Author's Note: This is the end of this story. I have really enjoyed the journey, and all of the comments except one have been very good. And since that one was anonymous, I didn't know how to respond to it. Anyway... I don't want to get into that. I just want to thank every one who took the time to review. The other thing I wanted to mention was that Cruelty by WolfandVampire deals with this same instance, and I wanted to have a completely different take on it. I love her story to pieces, but I didn't want to copy it.

On that same note, I hope that no one hates me for this chapter.

Chapter 7 – All In

In the weeks to come, Edward really had mellowed, and I had never seen Bella so happy, that is, until Victoria and her newborn army came for the sole purpose of killing Bella. To be quite honest, I was worried about the battle as well until the Quileutes graciously offered to help protect her and destroy this threat.

All of us, Cullen's and Quileutes alike, breathed a collective sigh of relief when we had escaped the battle with all of our lives. Esme and I were both heartbroken that the Volturi demanded that the newborn vampire, Bree, pay with her life for something she over which she had no control. Alas, we could do nothing to stop them, or else we would forfeit our own lives in the process. My wonderful, caring wife broke down later that night in my arms, having already accepted this young vampire as part of our family.

The one physical injury we suffered was unfortunately Jacob Black, Bella's best friend. He was severely wounded and incapacitated when he tried to save Leah from a lone newborn who had gone unnoticed. Bella had been devastated.

Even after all of that, I was relatively happy. My little sweet pea was safe.

The day after the battle, I heard Bella and Edward arrive. I was overjoyed to hear that Bella had accepted Edward's proposal. Although I had no hesitation calling Bella my daughter, I was positively tickled that she had decided to officially join our family. That being said, I was a little fearful that she had given complete control of their upcoming nuptials to Alice. Alice silently promised me to give Bella a wedding she would love.

"Would you like to see your dress?" Alice asked her.

"Maybe later." Bella told her as her heart sped up in nervousness. "I need to talk to Carlisle... alone."

"Why is she nervous about talking to me?" I asked Edward privately.

"I... I have no idea." Edward whispered back to me. "Alice?"

"Sorry," Alice joined the conversation, "she would be upset with me if I told you, Edward. She doesn't mind if you hear, but she needs to say this to Carlisle."

"He's in his study, love." Edward told her as he kissed her and sent her on her way.

Bella slowly made her way to my study. I had the distinct feeling that this was very much like a march towards her execution. Had Edward done something to her that she needed to tell me but dreaded telling me?

"I... don't think... so." Edward whispered carefully.

"Come in, sweet pea." I welcomed her before she knocked on the door.

"I'm not your sweet pea." She told me, sounding heartbroken, sitting on my couch. Her head was downcast, and her shoulders were slumped. "I'm a terrible person."

"No!" Edward choked.

"Of course you're my sweet pea, and I don't believe for a second that you're a terrible person." I assured her as I joined her, wrapping her in my arms. I had believed that she wanted to speak with me because Edward hadn't been behaving as I had hoped, but I was wrong. This was a confession.

"Let her say it, Edward!" Alice whispered furiously at Edward, and I believe, blocking his path to my study.

"You will remain quiet and let her get this off her chest." I thought to him.

"Yes, sir." He whispered back to me from right outside my door, not bearing to be far away from her.

"Before I leave," Alice spoke cryptically from the doorway to the house, carefully wording her warning so that she didn't betray her sister. "I need to tell you that you have to do it, dad. She will feel... unloved if you don't. I can't say more."

She and the rest of the children quietly made their way out of the house in order to give us privacy. Esme remained. I'm not sure if it was for moral support or if she believed I would need assistance. Either way, I was grateful that she stayed.

"I... I hurt Edward." Bella whispered.

I could tell that Edward was struggling to remain outside my study.

"How so, sweet pea?" I pulled her onto my lap.

"I kissed Jacob." Her voice was thick with the guilt that she had been carrying around. It must have happened just before the battle with Victoria's army.

"Bella..." I tried to comfort her, and tell her that no one was angry with her, but I realized that wasn't true. She was angry with herself.

