Merry Christmas!

In between wrapping presents, making cookies and decorating the tree, I wanted to take a minute to post another chapter for you guys! I really have to hurry now, I have about three Christmas chapters planned, but they are not written yet :-/

Aaaand ...

We have officially reached over 300 reviews! Woah! ... when did that happen?

But of course I'll reward you for taking the time to review my story. Make a wish! You know the drill. Whatever you wish, you'll get (One-shots (just remember to tell me exactly what it should be about), something dedicated to you, questions, longer chapters, more updates, ... idk!) :-) So don't be shy, it's Christmas and I am in a good mood!

"Esme, my love, I have to admit that I am more than just a little surprised," Carlisle commented and put his pen down. He was sitting at his desk in his study, doing something work related when his wife entered.

She smirked a little.

"May I ask what happened up there?" he asked when she didn't say anything while approaching him.

"We tried to solve the matter," Esme replied in her usual soft voice.

"Solve the matter?" Carlisle queried and took her hand in his.

She nodded. "Yes, we talked."

"Judging from the sounds that filled the house mere minutes ago, you obviously did more than just talking."

"Yes," she affirmed.

"I would have never thought you would spank our youngest. That was quite unexpected."

"Carlisle, you know I am not opposed to spankings when earned. And that little girl up there was pushing her luck." Esme usually wasn't the one to administer corporal punishment, but that didn't mean that she was completely against that type of punishment. With her patience and love she just tried different approaches before resorting to this.

"What did she do?"

Esme groaned while leaning against the desk. "Never before has she been that disrespectful and insolent to me. In addition, she wasn't willing to hear me out and instead made more rude remarks, so I had to put her in her place."

Carlisle was certainly not thrilled to hear that one of his children had disrespected his wife. "Do you want me to talk to her? She knows better than to behave in such a way." He didn't wish to undermine his wife's position, but he had told Maddie countless times to be respectful no matter how upset she might be.

Esme chuckled, which startled her husband.

"No, I think these few swats were enough to remind her of her manners. She was aghast when I put her over my knee."

"She didn't expect you to take drastic measures, did she?"

"No, that caught her completely off guard."

"The poor girl," Carlisle said sympathetically.

Esme had to laugh at that.

"She'll live, that could barely called a spanking. And a little embarrassment will do her good."

"I still would like to see her, to make sure she is all right."

"Maybe she needs her father now after her mother had been so very horrible to her."

Carlisle kissed her, then put his arms around her. "You did the right thing."

"I know. I certainly don't feel bad." And she really didn't. Maddie had been warned, several times, but still decided to be rude.

"You talked about everything then, I assume?"

"Yes, so don't you dare give her a hard time. She feels bad for what she said to us, so let us not dwell on the subject any longer." So now she was back to being overly protective of her youngest again.

"I won't, no need to worry."

Knocking on Maddie's door, Carlisle opened when he heard his daughter's strained voice mumbling a "Yes?"

She stood with her arms wrapped around herself by her window, looking out.

"Sweetheart," he said, which made her turn around.

The moment she saw him, her eyes turned even sadder than before and she looked like she was about to cry again.

Carlisle hurried towards her and embraced her in a tight hug.

"Daddy ...," she whined and started sobbing pitifully.

"Ssh, Daddy's here. Don't cry, everything is all right, princess."

When she got a little calmer, he walked with her over to the bed, sat down and pulled her to sit on his lap.

"Why are you still so upset, hm?"

Maddie opened her mouth, but no sound came out. So eventually she just said, "I don't know."

Carlisle pulled a tissue from his pocket and dried the trails of venom tears on his daughter's face. She had been on an emotional roller coaster for the last couple of days and now it all came to the surface that's why he had wisely brought some kleenex.

"Do you feel better?" he asked her after a moment.

Maddie nodded her head, then grimaced, which didn't go unnoticed by her Dad.

"What is it?" he queried. Now that they were dealing with everything, he wanted to make sure that there were no unsolved matters.

Fidgeting a little, Maddie then cupped her hand to her Dad's ear and whispered, "Mommy spanked me."

Then she gave him a meaningful look and nodded her head, because she expected him to be just as shocked about it as she was.

He chuckled softly and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "She just gave you a few swats, sweetheart."

Maddie pouted at hearing that. Why was he okay with Esme spanking her? That was never supposed to happen!

He sighed. "You didn't expect that to happen, now did you?"

She shook her head. No, she definitely didn't expect that to happen.

"Well, you know you shouldn't be rude. Your mother just reminded you of that."

She hesitated for a second, before asking, "She's not mad at me anymore, is she?"

"No, of course not." Maddie always needed reassurance after she had misbehaved, like she knew they loved her but still expected them to kick her out - it was a shrewd problem.

"Are you mad at me?" she queried timidly.

"No, princess, I am not," her father replied and stroked her hair affectionately.

Maddie sighed and leaned back against her father's chest, completely at ease now.

She looked kind of tired, he noticed. Well, she couldn't really be tired, but she was certainly emotionally exhausted. Everything was more complicated with her than with his other children and she mostly didn't think things through like they did. That way she had many a time caused herself distress where it absolutely hadn't been necessary.

He was aware that she felt bad about what she had said to them but at hearing that everything was all right again helped her to finally let go.

When he gazed at his young daughter again, he noticed that her eyes were closed and she didn't move. And that was the first time she truly 'fell asleep' on him.

"Hello," Alice said when she entered the living room, joining Maddie on the couch.

"Hey," Maddie replied and continued to flip through a magazine, not even looking at the pages.

