The Fear Is Paralyzing

Quinn didn't want to move. She didn't want to stray away from her heat source. But as she heard the phone ringing, she felt Kris move in the bed next to her, taking his arm out from around her. "No," Quinn whined lightly, and Kris chuckled, reaching behind him to the bedside stand and grabbing the ringing phone.

"C'est le vôtre," he told her, putting the phone in front of her face. She narrowed her eyes, trying to read the name flashing across the screen, and she sighed, knowing she should pick it up.

"Hey Noah," she said into the phone as Kris wrapped his arm around her once again. "Please tell me you're not calling me for what I think you are," she told him, holding her breath. Ever since she had signed the papers for Mario and decided to keep the team, she was scared of when Dean would find out what she had done. Last night had been the end of his offer, and obviously she had not done as he had wanted.

"I've got good and bad news," Noah began, and Quinn shut her eyes, leaning her head back against Kris's chest, waiting for Noah to continue. "The good news is Dean didn't go to the press just yet."

"And the bad news?" Quinn asked. She felt Kris's hand move to her shoulder, running up and down her arm. Unfortunately, even that wasn't comforting to her right now as her stomach was in knots and she felt like throwing up.

"Our parents got involved," Noah stated, and Quinn sat straight up in bed, startling Kris, who wasn't expecting her movement.

"What?" Quinn yelled, moving her hair out of her face. "What do you mean they got involved? What did they do?" she asked as Kris moved, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

"They're getting involved," Noah repeated, not explaining anything to Quinn just yet. She waited a few more seconds before asking him what he meant by that statement. "They're holding a family meeting. In like half an hour. They asked me to make sure you were there."

Quinn rolled her eyes. Only her family would hold a family meeting with their grown children. "I don't want to go," she whined as she felt Kris's lips kiss the tip of her shoulder. She knew he had no idea what was going on, but he was still there comforting her.

"You have to, Quinn. God knows what's going to happen if you don't. I'll see you there," Noah told her, hanging up. He knew Quinn was going to be there, even if she didn't want to go, and he didn't need to spend more time trying to convince her of that.

Quinn turned around, burying her face in Kris's chest as she let the phone drop onto the bed. "I don't want to go," she mumbled.

She was surprised when Kris responded to her, apparently able to understand her muffled words. "Vous n'avez pas envie d'aller où?" he asked, and Quinn moved her head away from his chest, looking up at him with a confused expression on her face. "You don't want to go where?" he asked, this time in English so she could understand him.

"You really need to teach me French," she said with a light laugh, and he just continued to look at her, waiting on her to answer the question. "Apparently my parents got involved with this whole mess. I'm not really sure what that entails, but that's what Noah said. And, they're holding a family meeting here in a half hour. I don't want to go."

Kris wrapped his arms around Quinn, rubbing the small of her back. "You have to go, ma chère," he told her quietly. Quinn couldn’t help but smile at the pet name. When he had first said it to her, she wasn't sure what he was saying, but now she loved hearing him call her that.

Quinn sighed, but nodded her head nonetheless, knowing he was right. She moved away from him, regretting it immediately, as she lost all of his warmth. “I better get dressed then,” she told him, getting out of bed and goosebumps covering her body almost immediately as the cold hit her skin. She grabbed a clean t-shirt and jeans she had at Kris’s place as she began to put them on. “What time is practice?” she asked him. She wasn’t planning on going into work today, giving herself a day off to try to get her thoughts in order, having thought that Dean was going to tell the world about she and Kris. She had thought that she could have some alone time, but apparently that wasn’t in the cards for today since her parents decided to butt in.

Kris glanced at the clock before answering. “In an hour and a half,” he said, watching as Quinn put her clothes on. Quinn noticed him staring out of the corner of her eye, and she simply turned and gave him a smile. “Do you want to have dinner tonight? You can tell me what happened today with your family?”

Quinn nodded her head. “Yeah, why don’t you come over to my place afterwards and I’ll make you some dinner or order take out or something,” she told him, rummaging through her purse to find her brush so she could fix her hair.

Kris nodded. “Yeah, I will,” he said as he got out of bed. He walked over to Quinn, putting his hands on her shoulders, spinning her around so she was looking at him. He kissed her on the lips before smiling at her. “It’s going to be okay,” he assured her, and Quinn couldn’t help but smile at him, though she was still nervous about what was going to happen with her parents. “I’m going to go take a shower, but I’ll see you tonight.” She nodded her head, and Kris knew she was worried. He kissed her cheek before whispering in her ear, “Je t’aime.”

Quinn smiled at him. “I love you, too,” she replied as he walked off to the bathroom to take a shower, while Quinn made her way out the door to her car. She drove to her parents’ house, pulling into the driveway twenty minutes later. She saw Dean and Noah’s cars there already, and she knew she was the last one to arrive.

She walked into the house, hearing voices coming from the living room, and she slowly made her way in there, wishing she could just go home right now and avoid everyone. Dean was the first one to see her, and he glared at her, obviously still furious with her and the decision she had made. Her parents and Noah followed closely after, looking at her as she walked into the room. She made her way over by Noah, deciding to stay close to him, hoping he’d defend her when she got bombarded by the rest of the family.

