OVERKILL ★ CHAPTER SEVEN
(A Football Interlude.)

QUINN DOESN'T KNOW HOW, BUT she's managed to convince Beard and Ted to put a standstill on her parental issues—at least, for the duration of Michelle and Henry's visit. It's supposed to be a special weekend for them, and she refuses for it to be imposed with her own complications. She wants Michelle and Henry to have everyone's undivided attention.

"This is my first football match," she says excitedly as the approaches closer to Nelson Road. She didn't have a kit to sport at the game yet, but Nate had brought her one his many AFC Richmond hats, which she put on happily to rep Beard and Ted's team.

"And unless there's some miracle, we will lose terribly."

Quinn smacks the back of Beard's head. "Where's your fucking team spirit?"

"Must've forgotten last week—when we lost again."

"You're the coach, please put on a smile for the love of God."

Nate looks uncomfortable by the two's banter the entire drive, practically clawing himself out of the car once it's parked.

"Sorry," he mumbles. "You guys remind me of me and my dad . . . except he means the insults he spews at me."

"Oh, God," mutters Quinn to herself. "The daddy issues multiply! Welcome to the club, Nate!" She loops her arm through his as they approach the front doors of the stadium. He seems much more cheerful by her arm, so she keeps him close as they walk in.

After getting cleared by security, they make their way to private part of the stadium, where they spot Michelle and Henry looking at a trophy case.

"Baby Lasso!"

Henry turns his head with a smile. "Uncle Beard!" He practically tramples over his oversized shirt running to hug Beard. They join together in an enthusiastic where Beard spins Henry around enough times to make both of them dizzy.

"Quinn Zheng?"

Quinn smiles. "Michelle! It's so nice to see you again!" She undoes her hold on Nathan to outstretch her arms towards the older woman.

Michelle embraces her tightly. "I haven't seen you since you graduated high school! How are you doing?"

Quinn's time with Michelle had been very limited throughout the year. The woman often stuck by Ted's side while he did most of the talking because he's, well, Ted. That didn't stop her from having good moments with Quinn, though. They bonded over sharing Ted and Beard antics to each other, and Michelle would ask about gossip from school and the new shows Quinn would watch.

"I'm okay! How are you? How's your visit?"

Michelle laughs, racking her head for a way to properly describe how it's been. "Very LEGO-filled. We went on a double decker bus, and went to a tea house. Ted just filled his cup up with water, naturally."

"Yeah sounds like him." Quinn turns to look down at Henry, who stares up at her curiously. She kneels down to be at his eye-level. "Hi, Henry! Do you remember me by any chance?"

He shyly shakes his head.

"Makes sense. I'm Quinn, and you were, like, three and I had braces until a month before I started college. So I was a sight to behold. But we should totally be friends now." She sticks her hand out to the boy.

"Do you like football?" he asks, slowly coming out of his shell with the question. He accepts her hand after looking up at Michelle, who nods enthusiastically.

Quinn thinks she should be truthful, "It's cool to watch, but I know absolutely nothing about the sport. But I wouldn't mind if you explained it to me. Plus," she whispers, "I know where the locker room is—in case you wanna meet any of the players."

His eyes light up. He turns to Michelle. "Mom! Can I go with Quinn?"

She grins. "I don't see why not." She glances at Quinn to make sure it's okay, and the girl nods with a smile.

"You know the way to go, Quinnie?" asks Beard.

"Yup!"

"Alright, I'll text you where your section is, but just call me if you need Higgins to help with finding the way."

"Sounds good with me. I'll see you after the game?" She kisses his cheek. "Good luck!"

"We're gonna need it," mutters Beard, and Quinn frowns. She hopes Henry didn't hear that.

She outstretches her hand to the boy, and he holds it tightly as she begins to lead them down the hall

"So, Henry," Quinn begins. She looks down to see if he's following along with her words, but he's too busy staring in awe at the life-sized vinyl stickers on the wall of different players. She wonders how the kid will act once she meets them. "Who's your favorite player?"

"Jamie Tartt!" And he begins singing Jamie's name to the tune of the Baby Shark song.

What the fuck?

"Cool!" she tries to sound enthusiastic despite the utter confusion in her mind. "I've talked with him a few times, he's not too bad. And he's really good on the pitch from what I've seen."

"He's scores a bunch of goals," Henry grins. "I wanna be just like him."

"I don't doubt you will be." Hopefully not as cocky. They get to the hallway that the locker room resides in and she points at the door to Henry. "There it is! Let's go inside and see if—"

She isn't given a chance to finish, because Henry takes off running towards the door. She curses at how fast he is under her breath, and trails after him.

