Catching Up

The Phone Call

Tintin's eyes fluttered open. His face was snuggly fit on a pillow, cradling his head. Tintin nuzzled his nose into...what appeared to be....hair? Yes, yes it was hair. He looked down slightly, dark brown hair meeting his gaze. He then smiled into the hair, nuzzling his face back into it, and setting a nice kiss to the top of the head currently residing under his chin.

He wrapped his arms tighter around his wife, giving her a small squeeze, but not big enough to fully wake her. She stirred a bit, but eventually sighed and smiled into his chest, where her face currently resided.

Tintin chuckled a bit to himself. He mustered a low, sleep riddled "Good morning, my Elise." Closing his eyes once again.

In response, Elise sighed and hummed a small "Good morning."

Tintin unwrapped his arms from her and sat up. He fixed his pajama pants, which were twisted, and he pulled up his socks, which were also twisted, and smoothed out his white t-shirt, which was quite wrinkled.

He looked back at Elise, who was stretching her arms above her head. Tintin smiled at her. He loved seeing her like this, in the morning. She always looked so cute in her nightgown, and he loved it when she would ruffle his hair after he sat up, which, she promptly did.

Elise sat up and drug her long fingers through his hair ruffling and scrunching it as she went. After a minute, they both chuckled, and Elise brought her hand to his cheek. He leaned his head into it, and kissed her palm, placing his hand on top of hers.

"We should take the kids to the park today." She said, already thinking ahead to the activity of the day.

"Yes, but they go to the park nearly every day. Lori's getting tired of it." Tintin responded using their daughter's nickname.

"Yes, well Lorelei will have to deal with it, because Zachary loves the park." Elise countered.

"Yea, well Zach loves everything, he's two." Tintin said, grabbing her forearm and pulling her closer to him. He leaned in and tilted his head, giving her a sweet kiss to the lips. It took a moment for the action to register in Elise's mind, but once it did, she responded by kissing him back. Tintin's hands went to her lower back, pulling her closer. After their knees touched, Tintin began to recline her back onto the pillows. In between kisses, he muttered 'I love you' and she hummed as a response. Once fully reclined, Tintin began peppering her lips with chaste kisses, his hands firmly placed at her hips.

"Mummy! Daddy!" The sound of four small feet barreling down the stairs made Tintin spring off of her in an instant, earning a hard glare from Elise. All he could do was mouth a 'sorry' and scratch the back of his neck.

All of a sudden, two children, one six and the other two, crawled onto the bed and up the comforter to their parents.

"Hello Lori, my little girl!" Said Tintin, arms extended and letting her climb into a big hug. She gladly reciprocated, giving him a bear hug in return.

"Good morning Daddy!" She said, as Tintin planted a small kiss atop her ginger head. She got his hair and freckles, and Elise's facial features, but it was vice versa for Zachary, who got his mother's hair, and his father's face.

The little boy sat tiredly in his mother's arms, resting his head in her neck.

Tintin planted a big kiss atop his head as well, saying "Good morning my little bug."

The toddler smiled a big missing-his-front-teeth smile, and giggled like a little child on Christmas. Tintin chuckled at this as well, giving his hair a good ruffle.

"Guess what mummy just said?" Tintin asked his children.

"What?" They responded in unison.

"You're going to go to the park today!" He said, eyes wide and a huge smile plastered to his face. Elise chuckled, she loved to see him act excited for the children. It made him seem like a little kid himself. Zachary laughed and clapped his hands saying "Yay! Pak! Pak!".

"Uhg. I don't want to go to the park. We've been nearly four times this month." Lorelei said, all excitement leaving her.

"Lorelei," Elise gave her a stern look, one she often gave to Tintin when he tries to be "too comfortable" with her in public, or in front of the children.

Lorelei looked up at her through apologetic eyelashes. Elise's expressions softened. How could she stay mad at her.

"Well, the park is fun Lori, you can bring the football, and you can teach Zach to play?" Tintin said, affectionately rubbing the small girl's arm.

"Ok!" She said excitedly. They all chuckled for a moment, before the ringing telephone broke the moment. Tintin looked at Elise, and she looked back with an understanding gaze. She knew what it meant: Work. His boss always called every phone he had (his cell, his work, his home, sometimes even his wife's cell) to get a hold of him however he could. It was usually for a story, which meant long nights in the office and trips out of country (although less dangerous because he now had a family).

Tintin picked Lori off of his lap and set her on the comforter next to Zach and Elise. He then got up and reached for the phone on the dresser. He pressed the talk button and held it to his ear.

"This is Tintin." He said.

"..." Silence filled the line.

"Hello?" He prompted.

"...I haven't heard your voice in 13 years..." Came a gruff voice from the other end.

Tintin scrunched his face in confusion. He scoffed, "Ok seriously, who is this?". Elise walked up behind him, lightly touching his shoulders and mouthing 'who is it?'

"...13 years ago, you were 19 years old...13 years ago-"

"I'm sorry, if this is a prank, I don't wan-"

"You were a little boy helping an old man find his family's secret."

Tintin paused. The secret of the Unicorn. His face blanked. Oh my god.

"How did...how...-h-how'd you know that?" He asked, running a finger through his hair as Elise rubbed his arm in encouragement.

"Because...because I was that old man."