Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Warning: This story contains disciplinary spanking so don't bother reading or flaming if this bugs you.

A/N: Haven't read any reviews, so not really sure what you guys think of the story yet, but I hope you're enjoying it! Sorry for the late post! ENJOY!

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Chapter 2: Rising Tide

Carlisle's POV:

"That was amazing," Esme declared, letting out a contented sigh.

I smirked as I stared down at her exquisite body. "Well, I am pretty amazing, aren't I?"

My gorgeous wife raised an amused eyebrow at me, grabbing the back of my head and pulling me in for a kiss. "You are hilarious," she murmured with a roll of her eyes when we broke apart.

"Not to mention charming, intelligent, and dashingly handsome," I added with a proud smile, and Esme let out a loud laugh.

"And don't forget modest too," she stated sarcastically, and I nodded my head agreement as I said, "Of course."

"You are incorrigible," she stated with a fond shake of her head.

"And you love me for it," I quipped, nuzzling my face against hers.

"I am so glad you got the day off, Carlisle," she remarked happily, giving me a beautiful smile. "We needed this."

"Desperately," I stated with a serious nod, and my wife laughed once more as she played with the hair at the nape of my neck. I began to place light kisses on her face, starting at her forehead and running down along her jaw line. She moaned softly, gripping a fistful of my hair and I began to nibble lightly on her lower lip.

"Eager, are we?" Esme managed to say before I captured her lips with mine. I gave a very low growl of pleasure. "Practice makes perfect and you know how much I love to strive for perfection," I spoke a bit hoarsely.

This time it was Esme smirking at me as she responded, "Then by all means doctor, practice away." And with that I graced my wife with a roguish grin.

We were in the beginnings of what would have been some mind-blowing sex when our bliss was shattered by the shrill ringing of our bedside telephone. I froze, throwing the offending object an extremely irked off glare. I was raising my hand to crush the blasted creation when Esme stopped me, throwing me a scolding look.

"Stop, Carlisle, what if it's important," she stated, moving away from me and towards the wretched piece of human technology. Important? I highly doubted it. If it was anyone important they would have called our cell phones.

"New rule in our next house," I grumbled as my wife was about to pick up the cursed thing, "no telephones allowed in the bedroom...or anywhere in the house for that matter."

Esme gave me a smile, her eyes alight with amusement. "I second that," she stated mischievously causing me to give her wide grin. Add one more reason to the enormous list of why I loved my wife.

"Cullen Residence, Esme speaking," my beloved answered, and I decided to make the most of the situation by wrapping my arms around her waist from behind. I was lightly trailing my fingers up her thigh when I heard a woman on the other side say, "Hello, this is Principal White from Fuller High School and I am calling because your daughter, Alice was involved in an incident at the school today.

I immediately tensed, feeling my wife do the same. As I released my hold on Esme I heard as she calmly asked, "What sort of incident? Is she alright?"

"She's fine yes, but…" There was a slight pause, and I had a feeling the principal was hesitant to say. Esme and I exchanged worried glances. What could Alice have gotten into? Out of all my children she was the only one who had never gotten into any trouble at school. What could have happened?

"Well, frankly there is no nice way to put this so I will just come out and say it. Alice assaulted another student and seriously injured her. Witnesses say it was an unprovoked attack, and upon speaking with your daughter"—

"She deserved everything she got and more!" I heard Alice shout in the background, and my concern increased ten-fold. What in the world? Alice fighting? Seriously injured? How injured? And why in god's name was she not sorry?

"Ms. Cullen," the principal scolded, "please keep your voice down"—

"NO!" Alice yelled angrily, and my concern quickly turned to anger at how disrespectful my daughter was behaving. "I will not quiet down! You're making it seem like that slut is innocent, but she is anything but!"

"Ms. Cullen, control yourself at once!" the principal chided more sharply. "You had your chance to"—

"No, you control yourself!" Alice snapped back, and I had heard enough. It seemed Esme had as well for she promptly said, "Principal White, please give the phone to my daughter and I'll see if I can get her to calm down."

"With pleasure," Principal White responded irritably, and I heard as she handed the phone to my angry child.

