The Fear Is Paralyzing

Kris watched as Quinn peacefully slept next to him. It had taken him a while to get her to finally fall asleep. When they had gotten back to his place, he had helped her change into one of his t-shirts and had gotten her into bed, holding her in his arms, as she told him stories of how her parents had always been on Dean's side when they were younger. She had told him some stories before, but nothing like these.

Kris couldn't help but hate these people even more with every story Quinn told. Why she still went to the weekly family dinners was beyond him, but for some reason, Quinn still cared about her family. If Kris had been in her situation, he would have given up on all of them except for Noah. In the stories about her younger years, Quinn had still talked about Noah as the one that saved her, and Kris couldn't be happier that Noah was there for her.

He carefully got up out of bed, trying his best not to disturb her. He knew she needed sleep, and the last thing he needed to do was to wake her up. Today was the parade for the Cup, and he should have been excited and thrilled about it, but all Kris could think about was the fact that he had to do a press conference about his personal life afterwards.

He sighed as he sat down on the couch, running a hand through his hair. He heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and he turned his head to see Quinn walking towards him, his shirt that she was wearing riding up, giving him a good view of her bare legs. She rubbed her eyes, obviously not used to the light just yet, having just woken up.

"Kris, what are you doing out here?" she asked, sitting down on the couch next to him, putting her feet up and curling her body into his.

He wrapped his arm around her as he answered. "I didn't want to wake you up," he told her. "You should go back to bed."

"I like it here more," she said, smiling up at him. "You ready for today?" she asked, shivering slightly, causing him to hold her even closer to him, trying to warm her up.

"Yeah," he sighed, though it was clear he wasn't looking forward to the day's events.

"I'm sorry for ruining everything," she said quietly. "Is it worth it all?" she added, barely above a whisper.

Kris moved himself so that he was now facing Quinn. "Is it worth it? Is what worth it? You?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows at her. She nodded her head slightly, and Kris knew this was actually worrying her. "Ma chère," he said, grabbing her face with both of his hands, cupping it. "Je t'aime," he spoke, but he knew that wasn't really answering her question. "Bien sûr que vous le valez bien." He saw the confused look on her face, and he translated before she was able to ask him to do so. "Of course you are worth it."

She looked up at him, giving him a small smile. "Thank you, I needed to hear that," she told him.

"Quinn, I thought you knew how much I love you," Kris said.

She nodded her head. "I do know!" she assured him. "It's just, I know I've got you in a mess right now, and you don't deserve that. And, I'm sorry you have to go through all this, do a stupid press conference, when I know that's the last thing you want to do. Especially today. Especially after the parade. I'm sorry Kris," she told him sincerely.

"Don't apologize, ma chère," he told her. He held her for several minutes before kissing the top of her head. "Why don't you go get in the shower and we'll get ready for the parade?" he said, intentionally not mentioning the press conference that was to follow. She nodded her head and slowly pulled herself out of his arms and walked back to the bathroom.

Kris heard the shower turn on as he leaned his head back against the couch, wishing for the day to be over. He waited until Quinn got out of the shower before he went in there himself. As he felt the hot water over his body, he ran his hands through his hair. If he could stay in here all day, he probably would. He was excited for the parade, but he would give it up if he didn't have to do the press conference afterwards.

He tried to get his mind off of it, but he was having a hard time. He eventually turned the water off and grabbed the towel, drying himself off quickly before wrapping it around his waist. He walked into the bedroom, seeing Quinn standing there in just her undergarments, and he couldn't help but smile. She was facing away from him, staring at some clothes on the bed, trying to determine what to wear. So, Kris snuck up on her, snaking his arms around her waist and kissing the nape of her neck. "I think you should go in exactly what you're wearing," he told her.

Quinn chuckled as she turned around in his arms. "Yeah?" she asked him. "Then you should go in what you're wearing," she countered, raising an eyebrow at him as she looked over his bare chest.

"I can do that," Kris smiled.

Quinn suddenly shook her head. "No, I changed my mind. I don't need a million girls all staring at you like that," she said, running a hand down his chest and abs, paying special attention to the V of his hips.

"You know you're the only girl that matters to me," Kris whispered in her ear, and she smiled, knowing he meant those words. "And, if you keep doing that," he said, looking down at her thumb, which was currently tracing that V ever so lightly. "We're never going to get out of here today," he finished his sentence. "Which may not be that bad of an idea," he said, leaning down and kissing halfway between her shoulder and neck.

