Disclaimer: Characters- Not Mine, Grey's Anatomy- Not Mine, Bones- Not Mine. This Story Mine. That's all.
When asked later about the events of that day, Seeley Booth would find himself unable to recall anything which had happened in the courtroom before Temperance was called to the stand. His attention had instead been focussed so entirely on Temperance that she remained his only clear memory of the entire day.
When she was eventually called to the stand, Seeley had watched her as she walked slowly towards the front of the courtroom, balancing her weight on her crutches, but with her head held high as she ignored the stares and whispers which followed her slow walk. As she reached the front of the room, he saw her stumble ever so slightly and he forced himself not to jump up and help her, as she instead steadied herself and continued forward. When she finally was guided into the wooden stand, he heard Meredith gasp from beside him and taking her hand he squeezed it gently, both giving and receiving comfort from the gesture as they saw Tempe's pale features staring back at them. The long day and the uncomfortable chairs of the courthouse had obviously taken their toll on Tempe and both worried at her ability to manage the questions and accusations which would now be thrown at her by both the prosecution and defence lawyers.
Having been sworn in, Tempe turned her face back towards the main body of the courtroom, quickly finding the chocolate brown and blue/green eyes of her friends. Both Meredith and Seeley smiled reassuringly at her, although Tempe could see that they were still worried about her. Hiding a grimace as pain shot through her, she attempted to smile back at them in what she hoped was a reassuring manner, before moving her eyes back to face the lawyer for the prosecution, a woman named Lucy Hyde.
The lawyer began with a few basic questions, her full name, age and where she had been born. She then continued by asking questions about how Tempe had come to be in foster care. Both Seeley and Meredith had earlier questioned the lawyer about the need to ask Tempe about her parents during the initial preparations for the case but she had deflected their objections by explaining that by describing her past, Tempe would be creating an emotional connection with the jury who would hopefully see her as the poor abandoned orphan rather than the traditional view of a badly-behaved foster kid. This would hopefully ensure that they would be less likely to believe any story created by the defence about how she had sustained her injuries, since they would instead view her as an innocent victim from the beginning.
As Seeley once again focussed on the court proceedings, he realised that Tempe was now describing how she had come to be with this foster family and then the beatings which had begun shortly afterwards.
"So Miss Brennan, Mr Cartridge would beat you on a regular basis?" Ms. Hyde asked.
"Objection!" The lawyer for the defence snapped. "Ms. Hyde is clearly leading the witness."
"That is not true, Your Honour, I was merely asking Miss Brennan to confirm her previous statement." Ms. Hyde immediately replied.
The judge stared at the two lawyers and then nodded, "Objection overruled, Mr. Lawrence. Continue Ms. Hyde."
"Thank you, Your Honour." Ms. Hyde said, before turning back to Tempe. "So as we were saying, Mr Cartridge had attacked you on previous occasions, correct?"
"Yes he had." Tempe replied.
"Thank you. Now could you please describe for us the night of the 24th which led to you being found outside of Boston General Hospital by Miss Meredith Grey?" Ms. Hyde asked gently.
Tempe took a deep breath, and taking strength from the chocolate brown eyes which never left hers, she began once again to tell her tale.
Eventually the prosecution handed Tempe over to the defence lawyer Mr. Lawrence and Seeley and Meredith immediately tensed. They knew that this line of questioning would be far harder on Tempe and already they had seen her visibly struggling both with her memories and also, Seeley suspected, with pain whilst she had been describing the night that Meredith had found her. He sighed and again locked eyes with her, willing his strength to pass to her and help her through this next portion of the trial.
Mr. Lawrence had come to a halt in front of Tempe and he raked is eyes across her face, looking as though he were cataloguing her injuries and confirm that they were real. As he turned away, once again facing the main body of the courtroom, Seeley flinched at the coldness in his grey eyes, automatically looking back at Tempe, who had now gone, if it were possible, even paler.
"So Miss Brennan, you claim that you were 'beaten' by Mr. Cartridge on a regular basis", and although he made no obvious gesture, the scepticism behind the word beaten was clear, "yet you never told anyone before you were admitted to the hospital. Perhaps you'd like to explain to me why?" Mr. Lawrence asked coldly.
"Because I was afraid of what he would do to me and the others if he find out and..." Tempe hesitated.
"And what?" Mr. Lawrence prompted.
Tempe sighed heavily and answered reluctantly. "And because I thought they wouldn't believe me."
"Now why would you think that, Miss Brennan?" Mr. Lawrence asked with a false air of kindness. "Why would a young innocent girl believe that she could not confide in anyone, not even the teachers at your school?"