Judging by the screeching of "Dad!" coming from Henry, Quinn can deduce that Ted is inside. She walks a little faster to catch up.

"Sorry, he just took off running and—" Quinn pauses. She takes notice of Ted hugging Henry, and Jamie standing a few feet behind him. By the look on his face, Quinn can tell that the conversation taking place before her and Henry's arrival wasn't some pre-game pep talk.

She throws him a questioning glance, but chooses to witness the mini father-son reunion taking place before her. Ted's arms wrap tightly around Henry, his eyes looking up in thanks towards Quinn for bringing him in.

Surprisingly, Henry averts his eyes from his dad, to Jamie standing behind him.

"Jamie Tartt?" His voice is awestruck, and Quinn is reminded of just a minute ago, where Henry expressed who his favorite player is.

Jamie smiles down at the child. "Hello, little lad."

"Will you sign my shirt?"

Quinn doesn't bother to stay in the locker room, choosing to give the three their privacy as Henry fangirls over meeting Jamie. She waits outside, mentally trying to assess the possible root of the tension between Ted and Jamie. She can count on zero hands the amount of times Ted has looked like he's about to blow his top off at a person. And Jamie looked like he was about to experience Ted's anger firsthand. It unsettles Quinn.

Her puts her thoughts to a halt when she catches Jamie sauntering down the hall with a smug expression that Quinn ranks low on her list of favorite Jamie Tartt looks . . . not that she's keeping track.

But the look softens around his face as his eyes meet her. He comes to a stop in front of her. "Quinn," he nods.

She smiles. "Jamie."

His eyes switch from Quinn to the expanse of the hallway behind her. His tone goes down to a low whisper, "Listen . . . I'm not a fucking moron, I know you weren't crying about a dog movie at training that day."

Quinn frowns, looking down suddenly to avert eye contact with him

"Plus, I looked up a dog-narrated movie with the name Pepper. Couldn't find a damn thing."

He looked up a dog movie to catch her in a lie? She doesn't know what to make of that; she doesn't know what to make of Jamie caring enough to do something like that. "It was something different," she admits, "but . . . I'm okay now. I think."

Jamie raises an eyebrow. "Your dad?"

"Yeah," she sighs. "My dad."

Jamie nods. "I'm sorry." He looks like he's not used to uttering the two words.

Quinn only nods. "It's alright. Good luck today."

"Thanks, love, but I won't need it."

She watches him walk off, wondering how he can so easily switch from being caring to being an utter prick in two seconds. Ted and Henry exit the locker room together moments later.

And, of course, Henry is singing that godawful Baby Shark/Jamie Tartt tune. He smiles up and Quinn and turns around to show him the signature on the back of his shirt. "Look!"

She flashes her most enthusiastic smile. "That's the coolest thing, Henry! You're so lucky."

He nods and skips off ahead of her. Ted lets Henry walk a little bit ahead of them, and Quinn takes it as an advantage to whisper, "Okay, what the hell was that back there? You two looked like you were about to go head to head on a Wild West gunfight."

"Don't be ridiculous, Quinnie," Ted whispers back. "That was clearly a medieval knight duel—sans horses."

"Fair point. But explain."

Ted lets out a stressed sigh. "Let's just say there's no 'I' in team, but there is an "I" in Jamie, which is all that matters to him."

"Huh," Quinn hums thoughtfully. "Must be pretty bad if you can't keep your composure around him."

Ted shakes his head. "He is something, Quinnie . . . but I do notice how he acts around you."

Quinn's eyebrows shoot up. "How does he act around me?"

"Different, that's for sure," he says, but doesn't bother to explain further. Quinn wishes he did. "Do you need help finding your seats?"

"Um, no I don't think so. We'll manage, right, Hen?" she calls out to the boy in front of them.

He turns back and nods with a grin.

They say their goodbyes and good lucks to Ted before making their way to the VIP box. Admittedly, Quinn didn't have the slightest clue on where it is, but didn't wanna inconvenience Ted with helping when he already has a game to stress about. But a security guard thankfully led them the right way, and they soon were climbing up the steps to the box.

"Mom!" Henry calls out, and shimmies his way to the seat that was saved for him.

"Quinn, dear, you're right here," Higgins pats the seat next to him, where Quinn will be seated in between him and Rebecca.

She grins. "Hey, everyone."

A blonde woman sitting next to Rebecca peers over to Quinn with a friendly smile. "Hello!"

"Hi!" Quinn takes her seat and sticks her hand out over Rebecca to the girl. "I'm Quinn."

"I'm Keeley! Rebecca was telling me a bit about you, love—says you're Coach Beard's goddaughter! It's so lovely that you're visiting. I can't believe we haven't crossed paths before."

