Flash-Fiction Challenge: write a prompt response in an hour or less
Prompt: After a bump on the head, Castle wakes up with new personality
The sound of a loud thump and then barking from the hallway outside her apartment door brought Kate Beckett out of the book she had been reading. She glanced at her watch; it was half an hour past the time when Castle was supposed to have dropped off Royal the dog for her evening of custody.
She waited for Castle's knock on the door, but after a moment, when no knock came, she realized that there was a note of urgency in Royal's bark. Unfolding her legs from the couch, she went over to open the door.
In the hallway, she saw a large male body lying on the floor and Royal standing over him, barking and yipping anxiously.
"Castle?" Beckett gasped, hurrying over. The dog stopped barking at her approach, and licked her hand. She knelt beside Castle and shook his shoulders gently, calling his name.
After a moment, his eyelids fluttered and opened. Beckett breathed a sigh of relief.
"Castle, are you okay? What happened?"
For a beat he just stared at her, his blue eyes wide and confused. Then his hands closed around her shoulders and he surged upward, his mouth aimed at hers. Beckett tensed in shock, suddenly paralyzed and breathless, unable to move as Castle lifted his torso off the floor and….
…licked her cheek.
"What the hell?!" she exclaimed, wiping her face with her sleeve, staring at her partner. His tongue lolled out of his mouth and he was panting loudly, grinning at her. Then he lay back down on the floor, rolling onto his back, lifting his arms and legs into the air. He gave her a beseeching look. She stared at him in complete confusion.
Royal licked Beckett's other cheek and panted in her ear. She pushed the dog away, still staring at Castle. Then Royal flopped down on his side and lifted his paws in the air, giving her an earnest look almost exactly like the one Castle currently wore. Her hand moved of its own volition to rub the dog's belly and he squirmed with delight, his tail thumping against the floor. Her eyes widened with realization.
"I am not rubbing your belly, Castle," she said severely.
"Can I sniff your crotch?" her partner asked, and then his eyes widened as he realized what had popped out of his mouth. "Um, I definitely hit my head really hard just now."
"So it seems," Beckett said, turning her face away, blushing furiously. "Maybe you better come in and put some ice on it."
Castle sat up and groaned, putting a hand gingerly to the back of his head. "Ow. Ow, Royal, that wasn't nice."
"What happened?" Beckett asked, getting to her feet and offering him a hand.
"Um, I think Royal was excited to see you," he said as she pulled him up, "and I wasn't moving fast enough for his liking, so he tried to push me along and I tripped over him."
"Well, maybe that'll teach you not to be late bringing him back," she chided as Royal herded them into her apartment, his tail wagging at top speed.
"We're not that late," Castle protested, giving her his best wide-eyed innocent look.
"You're half an hour late, and don't give me those puppy-dog eyes, Castle." She took an ice pack from the freezer and handed it to him, suppressing a shiver when their fingers brushed. Castle pressed the ice pack to his head and winced.
"I can't help it if this guy just really loves our walks." He picked up Royal's squeaky toy and squeezed it. It squeaked. He squeezed it again. And again.
Then he growled. He actually growled. Beckett stared at him in astonishment.
Castle put the ice pack on the counter and went down on his knees, shaking the toy back and forth. Royal dashed over, yipping excitedly, and tried to take the toy. Castle pulled it back and growled again. The dog growled back. They tussled over the toy until finally Castle let it go and lay down on his side, a whine coming from the back of his throat. Royal seized the toy and ran off to the other end of the room.
"Okay, you have definitely been spending too much time with this dog," Beckett announced, coming around the kitchen island and retrieving the ice pack. "Castle, get up and ice that head some more. Don't make me take you to the hospital to check for a concussion."
"Rub my belly, Beckett," he entreated, still lying on the floor.
"No. No way."
"Aw, come on." He pushed himself up to sitting, then stood. "At least say that later you'll put my leash on and take me for a walk."
A pause. Beckett felt her face heat up again. Castle coughed loudly.
"Yeah! Definitely a very severe blow to the head just now," he exclaimed guiltily, grabbing the ice pack. "Let us never speak of it again."
"Count on it," she agreed, retreating to the safety of the kitchen.
