Chapter 4 – Breaking the Pair

Esme and I kept Alice out of school to deal with her discipline. We wanted to finish this before Bella got back from Jacob's. I didn't know how long she would be there, and I definitely didn't want her hearing Alice's spanking.

I sat in my office reflecting on my troubled heart at Bella asking me time and again if I was sure about letting her borrow my car. She was so unsure of her place in the family and in my heart that she couldn't believe I would behave so fatherly towards her. I wish I could figure out something to assure her that she was very much my daughter.

I only hoped that her transition into our family would be smooth. It has not always been the case for my children. Edward didn't fully accept me as his father until after he returned from his ten year experiment with the normal vampire diet. When he came home with his head down and his shoulders slumped, I didn't know if he would ever want to be part of our family. Amazingly, he had already decided and embraced me as his father that very day. Rosalie was my next child, and she didn't accept Esme and I as parents until after Emmett joined our family. His transition happened quickly. Emmett called me 'pops' within weeks of being changed. Rosalie started soon after Emmett. I knew that he was in every way her anchor to this family. Over the years, she has grown to love all of us for herself, and not as an extension of Emmett. Alice and Jasper came to our family next through unusual means. They found us through Alice's gift. I was floored when Alice hugged me and called me dad, the moment she met me. Jasper acted more like expected, suspicious and nervous all of the time. He was by far the hardest to acclimate to our family. For years, he hovered around the edges of the family, not trusting anyone until the day he tried to attack Esme.

Alice had relieved Edward of some of his less than attractive clothing without asking. Of course, Edward didn't care, but Esme thought she should impress upon our daughter the importance of personal property. Jasper overheard Esme's chastisement of Alice and attacked Esme. Edward heard the whole thing in his head, and stepped in to stop him.

Of course, I wasn't particularly happy that Jasper had tried to bite my wife, but I did understand that he had no concept of the way our family worked, no experience in his immortal life that would allow him to believe that Alice would be reprimanded, but with no permanent damage. I tried to hold off disciplining Jasper as his coven leader, wanting to wait until he felt comfortable enough to accept me as his father, but I simply couldn't let this infraction slide. I spanked him for the first time even though I thought it would be a miserable experience. It actually brought Jasper closer to the whole family, especially me. After his spanking, he called me 'pa' for the first time.

Over the years, I had given out more than my fair share of spankings, and Esme had been called upon to do so as well from time to time. Emmett usually got in trouble for some ridiculous prank. Jasper was pretty self-disciplined, and only rarely got in trouble for taking unnecessary risks with his control. When Rosalie was new to this life, she was nasty and disrespectful, but those necessary lessons seemed to come less frequent as she matured. Alice usually got in trouble when she was using her vision to disobey without getting caught, like she had assisted Edward on this occasion.

Ah, Edward… He usually got in trouble for his anger, but lately his know-it-all attitude was what had been earning him a sore bottom. I sighed uncomfortably when I realized that I was about to deliver two very painful spankings, one to Alice, and the other much less pleasant one to Edward.

I had reached the end of my patience with him, and I planned on making him feel my displeasure with his treatment of Bella as soon as he arrived home from his hunting trip. How would I be able to do that, knowing that he could very easily lie to me about remorse? He continued to hurt Bella again and again, and I would be hard pressed to keep Bella from heartache.

Bella… my little sweet pea, I didn't know how to help her feel more a part of this family. Edward's attitude certainly didn't help matters. On the one hand, he told her that he didn't want to change her, and that made her feel unloved. On the other hand, he was constantly using his own powers to put her at a disadvantage. I'm sure that made her feel like she could never measure up. I wish that she could see that her value as a person didn't depend on what Edward thought of her.

"Dear," Esme cupped my face in her hands to get my attention. I had been sitting behind my desk, lost in thought, and the look of concern on her face told me that she had attempted to speak with me several times, and I had not responded.

"I'm sorry, darling." I finally looked into her eyes and kissed her and pulled her into my lap to show her that she had my attention.

"Are you alright?" She worried about me.

"I'm worried about Bella." I explained my aloofness.

"As am I," she agreed.

"And I am in no way looking forward to disciplining both Alice and Edward, especially since Edward will be especially difficult." I admitted.

"You need a quick hunt." She told me. "I will handle Alice, and then we will go together to snag something quickly in the forest."