Quinn enjoys how cheery Keeley is. "I've only been around here a few times, so I haven't really gotten the chance to meet everyone. Do you work here?"

Keeley's nod is rapid. "I'm helping the team out with a few PR things, so I'm around more often than usual! We certainly should have a proper get together soon!"

Rebecca chuckles. "Please forgive how forward Keeley is."

The younger girl rolls her eyes playfully. "Oh, Rebecca you love it! I take her out of that tiny, taut shell of hers. And I hope to crack yours soon, Quinn."

The girl really doesn't hold back. "Crack me open all you want."

The raise in Keeley's eyebrows are suggestive. "I like her!"

The three create small-talk (which is actually big-talk around Keeley since she doesn't hesitate to bring up less-than-appropriate topics in public) until the match begins. And, to reiterate again, Quinn doesn't give a flying fuck about football and she couldn't name a single term if you held her gunpoint. But, she can understand the basics of scoring the ball. So that has to be enough, right?

She watches the game as attentively as she can. And maybe she just doesn't fully understand it, but Richmond appears to be completely out of it. The opposing team had already scored two goals as the halftime mark nears.

"Am I just terrible at understanding this game or—"

"They're losing," Rebecca, Keeley, and Higgins say together.

"Thanks for the clarification."

When the crowd starts chanting "Wanker," Quinn has it in mind to cover the poor, innocent ears of Henry. She still isn't even sure what the word means, but it can't be good. "This is incredibly dehumanizing," she frowns.

Rebecca comfortingly pats her hand on Quinn's shoulder. "Welcome to football culture, love."

Thankfully, Jamie—ever the saving grace—scores a a solo goal that has all Richmond supporters cheering. Even Quinn is smiling at the sudden change of mood amongst the stadium, clapping and shouting alongside everyone else.

And Jamie soaks every single cheer in. He points to the back of his kit where his last name and number are printed.

"That ego of his is crazy today," comments Quinn.

Keeley scoffs. "You wouldn't even begin to believe, babe. That's pretty much him every day—on and off the field."

The game continues, and Quinn lets out a cheer as Sam gets the ball. It's short lived, though, because he gets tripped mere seconds later. Quinn moves forward, her hands gripping the cemented edge in front of her to get a closer look at her friend's state. Jamie is seen just walking over Sam, and that begins the quarrel between Roy and Jamie.

Quinn sits back in shock, switching between disgusted and confused by Jamie's actions to Sam. They're supposed to be teammates, and Sam is probably the biggest sweetheart to walk the planet. How can someone be so fucking uncivil enough to walk over Sam when he's clearly hurting? The Jamie she'd witnessed nights ago is completely different to the person he is on the field. She doesn't know which one is real him, or if he's equal parts of both. And she tries her hardest to rack her brain for a reasonable excuse for how terrible he's being, but her mind can't think of any. She's never witnessed how selfish Jamie can be until now.

Ear-shattering yells flow through the stadium. She looks back down to see Jamie cheering yet again for making a penalty kick. Quinn isn't as amused by his ego this time.

"Hey, Rebecca," a voice cuts in through the noise.

Quinn lets out a little yelp, leaning back and holding onto Higgins' arm. She looks downwards to see Ted's head peeking up from the edge. Jesus.

Rebecca doesn't looked phased "Hello, Ted."

"You're doing great, Dad!" says Henry.

"Yeah," Michelle comforts, "you got this."

"Thanks, guys!" He grins at his family before turning back to his boss. "I wanna bench Jamie. But I didn't wanna do it without checking with you first."

"Ted, you're the manager. So, whatever you decide, you have my full support."

"Thanks boss, alright. Later, alligators." His head goes down before he pops it up again fleetingly, "I hope you're enjoying your first game, Quinnie!"

"I am!" Quinn replies, and watches on the Jumbotron as Ted descends back down to the stadium.

She turns to Rebecca and nudges her lightly. "Thanks," Quinn says with a grin, "for trusting Ted with this. I know he appreciates it."

Rebecca gives her a smile back, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

★

The game ends with a surprising win for Richmond (everyone is calling it surprising to Quinn, and it's supposedly Richmond's first win since Ted joined for the season). The stadium erupted in cheers, and Henry even got a chance to go down to the middle of the pitch. The night took a turn for the best, and Quinn can't wait to go back to congratulate everyone on the team.

Maybe not Jamie.

However, she isn't given a chance on whether or not to decide if she should congratulate him, because he isn't in the locker room with the rest of the team.

She thinks, maybe, it's for the best to avoid any awkward interactions with him right now.

