false witness

[nathskywalker]

Author: Nathalia
Rating: PG-13
Challenge:
Angel Food #09 - false witness
Flavor of the Day #243 - confute (to overwhelm by argument; to refute conclusively; to prove or show to be false)
Extras / Toppings: malt (Ichthus’ stocking stuffer: A friend is someone who will help you move. A real friend is someone who will help you move a body), peaches (this

Comments

[roisin_farrell]

Stella went through a lot and I'm glad Dennis was there for her and lied for her. Hopefully this will be the last time they have to speak of it.

[nathskywalker]

After the investigation is over, they put that part of their lives behind them and don't ever talk about the lie or even what really happened again because it's just too painful for them to revisit those memories. The Internal Investigations subplot was an idea I came up with recently while reworking the Joseph Plot and it's another reason Stella and Dennis bond.

Dennis had to lie. The real version of the story would have cost them both their jobs and that's really all they have left at this point.

[smoothiegarten]

Ooh, I really felt the tension throughout this. It's very emotional and for that reason it's good that Dennis and Stella put enough truth into the story to be able to carry it off without a hitch. What an awful time for both of them. I hope there aren't any more roadblocks to getting her acquitted.

[nathskywalker]

They had to stick to the facts that were generally knows when they came up with that story, so the lie couldn't be too far-fetched or someone would have grown even more suspicious. There are some elements in the lie that were in the first few versions of the shootout I've had in mind ever since 2007 but it's changed since then and adding the lie was a nice way to make use of the previous versions.

Stella puts up with a few more hours of questioning over the next few days but then it ends once and for all. I torture her way too much :(

[ichthusfish]

Oooh... I'd forgotten about that Malt. Nice work on the tension. Elaborate, close to the truth constructs like that are among the hardest to pull off, especially in the face of people used to hunting out the truth. Hopefully they can put all this behind them soon and move on :)

[nathskywalker]

They had to stick to a version of the story that made sense given what others knew and if they strayed too far from the reality, then someone would probably find holes in the story. I think it's not even so hard for Dennis and Stella to tell this story. If things had played out like in the lie, they would still be at the same emotional state afterwards. What really happened isn't that far off the lie but with a few major changes that would have gotten Stella into trouble because she went after Joseph after herself, defying orders.

Atton tried to keep the investigations from turning into this tribunal because he felt like Dennis and Stella had already been through enough but Dietz wouldn't have any of that and I think I'd be on his side if I wasn't so biased. The truth should be revealed. I don't know if Dietz buys every detail about the lie. When it comes to a vote, he's the one who wants to keep digging, sensing that something is a little off about all of this but the other four don't back him and so, Stella gets out of this mess.