Jude's Justice
"Hey." Thea said softly, walking into the bathroom where she saw her little sister standing at one of the sinks.
"Hi." Jude nodded, looking in the mirror at her reflection.
"Are you ok?" Thea asked, walking over to her as Jude nodded.
"Yeah." Jude cleared her throat, "Yeah, I'm ok." She whispered.
"It's fine if you're not." Thea nodded.
"You guys have been saying that to me for… way too long now." Jude smiled a little, "It's not ok if I'm not… ok. I wanna be ok." She nodded.
"You deserve to be ok." Thea said, "But… sometimes we have to not be ok to be ok." She nodded as Jude turned to her.
"Ok." She whispered as Thea smiled to her.
"You know what I mean." Thea said as she nodded.
"I played this day out so much in my head after it all happened. I mean… it was always Jackson who I pictured in the stand but I always tried to imagine how it'd feel. How it'd feel to sit there and know that people in the room acknowledged that what happened to me wasn't right, and he deserved to be punished for it for the rest of his life." She nodded.
"I'm sorry for taking that away from you." Thea nodded to her as Jude turned to her, shaking her head.
"You didn't. I don't think back then I would have been prepared to see him or sit in court with him looking at me. I was just a girl. I didn't know anything about anything." She shook her head, "I'd like to think I've grown a little."
"You have. You've done the whole growing up thing a lot better than most of us." Thea nodded.
"I'm not gonna go in there and expect remorse or guilt. I don't think that's going to happen." Jude nodded to herself, "I've accepted that. But… I have to say something." She shook her head.
"Sometimes actions speak louder than words. You could just go knock him out." Thea shrugged as Jude smiled a little, "That's what I'd do."
"I know." Jude smiled a little, "But there's a judge there, police officers, lawyers… the law, basically. If I can get anything out of this is to make sure they know that I'm just one woman out of millions." She said.
"You know what'd be awesome? If you just started trashing them all. I'd pop at that." Thea nodded.
"It's not about that." Jude shook her head.
"I know." Thea understood.
"I just never thought I'd be here doing this. I just got so used to being someone who was raped and who wouldn't get any sort of closure or justice from it. Never thought I'd get this day." She shook her head.
"Are you gonna be ok? When you see him? I know you haven't yet." Thea said.
"I'll be ok." Jude nodded, "I just need to know that everyone else will be."
"If you're meaning dad-"
"I'm also meaning Sean." Jude turned to her.
"I'll keep them in check." Thea promised as Jude nodded.
"A whole family outing to the courthouse." Jude shook her head, "Exciting." She nodded.
"Well we're here for you." Thea said, "You've handled all of this so well these past few weeks. I literally have no idea how you do it." She shook her head.
"I have my moments, believe me." Jude nodded, "And I know I'm… I'm never going to remember what happened that night. Not in full. I'm never gonna wake up one day and suddenly have the memory. I'm not sad about it but… it's still someone they stole from me, among many other things." She shook her head.
"It shouldn't have happened. Period." Thea nodded, "And he's gonna get everything he deserves and more."
"I'm serious about dad and Sean. They need to keep their cool." Jude nodded.
"Don't worry about them." Thea assured her.
"You know how dad has been, though." Jude shook her head, "He acts all calm and fine and then he picks the worst moment to snap."
"I'm familiar with his habits, yes." Thea smiled, "But don't worry about him. He's here for you and you only. Same with everyone else." She nodded.
"What a shitty year." Jude looked at her as Thea nodded.
"Tell me about it." Thea said, "Can't wait to see the end of it."
"At least you got something good going forward." Jude nodded, smiling at her sister's small baby bump through her dress.
"Yeah, she's a little bright spot." Thea smiled, looking down at her bump, "I hope her and Sofia are as close as what us three are." She nodded. They'd just recently found out it was in fact a girl they were expecting.
"Yeah I hope the same for Mirren and Leela." Jude nodded to her as Thea smiled.
"I love you." Thea hummed, flicking Jude's chin as Jude smiled.
"I love you too." Jude nodded, wrapping her arms around her as Thea hugged her back tightly.
"Hey." Cassie said, walking into the bathroom, "I think we're good to go." She told them as they broke apart from the hug.
"Ok." Jude nodded.
"Are you ok?" Cassie asked, walking over to her.
"Yeah, I'm ok." Jude nodded, "Let's go." She told her little sister, wrapping her arm around her waist, leaving the bathroom as Thea followed behind.
They were directed into the court where the plea was taking place. It had been a gruelling few weeks in Chicago. Karen, with Cassie and Theo's help, had arrested Vincent and gathered enough evidence to prove he was indeed in Chicago at the time of Jude's attack. They pushed so hard that they wound up getting a confession from him, which lead them to today, a guilty plea and an awaited sentence.