"Why are you sad?" Alice suddenly asked cautiously. Maddie had gone back to normal during the last couple of days, but today something was off, Jasper had said to her.

"I'm not," she answered in a voice that held no emotion whatsoever.

"You are, Jasper told me."

Maddie frowned at her. "What's it to him?"

Alice looked surprised at her sister's question.

"He doesn't want you to be sad and was wondering what is bothering you," She stated matter-of-factly.

"Nothing."

"So ... it makes you sad that nothing is bothering you?" Alice asked and scrunched up her face.

Maddie rolled her eyes and gave a tiny smile. "Alice ..."

"I am just saying ... it sounds pretty much crazy. Are you crazy?" She tilted her head to the side and looked at Maddie with wide eyes as if curiously waiting for an answer.

Maddie put her magazine down on the coffee table and stretched out. "It's nothing."

But Alice's scrutinising look made Maddie answer in the end. "I called Tanya."

"You did?" Alice raised her eyebrows.

"Uh-huh."

When Maddie didn't explain any further, Alice prompted, "... what did she say?"

"Well, I asked her if we would celebrate Christmas all together, but she said they wouldn't be home for Christmas." Maddie's voice turned sadder at the end.

"Oh," Alice remarked, finally understanding what was bothering her little sister.

Maddie bit her lip and nodded.

Alice reached out and rubbed Maddie's upper arm in a comforting manner. "Don't be sad."

"I'm not, I don't even give a fuck," Maddie replied and lightly kicked against the table, making it scoot forwards. She was sad, but tried to keep it a secret.

"When I said, 'Don't be sad', I didn't mean for you to be mad instead," Alice clarified, just in case. She didn't want Maddie to break the poor coffee table.

"I just ... I don't know."

Alice sighed, then grabbed Maddie's hand before saying, "Maddie, they are not abandoning you."

"But I haven't seen them in forever," Maddie replied, sounding dejected. She pulled her hand from Alice's grip, only to fold it in her lap.

"It's barely a year. That is not a long time."

Maddie hung her head.

"It is to me," she whispered.

Alice sighed and scooted closer to her sister, taking her hand again.

"Is it so bad to celebrate Christmas with us?"

Maddie's eyes grew wide then. She wasn't sad that she would be celebrating Christmas with her family, she was just sad that she hadn't seen their relatives for some time and probably wouldn't for another while. The prospect alone of celebrating Christmas with Rose and Emmett was fabulous! "No, of course not! But ..."

"It'll be great, I have already seen it," Alice smiled broadly.

Maddie didn't look convinced when she asked in a little voice, "Are you sure?"

"Trust me on this. Hey, what are you planning on wearing to the Christmas play your school is having?"

"Huh?" That confused Maddie.

"They sent a letter. Esme was a little startled that you haven't talked about it yet," Alice told her.

"Oh. Yeah. I'm not going," Maddie commented while grabbing the remote.

"But your English class will be singing. Shouldn't you participate?"

Thile turning the TV on, she told Alice, "I'm not into this kind of stuff. I don't wanna go."

Alice sounded a little whiny now. "But we'll all be there."

"Then tell me how you liked it afterwards," Maddie responded and rolled her eyes, all the while zapping through the channels.

"But it'll be fun!" Alice so wanted to see her sister onstage, singing. It would be a beautiful evening.

Maddie glanced at Alice. "Have you ever been to a junior high Christmas play before?"

"Not that I remember."

So Maddie cleared her throat, readying herself to explain. "Ok, trust me: It is not fun. It is boring and everything goes wrong and parents only clap their hands out of politeness and because they don't wanna tell their children that they actually suck ass."

That left Alice a little harassed-looking. "And I thought you love Christmas."

"I do, that's why I don't wanna ruin it," Maddie smiled at Alice and winked.

"I'll go pick something for you to wear!" Alice exclaimed and jumped up from the couch, running into the direction of the stairs.

"Hey!" she complained, then ran after her sister.

Upstairs in her room, Maddie granted her sister the fun of choosing an outfit for her because she wouldn't go to the play anyway. What harm could it do?

But when Alice got seriously carried away, Emmett luckily walked into the room and asked them if they would care to join him and Rose on a hunt. Maddie gladly accepted, and even Alice thought it was a good idea ... only to distract Maddie from what Tanya had told her.

"Yes, thank you. We'll be there. Goodbye," Carlisle hung up and pushed the phone away from himself, then let his head rest in his hands and sighed.

Just at that moment, his children pooled into the house - they had been hunting for the last couple of hours.

"Madeline? Would you step in here for a moment?" Carlisle asked while sitting in dining room.

"No, no, no! Shoes off, they are all bloody! Madeline, please!" Esme called, and mere seconds later, Maddie walked into the dining room just like Carlisle had asked her to.

"Hey Dad," she said and came to a halt next to him.

"I just got a phone call about you," he informed her.

"... Congratulations?" What did he want?

He sat up straighter now. "Madeline, your school called. Could you tell me why?"

"No."

"You have no idea why your principal would want to speak to Esme and me tomorrow?" Carlisle queried with raised eyebrows.

"I really don't know. I haven't done anything," Maddie replied distractedly while playing with her bracelet.

"All right, then we'll find out tomorrow."

Maddie nodded and walked out of the room, heading for the stairs.

"What was that about?" Rose asked with a frown, ascending the stairs with her little sister.

Maddie shrugged her shoulders. "School called."

Her eyes widened. "What did you do?"

Maddie groaned. "Ugh. Why does everybody assume I did something? I don't have a clue why they called."

"I apologise."

"Good."

What do you think? Did Maddie get in trouble at school or is she telling the truth? Dundundun ...

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