The Fear Is Paralyzing

Vingt-Huit

Quinn was excited for hers and Kris's double date. She and Kris had had real dates at home, but nothing ever like a real couple before. She had spent well over an hour in her closet trying to find what she wanted to wear that evening. She knew they'd just be staying in, but she wanted to dress up a little more than she normally did.

She finally settled on a maroon dress that she had bought a while ago but had never had an occasion to wear it on. She grabbed her black heels to go along with it as she sat down on her bed, slipping the shoes on.

She heard a knock on the door and glanced at the clock, surprised that Kris was so early. He usually was right on time, but tonight he was nearly a half an hour early. Maybe he was as excited as she was for the evening.

She opened the door and was shocked to see Dean standing there. "What do you want Dean?" she asked, standing in the doorway, not wanting him to come inside. If he came inside she knew a fight would ensue, and she'd rather just hear what he had to say and then shut the door in his face.

"Where are you headed?" he questioned, looking her up and down.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"Well if you want to talk about your relationship out here in the hallway in public…" Dean trailed off, and Quinn reluctantly moved to let him inside, shutting the door behind him. She spun around on her heel, crossing her arms over her chest, waiting to hear what he wanted to say. "Dad thinks he can protect you, which I don't even know why he wants to. You're not his daughter, you're just some little bitch from a previous marriage," Dean spat. "But, you're not going to get away with everything."

Quinn rolled her eyes at him. "Dean, you can't do anything. Garrett is holding your money over your head, and we all know you need Daddy's money."

"You don't think I'll get something out of this in the end?" Dean questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Dean why did you come here?" Quinn asked once again. "So you can tell me this?"

Dean smirked at her. "To remind you that you haven't gotten away from me. You're not getting out of this scotch free. I can assure you that," he told her, spinning on his heel and walking towards the door. He glanced back at her one last time before walking out the door, slamming it behind him, leaving Quinn standing there just staring at the closed door.

She sat back down on her bed, shaking her head. She thought she had gotten out of Dean's grasp, but apparently he was still plotting to get something out of her confession whenever it became news to the public.

She had lost track of time and was frightened when she heard another knock on the door. She glanced at the clock, seeing it was exactly 6:30 and she knew it was Kris. She slowly walked over to the door, opening it for him. "What's wrong?" he asked her, automatically knowing everything wasn't okay.

"Dean stopped by," Quinn told him, knowing there was no need to even try to lie about it. Kris looked down at her, wanting her to elaborate. "Just to remind me that he's still planning something when we tell everyone," she muttered.

"Je suis desolé, ma chère," he mumbled into her hair as he hugged her.

Quinn simply shook her head. "I'm not going to worry about it right now. Tonight is all about our double date," she said with a small smile.

"You look good, Quinn," Kris told her, giving her a big smile, which caused Quinn to smile wider herself.

"Let's get out of here," Quinn said, and Kris nodded his head, holding his arm out for Quinn to take. She did so, but she let go of him and walked beside him once they got to the elevator, not wanting anyone to see the two of them together. She quietly got into Kris' car and he sped off towards Tyler's place.

They got there in a short while, having gotten caught in traffic for a few minutes. They were greeted at the door by Tyler, who stepped aside to allow them to come in. Quinn took a few moments to look around Tyler's condo. Penguins memorabilia lined the walls, and Quinn could tell that Tyler truly loved the team. It made her smile to see how much he cared about the team.

Danielle walked out of what Quinn assumed was the kitchen, a smile on her face. "You must be Quinn," Danielle said, holding out her hand. "I'm Danielle, but you can call me Dani," she told her, moving closer to Tyler, who instinctively wrapped his arm around his girlfriend. "It's really nice to meet you," Danielle continued. "Tyler's told me a lot about you!"

Quinn could feel a blush creeping into her cheeks. She wasn't sure what Tyler had said about her, but she knew Tyler was Kris' best friend and she assumed he wouldn't talk bad about her. "What do you say we sit down and start dinner?" Tyler suggested, and everyone nodded their heads, pulling out chairs at the table.

Quinn found herself seated between the two men and across from Danielle. "So, Tyler said you inherited the team from your father?" Danielle asked, breaking the ice first.

Quinn nodded her head, jumping into a quick version of the story, leaving out the part about Dean trying to get her to give up the team, but spending some time talking about Kris teaching her about the sport. "And that's how we really started to get to know one another," Quinn explained.

"You two seem really happy together," Danielle observed.

Quinn smiled, looking up at Kris. "I think we are," she replied. "But enough about me!" she said, wanting to get the attention off of herself. "Why don't you tell me how you and Tyler met!"

