The Fear Is Paralyzing

Quinn jumped when she heard the knock on her door. She wasn't expecting anybody, and anyone that usually did come over always called or texted her first to make sure she was home. She slowly stood up, going over to the door and opening it, immediately regretting doing so. Standing on the other side was Dean with a wide smile on his face.

"Quinn, just the girl I was wanting to see," he said, pushing the door open even further so that he could walk through. Quinn sighed as she shut the door behind him, wishing she could push him out the door, but knowing that was not possible.

"Well you came to the right place," she stated flatly. "What do you want, Dean?" she questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Just to talk to you," he said politely, too politely. Dean was never polite.

"What do you want, Dean?" she repeated. She didn't want to play any of his games.

"So I found out some interesting news when I was down in Florida," he told her, and Quinn could feel her heart sink immediately. Dean must have found some way he could sue her for the team. This was her worst nightmare coming true. She wanted to pinch herself, make sure she wasn't dreaming, but she knew she was awake.

"What?" she asked, trying not to give away just how nervous he had made her with that simple statement.

"Just some stuff," he shrugged his shoulders. He was enjoying this, and Quinn knew it. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction, though.

"Dean, I know you went down there to meet with a lawyer to try to get the team away from me. And, I also know there's nothing you have on me," she told him, surprising even herself with the confidence in her voice. She sure didn't have any confidence at the moment, but she was doing a good job at faking it. She tried to remind herself that Noah had told her that Dean wouldn't find anything but would try to make up something to get her and not to worry about it.

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong, Quinn. I may not have anything to legally take the team from you, but I do have some information that would make you look extremely bad in the public eye," he told her, still not giving anything away.

Quinn looked at him confusingly. She had no idea what he was talking about. "What?" she said simply.

"A little birdie informed me that you have a boyfriend," he spoke, and Quinn thought she could faint right then. How had Dean found out about that? She and Kris had kept their relationship quiet. There was no way Dean could have found out. She wasn't going to give anything away and let him know he had struck something with that comment.

"Okay? So?" she shrugged her shoulders, trying to pretend that it wasn't a big deal.

"Why have you been keeping it under wraps for so long?" he asked her.

"Because I didn’t want to subject him to you," she responded, putting her hands on her hips. "What does that have to do with anything anyways?" she questioned. She was hoping he didn't actually know anything about Kris, but was instead reaching for some information, and she refused to give him anything.

"I don't think that's it, Quinn. I think you've been keeping it quiet so that the public doesn’t find out. Because how would it look for a team owner to be dating one of her own players?" Quinn didn't say anything, but she felt that she could throw up all over the floor. "Why are you so quiet, Quinn?" he asked. "Because you didn't think I'd find out that you were dating Letang?"

Quinn's world was crashing all around her. She didn't know what to do. "What do you want, Dean?" she asked between gritted teeth.

"You know exactly what I want," he said smugly, crossing his arms across his chest. He knew he had gotten her exactly where he wanted her. She was now a victim to him, something he had trying to do all along. "I want the team."

"I'm not doing anything wrong by dating him," Quinn spoke the words quietly. Noah had confirmed that there was nothing in her contract saying she couldn't date a player, and she knew she hadn't violated her contract in any way.

"Is that how the media is going to see it? Or the fans?" Dean countered. "Look, I can't get you legally, we both know that. But, I can ruin you. All I have to do is go to the press, and your career is shot."

"Why are you doing this Dean?" she asked him.

"You shouldn't be the owner, and you know it. You've known it all along. The only reason you are is because your daddy felt bad about abandoning you as a little bitch kid so he left you the team when he died. You have no qualifications for the job nor do you deserve to be owner. I do."

"You don't deserve the team," Quinn countered. "You're just a little schemer. All you care about is money. You don't care about the team."

"Not like you do," Dean scoffed. "I'm not going to fuck one of the players, no." Quinn shut her eyes, not wanting to hear him anymore. "One week," Dean spoke, and she slowly opened her eyes, wondering what he was talking about. "I'm giving you one week to sign the team over to me. If you don't, I'm going to every press person that will listen and telling them all that the team owner is fucking one of the players. They'll have a hay day with that," he smiled at her as he walked towards the door. "One week, Quinn," he said one more time before opening her door and walking out.

Quinn immediately crumpled to the floor, sobbing. She didn't know what she had deserved to have this done to her, and she didn't know how she was going to deal with it. She tried to control her crying as she crawled across the floor, reaching for her phone. As soon as she had it in her hand, she didn't even know who to call. Should she call Kris first and tell him that his reputation was about to be ruined as well as her own? Or should she call Noah and see if he could help her with the situation?

