Author's Note: This is it! This is the last chapter of this story. Thank you all for reading.

By the way, I love getting PM's. I have many ideas for stories right now, but some are only that, ideas with no resolutions. The two that I am currently working on are : Edward the Eternal Teen (Edward gets caught telling Nessie to give a human a vision), and Bonding with Bella (which I allude to in this chapter) . If anyone has ideas concerning either of these two hopeful stories, I would love to hear them.

Chapter 5 – Reconciliation

Esme POV

"What did Bella do? How much did you spank her? Is she okay? What's dad going to do to her?" Edward asked me in rapid-fire questions as soon as I walked through his door.

I knew that he did this sometimes to get catch people who knew about his gift off guard. He had done this too many times, and I completely expected him to do it again today. By asking a person so many things at once, things tended to slip out into the forefront of their mind so that Edward could easily glean what he wanted to know, even if they were expecting it. I carefully thought about all decorating the house for Christmas. Since, last year, we had barely given it a thought, this year would have to do something special.

"That is for her to tell you, son." I told him with a slight reprimand in my voice.

Edward made a slight face and abruptly turned away from me. It was clear that he had hoped I would give him a hint about Bella and was frustrated with me for not telling him. I had known he would be curious. Being a mind reader had caused my son to become impatient when it came to not knowing things. He was used to being able to easily have all of the information he wanted, and when a person deliberately kept Edward out of their mind, it irritated him.

"How are things, Esme?" Jacob laughed, coming out of Renesmee's room.

"I was just debating Christmas decorations with myself." I told him simply, not letting anything slip. "Should we have one large family tree or individual trees for each smaller family unit? How would your pack feel about sharing a tree versus having their own tree?"

"I assume you mean for Christmas, and not for hiking our legs." He jovially teased me in his usual fashion, making a joke about dogs and trees. I couldn't help but smile at him. "I think one large tree would be great. It kind of symbolizes how all of us have come together as one large, kind of unusual family."

"That sounds perfect. We won't have a theme in decorating it." His enthusiasm got my mind racing, and I began making lots of decisions about what to buy. "It will be a mish-mash of all our tastes and cultures to reflect the very long journey our family has been on." I agreed, and then added to joke with him, "And… if you want, we could install a hydrant outside to take care of all of your hiking needs."

Jacob paused for a second, not believing that I had said such a thing, and then doubled over in laughter.

"The two of you are infuriating." Edward huffed as he paced the room.

Edward continued his path for some time while Jacob and talked about Christmas and how to incorporate Quileute tradition into our celebration. We were suddenly interrupted by a jubilant little girl who ran in to greet me.

"Nana!" Renesmee came running down the hall. I knew that she was here with Edward and Jacob, and I had texted Alice to come get her as soon as I had left the main house. I wondered if she had let anything slip to Edward.

"Hello, darling." I smiled at my granddaughter who lithely jumped up. I easily caught her with my good arm.

She put her hand on my face and through her mind, asked me if Bella was still angry. I surreptitiously glanced at Edward.

"For Pete's sake!" He huffed. "I assumed that she lost her temper with Jacob! I just wanted to know what she did… and what you did."

"Your mother isn't angry anymore, sweetheart." I assured her, ignoring Edward.

"Grandpa is spanking her?" She wondered innocently.

"That is between your Grandfather and her." I told Nessie.

"Are you going to spank Jakey?" She asked me seriously causing Edward to laugh despite himself.

"I would pay money to see that!" Edward didn't even try to hide his mirth over this prospect. "No, I would take one too, just to see you spank Jacob. In fact, forget Christmas for me this year. That's what I want."

"Your father and I are going to speak with Jacob after your Auntie Alice comes to get you." I told her, mentally rolling my eyes at him for saying such a thing.

"No, Daddy!" Renesmee protested. "That isn't very nice."

"It certainly isn't nice wishing someone else would get in trouble." I agreed with her, reminding my son to be a good example for his daughter. She's your daughter, Edward. She is still young and impressionable. Act your age.

