For a long time after the twins were born Christine had refused to let Erik touch her, saying she needed some time to raise their four children and not worry about getting pregnant again. Although she was not complaining. She loved all of her children with every fiber of her being. But a woman could only take so much. Then, on Dominic's seventh birthday Christine became pregnant with Pénélope and Christine swore she would have Erik castrated before she had another. Five was certainly a healthy number. Even with such a large house Christine was content with five.
"Hello, love, have you happened to see a princess anywhere around here?" Erik asked, trying to catch his breath. Christine smiled when she felt Genevièvesqueeze her leg. She felt bad for her daughter, being the oldest girl she was teased constantly by her brothers. She shook her head at Erik. Alexander, however, seemed to know all of his sisters tricks and he lifted his mothers skirt. Genevièvesquealed in delight and darted out from under Christine's skirts. All three of her brothers abandoned Erik to chase after her.
Erik collapsed onto his back in the grass, exhausted. Christine smiled and shook her head at him. He grinned and removed his mask for a moment to wipe away the sweat before slipping it back on. Christine had been adamant about how she wanted her children to view Erik. From the moment Dominic was old enough to know what his parents were talking about Christine had demanded that he see his father unmasked. It had been the same for the children that followed. Of course they were scared at first, their father, who they all loved dearly, looked quite different beneath the mask. But Christine had explained what happened to make their father that way and over time they grew used to it.
Erik pushed himself up and sat down beside Christine's chair, running his hand gently over Pénélope's soft head. Christine looked at him with a smile and he pressed a kiss to her lips.
"How is my daughter this morning?" he asked softly. The baby raised her eyes at the sound of her father's voice and looked up at him from her place at Christine's breast. Erik found the sight of Christine nursing their children to be the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his long life.
"A lot better than your other one is doing at the moment," she replied, looking in Geneviève's direction. Her brothers had managed to corner her against a tree and they could see that she was crying. Erik muttered some curses under his breath and took of at a jog to save his little princess. His sons really were tyrants, no matter how many times he told them to play fair with their sister, she was the only girl old enough to play and they found great pleasure in torturing her. Leave it to Erik's sons to be the tyrants.
"Dominic, Alexander, Christian!"
All three boys froze at the sound of their father's voice. They all looked down at their feet, knowing they were in trouble now. Erik walked past them and got down on his knees in front of Geneviève, who launched herself at her father. Erik wrapped his arms around her and rocked her gently while she cried into his shirt.
"You do not need to cry, Genny, you are just being a big-"
Dominic stopped short when his father glanced at him, knowing when to be quiet. Erik knew all to well that his eldest son was usually the one to start all of the trouble. The twins loved doing whatever their older brother wanted, because it seemed like fun to them.
"I do not know what the three of you said but I want all of you to apologize right this minute," Erik said. Geneviève turned her face away from her father's chest and stuck her tongue out at her brothers. They all said sorry in unison, knowing that they were to always listen to their father, no matter how much they did not want to. Christine shook her head as she watched from a distance as Erik scolded the boys, all three of which had their heads down, looking at their feet. After a moment Erik gave all four of his children a hug before making his way back towards his wife. Pénélope had fallen asleep with her mouth still at Christine's breast.
"You look more tempting every time I look at you, love," Erik informed her as he approached. Christine raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so?" she asked. He grinned and nodded. Erik took his youngest daughter in his arms and set her down in the small wooden cradle at Christine's side, kissing her softly on the cheek.
"Oh, yes, very tempting," Erik murmured, pressing several kisses to Christine's neck while she tried in vain to pull up her blouse. This mans libido never failed to amaze her. She allowed him to lavish her skin with kisses but managed to pull up her bodice without anyone seeing anything they should not.
"You know five is the final number," she whispered against his mouth. It was not a question, more of a fact. Erik growled against her mouth.
"Two more," he begged. Christine laughed and shook her head.
"No! We have five, Erik, or have you forgotten?"
"Of course I have not forgotten, I am the one exhausted every day from playing with them!" Erik said. Christine smiled.
"Exactly, so you should want to rest now that we have Pénélope!" she said. Instead of answering Erik cupped her face in his hands and brought her mouth to his, thrusting his tongue into her mouth and causing her to moan. She wished she could tell Erik that they were never going to make love again if it meant more children but this man was just so... good at it! He had yet to disappoint her in that area and she could not imagine not feeling that close to him.
Erik brought her lip into his mouth and suckled on it, drawing out another moan.
"Two more..."
"Mmmm," Christine knew what he was doing. He wanted her to agree and he was promising her a reward with his kisses. Her eyes snapped open when he cupped her breasts and she shoved him away from her, effectively knocking him onto his back in the grass. Erik sighed and propped himself on his elbows, looking at her from his place on the ground.
"No more."
Erik sighed dramatically.