I know, you've waited long enough for this chapter so I won't make you wait any longer with a long AN, but please read the IMPORTANT AN at the end!

"I would love to know on which planet you three thought that this trip was a good idea?" Jasper asked, in a restrained tone.

We all just looked at our feet without answering, this was by far one of the worst ideas Alice had ever talked me into.

"Jazz…" Alice began quietly before stopping at a look from him. I still don't understand how she manages not to flinch when he looks at her like that. Glancing at the love of my existence, I noticed he was standing to one side, his gaze unyielding; he was fuming.

"Edward, Emmett and I need to talk about this. Go to your rooms and stay there, and I don't know about the other two but Alice, I want you in your corner," Jasper ordered, and, judging by his tone, I felt more than a little sympathy for Alice.

Edward and Emmett remained silent so I took that as their way of saying waiting in the corner didn't apply to us.

We all silently trooped upstairs, exchanging small looks of supportive encouragement before splitting up and entering our separate rooms.

I went to sit on the bed to wait, trying to hear what our mates were saying downstairs but they were talking too quietly. It occurred to me that it was slightly ironic I was in this position in the first place, since I don't even like to go shopping. It was just fun to hang out with Alice and Rose, so it was more about the bonding than it was about the shopping. And it's not like I can pretend I forgot to call because vampires have such perfect memories as it is. I probably only waited about five minutes or so, but it seemed much longer, especially since I was fairly certain I knew what was going to happen when he arrived.

He entered the room silently and I waited for him to speak.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?" his voice was low, the slight hiss in his words letting on how angry he actually was. I remained silent – I deserved this, deserved his angry words after what I had just put him through. "You know how protective I am, and yet you still went off to Europe without a word."

"I'm sorry," I murmured, knowing it would be pointless to point out that Carlisle and Esme knew. He seemed to visibly calm at the sound of my voice.

He moved to sit on the bed, as I stood, positioning myself between his knees. He took my hands in his and gazed up at me. "Bella, I'm not saying you can't go on international shopping sprees with our sisters, but you need to call and tell me first, so I know where you are if there's an emergency. You ought to have known better. Now your sisters are going to be getting spanked for this, but I know Alice assured you when you first learned about this lifestyle that you would not be punished for something you didn't know was wrong, so I'd like for you to answer me honestly: Did you know when you left, that you should have phoned me first?"

I could feel his eyes searching mine and I knew if I said no, he would not spank me, but I also knew I could not lie to him, and I had known that I should have called him I was just so caught up in our little adventure that I just let it go.

"I…I was aware that I should have called you," I murmured quietly, which caused a small smile to cross his face, and, tugging on my hands to get me to lean forward, he gave me a chaste kiss.

"Thank you for being honest," He murmured. "It does mean though, that you are aware you deserve to be punished now," he added in a slightly stronger voice, moving me to his side and helping me over his lap as he spoke. I didn't reply, too preoccupied with the fact he was tugging down my jeans.

I had come to the conclusion that no matter how many times you receive a spanking nothing quite prepares you for the first smack. I involuntarily jumped as his hand descended on my upraised bottom. As he spanked he began to lecture.

"Bella, as your husband, I deserve to know where you are, and more importantly, when you plan to travel over long distances. When I came home… and I'm really disappointed that you didn't …." I was finding it difficult to pay attention as the fire built in my rear end, his hand never ceasing its incessant rhythm. I vaguely noticed there were raised voices issuing from the other rooms but was too distracted to listen.

After a minute or so, I felt phantom tears picking at my eyes, brought on as much by the fact that I had let Edward down, as by the inferno he was creating. Finally, he stopped. I lay there as he began to gently rub away a little of the sting.

"You can get up when you're ready," He murmured and after a moment I allowed him to help me up, noticing as I did so that I could hear the sound of Rose's spanking echoing from their room and the murmur of both Jasper and Alice's voices, though they were speaking too low for me to make out what was being said.

Edward also stood up, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Can you forgive me?" I asked quietly as I leaned my head against his chest.

"It's already forgotten," He replied, and I relaxed against him, content in the knowledge that we could now move past this whole incident.

Okay, so first off, this was majorly delayed and short, I know and I'm sorry but the honest reason is I'm just no longer feeling inspired or interested in the Twilight fandom (I know, feels blasphemous to even type the words, but its true), so I'm starting to pull out of the fandom. Which leads to my next point…this story is coming to an end. It's got another two chapters after this one and then it's over. (and for readers of my other ongoing fics College Girls and Trying Times, just a heads up that those are coming to an end too, and will be updated soon). I may post occassional one-shots for Twilight if I feel inspired, but not multi-chapter stories.

On that note though, once the fic is complete, if anyone wants to write fics in this 'world', you are more than welcome to (I know I often read fics and wish I could write something in the same AU world, so I'm giving you all the option to do just that), though I do ask that if you do, please reference my story in an AN and PM me so I can check it out!

As always thanks to my beta! And I LOVE knowing your thoughts on a chapter, so PLEASE REVIEW!