"My daughter, huh?" Edward mumbled wickedly with a gleam in his eye as he looked at his daughter. I didn't like where this was going.

"What did your mother do?" He asked her sweetly, knowing that since she was his daughter, she would have to answer him.

"She didn't already tell you what she knew?" I asked him incredulously, knowing that Nessie didn't really see anything.

"She's been sleeping." Edward rolled his eyes at me.

"What did she do, sweetheart?" He asked her again, this time less innocently than before. He was irritated that I had tried to direct the conversation elsewhere.

"Well… Jakey and I played a trick on her…" Nessie started to tell Edward, but Jacob interrupted.

"This was all me, Ness." He corrected her.

I wondered if I would have to intervene in this confrontation, but the look on Edward's face surprised me. He looked strangely triumphant. Yes, I'd say he looked pleased with himself. I didn't get to ask why when Alice appeared at the front door to take Renesmee so that we could have our discussion.

The actual discussion with Jacob and Edward had gone better than expected. Of course, it helped that Edward hadn't seen what actually occurred on the motorcycle, and he didn't realize what had happened after. And Jacob and I did our best to keep what had happened with Bella out of our minds so that she could keep this private if she wished. There was an interesting tidbit that came out as a result of our conversation that I wished to speak with Carlisle about, but I couldn't think on it too long because Edward heard Carlisle approaching the house.

"What in God's name did he do to her?" Edward shouted in shock as he bolted upright from where he was seated. He had been relatively relaxed until he read Carlisle's mind.

"Calm down, Edward." I told him patiently, hoping desperately that I didn't have to intervene in another temper tantrum.

"You don't understand, Mother!" He pounded the table in frustration. "He's carrying her, and she isn't wearing any pants! How badly did he beat her if she can't walk for herself?!"

"Edward. Anthony. Cullen." I spoke very low, very seriously, each word separate and precise. "I do not ever want to hear you imply that your father beat or abused one of you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am." He nodded, somewhat afraid of this side of me. I rarely pulled it out, but when I did, everyone knew that I meant business.

I knew that Carlisle couldn't have possibly taken this punishment too far. The very idea revolted him. Edward, on the other hand, saw only his wife being carried by the man who had just spanked her. I did wonder exactly what had happened for Carlisle to have to carry her home without her pants. The fact that she was allowing him to carry her did suggest that he had gotten through to her. I sighed in relief, glad that Bella had been able to forgive herself.

"What about this situation brings you contentment, Mother?!" My son asked me, treading dreadfully close to becoming disrespectful.

"Young man," I addressed him, rising from my seated position, and putting my hand on his shoulder. Thankfully Edward had been seated to my left, or I wouldn't have been able to accomplish this task. "You will mind your tone with me or you will be joining your wife in earning a trip to your father's office today."

"He isn't coming from the office, Mother!" Edward's nostrils flared, as his voice increased in volume. I could tell that he was about to blow. "He's coming from the woods!"

"Sit down, Edward." I ordered him steadily, not rising to his bait. "I believe you should give your father the benefit of the doubt. Has he ever given you cause to believe that he would be unnecessarily cruel?"

"No, Mother." Edward dropped his volume to a normal speaking level, but he didn't heed my command to sit.

"Edward." I gave him a warning with my voice. "I asked you to sit, Honey."

"Sorry, Mom." He shook his head and quickly returned to his chair.

Edward's bottom had barely touched the chair when Carlisle came through the cottage door, as Edward had said Carlisle was carrying Bella who was not wearing any pants. Bella's whole body was curled into Carlisle as she clung to him.

"Do you want me to hold you for a little more?" Carlisle asked her, sounding hopeful.

"I need to talk to Mama." Bella answered muffled by Carlisle's shirt. Carlisle nodded in understanding, but it looked like he didn't really want to let her go just yet.

I started to rise as my husband gave his daughter one last hug, but Carlisle shook his head at me. Edward growled.

"She can walk to you herself." Carlisle told all of us, not acknowledging Edward's behavior. For some reason, I believed that he was implying that Bella needed to walk over to me, to approach me, on her own.

