Prompt: Forget
Jeb was worried, extremely worried, about his father.
He'd never seen his father happier than he had been lately. It had been over a year since DG had saved the OZ from the witch that took over Azcadelia, and his father had been promoted to head of the Tin Man that very day. He took his job seriously, and worked to protect all of the OZ as it was slowly returned to it's originally glory.
Then there was his very personal protection detail of Princess DG, which included being no farther than three minutes away at any time.
And it was this part of his job that seemed to make Cain the happiest. It had bothered Jeb slightly at first, seeing his father love another woman, a woman who wasn't his mother, but in the end he'd realized how good DG was for his dad, and that the light that had been extinguished from his eyes with the loss of his wife returned whenever he was near the princess.
His own budding relationship with Az had certainly helped him accept that as well. How could he deny his father love when he'd just realized how amazing it could be?
However, today his father was nowhere to be found and he was starting to get nervous.
He didn't let DG in on that fact, though.
"I'm sure he's just busy somewhere, Princess, perhaps he's lost track of time."
"Perhaps," she agreed, but her face said she didn't quite believe that, "You will continue looking."
"I will. I probably cannot convince you to wait in your room."
The princess just raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed, wondering how his father dealt with her stubbornness 24 hours a day, "Alright, but go nowhere without your guards. My father will be very angry if anything happens to you."
She nodded, "Meet me back here in an hour if you don't find him."
"Yes, Princess."
&
It took almost that long, but he finally found his father sitting under an almost dead tree as far away from the castle as possible without actually being off its lands.
He sits down next to his father, saying nothing as he watches his father finish a rather large bottle of some sort of liquor.
"You know, when I met your mother she didn't like me at all. She thought I was egotistical and without a single good reason. She didn't want anything to do with me."
Unsure why he was hearing this now, he just remained silent.
"When I married her I promised to love her forever and now look at me. It's our anniversary and I didn't even remember until half way through the day. I've forgotten her, I've betrayed her."
"No," Jeb said, "You haven't, Dad. You've moved on."
"It's the same thing."
"It is not," Jeb insisted. "You know why you're out here. It's because you've given your heart to someone else and you feel guilty."
Cain's eyes widened comically, "Who do you think? I don't…"
"DG and you do," Jeb said, "It's been obvious for quite a while. Don't worry. I'm not upset about it. I was at first, thinking about you moving on, forgetting Mom, but DG makes you happy Dad. I know that Mom would want that, she'd want you to be happy again, and I think she'd like DG."
"Really?" Cain asked, blinking as he tried to sit up, "You think so?"
Jeb nodded, "I do, I mean, I like her. And she loves you; she's been running around like crazy trying to figure out where you are. She's worried sick."
Cain smiled, "She's probably going to be pretty angry at me."
"Probably."
Cain nodded, "I should go talk to her." He struggled to his feet, needing some help until he got his balance, "Thanks, son, I appreciate it."
Jeb nodded, "No problem, Dad, just do me a favor and try to keep the, what does DG call them, PDAs to a minimum. There are some things a son doesn't need to see."
Cain chuckled and started back towards the castle.
&
Twenty minutes later Jeb snuck away as DG screamed at Cain about what an irresponsible jerk he was.
Just as he got outside the room he heard DG's words cut off and was thankful he wasn't there to see whatever was happening.