“So,” she started when no one said anything at first. “What’s this all about?”

“Well, we obviously now know everything that’s been going on,” Garrett began. “We talked to both Dean and Quinn, hearing their sides of the stories.”Quinn rolled her eyes, wondering what exactly Dean had told them, how he had twisted it into making it seem like he was doing the right thing the whole time. “Dean, the way you went about this all is wrong,” his father told him, and Quinn stared at him, noticing that he had more to say.

However, Corinne cut him off before he continued. “But, Quinn, you’re also going about this the wrong way,” her mother spoke.

Quinn’s eyes went wide. “What?” she practically screamed. “What have I gone about the wrong way?” she questioned, while she noticed Dean had a slight smile on his face, obviously pleased with how this conversation was going right now. “Dean’s the one that tried to blackmail me into giving up the team,” she said, glaring at Dean.

“And, he was wrong to do that,” Garrett noted.

“We all know that I’d be the better owner,” Dean piped up. “I was just trying to get her to see that,” he said, pointing his thumb in Quinn’s direction. “She needs to give the team up. She’s not a good owner.”

“She’s a fine owner,” Noah spoke up. “You’re the one that would send the team into the ground,” he argued.

“Noah!” Garrett yelled. “Don’t speak like that to your brother!”

“Stop babying him, Dad!” Noah retorted. “He’s always gotten everything he wants in life, and that’s why he thinks he can have anything. He’s just pissed that he can’t have the team. It’s Quinn’s and she’s doing a good job with it.”

“She’s fucking a guy on the team!” Dean exclaimed. “How is that doing a good job with the team?” he questioned.

“I’m not just fucking him!” Quinn told him.

Dean rolled his eyes at the statement. “Oh God, don’t tell me you’re going to try to say you’re in love with him or something. Come on, Quinn, do you really think he’s with you because he likes you? You’re the owner of the fucking team, he’s just fucking you to get ahead,” Dean told her.

“You don’t know anything about our relationship,” Quinn argued.

“And, that’s another thing, Quinn,” Corinne said, interrupting the conversation. “How long do you expect to keep this hidden? If it’s a true relationship like you’re telling us, you can’t keep it hidden forever.”

“I don’t know, Mom,” Quinn replied.

“Well this is the type of thing you need to think about,” Corinne said in a scolding tone. Quinn took a deep breath before she was about to respond, but she was cut off. “You need to come out before it gets out by someone else.”

“By someone else do you mean Dean? Because I have no doubt that he would do everything to ruin my credibility as a team owner, including going to the press and making up lies about me and Kris. He was going to do that anyways when he was blackmailing me,” Quinn said, looking at Dean.

“I was just going to tell the truth. Don’t you think the fans deserve to know that their team owner is fucking one of their players?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow at her, almost challenging her.

“Dean,” Garrett said warningly.

“Dean, why don’t you grow up and learn how to actually work for what you want instead of wheeling and dealing your way through life?” Noah questioned.

“This is not how I expected this to go,” Garrett said loudly, getting everyone to quiet down. “I will tell you what is going to happen,” he spoke, and everyone gave him their full attention. “Dean,” he began, looking over at his younger son. “You are not going to say anything to the press. If you say one word to the media, I will take away every penny you’re getting from me.”

Quinn noticed Noah roll his eyes at that statement, unable to believe that Dean was still getting money and living off of his parents. She turned back towards Garrett to hear what else he had to say.

“Quinn,” he continued, turning his attention to her. “You’re going to reveal your relationship to the world.”

“Garrett, no,” she said, shaking her head.

“Listen to us, Quinn.”

“Mom, you can’t expect me to go along with this. Do you even think about what would happen to me if I came forward with this? Especially right now? The playoffs are just around the corner.”

“The press is going to find out eventually, and it’s better that you bring this point up so you can spin it the way you want instead of someone else doing it and turning it into a bad thing,” Garrett told her.

“Like Dean?” Quinn asked, and Dean glared at her, crossing his arms over his chest. He was obviously furious with his father’s ultimatum.

“Dad might have a point,” Noah spoke up, and Quinn turned around towards him, wondering what he was talking about. “It would be easier to spin it the way you wanted if your PR came out with a statement or whatever. It’d be better than the press finding out later and then blasting you and Kris.”

Quinn could understand where he was coming from, but she still knew it would be bad to tell the world about her and Kris right now. “Can it wait until after the playoffs?” she asked, looking between Noah, Garrett, and Corinne, skipping over Dean in the process.

“I don’t like that, Quinn,” Corinne told her.

“But we’ll go along with that,” Garrett added, looking at his wife, who finally nodded her head. “Won’t we?” he asked, his attention turning towards Dean, who stood there with a scowl on his face. He knew he had no choice anymore, he couldn’t blackmail Quinn or go to the media, and he hated that. “We will,” Garrett answered for his son.

“Thank you,” Quinn said, letting out a sigh of relief. For the time being, her relationship with Kris was going to remain a secret. At least she hoped so.