Disclaimer: I am still not Stephenie Meyer, which means I still do not own anything that is recognizable from the Twilight Saga.
Chapter Two
I paced around my bedroom while I waited for Carlisle to come up and talk to me. If I stop and think about what led up to Edward attacking me, I would be able to come up with what I should have done differently? What was that supposed to mean? All I did was point out the truth. Bella Swan was going to die one day, sooner or later. She should have died today, painfully, squished between two cars. Rosalie was offering her a painless death in her sleep, which might be doing her a favor. All of those were true, factual, statements.
I heard a knock on my door, "Come in, Carlisle." I said. Even if I hadn't heard him coming or couldn't have smelled him outside the door, who else could it be?
I looked over at the door as it opened, and Carlisle came in, with a belt dangling from his hand. I immediately stopped.
"Carlisle...surely that belt is not necessary" I said, backing up a step or two.
"I hope it won't be" Carlisle said, "However, I have found that sometimes, having the threat already out and present is better at deterring poor behavior before it comes up. Particularly when I am dealing with two very stubborn vampire children."
I was silent for a moment, and Carlisle pulled a chair over from my desk to the bed I had in my room. He sat down on the chair, and motioned for me to sit on my bed.
"Have you been thinking about what happened downstairs and how you could have changed it?" Carlisle asked.
I nodded, "I have, really, Carlisle, I have. I can't think of a single thing I could have done differently. Edward is the one who started the fight. I was just defending myself."
"What about before he attacked you?" Carlisle asked.
"All I did was speak the truth. Bella is a danger, both to herself and our family. If the Volturi find out what happened today-"
"Hopefully that will not happen," Carlisle said, cutting me off.
"But if they do, they won't give us a chance to move and start over. They will kill Bella. They'll probably kill Edward. I stand by what I said, that it would be best if Rosalie killed Bella in her sleep. Yes, it will hurt Edward, but it will hurt me, and this whole family, a lot more if we have to lose him. He's our brother, your son. Bella is some...silly, temporary infatuation."
"Edward doesn't seem to think his reaction to Bella is silly, temporary, or an infatuation." Carlisle said.
"Of course it is, Carlisle. She's human! He's a vampire, and he's acting like….like…"
"Like he has found his mate" Carlisle said.
"Edward doesn't have a mate, and he doesn't need one. He has me, and I have him. That's enough."
Carlisle sighed, "I see what this is now."
"You see what what is now?" I asked
"This is just like when I brought Edward into our family" Carlisle said, "You're jealous of Bella."
I gaped at Carlisle like he had grown a second head.
"Are you out of your mind, Carlisle? I'm not jealous of anyone, especially not Isabella Swan. She...she's clumsy, comes from a broken family, is only of average looks at best, is human, and-"
"And," Carlisle said, cutting me off, "She has captured Edward's affections."
"So? I don't love Edward. I mean, I do, but not like that. He's my brother, that's all."
"Yes, and for 86 years, he had been your brother. Your bachelor brother, while I found Esme, Rosalie found Emmett, and Jasper and Alice joined our family together. If Edward has found his mate in Bella Swan, that means that you don't have anyone else who is single, like you are. Whenever your mother and I, or Emmett and Rosalie, or Jasper and Alice couple off and spend time together, you always have Edward to spend time with. You're worried that if he has chosen Bella, you'll find yourself alone sometime."
"You have lost your mind," I said.
"Then why are you so set against Bella living?"
"I told you. She poses a risk to our family-"
"You and I know that the likelihood of this reaching Italy is very slim, unless someone here brings it to their attention." Carlisle said, "The only one who can say that Edward pushed the van away from her is Bella, and if she starts talking, everyone will think it's a byproduct of her hitting her head, and she imagined things."
"What about Tyler Crowley? He saw Bella alone, and then suddenly Edward was there. His car is crushed in, and Edward walked in and out of the hospital untouched. Bella walked out with a head injury, and nothing more." I said, "What if he talks?"
