BPOV

I shuddered at Dad's outburst, my own pain almost forgotten in light of my worry for Edward. I knew Dad's temper was at its peak right now and if Edward did not leave, Dad would definitely do what he said. My only chance was to get Edward away from Dad and then try to calm him down somewhat. I was counting on telling him that I needed Edward to take care of me till I got well. Hopefully, this would postpone the inevitable so that by the time Dad got down to actually punishing Edward, his anger would have cooled down somewhat. More importantly, I would be well enough to take care of Edward after that.

"Go Edward, please..I'll be alright darling" I tried to assure him.

When he still did not move, I sighed and used my last resort – "Consider this the beginning of your punishment Edward. From now on till I say otherwise, you cannot see me till I ask for you. Go please" I whispered.

He looked at me with pained eyes, but slowly left the room.

I breathed a sigh of relief and directed my attention to Dad who was getting some things out of his medical bag. He looked composed enough – but I knew that a storm was brewing inside and my love would be the recipient of all that anger once my injuries were taken care of.

He started working on my welts silently. I could not see but could make out that he first washed the wounds with antiseptic, then put an ointment on it. He then got out an injection – most probably a pain killer and sat down next to me on the bed. I stiffened at the sight of the syringe and he gave me a sad smile. He knew I was terrified of injections. Irrational, I know, for a submissive to be afraid of something as small as a syringe. But I couldn't help it. He rubbed my arm lightly, "Come on baby girl, let me give you this. It will take care of the pain and let you rest for some time" he said in a soothing voice. Looking at him now no one could guess that he is the same who was thundering at his son earlier. Right now he was just a loving Dad, taking care of his daughter.

"Dad..", I snuggled up to him, "please don't be too hard on him. He must be suffering like anything right now. Believe me, being away from me is the worst punishment for him."

"Bella…" dad started.

"Please Dad, I beg of you. I just can't take it when he hurts Dad. Please… I need him to take care of me right now. I cannot go through this alone."

"Bella, what he did was wrong on so many levels and he needs to be punished severely for that. I'm afraid sweetheart, but nothing you say will deter me from giving him what he justly deserves. "

"But Dad, he only did what any dom would have done. As his sub, I broke a number of rules today in the club. It is well within his rights to punish me for those infractions, no one can fault him on that. Moreover, he was fair in doing that, he gave me exactly what the pre-decided punishments were for each of the infraction. It's not his fault that I broke a series to rules in one go and hence the strokes just added up to a high number", I defended my master heatedly. But when I looked up at Dad after completing my monologue, I realized my mistake. By defending the dom in my husband, I had invoked the dom in my father-in-law. The dom who was also my master's mentor and deserved to be doubly respected.

"Young lady, have you forgotten whom you are talking to? Let me remind you that you are my mentee's sub and as such have no right to speak in front of me. I don't need your concurrence in handling my mentee any way I see fit. I don't need to explain to you what he did right and what he did wrong. I will explain that to him when I met out his punishment. It's up to him if he wants to share that with you of not. And I assure you that punished he will be." came Dad's icy reply.

I was suitably chastened, all fight going out of me. My face fell and tears pooled in my eyes. In trying to make things better, I managed to make them worst for my Edward. I could not control the sob that broke out of my throat. "Sorry sir" I could manage only that much before tears overwhelmed me completely.

I heard Carlisle heaving out a loud sigh. And the next second, he was pulling me in his arms. "I'm sorry dear girl, I'm so sorry. After everything you have been through today, I shouldn't have scared you like this. Don't cry sweetheart, everything will be alright. I will make sure everything is alright." I was crying in earnest by then. He sighed again and then lifted my face up, "Look at me, Bella. I'm not a dom to you, I'm never a dom to you. I may be your dom's mentor, but for you I'm only Dad, always. Even when you are at the club or in any BDSM setting, you are still my daughter and I'm your Dad. Do you understand that Bella? I promise you I will never treat you as a sub, you are always my daughter, at all places, at all times. I am sorry for playing the dom card with you. It's just that I'm so angry with Edward, but I should not be taking that out on you. You have already been through enough." He kissed my forehead then and I started to relax.

"How about this" he continued, "I will not punish your wayward dom till you get better. And then we – Edward, you, me and your mom - will discuss his infractions together and come up with an appropriate punishment. Will that be OK dear?" he asked softly.

I nodded quickly and gave him my best watery smile. "Thank you Dad, thank you so much. I love you." I kissed on his cheek. I had finally managed to get some reprieve for Edward.

"You are welcome sweetheart. But why do I feel as if I have been conned into agreeing to something that I wouldn't have agreed to normally?" Dad chucked.

I was startled and gave him a guilty look.

"Don't fret sweetheart. I know I'm a sap for all the women in my life, starting with your mom, you, Alice and Rose. And not necessarily in that order always. And I wouldn't have it any other way. 4 of you are undoubtedly the most important people in my life and I cannot bear seeing any one of you in pain" He gave me his sweet smile. "And now that you have saved your idiot husband from the evil Dom's clutches, can we go ahead with your medication? I bet said husband is just outside the door of this room and losing his patience rapidly. If I don't give you the pain relief quickly, he will disregard my instructions and burst in to demand that why am I wasting time in idle chit chat. "

I started sitting up so that the injection could be administered properly.

"Dad?"

"Yes sweetheart?"

"Can we get this done in the living room?"

"Of course, but why dear? I guess this should be one of your favorite rooms in the house?"

"That it is. But if we go in the living room, Edward will be able to hold me when you administer the damn thing."

He chuckled – "I knew all that – this is the beginning of your punishment – was a ruse to get him away from me. Edward, will you come in please, Bella is asking for you." he said in his normal voice. In an instant Edward was next to me. So he really was outside the door.

Edward took me in his arms and started rubbing my back in order to relax me. "Come on sweetheart, this can't be that bad. Just a small prick, not even 1/10th of the sting that you feel when I pull your nipple clamps.

"Edward", I was mortified.

"All done" Dad said smiling. "Well done, Edward".

"It's done already!" I exclaimed happily, "I didn't feel a thing."

"See, told ya. With all the shit that I make you go through, this is a piece of cake." Edward said in a sad voice.

" Hey.. " I touched his face gently, "you don't make me go through anything, I do all that willingly and enjoy it as well"

"Yes, mostly, but not always. Like today…." He trailed off.

"Edward, whatever happened today was also with my consent. You asked me at least 3 times during the whole thing if I wanted to safe word. And every time, I chose to say Green. Even then you found out a way to complete my punishment but still not hurt me anymore." I yawned then, the pain killer had started showing its effect.

"We will talk about that sweetheart – why you did not safe word? But some other time. Right now you need to sleep so that your body gets the time to heal."

"Will you remain with me till I go to sleep?"

"Of course sweetheart." He then looked up. "Dad, can I?" he asked.

"Of course son, I still need to talk to you but I will wait in your study."

"Thanks Dad. I will be there as soon as Bella is comfortably sleeping."

"Take your time Edward. There is no hurry" with that Dad moved out of the room.

"Now sleep baby" Edward kissed me lightly and lowered me on the bed. "one thing sweetheart. You may have saved me from a thrashing for the time being, but you do know na that I will surely get a tongue lashing from Dad as well as Mom for this."

I nodded sleepily.