Esme stroked her mate's hair as his soft sobs gave way to quiet sniffling while he brought himself slowly under control. Her heart ached to hear his weeping regardless of her realization that each tear stripped away a little more of his suffering thereby alleviating his true pain. She wasn't sure how she had managed to find the willpower to remain strong enough to see this through to the end, but Esme was sure that she was just as happy as her husband that it was all over; perhaps more so. Carlisle, please don't ever ask me to do this again. I don't think my soul could stand that.

Carlisle laid across her lap for a little while longer before he finally stirred and pushed himself up to stand a bit shakily on his feet. Quickly, he pulled his boxers back up, groaning as a sharp pain shot through him when the light silky fabric made contact with his ravaged rear. In hindsight, I really should have worn a set of sweats today. This is going to be really uncomfortable. Grimacing, he eased his slacks back up before standing quiet and still before his wife.

The patriarch's head hung slightly in embarrassment due to his emotional display. He had not wanted his mate to have to endure the sight and sound of his suffering and now he felt a touch of shame and guilt from that alone. Inwardly, he sighed at the thought of knowing he would always manage to hold on to some guilt, but at least this was a guilt he could handle and get past on his own.

"I'm sorry, Love." Esme reached out to take his hand and pull him closer. "Do you think that you are going to be able to sit with me?"

Having not quite regained his ability to speak, Carlisle took a slow deep breath and nodded before allowing his mate to draw him down next to her. He winced and grunted softly then shifted his weight on to one hip to try to lessen his contact with the leather cushion. Bowing his head he closed his eyes and brought his fist up to his mouth to stifle any more sounds of distress. While not able to disguise his pitiful appearance from his mate, the coven leader was determined not to afflict her with any more audible confirmation of his discomfort.

"Are you okay, Sweetheart?" She brushed a strand of hair out of his face and stared at him intently. "What are you thinking right now, Carlisle?"

Swallowing hard to steady his breathing and reclaim his voice, Carlisle mumbled quietly. "I'm thinking that I'm going to be feeling this for a couple of days."

"I was too hard on you. I knew that I was being too severe." Tears suddenly filled her eyes at the knowledge of having hurt her lover.

He raised his head and caught his mate's sad eyes. "No, Honey you were not too hard on me. It was less than I deserved, but precisely what I needed and asked for." He gritted his teeth as he scooted closer to his mate and pulled her into his embrace. "All of this is my fault. I am so sorry that I put you through this ordeal. Can you ever forgive me?"

Esme hugged him tightly as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. "There is nothing to forgive, Carlisle. Just tell me that it's over. Tell me that I have my mate back intact."

"You never lost me, my heart." He tipped her head up and kissed her gently before pulling a bit back. "But, if you are asking if I've found peace, yes, you have given that back to me and I will forever be in your debt. It is your strength that saved me, which is something I can never hope to repay, but am certainly willing to try."

His mate curled up against his chest leaving Carlisle to lay his cheek against the top of her head as they sought comfort in each others' arms.

After spending some time in an easy silence, Esme's gaze fell on the hideous piece of leather that rested limply next to her; much too close for comfort. "Are you still troubled by fear?" She whispered.

Carlisle chuckled as a smirk played on his lips. "Not quite as badly, but I don't think one experience is enough to cure that completely. It took a great deal more to instill that fear, so it stands to reason that more than one reasonable experience would be required to draw out that infection."

His wife's eyes widened as she pushed him gently away so she could look into his murky dark gold eyes.

"Carlisle, please don't make me do this again." Her voice shook with raw emotion.

It bothered him greatly to know that he was the cause of her worried expression and uneasy tone. Lightly trailing the backs of his fingers along her cheek, he shook his head as he replied gently, "I have no intention of behaving poorly again, my sweet. This is not a lesson I'm looking to have repeated. That is a promise." He cringed at the thought as he rubbed at the burning soreness in his behind. "You did an excellent job of convincing me that a refresher would not be in my best interest. There is no need for you to worry about that."

Grinning, Carlisle ran his hands through her golden brown hair and drew her towards him to share in a deep lingering kiss. As they broke apart, he whispered in her ear, "I have no idea why the children fret about being in trouble with me. You are the one they should worry about. If they only realized just how capable you are of making them regret any misbehavior they would be sure of toeing the line around their mother." Pulling up he gave her a wink and kissed her on the nose, making her giggle in spite of the oppressive emotions that still permeated the room. "Ah, there you are. There's my Esme. I had wondered where you were hiding."

Esme's soft smile warmed Carlisle's heart and eased his concerns slightly before she became serious again. "I was so worried. I didn't know what might trigger your memories and push you over the edge. What if I had added to your psychological scarring? What if I had made things worse for you?"

