Oops - haven't updated in a while! But here's the next chapter, and I even added a part with Esme :-) Hope you like it!
(Elenielrain: Rose and Edward won't dole out punishments in this story, they only act as Maddie's siblings here. I just can't see them smacking her ... but maybe I'll do another story where that might happen ;-) Just need some ideas!)
Finally! Maddie felt - even though she was a vampire - exhausted and she really needed some peace and quiet. No stupid questions, no explaining, just silence.
And her butt was throbbing! She would try not moving for the rest of the day.
But the quiet did not last long when a knock on the door could be heard.
"Leave me alone," Maddie moaned.
But it knocked again.
She pulled the pillow over her head and shouted, "Go away!", which came out muffled.
The door opened and closed again. Maddie opened one eye to find out who intruded her privacy.
Rose stood there with ice packs in her hand. When she came closer and looked her younger sister over, she drew in a sharp breath.
"What?" Maddie demanded.
"Oh my, doesn't it hurt? ! It looks painful," Rosalie said when she saw the pink skin of the undercurve of Maddie's butt. She wasn't wearing her jeans anymore, and her panties weren't covering all of her behind.
"No, of course it doesn't hurt, that's why I'm lying on my freakin' STOMACH!"
"Shush, don't be aggressive. I came to bring these." Rosalie held up the ice packs. "Alice called and told me to. And now I understand why."
She was thinking about how to remove Maddie's panties without causing her any more pain.
"This will hurt only for a second," she then said, and slowly eased the underwear over Maddie's behind.
It looked even worse now. The whole area was a light pink, which meant Carlisle had really laid into her. She then put the ice packs on her sister's buttocks ("Ouch!") and waited if they were helping or if she should remove them again. But then Maddie said, "Aaah, that is actually helping a bit."
Rose got a towel from Maddie's desk chair and covered her sister's behind with it - just in case somebody might barge in without knocking (Alice? Emmett? Never!).
It wouldn't help to humiliate Maddie after what she had been going through.
Then Rose walked around the bed, sat down next to her little sister and started stroking her hair.
"Maddie? I would like to make an apology. I shouldn't have slapped you, it was wrong of me to react that way. I hope you are not mad at me now and that you can forgive me. I sincerely promise it will never happen again."
"Geez, Rose! It wasn't that bad. Get over it," Maddie looked at her, obviously not angry or frightened.
"But I hit you and that should not have happened." Rose said, obviously regretting her action.
"Yeah, and stupid Edward caught me and that should not have happened. Whatever. It's done. Well, at least nearly."
"I'm not following."
"Carlisle decided to do that -", Maddie pointed over her shoulder at her butt, "-again tomorrow."
That made Rosalie frown. Two spankings seemed harsh. "Are you sure?"
Maddie looked at Rose as if she was the dumbest thing ever. "He said so maybe?"
"Oh." Then Rosalie thought it over for a moment. "That can't be, I have to talk to him. What you did was really bad, but getting spanked twice, and probably even bare? I find that a bit extreme."
"Thank you. But he won't change his mind. He said I need to learn."
"Well, if it makes you feel better: Esme took my car keys away for a week."
"What? Why?" Esme confiscated Rosalie's car keys? What did she do to deserve that?
"I slapped you, remember?"
"Woah, now let's talk about extreme."
After a short silence, Rosalie asked her sister, "Why didn't Alice warn you?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, when you destroyed your books, she must have seen what was going to happen after that," Rose explained her question.
"Oh ... I think I know why. I 'might' have yelled at her about keeping her nose out of my business and stuff...," Maddie mumbled.
"She only wants to keep you safe!"
"I know, but I was really sick of her telling me, like, every day to not even think about doing this and not going there and so on."
"And how do you feel about that now?" the blond girl questioned Maddie.
"Maybe I should give her a second chance ..."
"You should give her a second chance? ! Maddie, it is just the other way round! You can consider yourself lucky if she decides to help you again after what you said to her!"
"Don't yell at me, I'm in pain, remember?" Madeline sulked playfully.
"Still, you better apologise to Alice as soon as she comes home. Without her help, you will probably never sit comfortably again."
Maddie made a face at her sister. "I'm not that bad! Come on!"
"Will you make an apology to Alice?" She better say yes.
"Yes, I will."
It was then that the door to Maddie's room swung open and a cheerful Alice danced in.
"Apology accepted!" she squealed and knelt down on the ground to give her little sister a hug and a kiss.
"Alice, she hasn't apologised yet!" Rose exclaimed.
"Yes, but she was going to, and it was beautiful. You should have been there, Rose," Alice said dreamily.
Okay ... weird.
"Of course I'll help you again, Maddie! I'll keep an eye on you and warn you before anything like that might happen again," she said while lifting the towel off of Maddie's bum. "Uuh, doesn't it hurt?"
Well, duh. "No, it's quite pleasant actually." Sarcasm dripping from every word. "Alice, um, what happens tomorrow?"
"Oh, Carlisle will give you another smacking. But it won't be as long, so you should be fine."
"Bare?" Maddie asked, hoping it wouldn't be bare.
"Bare." Thanks, Alice.
ARGH.
"You have a really cute butt, you know that?" the pixie said.
"Hey! Stop looking at my butt in your visions!" Maddie did not like the fact that her sister knew so much about her; and she definitely did not want to talk about her body!
"Sure," Alice said and patted Maddie on the head.
