The Prince and His Love Ch. 01

Charles slowly woke up as the sun shone through his windows. He rubbed his eyes as he woke from his dream world and slowly stretched out the muscles in his body. He looked around his room as he sat up in his bed. He saw the picture on his bedside table of him and his five brothers and his parents. They looked like such an average family but they weren't. Not in the eyes of Springfield at least.

Springfield was considered a small town that was isolated from the rest of the country. No one really visited and no one ever left. They decided that they wanted to break off of the country and create their own country. In order to do that, they needed a leader. That was when a man named Phillip Royal, Charles's father, volunteered to be the King of this new nation. The majority of Springfield agreed to have him rise to power so that's what started the royal family of the Kingdom of Springfield.

Now that Charles was the heir to the throne, he needed to find a wife to secure the family line. He wasn't having much luck, no matter how hard he tried. He had been on a few dates but none of the women seemed right. He wanted a kind woman who loved him for him and not because he was the heir to the throne. He wanted a woman with a good mind and who had a good head on her shoulders.

He glances over at the clock and noticed that it was nine o'clock. He got out of bed and walked over to the window and noted how blue the sky was and how he could feel the heat from the outside radiating through the window. He smiled and decided that he would go down for a nice walk in the park.

He went over to his closet and put on his short sleeved red shirt with some nice khaki pants. He slipped on a black windbreaker just in case there was a slight chill in the air. He put on some socks and white tennis shoes then walked downstairs to get some breakfast.

As usual his brothers were getting ready for the day of visiting shelters and hospitals and showing how caring their family actually was of other people. His mother was walking around their palace getting anyone that his father asked for. His father was usually in his office across from the dining room with papers piled up on his desk. He walked into the kitchen where their friendly, middle aged cook was cleaning the stove from where she had made breakfast this morning.

"Good morning Charles," Maria said, "do you want me to whip up something for you."

Charles smiled at the woman. Usually it would have been customary for her to call him Your Highness but this woman had become like family to them so it wasn't necessary. "No thanks. A bagel with butter will be fine. I'm going on a walk in the park so I don't want to eat too much.

"No problem, I'll get that for you." Maria said as she opened the bread cabinet to get out bagels then went to the refrigerator to get some butter. "So, are you going to the park in search of a special someone?"

Charles chuckled; she was really the only one he felt comfortable enough talking about this to. "Well, I would like to find someone but I don't know. It just feels like I'm not meant to find anyone.

"Nonsense," Maria said as she handed the buttered bagel to Charles. "There is someone out there for everyone and I know you'll find her, just give it time. You're only twenty- three."

Charles took a bite out of his bagel as he nodded his head. Maria was never the type of person who thought negatively. She always knew things worked out for a reason.

After he finished his bagel he turned to walk out of the kitchen, he came face to face with the Prime Minister with a slight frown on his face. "I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but your father would like to see you."

Charles rubbed his hands over his face. There was only one thing that he would want to talk about. "Yes, I will be right there. Thank you, Prime Minister."

The Prime Minister smiled and bowed before making his exit then Charles walked down to his father's office.

For the past few months, his father had been constantly setting him up with potential women. Sure, the women were very attractive but he never was into them. They all just seemed to fake. Charles wished his father would stop bugging him about it.

Charles walked into the King's office and he said, "Hello father."

King Phillip looked up from his papers. Since he had become King, wrinkles outlined the frame of his face. He looked tired and his hair was starting to grey. "Charles, I'm glad to see you son. I've found a fine suitable woman that I would like for you to meet."

Charles rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Father, not again."

"Yes, again Charles, you need to settle down and get married." King Phillip stood up and walked over to Charles to stand in front of him. "I want to make sure that when something happens to me, you'll have someone to stand beside you. Just like your mother has done with me."

Charles smiled. He had to admit, his father only wanted what was best for him but he wanted him to stay out of his love life. "Yes father, I understand. If I don't meet someone with in the next year, then I promise, I will let you set me up with anyone but until then I want to try myself to marry for love."

King Phillip sighed and shook his head, his son was more stubborn than ever. "Alright, I'll give you a few months but otherwise, I'm setting you up." The king shooting Charles a serious glare and went to sit back down in his chair. Charles bowed and left the room to continue on his walk.

He walked towards the park which wasn't far from his house. There was a slight breeze in the air but it felt good against the sun that shone down on him. The only problem with his walks was that any time a woman saw him, she would flirt with him. He had seen quite a few women like that but he just walked by them. He was friendly but he just couldn't flirt back with them and lead them on.

His father would have probably wanted him to stop and talk to them, but he just couldn't. He wanted someone who was genuine.

As he walked through the park, he noted how the birds were chirping and how many women were out walking their dogs or pushing their babies in strollers. As he continued his walk through the park, he noticed tall blue hair in the crowd of people. He mesmerized so he continued to push past some of the people and as he walked closer, he was more and more entranced.

There was a woman who was probably not older than her mid-thirties sitting on a park bench feeding some of the birds. He looked from her hair that he thought would be beautiful when it was down to her hazel eyes. He noticed how there was so much love and devotion in those eyes and he could tell she was a friendly woman. He looked from her eyes to her lips which had a smile on them. He noticed how her mouth curved into a beautiful smile that went up to her eyes. He went down the rest of her body and noticed her hour glass figure covered in a green dress. He took notice of her legs and thought about how smooth they looked. He felt a pull towards her and knew he had to get her attention.

