4A/N: Modern day AU where Erik encounters his first Christmas as a father. Inspired by the song "Believe" by Josh Groban from the movie "The Polar Express." Merry Christmas!
The pale green light on the baby monitor flashed quickly. He held his breath, anxiety and nerves coursing through his veins, hoping it was just his eyes playing tricks on him. Not an illusion; this time the monitors lit to the second. Erik rolled over in bed to find Christine fast asleep, her breathing deep and steady and quiet. Motherhood suited her so well; fatherhood suited, well, not so great.
Sliding out of the warm bed, the candles in the windows subtly illuminating the bedroom lighting his footsteps, Erik walked into the kitchen to prepare a bottle for his son. "My son," Erik whispered to himself as he shook the bottle to mix the formula with the water. He glanced at the microwave clock, it was almost two in the morning. He passed by the living room and stopped to glance at the Christmas tree, illuminated with white twinkle lights. Glitter ornaments, popsicle Santas, and close pin Rudolphs hung in quiet anticipation of morning to come, when the three of them would be gathered together as a family, opening presents. Erik sighed. The only thing he could recall of his Christmases during his childhood was that he never had one. "How am I supposed to do this?" he pondered quietly to himself, his eyes catching the stockings hung on the mantle, angels and cherubs sitting joyfully by the garland and white twinkle lights. The sound of fussy crying pulled Erik's attention back to the little creature in the nursery across the hall from his and Christine's bedroom.
Erik lightly pushed the door open to find baby Charles unwrapped from his swaddle blanket, small fingers flexing and curling in the air, little legs kicking against the crib mattress. "Hey little man," Erik cooed and watched bemused as his son's head quickly turned toward the direction of his voice. "Handsome boy, are you hungry?" Erik placed the warm bottle on the nightstand next to the glider rocking chair and bent over to lift Charles from the crib. "We'll just let Mommy sleep, ok? This will be just you and me right now. Mommy works hard, so we'll let her sleep. She deserves it." Charles flailed slightly in Erik's arms and smacked his unmasked face. "Well that wasn't very gentlemanly. Rude," Erik jokingly scoffed and sat down gently in the chair. Situating Charles in the nook of his arm, pulling the soft blanket up to his son's chin, Charles quickly latched on to the bottle.
The sweet sounds of gentle gulping turned the scowl on Erik's face ever so slightly into a smirk. "Ravenous, you are drooling everywhere." He felt Charles wrap his small, pudgy fingers around his and squeeze. "You're not so bad yourself, you know." He watched as Charles topped off the rest of the warm liquid, his eyes growing heavier and heavier with every gentle glide of the rocking chair. Erik placed Charles against his chest and gently patted his back, and within seconds a massive burp escaped the small body. "Goodness, Charlie, most ungentlemanly," Erik chuckled.
Another few glides of the rocking chair and Erik felt Charlie grow heavier in his arms, no doubt back to sleep. "I promise you, I will make your Christmases so much better than mine were growing up. I promise that I will do my best to be a good father… to be Daddy, to love you always." As Charlie began to stir again slightly, Erik placed a kiss upon his perfect son's soft skin and began to sing a Christmas lullaby. "Children sleeping, snow is softly falling. Dreams are calling like bells in the distance. We were dreamers not so long ago. But one by one we all had to grow up. When it seems the magic's slipped away. We find it all again on Christmas day," Erik sang quietly, the vibrations of his deep, rich voice lulling Charlie back into a deep sleep.
A sniffle from the nursery door pulled Erik's attention from his lullaby to see his lovely bride standing in the doorway. "I love you, Erik."
"And I love you, Christine. Merry Christmas."