Well, HELLO!

I wanna answer some reviews first ...

Katie: Maddie had already forgiven Rose. She just wanted to get a rise out of her until she would snap ... just for the fun of it ;-) And a little revenge maybe. But it is very possible that they'll argue again if Rose calls her a child or the like!

And I cannot promise to make Esme tell Maddie about her past. They are very careful with her, and therefore I don't think they would confront her with topics such as abuse or suicide. Maybe later.

And telling Maddie that her baby died might put additional pressure on Maddie. I'll try to update my other story soon, it hopefully will explain some things.

patz13: Hm, questions about me ... you could make it your wish when we reach 200, haha! Nah, I'm 23 =)

Good ... where was I? Oh yeah ... READ!

Maddie seemed to be a little bit uneasy. She looked over at Edward who slightly shrugged his shoulders.

Okay, great, so he was no help.

She turned her gaze back at her father and stood up. Trudging over to him, he placed a hand on her back and guided her up the stairs.

"In here, Madeline," he pointed towards his and Esme's bedroom.

That was peculiar - she had never gotten a spanking in there before. She gave him a puzzled look, but he just nodded.

Her mother sat on the big bed and motioned for Maddie to come closer the moment she peeked into the room.

That was peculiar, too - her Mom would never ever be at home when she got spanked, much less be in the same room!

"Come," she said and waited for her daughter to walk over to her.

Esme took Maddie by the hand and pulled her up on the bed, then smoothed her dark hair lovingly back over her shoulder and looked up at her husband, who closed the door behind himself and approached them.

Sitting next to his daughter, he folded his hands in his lap and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Madeline," he said.

Maddie changed from nervous to slightly annoyed. Or better yet: The nervousness remained and annoyance joined in.

She was acquainted with her name, so could he please just hurry up and come straight to the point? She had a match to win, after all.

"Uh-huh?" she asked and bit her lip.

"I think it would be beneficial if we'd discuss what happened," Carlisle said.

"But we already talked about it," Maddie replied in an almost whine.

"Please explain to me why you acted the way you did," he prompted, seemingly ignoring what she just said.

"No," she said softly.

"No?" Carlisle repeated, eyebrows raised.

I don't wanna talk anymore," she responded and focused on the strand of hair she was rolling between her fingers.

"Madeline, this is important," Carlisle urged and pulled the strand of hair she was playing with out of her hand and tucked it behind her ear.

Maddie let her now empty hands drop to her lap and looked up at her father. "But you know what happened, Mom knows what happened and I bet Edward told you everything right down to the last detail!"

"Madeline," he sighed. "I would like to understand your motivation for lying to us about your hand."

Maddie rolled her eyes at that. "Easy: I didn't want you to know." She then stood up and asked, "Can I go now?"

"No, honey, sit back down please," Esme said and gently grasped her daughter's forearm to guide her back onto the bed.

Maddie pushed her bottom lip forward, but complied.

"Darling, you didn't do anything wrong. It was an accident and accidents happen. That is why we don't understand why you did not show us your injury straightaway. There was no need to hide it from us and there certainly was no need to walk around hurting," Carlisle explained and waited for Maddie to give him a proper answer.

Esme and Carlisle had argued about this talk for quite a while. Esme thought it would be better to not remind Maddie of the memory she must have had to react that way and just let her forget, whereas Carlisle thought it would be better for his daughter to talk about what she remembered and what confused her about it. In the end Esme had caved in, because she figured Maddie probably wouldn't talk about it if she did not want to. And it seemed that she would be proved right.

Maddie shrugged her shoulders.

"Come, sweetie, answer the question," Esme tried to encourage her. She wanted to support her husband, because he meant well and Maddie would indeed benefit from opening up about her memory.

Maddie squirmed a bit. "I don't wanna talk anymore. I wanna play with Emmett."

Her parents looked concerned.

She didn't understand why, but she figured she would be able to leave this room sooner if she just answered.

"Okay ... I don't know." Take it or leave it.

Esme spoke up. "Maddie, dear, we just want you to know that we will always be there for you."

"I know." She nodded her head ... then felt uneasy again because of the heavy silence.

Not feeling comfortable due to the tense atmosphere, she made to get up again, but her father's hand on her shoulder stopped her immediately.

"Never be afraid to tell us when something upsets you," he said in a soft voice.

"Okay."

"And please: There was no need to suffer for so long. We would never be angry at you for being hurt. Do you understand that?" Carlisle asked.

Maddie noticed the look her parents gave each other, and then she knew what he was getting at.

"Uh-huh," she answered and hoped they would just drop it.

"Madeline, your hand would be completely healed by now if we would have known that you were injured."

"Okay," she replied.

"Is there something bothering you?" Esme asked, frowning. Her daughter's answers sounded unusually emotionless - it unsettled her.

Yep, parents who wanted to talk about stuff she didn't want to talk about! "No."

Heavy silence again.

Maddie grew agitated. What the hell was wrong with her parents? Normally they left her alone when she didn't want to talk about certain things.

She huffed. "Okay ... do I get walloped now or can I leave?"

Her parents raised their eyebrows at that.

Carlisle frowned and asked, "Why do you think you would get disciplined?"

"Edward had trouble sitting," Maddie stated matter-of-factly.

"We are talking about you now, not about your brother. And to be honest: You just hurt yourself with what you did."

"So ... ?" she asked and motioned with her hand for him to go on.

"We think you have been punished enough by yourself, so no further punishment is necessary. Now you know that hiding an injury is wrong, don't you?"

"Awesome, thanks!" Maddie exclaimed after hearing that she wouldn't get punished and jumped up. Yeah, she had stopped listening after that.

She quickly turned around, hugged both her parents at the same time and gave each a quick peck on the cheek.

Then she ran from the room.

Esme and Carlisle just stared at each other, more than just surprised about the sudden change in behaviour.

"Wh-what was that?" Esme managed to say before starting to laugh. Carlisle joined in.

"What happened?" Emmett stopped the game and turned around to watch his little sister walk into the room; his eyes held concern.

"Talked," she replied casually.

"... and?"

"And nothing," Maddie said while sitting down next to Emmett on the floor.

"Good job," Emmett replied with a smile and ruffled Maddie's hair.

"Wanna play?" he offered his controller to her, so she could play against Edward.

"Nah, I'll just watch for now," she replied, her voice softer than usual.

Emmett looked at her a moment longer than necessary, then patted her back in a comforting manner before continuing to play.

Maddie leaned her head against his arm while letting her hand rest in the crook of his arm to hold onto.

Emmett pulled away - only to put his arm around his little sister's shoulders and pulling her closer to himself, never stopping his game.

Now we can leave the Edward-is-a-jerk-for-ripping-Maddie's finger-off-part of the story behind us and can start on a new chapter! :-D I just figured Carlisle would want to talk to Maddie about everything, since they didn't actually get the chance to earlier ... but now we have covered that. I didn't really want to write that talk, maybe that's why Maddie seems a bit annoyed, hahaha.

Now ...

Uh, Idea!

Guess what the next chapter will be about! Yaaay, do that! Have a guess, you guys!

There is a little hint ... somewhere in one of the chapters (but not in this one here) ... you'll get an extra wish if you guess right! I am sooo curious about what you think ;-)

Oh, and don't forget to REVIEW!