Title: The Princess Bride.

Rating: K. English - Humour/Romance - Kate B. & Rick C

Summary: A routine inquiry goes bad, and Castle is the hero of the hour. But all is not right in the world, as he finds out that his muse might be somewhat lacking in cinematic history.

Disclaimer: all the usual. I don't own Castle, etc etc. Ditto The Princess Bride.

Author's Note: yeah, I know some of the scenes in this are a tad impractical, but allow me some artistic licence on this one, yeah? :-) I had this idea in my head, and just couldn't shake it. Hope you all enjoy this shameless piece of fluff and mostly plot-less rambling. More will follow as soon as I can get it written, promise!

NevynR

3:45pm, Antique Shop, Downtown New York.

Beckett and Castle walked into the shop, tight smiles on their faces. The case had been frustrating so far, and they had finally caught a break. A string of murders had lead them to suspect one Arthur Biggins, an otherwise wholly unremarkable antiques dealer, of using the murders to cover up a string of high-end forgeries, which is why they were at his workplace to bring him down to the precinct and ask some pointed questions.

Seeing the pair casually wandering towards the counter, Arthur smiled cheerfully as he greeted them. "Good afternoon. What can I do for you both today?"

"Mr Arthur Biggins?" Beckett asked.

"That's me. Can I help you?"

"I'm Detective Beckett, and this is my partner, Mr Castle. Can you come down to the precinct and answer a few questions, if you don't mind...?" She pulled her badge out and showed him. A small, worried frown crossed his face as he replied.

"Um, I could do that, although it would help enormously if I knew what I would be answering questions about, Detective. I will just grab my things from out the back and shut up shop, yes?"

"Thank you, Mr Biggins. This shouldn't take too long, I hope." Biggins turned to walk through the door behind the counter, his hand darting around the edge to grasp something. As he spun around, the light glinted evilly off what appeared to be a fully functional Viking longsword. The blade slashed viciously downward, towards Castle's head, the writer stumbling back into the wall. He straightened up, his hands reflexively closing around something behind him, hopefully to use in self-defence. Whipping his hands in front of himself, he grinned, realising that in his left hand, he held a blade twin to Biggins' own. Behind him, he heard the distinctive sounds of Beckett pulling out her service pistol and trying to work her way around him to get a clear shot on Arthur.

"Drop the sword, Biggins! Drop it now!" Arthur didn't respond as he vaulted the counter, launching a flurry of blows at Castle, who pushed himself off the wall, and met every blow cleanly, the metallic sounds of sword-play echoing around the shop.

"I got this, Beckett!"

"Castle! No!" Her exclamation burst forth unbidden as she saw the swords flashing faster and faster, the sounds merging into an almost continuous belling. She paused for a second as Castle failed to fall back, or show any sign of being injured. In fact, she noticed, he seemed to be pressing the attack.

His blade darting forward, looping, clashing, probing, she stood there, gun trained, but motionless as she watched her partner give as good as he got. Seconds passed in the blink of an eye as the battle raged on, Castle falling back as Biggins renewed the strength of his attack, grasping the hilt in both hands as he rained a series of powerful strokes down on his opponent. Beckett's eyebrows shot up as a light-hearted laugh burst from Castle's lips, all the while his parries growing faster and faster.

"What the hell are you laughing about, Castle?" She practically yelled, her surprise mirrored on the face of Arthur. This was not how a routine 'please come to the station' was supposed to go, nor any kind of fight she had seen to-date.

"Because I know something, Arthur doesn't know!"

"What?" Biggins exclaimed, the tempo of his attack faltering as the events got more and more different from what he had expected.

"I'm not left-handed..." He replied, a cocky grin plastering itself across his face. Both Arthur and Beckett's eyes darted to Castle's sword hand, only to find he spoke the truth. A quick disengage and riposte from Castle followed as he gained a sliver of a second's breathing room, and he casually tossed the sword into his right hand and assumed a dueling stance once more. Not even bothering to pause to judge the effect of his revelation, Castle immediately launched into a furious combination of blows, high and low, feinting and probing, faster and faster. Making his earlier defenses seem like child's play, he quickly beat his way past Biggins' defenses, and with a resounding clang, his opponent's blade went spinning across the shop, only to stick point-first into the wall with cinematic justice. Castle leveled the point of his own sword at Biggins, a massive smile on his face.

"I suggest you let the charming Detective behind me cuff you, Biggins, I think you'll be joining us at the precinct to answer a few more questions yet." Beckett walked forward and cuffed Arthur, read him his rights and marched him out of the shop into the car. Shutting the door on him, she got in and turned to Castle, who was doing up his seat-belt.

"Castle, what the hell was that? Where did you learn to fence like that?" She placed the keys into the ignition, but didn't start the car yet, she wanted answers first. Sighing happily, Castle responded.

"Beckett, I never knew just how much fun it'd be, following you around! This has to be my favorite case ever! Alexis and I fence fairly often, and I studied a bit of the earlier period sword-work years ago for one of my books... It never made it into the final draft, but I got carried away with learning about it. It's funny how it all comes back to you when you need it... I honestly never imagined all that fighting with my daughter, playing pirates and Jedi and all of that would save my life one day!"

"So what was that about you being left-handed then?" Castle looked over at his partner, stunned.

"Are you telling me you have never seen The Princess Bride?"

"The what, Castle?"

"The Princess Bride! Only possibly the best action / adventure / romance / swash-buckling movie ever made, that's what! Tell me you have seen it, and you are just yanking my chain here?"

"Nope, no chains, Castle. I have never seen it."

"Inconceivable! I think I am going to have to insist, Beckett... Movie night, my place, tonight."

"Castle, I..." He cut her off, before she could turn him down.

"Arthur will be confessing in under five minutes when we get him back to the precinct, the paperwork will be done by 5pm, and unless you have prior plans that absolutely cannot be changed, this needs to be fixed ASAP." Beckett's mouth opened and closed rapidly a few times as she tried to get a word in edgewise, before giving up.

"Ok, you win. I'll watch your movie, if it means so much to you..." She grinned at his infectious enthusiasm, started the car and headed back to the precinct.