Okay, so I'm so sorry for not updating sooner - I got this back from my beta a week ago but only got around to posting it today. Anyway, I am trying a new thing where I force myself to update all my stories at least once every two weeks, so if you notice I haven't stuck to this feel free to send me annoyed PM's and push me along ;)
So without further ado...
"Esme, Carlisle?" Bella called tentatively as they entered the house.
"In here." I called from where Carlisle and I were sitting in the
living room. I felt him squeeze my hand tightly. "Jacob, I'm pleased
to see you returned." I commented as they trooped in.
He dipped his head slightly.
"How's Nessie?" Carlisle asked.
"Fine, fine." Edward replied "She's got a thick skin. We didn't punish
her," he added, answering my unasked question "her reaction was
understandable."
I nodded in understanding – Carlisle and I had gone through similar
situations in the past with our own children and had rarely found it
necessary to discipline them for it.
"Alright, so shall we get to the matter at hand?" My love asked
rhetorically "Edward, if you'd come with me to the study and Jacob,
I'd prefer if you wouldn't mind waiting down by the lake. I want to
talk to you after I'm done with Edward."
I knew he was sending Jake out because all the other rooms in the
house were occupied and I planned to punish Bella in the living room.
Jake immediately left, clearly relieved and Carlisle rose to lead
Edward up to the study.
Bella watched him go apprehensively.
"Bella, I must say, I'm really surprised at you." I said once we were
alone. "I would never have expected something like this from you –
your dare was the most risky of them all. I mean at least the others
restricted themselves to things they wouldn't be caught at, things
that would not draw attention to the family."
She was avoiding my gaze and I knew that had she still been human she
would have been bright red by now.
"I'm sorry Esme," she murmured quietly as I paused "I just thought
that with Alices visions…"
"Alice's visions can change, as you are well aware." I said firmly. I
knew that for Bella, it was the lecture that made an impact more than
the actual spanking. "Did you seriously not think of the possible
consequences or did you just choose to ignore them?" I asked, and I
was actually curious as to her answer.
"I…I knew that it had a possibility of going wrong but I chose not to
think about it."
"Well, I appreciate your honesty," I said "But you need to think
things through before you act, you know better than to be so
completely reckless,"
"They didn't have to go through with it." She pointed out
"And I have discussed that with them, but unless you honestly expected
them to say no it was reckless to dare them in the first place. Did
you have even the slightest doubt they would not agree to go through
with it?" I asked
"I didn't think so." I said, taking her silence as confirmation. I
fell silent for a couple of minutes to give Bella time to think over
what I had said before telling her to lay over my lap.
Like the other girls, Bella attempted to remain quiet, although she did
wriggle quite a bit more than them and I really had to make a
concentrated effort to stop her from slipping off my lap. After about
thirty smacks or so she began to give in and her squirming calmed and
about fifteen smacks after that the tell-tale shudder ran through her
body, giving me the cue to stop.
I gently coaxed her into moving to sit beside me as I wrapped my arm
around her shoulder. "Alright," I soothed gently "it's all over now
and everything's in the past. Bella, I know you are not as used this
type of punishment as the others but I would never bother to punish
you if I did not care about and love you." I said quietly, I could
tell this ordeal had been particularly hard on her – deep down Bella
was a lot more sensitive than either Rosalie or Alice.
"Would you like to stay here a while or go with Edward?" I asked as I
heard Edward exiting the study upstairs.
"Edward." She sniffled into my shoulder, although she did not make any
move to pull away. I began to worry that I had been to hard on her.
"Okay." I agreed, mentally telling Edward it was okay to come in and
fetch her. He entered silently, coming over to scoop her up into his
arms before carrying her out the back door. Carlisle came to sit
beside me and I leaned against his chest.
"I think I was too hard on her." I told him.
He sighed "You couldn't have gone any easier on her, Love" he assured
me "You were no stricter with her than anyone else and it would not
have been fair if she got off lighter than them. Bella is just not
as…hardened. Rosalie has always hidden her deeper emotions, and she's
been in trouble with us countless times before so, although I still
feel we make an impression, she's more used to being scolded and
spanked. As for Alice…well she's Alice." He said with a small smile
which I returned – there really was no other way to describe her.
"How did the boys take it?" I asked
"Same as normal. Emmett accepted it with his usual joviality."
I frowned "You don't think he took it seriously?"
"Oh no, he took it seriously enough, but you know Emmett, he would
lighten the mood at a funeral." I smiled, that would be just like
Emmett "Jasper and Edward stoically accepted their punishments
although I think Edward worried about Bella through most of it but
that couldn't be helped."
"Mmm," I agreed "He'll get over his worry in time - Jasper and Emmett
were the same in the beginning." This was only the second time we had
ever found it necessary to spank Bella "Maybe next time you should
take him into the woods, I only realized now that he would have been
seeing her whole punishment in my mind."
"Next time?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. I rolled my eyes at him –
in our eternal family there would always be a next time.
"What do you plan to do about Jacob?" I asked after a few moments of
companionable silence.
"I'm not sure," he replied "Talk to him for starters. It's not fair if
he's not punished for his part in the game but I won't spank him
unless he's willing to accept it for the right reason, and I honestly
don't know if he will."
I had expected as much.
"I want the others to hunt this evening since its likely that they'll
be in bad moods tomorrow." I said. I doubted any of them would loose
control tomorrow, bad mood or not, but I was not about to risk it. "Do
you want them to wait until you're finished with Jacob?"
"No, we'll keep South East so as long as they head north, north-west I
doubt we'll intercept."
I nodded and reluctantly shifted to the other side of the couch so
that he could get up and realized that it was already dusk – that had
been one long afternoon.
I waited for a few minutes for Carlisle to get to Jacob and for them
to head deeper into the mountains that surrounded the house before
sending the others out to hunt. Picking up my book from the coffee
table I settled down to read away the night.
So, what do you think? Reviews and suggestions are always appreciated!