He walked closer and saw an empty seat next to her. He decided he would sit down and see how she reacted. He walked up as if he was walking from behind and sat in the seat next to the woman. As he sat down, he was met with a pair of hazel eyes that he was admiring in the distance. She smiled at him and he smiled back. He looked down at her hands quickly and noticed how soft they looked but he also noticed a wedding band. He sighed to himself but then decided that he could still be friends with her even if she was married.

"Hello," the woman said as she smiled. He couldn't help but take notice of how nice her voice sounded to him. Sure, it had a scratchy sound to it but he liked it.

"Hi," Charles said as he returned her gaze and smiled back, "My name is Charles."

"Yes, I knew I recognized you from somewhere but I didn't want to say it unless I was wrong. I'm Marge Simpson."

"It's nice to meet you, Marge," Charles said as he looked into those beautiful hazel eyes.

"So, what brings the Prince of Springfield to the park today? I figured that you all had some papers or stuff to do since it seems all of you are busy," Marge said as she threw some more bird seeds to the birds.

"Oh well, that's mainly my father that has to do that. Sometimes I just like to take walks, especially in the spring." Charles said as he watched how gently her hands reached into the birdseed and threw some seeds to the birds.

"It is beautiful out at this park in the spring. My husband is usually at work and my kids are grown and in college so I like to take walks in my free time, it's just more peaceful," Marge said.

Charles nodded slightly disappointed. Not at the fact that she had kids because that never bothered him when women had kids but the fact that she was married but like he thought before, he could still be friends with this woman.

"Well, if you ever decide you want some company, I would be happy to take a walk with you," Charles said. Marge looked up at him shocked at first but then a gentle smile graced her face.

"I would like that but why would you want to take a walk with me when you could walk with any other woman here?" Marge said knowingly. She did think Charles was handsome with his black hair smoothed back and his muscles which were still obvious through his windbreaker.

"You just seem to treat me like a normal person. I don't really get that a lot but yet again, with my family I'm not completely normal," Charles said as he laughed nervously.

"Well, just because you happen to be the heir to the throne doesn't mean you're not a person with your own personality and ideas just like anyone else in town. Just the fact that you like to take walks in the park makes you seem more me than just of the royal family," Marge said with a friendly smile. "I like talking to people like that who are down to earth."

"So do I. It's nice to talk to someone after listening to someone who's down to earth after reading a bunch of political papers."

"I'm sure, it doesn't sound fun but I am interested in politics to a point," Marge said. He had never really met someone who was interested in politics so this was definitely new and she did sound smart. Much different than the other women he had dated.

After a few more minutes they eventually got up and took a walk. "So, Marge, tell me about yourself," Charles said as he walked closer to her.

Marge giggled, "Well your highness, my life is pretty boring compared to yours."

"Please, call me Charles and I really am interested in getting to know you."

Marge lightly blushed. She looked up at him and said, "Well Charles, I got married at eighteen right out of high school after I got pregnant with my first son Bart, I had my daughter Lisa a year later, then I had Maggie a year after that. "

"Oh wow, you did get married young, didn't you?"

"Yeah well, I got pregnant, I really had no choice." Marge said with a frown. Charles decided to inquire more.

"Have you been happy though? I mean, you got three kids out of it which sounds great."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I will never regret my kids," Marge said with a smile and Charles nodded for her to continue. "It's just my husband, he used to be so sweet but our entire marriage, all he does is hang out at the bar and get drunk or he's busy working. I don't see him much anymore." Marge said as a sad expression came over her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry Marge. Forgive me if this sounds too forward but you deserve better than that." Charles said sincerely.

Marge looked up and smiled. "So, tell me about you? What's your life like? I don't know if you've seen the show Upton Rectory but I've always imagined it's similar to that."

"You watch that show? That is my favorite, I haven't met anyone else who watched it." Charles said.

"Yes, I love it. My kids don't get into it. My daughter Lisa says that it promotes the unfair separation of classes in society."

Charles chuckled. "She sounds very smart."

"Oh, she is, straight A student and aspiring Prime Minister or President if the title ever got changed to that. Are you going to watch the new episode tonight?'

'Yes, I'm planning on it, how about you?"

"Yes, we should talk about it afterwards..." Marge said excitedly and Charles smiled.

They spent the rest of the day talking then Marge looked at her watch. "Oh my, we spent the whole day talking. I have to get home and get dinner ready before Homer gets home. I enjoyed talking to you though."

"So did I Marge. Maybe we can meet here at the same time tomorrow and continue talking," Charles said hoping she would say yes.

Marge smiled at him and said, "I'd like that. I'll see you tomorrow then," Marge said as she reached her arms out for a hug. Charles hugged her back and couldn't help but notice how soft she felt against him and how he got slightly turned on by having her near. When they pulled apart, they spent a few seconds looking onto each other's eyes. Marge eventually snapped back into her senses and blushed as she looked away. Charles noticed that their arms were still wrapped around each other and he quickly removed them. They waved at each other as they both parted ways.