"Sam!" He's the first person she sees, and she goes up to hug him tightly. "You were amazing! And very fearless; getting up to continue playing even though you're hurt. I am extremely impressed—but also extremely worried."

Sam blushes. "Thanks."

From behind them, Roy Kent scoffs.

Quinn whips her head around to look at him. "And you did great, too." She walks closer to him so that she can say in a lower tone, "I imagine not a lot of people stand up to Jamie. So I think it's cool that you do."

"Interesting for you to say," grunts Roy, "what with all Jamie says about you."

Quinn's brows furrow. "What does Jamie say about me?"

Roy looks at her like she's an idiot.

"He says you two are friends," Sam fills in. "Are you two friends?" His tone is apprehensive. "Or is he just lying to get us to back off?"

Quinn has never really considered the prospect of thinking of Jamie as a friend until now. "Um, I'm not sure?"

"Well, word of advice," Roy cuts in, "don't be fucking friends with him."

Sam doesn't outwardly support the statement, but his lack of saying anything at all shows he agrees with Roy.

Quinn can't think of what to say. And thankfully, she doesn't have to, because a hand wrapping around her shoulder pulls her out of the topic.

"Come with us to celebrate!" Isaac says to Quinn, squeezing her close. "We're hitting the pub, aren't we, boys?"

Everyone aside from Roy cheers, some loudly tapping the bench to heighten the energy.

"And we'd love to have Little Beard with us."

Quinn gags. "Please never call me Little Beard. I'm begging." She ponders on the offer, but she knows that Ted is sending Henry and Michelle off later tonight, and doesn't wanna leave him when he could possibly need comfort. "I'll have to pass tonight. I'm sorry."

"Come on," begs Bumbercatch. "You can get to know us—some more than others." His eyebrows raise suggestively.

Quinn shakes her head jokingly. "No. Gross--And I really would love to, but I made other plans. But please, let me know the next time you guys go out because I'd love to come."

The boys seem to settle happily with that answer.

Quinn lingers around the locker room for a little longer—letting Sam show his collection of photos taped in his locker, and conversing with Colin while he twirls around the keys to his Lamborghini like it's supposed to impress her.

"You could take somebody's eye out with that spin, Colin," she frowns. "Please don't do it."

Colin frowns. He dejectedly lets the keys rest unmoving in his palm, and Quinn pats his shoulder comfortingly.

She eventually bids her goodbye to the boys. They all wave her goodbye, and Quinn pleasingly finds that even Roy grunts a goodbye in her direction. The win must've really put him in a good mood, and she isn't complaining since it led him to warm up to her. Quinn thinks that the more time she spends around the team, the more in love with them she falls.

★

"What do you think he's doing right now?" Quinn asks as she bounces nervously in her seat.

Her and Beard are sat in The Crown and Anchor, peering outside to see if Henry and Michelle's Uber has left yet.

The two have been keeping their eye on Ted since they left Nelson Road after the game. Underneath Ted's cheery nature that he desperately tried to keep up for his family, Quinn and Beard notice the lingering sadness underneath. They know it was because Michelle and Henry are flying back, but they also wonder if this trip would be the end of Ted's marriage. The future is unpredictable, but the two decided together that a drink—and their company—would bring comfort to Ted after this weekend.

"He's letting her go." Beard's tone is sure.

"That's kinda sad. I never thought they'd split."

Beard's eyes flash to Quinn fleetingly. She knows he's thinking about her parents. Though the two men agreed to put the topic at a standstill for Henry and Michelle's visit, she knows that the predicament still lingers in their minds unspokenly. She knows they're itching to ask her what she plans to do next.

"Anyway," she changes the subject, "nothing a nice pint won't fix. Thanks, Mae!"

The old woman—who Quinn learned much about from their conversation fifteen minutes ago—looks back and smiles. "Of course, dear."

Beard glances out the window and his eyes go wide. "The Eagle has left the building."

Quinn gives him a deadpan expression. "Non-code language, please."

Beard rolls his eyes. "The Uber is fucking gone and Ted is sitting alone. Roll out!" He holds the two beers and Quinn pops open their large umbrella, shielding the both of them while also holding a glass of beer of her own.

The two don't utter a word, not when Beard hands Ted his beer, and not when the two sit down to join him. Ted's expression is thankful, and he scoots closer to them.

They sit in silence, but an invisible string tethers them together. Bound by years of memories and the sheer empathy they feel towards one another, the night is a little less lonely. They watch the rain-splattered town in front of them, each stuck in their own head. Quinn gets a sense that everything is going to be be okay, and she knows that Ted and Beard feel the same.