"You don't have to…" I felt awful that she had taken this unpleasantness on herself.

"You are more than welcome to say your piece with Alice, but I am going to spank her this time." Esme told me in no uncertain terms. "She lied and manipulated me, and caused our daughter to believe that I had conspired with the two of them to kidnap her. I feel that I need to impress upon her the need to respect me."

"But she disobeyed a direct order from me to not engage in helping Edward detain her unnecessarily." I added. "Likewise, I can't allow that to go unpunished."

"And valued her sister's feelings less than the price of a new car." Esme looked to be on the verge of tears, though I knew that they would never fall. "That's probably the most heinous thing she did."

"I'm sorry, mama." Alice spoke softly from her room after hearing the list of charges stacked up against her.

"Join us." I commanded less forcefully as I would have a few moments ago, the regret in Alice's voice deflated my anger and disappointment a good deal.

Esme made her way around my desk to sit on my couch just as Alice sat down next to her.

"Do you have anything to say, little one?" I asked her.

I had given all my children pet names. To me, it was a sign of affection that my father never showed me. It also served as a reminder to me that I was not my father, and I would show mercy to them. The girls seemed to like their pet names, and the boys preferred their given name, especially Edward, who loathed being called anything other than Edward. I had called Edward buddy a few times before he rejected it completely. Emmett used to be big guy, and Jasper, partner. I still think of them that way, except for Edward who won't even let me think it. I do get away with calling them son sometimes. I take what I can get. But like I said, the girls allowed me to call them pet names, and I did so every chance I could get. Rosalie is and always will be my princess. Alice was, of course, little one, and my newest nickname was sweet pea for Bella.

"I should have listened to you and not allowed Edward to bribe me with a Porsche." She admitted. "I shouldn't have involved mom or made it seem like Rosalie was also with us."

"Yes," I agreed. "For my part, that is, the blatant disregard for the order I gave to not engage in subterfuge with your brother, you are grounded for the remainder of the school year, no driving, no hunting alone, and NO shopping, and a physical reminder about the importance of obedience." I told her and she whimpered, daring not to test me on this. "I will also be returning your car or selling it if the dealership won't take it back."

"Carlisle that's not…" She shot off the couch and stomped her foot at this, but was cut off when Esme landed a sharp blow to her backside. "Ow! Sorry, dad."

"My reasoning is this, little one." I spoke softly despite my annoyance at her temper tantrum. "It would be completely insensitive to Bella if I allowed you to keep the very thing you deemed valuable enough to disregard her feelings once again."

"Yes, daddy." She sighed in defeat, sitting back down on the couch.

"Now little one, your mother would like to discuss her punishment for you." With my eyes, I directed Alice to look at Esme.

"I'm sorry I tricked you into hurting Bella." Alice apologized.

"I am very disappointed that you would do that, Alice." Esme began her lecture. "You admitted that you saw her complying with your plan, and you believe that calling Jacob caused her to rethink her acquiescence, yet you failed to take into account Bella's emotional state which is equally as important as her actions. You and Edward seem to be under the misapprehension that her physical wellbeing is far more important than her emotions. You have both gone behind her back to manipulate her repeatedly. Your sister may never trust you again."

"Oh, no!" Alice cried tearlessly into her hands.

"She probably will because she's an exceptionally merciful person, but you can't assume that her forgiveness will always be available for you. It's very easy to take advantage of Bella because she is such a kindhearted person. Your father and I will be here to make sure that none of you run roughshod over her emotions because you know that she will forgive you." Esme explained.

"Yes mama." Alice sobbed.

"Is there anything you would like to add before we begin?" She asked Alice.

"I'm really sorry, mama." Alice looked up at Esme with venom-filled eyes. "I promise to think about Bella's feelings from now on, and I will never trick you into hurting anyone, ever again."

"I will hold you to that promise, little one." I interjected.

"Yes, daddy." She nodded to me.

I stood to excuse myself temporarily to let Esme get on with Alice's punishment, but my wife looked up and met my gaze with panic in her eyes. I wondered what this was about. She had administered spankings in the past, and hadn't begged me to let her out of it. She had never spanked Edward before because he reminded her so much of her little son that she lost just before she became part of our family, but she had spanked our other vampire children. On several occasions, she had been called to step in for me when I was away, and she managed just fine. I thought she could handle this. In fact, she offered to do it for me. I was very confused, to say the least.

