Maddie was lounging on the couch, a magazine in hand. She was reading through it, not because it was interesting, but because she felt a bit bored… and apprehensive. The house was very quiet, as Jasper and Emmett were at movies and her sisters had taken Esme shopping in Port Angeles. Only Edward was here, but he preferred to stay in his room and read rather than to spend time with her downstairs... probably because he knew what was about to happen.

She could hear her dad's Mercedes driving up to the house, a lot faster than usual. And it wasn't even the right time of the day for him to come home, so it could only mean one thing: Her influence had worn off.

For a split second she considered running, or at least hurry up to her room and lock the door, but just then the front door opened and was thrown shut again and she realised that she was out of time and out of options.

So it was time to get this over with. Actually, she shouldn't be that nervous, because this was just what she had planned. She was aware that his memories would come back soon, and she felt that that was okay, because she was healed and he would have to admit that she hadn't needed his or Esme's help and that everything had turned out perfectly fine.

Carlisle entered the living room, and she tried to make herself look smaller so he wouldn't see her. Dammit, why was she so nervous? It didn't make any sense to her, because she knew she had nothing to be nervous about. It was the right time to talk to him and let him realise that her little mistake had been nothing but a mistake. It hadn't changed anything and everything was fine. There was absolutely no reason for him to get mad.

The blonde doctor took the magazine from her hands and unceremoniously let it drop on the coffee table. Then he sat down in an armchair, crossed his legs and calmly looked at his daughter.

"You remember," was all she said as she pulled her legs up on the couch and made herself more comfortable. Carlisle doubted that she was truly as relaxed as she currently tried to look.

He nodded his head. He remembered, he remembered almost everything by now. Ever since this morning, just as he had arrived at the hospital. He had been taken completely off guard when the first glimpses invaded his mind. Certainly he hadn't all of a sudden been blessed with a gift of seeing the future similar to Alice's, and when he excused himself for a moment and withdrew to his office, he took a few minutes to sort through these snippets as more appeared in front of his inner eye. At first he couldn't make sense of them as they didn't seem to be connected at all. They didn't seem like future happenings, as they felt just way too... familiar. They felt right, felt like something he had seen before, but he hadn't been able to recall until now. Over the course of the morning he got more, and slowly but surely he could string them together and knew that what he was seeing were not things that were about to happen, but things that had already happened in the past. Actual memories. His memories.

He hadn't regained all of his real memories just yet as there were still obvious gaps, but now he was very much certain what had brought them on. Still it was confusing, because he now had two memories at a time of the same day and the same time in his head, but the newly acquired ones grew stronger and made his existing memories fade ever so slightly to help him distinguish between real and partly fake. Partly fake because he remembered the talks with the family or the movie nights and seeing Maddie sitting on the couch, completely relaxed, but now it was like a veil was slowly lifting. The girl had neither been fine nor relaxed like he had thought - she had been shaking, her eyes always glossy from venom and her arm covered in black streaks and limp by her side.

The girl had tinkered with his mind over a longer period of time, it seemed.

"I'd like to see it."

Releasing a sigh, she said, "It's healed, there's nothing to see."

But he was not going to give in. "Let me be the judge of that."

"It's my arm," she argued, sounding almost defensive. "I think I should know."

"Madeline."

"What."

He leaned forward, his hands folded. "Can you imagine what it feels like to suddenly remember that your child's in pain and you weren't there to help her?"

Maddie shrugged her shoulder in a dismissive way before she leaned forward and made to grab the remote.

Carlisle reached out and pushed it further away from her, then leaned back as though nothing had happened.

She let herself fall back into the soft pillows and groaned in annoyance. "Dad, it's been almost six weeks. Trust me, it's healed." She was still so nervous, but tried her hardest to overplay it.

"Trust you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Maddie glanced up at him, but quickly averted her eyes again. She knew she had kept a secret from him, even though she was trying to make him believe that it was no big deal. And it wasn't... well, not anymore. She was healed, the house was still standing... no big deal.

"For how long were you planning on keeping this up?"

"Just until now. I knew you'd remember any day now."

"And why did you decide to stop refreshing your influence over me?" he inquired.

"Enough time has passed."

"Enough time has passed?" he asked, leaning in again. "Madeline, do you remember what I told you last time you had a severe injury and were trying to hide it from Esme and me?"

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened, knowing exactly what he was referring to. She held out a hand, palm facing him, like she was trying to stop him from speaking any further... or doing something else. "Woah, woah, woah. I did tell you, you remember that I told and showed you."

"But then you made me forget."

"Yes," she mumbled and shrugged her shoulders.

"Why did you do that?"

"I didn't like how you reacted."

"Because I wanted to know who had done this to you or because I wanted to check the wound and help it heal quicker?"

"I just wanted to be left alone." She cursed her voice for sounding so meek, when she desperately wanted to sound confident.

His jaw clenched for a second. "I'd still like to know who did this."

Maddie looked away.