"Then it would have been my fault and I would have taken sole responsibility for that."

"Carlisle Cullen, this was a dangerous undertaking. If something had gone wrong..."

"You were my safety net, my sweet dear Esme. You would have never allowed me to slip and fall."

Esme huffed at her mate's use of a variation of her own words against her.

"Should anything like this ever happen again, Mister, you will end up with a backside that is much more sore than what you are sitting on right now, and you will have zero say in how that occurs."

Carlisle grinned as he nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Understood."

Raising an eyebrow, his mate fixed him in her sight. "And you are still grounded, young man."

"What?" The patriarch pulled back as shock and confusion registered on his face. "What are you talking about, love?"

"I am talking about you handing your car keys over to me for safe keeping for a month."

Carlisle laughed heartily as the absurdity of his wife's words brought a smile to his face, but the look in her eyes suddenly informed him that she was not kidding. "Oh come on, Esme. Surely, this is some jest."

"Do I like I am joking?" She held him in her unwavering gaze. "You are being punished, Carlisle Cullen, and I think that it will do you good to really experience what our children go through. After all, it was you who claimed to be no better than the children and deserving of the same treatment, was it not?"

"But, Esme…."

"Were those not your words?"

"Well, yes, but…"

"No. There is no room for you to argue with me on this. I already told you that, for one month, you are only allowed to go to work, hunt and come back home. I will keep it low key, but you will have chores to do around the house to keep your idle hands from getting you into more trouble. As far as driving, well that is completely out of the question, so I will be bringing you to work and picking you back up to take you home."

"And you don't believe that will seem suspicious to the children?"

"You said that you didn't care if they knew of this arrangement, but since I am taking a couple of new design classes offered at Peninsula in Port Angeles, I need the car. A very simple and honest explanation should the question come up."

"Why wouldn't you just borrow one of Edward's vehicles?"

"I would rather drive the Mercedes." There was a little sharpness in her tone that hadn't been there before. "Carlisle, you will not talk me out of this so you might as well face the fact that you, young man, are on restriction."

"Esme, this weekend is the Crab Festival in Port Angeles. You know we have all been looking forward to going to it. I wanted it to be a nice family outing for us to just get away and relax for the weekend."

Esme shook her head as she sighed. "Is Rose going?"

Carlisle's jaw tightened as he glanced away from his mate. "I could let her go. I'll make it a little reprieve. I'm sure both she and Emmett would appreciate that."

"Uh huh. And was that your plan all along? When you grounded her were you going to give her a little break in the middle of it so she could go on a family outing or did you expect her to remain under house arrest for these fourteen days?"

Carlisle folded his arms over his chest and his shoulders hunched with his growing frustration as he became completely still.

"That's what I thought." Esme reached out to touch his shoulder, but he flinched away. "Carlisle Cullen, am I going to have to make you go stand in the corner until you are able to reel in your attitude?"

There was a teasing quality to her tone that caused him to realize how childish he was being. Suddenly, once again horrified by his own behavior, Carlisle bowed his head.

"I'm sorry, Esme. Apparently punishing me like a child has caused me to regress a bit." He glanced up as he sighed quietly. "A month of strictly going between work and home and doing whatever chores you ask of me will be fine. I suppose someone should stay home to keep Rosalie company, anyway.

There really is no need to limit my driving. I won't 'get lost' between work and the house as some have been prone to do between school and home. I can drive myself and if you wish I can call when I leave work so you know that I don't take any side journeys. "

Esme gave her husband an incredulous look. "I think we shall start off my way and if you can behave yourself, than maybe you can have your keys back a little later in the month."

"Once you've become bored with driving me to work and picking me up, you mean." He cocked a brow as he managed a fleeting smile.

His mate giggled softly then patted his knee. "Something like that, though you know it can take an awful long time for me to get bored with anything, and I have yet to become bored when it comes to you."

"That is good to know. With all the years ahead of us, it would be awful if you grew bored with me easily."

Esme ran her hand through his hair before pulling him towards her and kissing him deeply. When they drew apart, a smoldering fire lit up her eyes. "You know we still have hours before the children get out of school. What do you suppose we should do with that time?"

"Well, Mrs. Cullen, since I'm grounded it's not as if I am allowed to leave the house. You said that you had chores for me to keep my hands busy. Maybe you need to task me so I don't find myself back in trouble."

"Hmm. I can think of several tasks that need taking care of that your surgeon's hands would be perfectly suited for." She leaned into him, but as her tongue snaked between his lips she felt his entire body become rigid. A quizzical expression flashed in her eyes before being replaced by realization. "I think this would be better performed in a prone position. What do you say we move into the bedroom?"

