Exculpatory

Chapter eighteen

Kate let the hot water wash down her body as she tried to keep taking normal breaths, keep herself calm because, really, she had nothing to be worried about. Yet still she was. She washed the past week out of her hair, replacing it with the scent of her cherry shampoo. It had been a long week with a hard case, they had found a woman, all frozen and apparently she'd been dead for about five years. Melanie Kavanaugh. Kate sighed as she thought about the woman who had been murdered by her husband while her two daughters were watching television in the other room, completely oblivious to the fact that they were becoming motherless in right those seconds. Their father told them their only mother had run away, because she had apparently done that in the past, and the police had listened to him. The cops on the case had simply written it off as a runaway mother, never really looking into the happenings... just like the cops on her own mother's case. Melanie's case had bitten a bit too close to home, and she knew Castle had seen it, so she'd told him about it. Told him how she lost her mom, how she, her dad and Elisabeth had gone to a restaurant and waited but her mom had never arrived. She told home how she had almost lost herself in her case once she'd turned detective, that the only thing keeping her above and reminding her she needed to let it go was her own daughter needing her as her mom. Standing in the shower she tried to let all those feelings run off her like the water. She wasn't really feeling up for the date, wasn't as excited anymore, but when Castle had suggested they'd raincheck she'd determinedly told him she needed this evening thinking about anything but the case. With another sigh she turned off the water and walked out of the shower, drying herself with her towel. Why couldn't the case just... go away! She had thought the shower and nerves for tonight would've washed it away. Putting on her underwear and a robe she started fixing on her makeup, deciding to let her hair dry on its own to get those curly locks she knew would appear without her needing to do anything. When she was finishing up the last touches, putting on lipgloss she hadn't used in ages, her peanut knocked on the door and came inside.

"Wow," Elisabeth's eyes were wide open as she took her in.

"What?" Kate suddenly wondered if she'd accidentally smudged something and turned back to the mirror to look at herself.

"Mom, you look beautiful," the girl stated in a voice not much louder than a whisper.

Kate felt her cheeks go hot with embarrassment. "Thanks peanut."

"Castle's gonna faint."

The grin on her daughter was definitely contagious and Kate couldn't help but chuckle at her comment. "No, he's not," she took one last look in the mirror before putting away her makeup and walking into their bedroom, Elisabeth right on her heels. Her peanut walked past her and sat down on their bed, eyes on Kate as she started looking through her clothes. After choosing a purple squared shirt and jeans she heard her daughter groan in disappointment, so she turned to her and gave her a questioning look.

"You can't go on a date with work clothes mom, you can't," she argued and Kate rolled her eyes.

"This is not 'work clothes', this is clothes."

"Which you wear to work," Elisabeth cut her off while palming her face, a move she herself might've done one too many since she met the writer. Especially considering her daughter was copying it now. "You should wear a dress. Lanie told you you should wear that black dress she bought you for your birthday."

Of course this was Lanie's doing. She should be proud I'm wearing that goddamn thong she bought me, Kate cursed her best friend.

"Liz, I'm not in the mood for fancy clothes, and honestly I don't think he will either."

"Mooom, he's a famous writer, he's going to take you somewhere fancy, you should be in a dress," her whine had Kate's heart thumping hard.

What if she was right? What if Castle had decided to take her to a fancy restaurant despite the week she'd had? She suddenly started regretting the fact she'd insisted on she was still up for date night, and somehow her daughter could see that.