WARNING! This chapter contains subject matter that may be uncomfortable for some people. I don't think it's bad enough to up the rating on the story but I feel obligated to give everyone a heads up just in case.

That afternoon found Shawn once again alone at the Psych office. With such a light case load lately, Gus was picking up some extra routes to help pay the bills. Shawn had spent some time going over suspects in the Sanders' case, but no one stood out to him as a killer. With Nikki MIA, he decided to take some time to relax and catch up on the Mentalist. He was halfway through his second episode when his phone starting ringing. He glanced at the ID before answering. "Hey Jules. Anything new on the Sanders' case?" There was silence on the other end of the line. "Jules? You there?"

"I got the results of Nikki's background check," Juliet said finally. "You need to come down here." She sounded eerily calm, which immediately put him on guard.

"Can't you just tell me over the phone?" he asked uneasily.

"Just get down here. And come alone." She hung up.

He sat there for a minute, staring at his phone. What on earth had Juliet found out about Nikki that she wouldn't say over the phone? Nothing good sprang to mind. Growing more uneasy by the minute, he grabbed his keys and headed for the station.

Shawn went straight to Juliet when he arrived at the station. "Okay, I'm here," he said, plopping down in the chair next to her desk. "What did you find out?"

She organized the folders on her desk. "I need you to be honest with me, Shawn," she said without looking up.

"Of course," he said. He assumed she had recognized Nikki as the girl from the crime scene and probably wanted an explanation.

She stacked the folders neatly on her desk and finally looked up at him. He was surprised by the anger in her eyes. "Did you know about her?" she asked.

"Look, she just wanted some help finding her father," he explained. "I didn't know she would follow me to the crime scene."

"Did you know why she wanted to find her father?" she asked, staring at him intently.

"She said she wasn't getting along with her mom," he said slowly. "Her mom wouldn't tell her who her father was, so she hoped I could." He saw Juliet close her eyes in relief. "Jules, what is going on?" he asked in confusion.

She hit a button on her keyboard and turned the computer monitor towards him. "I think you should read this."

It was the results of Nikki's background check. He read through it quickly and his eyes widened. "Is this accurate?" he asked hoarsely, glancing at Juliet.

She nodded. "I double checked it myself."

He leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, that does explain a lot," he said. Not wanting to talk about her mother, wanting no police involvement, all explained in two short paragraphs. However, it also painted a worrying picture for some of the other things he had noticed recently. "What are you going to do now?" he asked.

Juliet sighed. "I just can't ignore this Shawn," she said apologetically.

He sighed too. "I know." He thought quickly, trying to find a solution. Now that he knew the truth, he couldn't just turn her in to the police. "Can you give me a couple days? I think there is more going on then we know and I need the chance to talk to her."

Juliet considered this, then nodded. "Yeah, I think I can."

"Good," he said in relief. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Do you have fingerprint records on her?"

"Um, yeah," Juliet said. She called them up on the screen.

He pulled the fingerprint card out of his wallet and compared it to the prints on the screen. After a moment, he put it back and stood up. "I have to go," he said. "I might be home late, so don't wait up."

She grabbed his arm before he could leave. "I know you want to help but be careful. This girl has been through a lot already." She released his arm, glancing around. "Call me if you need anything," she said quietly.

He leaned down to give her a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear. He turned away and left the station, heading to the one place he knew he could find Nikki.

The sun had already gone down and the Psych office was dark and silent. The only illumination came from the lights outside along the boardwalk. It was just enough light to make out a figure slowly easing the back door of the office open. They quietly made their way through the office, navigating by memory and the faint shapes that could be made out in the dim light. The person sat down at Shawn's desk and started going through the drawers.

Suddenly, the overhead light clicked on. "Hello, Nikki."

Nikki jumped, looking around wildly. Shawn stepped out from where he had been hiding by the front door. He was a little stiff from how long he had been standing there but his hunch had paid off. "I figured you would come in the back. We never remember to lock that door."

"Sh-Shawn!" she stammered. She got up quickly and backed away, putting the desk between them. "It's not what it looks like," she said quickly.

"I don't think anything about you is what it looks like," he said, coming into the room. He gestured to the couch by the window. "Have a seat." His gaze softened when he saw the frightened look on her face. "Don't worry. I just want to talk."

She reluctantly sat down on the couch. He pulled his desk chair over to sit across from her. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked nervously.