Danielle gave Kris a look, which confused Quinn. She looked over at her boyfriend to see him desperately trying to hold back laughter, and when she glanced at Tyler, she could see him glaring at Kris. She knew there was some inside story, and she felt out of the loop. "Kris just loves this story," Danielle rolled her eyes. "Would you like to tell it?" she asked him, and Kris eagerly nodded.

"Tyler decided to try online dating because real life wasn't working out for him," Kris began. Quinn couldn't figure out what was so funny about this. Many people did online dating. It was especially popular in today's time.

"So you two met on online dating?" Quinn asked.

"Not exactly," Tyler shook his head before Kris continued.

"He made this date with one of his matches. He was excited, I remember." Quinn stared at him, still not seeing the big deal. "Then his hot date came up to him at the restaurant...And she was seventy-eight years old," Kris said, cracking up with laughter.

Quinn looked over at Danielle and Tyler, realizing Kris wasn't going to be able to finish his story through his tears of laughter. "He had made a date with my grandmother," Danielle explained. "Why my grandma was even on a dating site is beyond me," she rolled her eyes while Kris laughed even harder.

"But it worked out in the end," Tyler continued. "I ate dinner with her and drove her home since she took a taxi to the restaurant. And Dani was there, trying to figure out where her grandma was and we just kinda hit it off," he explained, smiling over at Danielle.

"I still can't believe you're going to marry someone whose grandmother you went out with!" Kris cried. Quinn noticed the wide-eyed expression Tyler have Kris at those words, and she wondered if Kris had just let something slip but Danielle didn't seem fazed by it.

"So yes, Tyler has technically dated a granddaughter grandmother duo," Danielle said as Tyler's demeanor went back to normal.

"And Kris here gets a kick out of it, while he's got his only crazy story of how he got his girl, the owner of the team he plays for!" Tyler said, not thinking before he spoke.

Quinn didn't say anything but immediately looked down at her plate. If this is what Kris' best friend thought, she could only imagine how the rest of the world was going to react when they found out about the two of them. She knew Tyler meant nothing by the statement, but it still has her thinking.

"Quinn, I'm sorry...I...." Tyler stuttered after realizing he had offended her.

"No one thinks anything bad of how you two met!" Danielle interjected, and Quinn have them a forced smile.

"It's okay," she assured them, but the look on her face didn't match her words. She quickly changed topics and conversation flowed easily the rest of the evening. They had finished their dinner a few hours before when Kris and Quinn finally decided to leave.

"I had a really good time tonight," Quinn sincerely told the other couple.

"We should do it again soon!" Danielle said excitedly as she hugged Kris, who nodded his head in agreement with her.

Kris and Quinn walked towards Kris' car as he turned his head to look at her. "You want to head back to my place?"

Quinn smiled at him, nodding her head as they got into his car. The drive back to Kris' condo was a short one, living close to Tyler, and only a few minutes later they were walking into his place. Quinn dropped her purse on the table just inside the front door while she made her way back to his bedroom. She laid down, sprawling herself out on his king size bed. "Have I ever told you how much I love your bed?" she asked him.

Kris crawled into bed next to her, kissing her bare shoulder. "Why do you love it?"

"It's so big! So much better than my bed in my tiny place," she responded.

"Speaking of your tiny place, when are you going to move out? I mean you have the money, why are you staying there?" he inquired. He knew she had been living there because they was all she could afford on her own at the time. But since inheriting the team, he knew she had more than enough money to get a larger place and a king size bed if she wanted one.

Quinn seemed to be in thought. "I don't really know," she shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I still don't see myself as having money. But you're right, I could move out now," she said, the wheels in her head turning. "Maybe I could even move closer to this side of town, closer to you," she smiled at him.

"Maybe you could just move in with me."

The words caused Quinn's head to jolt up, looking wide-eyed at Kris. "You're serious?" she asked him. They had never even mentioned moving in together. They were still hiding from everyone. Did Kris really think they could move in together and not be noticed?

"Word is going to get out that we're together soon enough. What would stop us then?" he asked, and Quinn knew he had a point. They already stayed with each other the majority of nights as it was.

"You'd really consider living together?" she asked, moving her body so she was now laying next to him, looking up at him.

Kris nodded his head. "I just suggested it, didn't I?" he chuckled. "You can move in here or we can get a new place together," he said. Quinn didn't let him continue, though, as she put her lips on his. Kris pulled away, giving her a smile. "So I take that as a yes?"

Quinn nodded her head. "Yes," she told him, and for the first time since they began going out, Quinn was actually looking forward to letting the world know they were together.
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I'm so so so sorry for the wait! I've been on vacation for three weeks, but I have been writing! So expect an update within the next 24 hours :)