And Then I Found You

Chapter 1

"Father, please," Dean pleaded. "I'm not-"

"Dean," the King interrupted, "You are to be the next King, and I will not let you take the throne without a wife. It's the custom. It's been the custom for generations. And it isn't going to change for you."

"But-"

"You have one month to find someone, Dean, or I will find them for you."

Dean fumed. "You expect me to fall in love with someone in one month? Someone I haven't even met yet?"

"You'll be 21 by then. That's they law, Dean, and you know it. You have to be married, or at least engaged before we proclaim you the Crown Prince."

"Father, if you would just listen . . ." Dean pleaded, his anger turning to desperation.

"We're done here, Dean. I have matters of state to attend to." The King waved his hand in dismissal and Dean turned and walked away.

Whoever came up with this stupid law should be shot. He didn't have any desire to be married, especially to someone he wasn't in love with, and forcing him to marry so that he could become the Crown Prince, none of it was right. Even if the King could change it Dean was fairly certain he wouldn't. John was a man of tradition and customs and he held them above everything else it seemed, even his son's happiness.

*************

Castiel groaned when he heard the pounding on his bedroom door. He pulled his pillow out from under his head and placed it over his ears, trying to stifle the noise.

The next thing he felt was his mattress dipping and a wet nose against his bare arm, and he reached out to touch soft fur.

"I know, I know, Bear, I'm coming," he said, his voice even more gravely than it usually was.

The dog panted and wagged his tail as Castiel pulled the blankets aside and sat up.

"Castiel!" he heard his step mother calling.

"I'm coming!" he called back.

Why they couldn't get their own damn breakfast he didn't know, but this was how things had been for the past several years. Ever since his father had died they had treated him like a servant in his own home. He slept in the basement, did all of the housework, waited on his step mother and sisters hand and foot, ran the errands. It was the price he paid for his step mother "tolerating him" as she put it.

He'd never realized the extent of her distaste for him until after his father had died, and then it had become apparent very quickly.

He'd thought about leaving, a few times honestly. He had plenty of marketable skills. He could make it on his own. But every time he told himself he'd had enough of being treated like trash he thought of his younger sister Anna. Half sister, really, but still. She was his blood, his father's daughter, and he couldn't stomach the thought of leaving her behind with his step mother. So no matter how badly he was treated, he chose to stick around.

He slid out of his sleep clothes and into black trousers and a white shirt. He ran his fingers through his dark hair and looked down at Bear who was still wagging his tail.

He crouched down and scratched behind the dog's floppy brown ears.

"What have you got to be so happy about, huh?" he asked, but he couldn't help but smile a little when Bear licked his face.

"Come on, they're waiting," Castiel said with a sigh, and led the way to the kitchen.

"Castiel, you seem to have slept in today," his step mother said when he set the breakfast tray on the table. Her tone was soft but Castiel knew better than to mistake it for kindness or patience.