Carlisle placed Bella on the ground, and I smiled encouragingly at her as she looked up at me. My beloved daughter raced to my side and dropped to her knees before me.

"I should have listened to you, Mama." Bella cried. "I was wrong to take my frustration with Jacob out on you."

"Bella what did…" Edward tried to interrupt her, but she completely ignored him.

"I should have walked away like you told me to." Bella continued. "You were right. I was overwhelmed by my emotions, and I should have listened to you. I shouldn't have growled at you or even worse, snarled at you. I should have seen that you had more wisdom and experience in parenting than I did, and I should have respected you."

"Bella, tell me what…" Edward apparently was beside himself still about what Carlisle had done to his wife, but she was focused on apologizing to me.

"That's enough, Edward." Carlisle told him firmly. "This is important to Bella, and you will let her finish. Edward set his lips in a tight line, and stared down Carlisle. Though he was incredibly angry, he did allow Bella to finish speaking with me.

"I know that it ended when I…" Bella glanced at Edward, embarrassed that she had to make this confession in front of him. I started to offer to let her finish elsewhere when she continued, "when I ripped off your arm," she took a deep breath to keep herself from sobbing while Edward gasped at her admission, "but I treated you very poorly before that, completely ignoring all of your warnings. I allowed myself to become too angry to see the wisdom you were offering me. Please forgive me for my atrocious actions today, and tell me how I can mend our relationship."

"Oh, Bella!" I sobbed, stooping down to where she knelt. "I forgive you, dearest. You don't have to do anything, except please try to watch your temper when it comes to your daughter's safety."

Bella embraced me immediately, and I hugged her back with one arm.

"I promise, Mama." She cried as she held me tightly.

"That's the best apology I've ever gotten from anyone." I told her, smoothing her hair.

"Like I said, Bella should teach classes to our other children on how to accept responsibility for their wayward actions." Carlisle teased her.

"Dad!" Bella dropped her jaw in horror that Carlisle had said that in front of Edward. She looked positively anxious, but I couldn't figure out why.

Edward did not join in the mild joking that Carlisle engaged in. He was still determined to get to the bottom of what led to the scene before him.

Bella must have seen the expression on Edward's face because she immediately released me from our hug and ran to sit on Edward's lap.

"Are you very angry with me for hurting Mom?" She asked him.

Carlisle and I looked at one another as I rose back up to sit in the chair again. We both thought that maybe Bella had gone insane. Didn't she realize that Edward was furious with Carlisle?

"What?" Edward asked her incredulously. "All I want to know is, What the hell did Carlisle do to you?"

I was positively shocked by Edward's lack of respect for his father. Before I could stand up give Edward a piece of my mind, Bella put her hand on his face and kissed him.

"Edward." She said his name, chiding him softly for his choice of words. "I don't want to talk about it."

Edward's eyes shot angrily to Carlisle, and I worried that he had let slip how he had disciplined our daughter.

"I will tell you. I promise." She assured him. "But not right now. I am too close to… un-forgiving myself. I think the memory of it might bring me back there and make me wonder if Dad didn't do enough."

Carlisle smiled at her wisdom. I let Edward know with my mind that I thought she was being very wise.

"Bella…" Edward worried.

"Please trust me." She begged him.

"Okay." He reluctantly agreed.

"Now," she smiled wickedly, abruptly changing the atmosphere in the room, "tell me, what happened with Jacob?" She wondered, curiosity dancing in her eyes.

"As you can imagine, I was less than pleased when he told me what happened." Edward recalled. "So, I pulverized his motorcycle."

"Excellent." Bella rubbed her hands together mischievously. "Anything else?"

"Yes, but this one was Mom's idea." He told her, nearly laughing.

"I didn't want to punish Renesmee for Jacob's stupidity." I told her, and she reluctantly nodded in agreement. "Instead, I told him that after today, for the next two weeks, except for school, he was grounded to Edward's room in the house, and he could only leave if Rosalie wants to take him somewhere, and he is not to be unsupervised with you daughter."

