Hola! It continues with the two lovebirds. And their children are absolutely adorable. I love them both so much already. And this chapter will also be very cute. I hope that you all enjoy enjoy it and have fun reading.

Greeting Petit Erik

Erik POV

Our children grew up so fast. For me, they were just born yesterday and were now already a year old. Everyone had come to the birthday, of course. Michael was the proudest great-grandpa the world had ever seen. And Philip the proudest grandpa. I grinned when I saw how sweetly and lovingly they both handled their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, respectively. And Lou stood with the rest of her family and got them through any tears they had. Lou's mother came up to me and gave me a hug.

"They are wonderful, Erik. Thank you for giving them to us, to Lou, and of course to yourself."

I grinned, returned her warm hug and replied: "Thank you, Steffi. I'm also extremely happy to have her with me."

Lou came to me, snuggled into my arms and kissed my disfigured cheek.

"I think things have calmed down for the most part. At least, I hope so," she said, smiling.

"We'll see, angel," I replied, kissing her on the forehead.

Suddenly, we heard a shrill giggle. I saw my son running by Caroline's hand, smiling happily. Josy, meanwhile, was running on the hand of Selina. She was the youngest sister of Steffi. Stefanie was the oldest, then came Caroline and then Selina. Of course Philipp had also told his sister that he was now a proud grandpa and she was very happy about it. I had met his sister at my and Lou's wedding and she was really friendly. She was just like her brother and she and her husband had accepted me immediately and unconditionally,. It was wonderful to be accepted for who you really are. I looked back at my son who was still walking by his great aunt's hand. He looked to me and a bright grin broke out on his little face. I could see a few of his little teeth, which had already grown.

He ran a little faster and shouted loudly: "Dada!"

I knelt down and held my arms out to him. He let go of Caroline's hand and took the remaining steps alone into my arms. We watched him and the others were visibly amazed and pleased that he had walked a few steps on his own. Lou smiled happily and also held her arms open to our daughter, while Jere was in my arms.

"Come, my girl," she said, "what Daddy and your brother can do, we've been able to do for a long time."

Our daughter smiled at my wife.

"Mama," she squealed and ran toward her as well.

She let go of Selina's hand and ran into Lou's arms. Josy laughed and Lou pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"See, we could do it just as well as Papa and Jere."

"Dada!" exclaimed Josy, reaching her little arms out to me.

"Yes, come. Let's get some praise from Papa, too."

The two came to me and I gave my daughter a kiss on the cheek, just as my wife did to Jere. But soon they extended their little arms to their grandparents and we gave them to Steffi and Philipp. I sat down with Lou on our couch and she snuggled up to me. Soon Lenny came and put his head on my knee and looked at me. I smiled and stroked the dog's soft head. He leaned into my touch and tapped his tail on the carpet. Nadir came in and grinned when he saw me.

"Erik. The favorite of all animals."

I saw him grin. Obviously he was very proud of himself.

"Well, Nadir. More love me with that than you at the moment, though, don't they?", I shot back.

The Daroga looked at me with wide eyes.

"Well, maybe not quite," he grinned mischievously.

"What, why? What do you mean?", I asked with wide eyes.

He grinned, looking proud of himself.

"I just mean, Erik, that I'm flirting with your ballet mistress."

"WHAT?", I exclaimed, making everyone look at me.

But I just told them that everyone was okay and they turned back to their conversations. I turned to Nadir.

"You're seriously messing with me right now, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not."

"You and Antoinette? Nadir, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Why not? I like her, and when you spend time alone with her, she has a very nice sense of humor."

"Unbelievable," I muttered, dropping against the back of the couch and closing my eyes.

I had to let that roll off my tongue. Nadir and Antoinette. The Daroga and Madame Giry. That is madness. But if they love each other, then I have no problem with it. Why should I? I also had the love of my life by my side and I never wanted to give her up. This love of mine snuggled closer to me and caressed my cheek. Then she played with my sparse strands of hair while Nadir went to get something to drink. I enjoyed the gentle touch of my wife and she smiled.

"Sit with your back to me, please, honey," she said to me.

"Okay, dear."

I turned my back to her so she could touch my hair. She gently ran her fingers through it and in some places I felt little knots. She gently removed them and in the end there were no knots left.

Then she smoothed my strands and said: "There, done."

"Thank you, angel," I replied, turning back around and kissing her gently.

"Well look at you, Erik," Michael said, plopping down in the chair, "I don't think you ever thought you'd be a father when at the beginning, did you?"

I smirked at this question.

"No, I really hadn't. If only for the obvious. But Lou, with her love and patience, showed me otherwise. Which, of course, I'm very proud of."

I saw my wife's head turn red and she buried it against my shoulder. I grinned and kissed her on her mop of hair.

"Oh, my Lou," her grandpa grinned, "you never change."

"Why?" she mumbled into the fabric of my shirt.

"You were like that before. You used to cower at your father's shoulder over things that embarrassed or made you uncomfortable. And now you're doing the same thing with Erik."

In the end, Michael grinned at his granddaughter's embarrassment as she burrowed further into my shoulder.