"He also hit his head today, on the steering wheel of his car." Carlisle said, "Again, everyone is going to think that he imagined it, including, most likely, Tyler himself. Are you suggesting Rosalie kill him as well?"
"No! Of course not!"
"Then why spare him and not Bella? They pose the same risk, by your assessment."
I didn't know what to say to Carlisle in response to that, and began to see that Carlisle was right. Bella and Tyler posed the same risk to us, and it was a low risk, because no one would believe them, especially since they hit their heads. Why was I so willing to kill Bella and not Tyler?
"If we go with the assumption that Edward has found his mate in Bella Swan" Carlisle said, and I had to clench my hands and my teeth to keep from saying anything about that, "and we think over what you said just before Edward attacked, can you think about something you could have done differently?"
I sighed, "If Edward has found his mate in Isabella Swan - and that is a big if, Carlisle - then I suppose he could have taken what I said as threatening his mate. His vampire instincts would have told him he needed to take care of any threat to a mate, and I supposed that would explain him attacking me. That being said, I could have held my tongue about how it would be better to kill Bella, no matter how true it may be, and he wouldn't have felt threatened by me."
Carlisle nodded, "That is the conclusion I reached as well. So, moving on from the talking portion of our chat, come over here and lay across my lap."
"Why? I didn't know that I was setting off Edward."
"You didn't want to know that you were threatening his potential mate. You did, however, know that Edward felt strongly about keeping Bella alive. Even if that was not the case, you know that in this family, we do not kill unless it is unavoidable, and we do not speak flippantly about any human life. Over my knee."
I stared at Carlisle with my mouth wide open, still unable to process what was happening. Was Carlisle really going to spank me for what I said?
"Martha, at this point, I am only using my hand. However, if you continue to stall in following directions, I can grab a hairbrush, or even use the belt, though I feel like that might be a bit excessive."
I immediately got off the bed and went to Carlisle, laying across his lap. He nodded, and rubbed my back for a moment, "Thank you for not pushing me, Martha."
Carlisle's hand stopped rubbing my back, and a moment later it came down on top of my jeans. I jerked, but it was more at the sound than at any pain. As Carlisle said, it was his hand he was using, and I had protection from my jeans.
SWAT! SWAT! SWAT!
SWAT! SWAT! SWAT!
"Carlisle, I'm sorry" I said, starting to shuffle around uncomfortably. It still didn't hurt, but it was starting to sting, just a little.
"I'm sure you are," Carlisle said, "We are about halfway done. I do not believe you were being malicious downstairs, so I am going easy on you. You'll only get fifteen swats in total, which means you have eight left."
SWAT! SWAT! SWAT! SWAT!
SWAT! SWAT! SWAT! SWAT!
I wiggled around as much as Carlisle would allow me to, and by the end, there was a dull pain in my backside, but I had definitely received worse from Carlisle. He let me up, and pulled me tightly into a hug.
We stayed that way for several minutes, until I decided to pull away, "I'm sorry, Carlisle. I shouldn't have spoken about Bella like that, especially since I knew Edward was being very protective of her at that moment."
"I accept your apology, although I believe you owe Edward an apology at some point as well." Carlisle said, "Speaking of Edward, I need to go address his behavior today, which includes his reckless actions at the school that endangered our family, his hurtful words to Rosalie about being a proficient assassin, and attacking you."
I winced, "Good luck. He can be very difficult when he gets himself backed up into a corner and thinks he is completely right, or even mostly right."
"Something you two have in common" Carlisle said with a teasing smile. I stuck my tongue out at him in response.
Carlisle made his way to my door, and turned around just before opening it, "Martha, I am only going to warn you about this once. If you say or do anything to Bella, I will not be as lenient as I was today. That includes threatening, stalking, and saying anything to her or close enough that she can hear you that could upset her. You don't have to be best friends with her, but she is quite possibly going to be in our lives, in Edward's life, for a while. I will also not tolerate you provoking Edward on this matter. If you can not be the polite young lady I know is buried somewhere deep inside you, then keep your distance from Bella, and keep your mouth shut. Are we clear?"
"Yes, Carlisle" I said.
