The Fear Is Paralyzing

Quinn woke up with her head pounding, and she tried to piece together the evening before. She remembered the celebration at Crosby's house, and she recalled Tyler proposing to Danielle. Things got a little fuzzy after that, and she knew she had drank too much. There were split second memories of her and Kris getting into the cab and then him ripping her clothes off of her when they got inside the front door.
 
She saw Kris still sleeping next to her, and she slowly got up out of bed, making her way into the bathroom to grab some ibuprofen to try to calm down her head. She heard her phone ringing, and she cursed as she realized it had woken Kris up, based on the groans coming from the bedroom.
 
"Sorry," she apologized to him as she ran into the bedroom, snatching up her phone. "Hello?" she answered it without even bothering to check to see who was calling her, just wanting to get the thing to quiet down for both hers and Kris's sake. She immediately wished she would have checked first.
 
"I wanted to make sure you were still coming to dinner Thursday night," she heard her mother's voice ring out. Quinn forced herself not to groan. The last thing she wanted to do was go to dinner at her family's this week, but she knew if she didn't, it'd be worse.
 
"Yes, Mom, I'll be there," she sighed. Kris sat up in bed at the mention of Quinn's mother, kissing Quinn's bare shoulder. She turned her head, giving Kris a small smile before focusing once again on what her mother was saying.
 
"Will that boyfriend of yours be joining you?" Corinne asked with a slight edge to her voice. Quinn knew that Kris didn't make the best impression on her parents the first time he went to dinner with her, but Quinn didn't care. He stuck up for her, and that was more than she could say for her parents.

"I don't know," Quinn replied. "Is Dean going to be there?" she questioned.
 
"Of course he will, why wouldn't he be?" Corinne asked.
 
"No reason, just asking," Quinn said, forcing herself not to release the sigh she wanted to. "I've got to go, Mom."
 
"Okay," Corinne said. "I guess we'll just wait til Thursday to discuss that press conference of yours then," she added before hanging up the phone on Quinn.
 
"Ugh," Quinn said, leaning back against Kris's chest. "Can I please get a new family?" she asked.
 
"I can be your family," Kris spoke.
 
Quinn froze in place, wondering if she had just heard Kris correctly. She slowly turned around to face him. "What did you just say?" she asked him, her heart practically beating out of her chest. "Kris, did you…are you…?" she trailed off, unable to even finish her sentence.
 
Kris cocked his head, looking at her, wondering what she was going on about. He repeated their conversation in his head before his eyes widened. "Quinn, I’m not proposing," he told her quickly, shaking his head for emphasis. "I love you, but now is not the time yet. But, you'll know when I propose, there will be no question," he smiled gently at her.
 
“When?” she asked, and Kris looked at her confused, once again. “You said when. When you propose,” she clarified. “You’ve thought about it?” she asked, her heart beat picking up once again. She knew she and Kris were serious but she never expected him to have thought about their future like this.
 
“Oui,” Kris nodded his head. “I love you, Quinn, and one day I’m going to marry you. I’m just waiting for the right time. I don’t think right now is the right time to propose just yet. But, one day, I will,” he smiled at her. If she hadn’t been sitting down, she knew that lopsided smile would have made her weak in the knees. She recalled back when she first met him seeing that smile and having the same reaction. It was nice to know he still had that effect on her.
 
The smile on her face couldn’t get any wider. “I love you,” she told him, leaning back and kissing him hard on the mouth.
 
“Je t’aime, aussi,” he told her quietly before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down on the bed.
 
***
 
Quinn walked into her office, seeing a giant framed poster of the team winning the Cup, and she couldn’t help but smile. That was such a good moment, and she was glad that she now had a picture to remember it by for the rest of her life. She heard Mario walk into his office. She looked up and waved at him, seeing he was on his cell phone.
 
She got on her computer and was checking her email when she heard footsteps approaching the office. She assumed it was Carolyn, who hadn’t been in yet when Quinn had come in that morning, and she continued to read her email until a voice interrupted her thoughts. “Look at you, pretending to do some work,” Dean’s voice rang out.
 
Quinn looked up, seeing him standing there, his arms crossed over his chest. She wondered how he had gotten in, as they had security set up around the building, and she knew Dean didn’t have an access pass, nor was he on any list to be allowed in without someone calling up to get clearance from her. “What do you want, Dean? And how the hell did you get in here?” she questioned.
 
“Why don’t you just give it up already, Quinn? The media is going to have you running far away from this place. No one can stand you, and they’re going to eat you alive,” he told her.
 
