Erik has wanted to be a father for as long as he can remember -- but now that the day is finally here, he's terrified. Surely a ham-fisted Viking of a man like Erik shouldn't be allowed to handle things as tiny and delicate as his new baby girl?<br><br>But it's not just his daughter that's come into Erik's world. His partner has finally returned too. After nine months of watching Andreas struggle with the mental and physical toll of being a man and being pregnant at the same time, the birth of their daughter is both a beginning and an ending.<br><br>Erik is a father for the first time -- but not everything that comes next is new.

Erik the Pink

“Lunch? Erik can treat us at the pub.”


Originally, Lauren had been Erik’s friend. Andreas had come to the UK with nobody but his then-boyfriend in his social circle. And being nearly fluent in English didn’t mean that he’d known the first thing about the English. They were a confusing, contradictory bunch whose international reputation was nothing like the real deal—and even worse, nothing like their more famous American cousins. Andreas had been utterly lost. Madcap Erik hadn’t helped much.


Of Erik’s best friends in Mike, Jo and Lauren, it had been Lauren to take to Andreas first, albeit initially for very selfish reasons. She wanted to learn a language. Andreas knew three. Perfect. So Andreas had found himself with a new boyfriend, still struggling to understand ‘latte’ or ‘mocha’ in Yorkshire accents at the coffee shop, and giving Spanish lessons to a Mancunian on Thursday evenings.


Now he’d more or less poached Lauren from Erik, and had no intention of handing her back.


Chapter 19