"I promised to marry Edward!" She sobbed. "Not two days later, I kiss another man! Not only that, I asked him to kiss me, and Edward heard the whole thing!"

"Bella," I tried unsuccessfully to get her attention, "sweet pea..." still nothing, I decided to use what Emmett called, my dad voice, "Isabella."

"Yes, dad?" She finally looked up at me, afraid of what she might find.

I kissed her cheek and wiped her tears away. I focused on showing her how much I loved her. It wasn't hard. Every time she called me dad, a warmness spread throughout my whole body.

"I love you, sweet pea." I assured her. "I can't tell you how proud I am of you for telling me."

"Proud?" She sobbed. "I'm... a cheater!"

"You made a mistake, Bella." I gently rubbed her back soothingly. "It isn't the end of the world."

"Carlisle." Edward spoke softly outside of my door. "It isn't her fault. Please let me explain."

"Edward would like to say something, Bella." I told her. "Would it be alright if he came in?"

She shrugged her shoulders and mumbled, "I guess."

Before I could say 'enter,' Edward flung open the door to my study, and stood in front of me.

"Please don't spank her, Carlisle." Edward begged me. "He tricked her. He knew what he was doing, and he manipulated her into kissing him."

"It doesn't matter." She interrupted him. "I didn't have to... be unfaithful."

"He gave you the choice of kissing him or allowing him to get killed in the battle!" Edward argued vehemently.

"Is that true, Bella? Did Jacob threaten suicide?" I asked her, knowing how manipulative and technically abusive it was for Jacob to present her with those options.

"He was very upset." She sniffled. "But, yeah, he told me that I wasn't the only one capable of self-sacrifice. I begged him to stay, but he didn't want to settle for merely being my best man."

That means he knew of her promise to marry Edward. It might have made more sense to wait until after the crisis had passed to tell him. I decided to ask her about it.

"Do you really feel that the brink of a battle was the best place to announce your engagement?" I asked her.

"I-I," her gaze drifted briefly to Edward and then back to me, "wish I had waited to tell him, but I didn't know he was listening." Her countenance became even more sorrowful, her voice more strained. Clearly, she blamed herself for that as well. "I should have waited until later to talk to Edward about that."

She didn't know he was listening? I thought to Edward as I slowly raised my eyes to look at him. He was not looking at me, but at the floor, avoiding my gaze.

"Exactly what did he hear?" I asked Edward, but Bella answered.

"Edward and I were talking about our all-time favorite nights." She told me. "I..."

"I told him, dad." Edward finally admitted. "I knew he was listening and divulged that information on purpose."

"Explain." I ordered, somewhat irritated that Edward had made no attempt to explain this to Bella earlier, allowing her to suffer, filled with guilt.

"It was a stupid thing to do." Edward began his full confession, not escaping my attention that he wouldn't have said anything if Bella hadn't accidentally mentioned it in her own very brave confession. "Jacob and I had a relatively peaceful talk while Bella was sleeping. I had been grateful that he could keep her warm when I could not."

"Grateful? Really?" I asked him, not believing that for a second.

"I wasn't grateful at first, but after Jacob's body temperature had helped Bella warm up enough to be able to sleep, I realized that he had earned my gratitude, despite his rather disturbing fantasies about my fiancee." Edward continued, rolling his eyes.

"Go on."

"We spoke cordially, and he fell asleep." Edward sighed, hating that he had to tell me this. "When Bella woke up, she couldn't get him off of her, and I childishly dumped Jacob out of the sleeping bag, waking him up when his bare back hit the ice-cold ground."

"Very mature." I told him sarcastically, smirking a little bit. While not the kindest behavior, no harm had been done. I had wondered for awhile now if Edward had it in him to be playful like his brothers. Emmett must be rubbing off on him. Though a bit juvenile, I was glad to see that Bella had brought this less serious side out of him.

