Take A Chance On Me

Naomi felt vulnerable. They had taken her wand and people were staring at her as the security guard escorted her through the Ministry. Naomi still had the status of serial killer, even though her crimes had technically been pardoned. Still, eyes followed her, scowls were directed at her, some people seemed like they wanted to spit. She was glad she had dressed the part, then, if she was going to be treated like she was evil- might as well be stylish.

The security guard seemed torn between his appreciation of her outfit, fear at her capabilities, and disgust with her past. His comments to her were either innuendos, warnings, or muttered complaints about her existence. Naomi refused to speak at all- she had found lately that opting out of speaking altogether had been the bets option.

She arrived in the correct department and her 'social worker' of types was called forth- some Mr Collins. Naomi sat herself in a chair and sighed, misery sinking over her. How far she had fallen.

outfit

He wasn't sure how he'd been the one chosen to take this case. He was sure there was probably some other person who was better qualified to take this one, but he could try it. He'd been informed that he had been assigned Naomi Greyback's case, that was a bit unsettling for him. The Ministry had been after her for murders that she had committed over a long period of time.

Jake wasn't sure how he was supposed to help her, but he knew she needed help and was his job to provide her that help. When he was called for, Jake sighed and went to meet the woman he would be trying to help now. He was a bit cautious as he approached her and he smiled at her when he stood before Naomi. "Ms. Greyback?" he asked. "I'm Jake Collins, nice to meet you." he extended his hand tentatively to shake hers.

Naomi was rather invested in her own self pity when the man of the hour seemed to be approaching, for the room thickened as though to watch her reaction to having become a caged wolf. The security guard was whispering something to a secretary about a fat chance or something or other. Naomi sighed, crossing her arms.

She had just decided she would resist the man when he approached and smiled at her. Naomi hesitated as he introduced himself- she had expected some busy-body, tight-lipped, gruff man intending on manhandling her into being a proper citizen. But this man was causal, and somehow, gentle. Naomi knew, in the past, she would have spoken of devouring him, but she felt a bit relieved to see how easy it would be to resign to him.

But people were watching, and she had a reputation. The moment of tender possibilities passed and she huffed a sigh, standing and tugging her shirt over her hips, failing to cover her naval fully. "Lead the way," she droned, ignoring the hand she so curiously wanted to investigate with her own.

Jake lowered his hand after she had ignored it and he cleared his throat. "Very well then." he said. At least that had gone kind of well, he was still alive wasn't he? Of course he hadn't expected her to be all nice and immediately open up to him. He couldn't except that of anyone, even himself to another person. Everyone was reserved at first, and right now he had to work on getting Naomi to open up to him, even if it was just a little bit.

"Follow me." he said and he turned around, walking down the hall. He looked at the folder in his hands and wondered how exactly he was supposed to get her to open up. How was he supposed to just get her to tell him anything. He thought she would be reluctant to help him in any way, and even if she wasn't she probably wouldn't give him much information to go on.

He sighed softly. Maybe just getting her away from all the people would be a good enough start. Jake continued to a room on the end of the hall and he opened the door. He motioned for her to enter first before going in and closing the door behind him. Somehow, he was managing to stay calm even though he was alone with a werewolf who was wanted for murder, he just hoped he could keep it that way.

Naomi felt a squirm of regret in her stomach as she watched the effect of her forced, guarded rudeness. He dropped his hand and responded curtly, and she could not help but think that she had dashed all of his hopes for her being any sort of decent human being. Miserable and numb, she obeyed, following him down the hall and hoping for any small chance at redemption.

He held the door open, though, and she swallowed her own pity and pulled her shoulders back and tipped her chin back. The pursed her lips in a sassy fashion and brushed past him, willing herself not to allow his scent to reach her nostrils- too bad she was a werewolf and could smell anyone from a mile off. He smelled good.

She continued on and blinked her eyes, certain he could not see her discomposure. She dropped into the chair at his desk and set her clutch bag in her lap, crossing her arms again and waiting for him to join her.

He didn't want to make her uncomfortable by asking questions that he thought she probably wouldn't want to answer, but it was necessary for him to know what led her to be there now. He stepped away from the door and walked toward his desk, wondering how he was going to phrase the questions he felt he had to ask her and he sighed as she settled himself down in the seat.

He opened the folder he had been holding that was now on the desk and he glanced at it, quickly looking it over. He sat up straight in his seat and cleared his throat. "Naomi ..." he stopped and hesitated then continued, "Ms. Greyback, I know you probably won't want to tell me anything, but it's important for me, to know what happened that made you be here now." he said. "What happened that caused you to be here?" he asked.

He called her Ms Greyback, which was better than Mrs Barker (which she technically was), but still the name was not something she fancied. It reminded her of her continual failure to impress the father she had only ever wanted a relationship from. Evil, she was trying to hard. Good, she was surely a shame. She blinked twice and then raised her voice a tad, saying, "Naomi."

He wanted her story. She had said it more times than she was comfortable. "Didn't Elijah put it in my file- alright." She sighed. "You've seen my case. Most of what I did was prompted by trying to keep my husband faithful. It didn't work- he's been messing around and it sort of snapped me back to reality." She didn't want to say more, the pain was already evident in her voice and she had no intention on affirming her weakness anymore than she already had.

He could tell from her voice that it hurt her a lot to say what had happened to her and why she was here now, so he merely nodded and said, "Okay." Without asking her anything else. Everything that had happened was in the file, but he had wanted to hear it from her because he figured it would help. Not just him but her as well. Sometimes by saying things again it helped the person get over whatever happened, but sometimes it couldn't.

He didn't want to make her feel any worse than she must have already felt so he just stopped there. He scribbled something down on the file and sighed softly. Jake still wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to help her but he had to try somehow. They had to start with her reputation. He had to think of something she could do to help clean her image, or else she wouldn't be able to live normally, especially after everything she'd done.

Naomi sighed. The man seemed about as nervous as her, but somehow this put her more at ease. He was not pressing her to do something she did not want, so perhaps she could steer him in a direction she wanted to go in. Naomi wanted peace, and she wanted normalcy. She hoped Jake could help her.

"I don't think I can actually live in society normally until I've proven myself. I'd like to help arrest and charge Felix to prove that I want to be good," Naomi said. "I don't think the Ministry trusts me enough, though, to involve me. I have to bring him in, though, Mr Collins. I swore I'd take him down."

That was something, he supposed. She wanted to capture her husband and bring him in. That proved, to him, that she did want to change and that she wanted to help them. Even though it was mostly for herself. That was still something though, something that he could, hopefully, work with. She was being honest and he felt like he had to do something to help her get the Ministry to allow her to help with Barker's case.

He wasn't exactly sure how he was going to get them to let her help but he would think of something. Jake smiled at her and said, "Don't worry. I understand and I'll do whatever I can to get them to allow you to help arrest him."