The three girls stayed like that for a while, chatting away until Maddie said, "Hey can one of you call Mom for me? I think I need to talk to her, too."
"Sure," Alice answered and went to open the door.
"Wait! I better take the ice packs off first, we don't want to give her a scare," Rosalie said and took the towel and the ice packs off her sister's butt. It just wouldn't go over too well with Esme if she saw what exactly her husband had done to their youngest. Of course she knew how he punished the children, but she had never actually seen that particular part of the anatomy after Carlisle had corrected someone.
Rose pulled Maddie's underwear back up, and then asked "Trousers or a skirt?", while walking over to the closet.
"Skirt. A summer skirt, nice and light, please," the girl answered while getting up from the bed.
Rosalie picked a green skirt and turned around, but just got a "No! Not that one, Rose, the red one!" from Alice, who was still positioned at the door. Rose made a face at Alice and grabbed a different skirt.
"No, the other one! ... oh, just let me do it!" Alice called and bounced into the closet full of clothes - picked out by her, of course.
When Maddie was dressed and looked more or less normal again, Alice called for Esme.
"You know what? I'll meet her downstairs!" Maddie quickly said and made her way out of the room.
The floor was still littered with shreds of paper ... wouldn't do any good to remind her mother of that.
Plus Maddie just argued with her family in this room, had to stand in a corner and to top it all off, got one of the worst spankings ever. No, she wanted to lie down in the living room where her mother could console her.
"Mommy?" Maddie called when she entered the living room. Esme was watching some show about gardens .. something less than interesting.
She was sitting on the big, cream-colored couch and turned around with a smile on her face when she heard her daughter's voice. "Come here, sweetie," she said and switched the TV off.
So Maddie walked stiffly over to the couch; yes, she was still feeling the after-effects of Carlisle's hand.
The way her daughter moved did not go unnoticed by Esme. She felt a pang of guilt that she let her husband punish their children that way, but what could she do? She understood why he saw this as a fitting correction for their daughter's actions. Grounding Maddie for a longer amount of time usually worsened her behaviour. That would definitely be counterproductive, especially since she wasn't allowed to leave the house much for the last years right after her change - it just drove her daughter insane.
The girl lay down on her side in the middle of the big couch, head resting on her mother's knee and sighed. "Mom, I'm really sorry. Are you mad?"
"Oh no, honey, it is all forgiven," her mother said lovingly and let her fingers run through Maddie's hair. "Maddie?"
"Hm?"
"Your father told me about your fear of getting sent away." T
Maddie stiffened under her mothers touch now.
"I just want you to know that this would never happen. You belong with us and that won't ever change. We are a family. Do you understand what I am saying?"
"Yes." Maddie nodded.
"And do you believe it?" That question was way more important to Esme.
Nothing.
Maddie's hesitation broke Esme's heart - Esme looked like she was about to cry.
"No! Mom, stop!" Maddie quickly said while propping herself up on her elbow. "Look, I'm so sorry, I believe you!" she added with wide eyes, panic clearly showing.
Esme put her hands on both sides of her daughter's face and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Sweetie, don't be sorry. I apologise for pushing you. I just want you to know that we are here for you. Trust takes time, baby. Take your time."
That calmed Maddie enough to say, "I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me. I do trust you, there is just something ... holding me back, I guess." That wasn't entirely true. The worst memories of her human life were still present in her mind; they had faded some, but not completely. She did vaguely remember what happened years ago and sometimes that made it so hard for her to trust the people who called themselves her parents. She never had trouble confiding in Rose, though. Or Emmett .. but she wouldn't actually have serious conversations with that one. The mere thought of that was ridiculous.
"It's all right, don't rush. Just follow your heart." Esme knew of course that Maddie did remember something, but the girl obviously did not want to talk about it.
"Mom, do you still trust me after ... what happened earlier?" her daughter asked hesitantly.
"Let me be honest with you, Madeline: I know it is not malignity that drives you to use your gift on us, it is more or less inexperience. That'll change."
"Huh?" What kind of an answer was that?
"What I mean to tell you is that I do trust you as a person. You are my daughter."
"...but ?" There had to be a 'but', there is always a 'but'! It just wouldn't make sense otherwise!
"But you struggle with making the right decisions."
Maddie pondered that over in her head. "So ... you trust me because you think I will learn to make the right decisions?"
"That is how I meant it," Esme confirmed.
"Mommy, I don't want to burst your bubble, but that is belief, not trust."
"If you say so, dear." Esme chuckled and patted Maddie on the head. "You look tired, angel, would you like to watch a movie?"
With her eyes closed the girl murmured, "The beauty and the beast."
"All right. It'll just take a moment." Her mother made to stand up, but stopped when Maddie hastily said, "Mom! ... don't leave." It wasn't often that the girl felt this certain connection with Esme, and she did not want for it to end just now.
"I'll watch it with you! I'm not leaving you, I won't," Esme promised.
Funny enough, Disney movies were something that calmed Maddie. She often turned into a tired five-year-old that would fall asleep during her favourite movie. Vampires did not sleep, of course, but they could reach a state of complete relaxation - a dreamlike state of mind.
She was like a sleeping child just then - but with unblinking eyes and no movement whatsoever, actually.
And - just like Esme hoped after a rough day like that - her daughter 'fell asleep' during the movie.
TBC...
Phew, there you go! Please let me know what you think!
Would you like to see more Esme in this story? Or Emmett? Jasper? Anyone? Tell me! And review, of course!