Our Secret Hiding Spot

Quinn walked in the door with takeout from the family owned Italian restaurant down the street. It was a favorite of Kris's, and she knew he'd appreciate the move, even if he was in a bad mood. He didn't want to leave Pittsburgh. He loved it here, and he had a life there now with Quinn.

She saw him sitting on the couch with a beer in his hand, and she silently wondered what number he was on. He turned his head when he heard the door open, and he gave her a head nod, acknowledging her presence.

"I brought food," she said, lifting up the bag of takeout to show him as she set her purse on the table and walked over to where he was sitting, putting the food on the table in front of him. They didn't even bother moving into the kitchen to eat tonight. The living room would suffice. "So, let's just get it out there," Quinn said, knowing there was no sense in procrastinating the talk. No matter when they had the discussion, neither of them were going to be happy with it.

"I don't want to leave," Kris stated as Quinn started taking the containers out of the bag and spreading them out on the table.

She sighed but nodded her head in understanding. "I get that, Kris," she began. "I don't want you to leave either, but it's looking like that's going to be what happens. So, let's just plan like you're leaving. What do you want to do about it?"

He looked over at her, confused. "What do you mean?" he asked, grabbing the mostaccioli and opening it up, putting a large portion of it on his plate.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked, though Kris still didn't understand what she was asking. Quinn shut her eyes, not wanting to say the words out loud. "Do you want me to quit?"

Kris immediatley shook his head. "No, Quinn!" he said emphatically. "Why would you even think that?"

"I don't know, conflict of interest?" she shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, if you're playing for the Flyers or whoever, do you think it's best for me to be married to a Philadelphia player while I'm part owner of the Penguins?" she asked.

"Didn't people say the same thing about you dating a player on your team?" Kris pointed out. "And, we didn't listen to anyone then and it worked out just fine. Why would this be any different?"

Quinn grabbed a breadstick and sank her teeth into it as she leaned back against the couch, allowing her head to roll back. "I don't know," she groaned, her mouth full of food. She chewed the breadstick and swallowed before she continued. "I don't want to be away from you."

Kris lifted an eyebrow at her. "Do you want to quit your job, Quinn?" he asked, his French-Canadian accent thick with the words, pulling Quinn back to the first day she met him and how heavy his accent had been and how attracted to it she was.

Quinn rubbed her temples. "No. Yes. I don't know," she shook her head, confused. She really didn't know what she wanted. "I never thought I'd ever love owning a team. I hated it when I first started out, and I thought I'd give it up in a couple of months."

"But you didn't," Kris continued for her, urging her to go on.

"No, I fell in love with the team and the job, and as conceited as this sounds, I think I’m a pretty damn good owner," she said, standing up without warning and heading into the kitchen. She stood on her tiptoes to reach the bottle of wine on the top shelf and poured herself a large glass before going back into the living room with Kris.

"You are a good owner," Kris told her, reminding her where she had been in the conversation.

"But I fell in love with you more than I did being a team owner," she told him softly. "And I really don’t know how I could handle being away from you for over half of the year. So…" she trailed off, looking down at the floor.

Kris reached over, gently brushing his fingers along her chin to bring her attention back to him. "So…?" he said quietly.

She took a deep breath before finishing that thought. "So if you leave Pittsburgh, and I understand right now that that seems like the best option for you. If you leave Pittsburgh, then I'm ready to step down as owner and move with you."

"No," Kris stated.

Quinn's eyes widened at his adamant response that sounded like he was leaving no room for argument, not that it meant she wasn't going to do just that. "No?" she questioned.

"No," Kris repeated. "You're not giving up the team if I move. That's not going to be good for anyone. You won't be happy without the team, and I won't be happy knowing that my decision for my career caused you to give up that team. Let's say you did give up the team, who's going to come in and take it from you? Dean? Is that what you want? You want Dean to come in here, take ownership of the Pens, and take them to hell and back?"

"Well, no, but…" she began, but Kris interrupted her.

"You're not giving up this team. I don't care where I end up. I'll quit the NHL before I let you give up the team," he stated matter-of-factly.

Quinn's eyes went wide as she abandoned her glass of wine on the table. "You are not quitting hockey!" she exclaimed.

"Why can you quit the job you love, but I can't?" he said with a raised eyebrow, and she realized he was just making a point, and she didn't have a comeback. "Exactly. There's got to be a way for us both to keep doing what we love doing and be happy. If that means being apart for half the year, then so be it. We'll still make it work."

Quinn inhaled deeply and slowly let the breath out through her nose. "Okay," she said. "So, you're going to go to another team. What one are you going to go with? Did you and Evan talk about it?" she asked.

Kris nodded his head. "Philadelphia."

Quinn smiled at him. "You think your teammates are going to accept you going to the enemy?" she asked jokingly.

Kris couldn't help but chuckle, thinking about what everyone would say when he told them he was thinking of going to the Flyers. "They're going to kill me," he said, his laughter growing louder.

"You're the new Max Talbot," she smiled at him.

Kris turned his head to look at her. "Did you just name an old Penguins player? Why, Quinn Letang, are you learning your Penguins history?" he joked with her.

