, he'd found what he was looking for, one of the teddy bears Twilight had given to Flurry on her last visit here. Besides Whammy, they were very definitely Flurry's favourite toys, and so Spike reached over and picked the blue one up. He thought for a moment, then looked back to the young Princess.
"Hey there, Flurry!"
The small alicorn looked up, just in time to see Spike use the bear as a sort of mask, hiding his face behind it so as to give he "illusion" of having the bear itself speak.
"My name is Beary the Bear, and you're my very best friend!"
With one claw, Spike took hold of the toy's arm, willing it around to make it look like he was waving at her. Flurry, of course, was very entertained by this, and so giggled loudly, before flapping her wings and flying right up to her "talking toy". Spike chuckled behind the bear before continuing to do this.
"Say, would you like to play with me?"
Flurry giggled even louder than before, making it clear that, yes, she very much did want to play. So Spike, spreading out his own wings, flapped gently, lifting himself off the ground. He began to move backwards, taking the bear with him while continuing to mimic its voice.
"Look at me, Flurry! I'm a flying bear!"
Flurry seemed ecstatic at this and so flew faster to catch up to him. But Spike upped his game, continuing to fly just that little bit faster, so as to stay one step ahead of the tiny pony. The two chased one another for some time, with Flurry eagerly trying to get to her bear, while Spike, for his part, did his best not to make things too exciting, lest Flurry get over-excited and do something unexpected. On and on this went, for quite a few minutes, until finally Spike had decided that they'd had enough.
"Wow, Flurry! You're really fast! You win!" he said, again from behind the bear.
Here, he stopped once more, returning to the ground. Flurry followed, and she reached out, carefully taking the bear from Spike. Granted, it could hardly have escaped her notice that her bear was now no longer speaking to her, but she didn't really care. She was just happy and satisfied that she had him, and so hugged him tightly while continuing to merrily gurgle with every breath. Spike, on his side of things, chuckled, both amused and endeared by the youngster's antics. As he saw her float gently back to the ground, he stepped over to her, getting to one knee and gently patting her on the head.
"You know something, Flurry? I've really liked having you here."
Flurry looked up to him, prompting the small dragon to continue.
"You've been so well behaved today. Heck, you've been so good you only threw one jar of baby food at the walls this time!"
He turned, looking to the green blob that still clung to the nearby walls.
"Hmmm, note to self, clean that up later."
Slowly, he looked back to the baby, continuing to smile at her.
"Have you had fun here today?"
Flurry giggled again, nodding enthusiastically, leading to an even wider smile on Spike's part.
"Glad to hear it. I know you probably miss your Mom and Dad, and yeah, I miss Twilight whenever she's not here, but..."
He sat down properly, reaching forward and taking hold of her. He held her carefully, while she looked up to him wide-eyed as usual.
"...but I've enjoyed being with you today. It's been nice."
Flurry blinked to him. Spike didn't quite know if she truly understood everything he'd been saying to her, but as she started to smile to him gain, he at least knew that she understood the sentiment behind his words. In a slightly absent-minded manner, Flurry dropped her bear to the ground, using her now-free hoof to reach out, giving Spike a quick boop on the end of his nose. She of course giggled to this, and Spike himself let out a dry chuckle.
"Yeah, I love you too, Flurry."
Then, a moment of curiosity came to him, and he looked to Flurry with more than a little inquisitiveness.
"You know, I've never really stopped and wondered. What relationship do you and I actually have?"
Flurry, perhaps again not understanding the words, tilted her head, eliciting an explanation from her draconic carer.
"I mean, Twilight's always sort of been a Mom to me, and you're her neice, so...does that make us, you know, cousins?"
He leaned in a little closer to her.
"Well, Flurry? How do you see me?"
Flurry blinked, and while she again probably didn't understand a word of what had been said to her, it apparently didn't concern her, as her smile returned, and she gave yet one more boop to Spike's nose.
"Th...Thpike! Thpike!"
Spike was, naturally, more than a little surprised by that utterance, but he said nothing. Instead, he watched as Flurry herself moved closer to him, resting her head against his chest and holding him close, in much the same way that she would with one of her cuddly toys while sleeping in her crib. And speaking of sleep, that was what she now started to do, continuing to lovingly rest her head against the young dragon as her eyes slowly closed.
"Thpike...Thpike...Thpike..."
Spike slowly smiled down to her, lifting his claws and holding her close, cradling her gently as she drifted off into what he hoped would be a restful sleep full of dreams.
"Yeah, that's right...I'm your Spike."
