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

Back then, it had just been about the top surgery. And that had been hard enough. Two years of appointment after appointment after appointment, just to get that. Hormone therapy, after having a baby? Andreas had no illusions that would be any easier.


He’d not be telling the psychiatrist anything.


He’d been hesitant about going abroad this year. What with a new baby and Andreas still not being quite right, he’d wanted to stay at home. Just be them. A family. Where even he was figuring out that not a lot could go wrong.


But he lost. Jo booked a family-friendly hotel by the beach in Valencia. Lauren booked flights. Andreas complained about the Valencian accent, and grumbled that he’d voted for Barcelona.


Right up until the morning of the trip, Erik wondered if he wasn’t the only one who was remotely sane.


Chapter 43