Four Beating Hearts

26 - punishments and rewards

Penelope POV

After lunch mommy said we needed to have a conversation about punishments and rewards. They wanted me big for it, but I wanted to stay in mommy's lap which she of course didn't argue about.

Needing to not slip as far, I tried to pull myself out a little. "Bethyyyy!" I whined when I saw her not going to the recliner.

She looked my way with a look of almost sadness. I realized it's because I had been calling her mommy earlier since I was super small, but now I'm trying to be bigger.

"I'm only calling you Bethy cuz I'm tryin to be bigger, I promise." I told her and she looked a little relieved. "But I still want cuddles in our recliner." I pouted at her and she chuckled before lifting me up and laying down in the recliner with me.

"Okay good." Bethy said as she cuddled me tightly.

Mari and Bella sat on the couch with a piece of paper. Bella started first, "So we will talk about punishments first and what qualifies for a punishment before rewards, sound fair?" she asked and I hesitantly nodded.

"No hits?" I asked worriedly and all the women shook their head while Beth kissed my head.

"No baby, no harm will ever come to you again. We promise." Mari told me and I gave her a more reassured nod.

"So typically we warn three times before we discipline. In situations like you were in were you were thrashing and we weren't able to speak logically to you it was better for us to remove you from the situation and put you in an area that you can calm yourself down in. We will never leave you alone during any of your punishments though. Does that make sense?" Bella asked.

"Yup. Sorry about all of that again. I don't know what got into me." I replied while feeling the embarrassment rise in my cheeks.

Beth patted my back as she reassured me, "It's all forgiven baby. Little you didn't understand why she had to leave her cuddles and you didn't know our rules."

Mari spoke up, "So our rules should actually be the first place to start. #1. No Swearing or Lying #2. No Hitting or Kicking #3. No Temper Tantrums #4. You do not leave without one of us with you or knowing where you are, communication is needed for us so we know you're safe and #5. No harming yourself verbally or physically." Mari spoke and she stared at me a little longer on that last one.

I shrunk in Beth's hold slightly. I was curious if she wanted me to talk to them about it. She knew about all of it, but knew I hadn't done it since I've been with them.

"Uh, is not disclosing something still considered lying?" I asked quietly and while Beth and Bella looked at me confused, Mari nodded her head yes.

"I consider it to be, so please, tell Beth and Bella." Mari told me and I nodded. I felt a tightness in my chest build up.

"Tell us what?" Bella asked still confused.

Letting out a sigh, I finally told them my secret. "I used to self-harm. Only Mari and my sister knew." I watched Bella and Beth's faces immediately contort to a worried expression.

"Before you both freak out, I haven't done it since I've been here. I haven't had the time or necessarily felt the need to. I feel safe here. Not that I didn't with Ana, it was just, things were different. I don't know if it has anything to do with me being little most of the time, but I don't feel as stressed." I told them both confidently but I could tell it didn't ease their worry.

Beth squeezed me tighter as Bella spoke up. "Baby, we need to know what you use to do." She spoke softly and I just looked to Mari who nodded her head.

"I...I used to starve myself...for days at a time. And, I used to cut myself. A lot of my scars from cutting have faded because those marks were harder to hide than me not eating. Ana was a great sister, but she worked so much so it was easier to get away with not eating." I told them and I saw tears brimming on Bella's eyes before looking to Beth who already had tears falling.

"You guys, don't be upset. I'm okay, I'm still here. That's in the past." I tried to tell them and Beth pulled me fully to her chest.

"Don't ever do anything like that again, okay? We love you so much. If you ever feel like you are going to, come get us or call us or something." Beth told me and I nodded. I felt bad for upsetting them.

"Okay mom, I'm sorry." I told her as I stayed cuddled against her. I wasn't feeling little whatsoever, but felt no stress with being big.

"Penny, are you little?" Mari asked with her head tilted.

I furrowed my brows and tilted my head, "Not at all, why?" I asked and all of the women kind of smiled before chuckling.

"You just called Beth Mom." Bella told me and I blushed bright red.

I looked up at Beth who was smiling. "I'm so sorry. I know you're mommy when I'm little, but I shouldn't have called you mom, you signed on for mommy not mom." I tried to explain without saying you aren't my mom so you shouldn't have to deal with that.

Beth shook her head though, "Do you see me as your mom?" She asked and I gave her a small nod.

"Well I see you as my child so I don't see anything wrong with you calling me mom." She told me as she kissed my forehead. I leaned back into her embrace.

Smiling as she held me tightly once more I spoke again, "Thank you mom." I told her and could feel her nod against my head.

"Alright, onto punishments. Basically we have five punishments that we will use as we see fit. #1 is corner time or time out time. This one isn't always going to be used for punishments, this could just be we can't get you to calm down and need you to." Bella spoke up before Mari continued.

"The second punishment is to write lines which we will decide on the amount you have to write depending on the severity. Whereas the third punishment is we take away your desert privileges. Weirdly enough since I know you, you honestly don't like desert that much, but I know which ones you absolutely love. So yes, this is a threat." Mari said with a small grin causing me to chuckle.

Mom spoke up this time. "The fourth and fifth punishment are kind of similar. The fourth is that you lose your television privileges and the fifth is that you have an early bedtime. Similar to the other ones, the length depends on the action." I gave her a nod as I cuddled against her chest more.

"Now for rewards, the fun part." Bella said as she wiggled in her seat some. "A basic reward is going to be you can pick out a new stuffed animal or something small that you'd like from the store." She continued and that made me smile, I want a new stuffie.

"Another reward could be later bedtimes on the weekends as well, having the deserts you do like, and we can always add more fun stuff to this as we go." Bella told me and I smiled at her with a big nod.

"Does that all sound fair?" Mom asked and I told her it did. They all smiled before Bella went to hang it all up on the fridge so I don't forget.