Lying across her bed, Rosalie sighed as she gathered her thoughts in an attempt to form a defense. Yes, she had been in the wrong to go along with Emmett's plan to keep Esme occupied and if she were being honest with herself, yelling at her mother was most likely not the best idea, but she hadn't done anything as damning as the rest of her siblings. Her parents' main issue appeared to be the whole "putting yourself in danger" deal which was something that she had no part in. She was safely in town shopping with her mother when her mate's idiocy kicked into overdrive so she was never in any sort of danger. That had to count for something.

Her father was always open for discussion before he would take any action against her, so she just needed to steer his lecture in the right direction. Surely he would give her credit for maturity if she admitted that she was wrong on those two little accounts. He might not even know that she had snapped at her mother so he may only be concerned with her misdirection which really wasn't that bad of an offense. She knew from experience that she had Carlisle wrapped around her finger to a great extent. As long as she played her cards right she should be able to get out of this faux pas with just a lecture; after all, she was already being grounded and forced into hard labor with the others. Rose just couldn't see any reason that her father would feel the need to punish her further. Yes, she would wiggle out of his one unscathed as long as she stuck to her reasoning and didn't allow her emotions to run away. Carlisle was a reasonable man and she would counter with reasons of her own. She could do this. She had to do this because the other option was in no way acceptable.

A quiet knock caused her to look up towards the door. Inhaling deeply to calm her mind for this battle of wits, she sat up on the side of the bed and called out for her father to enter. Much to Rosalie's shock, it was her mother who stepped lightly through the threshold.

"How are you feeling, Rosalie?"

The young girl's brows knitted in confusion as she stared at her mother. "I'm alright, Esme. Thanks for asking. Was there something that you needed?"

"I believe that we need to talk about what happened this evening," was the simple softly spoken response that caused a feeling of sudden despair to grip Rosalie firmly.

"Where's Carlisle? He is usually the one to lecture. I mean you both hit on all the points of issue downstairs but if there is more to be said, shouldn't he be here as well?"

"Rosalie, this is going to be between you and me. You lied to me and you were quite rude. I do think that it's my place to correct you since I was the one offended."

Rose's eyes narrowed as she glared hard at her mother standing so passively near the door. "You have got to be kidding me. There is no way in hell that I'm going to let you punish me. Don't be asinine, Esme. What makes you think that you have the right…?"

"The fact that I'm your mother gives me the right; or more to the point, the duty."

Rose folded her arms defiantly. "Well then I relieve you of that duty so you don't have to worry with it anymore. Go on, Esme. You can leave now. I already know that I made a mistake and I won't do it again. There is no need for you to trouble yourself on my account."

Esme monitored her breathing to keep it slow and steady even as she fought against a tightness in her chest that was brought on by her increasing anger. She is shocked, just like Emmett was. She doesn't realize what she is saying. You have to remain calm. Remember what Carlisle said. Exhaling forcibly, she returned her daughter's unflinching glare.

"Rosalie Lillian, you will not take that flippant tone with me. I don't know how you talk to your father, but I will not tolerate this flagrant disrespect. I am appalled at your behavior of late, young lady. I would suggest that you correct your attitude before you make things worse for yourself."

Rose stubbornly continued to glare at her mother but when Esme showed no signs of backing down, the younger woman suddenly averted her eyes.

Esme continued to watch her daughter in silence for a few moments. Rose had dropped her open challenge but maintained a stiff stance as she refused to relinquish control to her mother.

"Mom, please don't take this personally but let dad and I work it out. That would be best for everyone."

A wave of calm filled the room causing Esme to breathe it in deeply but Rose responded much differently.

"Jasper, get the hell out of here!"

"Heard the ruckus and just thought that I might be able to help."

"Well you're not helping so get the hell away. I don't want you around here," Rose spat in anger at her unseen 'twin.'

Esme raised a brow at her errant daughter's outburst then opened the door to find her son standing quietly in the hallway. She sighed softly as he turned his large bright eyes towards her. He was clearly worried about the interaction between her daughter and herself. For a second a voice in her head wondered if Carlisle had given their son the suggestion to intervene in what they all knew would be an emotionally charged situation, but she quickly silenced that idea. This was just Jasper being Jasper; wonderfully caring, but maybe occasionally just slightly too caring for his own good.

