Happy Anniversary Bear

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess named Amalia. She was a modern princess; she rented her own castle, did all the chores her maidservants should have done, and even had a regular job to better understand what it was like to be one of her subjects. To many, it seemed that the princess had all anyone could wish for.
Amalia didn't always agree with them. Sure, she had a terrific life, but she was missing a prince to share it with. At 24, Amalia was begining to think that Prince Charming was a myth and she was going to have to settle for a Prince-Somestimes-Leaves-The-Toilet-Seat-Up. She had tried to find Charming, she really had, but the last relationship she had was with a prince that refused to work for a living as she did and treated her more as a maidservant than the rockin' princess she knew she was. She moved out of his castle, taking only the couch, her personal belongings and her royal cat. She was discouraged, but refused to give up.
At her new castle, Amalia lived just as she wanted. Chrismas lights were strung up year round and Zedd (the royal cat) had his own bed. Her office looked out on the courtyard and she had the comfiest reading chair nextled into a corner of her bedroom. Amalia came home from work most nights and cooked Zedd's and her dinner and then they watched a movie before bed.
After about a month of this life, Amalia realized that Prince Charming wasn't going to just appear. Although she wasn't ready for another castle move just yet, she'd like to have some princely company once in a while. Her new rented castle was kind of isolated.
With this in mind, Amalia created a profile on royalspace.com, a place where other lords and ladies could find company of all sorts - jesters, companions, even new loves. There were many men claiming to be Charmings, but Amalia knew better than that. She decided to look for some new friends first, and hopefully a prince would come along soon after that. To her surprise, she got several new messages a day. Most were not people she'd want to hang out with, but one message caught her attention. It said,

"Hi, my name's PC. I was looking at your profile and it seems like we have some things in common. If you'd like to chat sometime, message me and we'll talk."

The photo attached to the message was of a man with a terrific smile, a goatee and a twinkle in his eyes that hinted he could be trouble, in a good way. Amalia sat back in her chair, thinking. Her first instinct was to write back immediately, but she held off. After all, her taste in princes hadn't gotten her very far before, and so she didn't trust herself. She logged off that night without replying, determined to think about it logically before replying (if she did at all).
The next day at work, Amalia's mind kept wandering back to the mysterious PC. Who was he? Where was his castle? What did he do for fun? Did he like cats? The last was very important to Amalia, Zedd being the world's best royal cat. She thought and thought and thought, finally deciding to let Zedd decide. He hadn't liked the last prince Amalia had been involved in (which should have been a red flag), so maybe he was a better jodge of character than she was.
After work, Zedd rested comfortably in Amalia's lap as she logged back on to royalspace.com. The message was still there, PC's smile still in place. She read the message and PC's profile aloud to Zedd, who listened intently, a soft purr rolling through his chest. As she finished, she looked in Zedd's eyes and said, "What do you think? Should I message him or not?" Zedd looked back at the screen, stood with both paws on the keyboard and mewed plaintively once, his eyes level with the man in the picture. Then he rubbed both cheeks on the computer monitor and hopped down. He wandered off to his bed where he curled up and promptly fell asleep.
Amalia thought some more. What did Zedd mean? If she had to guess, she'd say that he liked this PC. But was she just interpreting Zedd's response the way she wanted?
"Mrrow!" From behind her, Zedd gave his most imperial meow, as if to say just do it already!
"Okay, I'll message him," she said, clicking the blue 'reply' button at the bottom of the message. Please let this be the right choice she thought to herself as she composed her reply.

"Dear PC, it was nice hearing from you. I'd love to chat sometime. Perhaps we could chat on RIM (Royal Instant Messenger service is so much faster than couriers!)? My screen name is PrincessAmalia. I look forward to hearing from you! ~Amalia

She sent the message before she could second guess herself again. She heard a conspiculously loud purring from behind her, but she ignored it. She loaded her RIM program and went to make dinner. A part of her wanted to wait and see if she'd get a message, but the rest of her knew that she was no longer the kind of princess that waited around for a man. She was the kind of princess that went and made dinner as though she wasn't waiting for a message at all.
All through dinner Amalia didn't wait for a message. She didn't wait for it through the movie, either. Still, as soon as the chime sounded that she had a message, she jumped up from the couch and ran to the computer to see who was talking to her. It was PC! Not even bothering to pause the rest of the movie, she sat down at her computer to talk to this man whose smile she couldn't stop thinking about.

After a long evening of chatting (she stayed up a full two hours past her bedtime!), Amalia signed off and went to bed. She and PC had had a terrific conversation ranging from topics like literature (his favorite author was Poe) to the costs and benefits of renting vs. owning a cstle ( he owned his, but hated the taxes, she rented hers, but hated the neighbors). Everything he said made him appear even better in her eyes. He was articulate, kind, had a great sense of humor and most important - he loved cats (he didn't have any, but was suitably impressed with Zedd's magnificence)! Amalia was cautiously optomistic that here she had found a prince who would be someone worth spending time with. They had arranged to meet in town in a couple of weeks to further their acquaintance. As Amalia tugged the blankets up to her chin that night she sighed deeply, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Maybe, she thought, there is a Prince Charming for me after all.