The sound of the Mercedes pulling into the garage drew a low groan from Jasper as he lay on his bed with only the fading rays of the setting sun illuminating his room. He had long since given up on reading his history book and now simply watched the growing shadows slide along the wall as the trees danced in the evening breeze. Things were not looking good for him at all at this moment. He hadn't heard Esme call Carlisle, but if she hadn't informed him already about his son's fall from grace, his father would certainly learn about it soon enough.

With a sigh he rolled over and rubbed at the mild ache which his mother had managed to put in his backside with a single swat as she sent him to his room. It had been completely unexpected and left the boy grateful at hearing Esme mutter about waiting in his room until his father came home, but now that Carlisle had finally arrived he felt himself growing more and more nervous.

His siblings and mate had been asked to leave him to his thoughts when they returned from school; leaving the boy to mentally batter himself in solitude. Jasper's loving Alice had pushed the point with their mother of bringing him his books and phone to which Esme had finally conceded. While she didn't stay long, she did manage to offer him a touch of comfort along with delivering him the implement of his impending doom. Alice giggled as she handed the rubberized paddle to Jasper, telling him that she had seen it used so he would need to have it around when the time came. With a raised brow he had thanked his mate for her continuing kindness and kissed her before she skipped her way back out the door. She really was such an odd bird sometimes, but he loved her just the same.

Carlisle's quiet voice made it difficult for Jasper to hear his parent's discussion down in the kitchen over the constant buzzing of voices and the rapid fire sounds of Emmett's video game. He could only guess at how well his father accepted this monumental bit of stupidity. The boy heard his principal's name but nothing more as his mother's voice was quickly swept away by an Xbox driven explosion. Really, Emmett? Closing his eyes he tried to concentrate but the next sound he heard was a soft rapping on his bedroom door.

"Come in, Sir."

"Jasper." Carlisle nodded to his son as he pulled the desk chair over toward the bed and took a seat. "Enjoying the darkness?"

"Enjoying the quiet and the dark seems to help me relax."

"Relaxing is healthy." Carlisle nodded as he crossed his legs and laced his fingers together before placing his hands in his lap. "So, I hear you had a very eventful day. Want to talk about it?"

Jasper knew that wasn't a request, but his common sense left him just long enough for his mouth to take charge of the situation. "No, Sir. I think I've done quite enough talking for one day. I would just like to lay here and sulk in my solitude if you don't mind." While Carlisle watched him intently, Jasper closed his eyes, dropped his head and groaned.

"Your mind just caught back up?"

"Yes, Sir. Something like that."

"You do know that you are on rather thin ice, don't you son?"

With a sigh, Jasper nodded. "Yes, Sir and I believe that Emmett just might have been right last night."

Confusion clouded Carlisle's eyes as his brow furrowed at his son's words. "Right in what way?"

"When he made mention that I was lacking the brains that the good Lord gave a billy goat."

His father smirked as a soft chuckle bubbled forth. "I wouldn't say that at all, Jasper. The Lord endowed you with a wonderful mind, but sometimes you ignore what it tells you because you firmly set yourself on a different path; regardless of the consequences it would seem."

Jasper looked away from his father's eyes as he nodded yet again. "I made a right mess of things, Papa."

"Yes, from what I heard you did manage to do that, son. I would appreciate hearing your side of the events though. Your mother said that you weren't allowed to share your side of the story before judgment was passed. I would rather have the chance to get the full picture."

Taking a deep breath, Jasper tried to quiet his mind before he spoke again. The fear of his father's disappointment weighed heavily on him, but the sooner he faced and accepted it the sooner he could work towards repairing that damage.

"Last night I finally made a decision as far as what would be an appropriate punishment for breaking my parole."

Carlisle grinned at Jasper's choice of words, but allowed his son to continue uninterrupted.