"And he agreed?" Bella laughed merrily, loving the punishment I had chosen for Jacob.

"I wanted her to spank him." Edward laughed, remembering what Nessie had said earlier. "Apparently, that's inappropriate." He added sarcastically.

"Probably." Bella rolled her eyes at his suggestion, but giggled at the thought of me spanking Jacob. "But seriously, he actually agreed to let you ground him?"

"His other option was staying off of our land for the next two weeks." Edward told her, smiling with her. It was plain to see that since Bella was happy and laughing, he had lightened up over the exact details of Bella's punishment. "But I am not thrilled that my room will probably eternally smell like wet dog."

"Get over it, Edward. That's perfect, Mom." She told me, smiling. "Thank you for sitting in for me."

"You're very welcome, Bella." I told her, thinking that she had more than made up for her disrespect by asking me to sit in for her. It really showed me that she trusted me. I had often wondered if she really thought of me as her mother the way she saw Carlisle as her father, but after an appalling beginning, she had really shown me today that I needn't worry about that anymore.

"Now," Edward's eye gleamed roguishly, "I want to hear more about these classes the White-Noser is going to teach."

Bella very briefly looked upset, and by very briefly, I mean less than a tenth of a second. After that momentary expression, I saw her fix a pleasant smile on her face. She didn't want anyone to know how much the name-calling hurt her. I slapped Edward in the back of the head with my good hand, only wincing slightly at the impact. Carlisle, however, gave him a piece of his mind. His voice sounded mirthful, but his eyes told us that he was serious. Even so, he didn't seem to realize that this really had hurt Bella's feelings.

"I insist you cease with the name-calling lest I join in the jest and call you… What was that name Emmett had for you?" Carlisle feigned an inability to remember.

"Dad, no!" Edward shouted, mortified.

"Oh, yes, I believe it was Virgil." Carlisle finished, not sparing Edward from the humiliating name Emmett had created for him to tease him for being a hundred year old virgin. Carlisle had declared a moratorium on that particular name once he had finally caught on to the meaning. There was a brief period after when Emmett tried to trick us by switching the euphemism to Edward is from Virginia. Since that was rather obvious, we caught on immediately.

Bella bit her lip to keep from snickering. She figured it out instantaneously. Though I'm sure she was glad that she was the only one Edward had ever made love to, she was thrilled to know that Carlisle was on her side about the off-color nickname.

"That doesn't apply any more." Edward argued rather grumpily. "In case you haven't noticed, I have a daughter."

"And that other nick-name never applied to Bella, since she doesn't kiss my rump… and I can assure you that my feces were brown like everyone else." Carlisle told him in an even tone, raising his eyebrow at him. "She's your wife, son. Nicknames should be… less mean-spirited, and more… enticing. For example, I call your mother…"

"Stop!" Bella and Edward shouted in horror.

"Speaking of mean-spirited…" I began, finally getting to address a matter that I think was overdue. "Our children have been wagering over which offense Bella will commit first to earn her first vampire spanking." I told my husband as I watched the expression on his face change from mild frustration to anger. "Edward won, apparently."

"Edward wagered that Bella would get a spanking for losing her temper?" He asked me, not believing that for a second.

"No." Bella closed her eyes, holding back a sob. This little wager clearly irritated her. "He specifically bet that I would lose my temper if I believed Renesmee was in danger. The others thought I would lie to you to cover for one of them."

"How does that make you feel?" He asked her, concern for his youngest daughter etched across his face.

"Like I still will never belong." She cried, admitting this for the first time ever. "Like maybe I really am a novelty, a distraction," she said the word bitterly, and Edward cringed, "and that's all I will ever be."

"Oh, sweetheart!" I cried with her, reaching out to her with my good arm. I knew that Edward had called her a distraction when he left her, but I didn't know it had become hard-wired into her brain.