He sighed, rubbing his hands. He had to do this carefully, or she would just run off again. The best thing would be if she voluntarily told him the truth. He didn't think it would be that easy, but he had to give her the chance to come clean. "Why don't you tell me what you're really doing here."

"Here in the office?" she asked evasively.

"Here in Santa Barbara," he clarified. "I know you're not from around here."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, her voice cracking slightly. Her eyes were wide and kept darting to the exits. She was poised on the edge of her chair, ready to run as soon as she felt threatened.

Shawn shifted the desk chair slightly, blocking her path to the back door. She noticed and swallowed nervously, warily looking up to meet his gaze. "Nikki Peterson, born in Columbia, North Carolina," he said quietly. "Last known residence; Denver, Colorado." He watched as her face paled. "Care to explain?"

"OK, so I had to travel a little farther than you thought to get here," she said shakily. "And my mom doesn't know I'm here, so if you could just keep it quiet. . ." Her voice trailed off as she saw the pitying look on his face.

"Nikki," he said gently. "I know about your mom." She looked at him in shock. "I'm so sorry," he said sincerely.

Tears started streaming down her face. She tried to hold back the sobs, but he could see she was fighting a losing battle. He moved onto the couch next to her but hesitated from touching her, unsure how she would react if he did. She studied him for a moment with tear-filled eyes before throwing herself into his arms.

He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her as she broke down completely, crying heavily into his shoulder. "It's okay," he said, rubbing her back in what he hoped was a soothing manner. "Let it out." He could feel her trembling as the heart-wrenching sobs shook her frame. He wondered if anyone had been there for her when it happened. Judging by how much she was crying, he doubted it. This was probably the first time she had let go since. He couldn't believe she had been able to hold it together for this long on her own. He did what he could to help, holding her as she cried herself out.

After a few minutes, she pulled back from him. "Thanks," she said, wiping her eyes. "I haven't cried like that since the night she died." She looked down, sniffing loudly.

He grabbed a box of tissues off Gus's desk. He handed them to her and sat back down in the chair. "That was what, a week and a half ago?" he asked quietly.

She nodded. "Yeah." She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "The doctor said the cancer was unusually aggressive. She didn't have a chance." She wiped her eyes with a tissue as fresh tears fell.

He gave her a minute to collect herself again. He had a feeling the next questions weren't going to be easy. "You weren't lying about having no other family," he said. "So they put you in foster care." She stiffened at his words, her face becoming guarded. "After two days, you disappeared."

"It wasn't for me," she said. "I decided to try to find my birth father instead. See if he would take me in." She tried to keep her tone light, but he hear an undercurrent of fear in her voice.

"You seem like a bright kid," he said. "You could have tried to find your birth father from Denver. They love to place foster kids with family if possible. So why did you suddenly take off like that?" He felt uncomfortable pressuring her like this, but he had to know the real reason she left if he was going to help her.

"You can't make me go back," she said, her voice trembling. "I'll just run off again." Her whole body had tensed up and she looked ready to bolt.

"I'm not making you go anywhere," he said carefully. He was startled by the fear he saw in her eyes. "Look at me." She met his gaze, eyes wide. "You're safe here. I won't send you back." He saw a myriad of emotions flickering across her face; fear, distrust, panic, pain. She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "I promise. You can trust me," he said. She opened her eyes and met his gaze. He stared back levelly, willing her to believe him.

"You promise not to tell anyone?" she asked quietly.

"I promise," he said, crossing his heart.

That earned him a small smile. "OK," she said. "I'll tell you." She leaned forwards, resting her arms on her knees. She stared at the floor as she talked. "The first night was OK. I wasn't the only foster kid. There was another girl and a guy staying there. The girl basically ignored me. I wasn't really in the mood to talk, so that was fine. The guy kept staring at me, but that was normal. I had guys staring at me all the time in school or at the mall." She stopped talking, still staring at the floor. He could see how this was hard for her. He waited patiently, giving her the space to tell the story at her own pace. "Things didn't go well the second night. Since it was just the three of us, we each had our own rooms. It was late; everyone else was asleep. I heard someone open the door to my room." She paused and took a deep, trembling breath. "He came in. The other foster kid. He said he just wanted to talk. And at first, that's all he did. Then he was holding my hand and leaning in close to me. He kissed me and started touching me. I tried to pull away and he hit me." Her hand reached up, gently touching the side of her face. "Then he-he pulled off my shirt and pushed me down on the bed." She stopped again, trembling hard.

"Nikki," he said gently. "You don't have to say anymore if you don't want to." She had already said more than enough for him to get an idea of what happened.