"Today I set about to implement that decision so I would have things together when you came home from work. I had meant to be waiting for you in your study, but...well the day had other plans for me. Things had gone reasonably well until Mr. Varner caught me sitting out in the jeep during my free period. Now I know that I shouldn't have been out in the parking lot to begin with so I was wrong there, but it is a free period to study or catch up on things that need catchin' up on. No one says that you have to be in the library or any specific place. Anyway, Mr. Varner has always kinda had it out for us for some reason. Always trying to prove that we are cheats and such, but you already know that."

"Yes, I do. He doesn't seem to feel that you should have as much knowledge as you do and we can't exactly tell him that you've passed these classes so many times already that you could be teaching them in your sleep. He is not the fairest of gentlemen, from what I can tell, but there is little we can do about his issues without causing ourselves problems."

"I know but he is still annoying."

"Duly noted and entirely understood. Please continue."

Jasper cleared his throat then looked at his father. He expected to find disappointment reflecting in his features, but so far all he registered was calm curiosity. His father appeared to simply want to understand. Taking a breath, the boy continued, "I think his vendetta is the only reason that he busted me. He didn't have to. I was sitting in the car doing a little carving when he showed up. He read me the riot act then made me turn my knife over to him. In fact I have yet to get it back. I don't think it's fair for the school to hold it hostage. That's my Bowie and I should get it back."

"I'll talk to Mr. Greene tomorrow about returning your property."

"Thank you. I've had it a long time and really don't relish the idea of losing it." Jasper's righteous anger appeased for the time being, he dropped his gaze as he continued. "Well he told me that if I didn't turn it over he would call the cops. I couldn't risk that so I handed it to him and he brought me to the office. "

"That was a very wise decision." Carlisle nodded as he thought about how this event could have resolved itself differently. Having the police become involved would have created a much stickier situation that could have proven itself disastrous to all concerned. "You acted in a very commendable manner in that regard, Jasper. I am proud of you."

Jasper stared into Carlisle's eyes in disbelief causing a slight smile to curl his father's lips as he cocked an eyebrow. "What? Am I not allowed to be proud of my son?"

"After what happened today I don't understand why you would be."

Carlisle sighed quietly as he calmly surveyed his son. "The actions that landed you into trouble were foolish and they do disappoint me, but the manner in which you handled yourself throughout the ordeal is quite praiseworthy. You didn't have to submit to your teacher's authority, but you did even when you felt he was treating you unjustly. Right now we are able to sit here calmly and discuss your actions without fear of serious repercussions to this family because you thought enough to realize that involving the authorities would not have been in anyone's best interest. If you had refused to comply and the police been brought in, with the current concerns over school violence there is a great possibility that you would have found yourself within a media circus. The ripples from that would extend far and wide, opening us up to the possibility of exposure. Caius would delight in nothing more than destroying this coven and that would give him all the reason he would need to do so. At the very least he would want you destroyed and that is something that I would never allow."

A pang of sadness stabbed at Carlisle with great ferocity as he watched his son's shoulders sagged under the weight of guilt. The tousled blonde head bowed in regret of what could have happened because of his rashness.

Carlisle placed his hand gently on Jasper's shoulder as he spoke in a soft soothing tone. "Look at me, son."

The darkening gold eyes that met his held a world of grief.

"These are events that could have happened, but didn't. They didn't because you made the conscious decision to do the right thing even if you hadn't thought through all the consequences at that time. Jasper you know that I don't make rules for my own pleasure. I make them to keep my family safe. Whenever you act in accordance to those rules you honor me with a great deal of respect, how could I not take pride in that and likewise you?"

A tear rolled down Jasper's cheek at the honesty that rang in his father's words. Carlisle brushed it away with his thumb as he stood to pull his son up from the bed and into his arms.

"I'm so sorry, Papa." His voice was slightly muffled as he buried his face in his father's shoulder. "Edward and Alice warned me, but I was too stubborn to listen to them."

