The trial begins a few weeks later. Chuck transforms into hyper efficient lawyer Charles Shurley, but Bela Talbot is merciless. She paints Castiel as a ditzy, naive weirdo who was asking for it, and Frederick as a well-intentioned by imbalanced lonely man who didn't do anything Castiel wasn't asking for (although the last part was not said in so many words).
Chuck starts with the officers. His questions are quick, factual, get-the-story questions. Bela's cross-examinations are brutal and long. She brings up petty crimes, small character flaws, anything she can to devalue the witnesses. She asks about Ash, the precinct's tech guy, and his possession of marijuana charge. Chuck objects to almost everything she says and all of them are sustained, but she plants the idea of incompetent, deviant officers.
It takes days to get through the opening witnesses. The fourth day of the trial, Bobby, Sam, Dean, and Cas pick up take-out and go back to Dean's. Almost immediately after walking through the door, Castiel is sprawled on the couch, passed out.
"The trial's exhausting him," Dean murmurs. Sam's getting a blanket from the linen closet.
"Do you think we should wake him up and get some food in him?" Sam asks when he returns, draping it over Castiel. It doesn't seem to make him any more comfortable.
"Don't think he'd appreciate it," Bobby puts in. "Just let him sleep and forget about the trial for a few hours."
"Mr. Singer, you mentioned you found tapes and photos of the plaintiff, and that he was engaging in sexual acts in some of them."
"I would say 'being forced into' is more accurate," Bobby huffs.
"In the tapes, did the plaintiff ever say 'no' or 'stop'?'"
"He was bound and gagged."
"In any of the tapes, did he ever fight back? Resist in any way?"
"He was bound and gagged."
"Mr. Singer, are you familiar with BDSM culture? Some people want to-will actually go so far as to-be bound and gagged in manners that simulate rape."
The look Bobby gives is one that Dean has never seen any other person give. It is horror, shock, revulsion, and incredulity. Bobby doesn't know whether he wants to laugh at her, punch her, ignore her, or yell at her for suggesting that what happened to Castiel was anything other than non-consensual, anything other than rape.
"Ob-fucking-jection," Chuck shouts, then looks around bashfully.
"No further questions," Bela says.
Castiel tucks his knees up to his chest and picks at his rice. Sitting around the couch, Dean, Sam, and Bobby are ranting more angrily than he'd ever seen them.
"No one can possibly buy that shit. She's making an ass of herself," Sam huffs.
"How dare she?" Dean stabs his spare rib like it's Bela's face.
"No one's actually going to believe that, right?" Bobby asks Chuck.
"I mean-no," Chuck says, but he wants to say something else. "It's-she's spinning it, because the jury's not allowed to see the tape. She could spin it however she wants. I doubt anyone would fall for it, but-we're not gonna show them the tape, it's just-it's po-"
"Show it to them," Cas says, suddenly cutting Chuck off.
"Cas..." they all say at once.
"Just do it," he hasn't uncurled himself, and he still wants to wish the trial away. He tells himself he's doing this to make sure Frederick is locked up forever so he can't attack anyone else, but really, he doesn't want to disappoint his friends. They have a lot invested in retribution. And if he's going to beat Bela, he wants to beat her all the way. "Remove any doubt what he did to me."
"Are you sure?" Chuck asks.
"D-do I have to be in the room when they...?"
"'course not," Bobby says, looking at the man concerned.
Castiel nods. His throat is constricting, so he can't talk. He just makes little whimpering sounds and rocks back and forth. He hears Chuck's concerned voice ("You don't have to do this, Cas...") but he just keeps nodding his permission. He wants them to show the tapes.