Quinn put her hands back on his chest, this time pushing him away a little bit. "We have to go, Kris. But, afterwards, we can continue this," she smiled at him.

Kris sighed. "D'accord," he told her, heading to the closet to grab out his clothes for the day. He had to wear his jersey to the parade, but then he had to change into a suit for the press conference. He glanced back over to see that Quinn had managed in that short amount of time to put clothes on, wearing a Penguins sweatshirt with a pair of jeans for the parade. She still had two outfits left on the bed, trying to decide what to wear to the press conference. She finally picked the black pantsuit with a bright purple shirt to wear underneath the jacket and went on to find some shoes to match.

***

The parade went by way too fast for Kris's liking. He was enjoying himself with his teammates, all hoisting the Cup as they made their way, passing by hundreds of thousands of fans. It was incredible to see how many people made it out for the parade, and he was grateful to play in the city.

The celebration was coming to an end, though, and Kris knew what was coming next. "Hey, when you're finished tonight, stop by Crosby's house," Tyler told him. "Big party there," he added.

"You think it'll be okay to bring Quinn there?" he asked.

Tyler shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, why not?" he asked. "The guys are all fine with her, there's no reason not to bring her. Besides, they'll all want to know how everything went. You know we're all supporting you two, right?" he asked.

Kris nodded his head. "Yeah, we'll be there," he assured him before he saw Jenna walking his way. "Merde," he cursed under his breath, and Tyler whipped his head around, wondering what was going on before seeing the woman in heels practically sprinting towards them.

"Good luck, man," Tyler muttered before leaving Kris alone.

"Kristopher," Jenna said, and Kris practically shivered at the use of his full name. "You need to get moving now. You have two minutes to get in there before this things starts," she lectured, moving him through the crowd to get inside the building in order to do the press conference. "I don’t know what you were thinking, whether you thought you could get out of this or what, but you cannot. Were you planning on leaving Quinn alone to do this whole thing?" she questioned, and Kris wondered what had gotten her wound up so tight. Actually, he knew what had, and it was his and Quinn's fault. But, that was no reason to be so rude to him right now.

"Relax, Jenna, I'm here, aren't I?" Kris said calmly.

"Only because I went and got you," she retorted, pushing him towards the front of the room. "Now do exactly what we said, okay?" she said, making it obvious it was a rhetorical question.

Kris walked forward, seeing Quinn standing there, her hands calmly folded in front of her, though he knew that on the inside she was just as nervous as he was. He saw Mario walk up to the front as well, and Kris took a deep breath as Mario began talking. When he and Quinn was finished with their rehearsed portions, it was now time to open up the floor for questions.

Kris could barely keep track of what was going on with questions flying left and right from around the room. How long have you two been dating? Did it begin before or after Quinn became the owner? Has Kris received special treatment as a result of Quinn being the owner? Was there a split in the team because of this? Was their relationship affecting Kris's play on the ice? Was he preoccupied knowing she was there? What happens when you two break up? Is Kris going to be traded?

Kris just wanted go home and never leave his room. He hated people prying into his personal life, and this was a personal hell for him. He barely answered any questions, allowing Mario and Quinn to answer them. However, one man standing in the back asked a question that caused Kris to speak up.

"What makes you all think this isn't some big publicity stunt? That Miss Layman isn't looking for some attention and she's using Letang to do that?"

He saw Quinn's jaw dropped slightly, but Kris responded first. "I can assure you this is not a publicity stunt," he told the man, his jaw setting. "I love Quinn, and she loves me. You can choose to believe me or not, but Quinn is not out for attention."

It was the first thing Kris had said all afternoon during the press conference, and all eyes turned to him with his words. It was clear that Kris was angry by the man's accusations, and Jenna ran up to the front of the room, going to the microphone. "That will be all of the questions for right now," she said, and Kris stalked off the stage, Quinn following quietly behind him.

When they were out of sight, Quinn put her hand gently on Kris's back. "Thank you for sticking up for me," she said quietly, giving him a soft smile.

"I love you, and I’m not going to let anyone talk to you like that," he said, kissing her forehead.

"Well thank you," she told him. "So, you want to go back home and finish what we started this morning?"

"Merde," Kris cursed, and Quinn looked at him curiously, wondering what had gotten him so upset. "I told Tyler you and I would go to Sid's house, he's having some celebration," he explained.

"Well let's go home and change and go," she told him, grabbing his hand.

"That's okay with you?" he asked her.

She nodded her head. "Yeah, I think we could both use a little celebration after that," she said.