Used, Chapter 58
Jan. 1st, 2009 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkdreamer*hugs*
DoS
Title: Used
Beta:
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
misanthropicobs Rating: R
Pairing: House/Wilson/Cuddy friendship, slight Wilson/OFC
Warnings: implied and explicit non-con, violence and non-con of a flashback/memory sort, mild language, general angst and trauma and darkness
Summary: One night leaving the hospital, a violent attack leaves House devastated and broken. In the aftermath, Wilson and Cuddy struggle to find a way to help him heal -- while House fights just to find a way to survive.
Chapter 58
Conclusions
House sat in his usual seat in the courtroom, surrounded by his supportive friends, aware on an intellectual level that he was completely safe -- for the moment. His stomach felt as if it had been tied into knots, roiling within him as he tried to calm the rapid pounding of his heart and focus on what was happening.
Before this day was over, Tritter's fate would be decided.
Brooke faced the jury, pacing slowly in front of them in silence, waiting until their full attention was focused on her to speak at last. When she spoke, however, her words came as a visible surprise to her listeners -- all except for House and his friends, who had been warned beforehand about the tactics she planned to use.
"Dr. Gregory House... is a monumental jerk," Brooke stated quietly, meeting the eyes of each juror in turn. "He's uncivil and disrespectful, often downright rude, in his professional and social settings. He isn't a well-liked man. He's crude and insulting and utterly self-absorbed. He's been known to lie to and manipulate the people around him in order to get what he wants. And as if all this wasn't bad enough -- he's an admitted drug addict."
She was quiet for a moment, allowing her words to sink in, and although he had been prepared for what she would say, House found that he couldn't raise his eyes from his lap, unable to face the jury for fear of what he might see on their faces.
"And none of that," Brooke continued with firm conviction in her voice, "makes him deserving of the brutality and sadism that was inflicted upon him by the defendant."
A couple of the jurors nodded slowly in silent agreement with her statement, all of their expressions troubled and thoughtful.
"The defense has tried to make this trial about the kind of person that Dr. House is -- about his social and professional problems, as well as his personal issues with addiction. The truth is, there’s a lot more to Dr. House than that – a lot of positive attributes of which you have not been made aware. No one has mentioned the brilliant diagnostician, the dedicated physician who refuses to stop until he knows he’s done every last bit that he can do for his patients. But that doesn’t really matter either. That is not what these proceedings have been about. No matter what kind of a person Dr. House is, he is, in this case -- a victim. He has been raped and tortured and beaten and terrorized in ways that most of us will thankfully never have to experience -- and no one should have to experience the suffering he's endured. Dr. House's problems -- who he is as a person -- is utterly irrelevant to this trial."
She was quiet for a moment, silently gauging the jury's reactions to her words, nodding once in satisfaction when it appeared that her words were getting through as she intended.
"What I will ask you to focus on now, instead of the distraction the defense has offered, is the kind of person that Michael Tritter has been revealed to be throughout the course of these proceedings -- because that's what this trial is really intended to uncover. Is Michael Tritter the kind of man capable of the kind of atrocities Dr. House has endured?"
Brooke proceeded to go through the evidence against Tritter one more time for the jury, reminding them of the video, the knife, the witnesses who had declared that they had personally seen and heard his cruelty, and finally, the brief glimpse of his frightening rage that he had revealed to them during his own testimony.
As Brooke spoke, House glanced toward Tritter, swallowing hard, his mouth dry with an instinctive fear as he found himself wondering how Tritter was reacting to her accusations. He shuddered at the cold intensity he read in Tritter’s ice blue eyes, locked onto Brooke, following her every movement as she spoke to the jury. House found himself half-expecting the man to come around the table in front of him and attack her.
Unexpectedly, Tritter turned his head slightly, his eyes locking onto House's. The detective's lips twitched in the slightest hint of a suppressed smile, and he gave House an almost imperceptible wink. House's stomach dropped. He suddenly felt horribly sick, fighting back a hot rush of bile that rose in his throat as he lowered his gaze quickly, crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive gesture.
"It's all right," Wilson whispered, his eyes never leaving Brooke as he casually placed his arm along the back of the bench on which they were sitting so that his hand rested reassuringly on House's shoulder. "He can't hurt you. Are you hearing this?" There was a quiet triumph in Wilson's voice. "She's killing him. He doesn't stand a chance. After today -- you'll never have to even see him again. He'll be going to prison for a long, long time."