"You're welcome to climb behind my back too, angel, and hide there," I whispered in her ear.

She looked at me with one eye, then pushed me forward, seeking shelter behind my back. I smirked at this and her grandfather laughed. I tickled the soles of my wife's feet because she had sat behind my back so her feet were at my side. She squealed and wanted to pull her feet to her, but I held her tight.

"Erik," came a growl from behind my back.

I grinned and turned my head to her.

"Yes, dear?", I asked innocently.

She smiled and kissed me. Lenny rejoined us after a moment in the kitchen at his bowl and looked at me.

"I think he wants to go out," Lou said from behind me.

"You want to come with me, angel?", I asked her.

"Sure."

With that, she climbed out from behind my back and stood up. Then she held her hands out to me and pulled me up as well.

"Grandpa?" she called, "we'll be outside with Lenny for a minute!"

"Yeah. All right."

Our kids looked at us and held out their arms.

"You guys need to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for a little while. Mom and Dad will be right back"

"Don't worry," I said to my daughter, "Mom and Dad won't be gone long."

With that I gave her a kiss on the cheek and my son too before Lou and I went into the hallway to put on our jackets and shoes. Together we then walked outside with Lenny and I felt Lou take my hand. I smiled and stroked the wedding band on her right ring finger. My wife smiled at me and lifted my hand to her lips. I lifted her hand to my lips as well and she blushed. I smiled and kissed her on the lips. Then we walked on, closely embraced. In this part of Dresden it was nice and quiet, so we liked to go for walks. It was more than suitable especially for our children. After we had been gone for about half an hour, we arrived back home. We took off our jackets and shoes and Lou took off Lenny's leash. The dog ran into the kitchen and went to his bowl for a drink.

"Erik?" someone called me.

"Yes?", I answered.

"Your kids want to see you!"

"I'm coming!"

Immediately I had run into the living room and saw Jere wiggling around in Philip's arms, obviously anxious to get away from him. I wanted to take my son in my arms but he suddenly started crying loudly and resisted vehemently when I tried to take him in my arms.

"Erik?" murmured Philip and I looked at him, "your mask."

I immediately brought my hand to my face. Merde! My mask was still on. Of course, Jere couldn't recognize me. He was used to my exposed face, just like his sister. They didn't know me with a mask on at all. I called to my son again and he looked at me. Then I took off my mask in front of him.

"See, everything is fine. Daddy is here. Come, angel," I said as my son immediately stretched out his arms to me and I took him in my arms.

"Dada," he said to me, holding both hands to my face.

"Yes, Dada is here," I replied, smiling as my son put his tiny hands to my lips.

His little brow furrowed slightly as he ran his fingers along my mouth. He explored the left side first, then the right.

When he reached the right, he said: "Soft, Dada."

I smiled and replied: "Yes, Dada's mouth is very soft there. But he can kiss your hands soft for that.", I said and kissed my son's hands, which were still on my mouth.

Jere giggled and snuggled up to me. At that moment my wife came in with Josy.

"Can you only give soft kisses to your son?" she asked me.

"Of course not," I replied, kissing my daughter's small hands.

Lou looked at me.

"That wasn't what I meant exactly."

"And what did you mean exactly?", I asked with a grin.

"That I'd get one, too. But not on my hands."

"Hmm. Maybe on your cheek?"

"Not exactly."

With that, I kissed her on the lips.

"Perfect," she murmured.

As we pulled away from each other again, Lou gently placed her hand on the misshapen part of my mouth.

"I love you, Erik."

I kissed her fingers and replied: "I love you too, Louise."

She gently caressed the distended part of my mouth and then kissed me on it. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the gentle touch. Carefully she ran her tongue over the sensitive spot and I shuddered. Immediately, she pulled away from me.

"I'm sorry, dear. Did I hurt you?" she asked anxiously.

"No. Rather the opposite. It did me a great deal of good. I enjoyed it."

She grinned and kissed me softly again.

Suddenly I felt something wet poking at my free hand. I looked down and saw Lenny nudging my hand again and again with his nose. I squatted down and gently stroked the dog's soft fur. Jere looked at Lenny and held out his hand. I took my son's hand and gently ran it through the fur. My son laughed and giggled at the softness. Josy also reached out her hands to Lenny and Lou also squatted down and took our daughter's little hand and stroked it through the fur as well. She giggled sweetly and obviously enjoyed it. But soon, one by one, they all had to leave us because our kids were tired and Lou's grandpa wasn't the youngest anymore either. With his 75 years he was not so young anymore. But he still drove a car himself. I wouldn't know if I could do that at that age. So everyone said goodbye to us and we put our children in their beds, because they had already fallen asleep in our arms. We gently tucked them in, kissed their cheeks and sat down in the living room on the sofa. Lou sat down on my lap and looked at me.

"Did you like it?" she asked me, slowly working on the buttons of my shirt.

"Yes, very much so. I even learned something useful."

"And what?"

"That I should never wear my mask around my children."

"That's a very wise decision."

She had opened my shirt, propped her hands on my chest, and breathed: "Now, kiss me!"

With pleasure I complied with this request and soon she was on the sofa beneath me and our passion was unfolding.