Naomi watched with lips pursed and bated breath as the smiling face far above her began to slowly tilt to the right. The judgmental titaness, sitting upon Claire's bed as if it were the throne of God, continued to focus her unbroken and unblinking gaze upon her. Naomi instinctively pulled her legs in, as close as she could manage. If her hands didn't already have a death grip on her tablet, she was sure they would be wrapped around her legs as tightly as possible. It had been a month, but she could remember her treatment at Jenna's hands as if their encounter had happened only yesterday. How disgusted the comparatively all-powerful woman had been with her, the browbeating she had received. The pain that had accompanied her squeezing grip.

The mixture of terror and outright shame at being treated with just as much mercy and restraint as she herself had shown. Of looking into those blue eyes that stared at her with a hunger that, as the days had passed by, she worried had been present in her own eyes when she had held Claire's poor brother in her hands.

Naomi's vision began to blur as her eyes began to moisten even more, and her cheeks tickled as the liquid rolled down them.

She could barely even make out Jenna's mouth as it began to move.

"Do we need a reminder about my expectations when it comes to answers, little girl?" Jenna's powerful voice asked in playful condescension.

"N-No!" Naomi squeaked out immediately and pathetically, and her ears picked up a soft snort. With a shiver she slid her feet forward a bit and pulled her tablet from her chest, placing it on her mattress before wiping her eyes dry on the sleeve of her t-shirt.

"I-It's um," she stuttered out fearfully as she once more got a clear look at Jenna's amused countenance, "it's "Tales from the Road," Ms. Jenna."

Jenna's head straightened quickly at that, her smile fading somewhat as her eyes narrowed.

"Whose account are you at, then?" Jenna inquired curiously, the pep suddenly absent from her voice.

"Sophie...Sophie Miles," Naomi responded with a gulp. "I just finished it." The curve of the looming Omega's lips flatlined then, her visage shifting to something Naomi never would have expected.

"Horrible, wasn't it?" Jenna asked with a gentleness that seemed almost unnatural in being directed at her. Naomi nodded with a sniffle as Jenna continued. "That was actually the first book I read, y'know? The first real book, I mean. Not a children's book, not one I was assigned to read. I've read a lot more since, especially in that vein, but none have really stuck with me quite like that one has over the years."

Jenna's eyes closed then, and truthfully, Naomi thought that she might consider her face as angelic in that moment as she took in the softness of her features. The giant woman's shoulders heaved with a sigh, and those eyes slowly opened once again.

"Sophie's story, in particular," she continued softly, "is the one I remember the most. A lot of the stories there...they upset me, obviously, through all that abuse. That despair. But Sophie's sets a bar for cruelty that none of the others ever really match." Jenna's eyes narrowed once again, her nose crinkled. "And it didn't just upset me, Naomi, it made me angry. Angry at the sheer callousness of those boys, angry at the pain they caused, at the joy they took in taking the life of an old man. Of a girl who was barely a teenager. Of a father. Angry at the sheer fucking pointlessness of it all."

Naomi pulled her legs in closely again, and this time did wrap her arms around them, pulling them tightly into her chest and immediately nuzzling into her knees. Her eyes were closed, and fresh tears were beginning to form. Sophie's story really had been the worst of what she had seen. Easily.

"Crying again?" Jenna asked, a certain derisiveness in her voice. "You were crying when I came in, too. Did Sophie's story make you cry, girl?"

"Yes," Naomi cried into her knees. Of course it did. It had been awful. She couldn't imagine not crying.

"Interesting," Jenna noted with that same mocking tone. "So, little Naomi, how does it make you feel to be just like those three boys? To know that there really is no difference between you and them?"

"How does it feel, knowing that Sophie and her family would have actually fared no better had you been the one to find them? That they could have actually fared worse?"

A sob wracked Naomi's body. She wanted to deny that. To distance herself from that cruelty. To say that she would have left that poor family alone, that she would have helped them, even.

But there was no point in lying. Not to Jenna, and not to herself.

"Awful," she sobbed. "Just...awful."

"Interesting, indeed," Jenna affirmed with a mocking chuckle. "But that's good. I'm glad that you feel bad about the type of person you are, about what you did. I'm glad that you're a crying little mess about it. That Sophie's story made you feel that way. Because it shows that you at least have some level of compassion, even if it's what I'd consider to be the bare minimum."

"So. One more question, Naomi, and then we get down to business," Jenna informed her with a sudden return of her perkiness, causing Naomi to cringe in anticipation. She didn't want to "get down to business". Didn't want to know what this "business" was. Where was Claire? Why was this happening again? "Where, exactly, was that compassion at...when you were on the cusp of killing my dear friend?"

An inhuman whine escaped from Naomi as Jenna's question entered her ears, and she futilely attempted to bury her head even further into her knees in response.

"None of that," Jenna declared, seemingly louder than she had been before. "Remember, Naomi: Answers, and prompt ones at that. So pick your head up, wipe your little eyes, and look at me while you answer my question."

Another sniff, but Naomi felt compelled to relent from her effort to disappear into herself. Wiping her eyes against the taut material of her yoga pants, she slowly looked upward to deliver the only answer that had come to mind.