"What?" she answered moodily, and I could see from Esme's expression that she was as displeased with Alice's behavior as I was.

"Mary Alice Cullen," Esme spoke smoothly, anger and disappointment quite clear, "You will drop this attitude and bring yourself under control this instant, do you understand me?"

"Hmph!" was the response we received, and I stared at the phone in bewilderment. Why was Alice acting like this? She was never this disrespectful. What could have put her in such a state?

"Young lady," I added quite sternly, "I don't know where this attitude is coming from, but you had better listen to your mother and watch what you say. I have a feeling you are in enough trouble as it is, so do you really want to be adding disrespect and defiance to your list?"

There was a moment of silence before Alice let out a strained sigh. "Fine," she responded emotionlessly before I heard her handing the phone back to the principal.

"Hello?" White greeted.

"Hello, Principal White," Esme spoke, "I am so terribly sorry about what has happened and for how abysmally my daughter is acting. I assume you were calling to have a meeting with us?"

"Yes," the principal replied, still sounding a bit disgruntled. "How soon can you be here?"

"Twenty minutes," my wife responded, and I immediately set about getting ready. I turned the shower on, rinsing myself, Esme joining me not soon afterwards. We were both out and dressed in under five minutes, driving and arriving at the school in another 10 minutes.

My mind raced the entire time trying to understand what could have occurred to have put my normally jubilant daughter in such an irritable state. I frowned, realizing that Alice hadn't been her normal jubilant self for some time now. Ever since she and Jasper had returned from their trip, Alice had not been herself.

When Alice and Jasper had returned home, I knew right away that something was wrong. Jasper had looked concern, but Alice had seemed completely detached. She had informed us of finding out she had a family, and that her niece was still alive. She told us about finding the asylum, how it was shut down and then how she had found old records concerning her admittance to the asylum. She told us her full name, and had grumbled about her first name being Mary. "It's so common and boring," she had complained. And that was all she had told us. She said there wasn't any other information, but I hadn't been so sure I believed her. Jasper had shifted uneasily at her words, looking as though he wanted to speak up, and my angel hadn't been meeting my eyes as she said this. I did not press the matter though as I felt her past was hers to share when she wanted; well, as long as it did not cause her to spiral into depression.

This had been months ago, and while Alice had begun to act like herself, I had a feeling it was just that, an act. There was also a tension between Alice and Jasper that I had never seen before. My soldier always looked stressed and concerned, and when I confronted him about it, he told me he was just concerned about Alice and Edward and Bella, and that he was guilty that his lack of self control had caused all this mess. I had immediately rushed to assure him he was not at fault, but while I felt that Jasper had been feeling guilty I could also not help but feel he had been manipulating the conversation. Why would this have caused tension between him and Alice? I could never see Alice holding what happened against Jasper.

About a month ago I had finally confronted my daughter. I'd seen enough of my children suffer in silence because of their pasts until it became too much for them. I myself had gone through such a moment, and it never ended well. I didn't want my little girl to go through such a moment so I point-blank asked her if she'd told me everything she had discovered. Alice had answered that she had, so I had pushed, letting her know that I was aware that something was bothering her and that I wanted to know. She rebuffed me, saying she was just worried about Edward and Bella. She related to me her many concerns and how she wished we had never left. I had noticed a lot of anger as she confessed all this to me…a lot of anger directed towards me. I kept that to myself though as I listened to all her concerns, and comforted her (attempted to comfort); but I knew there was more. I knew there was something she wasn't telling me, but she wasn't budging, and I didn't yet feel right forcing the issue; so, I had let the girl go, letting her know that both I and her mother were here for her if she ever felt the need to talk.

I hadn't seen much of Alice lately or any of the family for that matter as I had been working very long hours. My children were not the only ones who were stressed and concerned. I too worried about not only Edward and Bella, but every member of this family. Rosalie and Emmett were away from home, and while I knew they could take care of themselves, I always worried about my children when they were away. I had not heard from Edward in a month, and I had no idea where he was or what kind of state he was in. Esme was heartbroken, both at Edward's departure and at our leaving Bella behind. She already saw her as a daughter, and so did I.