Carlisle wasn't sure if she was just ashamed that it happened or that she was trying to protect someone. But whatever it was, it didn't matter. She would tell him what he needed to know, even if he'd have to sit here with her for the rest of the day until she would tell him what he needed to know.

"Talk to me."

She groaned. "Do we really need to have this talk? It's in the past."

"You were badly injured and could have died. No, it's not in the past and I want to know what happened. This is serious."

"But it's healed," she uttered. This was sadly not going like she had hoped... or actually planned. She let him remember after all this time, just so he could see that she could handle whatever comes her way without his help. Like a mature person.

When she said that, Carlisle got up, then knelt on the carpet in front of her.

He pushed the fabric of the sweater jacket off her right shoulder, then pulled the sleeve down to her wrist, before he took it off completely. She tensed a bit, he noticed, but didn't pull away of fend him off.

That was a start.

He took her wrist in his right hand while his left one rested on her shoulder. Gently, he moved her arm to the side, bent it at the elbow and let it rest on her thigh again.

"Any numbness, tingling or burning?"

She shook her head, and he was glad that her nerves weren't permanently damaged.

He seized her by the wrist again and continued with his exam.

No matter how much be moved her arm, wrist and fingers, it didn't bring any discomfort to her. The discolouring was gone and all in all, her arm and hand looked indeed fine. Her forearm however, was scarred. Humans wouldn't notice, so Maddie didn't run the risk of having explain herself to anyone, but to Carlisle it was more than just noticeable. It was an ugly mark, round and shrivelled at the seams and he really needed a lot of concentration to get his eyes to turn back to their normal colour.

He had never, ever wanted a single mark on her. After the last years of her human life had left more than enough scars on her human body and her soul, Carlisle had sworn to himself to not let anything happen to her that would remind her of that time. She'd have this body for all of eternity, and it should be unbroken and unharmed.

This was a new life, a different life, but it grew more and more obvious that he had failed her.

"See?" she asked. "It's healed."

He straightened up again, then sat back down in his armchair, pointing at her arm. "There's a mark."

She shook her head and let her left hand run over the small yet weird looking scar on her right forearm. Em said it reminded him of a puckered butthole, and she agreed - it really was more comical than actually shocking. But she wisely stopped herself in time from describing it that way to him, as Carlisle had no sense of humour and would probably smack her for laughing now. He just preferred to be really serious about things and make them seem worse than they actually were. "It's nothing, I don't even notice it."

"But I do."

She swallowed, then licked her dry lips. "I'll wear longsleeves from now on, I don't mind. You won't have to see it."

And here she thought this would take care of the problem. Bless her heart for trying to make this easier for him, but the problem wasn't that he couldn't endure seeing scars on someone's body, the problem was that someone had done this to her. This was a reminder of him failing her, of knowing that she had gone through a tremendous amount of pain and he hadn't helped her through it. And it all happened when he had left her home, completely unsupervised. This was his fault, and no one else's.

"Maddie, who did this?" he asked calmly, softly. All he wanted was to know the truth about who had tortured his daughter in this way and why. Who could do such a thing to a child? To anyone? This was beyond his comprehension.

The girl squirmed a little under his scrutinising gaze. "It was kind of an accident."

"Maddie."

"Okay…, she whispered, then took a deep breath to help her muster up the courage to confess. "I did."

The look on Carlisle's face changed instantly. He was angry now, and annoyed. Gone was the worry and the empathy, at least for now. "Don't you lie to me."

"I'm not."

"You could not have done this to yourself," he argued and shook his head at her, like the mere idea was preposterous. "Now out with it: Who did this?"

"But I'm not lying! It was me, I did it." Maddie motioned to herself, like that would do the trick in convincing him that it was indeed her doing, and that no one else had a hand in it.

But it must have been one of those days, and her father's eyebrows just drew together even tighter and he almost growled his next words. "Maddie, I'm giving you the chance to tell me the truth here."

Maddie's eyes darkened and her breathing got heavier. She felt just as frustrated as he did.

And Carlisle huffed.

This girl had the audacity to get mad at him. He couldn't believe it.

What in the world was going on? He was just trying to protect her! Her anger wasn't making any sense to him and for a moment Carlisle was at a loss for what to do.

She was not going to tell him what had happened. This was blatant defiance… but why? Who was she trying to cover for?

Fine, maybe logic would help… and soon she would have to confess.

"How could you have done this to yourself? The pain must be immense, you would have pulled away, Maddie."

Shaking her head, she simply said, "But I didn't."

"Honey," he sighed. "I don't believe that."

She clenched her teeth, then angrily put her jacket back on and jumped up. She made to stomp from the room, but Carlisle called her back.

"I did not dismiss you," he said in a strict voice and she stopped. "Come back here and tell me what I need to know."

"I already told you!" she screamed back at him.

"Don't raise your voice with me."

"But you're not listening!"

"Sit back down," he ordered and pointed to the spot she had previously occupied, "and I'll listen."

She hesitated for a moment, but eventually gave in. If she'd leave the room, he would just follow her, so there really was no point in defying him now.