She shook her head. "No, I have to get this out." She took another deep breath before continuing. "He kept touching me, telling me not to fight. He said it was going to happen no matter what and I should just try to enjoy it. He reached down to. . . to. . . " She swallowed hard, tucking her legs up on the couch and wrapping her arms around them. "To undo my jeans. His grip loosened enough I managed to pull free and punched him in the face." She took a shuddering breath and hugged her legs tighter. "He backed off and started cursing and I tried to get away. But he came after me again. I grabbed the desk lamp and smashed him on the head with it." She looked up at him and he could see in her eyes the fear she had felt at that moment. "I didn't know what else to do."

"It's okay now," Shawn said softly. His first instinct was to hug her again but he knew in this case that wouldn't go so well. He was left with words, which for once didn't seem like nearly enough. "You're safe. He can't get you." And if he comes anywhere near you again, I'll beat the crap out of him. He wasn't usually violent, but any guy who preyed on defenseless girls like that deserved it.

She nodded slowly. "I know but. . ." She took a deep breath, playing with a bit of string hanging off her sleeve. "I just left him there, on the floor. I didn't know if he was okay or even still alive. I didn't care; I just had to get out of there. I threw what clothes I had in a bag and left that night. I got on the first bus I could find heading out of town." She wiped her eyes and ducked her face so it was hiding behind her knees. "I didn't know where to go. Then I remembered what my mom said about my birth father being from Santa Barbara. The bus I was on was already heading west, so I figured it was as good a destination as any. Once I got here, I didn't know what to do next. I had no idea how to find my dad." She glanced up at him. "Luckily, I saw an article about you in the paper. I figured if anyone could find my dad, a psychic could. So here I am." She seemed drained from her speech and rested her head against her knees, eyes closed.

Shawn wiped a hand over his face. Working with the police, he knew of some of the horrible things that happened to people in foster care. He just never had to face someone who had been through it personally. He felt a sudden surge of protectiveness for Nikki. He had already promised he wouldn't send Nikki back to foster care and after hearing her story there was no way he would ever let that happen.

However, she couldn't keep breaking into the Psych office at night and going who knew where during the day. She needed a place to stay. He couldn't bring her home. Juliet might be willing to look the other way for a couple days, but she was a cop first. She would feel obligated to notify someone where Nikki was and she would end up back in the system. Nikki needed a safe place she could stay until Shawn found her father.

There was only one place he could think of to bring her.

He stood up. "Come on," he said, holding out his hand to her. She stared at it for a moment before slowly reaching out to grab it and allowing Shawn to pull her to her feet.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he led her towards the door. She may have trusted him enough to confide in him, but he could still hear a trace of fear in her voice.

"You can't keep breaking into the office," he said. "You need somewhere to stay." He gave her an encouraging grin. "Don't worry. He does this kind of thing all the time." He pulled Gus's keys from his pocket, glad he had asked to borrow his friend's car. "You'll be safe there." She nodded cautiously, letting him guide her out of the office.

Shawn knocked on the door. "Just follow my lead," he said. Nikki nodded, still looking apprehensive. He could hear someone stumbling around inside and some muttered cursing. The porch light clicked on and a few seconds later the door opened. "Hi Dad! Mind if we come in?" Shawn pushed Nikki past his surprised father before slipping into the house himself. He led her into the middle of the kitchen before his father had time to protest.

"Shawn? What's going on?" Henry Spencer asked, closing the door and locking it. He looked eerily similar to when Shawn was a kid, minus the hair. "It's two o'clock in the morning." He pointed at Nikki. "Who's this?" He looked grumpy, which Shawn could understand since he had barged into the house in the middle of the night. Of course, Shawn knew his father was always grumpy when he was around.

"Dad, this is Nikki Peterson," Shawn said. "She needs a place to stay." He turned to Nikki. "Guest bedroom is up the stairs, second door on the left." She looked hesitantly between him and Henry. "Go on, it's fine," he said, shooing her towards the stairs. She gave Henry one last hesitant glance before going upstairs.

"Shawn, we've been through this," Henry said after she left. "I'm not a hotel. You can't keep hiding people out at my house."

"Come on, dad. It's only for a couple of days. A week tops." Shawn leaned back against the counter, watching his father. Now that he knew the whole story, he should be able to find Nikki's father within that time-frame. He just needed a place for her to stay until then. "You said you needed more help around the house since you've been shot," Shawn reminded him.

