The Fear Is Paralyzing

Kris woke up to rustling coming from next to him in the bed. He groaned a little bit as he realized Quinn was getting up. "Sorry, but I've got to go to work," she told him, kissing the tip of his shoulder as she got out of bed.

"Work, I miss work," Kris whined. It had been two weeks since he had gotten injured, and the playoffs were getting ready to start, and he still hadn't gotten the clearance to play full-contact, something that was frustrating him.

"I know," Quinn replied. "But you get to start practicing tomorrow, right?" she said as she pulled Kris's shirt that she was wearing off of her body and proceeded to put her own on instead.

Kris inhaled deeply, a smile appearing on his face. "Yes," he told her. "And hopefully I'll be playing by game two," he added. He already knew he wasn't going to be playing in the first game of the playoff series that was in two nights, but he was hoping Doc would clear him for the second game on Sunday.

"I hope so, too," Quinn smiled at him, leaning down and giving him a quick peck before turning around. "I'll see you later," she added as she walked out of his bedroom. She was happy she had kept some clothes over at Kris's place since she had been staying there the past few nights and she always left and went straight to work. The last thing she needed was to show up at work every morning in the same clothes as the day before.

She made her way into the arena, going upstairs to her office. Mario was already there, which wasn't uncommon. He tended to get there before she did everyday, but he usually left before her so he could go home to his family, so it all evened out in the end. Quinn gave him a small wave to say hello before going to her desk and sitting her bag down on it.

She sat in her chair and turned her computer on when she noticed Mario coming her way. "Hello, Quinn," he greeted.

"Hey Mario, how are you doing?" she asked him.

"I'm doing good," he said, nodding his head. "I wanted to ask you how Kris was doing," he spoke.

Quinn stared at him for a moment. Mario had never asked her about Kris before. Her private life with Kris was just that, private, and she never wanted to mix that with her professional life, something she thought Mario was in agreement about. "Umm…" she trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

Mario pulled out the chair across from Quinn and sat down. "I'm only asking from a medical standpoint," he clarified. "How he's feeling about his knee."

"Oh," Quinn said with a small sigh of relief. "He's walking around on it and stuff. He wants to get back on the ice now, but they're not letting him yet," she explained. She wondered why Mario didn't just ask the doctor or the athletic trainer about this, but she assumed it was just as easy to ask her, knowing she would know how he was doing as well.

Mario chuckled. "That sounds like Kris, wanting to get back out on the ice. He doesn't like sitting out, does he?" he asked.

Quinn shook her head. "Not at all," she told him. She took a deep breath before changing subjects. "Now it's my turn to talk to you about something," she said.

Mario looked at her curiously. "What is it?"

"I think everything's going to come out after the playoffs if it's not found out sooner," she admitted. "My parents got Dean to back off for the time being, but I can never be too sure. But, they don't want it to be a secret. I think I convinced them to wait until after the playoffs before they open their mouths," she said, still upset with her parents. Why couldn't they just allow her to live her life how she wanted instead of having to butt into it.

"Quinn, whenever it comes out, we've got our PR team ready for it. If you want to wait until after the playoffs, then they're ready. If it comes out next week, they're ready for that, too. We've got it covered, so you can stop worrying about that," Mario said gently.

"I just don't want the focus to be on this when it should be on the playoffs and how great the team is doing," Quinn explained.

Mario smiled at her, leaning back in the chair. "The focus is on the team right now, and we're going to try to keep it that way up until we win the cup."

Quinn smiled back. "I like the sound of that."

***

Quinn was walking down the hallway, getting ready to leave the arena when she heard footsteps behind her. She casually glanced behind her to see Tyler speed up to catch up with her. "Hey," she said slowly, not really sure why he was wanting to meet up with her. She had never really talked to Tyler much before; they kept their relationship strictly professional except for the one time she had texted him, asking about how Kris was doing after he got injured and hadn't responded to her.

"Hey Quinn…I can call you Quinn, right?" he asked, tilting his head to one side.

Quinn chuckled. "Yes, what else would you call me?"

Tyler shrugged. "I wasn't sure. Boss? Owner? Ms. Layman?"

"None of the above," Quinn smiled at him. "Quinn is just fine," she assured him. "So, uh, how are you?" she asked somewhat awkwardly, not really knowing how to be casual around him. He was one of Kris's best friends on the team, and yet she didn't know much about Tyler personally.

"Look, you're dating Kris, right?" Tyler said, and Quinn nodded her head, not really sure where he was headed with this. "And, he's one of my best friends, right?" he continued, and once again Quinn nodded her head. "So why don't we try to be friends, or at least talk to each other? I know it's kinda weird with you being the owner and all, but Kris really likes you, so I kinda feel like we should get to know each other more," he shrugged his shoulders.

Quinn smiled at him. "I'd like that," she told him.

"We have Friday night off. Why don't we do a double date or something? You and Kris with me and Dani?" he suggested.

Quinn paused for a second. "Uh, Kris and I…we can't…publicly we can't…" she stuttered.

"Double date at my place," Tyler clarified. "I know you guys are keeping it quiet. And, you can say no if you don't want to. But, Dani's not going to tell anyone," he assured her.

"She already knows, doesn't she?" Quinn smiled at him.

Tyler put his hand on the back of his neck, rubbing it. "Yeah, kinda," he told her.

"It's okay," Quinn said. "And, sure, Friday night sounds fun. I'll let Kris know."

"Good, I'll see you then," Tyler said, opening the door and letting her go outside first.

Quinn walked to her car and drove back to Kris's place, not even knocking on the door, but instead letting herself inside. She found Kris sitting on the couch playing video games, and he barely even moved when he heard the door open. She walked behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders, massaging them a little bit. "That feels good," Kris told her, pausing the game, and moving his head around in circles as his muscles loosened up.

"I talked to Tyler today," Quinn spoke up, and Kris stopped moving his neck and looked up at her.

"Tyler? My Tyler?" he asked.

Quinn chuckled. "Yes, your Tyler," she told him.

"About what?"

"He asked about you and me going on a double date with him and his girlfriend. I told him yeah, I hope you don't mind. Friday night we'll be going over to his place," Quinn said, walking around and sitting down next to him on the couch.

"You're okay with this?" Kris asked her. He knew she was the one that was extremely worried about keeping their relationship under wraps. He would have never thought Quinn would agree to a double date, even if Tyler already knew about their relationship.

"Yeah, I think it'll be fun," she smiled at him. "Something that normal couples do."

Kris put his arm around Quinn's shoulders, pulling her into him and kissing her temple. "Yes, we'll be a normal couple for one night," he agreed.