The Fear Is Paralyzing

Kris hated that he was still here while Quinn had gone back to Pittsburgh. He wanted to go after her, to make her believe that she was truly the one he cared about, and Darcy was just a part of his past. A part that had long since been buried. When Darcy had left him after he had proposed, Kris had thought his life was deteriorating. He didn’t think he was ever going to move on from her. He had thought he had been in love with Darcy.

He didn’t have a serious relationship with another person for a couple years after that. In fact, he didn’t really date much at all after her. And, then Quinn had come into his life. He hadn’t expected anything to come about with her when he had first met her at the arena. She just needed help learning the game of hockey, and he was able to provide her with that knowledge. But, she had completely captivated him during that time, and he had found himself falling in love with her. Now, he couldn’t imagine not having her in his life. She was too important.

His thoughts were interrupted when Darcy came walking over to the table he sat at Tim Horton’s. It was the place he had agreed to meet Darcy at. She had asked him to come to her apartment or to meet him in his hotel room, but he had refused, wanting some place casual in public. There was no way he was going to let her work her ways on him in some private place.

She had a smile on her face as she sat down across from him. “Kristopher,” she said, reaching over and grabbing his hand, which had been resting on the table. Kris quickly pulled it away and sat it on his lap while taking his other hand to grab his cup of coffee. “It’s good to see you!” she added.

Kris couldn’t relay the sentiments back to her, and he didn’t even try to act like he wanted to be there right now. “What do you want Darcy? What was so important that you needed to see me today?”

“I miss you, Kris,” she began.

Kris resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Yeah, you must have really missed me the past three years after your left me,” he stated. “Why all of a sudden do you miss me?” he asked before it dawned on him. “Oh wait, don’t tell me, you saw that I won the Cup?”

“Congratulations,” Darcy smiled, ignoring his other comments. “I’m sorry I left,” she began, but Kris cut her off.

“You know what, I’m not,” he told her, and she tilted her head to the side, confused by his comment. “You left, and my life went to hell for a little while, but then everything became good again. I met the love of my life, and I’m happy. Without you anywhere near me.”

“Don’t say it like that,” Darcy told him. “Don’t act like you don’t miss me. I know you do, Kristopher,” she said, reaching her hand across the table and trailing her fingers up and down his arm. “You miss the sex, you miss having me on your arm. You miss me,” she bit her bottom lip sexily.

“What happened to Thomas?” he asked, speaking the name of the man she had taken off to be with.

“He’s out of the picture,” she shrugged her shoulders. “Come on, Kristopher, don’t you think you should give us another chance. You always said you loved me. I know you still do,” she told him.

Kris shook his head. “No, I don’t,” he argued. “I can’t believe I stayed for this,” he said, scooting his chair back, getting ready to leave.

“I’m thinking of moving back to Pittsburgh. I’ve got some business dealings there. We could be together,” she told him, her words stopping him from leaving.

He looked down at her, putting his hand on the table. “Please stay as far away from me as possible,” he said low and slowly so she would understand before he walked out of the building.

He immediately pulled out his cell phone, calling Quinn, who picked up on the last ring. “Kris, hey,” she answered.

“Je t’aime tellement. Je ne peux pas attendre de vous voir. je suis sur mon chemin à l’aéroport aujourd’hui. Je veux juste vous voir, vous maintenez, vous embrasser,” he said quickly.

“Kris! I can’t understand you!” she interrupted him. “What happened? Did you see Darcy?” she asked him.

“Oui,” he began before shaking his head, realizing he was still in French mode. “Yes, I saw her. I’m on my way to the airport now,” he told her, not bothering to translate what he had just said to her.

“What’d she have to say?” Kris could hear the worry in her voice, and his stomach turned. He hated that she felt this way.

“Not a whole lot,” he told her. “She said she missed me, and then told me she might be moving back to Pittsburgh for business,” he said. “I shouldn’t have stayed. I should have gone with you. I’m sorry about all of this,” he apologized.

“Kris, don’t apologize!” Quinn told him. She was quiet for a moment before continuing. “I talked to Tyler...about Darcy,” she said.

“He tell you all about her?” Kris asked, driving to the airport. He couldn’t wait to hop on a flight back home so he could see Quinn.

“Yeah,” Quinn said quietly. “I get why you didn’t want to open up about her. She seemed like a bitch.”

Kris chuckled at her words. “Yeah, she still is,” he agreed. “Quinn, I just want you to know how much I love you,” he said.

“I love you, too. Let me know when your flight gets in and I’ll come pick you up from the airport,” she told him before hanging up the phone. He pushed the gas pedal down further, speeding up to get to the airport.

Six hours later, Kris was finally out of Montreal and back in Pittsburgh. As soon as he got into Quinn’s car, he reached over, putting his hands on the side of her head, pulling her in for a kiss. “Je t’aime,” he said, slowly pulling away, seeing the smile on her face.

“I love you, too,” she said, pulling her car out of the parking space. “I’m sorry I left you in Montreal,” she told him as he reached over and held her hand.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Darcy before. She really doesn’t mean anything to me. She was a bad mistake in my past.”

