A/N: This chapter totally came out of nowhere. It wasn't something I planned on writing but an idea from the last chapter made me think...hmm, I think I'll write about that! lol!

enjoy!

Chapter 7

Katrina recognized the familiar white brick building as they turned into the parking lot. Oh how she hated this place! But especially today. Maybe Daddy would change his mind and say she didn't have to go.

Rafe pulled into the parking space and turned off the car. He looked up in the rearview mirror, checking on Katrina. She had been quiet the whole time, which was very uncharacteristic of her.

But he knew the reason for her mood, and he couldn't blame the kid.

Today was the day of the dreaded dentist appointment.

"Come on, Princess. Time to go."

"No, Daddy! I don't wanna!"

Rafe got out of the car, closing his door and opening the back. "I know you don't, but you have to."

Katrina unbuckled her seatbelt and reluctantly climbed out of the car. She held onto her bear tightly.

Once Katrina was on the ground, Rafe closed the door and took her hand. He led her up the sidewalk to the steps of the building.

It was then that the waterworks began.

"No, Daddy! No! Please don't make me go!" Katrina cried, grabbing the railing and refusing to let go. She didn't even care that her bear fell to the ground.

"Princess, you've got to go."

"No, Daddy! Let's go home!"

Rafe gently gave her arm a little tug, urging her to move along, but that only made her grab the rail tighter. Apparently, he was going to have to drag her in kicking and screaming, literally.

"Katrina, come on, let's go."

"NO!" Katrina just cried louder, making a scene. "NO! NO! NO! I don't want to go the dentist! Please, Daddy!"

Rafe tried to ignore the stares from the couple walking past them.

Finally, Rafe realized that he was going to get nowhere by begging her to go. Obviously she didn't want to go. It wasn't that she was misbehaving...she was simply terrified.

Rafe knelt down, hating to see tears fall from such pretty eyes.

"Calm down. You're okay. You know Daddy's not going to let anyone hurt you, right?"

Katrina looked at her father, sniffling.

"Tell me why you're so afraid."

"I don't want the dentist pulling out my tooth!" she sobbed.

"He's not going to pull out your tooth, Princess. He's just going to give you a filling. That's something that will protect your tooth."

"But Christina said when she went to the dentist, he pulled out her tooth!"

"No, that was different. Christina's tooth was ready to come out anyway. It just needed to be removed to make room for her other teeth. But the dentist is not going to pull out your tooth. Alright?"

"Can't we just go home?" Katrina sobbed.

"And risk that pretty smile of yours being ruined? No way! You've got to go to the dentist. Just like you've got to go to the doctor. Now, where's that brave little girl of mine?"

"You won't leave me, will you Daddy? Like the time they left me all alone in that room with the scary x-ray machine!"

"I won't leave you. I promise. Now come on, you're a big girl. Let's go in and show them how brave you are." Rafe gave her a smile, picking up Bernie the bear and handing him back to her.

Katrina let go of the rail and took her father's hand. She walked in with her father, but despite what he said, she didn't feel so brave.

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Katrina rested her head against her father, her tears finally dry but her face still somber.

Rafe tried to distract her, reading the jokes from the Highlights magazine to her, but she wasn't interested.

"Katrina Kovich," said the dental hygienist, peering into the waiting room.

"Well, that's you," Rafe said, standing up. "Come on. Grab Bernie."

Katrina picked up her bear and reluctantly took her father's hand. They walked over to the woman wearing the strange white shirt with smiley tooth faces all over it.

"Hi, Katrina!" the woman said, giving her a big smile. "Do you remember me? My name is Denise."

Katrina looked at her briefly and then hid behind her father.

"She's usually more talkative," Rafe whispered.

"It's understandable." Denise knelt down in front of Katrina. "Katrina, I know you're a little scared, but I promise we'll take good care of you here, okay? And your daddy will be with you the whole time."

Katrina remained silent, bringing her bear up to her chin and holding him tighter.

"Who's your friend?" Denise asked.

"Bernie," Katrina said in a soft voice.

"Well Bernie can come along too! Maybe we'll check out his teeth! What do you say?"

Katrina shook her head okay.

"Alright, follow me." Denise led the way through the maze of hallways into a room in the back.

"Well, pretty girl, if you'll have a seat in this big chair right here, we'll get started. The sooner we start, the sooner it'll all be over with."

Katrina froze, staring at the big brown chair with fear. In her mind, the chair had a face. A big ugly face with mean eyes and big teeth.

"Come on, Katrina!" it said to her. "Come sit down so we can pull out all of your teeth! HA HA HA HA HA!" The arm of the chair picked up a drill, and the face continued to laugh at her.

"No!" Katrina said, hiding behind her father again.

"Katrina, we already talked about this," Rafe said. "No one is going to hurt you. Now you can go sit in the chair or I'll put you in there myself."

Katrina shook her head no.

"Katrina," Rafe warned.

"I'm scared of the chair! It's gonna pull out all of my teeth!"

"No one is going to pull out your teeth."

"I have an idea," Denise spoke up. "Maybe Daddy can try out the chair first and make sure it's safe."

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Rafe sat in the chair. He looked at Katrina and smiled. "See? It's not a big deal. It's actually a pretty comfortable chair. I could fall asleep in this thing!"