"Jacob was understandably upset by what I had done." He shrugged, chuckling slightly. "He went to the tree-line and deliberately thought about... Bella." Edward's emphasis told me that Jacob's thoughts weren't exactly chaste. "That's putting it mildly." Edward answered my thoughts. "He got progressively more explicit until I snapped.

"In a fit of pettiness, I purposely announced our engagement... despite the fact that Bella wanted to tell him later." He finished with a resigned sigh. "I disregarded her wishes again because of jealousy." He hung his head in shame. He knew that he was in trouble, especially since he had been determined to keep this little gem a secret until he saw that Bella considered this her fault.

"You and Jacob Black have waged tug-of-war with Bella's heart, and have nearly ripped her in half in the process." I chastised him, and he winced. "You will go for a quick hunt and be back in two hours."

I had to take care of Bella first. She had been tearing herself apart for far too long already.

"No!" He growled at me causing Bella to flinch violently.

"Excuse me?" I asked as evenly as possible, though I was positively shocked that Edward had used that tone of voice and openly defied me.

"This whole situation is my fault, Carlisle. You can't spank her." He explained desperately. "Give me two instead."

"N-n-no..." Bella started to answer, but I cut her off.

"That's not the way this works, Edward. Please take your leave and go hunt." I ordered him, allowing him the little slip in his temper seeing that this was the first time I ever had to discipline his mate.

"Goddamn it, Carlisle! You are one heartless son of a..." Edward yelled standing firmly in front of me, looking as if he were about to snatch Bella off of my lap and run for it.

While he was mid-sentence, I quickly placed Bella on the couch beside me and grabbed my first-born son by the ear, earning a yelp of surprise. He had used up his free chance. Now it was time to face the consequences.

I dragged my wayward son toward the corner , but Esme, who had entered just seconds before, grabbed him by the other ear.

"I would like to have a word with Edward in private, darling." She told me while she gave Edward a withering glare. "Would you mind if I take Edward out for a bit?"

"Are you sure, dearest?" I gazed into her eyes, searching to see if she was really ready to take this step with Edward.

"Positive." She nodded at me. "Edward needs an attitude adjustment right now, and Bella is too fragile to wait."

"If you give her any trouble," I directed my attention to Edward, worrying for my beloved, "I will have you over my knee every night for a week."

"Yes, sir." Edward finally submitted to his mother and me.

"I'll send him back when we're finished." My lovely, brave wife told me, not taking the slightest offense at the suggestion that she might be easily manipulated. "He can give you a full report. If you're not satisfied with how I've handled it, you may add to it."

"No sooner than two hours." I told her. "I don't know how long this will take with Bella."

After they were out of Edward's hearing range, I indulged in the self-doubt I had been staving off for awhile. Was I being a heartless son of a bitch like Edward had suggested? Bella probably never has never had a spanking before. Maybe I should just find another way to do this. I paced the room weighing my options when Bella's unsure voice pulled me out of my reverie.

"Is it because I'm not really your daughter..." My insecure daughter must have seen my hesitation to spank her as a sign that she wasn't really part of our family. Alice was right. She said that I had to do it. It made sense now. Bella would feel like she wasn't my daughter if I didn't discipline her the way I did with my other children. I had to do this. There was no other option.

First thing's first though. I needed to make sure she understood that she already was my daughter. I rushed back to the couch and kneeled beside her, gripping her chin with my thumb and forefinger.

"I never want to hear those words come out of your mouth again." I told her very sternly. "You are absolutely my daughter. Do you understand me, young lady?"

I was terribly afraid that I had overdone it. I considered reassuring her, but she looked relieved.

"Yes, sir." She sighed, smiling slightly at me.

"Please don't call me 'sir'." I groaned at that word. It made me feel so... harsh. "I prefer dad, daddy, papa, or pops... or even Emmett's favorite, 'old man'."

"Old man?" She giggled. "That... seems... wrong."

"I'm nearly four hundred." I reminded her, glad that she found that amusing.

"But you look..." She didn't know how to phrase it. "I know that you are technically old, but..."