“It’s okay, Kris,” she assured him. “I need to stop by my office. Do you want me to drop you off at home before I head over there?”

“No, I’ll go there with you,” he said, and she nodded her head, turning off in the direction of the arena. Twenty minutes later, she was parked out front, and the two of them got out of her car.

“What did you need here?” he asked her as they walked inside.

“You’ll see,” she smiled as she made her way to the office. She walked inside and grabbed the large package off the floor. She opened it up, showing Kris the large portrait. On it showed a picture of the entire team right after they had won the Stanley Cup, all celebrating on the ice. It had been right before Kris had skated over and kissed her in front of everyone. That had set off a crazy chain of events, but Quinn wouldn’t change any of it because it got her to where she was today. “Mario called and told me they were in. I had to come in and see it for myself. It’s a great picture,” she smiled.

“Yes, it is,” Kris agreed, putting his arm around her. “That is one of the greatest moments of my life,” he smiled.

“One of?” Quinn inquired, assuming that that moment would have been the greatest moment of my life.

“I have to say this past season has been the greatest year of my life,” he told her.

Quinn couldn’t help but smile at those words, feeling the exact same way. She set the portrait back down on the floor before she grabbed Kris’s hand, leading him down the hallway. He wasn’t sure where she was taking him until she walked into a room on the first floor of the arena, and everything fell into place. It was where they had first met each other. “I still remember when you walked in here,” Quinn told him. “I ran away from everyone, and you somehow found me in here. You offered to teach me hockey,” she smiled at him.

“And I did teach you about hockey,” he continued. “And, something more happened.”

“I remember I wasn’t sure if I wanted the team. At that point, I didn’t want anything to do with it whatsoever. But, you showed me how much it means to me. I’m grateful you convinced me to keep it. I can’t imagine not having the team or you in my life now,” she said, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him, grabbing the backwards ball cap off of his head and tossing it on the floor so she could run her fingers through his hair.

Things started to get heated, and Kris was the first one to come to his senses and pull away. “I think we should go back home. Too many cameras here,” he said, and Quinn knew he was right. The last thing they needed was the security guards to have a sex tape of the two of them.

Quinn chuckled. “I think you’re right about that,” she said as they quickly made their way back to her car. She sped home, and they didn’t even bother getting his luggage out of the car before they went inside. Kris shut the door behind them and immediately had his hands on Quinn, roaming up and down her body as he stripped her out of her clothes.

“I think I fall more in love with you every day,” he told her as he stripped her of the last piece of clothing she was wearing. He kissed her softly on the neck, and she let out a soft sigh.

“Kris, please just take me already,” she practically begged. He didn’t waste his time getting them back to the bedroom and instead laid her down on the couch, getting down to business there.

When they were finished, Kris moved so he was on bottom and she was laying on top of him. He put his hand on her back, rubbing up and down. Both of them laid there in perfect contentment until there was a knock on the door.

Quinn picked herself up, looking down at Kris. She grabbed her clothes off of the floor, throwing him his clothes, telling him to put them on. The knocking continued, and both quickly dressed as Kris walked over to the door, opening it up to see Tyler standing on the other side. “You have the worst timing ever,” Kris muttered as Tyler walked inside.

“You guys getting ready to have sex?” Tyler chuckled.

“Nope, just finished,” Kris answered.

Quinn’s eyes went wide. “Kris!” she exclaimed.

“Oh, don’t act like we all don’t know you guys have sex,” Tyler rolled his eyes.

“What are you doing here anyways?” Quinn asked him.

“I came to see how things went with Darcy,” he replied.

“She’s the same person she was back then,” Kris began.

“So a bitch?” Tyler interjected.

Kris nodded his head. “She basically told me she missed me. Apparently Thomas left her.”

“And did you tell her you were going home to have sex with your hot girlfriend?” Tyler asked. Quinn looked over at him, wondering whether she should hit him for saying that or thank him for the compliment. Instead, she did neither as Tyler continued. “You should have told her to get lost,” he said, his hatred for Darcy showing through.

“I told her I was happy and in love with my girlfriend,’ Kris said, and Quinn smiled at him. “She said she might be coming back to Pittsburgh for business.”

“Well, if she comes back here, not only will she have to deal with everyone on the team hating her, but she’ll have to deal with Dani hating her, and that may be worse,” Tyler said. No one wanted Danielle on their bad side, and she already had a full-fledged hatred for Darcy. “You better tell her to watch out. On second though, let her come to Pittsburgh and let Dani sink her claws into her,” he chuckled.

Kris smiled at the thought before changing subjects. “Where is Dani by the way?”

“At work. We’re going to look at china patterns after she gets home,” Tyler told him, the lack of enthusiasm in his voice evident.

Kris laughed at him. “Have fun with that,” he said, putting his hand on the back of Tyler’s shoulders.

“You just wait til Quinn makes you do it for your wedding,” Tyler retorted, and Kris shot Quinn a look. The topic of an engagement between the two of them had been brought up a lot lately. Maybe he just needed to take the plunge and ask her already.