Carlisle hissed softly as he redistributed his weight back onto his hip and off his burning rear before nodding. "I think that will allow me to keep my mind on my work instead of…. Well, just instead."

Esme laughed as he eagerly eased himself off the loveseat and helped her to her feet. Staring into her bright amber eyes, Carlisle found himself amazed by an unexpected lightness in his spirit. He suddenly realized that there had been a tightness in his chest of which he was unaware until it disappeared. Taking his first truly easy breath in days, Carlisle smiled at his wife as tears came to his eyes.

"God knows what I would have done without you, my love. You have rescued my crippled soul and encouraged it to fly." A tear broke free and trailed down his cheek. "I can't begin to repay that kindness."

Esme, brushed the tear away. "Don't be silly, Carlisle. You are my soul. This was no more than an act of self-preservation. When you are distraught, I am troubled as well. Seeing you smile is all the payment I need." She kissed his cheek before taking his hand in hers while her eyes twinkled. "But, I won't be opposed to you showing me your appreciation in our bedroom."

She tugged at his hand gently while heading towards the door only to find herself scooped up in his arms.

"You know, Esme, chores are not supposed to be pleasurable."

"I can always just deny you pleasure while exacting it for myself, if that will make you feel better."

"Never mind. Just forget that I said a word."

"Done." She giggled as he carried her across the threshold of their bedroom and kicked the door closed behind them.

"So, how was gym class, after all?" Jasper reclined on the sofa with Alice curled up in his arms.

"It was a good thing that you stayed home. That really was not a pretty sight."

"Speak for yourself, little sis. I saw the kid out in the hallway when he was on his way to the nurse. That was awesome. It looked like he was going to bleed out completely. Too bad it was coming from his nose. You would not have wanted to touch that blood though it did make me wonder if it was possible to suck his brain out though his nose." The blank look that Alice and Jasper gave Emmett made him a bit self-conscious. "What? It was just a thought. You know, for the sake of scientific study. If the Egyptians could hook it out, I wonder if I could suck it out."

"Em, you would have to…," Jasper started to respond then thought better of it. "You know what? I don't think I should be encouraging you. What in the world was going on in my head? Shouldn't you be out in the garage helping Rose work on Papa's car?"

"Nope, she told me that Momma is giving her a hand and figured that I would just get in the way. Now spill, Jazz. Do you really know about mummies or what?" Emmett's ears perked up as his curiosity rapidly engaged.

"I know quite a bit about how the bodies were preserved. If you ever paid attention in history at any one of these schools, you would know the facts about the process already."

"They have never taught me about how to make a mummy."

Edward shot his bulky brother a look as he walked pass the trio in the living room and muttered quietly, "I wonder why?" before mounting the stairs on his way to work on his latest composition.

Emmett responded with a vulgar gesture seconds before his father called out his name.

"Holy crap, how did he see that?"

Alice giggled at her brother's confusion. "Daddy wants to talk to you about something else, Emmy. He didn't see you."

"Damn, but Pops has got some weird timing going on there."

"Emmett, please come up here now. I don't want to have to call you again." Carlisle's quiet tone caused the bruin to shiver.

"Coming, Pops," he yelled before looking back at his sister. "Is it bad?"

Alice crinkled her nose. "It will be if you try to run so don't even consider doing that. Right now, it doesn't seem bad at all. He just wants to talk."

"So I would get a move on if I were you, ol' son. If you want to keep on Papa's good side, that is. He's had a hard day, Em. Please, try to keep it low keyed for everyone's sake." Jasper gave his brother a slight nod then jerked his head towards the stairs.

"Yeah, I hear ya. I'm going."

Emmett stretched as he got to his feet then lumbered towards the stairs.

Crap, what did I do now that Pops found out about? Rose got that dent out before he could notice. Haven't destroyed anything lately. All too soon, the muscular youth found himself standing in front of his father's study door.

"There's no need to knock, Em. Please come in and have a seat."

Closing the door quietly behind him, Emmett crossed over to the chair in front of Carlisle's desk and sat uneasily as he watched his father scan the books on one of the many cases lining the wall.

"Ah, here it is." Carlisle pulled a book off the shelf and walked over towards his son. "I thought you might find this interesting." Handing the book to Emmett, the elder carefully leaned against the front edge of his desk while watching the boy intently.

"Oh, COOL! Is this a 'how too' manual?"

Emmett's infectious excitement caused Carlisle to chuckle. "Something like that. It's a history of death rituals that includes a thorough explanation of Egyptian practices for preparing the body for the afterlife."