"Shh. It's alright, sport." Carlisle's breath ruffled his son's hair as he whispered gently while rubbing Jasper's back. With a quiet laugh he pushed Jasper away just enough to look him in the eye. "So perhaps God gifted you with the brain of a bull instead of a goat, huh? As long as you use it correctly that stubbornness can be a fine quality."

Jasper managed a slight smile before his father pulled him close again. The teen tightened his arms around the man whom he was proud to call his leader and father. After several minutes had past, Jasper found himself calming down enough to pull away from his father's reassuring embrace.

Carlisle dipped his head slightly to gaze into his boy's eyes. "Feeling a bit better now, son?"

With a nod, Jasper reclaimed his place on the bed. Instead of returning to his seat, Carlisle leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and tilted his head in contemplation as he watched his son settle down.

"Jasper, as much as I know you didn't mean to do anything wrong you really should know better than to bring a weapon to school."

"But I didn't bring it to school. It was in the car where I intended to leave it."

"Which is not where it should be kept in the first place, now should it?" Carlisle shifted as he squared his shoulders, ready to accept any challenge that Jasper would raise, but his son simply glanced away offering no resistance to the light reprimand. "While Mr. Varner could have let this go with a warning, and yes, I do believe that would have been more appropriate, he is well within his rights to turn you in to Mr. Greene. Son, you not only broke the school rules, you broke the law and could have ended up in jail. I don't know how well Charlie would have been able to sweep that under the carpet for us. It seems like such a minor incident, but given the current social environment it becomes a major faux pas." Carlisle took a breath as he ran his hand through his hair out of nothing more than habit then refolded his arms as his voice took on a slight edge. "By committing an act that caused our family to become susceptible to public scrutiny you broke one of my most basic rules and if for no other reason than that, you have put me in a position where I cannot ignore your behavior. I don't want to punish you for what started as a matter of simple poor judgement, Jasper, but you have left me with no other choice."

"I know." The response was so soft that Carlisle wasn't sure he had really heard it at first, but then Jasper continued to speak with his head hung low. "I've known that from the moment that Mr. Greene called Momma. Sitting up here watching the sunset, I had time to think and come up with other options; some sort of contingency plan that would save my butt. I came up empty handed every time. I don't like it and I really don't think that I was doing anything wrong, but now that you have brought up the idea of the media and the Volturi…."

Carlisle's body trembled as a wave of anxiety hit him, tying his stomach up in knots. "Jasper, calm down. You are making yourself feel worse." He grimaced as another wave hit him causing the doctor to suddenly wish that he had the ability to vomit. "You are doing a tune on me in the process, son." A deep breath helped clear Carlisle of the negative feeling while Jasper continually struggled with toning down his jittering apprehension.

"Jasper, stand up for a moment please." Carlisle rubbed his eyes before leaning over to turn on a lamp. His night vision was sharp enough that there was no real need for the bright glow, but he had become accustom to the artificial light and appreciated it just the same.

Jasper sat on the edge of the bed without moving for a few more moments as he blinked slowly while he focused on his father. Carlisle felt every hair on his arms rise as Jasper slowly got to his feet. The patriarch briskly rubbed his forearms to chase the goosebumps away then in a swift motion he took his son by the elbow, turned him slightly and delivered a harsh stinging blow to the youngster's backside.

Jasper yelped as the stroke brought him up on the balls of his feet. Gritting his teeth and holding his hands at his side in clenched fists, he waited for the next stroke to fall. The sharp pain caused his eyes to water, but drawing a deep breath seemed to help him work through the worst of it. After several seconds he hazarded a glance towards his father who had taken a couple of steps back.

Carlisle tilted his head as Jasper met his soft amber eyes. "Are you okay, son?"

Jasper rubbed at the sting and hissed softly before nodding.

"No rendering of your body or soul?

The boy shook his head.

"See. There is nothing to be this nervous about." Carlisle turned Jasper back to face him then ruffed up his son's hair. "You're letting the expectation get the better of you. We've been down this path before. It's not pleasant for either one of us, but it's not some precursor to your destruction either."

