The Altercations with 24

Almost Fluent in Beast

"So what are we going to do with him?" Casey asked the Beast.

"Leave that to me." He responded. He walked around her and knelt down next to the man. "Go back to the room and bring Dennis's cleaning supplies here. Clean this up while we're gone and if anyone comes in, check them out a room."

Once again, Casey was taken aback.

"You want me to rent them a room? Are we going to run this dump now?" She asked, allowing her saucy attitude to come out.

"No. But it's something for you to do." Casey rolled her eyes and didn't care if the Beast saw her do so. She stalked out of the office and to the hotel room. She grabbed all of the cleaning supplies she could carry and went back to the office. She walked in to a freaked out Dennis scrubbing the  skin on his chest raw with his yellow handkerchief.
 
Casey quickly ran over to him and batted his hands away. "Here, let me." She told him, wetting a paper towel  with a water bottle she brought. She put the wet towel to his chest and gently washed the blood away. She could feel Dennis stiffen from her touch and his breathing became limited.

"I'm sorry." He told her unexpectedly. She wet another paper towel and continued washing his chest.

"For?" She asked. Dennis readjusted his glasses and looked down at the girl. She never took her eyes off of his bloody chest.

"For calling you annoying." He told her. She expected him to continue, but he didn't. He was really trying and she appreciated that.

"I'm sorry I called you grumpy." She said, wondering if Hedwig had already told him what she said.

"Hedwig finds you amusing. But to be fair, he also finds a yellow sponge amusing as well." She smiled.

"Was that a joke?" She asked. "Or a really bad insult?"
 
She spoke in an amused tone, so he knew she wasn't really hurt by his words. Casey was surprised by him. She didn't know Dennis could tell a joke. She just thought of him as a straight faced clean freak.

"I suppose a joke." He said. Casey got the final drops of blood off his chest and took a step back. She folded up the wet paper towels and looked him in the face.

"Well, don't quit your day job." She joked, going to throw away the objects in her hand.
 
She heard movement from behind her and when she turned around Dennis was less than a foot away from her.

"Thank you." Casey noticed he still had blood on his mouth and thought for a second on how she was going to tell him without freaking him out.

"You're welcome. I'm not done yet, though. Your mouth is still bloody. Unless you want to clean it yourself." Dennis touched his lips and she could see the blood transfer to his fingers.

"I'll bring you a clean shirt while you clean yourself off." She told him, leaving the office.

Casey walked to their hotel room, her head flooding with what just happened. First the dead body and then Dennis being nice to her. Not just nice, but he joked with her. Perhaps he felt bad for how he treated her.

'Perhaps he's being nice to get in your pants' An inner voice whispered in her mind. She pushed the thought out of her mind as she entered their hotel room.
 
Casey went to the bed and went through one of the duffel bags to find a shirt for Dennis. The two bags were mostly full of Hedwig's and Patricia's clothes, but she was able to find a grey, wrinkle free shirt of Dennis's.