"This is where I'm supposed to belong. This is where I'm not supposed to be a fr-r-r-eak!" She continued, clearly more hurt by this than anyone knew. I wondered why Jasper didn't know how badly this hurt her.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I asked.

"Because they told me that…" She sobbed into her hands. Carlisle raced over to Edward and took her from him, unable to keep away from his hurting daughter. Edward fought to keep her in his grasp, but Bella reached out for Carlisle. Edward relented.

"I told her that we made bets about one another all of the time. I told her that it was just a game we all enjoyed. It was just part of being a Cullen, and she shouldn't be uptight about it." Edward admitted, ashamedly. I could see that he was devastated that he brought back the feelings of abandonment in her.

"Jasper didn't feel how hurt she was?" Carlisle echoed my skepticism.

"I didn't w-w-want them to know I…" Bella started to cry again, barely containing the depth of her hurt. "I just wanted to fit in."

"That doesn't answer my question, Sweet pea." Carlisle reminded her as Edward suddenly vacated his chair. Carlisle must have asked him with his mind to do that because he immediately sat in Edward's place beside me. "Unless you're saying that you've figured out a way to fool Jasper."

"I just put my emotions away and feel them later." Bella breathed heavily in an attempt to regain control, snuggling closer to Carlisle. "I didn't want Edward to know that I still didn't belong in his world."

Edward looked physically ill as he stood frozen in horror. He had no idea what he had set in motion when he convinced her that he didn't love her so long ago. I looked to Carlisle who also sat motionless. Regret would not be a strong enough word for the look in his face. In fact, it didn't even come close. My own mind reeled at what she said, and since it didn't look like Carlisle or Edward could form a response at the moment, I took it upon myself.

"You absolutely belong with us, Sweetie." I assured her, kissing her forehead. "You are our beloved daughter. Your father and I told you this before, remember?"

"Mmhmm." She nodded, sniffling, "when Edward and Alice kidnapped me."

"Yes." I stroked her hair, smoothing it away from her face. "If anyone tried to take you from me now, I would fight them to the death, sweet girl. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Mama." She told me as she reached out and took my good hand.

I raised my eyebrow at Carlisle in a way that said, you had better start assuring our daughter, right now! In answer, Carlisle blinked a couple of times and then nodded subtly to me.

"When you came to me for a spanking when you were human," Carlisle broke out of his fog, "remember what I said to you?"

"That you never wanted to hear me say that I wasn't your real daughter…" She remembered, looking like she would be blushing if she could.

"You belong with us, Sweet pea." He assured her, kissing her in the exact same spot I had kissed her.

"As for you, young man…" Carlisle rounded on Edward who still looked horrified over what he and his siblings had done.

"We didn't mean for her to feel that way. We were actually trying to make her feel included." Edward pleaded with Carlisle to see it from their point of view.

"By mocking her for being well-behaved?" Carlisle raised his eyebrow at our son. "That is saying nothing of that ridiculous name you have all decided to call her. How did being called Virgil make you feel?"

"Terrible." Edward confessed, looking more embarrassed than before.

"And that is why you came to me to ask them to stop." Carlisle reminded him. Edward shifted his gaze to the floor. Carlisle continued. "Yet you found it fitting to harass your wife in a way that you admit hurt your feelings. I don't understand this, Edward."

"I didn't think about it that way, Dad." Edward told him. "I'm sorry, Bella."

"What exactly did you win from your siblings?" Carlisle prevented Bella from answering.

"Emmett has to dress up in a pink Hello Kitty sweatshirt and wear it for a week. Jasper has to drink two gallons of whole milk. Rosalie has to clean all of the rest stops in Washington with no gloves…" Edward told him, rattling it off as fast as he could.

"Alice?" Carlisle asked.

"Pretended that this was beneath her because she couldn't see what the outcome would be." Edward told him bitterly. I guessed that he was secretly wondering if Alice had seen this future and refused to bet. Edward shook his head at me. I then wondered if Alice remembered the spanking I had given her and actually took Bella's side for once. I didn't get to see what he thought of that because Bella drew my attention to her.