"Thank you, sweet pea." I kissed the top of her head as I sat next to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

"Is Edward alright?" She asked me, worry etched across her face.

"I won't discuss his discipline with you anymore than I would discuss yours with him." I explained to her.

"No, that's not what I mean." She was still very concerned for him, now I realized not for his discipline session with Esme, but about his outburst. She wanted to know if he was emotionally alright.

"Ah." I smiled at her, showing her that I understood her sentiments. "Edward is very upset at me because he doesn't want me to spank you. He isn't handling it well."

"I shouldn't have come..." She looked at the floor with tear-filled eyes, ashamed that she sought the absolution of punishment. "Edward said he felt better..."

"You did the right thing, sweet pea." I assured her. "Edward feels that I intend to unfairly discipline you. On top of that, you are his beloved, and it is your first time in this position with me."

"He's not mad at me, is he?" She asked nervously.

"Absolutely not." I kissed her head reassuringly once again.

"How do we...?" She wondered, drawing my attention back to the fact that she had probably never done this before period, not just with me.

"Have you ever been spanked before?" I asked her.

"No." She shook her head at me.

"Then let's discuss my procedure." I took an unnecessary breath before I continued my speech to her. "Whenever I spank one of my children, I always try to get them to see the error of their ways before we begin. That doesn't apply today because you have come to me with a full confession. Since you have been cooperative, and you haven't been blatantly out of line, I will allow you to choose the position you are to be in. Had you behaved otherwise, I would choose the position."

"I never really gave much thought to position. I just assumed it would be over your lap." She looked up at me nervously, practically begging me with her eyes to choose that posture.

"Across my lap is the way I would choose to do it if you were unruly, which you have not been." I assured her, explaining my reasoning. "I find it much easier to control uncooperative vampire if I can quickly pin him or her between my legs, should they get out of hand. If you prefer you can lean over my desk, the arm of the chair, bend down and touch your toes, or lie on pillows across the bed."

"I think I'll stick with over your lap" She told me, blushing.

"Could you tell me why?" I asked her, wondering what the blush was about.

"Hmm..." she collected her thoughts. "Well... touching my toes seems difficult, and over the desk or anything else seems so cold and impersonal like being sent to the principal's office. Over your lap seems... fatherly. It reminds me that it isn't about making me fall in line, but that you really care about me."

"I think this is a perfect choice for you, sweet pea." I kissed the tip of her nose.

"Also, I don't want to have to think about supporting my own weight." She admitted. "I want to concentrate on why I'm here."

"Another excellent point." I told her but then remembered I hadn't told her the rest of it. "There is one more thing I haven't mentioned. I usually do spankings over the undergarments."

"Oh." She blushed. "Is that safe?"

"If I really wanted to injure you, I assure you that your pants wouldn't give you any protection." I reminded her, but as I said this, it occurred to me that she might have been worried about bruising. "And I can promise you that I will not leave any lasting damage.

"Okay." She nodded her head trying to show me that she trusted me, but her pulse raced, letting me know that she was incredibly nervous about her impending punishment.

"It's best not to put this off any longer, sweet pea." I told her as she again nodded and stood from where she was seated.

Her fingers trembled violently as she attempted to unbutton her jeans. I reached out and stilled her movements, quickly releasing the button for her and guided her over my lap to protect her modesty before I arranged her pants so that they were in the proper position.

She was still shaking as she awaited the first swat. I patted her back to let her know I was about to start. I took a deep breath and delivered the first blow.

I was very surprised that she made no noise at all upon the impact of that first swat. I hesitated briefly, and then swatted her again, and like the previous time, she didn't even utter the slightest sound. As I continued to hesitantly spank her, I realized the reason. Bella was stubborn. Edward was stubborn too, but in a different way. Edward's stubbornness manifested itself as defiance during discipline, but Bella was completely different. She completely held everything in, barely daring to breathe.