I worried for my human daughter, and I wondered how she was doing. I wondered if she was as heartbroken and lost as Edward, or if she was managing to move on. She was human, and I wasn't quite sure if her connection to Edward was as strong as his was to her. I desperately wished that Edward would realize that he could not live without Bella and go back to her. Truthfully, when we had left I had known that we would eventually return. Bella was Edward's mate, and no matter how hard he tried to stay away, sooner or later my son would realize that it was impossible. He had lasted far longer than I had ever anticipated though, and I was truly growing frustrated and angry with him.

I was angry at how he had left our family without telling anyone. We had left Forks so that we could stay together, but I was realizing how big of a mistake that had been. Our family was not together anymore. Rosalie and Emmett were abroad. I practically lived at the hospital. Jasper spent most of his time in college or holed up in his room, Alice spent her time shopping while Esme worked away on one project after another. Our family was suffering greatly, and we were falling apart. I couldn't believe I had allowed us to reach such a state. I was failing my family, so part of the reason I had called off work was because Esme and I desperately needed time to bond and deal with everything that had been happening. We needed to talk, but that had obviously been cut short.

Alice. What could have happened to have pushed her to act so angry and disrespectful? Out of all my kids she was the most easy going, even more so than Emmett. She was also the child that got into the least amount of trouble, her visions no doubt proving a huge help. This is what made what happened today so difficult to understand. Alice was not a violent person. She didn't really have a temper. Her biggest fault was her biggest asset: her visions. She used her visions to get things her way and to manipulate both people and situations. This was the usual reason my little angel found herself nursing a sore bottom; but it didn't happen often. Alice had felt my hand for other reasons as well, such as lying, disobedience, and even once for getting into a rather vicious fight with Rosalie, but what happened today was just not making sense to me.

Why would Alice attack a human?! What could this human have done to have enraged her? And why in God's name was Alice not repentant in the least?

Perhaps I was overreacting. Perhaps Alice had still been reeling from whatever triggered the fight and had not been thinking when she had spoken so disrespectfully.

I grimaced internally, somehow doubting it.

My gut was telling me that something was seriously wrong. My gut was telling me that this was connected to Alice's past. I sighed heavily, running a hand through my hair.

If this was related to Alice's past, then what could this human have said to have elicited such a terrible response from my most laid back child? I resisted the urge to sigh again as I somehow knew that this was going to be a very long day.

Esme and I were in the school office at this point, and I could tell right away that the atmosphere was tense. Several women were attempting to console a distraught girl who was holding a bag of ice to a severely swollen jaw. I could tell with one look that it was broken, and a sinking feeling entered the pit of my stomach as I realized this had to have been the girl Alice had attacked.

Bloody hell Alice, you broke the girl's jaw! Why?!

Letting go of Esme's hand I quickly made my way over to the group, the doctor in me unable to stand watching this child suffer, especially knowing my own daughter was the cause.

"Excuse me," I interrupted politely, "I am a doctor and I was wondering if I could be of some assistance?" I gave the injured girl a gentle, reassuring smile, and she grudgingly nodded her head, giving me a wary look.

I offered a smile to the women as they backed away so that I could kneel in front of the girl. Gently removing her hands from her face I lightly ran my hands along her jaw, a myriad of emotions passing through me when I realized that her jaw bone was not just broken, but completely shattered. This poor girl would need extensive surgery to fix this.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" I questioned kindly, wondering if she still had the ability to use her jaw. I could see her struggling to answer me, but the pain of her injury was apparently too much, for she let out a choked sob as more tears began to fall down her face.

"Her name is Cassie Thompson, doctor," a woman, probably the school nurse, answered softly, throwing Cassie a sympathetic look.

I turned to the nurse and asked, "Has she been given anything for the pain?"

The woman gave a sad shake of her head before explaining. "All we have is aspirin, but she hasn't been able to open her mouth to take it. Her parents are on their way here, and they will take her to the hospital. I wish there was more we could do, but I'm no doctor, and we don't"—

I cut off her apologies with a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I understand Ms…"

"Ramirez," the nurse answered.