Carlisle nodded towards the bed indicating that he wanted Jasper to take his seat. Jasper eyed the bed then looked back towards Carlisle. "I believe that I would prefer to stand if it's all the same to you, Sir."

"I believe I would prefer for you to take a seat, Jazz. You should be alright."

Jasper grunted as his rear made contact with the mattress. It really wasn't that bad, but the stinging intensified as he scooted around in an attempt to find a comfortable position. As he began to relax Carlisle sat down on the bed next to him. Jasper swallowed hard as venom suddenly flooded his mouth. His father felt his own nerves begin to tingle and a shudder ran up his spine.

"This is going to be a long night if you don't get a handle on that, Jasper," Carlisle's tone was a little shorter than he meant for it to be, but as a calm came over him he accepted its effectiveness.

"Sorry, Papa."

Carlisle reassured the boy with a light pat on the back then spoke in his usual soft voice, "Jasper, did you do what I asked of you last night?"

"Yes, Sir. It was my focus on that task that caused all the hoopla today, but I have managed to complete it."

"Good. Now I want you to think about something for just a moment. What was the original reason for your additional punishment?"

Carlisle noticed his son's jaw clench as an odd expression shown in his darkened eyes and his body began to tremble. The patriarch nodded at Jasper then softened his voice a bit more. "I would like you to say it, Jasper. Your acknowledgment and acceptance are key here."

The boy swallowed as his expression turned to one of pure wide eyed dread. "I…Emmett and I…" Taking a shaky breath he closed his eyes as he shook his head. "We…" He reached up and rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Oh, crap. Ah did it again."

"Close enough. Yes, Jazz you managed to repeat the offense that you and Emmett are about to be punished for. To be honest I'm not sure what to do about this since it has never occurred before. You have suggestions for me tonight. I'm going to go talk with Emmett for a few moments and then I would like to see you both in the study in a half an hour. During this waiting period, I want you to think very hard on what you've done, all of the little twists and turns of this day, and how we can correct this issue in such a way as to prevent it from ever occurring again."

Jasper shivered at his father's softly spoken words. "Yesh, Sah."

"We will address the original transgression, and then I shall excuse Emmett before you and I resolve the rest of the issues that have plagued you today."

"Yesh, Sah."

"Take a breath, Jasper. Remember," With a light sigh, Carlisle brushed a lock of hair from his son's forehead as he looked deep into the youth's now worried ebony eyes. "I won't lie to you, son. This is bad, but the outcome is not going to be as awful as you are imagining right now. Take a few deep breaths, lay down for a little while and come see me in thirty minutes so we can put all of this behind us."

He nodded as he watched his father stand up. "Yesh, Sah. Ah will."

"Good boy." He patted Jasper's shoulder and gave him a slight smile before flicking off the light. "You will do just fine, Jasper. Trust me." With that, Carlisle took his leave as he headed down stairs to make sure both of his sons were on the same page and ready to face the rest of the consequences of their actions.

"Emmett, please take a seat. Jasper, you, too." Carlisle waited while his sons settled into the high-backed leather chairs in front of his desk. For some reason, his children had an unreasonable hatred for those chairs and he always found himself having to make sure that they were kept safe on Esme's "cleaning" days that so often supplied the various charities of Forks.

Taking his own seat behind the desk, Carlisle placed his elbows on the smooth surface and interlaced his fingers as he leaned forward. "Em, I have a question for you. Why is there a dent in my desk that appears to be just about the same size and shape as your fist?"

Emmett ducked his head slightly as he suddenly wished that vampires possessed the magical ability to disappear. "Um…" He scratched at a spot on the back of his neck as he quickly became antsy. "Sorry, Pops?" He shrugged, flashing his father a sheepish grin.

"Mhm. Haven't we spoken about this destructiveness before, son?"

"Pops, I was trying to be careful. Straight up. Momma tore up my behind and I just couldn't help myself."

