"Come on," Bella said, "family meeting."

I grimaced, but followed her anyway. There was no escape from a family meeting, and I had learnt not to bother trying.

We had the family meeting outside, which was a first. Standing in a circle at the edge of the wood felt more natural and casual than sitting around the table together, everyone in their places, everyone stern. We were more relaxed out in the open. I liked it. Maybe this could be the first of many open air meetings.

Carlisle wasn't with us, he was sat in the house watching over Jacob Black. Alice and Renesmee were with him. Alice would tell the others what was said at the meeting, since she was with Jacob, she would be able to see him too. Alice hated to be blind.

"You nearly killed him," Rosalie said, always the one to get quickest to the meat of the matter, "slapping him about a bit, I could understand, I might even be in your side. But, shoot, Edward, the guy could've died."

"It's not as though he's a person," I protested.

Bella's hand cracked on the backs of my legs like machine gun fire. I yelped and tried to jump out of reach, but Bella simply adjusted her swing.

"He's the man our daughter loves," she hissed, "he's a close friend of mine. He's a good guy. And, most importantly, who made you the judge of who gets to be a person?"

"I get it, I'm sorry," I stuttered out, and the slaps finally stopped.

"There isn't even a name for that kind of prejudice," Bella said, "and I won't stand for it. Alright, you don't like Jake, that's one thing, but saying he's less of a person! Come on, Edward."

I could have defended my opinion far more clearly than Bella stated hers, but I suspected that eloquence wasn't really the point right now. I had started this meeting in a hole, and any attempt at defending myself was only going to get me in deeper.

My legs didn't stop stinging, though.

"Did he attack you?" Bella asked, almost hopefully.

I shook my head, "not precisely. Although he was certainly trying to rile me. His thoughts about our daughter weren't at all respectable."

"Is that all?"

"You can't see in his head," I tried to explain, "it's our daughter and the way he thinks of her. How am I supposed to bear it? No man could stand it."

"It's not really a good enough reason to bite him. We have to be in better control of ourselves than that."

I looked around the group. Bella was fond of Jacob Black - she always had been - maybe I would get more empathy from someone else.

Rose was out, of course. Not only had Emmett already placed them firmly on Team Jacob, but she had her own bond with the dog these days. Both Rosalie and Jacob cared so deeply for Renesmee - my daughter - they had formed a sort of not-the-parents alliance.

I looked to my sweet mother, instead. She just believed in mercy in general and was most likely to offer excuses for me.

"Attacking a family member is against the rules," Esme said sadly, "Jacob is part of this family, Edward, whether you like it or not."

"Do we need to vote?" Jasper asked, "it seems like we're all in agreement that biting Jacob was a serious breach."

There were nods all around. And, just like that, I was on my own, in a whole world of trouble.

"Do you have any explanation?" Bella asked me, "please?"

"None of you are interested in my explanation," I said, "you have already declared me guilty. You can't understand the provocation I was under. So you're not even trying."

"That's not true," Rose said, angrily, "we completely understand how difficult this is for you. We try to keep you away from Jake, because this is so difficult for you. Your daughter doesn't even live in the same house as her husband, because this is so difficult for you. Your rudeness, your sulking, all your moody behaviour is overlooked because everyone knows how difficult this is for you. But, you have gone too far. You bit Jake. He could have died. As it is, he's lost an arm. However hard you're finding his marriage to your daughter, even you have got to see your behaviour is completely unacceptable!"

There was silence. Rose had said so much, we needed a bit of quiet to balance things out.

Finally, Jasper spoke again, "so, if we're all in agreement that rules were broken, do we agree that consequences are in order?"

More looks exchanged, more sad nods.

"I would prefer to handle this privately," Bella said, "I'll see that Edward gets what he deserves."

It wasn't fair. I was being condemned to a spanking, and nobody even cared what Jacob had done.

"He said that he thought those horrible things because Renesmee wanted them. He said my daughter had 'a dirty mind' and he winked at me."

"That was unkind of him," Esme said gently, "but not really a reason to take his arm."

"If you had chosen to take the high road, then Jacob would be the one in trouble," Rose said, she always had something to say, "but you didn't."

"You spanked Edward, already," my wife said to my brother.

"A few swats," he agreed, "I'm sorry if I overstepped. It was the only thing I could think of."

Bella nodded, "it worked," she said, "I don't think anyone could blame you. But, a few swats, you don't think he's received due punishment?"

Emmett's eyes widened, "your call, Bells," he said, "but I will say that I would expect more if I was the one who got into a fight."