"Well, I understand completely Ms. Ramirez. You have done the best you can, and nothing more can be asked." She returned my reassuring look with a relieved one of her own. I turned back towards Cassie, who was staring up at me with scared eyes. Her jaw was twitching, and I could tell she wanted to speak. "Wha…wron…" was all she managed, but I understood what she wanted to know.

Kneeling once more, I gave her hand a gentle squeeze as I gently told her, "Ms. Thompson, you will need x-rays to verify this, but I feel quite certain when I say your jaw is broken…shattered actually."

Her eyes widened in panic, and I heard her heartbeat begin to race as loud cries began to escape her.

"The poor dear," I heard someone mumble as I sought to comfort the panicking child.

"Shhh Ms. Thom—Cassie, shhhh," I soothed ass I rubbed her shoulder. "There is no need to be afraid, sweetheart, you will be just fine, I promise you. Your parents will take you to the hospital and the doctors will be able to fix this."

"Hur?" she managed to choke out, and I gave her small smile. "No Cassie, it will not hurt. They will give you something for the pain, and may even put you to sleep momentarily while they fix the damage. But you will be just fine, have no fear."

Cassie cried some more, though she nodded her head. I could see the gratitude in her eyes, a gratitude I did not feel deserving of seeing as it was my own daughter who did this to her.

Alice, I thought in severe disappointment, this was unacceptable. I glanced over at Esme to see her sporting a sorrowful look, although I did notice the disappointment in her eyes. We locked eyes, and I could see the same question I had raging in mine: Why?

Cassie had begun sobbing once more, and I turned toward the girl to see her clutching the ice pack to her jaw. The pain was apparently too much for her, and I wished desperately that there was something I could do to ease it. I settled instead with just offering my comfort by smoothing back her hair and murmuring soothing words. Ms. Ramirez followed my example, wrapping a caring arm around the girl.

It was not long after this that Mr. and Mrs. Thompson arrived, both looking quite upset. They rushed their daughter, Mrs. Thompson fussing over her injuries as Mr. Thompson looked around the room with anger in his eyes. "Where is Principal Stevenson?" he questioned furiously. "I demand to know what happened!"

I felt guilt at noting the obvious concern these two parents felt for their daughter. Why Alice? Why would you do such a thing?

"Mr. Thompson," I spoke aloud, capturing the angry father's attention. "My name is Dr. Carlisle Cullen (Cassie's loud sobbing stopped momentarily, wide eyes snapping towards me) and this is my wife Esme," I said, motioning for my wife to join me. "I am afraid it was our daughter's actions that have led to this, and I just want to offer my sincerest apologies."

"Your daughter did this to my little girl?" he sputtered, and I gave a grim nod. He looked ready to start shouting when Mrs. Thompson spoke up, tearfully saying, "I don't care who's at fault right now, Jim! I just want to know what's wrong with Cassie. We should be taking her to the hospital, not sitting around here shouting at people!"

Mr. Thompson seemed to deflate at his wife's rebuke. He nodded his head, mumbling, "Of course, Margaret, you're absolutely right."

"Mr. Thompson," I said, ignoring the angry look he gave me, "like I said before, I am a doctor. I checked over your daughter and it seems as though her jaw has been shattered." His face whitened as Mrs. Thompson let out a loud gasp. "She will be just fine," I quickly assured them. "She will probably need to undergo reconstructive surgery"—

"Surgery?!" Mrs. Thompson exclaimed in dismay, wrapping her arms around her daughter protectively as Mr. Thompson glared at me, his fists tightening as though he wanted to hit me.

"Yes, surgery," I continued speaking in a soothing tone. "It is not a difficult surgery, and I promise you she will be just fine. Also, do not concern yourself with costs because I will cover those, and I will also assure she gets the best care"—

I was cut off once again as Mr. Thompson got in my face and snarled, "We don't need your money or your help Dr. Cullen! Your family has done enough!" I stared into his furious face with an impassive one, feeling Esme's hand tightening around my own.