"That was actually the only part I enjoyed." Bella told us, smiling a bit. "We all knew that Alice didn't want to bet because she didn't know for sure, but when we called her on it, she pretended that it was because she didn't want to hurt my feelings. Even though I knew that wasn't the reason, it was at least somewhat gratifying to know that Alice will cheat to win and won't play a game that she can't be assured of victory."

"We've all suspected that for years, but no one could ever prove it." Edward chuckled.

"How do you know Alice wasn't sincere about her reason for staying out of this?" I asked them both, wanting to believe that Alice alone had acted nobly.

"She isn't 'out of this.'" Edward explained using the quote fingers as he threw my expression back at me bitterly. "She's the bookkeeper for the whole sorry affair." He threw his arms up in the air in exasperation. "She also runs the pool dedicated to guessing when Bella would get spanked, updating a website daily to let us know the status and placing odds around certain events."

"That's quite an operation you have there." Carlisle deadpanned, letting Edward know with his eyes, and quite probably his mind that he wasn't impressed.

"None of you thought that this could be hurtful to Bella?" I asked incredulously. "I mean, you, Edward, obviously knew she didn't like it when you basically told her to get over it."

"I thought she had gotten over it." Edward told me petulantly. "After that conversation, she never let on that it bothered her."

"Because you made her believe that any feelings of hurt on her part meant that something was wrong with her!" I shouted. "How did you not know that this was the wrong thing to do?"

"I don't know, Mom." Edward bowed his head in shame.

"Let me ask you something else." I continued my lecture, not lowering the volume of my voice very much. Did she join in the festivities and joked with you all about her futuristic discipline sessions? Everyone in this family is aware of Bella's inability to lie convincingly."

"No, she… usually… … … left…" Edward shut his eyes realizing what they should have seen all along. "Why the hell didn't I see how much you hated what we were doing?"

"I don't know." I told him. "But you had better plan on making it up to her.

"Oh, they will." Carlisle jumped in. The look in his eyes told me that if the children didn't make Bella feel like part of our family, there would be many trips to his office and many very sore backsides.

"I would also like to know what your penalty would have been had you lost." Carlisle pressed.

"Emmett created a ten hour song that combined the musical stylings of Bjork, Phillip Glass, the worst of American Idol rejects, and Nyan Cat." Edward told us, but he must have seen that we didn't think it was that much of a penalty for losing. "Trust me, he has a real knack for it. He likes to leave chords unresolved, cut measures off before the last beat, and things like that. I think he may have been studying torture methods when he created that song. I would have had to listen to it every day for a week."

To a musician, it would have been frustrating, but this somehow lacked the Emmett embarrassment that I would have expected.

"That's because they coordinated." Edward answered my thoughts. "That was actually Rosalie's idea. Emmett just implemented it. Emmett's task for me would have been to go to a Seahawks' game wearing an I heart Justin Bieber shirt, a hula skirt, and stilettos, topped off with a lacy thong on my head… and whenever anyone spoke to me, I would have to sing them I'm Too Sexy."

"That sounds more like Emmett." I laughed.

"He had to modify it when I pointed out that we would get in a huge amount of trouble if we were video taped." Edward added, probably because Carlisle raised his eyebrow at him. "He changed it to wearing that… ensemble… to drop Nessie off to see Charlie while Jacob is there."

"Better, still deplorable, but better." Carlisle told him. "And Jasper?"

"His wasn't so bad." Edward shrugged. "He just wanted me to organize a Civil War reenactment."

"That's not all of it." Bella disagreed with him.

"Fine." Edward rolled his eyes. "I had to dress up like a Nazi with a pink swastika, a rainbow wig and Elton John glasses and do the, Gangnam Style danceduring the reenactment."

"I'm sorely tempted to make all of you do all of those things." Carlisle told him seriously. Edward's eyes got really big at this statement, and Bella tried to hide a smile. "But… I don't want to constantly remind Bella of this asinine bet, and I don't believe that it will foster bonding with her either.