Carlisle shook his head and began to speak when Jasper's cough stopped him. "Chest," Jasper whispered as he averted his eyes and coughed again.

The elder rubbed his forehead and gave a small nod as he laughed quietly. "We'll let this one go with a warning, Em, but see to it that you be more careful next time."

"Damn straight, Pops. If I have my way there won't be a next time, but you know I will be damn sure to be careful."

"Hmm… Your mother mentioned something about that language, Em. This will be your last warning as far as that goes as well."

"Oh." He ran a hand through his dark curly mane then cleared his throat. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that, too."

"Apologies accepted." Carlisle shifted his gaze from one boy to the other. "Alright, boys let's cut to the chase. We all know why we're here. You both misbehaved while still under restriction from a previous offense. That tells me that my original discipline plan made a very weak impression upon you, so I am now asking for your input as to a punishment that you feel would have the desired effect." With a clearing of his throat, Carlisle focused on his muscular son. "Emmett, let's start with you. I've given you a full day to do some thinking on this problem. I'm quite curious as to what you have come up with."

Emmett tended to enjoy the spotlight, but this was one time that he would have much preferred to stick to the shadows. His leg shook as the nervous energy building up within him searched for some method of release. He noticed Jasper close his eyes just before the calming wave crashed over him. "Thanks for the calm before the storm, Jazzman." He bumped his brother's shoulder lightly with his fist before returning his attention to his father. "Well, Pops when I was thinking it occurred to me that maybe physical punishment just isn't as useful as you think. I mean sure Momma laid into my butt pretty d…arn hard last night and I'm not looking for a repeat of that, but just maybe you could get through to us better by taking a different route. Something more psychological." Jasper scoffed earning himself a glare from his big brother, but Emmy didn't miss a beat. "Now hear me out. What we did… well we broke our grounding, sorta… but what you guys were ticked about was the danger that we got into, right?"

"That's correct, Em."

"So…how about I put in a couple of hours every day for a week or so at the hospital helping with the crispy critters you have in there? That way I can get firsthand experience of what could have happened. You know the suffering and such. I also would get to see just how much you guys have to work at making the stupid people feel better after they torch themselves. See… it's a teaching 'why not to do stupid shi..stuff' sorta thing. You get free help and I learn why this was so stupid to begin with. You know humans flame up, which is bad enough, but we implode when it comes to fire so as bad as they look and what not, I know that it would be so much worse for any of us. Your punishments are supposed to be aimed at making us less stupid; teaching right from wrong. There you go." He grinned and nodded at his brilliantly thought through plan. "Pretty good, right? Took me a long time to come up with that. So what do you say, Pops? Need an extra hand at work? I don't do that bedpan thing though. That's just gross."

The room fell completely silent as the bearish boy watched his father with a look of joyful expectation in his eyes. His chest puffed up with pride as he realized that his cleverness had rendered his father temporarily speechless.

"That there aint a half bad idea, Em." Jasper's compliment brought a broad grin to his brother's face.

"It is actually quite good, Emmett. I'm not sure how well the self-control will hold up in the hospital setting, but all in all that does offer an excellent learning experience."

"Crispy people aren't bleeding all over the place are they?"

"Just being in the hospital itself exposes you to the temptation of human blood, son. Maybe as long as my assistant stays close to me where I can keep an eye on him it would work out. I have to admit that I'm impressed with how much thought you put into your assignment. I'm proud of you for taking this responsibility seriously."

Emmett's head dipped slightly as his father's praise caused him to feel a bit self-conscious. "Well, I did first come up with being forced to watch an Ice Capades marathon, but that seemed too much like cruel and unusual punishment."

Carlisle laughed softly as he shook his head. "I do prefer the idea of developing your work ethic and compassion over forcing you to watch something on the television that you won't enjoy. Let me mull this idea of yours over a bit, Em and if it seems feasible we just might explore that as an option." Carlisle shifted his topaz gaze to his fair haired son. "Alright,Jasper, the same question applies."