Then jerked backwards in terror, her back flat against her bed as she met Jenna's intense gaze while the Omega's face now hovered just above her enclosure. She had no idea how something so large could move so silently, but the the towering woman was now resting on her haunches directly in front of the cells.

"Answer me," Jenna commanded authoritatively.

"I..." Naomi started, looking away from the bare legs that fed into a pair of khaki shorts before her and up once more into Jenna's gaze.

"I don't know," she finished with another whine, and subconsciously prepared herself for whatever Jenna's response to such an answer,

A response that arrived in the form of laughter. Exasperated laughter, but laughter nonetheless. Naomi continued to look upward, confused and scared.

"God, what the fuck is Claire thinking, clearing you for this?" Jenna asked among her bitter laughter, seemingly more to herself than to Naomi.

Clearing...her? What?

To Naomi's surprise, a bubble of curiosity began to rise up her throat, and she was powerless to stop it from popping out of her mouth.

"Clearing me for what?" she asked, her curiosity temporarily overriding everything else. Jenna's laughter faded almost immediately.

"Put some shoes on," she commanded, voice deadpan. Naomi complied quickly, shifting into a sitting position at the side of her bed, her bare feet finding her shoes on the floor below.

"Congratulations, Naomi Sung," Jenna stated with false enthusiasm as one foot slipped into a shoe, "Enforcer Lindon has cleared you to begin your community service, effective tomorrow."

Naomi paused, her other foot hanging halfway out of its shoe. She had...had been approved for community service? And immediately after the first month? A certain elation began to build within her. Claire had remained true to her word after their first session - there had been no feeling of true danger in the proceeding three. But that hadn't meant complete restraint from the powerful Enforcer. She certainly didn't shy away from some level of pain - her body was still aching from the morning's session, even. But somehow....somehow, seeing Claire's face made it bearable. There was no pleasure there, just resignation.

Nothing like how she had looked at Marion since that day, and that made all the difference to her. But a chance to lessen her punishments was still appreciated, as was the chance to do something good...to give something back.

"And due to the nature of your assignment for the next two months," Jenna continued from above her, still not bothering to hide her contempt for her co-worker's decision, "it has been determined by your supervisor that you need something a bit more...professional to wear. Exercise clothes and wetsuits are not going to cut it in your work environment." Naomi finally managed to slip her other shoe on as she digested this information. New clothes...that sounded nice. "Furthermore, Enforcer Lindon has determined - of her own accord, mind you - that you are deserving of some...fresh air, so to speak. For good behavior."

"So we're going shopping," Jenna finished, her enthusiasm managing to hit an all time low. "You and me."

Naomi swallowed. She was going to be spending the day with Jenna? Why was she...? Actually, why did she even need...

"Um, " Naomi started as another bubble made its way up. "What is my assignment, actually?"

"It's summer," Jenna replied matter-of-factually, "and that means museum field trips for the Beta elementary schools. Claire says you've been doing very well in your handling tests, so you'll be acting as one of many chaperones during those visits. You'll be responsible for handling at least one group of children during their scheduled visit, among other things that we'll go into later."

Naomi almost wanted to squeal. She loved children, and Beta children...they must be so cute!

"Yes, they're very cute," Jenna remarked with another sigh, and Naomi's face went red at her apparent transparency. "And also very, very fragile. So show some self control with these Betas, hm?" The venom was back for that, Naomi shamefully nodded her head in compliance even as she suddenly found herself scooped rather unceremoniously from her bed and up toward Jenna's face, rising in time with it as the Omega stood to her full height. Jenna was not nearly as deliberate in standing as Claire, and Naomi felt as if her stomach and sunk clear through her back and onto the fingers below her.

"Um, Ms. Jenna?" Naomi asked as her hostess began to walk. There was something else she was curious about.

"What?" Jenna responded with disinterest, not even sparing her a look.

"Why isn't," Naomi started, curiosity bubbling past her fear again, "why isn't Ms. Lindon taking me to do this? I mean, I don't...I don't think you really want to do this, so I'm just..."

"Confused?" the Omega asked, coming to a stop in the doorway of Claire's bedroom. "The reason is because unlike you and, unfortunately, me, Claire is very busy at the moment. She has your little friend to deal with, has to pick up Mr. Lindon at the airport, has to prepare for tonight..."

Mr. Lindon? Tonight? What?

Naomi stared up at her apparent shopping companion for the day, dumbfounded. Claire hadn't said anything about....anything. Not about her community service, not about...any of this. Jenna, now peering down at her with that continued disinterest, caught on to her look.

"There's going to be a little...get-together, of sorts, over here tonight. A kind of "Welcome Home"party, if you will. A few families in the neighborhood will be here - I'll be here with my moms. Mr. Lindon's been gone for a while now, so Claire wanted to do something special for her dad now that he's back." And to Naomi's surprise, that gentle, angelic visage returned to Jenna's face as she spoke of Claire's father. Returned, and then disappeared as a sly smirk replaced her soft smile and her eyes narrowed to match.

"Ah, and her mom'll be home, too," Jenna informed her, perkiness now at maximum.