"Jim!" Mrs. Thompson shrieked, "Stop it! What happened was not his fault, he's only trying to help! Now please darling, let's just get to the hospital." Mr. Thompson let out a sigh, nodded to his wife and turned away from me without a look or a word. He helped Cassie stand and then both he and his wife left, but not before Mr. Thompson yelled out to the office staff, "That girl who did this better damn well be expelled—no, she better be arrested for what she did to my daughter!"

I bristled at his words, but there was really nothing I could say in my daughter's defense. That man was just angry and looking to protect his child, and I could not fault him. I would've done the same had our positions been reversed.

An awkward silence descended the room, the office staff staring at Esme and me before looking at each other. Esme groaned softly as she leaned her forehead into my shoulder and I wrapped a comforting arm around her. A timid looking secretary approached us at this point, informing us that the principal was waiting for us. We nodded our heads before heading towards the office. We both took in calming breaths, readying ourselves for whatever may come.

Alice's POV:

I sat in my chair absolutely seething. I had heard everything that had happened from the moment my parents had walked into the office.

How dare he? How dare my own father comfort that pompous bitch! How dare he call her sweetheart and speak so kindly to her after what she did to me! How dare he!

And why on earth would he apologize to that brat's parents? Why would he offer to pay for her surgery? She deserved what she got!

And why didn't Carlisle defend me?! Why didn't he defend me when Mr. Thompson was shouting for my expulsion? What kind of father was he if he wouldn't defend his own daughter?! He'd rather comfort the horrible skank who hurt me than his own daughter!

Tears of anger and hurt welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision. I fought to control my anger, wringing my hands in my lap to keep from breaking the arm rests. I noticed Principal White staring at me with slight concern, obviously having noted my saddened expression. I immediately hardened my face, throwing the interfering woman a glare, which caused her to frown back at me.

There was a knock on the door signaling my parent's arrival, and I took in a breath to prepare myself for whatever may come. I knew I had to keep my temper under control. As enraged as I was I knew that making a scene in front of a human would not solve anything. It would just worsen the spanking I knew I already had coming.

"Come in," White called, and I couldn't help but smirk slightly at the obvious strain in her tone.

Carlisle and Esme walked in, and I kept my gaze on the wall behind White, not wanting to see their expressions. They exchanged pleasantries with the principal before sitting down. I'd made sure to choose the farthest left chair in order to be as far away from White as possible and to insure my parents couldn't sit on either side of me. I could see both of them trying to catch my eye, but I stubbornly stared straight ahead, an impassive look on my face. I didn't need Jasper's ability to sense their anger, disappointment, and bewilderment. I knew they wanted answers, but I wasn't planning on giving them.

Jasper, oh how I wished he was here. I never should've come to this stupid high school! I should've just gone with him to college, then none of this would've happened. I didn't want to be here anymore. I wanted Jasper now. I wanted his comforting, reassuring presence. I wanted his arms to wrap around me and to tell me that everything was okay.

Risking a quick glance towards Carlisle and Esme, I saw both their attentions fixed on Principal White as she informed them of what happened, or at least what she knew. I hadn't told her what Cassie and Marian had said to me. I had only shouted that she deserved what she got.

"As I said before, many of the witnesses screamed that the attack was unprovoked, but I personally find that hard to believe," White explained, throwing me a glance. "I have attempted to extract from Alice what happened, but she has refused to cooperate, only claiming that she is not sorry for what happened."

I made the mistake of looking towards my parents at these words and was met with two angry, disappointed looks. A twinge of guilt sparked in me, and I hastily turned my head away. I was not accustomed to seeing such expressions on their faces, especially directed towards me. I knew my behavior was slightly out of control, and that they were no doubt confused, but I just felt too angry to really care. I knew my butt was toast no matter what happened, so truthfully I couldn't help but think it didn't' matter what else I did or said. I was getting a spanking whether I cooperated or not, so what was the use in pretending I cared about Cassie?

"Alice," Principal White called, and I looked at her with a bored expression. I could see her fighting back a frown as she asked me to give my side of the tale. I promptly looked away after her question, staring at an ugly painting she had on her wall.

"Alice Cullen!" Esme scolded, her tone aghast. "Your principal asked you a question, and I expect you to answer."