"Instead, the six of you are going to take two weeks, just the six of you to bond. The focus of this vacation will be making sure Bella knows that she is part of our family. We can iron out the details later, but I want Bella to really know, deep down that she belongs with us."

"Perfect." I agreed with him, smiling.

After Carlisle and I left the cottage, he began to doubt himself. When he was sure we were out of hearing range, just as I moved in to kiss him, he slipped off his wedding ring and held it out to me. I shrunk away from it, not wanting to take it from him.

"I made a horrible mistake, Esme." His voice shook with shame. "Keep this until you are able to physically punish me."

"Do you mean to tell me that you believe that you took Bella's punishment too far?" I asked him in disbelief.

"I mean that I went about it in a completely wrong way." He answered. "I thought that she could benefit from the same brand of punishment that you give me when I make a mistake, but I couldn't have been more wrong."

"What do you mean the same brand of punishment I give you?" I asked him, frightened that he had done something horrible like take her family crest from her or as I did with him, maybe he had taken her wedding ring.

"I took our very insecure daughter out to the forest and emotionally distanced myself from her to give her coven, not family punishment." He admitted, just barely holding back sobs. "I'm not sure if I should apologize to her or spoil her or just insist that you…"

I interrupted him placing my finger on his lips. Very carefully, I took the ring out of his hand and put it back where it belonged, on his finger. I could barely keep his ring for the length of a spanking. Even if he did need discipline, which I didn't believe he did, I couldn't bear to have his ring for three to five days.

"It seems like that was just what she needed to get through this whole mess." I reminded him.

He jerked away from me in frustration and balled his fists at his sides. I didn't take it personally. The only time Carlisle ever got truly angry was when it was with himself. Though in the past, anger would have frightened me, I knew that the only one Carlisle ever hurt in his anger was himself, and that was emotional hurt, not physical.

"There had to be another way, Es." He argued. "Look at her! Bella is the only one of our children who always call us Mom and Dad, even when she isn't being punished. She is also more obedient than any of our other children, by a wide margin. I wonder if that's because she's afraid that since she doesn't really belong, a mistake will get her thrown out of the family." Carlisle paused to pick up a rock. "And what did I do? I temporarily threw her out of the family!" He threw his rock spitefully into the trunk of a very large tree. The rock went straight through and left a nice sized hole.

"You know that you didn't throw her out of the family." I rolled my eyes at him.

"But she thought I did." Carlisle argued with me, determined that he was wrong. "How much do you think that reminded her of what Edward did when he left her? I wonder if his words played over and over in her mind while she was bent over that stump. I hate those words that he said to her. I truly hate them like I've never hated anything. They have haunted her until she doesn't know how to accept love and forgiveness!"

"Carlisle Cullen!" I said his full name, putting as much authority in it as I could. I hoped that my tone would grab his attention. "Stop beating yourself up. She knows we are her family. She has a husband and a child, and she knows that she's our daughter."

"Yes, she has a child that she showers with unconditional love. Our little granddaughter is truly blessed. No one loves more deeply than our Sweet pea." He agreed, and I thought that I had finally convinced him to stop torturing himself. "Bella went through the whole pregnancy basically alone and fought for her daughter every day. Then she delivered in the most horrific fashion and had to be changed after just barely meeting her. After waiting three days, suffering agonizing pain, to see her daughter again, to really hold and love her, Renesmee had already been taken from her, having imprinted on Jacob. Is it any wonder our baby is so uncertain of her place in our family?"

"In time she'll come around and really feel and accept the love and permanent place she has in our hearts." I assured him, walking to his side and putting my arms around him.

"She wants nothing more than to know she will always be our daughter, and for the duration of her spanking, I took that away from her!" He shouted, once again shrugging out of my embrace. "That was without a doubt the cruelest thing I could have done to her! What if this sets her back and makes her feel even more unsure of her place with us?"

"That was not the cruelest punishment. Not by a long shot." I disagreed. "You could have physically distanced her from our family and sent her to live with her human father for a week as punishment. You could have taken her family crest away from her. You could have done any of the physically abusive things she wanted you to do. Or… you could have actually kicked her out of the family."