AJ and Punk were shocked when they were told. Never did they think Vincent had been playing them all along. Even in the world they had all come from, they always thought he was one of the decent ones, and it took them a very long time to let it sink in. To realise what he had done to their daughter. There had been a lot of tears, a lot of anger and frustration over the past few weeks.
Jude sat down in the gallery at the front, Sean on one side of her and Cassie on the other. She said she didn't need everyone to be there, but sitting there now, she realised just what the support her family gave her did. It gave her strength. A blanket to fall back on if it got too much.
She stood as the judge walked in, taking a seat just as a side door was opened, watching as Vincent was escorted out, handcuffs on and already in prison attire from his stay in jail so far.
It was difficult to look at him, but she did it, and she wasn't surprised that he wasn't looking anywhere near her direction.
She felt Sean place his hand on her leg comfortingly as she placed her hand on top of his.
Punk and AJ sat behind, looking over at a man they once thought had helped them with kindness. With the same family values they shared. To now know what he'd done all along was like a knife in the back. It didn't matter how close they were, it still hurt, and it still angered them to the point of disbelief.
They had to sit through the legal proceedings between the judge and Vincent's lawyer, which wasn't an awful lot due to his early plea, before the DA called upon Jude to the stand.
"Ms Brooks, take your time." The judge said as Jude nodded.
"Umm…" Jude cleared her throat a little, "Well I know I haven't been a great help to the case." She nodded, "Sometimes it's easy to forget that it's actually me we're talking about in all those details." She said, "There is just one thing I would like to say." She nodded, looking up.
"I know I can't really remember what happened, and I guess that gives more leverage for someone to question the truth. What really happened?" She nodded, "But I do know I was raped. And now I know it was by two people." She said, "And whilst that might have been a few hours for those men, it's turned into the rest of my life for me." She nodded as the judge looked across at her, taking her glasses off and sitting them down.
"And I'm in a position now where I know that time doesn't always heal. It doesn't make you forget or make it any easier. It's still very much with me." She nodded, "And I know I'm just one of many, many women who have dealt with this. And I also know that all of those many women don't get a day like this, because there is no evidence. Or because the person who raped them was deemed a good person. Or maybe because he was rich. Or he was a college graduate with straight A's." Jude shrugged, "In my opinion, a rapist is a rapist and we need to start listening to women. Believing women when they say they've been assaulted. It shouldn't take forensic evidence or bruises to be taken seriously." She shook her head.
"I think we can all do better." She nodded, "I think we can listen more before passing judgement. I think we can treat each other with a little more respect. Almost feels like being a women, someone is out to get you. There's always something." She shook her head, "Whether that's someone telling you to go back to where you came from." She nodded, looking over to her mother, "Or telling you what you can and can't do with your own body." She looked at Thea who nodded along with her, "Or telling you that you're not worthy or you don't belong. That you're not deemed capable of big things in your career." She nodded, looking over at Cassie, "Or manipulating us to think we deserve to be treated badly." She looked over at her cousin who was sat at the back with Sarah.
"It's always something and I just… I think we gotta stop letting each other down. I think the law and the justice system needs to stop letting us down." She nodded, looking over at the judge who looked back at her, "That's all, your honour." She nodded.
"Thank you, Ms Brooks." The judge nodded to her as Jude walked off from the stand, taking her time as she looked over at Vincent who for the first time, looked back at her. A chill ran up her spine, and nothing about it was easy, but she wanted him to look in her eyes and know just what he had done. Know just what he had put her through.
She walked back to her seat, sitting down beside Sean who kissed her head and took her hand as she leaned into him.
"Ok, Mister Monroe please stand." The judge nodded, putting her glasses back on, "Given your early guilty plea to the rape of Ms Brooks, I assume you are aware of the seriousness of the crime you committed. Not just the seriousness but the disturbance." She added as Vincent stood in front of her.
"Taking that into account as well as the aggravating factors, this court does, today, find you guilty." She nodded, "I think Ms Brooks put it well in her own words. You've left her with this for the rest of her life, and that, in my opinion, deserves the highest form of punishment." She said, "I'm sentencing you to thirty five years in prison, to be carried out effective immediately." She nodded, "And I hope, if you believe in or pray to a higher power, that you are forgiven for what you have done." She looked across at him as he stared back at her, "That'll be all." She nodded.
Jude watched as Vincent was escorted out of the room, taking a deep breath and placing her hand over her mouth, feeling for the first time that what had happened to her, had finally been accounted for, had been brought to justice.