"Thanks, Pops. This is really awesome. I'll be sure to bring it back as soon as I finish reading it."

Emmett started to get up to leave when Carlisle placed his hand on his son's shoulder and pressed him back down into the chair. "That wasn't why I asked to see you, Em. There is something that we need to discuss."

"Aw, man, but Alice said it wasn't that bad. Discussions are never a good thing. I swear, Pops, whatever it was, I didn't do it."

Carlisle tilted his head slightly and, while looking his jokester boy in the eye, spoke a single word. "Petey."

Emmett's eyes grew wider as he stared back at his father completely dumbfounded before quickly glancing away. "Oh. Well, yeah. I guess I did do that," he mumbled faintly.

Carlisle crossed his arms and shook his head. "Frogs in the girls' locker room? Playing games in class when you know that you should be paying attention? Emmett, you know better than to act up in school."

"Yes, Sir."

"How do you think your mother felt having to spend her morning listening to your instructor relate these stories of your shenanigans?"

"Not so good."

Carlisle leaned over and tapped his son under the jaw to encourage him to look at him. "No, she wasn't very pleased. There was no excuse that she could make for your behavior and it hurts her when she can't realistically defend you." The elder's voice softened slightly as he continued. "You are her baby bear, Em. She will fight against anyone who speaks ill of you. Don't make her job harder by giving these people an excuse to complain."

"I'm sorry, Pops. I was just trying to have a little bit of fun. I didn't mean for anything bad to happen. It was just a few pranks to help everyone lighten up and have a better day. You know, school can be very stressful and … well laughter is the best medicine, right? I was just trying to break the tension and make everyone feel a little bit better."

With a heavy sigh, Carlisle ruffed up Emmett's dark curls. "I know you didn't mean any harm, but you have to behave yourself in class. It's one thing to play around at home or during free periods at school; it's a completely different matter when you are supposed to be paying attention. I know that it gets boring, Em. You've all taken these classes long enough to know the material forwards and backwards. The problem is not in you not paying attention and failing to grasp the lesson; it's that your antics disrupt the class and make it difficult for others to learn the material." Carlisle paused for a moment to give his son a little time to process his words before adding, "It's also incredibly disrespectful towards your instructors. They are trying to do a job and you're making it much more difficult."

Emmett's shoulders slumped as his father's words put his school activities into proper prospective. "I owe some apologies at school, don't I?"

"I think that would be appreciated, but I also believe that toning down the class clown act will be in your best interest as well."

"You've got it, Pops."

"That's my boy. Now, go on and get out of here. I have some paperwork to get done and I'm going to think that you have some studying to do or, at the very least, some zombies to kill. Maybe you wanted to get started on making a mummy?" Carlisle grinned; knowing that within minutes Emmett would be glued to his video game taking on anyone foolish enough to accept his challenge.

"Is that it?" Emmett looked positively puzzled.

"Yes, Em, that will be all, unless you don't feel that my lecture was sufficient to make you think twice about pulling your pranks."

"Oh, no no no. I'm good. It's all good. Thanks for understanding, Pops."

Emmett stood up and wrapped his father in a bear hug. Unfortunately for Carlisle, his bruin's momentum shoved him back against the lip of the hardwood desk causing him to hiss at the sudden pain.

Releasing Carlisle, Emmett took a step back and looked at his father with great concern.

"Are you alright, Pops? Are you hurt? Do you want me to go get Momma?"

Swallowing hard, the patriarch closed his eyes and shook his head before he caught his breath enough to find his voice. "No, I'm fine, son. There is no need to worry, but thank you just the same."

"What happened?"

"It's nothing, Em, really. I'm just a little stiff and sore right now. I'll be fine. Now go on and get out of here before I change my mind on letting you go with just that lecture." Carlisle smiled even though he found his son's skeptical expression bothersome.

Finally, after a few moments of deliberation, Emmett nodded. "Alright, Pops, but if there is anything I can do for you, just let me know."

"You know I will son."

With a last backward glance, the bruin boy swaggered out the door and down the hall towards the stairs. Alright, Alice, let's see if you can enlighten me. I'm sure that you know something, sis. Something is up with Pops and I plan on getting to the bottom of it or my name isn't Emmett Cullen.

AN: Just the epilogue left and with Emmy on a mission it should be interesting.

Thanks to each and every one of you folks. Thanks for accepting my oddness; that makes y'all more special then you can ever know. LOL. All of you guys actually made this story possible by keeping me focused. Not sure that I would have reached the end on my own.

Thank you, Splinter for all of your help. *hugs* You really do rock my little world.