Carnival!

An Adventures of Tintin/Torchwood story

Written by: FossilQueen1984

Disclaimer: Hey again fellow Tintin and Torchwood fans! With Lent upon us, I thought up this little ditty. As a heads up, Tintin, Helene and their families are Anglican as they are in my other stories. That aside, enjoy. I still own nothing except Tintin and Helene's children and Haddock's wife, Rosamund. All other characters are the sole property of their creators.

Suggested Soundtrack: Mandolin Concerto in C, RV 425- Vivaldi, Book of Days/Wild Child- Enya

Chapter One: You're Invited!

The late January sunshine petered in and out of the austere windows of the Head Teacher's office inside Marlinshire Day School. Sitting in the wood and steel chairs sat the reporter known as Tintin, his wife Helene and their infant daughter, Roxanna. The twins, Lynette and Tobias were just seven, and their little brother Vincent was four and a bit. After Roxanna's birth, Tintin and Helene had moved to Marlinspike Hall to be closer to Haddock and Rosamund, and because their flat in Brussels was much too small for a large family. Also, the schools were better.

The twins and Vincent had attended school in Marlinspike before, when the parents were out of town or when they were called away to help with Torchwood. With the spring semester underway, Tintin and Helene were enrolling their three older children into the nursery school and primary programs. As usual, the twins had been given a battery of tests for appropriate placement. As expected, Lynette, Tobias and Vincent had done well enough to be skipped ahead a whole year. The head was rather insistent on placing such gifted youngsters in advanced classes; but Helene and Tintin were adamant about the twins being with children their own age, this also applied to Vincent.

So, that afternoon in the office of Head Mistress Antilles, Tintin and Helene were finishing up the paperwork that would allow their children to start attending classes. Starting that Tuesday, Lynette and Tobias would be in First Cycle, first year students while Vincent would be in with the four year olds. The nursery school was on site and this made it easy for older and younger siblings to relay messages to teachers.

Glancing over her glasses, the woman replied to the couple, "Well Monsieur and Madam Berlioz, I can say with great certainty that your paperwork has been filed and sent in correctly, the twins and Vincent are now enrolled. I look forward to seeing them next week." Shaking their hands, she showed them to the door. Roxanna cooed as Tintin placed her in the pram and he and Helene made their way to the playground.

The snow had been cleared from the expansive blacktop and three brunette children were scampering around the piles of ice and rock salt. Lynette waved her scarlet knit hat above her head like a flag, letting her braids sail behind her. "Luke, Han! Get over here, I found a great place for the new Rebel base." Laughing, her brothers raced over and Vincent kicked at the pile with his boot. "Looks good to me, Leia. But, will it melt?" His ice blue eyes looked questioningly at his older brother, who shrugged and replied it might but they could always make a new base at home. Tobias took his hat and crawled to the top and claimed it in the name of the Rebel Alliance.

"What's the view like," Lynette called up to him. Tobias replied he had an awesome view, so Lynette and Tobias joined him. From the perch, Vincent spotted two adults and a pram slowly approach their fort. "Imperials off the port bow," he yelled as Lynette chucked a snowball at her father. Tintin waved to them and requested to hold their fire as they squealed, "Daddy, mummy!" The reporter was tackled by three children, and he kissed them all softly.

Glancing at the fort, Helene inquired about whose hat was designated as flag. Lynette blanched, "Whoops that's my hat! Come on Chewie, Mum and Dad are here." Securing it on her head, she cooed over her baby sister as Snowy reluctantly returned from the benches. As usual, Tintin and Helene left him with the children so they wouldn't wander off. As there were no children in the vicinity of Marlinspike Hall close to their ages, Lynette, Tobias and Vincent played together in the large manor house. Even after starting school and making friends of their own, the twins and Vincent still remained close.

It was an half hour walk from town back home, so it did not surprise Archibald Haddock in the least when he caught an oft familiar sight out the library window. His ginger son-in-law holding a little boy of four on his shoulders, a boy and girl a few years older racing after Snowy and his daughter pushing a pram with a three month old little girl with wispy chocolate curls. He and Rosamund had been surprised that all four of their grandchildren had dark hair and impossibly blue eyes, surely one of them would have been a ginger like their father.

The front doors flung open as Helene called out, "Dad, Mum we're back!" Haddock greeted them and was informed by his grandchildren that they would be attending a new school and were quite excited by the prospect. Roxanna, wanting some attention, squawked from her mother's arms as Rosamund walked in and cuddled the infant. The conversation spilled over into the library as Vincent and the twins were shooed upstairs for an early bath and dinner.

As soon as they had tramped off to the nursery, Tintin took hold of Roxanna and cuddled her and asked Haddock, "Well Captain, what was so important you had to tell us with the children out of hearing?" Sipping from his flask, Haddock produced a note card that bore Bianca Castafiore's signature. "Well Tintin, Helene- we all have been invited to a Carnival masquerade. Billions of blue blistering barnacles, I have told that dotty diva we are Anglican, not a bunch of undersexed, overstuffed Catholics. She also wants the children to attend and to make matters worse, she also invited Sec, Ianto and Harkness!" Tintin and Helene couldn't see why that would be a problem, Jack and Ianto kept the sexual aspects of their relationship in the bedroom since the children started getting older and ambulatory.

Rosamund agreed with them on this matter, if they were all going to a masquerade, what would the harm be? Haddock countered that this was no ordinary party, this was a Carnival masquerade and this meant costumes and masks. Who knew what Harkness would claim as his costume? Would it even be in good taste?

It was here Calculus and the Torchwood crew entered the conversation. Calculus smiled at the young couple, "So are the little ones enrolled? Splendid, splendid I'm sure they are excited about starting school. Aha, that's where the invitation went. Tintin and Helene, are you familiar with Carnival? I'm sure you have learned about the street festivals in Aalst and Halle from news coverage. Well, I spoke with Bianca over the phone and the gala with be this Saturday evening at 17:00. Costumes are traditional, but you don't have to dress up." He sighed contentedly and showed his pendulum to an interested Roxanna. Haddock and Rosamund felt they should at least RSVP before taking the conversation any farther.