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

“I might love every last little inch of you,” he whispered to his daughter, “but you’ve made a right mess of me, you know that?”


She slept on obliviously, and he snorted.


“Of course you do. You’re a child. That’s the next eighteen years of my life, isn’t it?”


The kitchen door closed, and Erik appeared with a spoon, a yoghurt, and a big grin.


“Breakfast is served,” he said, throwing himself down beside Andreas and earning a dirty look from the cat. “And I picked what I want to watch, so you’re not allowed to moan.”


“Oh, Christ, it’s something awful you think is funny, isn’t it?”


“No moaning!” Erik said cheerfully, and leaned over for a kiss. He tweaked Beatriz’ little fist, smoothing it open only to watch it curl up again, then sat back. “Right. We’re going vintage. The Naked Gun, and I don’t want to hear a word.”


Erik went back to work when Beatriz turned two months old.


Chapter 25