"Jasper, I do appreciate your thoughtfulness, but this is a private affair and should be kept that way. You were afforded as much privacy as possible; it's only fair to respect Rosalie's privacy. If your father has released you, I'm sure he gave you some instructions which did not include spying on your sister. I suggest that you follow those directions unless you feel the need to have another little chat before the night is through. "

"No ma'am, I don't think I would care for that. Sorry." He leaned slightly around his mother to meet his sister's eyes. "Sorry, Rose. I'd say that I didn't mean to butt in but… well I did because I thought it would help ya. Won't happen again though." As he turned to leave, he stopped dead and looked back over his shoulder at Esme. "Momma, you aren't going to…. I mean, you're not…"

Esme tilted her head slightly as she looked into her boy's eyes.

"Oh, well now that there is something new to worry about." Jasper swallowed hard as his confusion gave way to understanding. "I'll just be going now." His feet quickly carried him down the stairs and out of sight before Esme had time to close the door.

"Doofus." Rose rolled her eyes as her brother departed. "Why can't anyone in this family mind their own damn business?"

"Alright Rosalie, that is enough of the inappropriate language. I wasn't planning on washing any mouths out tonight but I can always make an exception if that's what you need from me."

Rose glanced at her mother through narrowed eyes as she tried to decide if Esme was being serious then shook her head. "That's okay. Don't want to stress you out any more."

"Glad to hear that you are going to be gracious enough to give me that break." Esme crossed the room to sit down next to her fair haired daughter. Resting her hand gently on the girl's knee she spoke softly, "Why did you go along with this foolish plan? I understand that you didn't want to share what Emmett's silly plan with me because you wanted to protect him, but you knew that this was extremely dangerous for him and your siblings."

"It was dangerous, but I thought that once he got it out of his system everything would be fine. I didn't have any idea that he was going to come up with a worse idea, nor did I ever imagine that Jasper, Alice and Edward would go along with it. Emmy being an idiot is something that most of us have come to expect, but everyone else usually has more on the ball. I thought they would look out for him." Rose looked down at her hands in her lap. "He was just so excited. It is really hard to tell him no when he gets like that."

"Sometimes you have to, Rose. It's never easy to say no to someone you love, but when it's for their own good, well you just have to." Esme tapped her daughter lightly under her chin. "Look at me, Rosalie." When their eyes met she continued calmly. "You can't rely on the others. The only person that you can rely on when it comes to doing the right thing is yourself. If something like this should ever happen again, please come and tell Carlisle or myself. I know that you don't want to turn your siblings in and certainly not Emmett, but trust that we can be discreet in heading off disaster."

Rose scoffed at the idea of telling her parents anything about Emmett's future misadventures.

"Rose, it would be better to protect him from doing some sort of damage to himself while also saving Em and whoever else is involved from ending up in worse trouble. Isn't that at least worth taking a chance on? If you don't trust Carlisle, at least trust me. I can always blame mother's intuition and who could deny the power in that?" Esme smiled as she patted Rose's knee softly.

Rosalie returned her mother's smile briefly as she nodded before her expression turned serious. "Mom, what Jasper implied…did you really mean…" The young woman who was never known to be at a loss for words in her life fell silent.

Esme sighed deeply as she watched her daughter looking grim and a little frightened. "Yes Rose, I'm afraid that I do mean to follow through with what you had already assumed. You knew the risk of how your father would have handled this; I have to follow the same pattern for it to be effective. I'm starting to think that none of you actually take me seriously. I never wanted to have to take this route with my children, but this case is serious enough to warrant it. Extra chores or writing an essay on how to behave properly just doesn't seem to be a feasible option this time. A much stronger deterrent appears to be in order."

The girl's head dropped at the sadness in her mother's tone. She wanted to argue and tell her mother how wrong she was for even considering what she was proposing, but her respect for Esme was far too great to allow for that. Carlisle had always possessed the ability to make her feel bad as he pointed out her misbehavior, still the grief in her mother's voice made her feel so much worse.

"I'm sorry, mom. I really did know that I shouldn't have taken part in any of this."

