Full Title: Courtroom A, Gallatin County District Court, Bozeman, Montana, Wednesday 28th Febuary, 2007
just give me something to hold on to
-Snow Patrol, You're All I Have
"Please state your full name and occupation for the record."
She was seated next to the judge, just like she had been a hundred times before. But with every fibre of her being she knew the difference between then and now. Then a cop, a seasoned investigator, tough under the hardest cross-examination. Now a victim, diminished to being a scared 18-year-old girl once more.
Her mother was in the court, in the front row. She had fussed around at home, preparing breakfast and not saying a word when her daughter had only managed to choke back a few mouthfuls. As if the wrong words at the wrong time would cause her to break. It gave her reason to doubt, for a moment, her own strength.
"Detective Lindsay Elizabeth Monroe," she replied evenly. "I'm a crime scene investigator with the NYPD."
"You were present at 34 Caulder Street, Bozeman, on the 15th of June, 1997?"
The door to the courtroom opened, and he walked in. She blinked at him; this land and this man so alien to each other that it seemed they could not possibly coexist. He looked up and met her eyes, dipping his head slightly. He held out his official identification to a nearby guard as the door swung shut behind him. The guard raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar designation but let him be.
He moved a few feet from the door and stood against the back wall. Legs apart, he crossed his arms over his chest, his jacket opening just enough that she could see the gold badge clipped to his belt. His chin tilted up, mouth in a straight line. He stood like Atlas, ready to accept the burden of this courtroom and her world.
His eyes held hers for another long moment. She looked back to the prosecutor as he repeated his question. A few glances from the audience strayed towards the back of the room, but he ignored them all.
"Yes."
When she described what happened, every terrible, terrifying moment, she saw his eyes flick away from her towards the man who sat at a table to her right. The violence in his expression was so hot she was sure that the man seated there could feel it on the back of his head. But when he resumed watching her, she could see nothing but strength and belief.
It made her heart twist. She had turned this man down, but he had come anyway.
The defence attorney stood. He tried to trip her up, to make her doubt what she had seen, what she remembered. With him standing there at the back of the room, her answers remained precise and detailed. She had seen everything in slow motion, and there was nothing wrong with her memory. Those moments were etched into her heart.
"Thank you, Detective. You may step down."
Her soul lightened, just a little. She stood calmly and kept her steps even as she crossed the space between the judge, jury and lawyers, and moved down the isle between the crowded benches. She walked straight past her mother, her eyes on the man in front of her. He unfolded as she approached, reaching out. A hand on her forearm, he guided her out of the room.
Out in the hallway, the door closing softly behind them, he turned to her, words sticking in his throat.
"Montana."
She stepped into his arms.
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I had to get this done before the episode, when my version of this scene will be overruled, as it were. This owes a lot to all of those people who are writing/have written their own version. I've read a lot of them, and you all inspire me. As does EnchantedApril in Saints and Saviours.
Next part of the Climb This Mountain series will be up within a few days.