"Because I'm a foster child and they never believe a foster child. We're always viewed as bad kids, the ones that can't be trusted or believed." Tempe replied harshly, her face flushed unnaturally and her breathing heavier.
"Is that all?" Mr. Lawrence accused. Tempe stared back silently, unwilling to back down. "You can think of no reason why your teachers may have chosen not to believe you?" Again he paused as though he believed that in doing so he would force a confession of some sort from her. "Very well then." He turned to face the jury and lifted a folder, which he had previously been holding behind his back. "This report states that you have been accused of lying and cheating before Miss Brennan, perhaps this would be why you believed that no-one would believe your lies again..."
"OBJECTION!" Lucy Hyde yelled. "That is a clear attempt to lead the jury's assessment of the witness' character."
"Agreed." The Judge replied. "That comment will be stricken from the record and you would do well to watch what you say from now on, Mr. Lawrence."
"I apologise, Your Honour." Mr. Lawrence replied contritely, although Seeley saw a hint of a smile pass over his features and he sighed knowing that the damage had been done. The suggestion had already been planted, whether the Judge tried to erase the damage or not.
"As I was saying Miss Brennan, this report states that you were accused of handing in work that was obviously not your own. Now, could you please confirm for the court, the report regarding these accusations?"
Tempe visibly hesitated, her breathing still erratic and now that the unnatural flush of anger had disappeared, she was growing visibly paler. "The report is real but it was later shown that it wasn't true. I would never lie or cheat..."
"That is not the question here, Miss Brennan. Were you or were you not accused of lying and cheating at school?" Mr. Lawrence asked again, his voice harsh and arrogant.
"I was. But..." Tempe tried once again to explain but Mr. Lawrence once again interrupted.
"So you have been accused of not been entirely truthful before, so one could wonder whether we can actually trust your story regarding your treatment at the hands of Mr. Cartridge." Mr. Lawrence finished an air of triumph in his voice.
"I...it...I mean..." Tempe began, but suddenly stopped, as she began gasping for air. She frantically gestured to Mr. Lawrence but he instead smirked and turned back to the jury.
"Your attempts to gain sympathy or distract the courtroom will not work, Miss Brennan." He said. "Now answer the question, how can we trust you?"
However, Seeley and Meredith had by now jumped to their feet and begun moving to the front of the room as Tempe was still gasping for air and both Lucy Hyde and the Judge were also now looking at her worriedly.
"Your Honour, I'm not sure..." Lucy began but was not able to finish as Tempe suddenly collapsed, falling forwards and only held in her seat by the high sides of the witness stand.
"No." Seeley yelled, breaking into a run, but prevented from reaching her by the guards. "Let me help her, she's unconscious. Someone needs to call an ambulance now!"
The Judge obviously agreed because he had already motioned to someone to call an ambulance and now gestured at the guards to let Seeley and Meredith past. Now free, Seeley immediately ran towards Tempe brushing angrily past the stunned Mr. Lawrence, who was stuttering incoherently.
"I...I...I didn't know, I thought..."
"Shut up!" Meredith snapped as she ran past.
Both skidded to a halt next to Tempe and began easing her out of the stand and onto the floor, lying her down carefully.
"Oh god. Tempe, come on honey, wake up. Come on. Don't do this to me." Seeley whispered; his hands smoothing down her hair, trying frantically to wake her as Meredith began checking her breathing and pulse.
"Shit!" Meredith cursed as she realised that Tempe was barely breathing and seeing a trail of blood trickling down from the corner of her mouth. "Where are the paramedics?" She yelled as she began CPR on her friend's unconscious form.
"They'll be here in five minutes; thank god we're so close to the hospital." Lucy Hyde said from beside her. "What's going on?"
"I'm not sure, but my Mom said she could be at risk for blood clots after the amount of trauma her body's been through. I think she may have had one in her leg and it's broken off and travelled to her lungs. God dammit where are those paramedics!" Meredith swore, fear now flooding her as she realised how much danger Tempe could be in.
What felt like an eternity later, the paramedics arrived and Meredith stepped back gratefully, watching as they began taking Tempe's vitals, before rushing her out of the courtroom. As she followed them, she saw Seeley had run out with and was now arguing with the paramedic before jumping into the ambulance with Tempe, leaving Meredith to follow them alone.
Ooh a little bit of a cliffhanger. Hopefully I'll be able to get a chapter up before the end of the week but can't promise anything at the moment since I'm kinda in the middle of nowhere. Anyway hope you enjoy the chapter and that it was worth waiting for. Review please. A xxxxxxx