MC's Viking Warriors- Bear #1

Part 49- Erik

Smiling, I look down at my drooling granddaughter who I have cradled in my arms as my Lil heats up her bottle. She's perfect. So perfect.

Her big brown eyes are mirrors to mine and as for her pouty lips, she permanently looks like she's about to give you little kisses. Her starfish palm waves uncoordinatedly in front of my eyes and I catch it and press a little kiss to her palm.

She squeals as I spin her around slightly so she's sitting up in my lap as I jig my knees so she's bouncing only gently but the glee on her face makes it the most special action in the world.

"Do you remember how gorgeous Vi was at this age?" My Lila coos as she hands me the bottle for Eira, I have a special gift for feeding and calming her when she's upset or grizzly. Feeding her is my job when we're babysitting.

"You hungry my little snowflake?" I coo  as I shift her back into a good position to feed her. She gulps it down ridiculously fast and I actually have to pull it away from her slowly so she doesn't make herself sick or give us indigestion. Whining, she begins to root around for the bottle and her eyes screw up with the promise of tears so I hastily push the bottle back to her mouth.

Once she's finished I lift her back up against my chest and I begin to rub her little back to burp her. It's amazing how it all comes flooding back, I haven't done this is about 28 years but my instincts immediately kick in. Plus it does help that Eira is such a precious little baby, Vidar was grumpy as a child and as for... well that's best left unsaid.

My grandchildren however are little angels, I can already see Liam as a warrior and as for Eira... I think I can see her doing that too.

A sound brings me back from my thoughts and a warm wetness hits my chest. Looking down on my chest I see it's covered in warm milky sick.

Groaning, I stand from the sofa and carry my little Eira over to the bathroom. Lila walks out of our room with her evening book in hand and bursts into laughter at my soiled self.

"I told you she drinks too fast."

"It's not my fault! I can't stop the little ice queen!"

"The baby bath is in the cupboard by the bathroom, enjoy."

Eira hates bath time and everyone knows it, even Bolt knows that it's a bad time of day when Eira has to wash. Now Liam, he loves bath time but my snowflake screams till she's blue.

This is not going to be fun.

I lay Eira down on our bed so I can take off my filthy top and change into another. To maintain dignity between myself and Eira, I turn my back on her as I change my top. Then I turn back around and scoop her back into my arms, I carry her as I fetch the bath.

"You're not going to like this little warrior, but you need to let me clear this mess up. It'll make you uncomfortable if I don't."

Her big eyes look up at me, blinking and completely captivating me. One might think that her reaction is her understanding my logic, however as a seasoned bath time player, this is just the calm before the storm.

After checking the water temperature with my elbow, I open Eira's gross, sticky baby grow and ball it up, throwing it into the washing basket.

Gingerly, I pick up up under her armpits and lower her body into the pool, the minute her toes touch the water she looks at me with an expression that can only be betrayal and a promise of vengeance.

Laying her in the pool on my arm I start to scoop the water over her body and drizzle it over her hair. She whines and pours her lip.

"Shhh baby, please don't cry. Don't be angry with me."

My words seem to snap the final straw with Eira's patience. She looks at me like oh boy you're gonna get it now and I do.

Her screams are deafening and incessant, they immediately fill my head and I lose my train of thought.

"Please my little snowflake, don't be mad at grandpa."

I quickly wash her little body in the baby safe body wash that I bought for her once I knew how much she hated bath time. I figured it could be one less problem for Astrid and Vidar to deal with. They need some time for romance too, Liam is asleep in his travel cot at the moment with us so Vidar can take Astrid on a date.

They've never had a day without children in their life, and whilst I know they don't mind and actually love it, it's still important for a new couple to bond.

Finally, I lift her from the water and wrap her little body in a towel and cradle her close to my chest. I begin humming the songs that always calmed Vidar down after a screaming fit. After a couple of minutes of cuddling her, she stops screaming and yawns. It turns out screaming flat out for ten minutes is tiring to a month old baby.

Before I can even dress her in another babygrow, she's asleep and drooling on my newly clean top. With young children you're never truly free of goo and gunk.

I redress her, which is admittedly far easier as she's sound asleep, and bundle her in the blanket that we used for our children. It has embroidered flowers along the rim that my own mother put their when we found out Lila was expecting. I like that now I can use it for my grandchildren, as she did for hers.

Lila is curled up under a blanket as she reads her evening book, my woman is a creature of habit. She reads a book in the evening, every evening like clockwork and I love her even more for it.

She pauses from whatever fantasy book she's currently reading to look up at me with a smile, she holds out her hand for me to take. Which of course I do, holding Eira against my chest with one and with the other I hold the love of my life's hand in the other.

"You know you should put her down if she's sleeping." She chastises lightly at my coddling of my granddaughter. I can't help it, she's perfect.

"I know I should but look... she's so cute and I just love holding her."

"You're getting her into bad habits. You won't like it when she's two and won't sleep without you there."

"That's my dream! I want her to be 17 and still wanting hugs from her grandpa."

"Dream big sweetie, Eira will eventually realise just how annoying you actually are and run the other way."

"Hey!" I feign mock hurt as I sit down by her feet, she lifts them up and puts them on my lap as she does every evening.

Pulling off one of her socks, I start gently loving her foot, giving it a mini foot massage. Another of our evening routines.

Eira is still fast asleep on my chest and as I play with her blonde hair and pink flushed cheeks I realise how much I always miss her when she's gone.

I love being a father and now I get to be a grandpa as well, Vidar always feels guilty about leaving them with us. What he doesn't realise is I've spent the last two weeks manipulating Vidar into taking Astrid for a date just so I can watch them for the evening.

Maybe I'm a terrible father but I sure as hell am an amazing grandpa.

Hello my lovely readers,

This is the end of the bonus chapters for book one, however book two will have several new chapters up soon!

I hope you liked this Erik and Lila perspective storyline as I'm playing with the idea of writing a prequel at some point for Erik and Lila's story.

Thank you for reading my story and I hope you enjoyed the bonus chapter xx