"You were dishonest with me by concealing your intentions and once we arrived home you were shockingly disrespectful. Sweetheart, those are two of the worse transgressions that you can commit. You need to learn to control your temper; think before you speak."

"Yes ma'am."

Esme felt her nervousness come alive as she realized the time for talking was done. Now I wish you hadn't listened to me, Jazz. Could have used your help right about now. The matriarch took a breath and cleared her throat as she did her best to project authority that she wasn't particularly feeling into her voice.

"Rosalie, I would like you to unfasten you slacks, please then come lay over my lap."

Rose's brows furrowed as she looked at Esme and shook her head. "No mom. Not like that."

"Yes honey, this is the way we're going to handle your behavior. Now come on so we can get this over with."

"NO!"

Heaving a sigh, Esme stood and took her daughter's wrists as she pulled the girl to her feet. Rose began to struggle in an attempt to jerk away from her mother, but Esme's grip held strong.

"No mother, you can't do this. Not this way. Let me go. Please, just let me go! You don't need to do this."

The more the girl struggled the more determined Esme became in seeing this through. "Rosalie, calm down. You're acting like I'm going to kill you. Listen to me, baby. Settle down now and we'll get through this together as quickly as possible so we can move forward."

With her beautiful blonde daughter glaring at her, Esme took her seat back on the bed, half dragging the girl to stand before her.

"Rose, I'm going to let go. I want you to stay right here. The more that you fight the harder this becomes for us both."

"Mother, I don't want this."

"Sweetie, you gave up having a choice in the matter as soon as you agreed to go along with Em's plan."

Esme carefully relinquished her hold on her daughter's wrists then reached for the button on Rose's pants only to have her hands slapped away.

"Keep your hands off of me. I don't need help."

"Rosalie."

A shiver ran the length of Rose's spine at her mother's softly voiced disapproving tone. How could Esme make her suddenly feel so childish with one word; and her name at that? Nearly without a conscious thought, her fingers appeared to move on their own in compliance with her mother's request. She held her head high as she clung to the last strands of defiance but her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

Esme patted her lap in an inviting manner that caused her daughter to roll her eyes. "Really, mother?"

"Would your father go about this task differently?"

The girl stood staring in silent contemplation then shook her head before lowering her body to lay over Esme's lap with a deep sigh. Rose buried her face in her arms in humiliation as her mother tugged her pants down her thighs before encircling her waist to secure her daughter firmly.

"Baby, you were disrespectful and dishonest. Would you agree with that assessment of your behavior this evening?"

Rose nodded. "Yes, mom."

Esme found her daughter's voice oddly subdued as she accepted the account of her misbehavior. Placing her hand gently on the young woman's back, she rubbed her shoulder to establish a connection and hoped to help soothe her nerves.

Rose blinked back her tears before closing her eyes tightly. "I'm alright. Just do it. The longer you wait the harder it gets." She turned her head to look over her shoulder giving her mother an annoyed glare before sneering, "for both of us."

Esme inhaled deeply before she brought her hand down hard on her daughter's rear. A slight intake of air was the only sign that Rose had felt her mother's effort. The stubborn prideful woman tensed as her mother eased into a rhythm that bounced from cheek to cheek and top to tender undercurve leaving no inch of her little girl's backside untouched. Rosalie felt tears stinging her eyes but she refused to allow them to fall. She was not sure if her motives were defiance in not wanting Esme to know that she was being affected by the chastisement or if she was denying her response in an attempt to save her mother from being emotionally scarred from this event, but the reason didn't really matter. All Rosalie knew was that she would withstand this without the expected unnecessary drama. Physical pain was nothing new to her. She would handle it and soon it would be over and allowed to fade into memory.

Esme's hand began to sting horribly as she continued to deal out her daughter's punishment. Carlisle had mentioned that she shouldn't stop until her miscreant submitted through tears or the release of tension, but she wasn't sure that she could outlast Rosalie. The girl had locked down her emotions nearly entirely and now her mother feared that by following Carlisle's instructions she would cross over into what could only be abuse.

"Rosalie, you have to relax. When you tense you cause worse pain to yourself."

Her daughter took a shaky breath to answer, "I don't care."