"Believe it or not, some patients actually have," Denise laughed.

"Come on, Princess. You try it out now. You've been in this chair before. It's no different."

Katrina was less worried about the chair now, but as she looked over at table beside it, her fears were renewed.

"No, she's gonna use the hook! It'll stick me!" she cried, pointing to the dentist's tools.

"The hook?"

"You mean this thing?" Denise asked, holding up her exploring instrument. "Oh it might look scary, but it's quite harmless. This is my special tooth inspector."

"Special tooth inspector?" Katrina asked curiously.

"Yep! It's helps me look for cavities. I don't 'stick' patients with it, I promise."

"Test it out on Daddy first!" Katrina said.

"Do you mind, Mr. Kovich?" Denise asked.

"Of course not. Inspect away," he said with a laugh. He'd do anything to show Katrina that there wasn't that much to be afraid of.

Denise adjusted the chair and turned on the overhead lamp. Taking her "special tooth inspector", she began to look in Rafe's mouth.

"What do you see?" Katrina asked, standing on the tip of her toes, trying to see for herself.

"I see a lot of teeth," Denise said as she continued to look around. "You know, Mr. Kovich, we had a cancellation this morning. We could probably fit you into our schedule today."

"Oh that's not necessary. I'm not due for a cleaning for another couple of months."

"I wasn't talking about a cleaning, Mr. Kovich. It looks like you have a cavity too."

"What?"

"Daddy has one too?" Katrina asked, surprised that parents got cavities!

"That's impossible! I've never had a cavity in my life!"

"Well there's a first time for everything, Mr. Kovich," Denise said.

"How are we doing today?" Dr. Meyer asked as he walked into the room.

"Daddy has a cavity!" Katrina announced.

"Oh he does, huh? Hmm, now I thought I was going to be working on you today, little lady."

"Actually, looks like you'll be working on both of them, Dr. Meyer," Denise said with a laugh. "Can you come check out number 30?"

"I don't really have a cavity do I?" Rafe mumbled with the hygienist's tool still in his mouth.

"Let me see," Dr. Meyer said, putting on his gloves and taking a look. "Yep, I'd say that looks like a new cavity forming. Better do something about that now before it gets worse."

"I have a cavity?" Rafe mumbled.

"We have a cancellation this morning, Mr. Kovich. Would you like for us to go ahead and take care of this now?"

"Oh that'll be perfect!" Denise interrupted. "Daddy will go first and then Katrina will see that there's nothing to it!"

"Yeah! Daddy's gonna get it done too!"

"Well, Mr. Kovich?" Dr. Meyer asked.

"I guess I have no choice."

"Wonderful! Well let's get things set up and get started!"

Rafe grew anxious as he looked at the assortment of tools lying on the table. He dreaded this in the worst possible way. He had no idea when he took Katrina to the dentist this morning that he'd end up being a patient too.

But then, he looked at Katrina. She sat in the chair against the wall, watching everything. He didn't want to show his fear. He had to be brave for her.

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"I'm home," Alison announced, walking into the door with a bag of groceries. "Rafe? Katrina?"

"Mommy! Mommy!" Katrina ran into the room, excited because she couldn't wait to show her mother all of her cool new things.

"Hey, sweetie!" Alison leaned down, taking hold of Katrina's face and giving her a kiss. "How did things go at the dentist today? Were you a big girl for Daddy?"

"I was scared at first but then Daddy got it done and he was okay so I knew I'd be okay too!"

"Daddy got it done? What do you mean?"

"I had a cavity," Rafe announced, walking into the room.

"Oh no! You didn't!"

"Never had a cavity in my life until I married a woman with a sweet tooth who opened up a bakery."

Alison laughed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Your cookies are delicious." Rafe walked over to her, greeting her with a kiss. "Oh, it's so good to feel my mouth again! I thought that Novocain would never wear off!"

"Look, Mommy! I got some cool things from the dentist!"

"Oh you did? What kinds of goodies did you get?"

Katrina opened up her little plastic bag, taking each item out one at a time. "I got some dental gum. It's yummy! I had a piece already! And I got some floss. It's cinnamon; that tastes good too! And look, a brand new toothbrush! It's pink! And it's sparkly! And I got a sticker too! See?" Katrina pointed to the tooth sticker on her shirt.

"Alright! Sounds like you got a lot of neat stuff!" Alison turned to Rafe. "What did you get?"

Rafe frowned. "I didn't get anything. Except a bill."

Alison laughed. "Aww, honey!" Alison wrapped her arms around him, giving him a smile. "Then I'll have make sure you get something special," she said in a soft tone.

Rafe smiled. He liked the sound of that. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well..." Alison said as she moved in to kiss him.

Katrina's attention turned away from her sparkling pink toothbrush and she looked up at her parents. "You can get him a toothbrush, Mommy! One that's glittery like mine!"

Rafe and Alison both laughed.

Alison looked at Katrina and smiled. "What a good idea, sweetie. Daddy could probably use a new toothbrush. Well, let's get dinner started."

"I'll help set the table!" Katrina announced, running to the kitchen.

"A toothbrush? That's what I get?" Rafe asked.

Alison turned to Rafe and smiled. "I guess you'll have to wait until tonight to see." Alison smiled and gave him a wink as she left the room.