House nodded hurriedly, struggling to focus his attention on Brooke again.
"Michael Tritter is a very dangerous man. He has made it perfectly clear, through the videotaped evidence and the testimony of those who've witnessed his threats and intimidations -- if he is released, he will attempt retaliation against his victim for coming forward. He used that threat to gain Dr. House's silence for a long time following the attack, and he used it again, when he terrorized his victim in his own home, threatening him not only with death, but with further sexual suffering and degradation as well, if he told anyone what Tritter did to him."
Brooke glanced toward House, her solemn eyes softening with compassion and concern before she looked back toward the jury.
"It was a very brave thing, what Dr. House did in coming forward to bring his attacker to justice. He could have let Mr. Tritter's threats keep him intimidated -- could have just kept his mouth shut and not told anyone about what happened. But he didn't. He came forward." She paused, meeting the eyes of the jurors again, one by one.
"Now... it's up to you to decide... whether or not he's going to regret that decision. You hold in your hands the power to send a message -- to let Dr. House, Mr. Tritter, this entire community know that the victim's best defense… is breaking the silence. Dr. House came forward because -- as he told you in his own words -- he wanted to feel safe again. You have the power to make that happen -- to give him back his security, his safety... and maybe even a little bit of his dignity."
Her expression darkened as she continued, "Or... you have the power to send a very different message. You have the power to allow his rapist to walk free – free to hurt him, or someone else, again. You have the power to tell current and future victims of sexual assault that the best thing they can do is to keep silent -- because if they come forward... no one will believe them, anyway. They'll have their character, their entire lives, dragged through the mud before the eyes of the world -- and in the end... it won't matter. No one will help them. You have the power to tell Dr. House... that he has to remain a victim... forever."
"And now," she went on, pacing slowly again, "you have a decision to make. Which message do you want to send? The power is in your possession, to place back into the hands of the victim -- or the abuser. Make your choice."
Brooke surveyed the jury for a long, tense moment, privately pleased to see that several jurors were in tears, before she turned toward the judge, her expression solemn and resigned as she nodded and stated quietly, "The state rests."
House didn't realize he had tensed in apprehension as the defense attorney rose to give his closing argument -- not until he felt Wilson's arm around his shoulders tighten briefly in a comforting gesture of reassurance.
"Almost done," he whispered soothingly. "We're almost finished."
House nodded, drawing in a deep, shaky breath of cool air, struggling to fight back the rising feeling of nausea in his throat and stomach. He just wanted this to be over. As well as Brooke’s argument had gone, he was still terrified that the defense would be able to paint him in such a negative light with their closing argument that Tritter would end up free – and he and his friends would end up dead.
It soon became apparent that he needn’t have worried.
"One thing the prosecuting attorney has said, I agree with," the defense attorney began, facing the jury. "For the victim of a rape to come forward and speak out about their experience is indeed a very brave act. By doing so, such a person can prevent others from having to endure the same things that happened to them. They can get a dangerous rapist off the streets and bring them to justice. Yes... coming forward and telling the truth is a very brave thing to do."
He paused, his brow creasing in a disapproving frown as he continued, "Coming forward and lying... making a false accusation against an innocent man... is a very different thing to do entirely. It distracts the focus of the authorities from finding the true attacker, and puts other people at risk of being attacked while time is wasted in trying an innocent person in their place -- and it calls into question the reality of whether or not the alleged 'victim' was really attacked at all. After all, this whole thing seems much more like a petty act of revenge than a quest for justice -- and who's thinking about getting back at someone who arrested him -- on completely legitimate charges, no less -- in the wake of a violent attack such as Dr. House has described?"
Wilson smirked slightly beside House, leaning in to whisper almost gleefully, "Is he on Tritter's side, or on ours?"
House couldn't suppress a slight smile at that, recognizing the fortunate truth of Wilson's observation. "Hard to tell," he agreed in a low whisper. "I'm not sure exactly what argument he's trying to make -- and strangely enough, I don't think he's sure, either."
"Because he doesn't have one, and by now he has to know it," Wilson pointed out, the humor in his voice replaced with grim satisfaction. "At this point, they've got nothing left. He's just grasping at straws."
The rest of the defense attorney's closing argument was just as weak, disjointed, and confusing as the first part of it, leaving the jury shaking their heads and frowning instead of nodding with tears in their eyes. By the time his speech was finished, the attorney barely seemed to be trying at all anymore. He returned to his seat with an air of defeat, not even looking at Tritter, who was glaring at him in repressed outrage and fury at the obvious failure of his argument.