The slight waver in her voice and the breath spoke volumes that she didn't want to share with her mother. Esme knew that she was indeed getting though her daughter's sturdy wall but she would have to make her talk to finally break it down. As long as she was allowed to remain uncommunicative, she would block her emotions but interaction breached her defenses.

"I'm disappointed in your, Rosalie. I thought that we had a good relationship built on mutual respect, but it seems that I was mistaken." She delivered a firmer swat to punctuate her words.

Rose shook her head as she gritted her teeth. "I do… I respect you, Esme. You are more than a mother to me." She inhaled deeply then quickly blurted out, "You're my best friend." The girl squeezed her eyes shut as her tears threatened to overflow from the emotional admission.

"I'm not sure that you mean that, Rose. You might believe that you do, but your actions tell a different story." A tear rolled down Esme's cheek as she pressed her daughter a little harder.

"I do mean it, momma. I made a mistake. I never want to be disrespectful towards you." Esme heard Rosalie's voice catch as her carefully maintained control began to crumble. "You don't deserve that." The girl sniffled as she bravely tried to hold back the tears, but her battle was already lost. "Neither you nor Carlisle deserve to have to deal with our useless asses. You should have better family. Your own family instead of having to adopt the stupidity that you got stuck with."

Rose found herself pulled up and cuddled in her mother's lap. "Rose, I'm not stuck with anyone. You are all my family by choice. I couldn't ask for more wonderful children." Esme raked her fingers through her daughter's long blonde hair as she cradled the girl's head against her shoulder. "Don't ever think that you aren't precious to me, sweetie. I love you, Rosalie. You are my daughter, but talk like that again will really get you a sore backside."

Rosalie's tears soaked through Esme's blouse as remorse and shame burst through the cracks in the protective walls she so carefully built and tended. "I'm so sorry, mom. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you."

"Shh. It's alright baby. You've paid for your mistakes. Everything is forgiven." Esme held Rose tight while she slowly rocked back and forth to comfort her daughter until her tears dried leaving her hiccupping quietly.

Rosalie pulled away until she was able to ease herself off her mother's lap and stand to replace her clothing. She hissed as her pants rubbed against her stinging skin. "Think I'm going to be feeling that for a while." She rubbed at her burning butt then lowered her eyes in embarrassment. "I shouldn't have broken down like that, mom. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"You didn't make me uncomfortable, baby. You don't need to put on a brave front for me. I know that you're a very strong woman but even the toughest needs to be comforted from time to time."

"I guess."

"Don't guess. I won't lie to you, sweetheart and I don't want you to lie to me. If you feel that I don't appreciate you, I need to know that. You're my life, Rose and I don't want that fact to ever be a question in your mind."

Esme could tell that Rose was getting increasingly more uncomfortable so she decided to let the matter rest. Getting to her feet she moved towards her daughter. Taking the girl in her arms, she hugged her close then leaned back and brushed her golden hair from her baby's forehead before releasing her.

"We are done here, baby. Slate is all clear."

"Does that mean that I'm not grounded?"

Esme laughed softly. "I'm afraid a spanking doesn't wipe that away."

Rosalie managed a smile as she nodded. "I know but I had to try."

"You want to come down stairs with me?"

"I think I would like to stay here for a while, momma. A little alone time will help."

"Okay sweetie. I can send Emmett up if you'd like."

"I'll call him up in a little while. Right now I just need to decompress."

Esme nodded then kissed her daughter's forehead. "If you need to talk…."

"I'll come to you."

Her mother gave the girl's shoulder a squeeze then turned towards the door before Rose's voice called out to her causing her to smile.

"Momma, I really do love you."

AN: Rosalie and Esme ended being much more of a challenge then I thought they would be. Rose has a respect for Esme that surprised me. Seems that she is more likely to give Carlisle trouble then momma bear. Makes me rethink that dynamic. *nods* And at some point Esme backed off because she got herself caught up in the idea of spanking an abuse victim.

Well, just hope this ends up making sense. All I can say is thank God Alice is next. She will go much easier on me. As always, y'all's input is greatly appreciated. Thanks for hanging in there.

Special thanks to Splinter for the proofing. She is one awesome beta.