She decided on Noah first. She needed to compose herself before she talked to Kris because she had a feeling they were about to be in a huge fight because their relationship was about to be put on display. If they even had a relationship anymore. There was a good chance he was going to break up with her to avoid this whole mess.

Noah picked up the phone on the second ring, and Quinn just sobbed into the phone, trying to get her words out, but Noah was unable to understand her. "Quinn, what's wrong?" he asked, worried. He had never heard her like this, and he had no idea what caused it. "Quinn, try to calm down and tell me what's going on."

Quinn took a deep breath and tried to hold back her sobs long enough to get the gist of what had happened communicated to Noah. "Dean knows," she got out before her breathing became labored again as she began crying once again.

"Dean knows what?" Noah asked, needing more information than she was giving him.

"About Kris," she stuttered. "He's blackmailing me."

"Where are you?" Noah asked. "At home? At work? Where?"

"Home," she sputtered out, not knowing why he was asking.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," he stated before hanging up the phone.

Quinn let the phone drop to the floor next to her, crying once again. She knew she needed to compose herself and at least get herself up off the floor, but it seemed like such a huge task at this point, one she wasn't ready to even attempt yet. She continued to stay on the floor for several more minutes before finally hoisting herself up and sitting in a chair at the table.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and she hesitantly got up, part of her worried that Dean was back with something else. But, when she pulled the door open, she saw Noah standing there. As soon as he saw Quinn in the distress she was, he immediately pulled her into a hug, kicking the door shut behind him. "Tell me what happened," he told her.

She slowly went through what had happened with Dean, trying to keep her emotions in check, but crying in certain parts of the story. When she had finished, she looked up at Noah. "What am I going to do?"

Noah shut his eyes, sighing. He hated this. For once, he wasn't able to help Quinn out and that was killing him. "I don’t know," he admitted. "Dean's kinda got you pigeonholed."

As soon as he said the words, Quinn was crying again. She had already known there was nothing she could do. Dean had the leverage over her, and she knew he was going to use her relationship with Kris against her. That was just who Dean was.

"So what do I do?"

Again, Noah didn't know what to tell her. "You want to know my opinion?" Quinn nodded her head, and Noah continued. "Dean's an asshole, you know that. He's only out for himself. And, he says that if you sign the team over to him that he won't tell anybody about the relationship, but do you really believe that? Dean would do anything to ruin you, and he's finally got some information that could potentially do that. I think even if you sign the team over that he's still going to go to the press about you and Kris. So why let him have both?"

What Noah was saying made sense to Quinn. It did sound like something Dean would do. He wasn't exactly the most trustworthy guy in the world. "But, if I don't sign the team over, he's just going to expose us, and I'll lose the team that way."

"I already told you that you didn't violate your contract. They can't take the team away from you," Noah reminded her.

"No, it'd just take away all credibility and respect I have at the moment. They would shame me, and eventually I'd probably just step down," she sighed.

"So you'd rather let Dean have the team? Sign it over to him?" Noah asked.

"I don't want to hurt Kris in this whole ordeal, and that's exactly what will happen if Dean goes to the press. And, that's not fair to Kris. It isn't his fault Dean wants to get back at me for getting the team. Kris shouldn't be put in the middle of this, and he is. I just want to save him," Quinn explained, and Noah could see it in her eyes. She really would do anything for him, and she was more worried about him than herself in this whole situation. "How can I save him the pain of going through all this?" she asked.

"Well, you could sign the team over to Dean and have him sign a contract saying he won't say anything to anyone about you two and if he violates it then it would void him being team owner," Noah suggested, his lawyer thinking kicking in.

"That might work," Quinn spoke quietly, trying to think about it. "It'd at least save Kris in all of this."

"What does Kris think about all of this?"

"I haven't told him yet," Quinn admitted. "When I first found out, I was sobbing, and I knew I couldn’t talk to Kris like that, so I called you first to see if there was anything we could figure out."

Noah nodded his head, understanding why she had done what she had. "Well maybe you should get a hold of Kris and talk to him about all of this, let him know what's going on, and figure out what he thinks about all of this. I think you should avoid giving the team to Dean at all costs. I know why you would be willing to do that, but you've got to think about what's best for the team, too. And, we both know Dean is not best for the team."

Quinn sighed. There was too much to think about in this situation. And, she only had one week to figure it all out. "I know," she said quietly. "I'll call Kris and try to talk it out with him and see if I can figure out what to do," she told him.

"I think that's a good idea," he said, walking over to Quinn and giving her another hug. "And, no matter what you decide, I’m here for you, and I'll help you in any way that I can."

"I appreciate that, Noah," she told him. She only hoped Kris would be as understanding as he was being.