Quinn smiled at the fact he used her new last name, but decided not to focus on that. She hit him in the chest with the back of her hand. "Oh shush," she told him, sticking her tongue out at him. "I'm doing better with the history stuff! Plus, you've talked about him once or twice before," she said. Kris had been friends with Talbot when they played on the same team. He didn't keep in touch as much anymore, but he was sure he had indeed talked about him a time or two to Quinn.

"Have you talked to Tyler at all about this? He probably understands better than anyone. Granted, he was traded. But, still," she shrugged her shoulders. She knew Dani had to deal with Tyler moving halfway across the country after his trade, though she had immediately known she was going to join him. Quinn needed to find someone that could relate to her situation of a long distance marriage and talk with them about it.

"A little bit," Kris nodded his head, going back to the food that he had put down a little while before. Quinn followed his lead, grabbing her plate and eating some of the lasagna, wanting food in her system since she had downed the glass of wine in no time.

"What does he have to say?" she asked, wiping off the bit of sauce that had dropped onto her chin when she took a huge bite.

"Do what's best for us," he shrugged. Tyler really didn't have much advice for him, though Kris hadn't expected him to. This was a weird situation, one that he wasn't sure anyone had to go through before them.

"So when do you think you're going to make it official?" she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer to it. A part of her still held out hope that the Penguins could make a deal with him, even though everyone that was a part of it had told her it was basically hopeless at this point.

Kris grabbed his beer, finishing it off, and putting the empty bottle back on the table. "I told Evan I had to talk to you and I'd give him an answer tomorrow. So I guess tomorrow," he answered.

"Should I even tell Mario that we talked about it or let him find out through Evan?" she asked. She wasn't supposed to be a part of the dealing with Kris at all, that was the plan. But, Mario had confided some of the talks with her, so she wasn't sure if she should warn him that Kris was going to sign with Philadelphia, even though Mario already knew that there was a pretty good chance of Kris going somewhere else with Pittsburgh's offering for him.

"You can tell him," Kris said. "It'll be common knowledge fairly quickly. I guess we both should get ready for the backlash from fans," he told her.

"At least it'll overshadow our wedding, and hopefully no one will realize we're actually married," she said with a laugh though she found no humor in the fact that Kris was going to be going to Philadelphia.

Kris wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close into his body. "One good thing to come out of all of this," he chuckled. "I bet you never saw this coming," he murmured.

Quinn lifted her head off of his chest and looked up at him curiously. "Never saw what coming?"

"This, all of this," he said, reaching down with his hand and playing with her wedding ring that was on her finger. "That you'd be owner of a hockey team. That you'd marry one of the players. What kind of future did you think you'd have for yourself? You know, before your dad gave you the team?" he asked.

She rested her head back on him once again, thinking about it. "I don't really know. I mean, I got my MBA, and I wanted to work in business. I guess I always thought I'd work for some big company. It just seemed kinda like the thing that I'd do. Noah was always going to be a hotshot lawyer and be partner in some firm, and he did that. Dean was always going to be a conniver. Even when he went to school, he's smart, but he's lazy. He wants money in the easiest way possible. So, while he got a college degree, we all knew he was always going to scheme to get his money. And that's what he's doing now. And me, my mom and Garrett always pictured me going to work for some Fortune 500 company," she shrugged her shoulders, remembering when she was going to school how Corinne and Garrett would always talk about the best companies she could find a job with when she graduated.

"That's what everyone else wanted, but what did you want?" Kris asked, picking up on the fact that she talked about what everyone else saw her doing, but she never answered his actual question of what she saw herself doing.

"I never really knew," she told him honestly. "I just wanted to make everyone else happy. So, if I hadn't inherited the team from Mitchell, I probably would be working for some Fortune 500 company that Garrett knew someone that worked there. I don't know that I ever really had a big dream for my career. I just knew one day I wanted to settle down and get married and have kids," she said as she absentmindedly traced small circles on his stomach with her index finger.

"Are you happy?" he asked her.

Quinn stopped drawing with her finger and picked herself up off of him to look in his eyes. "Do you even have to ask that question?" she asked him.

He smiled at her. "I meant with everything. Your career, your life, everything," he explained.

"I am," she nodded her head. "Never would I have thought that I'd end up working for a hockey team, but I know I wouldn't have been happy working for a Fortune 500 company as a nobody. I would have done it because that's what everyone expected me to do, but I don't think I would have actually been happy. And, you know I'm happy with you, and being married to you," she grinned at him. "What about you?" she asked him. "Did you picture all of this for yourself?"

"I did always picture myself playing in the NHL," he admitted. "Even when I was a little kid, I didn't want to do anything but play hockey, and fortunately my mom and dad approved of that and supported me. So I couldn't imagine doing anything else with my life. Did I picture a wife?" he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know that I ever really thought about it back then. But, when I found you, I knew I couldn't picture my life without you in it."

Quinn smiled at him. "You're a smooth talker, Mr. Letang," she commented.

"I try," Kris grinned.

"You almost made me forget that we won't be able to do this on a regular basis next season," she said, running her fingers along his forearm that was wrapped around her.

"We'll make it work," Kris stated, leaving no room for doubt from her.

She smiled up at him. "I believe you," she told him. And, she really did.