Objection | SVU

Chapter 25

[A/N: I'm in another writing mood tonight, so I'm gonna write a lot in this chapter. I hope that this gif can give you a hint of the level of tension that will be felt throughout this chapter. ALSO, IMPORTANT: This chapter has mentions of abuse and some sexual assault. If you think that this will trigger you in any way, please don't read it. I want to make sure that you're all okay, and if this will trigger anyone, please don't read it. If it won't trigger you, go on ahead and enjoy if you can.]

Jess' POV

Strauss had gone over the case with me multiple times. He had gone over my testimony with me more than enough, and he was surprisingly very considerate of me, supporting me when I needed help and calming me when I became frustrated. Strauss had taken on the three men who had kidnapped me in court already, but only at arraignment court. He had gotten the three men remanded back to prison, even though Buchanan was representing the three of them. I knew that Buchanan and Barba could be considered rivals, and I knew that Buchanan was a defense attorney with almost no boundaries... I didn't know how he'd cross-examine me in court.

Strauss and I sat down a few days before the trial date, and he asked me if I had any questions or anything that I wanted to say. I asked if we could go over my testimony one more time, and I asked what I may be cross-examined about. Strauss agreed, and he asked, "Anything else, Jess?" I sighed and looked up at him.

"Barba can't be in the courtroom. He can't."

Strauss was about to object, but I pleaded with him with my eyes. Strauss sighed and gave in, saying, "Okay... I'll have to tell him that you don't want him in there." I was about to say something, but Strauss said, "I can't lie to him, Jess. He's going to wonder why he can't be in there with his wife to support her. I have to tell him that you don't want him in there."

*

It was the first day of the trial, and Rafael had already been told that I didn't want him in the courtroom. He had tried to persuade me to let him in to be there to support me, but I declined. Being the amazing man that he is, he wasn't angry with me. He was somewhat disappointed, but he wanted me to be okay. He was putting my well-being above everything else, and if him not being there made me feel better, he was willing to do that for me.

I was sitting in the front row, right behind Strauss and the prosecutor's table. Liv and Fin were on either side of me, and Rollins and Carisi were behind us. Carisi asked, "Where's Barba?" Without skipping a beat, I replied, "I didn't want him here." Carisi blushed in embarrassment, and I added, "It's fine, Carisi. You didn't know... But I told him that I didn't want him here. He doesn't need to know what happened to me."

The judge brought order to the court and began the trial proceedings. I felt extremely out of my element since we didn't know any of the Brooklyn judges or law enforcement officers. The judge finally asked Strauss to start calling up his witnesses, and he first called Benson. She got up, and her hand squeezed mine before it slipped from my grasp. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that I was going to hear what had happened to me from her perspective. She was my rock through this- she knew what I had gone through, and she supported me wholly.

Strauss went through Benson's background and made sure that there was nothing that Buchanan could question her on regarding her qualifications or credibility, and he proceeded to question her. "Lieutenant Benson, could you please describe what you saw when you approached the scene of the crime?" Benson took a deep breath.

"We entered this apartment, and when we raided the master bedroom, I saw the three defendants surrounding Detective Mitchell. My team restrained the three of them, and our SWAT captain arrested them and read them their rights. Myself, along with another detective of my squad, went to check on Detective Mitchell. She was unconscious and barely had a pulse, so we called an ambulance and had her taken to the hospital."