Quinn hadn’t read anything the media had printed about the press conference from yesterday on purpose. She didn’t want to know what they thought of her and Kris. She didn’t know if Dean was right or not, but she refused to allow him to have the power. “It’s all going to blow over eventually,” she spoke calmly, though she didn’t even believe her own words. “They’ll see that my relationship with Kris does not affect my job with the team, nor his. Now, would you please get out of my office,” she said with a steadiness in her voice that even surprised her.
 
“You little bitch,” Dean said, slamming his hands on her desk, causing Quinn to jump back in her chair a bit. “Just hand the team over before I have to take things into my own hands,” he threatened.

“Excuse me,” Mario’s voice rang out, and Dean stopped talking, but didn’t move from boring his eyes into Quinn. “If you don’t leave here in the next two seconds, I will call security, and they won’t be so nice.”
 
Dean pointed his finger at Quinn. “You heard me,” he said lowly before turning around and walking out of their office.
 
Mario walked over to Quinn. “I do not like that man,” he stated, but Quinn stayed quiet, thinking about Dean’s threat. Would he really take things into his own hands? What did that even mean? “Quinn, are you okay?” Mario asked when he realized she wasn’t responding to him. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
 
Quinn shook her head. “No, I’m okay,” she said, though her voice gave her away.
 
“I’m going to have a talk with security, make sure he is not allowed back into this building,” he said, turning around and going into his office. Quinn continued to just sit there, not moving much, thinking about what Dean had said.
 
She was still sitting there an hour later when Tyler walked into her office. “Earth to Quinn,” he said when she didn’t even recognize him.
 
Quinn shook herself out of her thoughts. “Sorry, TK,” she apologized. “What are you doing up here?” she asked. It wasn’t common for players to walk up to her office unless they had a meeting with her or Mario.
 
“I came in to clean out my locker for the summer,” he replied. “Thought I’d come up here and see if you made it into work,” he said. Quinn furrowed her eyebrows, not really sure what that comment meant, and he clarified with a chuckle. “You and Tanger weren’t exactly sober last night when you left.”
 
Quinn couldn’t help but give a sheepish smile, embarrassed. “Yeah,” she sighed, not really having an excuse for her actions. “Oh! And I forgot to congratulate you last night!” she exclaimed, remembering she and Kris had left before talking to Tyler and Danielle.
 
“Congratulations?” Mario asked, eavesdropping on their conversation.
 
Tyler turned around, a big grin on his face. “I asked Dani to marry me last night,” he told Mario.
 
“Congratulations!” Mario beamed, shaking Tyler’s hand and giving him a pat on the back. “Very nice!”
 
“We need to celebrate,” Quinn told him. “Maybe the four of us can go out to dinner or something,” she suggested.
 
Tyler nodded his head. “Yeah, Dani would love that,” he told her. “Give her a call, and you two can figure out a time. Kris and I will just show up,” he laughed, not wanting to do any planning. Quinn rolled her eyes but agreed to do that before he left.
 
Mario walked over and sat down in the chair in front of Quinn’s desk. “I told security that Dean is no longer allowed anywhere inside this building. I heard him threaten you. Are you concerned that he’ll follow through with it?” he asked, concerned for her.
 
Quinn didn’t respond right away, thinking about it. She never thought Dean would physically hurt her. Sure, he had been emotionally abusing her for years, but he’d never put a hand on her. But, she also knew he wanted the team, and she wasn’t sure how far he would go for that. She finally shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she spoke quietly. “I think he’s just trying to scare me into giving the team up.”
 
“I thought we had all made it clear before to him that he would be getting no part of this team?” Mario asked. “Why does he think he can suddenly get the team from you.”
 
Quinn shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. The only thing he ever had over me was my relationship with Kris, and now that’s out in the open, so he really has nothing. I mean, I’m sure he could make up lies and make my life a hell, but he’s been doing that for years. I feel like he’s up to something, but I’m not sure what,” she mumbled.
 
“I suggest keeping your eyes and ears open,” Mario said, and Quinn nodded her head, as she watched Mario scoot the chair back and stand up and walk into his own office.
 
She tried to keep her mind off of Dean and instead grabbed her phone and texted Dani, asking if she wanted to go out to eat to celebrate her new engagement. Dani agreed to that evening and said she and Tyler would meet Quinn and Kris at the restaurant. Quinn sat back and smiled, thinking of her two friends and how happy they were, with Dean the furthest thing from her mind at the moment.