I settled into a steady rhythm, hoping that she would quickly break, but unfortunately for her backside, she did not. I decided that I could spank her a little harder, and I increased the force behind my blows. This caused Bella to let out a little squeak. I took a page out of Esme's book and spanked her in that very same spot four more times before I changed to another spot. Each of the swats earned me the tiniest of muffled cries. Meanwhile, I silently begged her to please, please, please release her emotions so we could be done with this and move past it.

Again, I swatted her harder than before, and Bella let out a sob. She was very close, but she remained rigid over my lap. I raised my right leg slightly to spank her from a new angle, one that I knew would be very sensitive and help her finally forgive herself.

"I'm sorry!" She finally screamed out and surrendered, sobbing. I gave her bottom five more swats before I stopped. I allowed her to calm down a bit, over my lap as I rubbed her back. Eventually, she raised herself up and fixed her pants.

She looked unsure as to what came next. I held out my arms to her, and she quickly accepted my invitation, sitting carefully on my lap.

"I'm sorry, dad." She sniffled at me softly.

"I know, baby." I assured her. "You're forgiven, sweet pea."

Bella tried to be brave and get up, but I held her in place.

"You can stay here as long as you like." I told her, and she slumped back into my arms, once again sobbing.

For the longest time, she cried into my shirt until finally, she gave up and fell asleep.

Edward came in later, clearly distraught about Bella's punishment.

"Is she alright?" He worried.

"I believe so." I nodded.

"How did it go?" He asked, and I narrowed my eyes at him, warning him that it was none of his business. "Never mind."

"How did it go with you?" I asked him, reminding him that he owed me a full report on how his mother handled his discipline.

"Awful." He groaned. "I don't think you have to worry about her taking it easy on me. I prefer your spankings by a wide margin."

"She was excessively hard?" I asked him, not believing him.

"Not physically, no you've got her beat there. I'd rather have the physical pain you give me than the emotional turmoil." He sighed, shuddering at the memory. "She just thinks about things that I would rather not see, like being abused by her ex-husband, her son dying, Bree being destroyed in front of her, and worst of all, imagining that I am her baby son, and she's abusing or killing me."

"That's awful." I gasped. "How does she find the strength to do it?"

"She doesn't want to disappoint you, and she knows that you would be overwhelmed if you had to be the sole disciplinarian." He explained. "She thought about that as well."

"I think it might be best if we don't put either one of you in that position again." I told him. "I don't think it would be good for either of you."

"I appreciate it, dad." Edward smiled at me.

"On that note, I believe I will forego any additional discipline. I believe you've endured enough emotional turmoil for one day." I told him as I glanced to the couch beside me, hoping that he was at least comfortable enough to sit down.

"I'll suffer." He rolled his eyes at me. "Bella is worth it."

"She is." I agreed with him.

"How long has she been asleep?" He wondered as he stroked her back gently.

"About an hour." I told him.

"Do you think that Esme could take her out for a bit after she wakes up? I think I actually do need to have a discussion with you." He nervously bit his lip, reminding me of Bella.

"About?" I prompted him to continue.

"Bella called it compromise, but I feel that I've once again taken advantage of her insecurities." He looked at his feet as he spoke. "She wanted to make love, but I wrangled her acceptance of my proposal out of it, agreeing to try to make love if she would marry me first."

"That actually sounds reasonable to me. You both get something you want in the process." I didn't quite understand why he would think he was in the wrong.

"But I want both of these things, dad." He sighed. "I didn't let on that I wanted it as much as she does, and I told her that I would only give in if she married me first, and now she's agreed to allow Alice to run the whole show. I'm worried that you were right, and I've lost her. Is she just giving everyone what they want?"

"I don't think you need a reminder from me, son. You seem to have caught yourself, this time. You need to rectify this." I told him.

"I'll take her to the meadow when she wakes up." He promised me.

"Let her choose, though." I reminded him. "Sometimes, you get blinded by your need to do the right thing, and you forget that the right thing is allowing Bella to choose."

"I will dad." He assured me.

"One more thing, son," I waited until he looked up at me before I continued, "don't badger her about her spanking. If she wants it to remain private, you will allow her this secret."

"Yes, dad." He smiled at me.