"Darling?" I rushed to her side and held her in my arms. "Tell me what you need."

Esme opened and closed her mouth a few times, not managing to say anything. I assumed that she didn't want to ask me to do this for her since she had taken this task on herself. I tried to allow her the time to tell me what she wanted because I didn't want it to seem as though I felt she needed to be fixed in any way.

"This always overwhelms me." Esme clung to me and cried into my neck.

Did she mean that every time she was called to discipline one of our children, she was put through this emotional turmoil? This was the first time I would bear witness to more than a few warning swats from Esme. It is very probable that she did break down every single time she had to do this. I would have to give our children a stern warning to respect her authority while I was gone in the future. I couldn't have them taking advantage of her or putting her through this.

"I'm here however you need me to be, darling." I whispered to her.

"Thank you, dearest." She gave me another tight squeeze before she let me go. "I really feel that I need to do this myself, but I don't want to do it alone. Thank you for staying."

"Always." I promised her, knowing that I would take all of this on myself is she asked me to.

"I will do the main part of the spanking. You may do the end." She suggested, and I nodded in agreement.

Esme took an unnecessary breath to steel herself before turning to Alice.

"Alice." Her voice became stern. "Lie across my lap."

"You may place your head on my leg if you wish, little one." I told her not wanting to be separated from my wife in any way.

Alice looked as though she was considering mutiny, probably thinking that she deserved to choose her own position since she was being fairly cooperative.

I was about to threaten to blister Alice's hide again tomorrow when Esme took charge of the situation.

"Now, Alice or I'll do it on the bare. Esme told her.

Alice looked panic-stricken at me, probably seeing that I would also repeat the spanking tomorrow if she caused her mother any more distress. In a split second, Alice was positioned correctly with her head on my right leg. Esme flipped up her skirt but left her panties in place.

Esme took three deep breaths before her hand came down hard on Alice's backside. Alice buried her face in her hands, stifling a sob. It was strange to see how Esme's pattern differed from mine. I went for a random, unpredictable pattern across their backsides so that they didn't know where or when each spank was coming. Esme spanked the exact same spot ten times before doing the corresponding spot on the other side of Alice's bottom. Esme's hand also was quicker to release Alice's bottom, and though she didn't use as much force as I typically did, her spanking was very effective. I would have to think about that and try to incorporate it into my future sessions with our children.

After repeating this action a few times, she began to lecture, "This is never to happen again, Alice. Do you understand?"

"Yes, mama." Alice screamed.

"Your sister's feelings are not something to gamble with." Esme continued her lecture. "And you are never to hurt her as a result of a bribe. There is no price you should be willing to pay to betray your sister."

"Yes, mama." Alice repeated, now gripping my leg tightly.

"And you are to never lie to me again, young lady." Esme punctuated her speech with harder swats.

"I'm sorry mama." Alice sobbed finally collapsing, spent.

Esme noticed and shifted her forward, all the way across my legs for the last portion. Since this was in response to the blatant disregard of a direct order, I pulled her panties down to fully expose her bottom to me.

"No, daddy, please!" Alice begged me to leave her panties in place, reaching back to stop me. Apparently she wasn't quite as spent as she would have us believe.

I grabbed both of her small hands into my left hand and pinned them to her back, giving her ten quick swats to her thighs and reminded her that reaching back was not allowed. "You know better than that, little one."

"Yes, daddy." She screamed. "Mmm sorry!"

"My orders are to be followed, little one." I told her as I landed the first rather hard swat to her bottom. She shrieked in surprise at the intensity. I went for more force since Esme had thoroughly covered her behind. "I intend to make that very clear."

"S-s-sorry!" She barely managed to screech.

Since she seemed to regain some of her confidence when I took over, I decided to give her a little warm up before I tipped her forward for the last ten. I gave her ten swats, covering the area that Esme had already spanked.

By the time I tipped her forward, she was definitely resigned to her fate and lying without any defiance over my lap. All of the last ten swats were extremely hard to drive my point home to Alice and make sure she never challenged my authority again.

After I finished, Alice was a sobbing mess, blubbering her apology over and over.

"It's okay, little one." I told her as I rubbed her back.

Esme pulled her into a hug when she finally sat up, and I wrapped my arms around both of them.