"Yeah, a few weeks ago." Henry jerked his thumb at the stairs. "Just how old is she?" he asked, eyes narrowing.

"Age is all relative." Shawn pointed at himself. "I myself feel a youthful twenty-one." He waved at his father. "You, on the other hand, look a worn out sixty-five."

Henry crossed his arms and gave him a look. "Shawn, answer the question."

Even if he didn't tell his father, he would find out eventually. He still had contacts at the police station after all. "Before you freak out, just know she has nowhere else to go," Shawn said placatingly. "I'm trying to track down her father, but until then she needs a place to stay."

"Shawn," Henry said warningly.

"She's fifteen," he said reluctantly. He flinched as he saw his father's face turn completely red.

"Fifteen? She's fifteen?!," Henry yelled. "Why the hell are you trying to hide a fifteen year old girl at my house?" He glared at Shawn suspiciously. "Is she a run away? Are you hiding her from the police?"

"It's complicated," Shawn said hesitantly. He trusted his father but he didn't want to get into the particulars of what happened with him. The less Henry knew, the better.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't turn her over to the police right now," Henry said. Shawn knew this wasn't a completely empty threat. After all, the man had arrested his own son when he was a teenager.

"Like I said, she has nowhere to go." Shawn glanced up the stairs to make sure Nikki wasn't in ear shot. He lowered his voice anyway just to be sure they weren't overheard. "She has no other family. She would have to go into foster care and I promised I wouldn't send her back." He realized his mistake as soon as the words left his mouth.

"Back?" Henry asked, voice rising. "As in she was already there? She is a runaway, isn't she?" He ran his hand over his head. "I told you I wouldn't hide anyone from the police anymore." He walked over to the wall and grabbed the cordless phone. He was already dialing when Shawn snatched it from his hand.

"Dad, please, hear me out for a minute," Shawn said quickly, backing away with the phone. Henry was glaring at him, but made no move to take the phone back. Shawn took a deep breath before continuing. "Juliet already knows about her. She's giving me a couple days to track down her dad. So she's not really hiding from the police." He gave his dad a small grin, which was not returned. He let the grin fade as he decided how much of the truth to tell his father. "Look, she had a problem at the last foster home she was at and I can't send her back into the system," he said, hoping his father would let him leave it at that.

Some of the anger had faded from Henry's face. "What kind of problem?"

"A problem involving a boy at the home," Shawn said, looking away. He couldn't tell his father what had happened; he had made a promise to Nikki. "Please don't ask for any more details." He stared intently at the cabinets, waiting for an answer.

Something of the seriousness of the situation must have been in his tone. He heard his father sigh. "All right, she can stay," he said. Shawn risked a look at him. The anger had faded completely away, replaced by concern. "But only temporarily." The words lacked the force they normally would have had, showing Henry wasn't as hard-hearted as he acted.

Shawn smiled in relief. "Thanks, dad," he said. There were several seconds of awkward silence, as neither man was good at dealing with emotional issues. "I'm just going to run up and let Nikki know what's going on," he said, desperate to get out of the kitchen. He turned and headed up the stairs before his dad could say anything.

Entering the guest room, he saw Nikki sitting nervously on the bed. "We're good," he said. "I convinced him to let you stay." He sat down on the bed next to Nikki. "He's not the easiest person to live with, being a former cop and constantly butting into your personal life and nothing you do ever being good enough for him." He smiled at Nikki. "But it's better than hiding in the Psych office."

He was surprised when Nikki threw her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you," she said quietly. Shawn returned the hug awkwardly. He wasn't a touchy-feely kind of guy, but there was a part of him, a part that felt protective of this girl he had only met three days ago, that was touched by the hug.

She released him and pulled away, blushing. "So, it's getting late. I'm feeling kind of tired." She stretched and yawned to emphasize this fact.

He stood up. "You're right, I should go. I'll stop by tomorrow to let you know how the search is going." He stopped in the doorway and turned back to look at the young woman. "I will find your father. You can count on me," he said, meeting Nikki's gaze.

"I know," she said simply, trust in her eyes.

He nodded and left the room. He went down the stairs and found his father still in the kitchen. "Gotta go. Thanks again pop," he said, bee lining through the kitchen.

"I hope you know what you're doing Shawn," Henry called after him.

"Of course," he yelled back, pulling open the door. He gave his father a grin and left, shutting the door behind him. "At least, I hope I do," he said quietly to himself, grin fading from his face. Nikki was counting on him. He wouldn't, couldn't, let her down.