"I meant reasonable things." He huffed in frustration.

"Other coven leaders would have done worse than that, and you know it." I reminded him.

"We are NOT a coven!" He punched a tree in frustration.

"I know." I chuckled at him, feeling like he was missing my point. Carlisle would never truly punish anyone in this family in a way a coven leader would punish one of its members. Though he may have convinced himself that he had distanced himself from being her father, in my heart I know that he really and truly hadn't done that. My guess is that he struggled to refrain from calling her Sweet Pea while he was being cold and distant.

"I deserve to be ripped to shreds for what I've done to her, Es." He abruptly turned and held his ring out to me once more. His ability to self-castigate rivaled Bella's. "Take it."

"No." I told him, folding my arms in front of myself.

"TAKE IT!" He roared, not really at me, but at the pain inside himself.

I stood there in silence, not knowing what to do or say to make him understand that this was completely unnecessary. It seemed interminably long that we held our stalemate. We were broken out of our uncomfortable silence by the sound of Bella's voice.

"Mama, no!" She shouted at me, running in front of Carlisle to protect him, ready to advocate for her father. She had obviously misinterpreted what she had seen. "You can't take his ring, Mama! I promise he didn't abuse me!"

"I know he didn't." I told her calmly. "He doesn't seem to know that, though."

"What?" She was genuinely confused.

"He refuses to believe that he gave you exactly what you needed." I explained.

"What are you doing here, Sweet Pea?" Carlisle asked her, more coldly than he normally would have spoken to her.

"Alice told me, and I quote…" Bella smiled at him, sheepishly, ignoring his tone "Carlisle is in the woods about to pull a Bella."

"Excuse me?" I laughed at her.

"Apparently, I'm known for wallowing in shame, embellishing stories so that I look awful, and you know, things like that…" she trailed off, rolling her eyes as she spoke dismissively of her behavior.

"That you are." I agreed with her. "And apparently, your father has the same propensity. He thinks he has caused you severe psychological damage."

"What?" She looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Please don't do this. You know that spanking is just what I needed, right?"

"I wasn't too harsh?" He asked her skeptically. "No one has ever broken down the way you did, and I kept going? I never once considered that you feel your connection to our family is fragile and tenuous. I should have found a punishment that reminds you that you are my daughter, not one that made you think I would never consider you my Sweet pea again."

"You didn't mean it that way, Dad." She reminded him.

"But that's what you thought. Is it not?" He asked her.

She didn't look him in the eye. Instead, she bit her lip and gazed elsewhere, not wanting to admit that she had actually thought that.

"Therefore, I was in the wrong and deserve to be punished as well." He resolved, thrusting his ring forth once again.

"I believe that motivation matters." I broke in to their conversation, still refusing to take the ring from him. "If you tell me honestly that your intent was to make your daughter feel unloved, then I will gladly tan your hide."

"Of course that wasn't my intent." He admitted sullenly. "I wanted to spank her in a less fatherly way…"

"Because you enjoy emotionally torturing me, or because you didn't want to physically beat me as badly as I felt I deserved?" Bella asked him, already knowing the answer. We were ganging up on him, and we were not ashamed about it. My husband needed the encouragement at the moment, and we weren't shy about forcing it on him whether he wanted to hear it or not.

"You know why." He nodded, looking rather embarrassed.

"I do, but do you?" She teased him.

"Yes." He sighed, accepting that he had done the right thing.

"You also realize that I was perfectly capable of walking back home, right?" She pressed to make sure he knew she was emotionally fine.

"Yes." He repeated.

"Then why did you carry me?" She asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"Because I couldn't make myself put you down." He admitted sheepishly. "I needed to hold my little girl."

"And I needed my daddy." She told him.

"And I need you to put your ring back on." I ran to him, embracing him. This time, he accepted my affection, hugging me back, and pulling Bella into our circle as well. "I never want to see that off your finger again."