"I don't want to," I answered, not even bothering to glance in my mother's direction.

I heard her and Dad's sharp intake of breath at my rudeness.

"Young lady," Mom called again much more sternly, "you will look at me when speaking, and you will explain what happened today."

I fought back my growing irritation as I very reluctantly faced her. Her face was a mask of disapproval, her eyes warning me that I had better do as she said right now. I huffed, crossing my arms as I stared at everyone with angry eyes.

"Cassie and her little lackey Marian have been bullying me since the day I arrived at this pathetic excuse for a school," I began, not making eye contact with anyone. "Today was just the last straw. I was minding my own business, but they wouldn't leave me alone. Cassie said…," I paused, gritting my teeth tightly as I remembered her cruel words. Freak, she had called me. Crazy, she had said. What the hell did she know?

"Cassie said," Mom prompted, and I let out another angry huff before saying, "Cassie said some cruel things and I taught her a lesson."

"You shattered her jaw, Alice!" Father snapped, dark amber eyes flashing to me in outrage.

"She deserved it!" I snapped back.

"Alice, sweetheart," Mom spoke softly, grabbing a hold of my hand, but I ripped it out of her grasp. She gazed at me with increasingly saddening eyes as she asked, "Do you truly feel no remorse for having hurt this girl? She will have to undergo extensive surgery to fix her jaw. This doesn't bother you at all?"

Why did they keep asking this? Why did they keep bringing up this brat, and talking about her in those worried tones like they cared more for her than they did me? Didn't they hear what I said? That whore had been bullying me for months, and I finally decide to defend myself and they're angry? It's only a broken jaw! Not like I maimed or killed her or anything!

"Why do you care so much about this other girl?!" I shrieked out furiously as I stood up. "She's been nothing but hateful and cruel to me since I got here, and all I did was stick up for myself! I'm not sorry at all!"

Dad stood up at this point, mirroring my angry posture. He looked ready to speak, but the principal beat him to it.

"I believe I have heard and seen enough," she declared, her voice full of disapproval. All our attention focused on her and she motioned for Carlisle and I to sit down, and we both did with great reluctance. Dad's eyes were boring into me, but I stubbornly ignored him.

The principal gazed at me and said, "Just to be absolutely clear, Ms. Cullen, you are not sorry for having injured Ms. Thompson so grievously?"

"I'm not," I answered.

She stared at me for several seconds before turning towards my parents with a grave look. "I am very sorry to say this, Dr. and Mrs. Cullen, but due to the severity of this attack and your daughter's obvious lack of remorse, I am expelling her from Fuller High school."

I felt no shock as I had already seen this outcome. In fact, I felt relief as high school had been a literal hell to me these past several months. It would be nice not to have to come back. Glancing towards my parents, I could see that they did not share my feelings. They appeared shocked, and I guess I couldn't blame them. None of my siblings or Jasper had ever been expelled from a school, despite all the trouble they'd caused over the years; and here I was doing just that after my first time.

I was suddenly struck with the bizarre desire to laugh, but knew that would be really inappropriate. A smile did appear on my face, a smile that my thoroughly unamused father caught, and I watched as his eyes darkened even more. The smile was immediately wiped from my face, and while he and my mother attempted to argue for leniency for me I took a little peek into my future. My brow furrowed as my punishment had not been decided on. I knew there would be a spanking, but it seemed my father wanted to decide on how bad it would be and what other punishments to give me until after he'd spoken with me. Ugh.

"I am terribly sorry Dr. and Mrs. Cullen, but my decision is final," Principal White declared, standing up to signal this conversation had come to an end. My parents exchanged a look before they stood up as well. They expressed their sincerest apologies on my behalf (I just rolled my eyes), shook hands before making their way out the door. Dad placed his hand on the back of my neck in quite a firm grip as he led (pushed) me through the office, out of the school and towards the parking lot.

A/N: Alice may seem OOC, but I think that the stress of learning about her past (and she has learned more than I've mentioned) coupled with the bullying, worrying over Edward and Bella, and the fighting with Jasper, well, it's all gotten to be too much for our normally happy go lucky pixie.

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