"All right. This concludes this portion of these proceedings," the judge declared, surveying the entire courtroom. "At this time, the jury will be dismissed to quarters in order to deliberate on a verdict. All parties directly interested in this matter will be notified when that verdict is reached and before it is announced. Until that time -- you're dismissed."
House sat there for a long moment as the observers filed out of the room, the judge retreated to her quarters, and Tritter was led away to the holding cell where he was to be kept until the verdict came back. The sheer release of knowing that they had done everything they could do, and were finally finished, manifested itself in violent tremors that shook through his arms and legs, as he braced his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands.
“It’s all right,” Cuddy whispered, leaning slightly across Eve, who was seated beside House. “It’s over. It’s over, now.”
House didn’t respond, didn’t raise his eyes – just shook his head slowly in denial.
“No,” he whispered at last without looking up. “No… it’s not. Not yet.”
As House gradually recovered from the shock of the trial’s impending conclusion, the others began to discuss their plans for the rest of the day while they made their way slowly out of the courtroom. Wilson and Cuddy both felt that the deliberations could take a long time, and it was probably a good idea to go home and wait for the call to return.
No one ventured to speculate aloud as to what the results of the trial might be. The dark fears they held seemed too cruel to mention within House’s hearing – and an instinctive superstition seemed to warn against voicing their confidence as to the case Brooke had made, for fear of somehow jinxing the whole thing.
House didn’t want to leave at all – not until he knew that it was really finished.
“Let’s just wait… a little while,” he suggested quietly, sitting on a bench outside the courtroom between Cuddy and Wilson. “Let’s just see what happens. If it takes… too long… we can go, but… but let’s just stay a little while.”
House’s instincts proved accurate less than an hour later when his cell phone rang, and he saw that the caller was Brooke, who had probably assumed that they had left. House swallowed hard, eyes wide as he stared at her name on the caller ID for a long time, almost long enough for the phone to stop ringing.
Finally, he shook himself out of his stupor and hit the receive button, holding the phone to his ear with a trembling hand.
“It’s time,” Brooke stated in a voice of barely bridled excitement. “We have a verdict."
TBC...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 06:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-06 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 06:45 am (UTC)YOU. ARE. KILLING. ME. HERE!
Seriously!
I am glad Brooke re-emphasized in her closing statement that although House is a jerk he in no way deserved what Tritter did to him and I am glad she reminded the jury this trial was not about House's character or lack thereof but rather the brutality Tritter committed against him.
*sighs* I just hope the jury truly does believe House and convicts Tritter!
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Date: 2009-01-06 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-01-02 01:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-06 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 02:46 pm (UTC)Gah, Tritter winking and smirking just makes me so angry! I hope he gets what's coming to him.
Can't wait for the next bit XD
no subject
Date: 2009-01-06 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 05:13 pm (UTC)I hope we don't have to wait long. ;)
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Date: 2009-01-06 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 05:14 pm (UTC)*is on the edge of her seat* Guilty, surely??? xxx
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Date: 2009-01-06 10:44 pm (UTC)and i'm glad you like brooke, oc's are tough sometimes... the next chapter is up now, hope you like it :) *Hugs*
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Date: 2009-01-02 05:42 pm (UTC)This is exciting... the last sentence can't mean anything bad! :D It's sad to see this coming to an end, especially since I *just* discovered it, haha, but it's wonderful to finally know how things will turn out!
no subject
Date: 2009-01-06 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 06:45 pm (UTC)Now, what will happen?
Personaly, I'm hopeing that after tritter is convicted, and they are leading him away, he will grab for the court-cops get it, BUT before he can shoot Wilson pulls out his BFG and pops a cap in him.
'Cause, you know, the metile detectors were broken that day...or something...
no subject
Date: 2009-01-06 10:51 pm (UTC)anyways, glad you're enjoying it, hon.. the next update is up now, hope you enjoy :) *Hugs*
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Date: 2009-01-03 03:34 am (UTC)Truth is, he's doing his JOB. And it's kind of obvious that he wants Tritter in prison to by now. He's proved throughout the story that he makes a good argument. But, his closing statement was weak. Purposely weak. I'm glad. (:
GAH cliff hanger FTL :(
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Date: 2009-02-17 08:45 pm (UTC)