Great. Thanks for that one, Emmett. I will remember this when we next have a meeting about something that you shouldn't have done.

"You are going to need a proper punishment " Bella said to me.

I whimpered slightly. "But, Bella," I began, before she cut me off.

"Edward! You tried to kill him."

"He is Jacob Black," I said, wishing she would understand that I had every right to kill a creature that tried to destroy my family.

But, she didn't seem to understand quite how big a mitigating factor that was. She answered me with another hard slap to the backs of my legs.

I was growing less fond of having family meetings standing up.

"Ow! I'm sorry!"

"Um . . . Alice texted me . . ." Jasper said, he didn't seem at all happy.

"No," I said quickly, before he had a chance to put his thoughts into words.

But he ignored my objection and continued, "Jacob wants a wolf to er . . . witness Edward's punishment."

Everyone stared at him in shock. So Jasper went on, "Jacob says that the pack are furious and he wants them to see that we take this seriously. He wants to avoid a showdown."

It takes a lot to silence my whole family, but this latest revelation did just that. They all stood in silence, running through scenarios in their heads. I didn't enjoy many of these.

Rosalie replied first, "weirdly, I get what he's saying. It might look like we're condoning this, but if one of them sees . . . well, then they'll know we don't think it's OK to bite wolves."

Emmett frowned, "I don't like it," he said, "why humiliate Edward? Punishments should be private."

"None of us interfere in pack discipline," Jasper said, seemingly as discomforted as Emmett.

"But, none of the pack have tried to kill one of us," Rose said.

I looked to Esme. Gentle Esme would be on my side. She wouldn't stand for making a public spectacle of me, surely. But, Esme didn't speak up for me at all, to my horror, she merely said: "What do you think, Bella?"

Bella frowned, "I don't know. I mean, I suppose I can see their point. But, isn't there some other way of letting the pack know that we don't approve. What does Carlisle think?"

Jasper looked at his phone again, not bothering to ask Alice the question, since she would have already seen it. Sure enough, the answer came through.

"The pack need to know," Jasper read out, "not only that Edward acted alone in this, but also that - as a family - we have intervened and can ensure that it never happens again."

Emmett sighed, "true. I guess you're going to have to take one for the team, Eddie boy."

"We have an alliance here," Jasper said, "which we should preserve. Maybe a few years ago, we could have just left. But, now, with so many ties to the Pack, it's harder. I think we should try to make things right with them."

I looked to Esme again, if anyone could bring this back to mercy, it would have to be Esme.

She looked sad, "Edward, sweetheart, I know that this will be unpleasant, but, the wolves are part of our family and deserve to be respected. If this matters to them, I think that you need to give way and allow it."

As if I have any choice in the matter.

"Alright then," Bella said, "I'll call the pack and work this witness thing out."

The rest of the family dispersed pretty quickly, then. I guess they felt one witness to my spanking would be enough. Perhaps I should be grateful that they didn't just put up tiered seating.

Bella texted furiously for a few minutes. I guessed she was making arrangements with the wolf pack, but that really wasn't something that I wanted to know about, or even think about. Would the wolves be eager to see me get my comeuppance? Would Bella insist on limiting the size of our audience?

In a way, it made no difference how many wolves actually showed up. Once they were in wolf form they could share the whole memory freely, every moment in crisp detail with a flawless soundtrack would be bounced around their collective pack mind over and over, until they were all bored of it.

I shuffled my feet and tried not to think too much about my immediate future.

Eventually, Bella looked up at me.

"I can't do it tonight," Bella said. "I'm sorry, Edward. I know that waiting for your punishment is going to be unpleasant for you. But, I am just too angry right now. I don't want to punish you in anger. So, I'm going to take the night to cool off and I'll deal with you tomorrow."

She had never made me wait before, well, not deliberately like this. Obviously, there had been a couple of 'wait till I get you home' moments. It wasn't as though Bella could put me over her knee in the middle of a shopping mall. Nor did she tend to do it in front of my family. It was no secret that I got my ass whooped when I behaved like a teenage brat, but Bella always waited until a convenient time, rather than just grabbing me in the moment and letting me have it. But, this was the first time that Bella had delayed a discipline session because she wasn't ready.

"Er . . . what should I do?" I asked, "I assume that you don't want me to come home with you tonight."

I didn't see how I could stay here, either. It would be seriously awkward if I spent the night standing in the corner of my parents' living room. What if someone wanted to watch TV?

Bella Iooked softly at me. "Of course you can come home, sweetie. I said that I want a bit of time to get my head straight before I discipline you, not that I plan on banishing you from the house. Come on. Let's go home."