A/N: welcome to yet another story by yours truly. This was a prompt given to me by the lovely Nick-rachel-nichel. I hope you guys like it, it will probably only be a two-shot.

Well this was just perfect. Of all the foster homes he could have been placed in, it had to be this one. Jeff already had a problem being close to people. What with all the moving around, he didn't ever feel like anyone cared enough to want him. This however was the worst. His foster dad was a dentist from what he had been told about him, and there were two other boys and a girl in the house as well; More people to embarrass himself in front of. He would just have to make the best of it and avoid his foster dad as much as possible.

The social worker pulled up to a very pristine two story home. There were a lot of glass walls and bay windows. It even had a tower on one end of the house. It definitely looked like the home of a doctor. Jeff stepped out of the sedan and grabbed his duffel bag. He could see two guys looking out from a second story window. One of them gave a small wave, and Jeff returned with a reluctant flick of his wrist.

The front door opened and in the door way stood a tall brunet man with chestnut eyes and a boyish dimpled smile. He didn't look that scary. Maybe this wouldn't be that bad.

"Hey there, you must be Jeff. You can call me Nick if you'd like" his foster dad noted. Jeff gave a weak smile and stepped past him into the house. Nick spoke with the social worker for a few minutes before coming back in the house. "So Jeff, I can give you a tour of the house if you'd like, and show you your room. You'll get your own room, I hope that okay."

Jeff had been silent up to this point. "Yeah, Nick, that'd be cool. This is a really nice house by the way" he commented.

"Thank you Jeff, four years of graduate school does have its perks" Nick smiled and noticed Jeff was rather uncomfortable. "Are you okay Jeff?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, just getting used to another house is all."

Nick took him on a quick tour of the house. The kitchen was very spacious and had a large island in the center. Most of the house had a neutral tone to it, lots of beige and whites. To the right of the kitchen was a long hall that led to one of the bedrooms and the garage. Jeff glanced into the room at the end of the hall across from the garage and peeked into the slightly ajar door. What he saw made him cringe. It was Nick's home office, and Nick seemed to notice his interest.

"Sometimes there are emergencies and with my office being so far from here I thought it was a good idea to have this room set."

Jeff nodded his head quickly and bit his lip. He felt sick and wanted to leave this part of the house and never return. He backed away and wandered back into the foyer. Nick took him upstairs and showed him his room.

"I'll be downstairs if you need anything. We're ordering pizza tonight, do you have any preference on what you want on it?" Nick inquired.

"No, no preference, thank you" Jeff quickly spoke. He wanted, no, NEEDED to be left alone right now.

He started to unpack his bag and pulled out a granola bar he bought from the gas station on the way here. He ate it on the go as he oved around his room, placing his books on the dresser, hanging a couple posters. This was his routine each time he was replaced in a new home.

He took another bite of his granola bar and felt a sharp shock in his jaw. "OW" he shouted as he dropped the snack on the floor. He bent to pick it up and saw a pair of shoes in his doorway. It was his new 'sister'.

"Hi" she smiled warmly "I'm Sarah, you must be Jeff. I heard you shout and I just came to see if you're okay" she spoke.

"I'm fine; just seem to have a small toothache. It'll go away on its own though. So, how's it going?" Jeff changed the subject.

"Uh, no I don't think it will, you want me to tell Nick? He can help you" she offered.

"NO, no don't do that. Its fine, it'll be fine" Jeff assured her. Sarah didn't look convinced.

"Jeff….. Are you scared?" Sarah asked softly.

"Please don't tell Nick!" Jeff whispered intensely. "I can't deal with this right now. I'm not doing it." Jeff got up from his bed and paced across the room. Sarah looked concerned but kept herself silent.

Nick came upstairs and knocked on the open door. "Hey you guys, the pizza is here. Are you getting to know each other already?" he smiled.

Jeff looked nervously at Sarah waiting for her to say something, anything.

"Yeah dad, were just talking about school. Jeff starts on Monday and I was telling him about his teachers."

"Well that's great, you can go tell your brothers dinner is here and I'll get the table set" Nick stood and walked back down the stairs.

Sarah looked to Jeff now that they were alone again. "Look, I'm not a tattle tale, but you need to tell Nick what's going on. He won't hurt you I promise. He's actually really sweet."

"I appreciate your concern, but I've been down this road before and it never turns out okay. My parents never gave a crap about me and because of that I've never had a pleasant experience at any doctor's office."

Sarah nodded her head solemnly. "I promise this time would be different. Just think about it okay?" she got up and went down the hall to gather the family. Jeff made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Nick was sitting at the table checking his IPad. He looked up as his kids entered the kitchen one by one.

"So how was everyone's day?" Nick asked.

"Dad, I've decided I no longer want to be a high school student, I want to live in the woods and be a burrito, not a high school senior." Adam spoke first.

"I second that!" Michael responded.

"Very funny you two, what about you Sarah?" Nick turned to his daughter.

"I helped Jeff unpack his room." Sarah ate her pizza quietly, trying not to make eye contact with Nick.

Nick observed the kids to try and pick up what was going on between them. He noticed Jeff was just picking at his food, and eating very slowly.

After ten minutes the boys had finished up their dinner and excused themselves. Sarah and Jeff made a move to get up but Nick stopped them.

"You two, sit down we need to talk" he spoke with his arms crossed. "You were awfully quiet during dinner Sarah, and Jeff, you hardly ate at all. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"No" Jeff spoke a little too quickly. Sarah just shook her head and bit her lip to keep from saying anything.

"alright, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Sarah is keeping your secret Jeff, and I'm going to go a step further and say it's a secret you are trying to keep from me for a reason" Nick pondered. Jeff was sweating now.

"Shall I continue or do you guys want to fess up?"

Sarah nudged Jeff in the ribs and gave him a look that said 'your busted, might as well be honest'.

Jeff looked pale as he made eye contact with his step dad for one of the few times today. "Well… one of my teeth started bothering me, and Sarah told me to tell you, and I would have eventually! But its fine really, nothing to worry about" Jeff trailed off.

Nick looked at his daughter "Sarah, can you finish clearing the table for me, and Jeff come with me. I want to try and take care of this tonight if that alright."

Jeff stood abruptly from the table and backed towards the foyer. "No way Nick, I can't… I just can't do it." he ran up the stairs and hid in his room. Jeff pulled the duvet up over his head and made himself a cocoon of blankets. He knew that wouldn't protect him from intruders, but it was comforting nonetheless.

There was a knock at the door, and Jeff felt a weight on his mattress. Nick tried to pry the covers off of Jeff but he held tight. "Jeff, please talk to me, why are you so scared?"

"I-I don't know Nick. It's gonna hurt, like all the times before. Please don't make me do this" Jeff begged.

Nick sighed "Jeff, the longer you wait on something like this the worse it will get, you have to trust me on that. Can you at least let me just look. Nothing will happen I promise you."

Jeff poked his head out from his duvet and glanced at his foster dad. "Please swear to me you're not lying Nick, I'm seriously freaking out."

"You have nothing to worry about with me, it won't hurt a bit."

With much trepidation Jeff slunk out of his bed and apprehensively followed Nick down the stairs.