"Fine," she groaned, then walked back the few steps and slumped down on the couch.

"You are not telling me the truth, Maddie," he said as calmly as he could, hoping it would calm her as well and let her think rationally again. "You could not have done this to yourself, someone was there with you."

"No."

"No? Then pray tell how you managed to hold your arm into a flame until it would break your skin and burn up all the venom without you pulling away."

"I… I just needed to know," she replied in a voice barely above a whisper while she pulled at the hems of her sweater jacket, all the while avoiding to look up at him.

"What are you talking about? What did you need to know?"

Her lips distorted and she said more to herself than to him, "... if it's true."

"You are talking in riddles, Maddie. Whole sentences, please."

She took a deep breath. "I needed to know if it's true that…," she trailed off, but then finally looked up at him. "That fire kills us."

If his heart were still beating, it would have stopped right then and there. With the tiniest of frowns, he softly asked, "You tried to take your own life?" This was such a sensitive topic and he just hoped with every fibre of his being that this wasn't the case.

Her eyes went wide and she vehemently shook her head. "No! Geez… I just needed to see if it's true."

He instantly felt so relieved, but also even more confused now.

"Maddie, that doesn't make any sense. You know that it's true, we told you. That's why we don't use the fireplace or go to bonfires. It's dangerous."

"I know that now," she replied and rolled her eyes like she was talking to Captain Obvious himself.

His face hardened. "Do you really think you are doing yourself a favour by being disrespectful?"

"Why? This talk is pointless. You are telling me things I already know."

"And if you already knew them, how did you end up with a burnt arm?" he asked, raising his eyebrows once more.

"You know," she suddenly huffed. "I don't wanna talk anymore."

He shook his head and pointed a finger at her. "You will stay here until I allow you to get up."

"Right now you are ruining everything, I hope you know that."

"Ruining what?"

"Just forget it," she groaned like he was dense and got up to leave the room. For her the talk was over, but unfortunately it wasn't for Carlisle.

She heard the slap before she felt it. It was unexpected and therefore even more painful than if she had seen it coming.

A hiss left her lips and she whipped around, looking at her father in disbelief while a hand shot back to the smarting spot.

"This talk is not over, sit back down."

She glowered at him.

"Now."

But she did not move.

"Madeline, you will sit back down immediately, I'm warning you."

Gritting her teeth, the girl lowered herself onto the couch. She took her time, never breaking eye contact.

"Tell me who burned your arm."

"I did."

He sucked in a sharp breath and leaned back in his armchair, rubbing a hand over his face in frustration. They were getting nowhere if she refused to tell him the truth... this could take all night.

"You have one more chance, Madeline."

That sounded truly dangerous. When Carlisle announced that he was granting one last chance, it was always wise to take it and come clean. Because the last chance was really the very last chance.

But what was she supposed to do? She was telling the truth, but he wouldn't believe her. Telling him a lie now could be just as bad.

"I advise you to think real hard on what you are going to tell me next, because I am done playing games."

She lifted both hands in the air, then let them flop back to her lap in surrender. "Okay, if you don't believe me, how about you tell me who could have done this. Emmett maybe? Alice, or mom?"

He didn't like her tone of voice, but he was looking at her and started to wonder. Who could have done this? His children bickered and the boys sometimes decided to roughhouse, but they had never tried to fatally injure one another. And they wouldn't lay hands on her.

The only person who had ever injured her was Edward, but this had truly been a mistake and definitely not on purpose. Plus Carlisle was sure it wouldn't happen again anytime soon.

Maddie went on. "Do you think Rose would hurt me? Or Jasper?"

Carlisle was thoughtful again, filing through all kinds of possible scenarios on how the girl could have gotten hurt like that during an argument and who might have been involved.

The girl thought he was contemplating what she'd said.

"It wasn't him. In fact, Jasper was the first to help me," she let him know. "He can be a dick, but he wouldn't try and cripple me. It's pretty mean of you to think that."

"Watch it," he admonished. "And I wasn't thinking that Jasper was capable of burning you."

"Then who did it if it wasn't me?" she asked and smirked like she knew something he didn't. Which was true indeed.

It was slowly dawning on him that there weren't many options left. Neither his wife nor his children could have done this, so what else could have happened? A rogue vampire… or indeed Maddie herself?

Alice saw when others of their kind would be nearby, pass through the area and cause trouble, but she hadn't warned them lately. There was no way she would have kept that from them, especially when that person was trying to barbecue their little sister.

It was quiet for a moment longer, until -

"What has gotten into you?!"

I cut the talk in half, because... I don't know, just because. As you may have noticed, this story is going to have more than 10 chapters and I got another idea as to what I could add to this story, so it's far from over yet. And yes, the 'idea' is Esme... I totally forgot about her and that she might want to have a say in this as well. Sorry, Esme... LOL

And I'm just so glad that Jasper wasn't around in this chapter, because he sure as hell would have tried to rip his own head off. Their emotions were changing so quickly, even I had trouble keeping track.

Anyways, thank you so much for reading and your kind reviews! Love them!