The boy looked over at his brother with a grin on his face. "I never thought that I would be shown up by this doofus." He gave Emmett a light shove before turning his attention towards his father. His manner became serious and Carlisle noted self-reproach dim his son's eyes. "Papa, your mention of letting the seriousness of our infraction reflect in my suggestion got me to thinkin'. Seeing as from your position it would appear that I didn't take being grounded as seriously as I should have, it would be fair to say that it didn't make the appropriate impression on me."

"So grounding you is ineffective and I need to be harsher in handling your behavior from now on."

"Now, I wouldn't say that, not at all. It is effective, it's just that sometimes…well like we were talking about in my room, I can be a bit stubborn. I don't believe that I would have gone looking to do something stupid and get my lame butt back into trouble had it not been for my pride; and that is where I know I am most stubborn."

Carlisle sighed quietly as he pinched the bridge of his nose then leaned back while he crossed his arms over his chest. Jasper watched his father intently and felt himself somewhat relax when Carlisle nodded.

"Just as there is value in stubbornness, pride is also a great asset as long as you control it instead of allowing it to control you."

"Yes, Sir, but there will be moments when it does get the best of me. At times like that I could use… well…" Jasper looked away as his own words made him uncomfortable.

Carlisle smirked. "You need a helping hand in controlling that stubborn pride?"

"A hand is usually all that is required, Papa, but once in a great while…" Jasper swallowed hard as he looked into his father's eyes then forced his voice to continue. "Sometimes it takes making a stronger impression on me to be certain that I do right, Sir."

Jasper bit his bottom lip as he lifted the back of his t-shirt slightly to allow him to tug his craft project from the back pocket of his jeans. Turning the heavy piece of rubber over in his hands, the boy grimaced as little white kitty faces looked up at him from their bright pink home which glowed nearly as blazingly bright as his ass would once Carlisle was done with him.

"What the fuck? Dude, have you completely lost it?"

Most likely, Em. Jasper reached across Carlisle's desk and placed the paddle directly in front of his father then drew back and glanced away. After several anxious seconds he heard the implement scrape against the solid wood as Carlisle weighed it in his hand.

"You've done a nice job, son. An odd material to work with, but you balanced it nicely. I think the handle design could do with a little bit of improvement. I take it that this was what you were working on today."

"Yesh, Sah."

"The cats?"

"Alice."

"Ah."

Out of the corner of his eye, Jasper watched Carlisle lightly apply the rubber paddle against his own palm.

"Hm, this would certainly only be of use in light of the most serious of infractions." His father studied the boy's handiwork closely. "It's very well made, Jasper, but could be incredibly severe."

Carlisle pushed his chair back from the desk then snapped the implement against his calf with carefully measured force. The strike brought about a grunt of pain that the patriarch quickly attempted to cover up by clearing his throat.

Running his thumb along the cut edge to judge the smoothness Carlisle nodded. "Alright, Jasper. This is acceptable given the seriousness of your folly though I pray that there will never be a need for it to see light of day again."

With a heavy sigh, Carlisle motioned for his sons to stand and move their chairs out of the way. Leaning his hip against the edge of the desk, he tapped the paddle against the broad surface. "Let's get this over with. Front and center."

Jasper took a step forward then froze when his father's final words registered in his ears.

"Come on, Emmett."

AN: ... It doesn't want to end! I tried cutting this back, but Carlisle really had a good about of ground to cover with Jasper. Poor, Emmett. *nods* But, y'all don't need to worry about him too much. Those little test stokes that Carlisle pulled on himself give him a good idea of what is enough and what is too much. Do expect him to play a little bit of a mind game with Emmett though; just for good measure.

Thanks everyone for the continual support and for keeping me focused. Thanks to Splinter, as always. One more full chapter and a little wrap up after should finally see the end of this one, then poor Jasper can serve out his school imposed punishment in peace. YAY!