Here - It's back to normal, Bella POV. Here you go Chantal!
Alice led us all inside and Rosalie closed her eyes, feeling, listening. I kept a hold of Edward as I listened to our surroundings. I could hear the thrum of a motor, a heater of some sort probably, designed to keep the greenhouse part moist and warm. We could hear the twittering of birds and hundreds of heartbeats, as well as running water and the chirps of various insects. Ugh, I hadn't realised just how many insects other than butterflies were going to be there. I carefully manoeuvred myself onto Edward's back, ignoring him when he asked what I was doing, randomly jumping up for a piggyback ride.
"Bella?"
"Doesn't matter right now. Just keep going. Believe me when I say it's worth it."
We all walked forward, pushing open the doors to the conservatory. Various scents hit us along with the wall of hot damp air as we walked through. Thick flowers, like jasmine, fragranced the air, and the smell of slightly stale water hit us too. There was a slight scent of damp rotting wood also, no doubt from a bridge somewhere over the river that – from what we could see – wound around the garden.
The trees rustled with the bird's activities and there was light, but not sunlight, practically falling through the ceiling. We all split up and began walking around, looking at the beautiful sights before us. All of the Cullen family had their hands firmly at their sides, except Esme, who was gently caressing a gardenia flower.
"It's so beautiful in here." Alice cried happily as she pulled Jasper down a path away from us. I was still firmly latched onto Edward, who was looking back over his shoulder at me curiously.
"You alright?"
"Yep. I just didn't realise how many other insects there are here." I admitted, smiling sheepishly. He chuckled and hoisted me around himself, so he was carrying me bridal style.
"If I promise not to let any bugs hurt you, will you walk properly with me?" he asked. I was almost offended. First of all – I knew no bugs could hurt me, they still scared me out of my mind. Second – I thought he liked holding me.
"Oh, I do." He said. Oops; I'd been projecting my thoughts. "I just want you to enjoy this, not regret it later. I'd be happy and content to carry you around the entire garden, but I know you actually want to experience the conservatory."
I slowly got down and kept a strong hold on his arm as we slowly walked forward. I took the time to really look around. The lush greenery was beautiful, the stones on the floor damp, but what really caught my eye were the hundreds of butterflies. I had not realised just how magnificently coloured they truly were. The detail I could see in their wings astonished me also.
Where some butterflies, to the human eye, blended in perfectly as leaves or bark, they stood out like a pink jumpsuit at a funeral to vampire vision. Butterflies quivered ever so gently, as they rested on the surfaces of trees, their wings catching the smallest of breezes. I could focus in on the tiny hairs on their bodies and see their antennae quiver as we neared. In the distance we heard a few sighs as the others took in the sights.
A butterfly bravely flew to me and landed on my arm. I smiled and slowly, incredibly slowly, moved it up to my eye level. It was beautiful, blue and black in colour.
"Ulysses butterfly." Edward informed me, backing off slightly as I brought the butterfly closer to him. I looked at him curiously. He looked almost... scared.
"Why are you scared of a butterfly?" I asked. He smirked, more like grimaced at me.
"I'm not scared of the butterfly, I'm scared of... well hurting it." He admitted, gently pushing my arm away again. I held onto him firmly.
"Just keep still, feel relaxed." I told him, as I slid my finger under the blue butterfly. I lifted her off of my arm and let her crawl onto Edward's open palm. As the beautiful insect crawled around on his palm, a smile broke out on his face. "She tickles, doesn't she?"
"Yes. It's quite beautiful. She seems to have no fear of us either." Edward mused, as he watched the butterfly crawl up his forearm. At that point, two other butterflies landed on him. One on his hair and the other clung to his shirt. I watched as his eyes moved around nervously. He looked so unsure of what to do, freezing in his pose as I watched him.
I turned my head up and looked around at the other butterflies I could see. I caught a glimpse of Rosalie, who was holding a monarch butterfly in her hand, and Emmett who – don't ask me how – had managed to get six, from what I could see, attached to him. Esme came up behind us then, her hand entwined with Carlisle's.
"Wow, it seems Edward has made a few friends." Esme laughed lightly. I turned around and there was yet another one perched on him, this one on his shoulder.
"Tiger swallowtail, peacock and goliath birdwing butterflies." Carlisle said. I turned to him.
"How do you two know so much about butterflies?" I asked. He smiled and looked at Esme.
"I taught them. I love flowers and the butterflies that visit them. I constantly tell Edward and Carlisle about all kinds that visit my various gardens, along with the one I wish would visit."
Esme smiled and wrapped her hand around mine.
"How are you holding up dear?" she asked. I smiled.
"It's so much more intriguing now – there are so many small details I didn't notice the first time round."
"You have Edward's hairstreak on you." Carlisle smiled. I frowned, trying to make sense of the sentence. Carlisle reached forward and brushed my hair. I still didn't understand. Until he brought his hand back. On it was perched a brown butterfly, with stripes around the edges of the wings.
"Satyrodes edwardsi. Common name is Edward's hairstreak." The butterfly was quite beautiful and I smiled at the name.
"Edward, you should keep this guy. Are there any others with similar names to any of the Cullens?"
"They have butterflies here from the Jasper ridge, but I don't think that counts." Esme laughed.
"Or Bob Carlisle's Butterfly Kisses." Emmett yelled, scaring a few birds in the process.
"That's a song, you twit!" Rosalie yelled.
"Utetheisa bella." Alice said. Pointing to a moth that was flying close to the wall. It was pink and very girly. I smiled. I was infinitely glad I had brought the Cullens here. Kudos points to Alice, for we had not encountered a single human yet, and I couldn't hear any heartbeats in the immediate area. We all continued to walk through the gardens, watching the beautiful butterflies flitter around.
It was so strange being able to hear their wingbeats, and hearing the heartbeats of every bird in the place. It was beautiful here, serene and yet very busy at the same time. Like our family really. We had a very calm exterior, very solitary creatures by nature, but throw us all together and we were flurries of excitement and movement. Alone we were pretty, together we were a sensory overload of beauty.
I pulled Edward to a bench and we sat down together, simply watching and listening to the others. Rosalie and Emmett were having fun, Emmett, somehow ending up in the stale water, while Rosalie had a pair of butterflies in her hair. Esme and Carlisle were walking peacefully together, as if no other people were in the garden, simply talking, and observing and loving every moment of it. Alice and Jasper were actually holding a trio of birds, two clinging to Jasper's fingers and one to Alice, who was talking to it animatedly, about interesting and cute bird names.
And then there was Edward and I. He still had the multitude of butterflies clinging to him. He looked more at peace with it though, not so scared about breaking them. I had a couple on me also, I could hear them quivering. Edward was looking at me like I was the most beautiful thing on the planet, and quite frankly, I felt it.
I wondered how I must have looked to him, a smile on my face, my hair heavier and less curly with the moisture clinging to it, butterflies perched on my hair. He seemed to like what he saw though, because he leaned towards me and kissed me gently, sliding his hand, carefully around my neck.
I'd say the conservatory was a success. Everyone managed to keep themselves occupied all afternoon, and we all had to gently shake off the multicoloured butterflies from our clothes and hair. It was then that the universe decided I'd been calm long enough. A massive, and I mean insanely large centipede, chose that point to drop from a tree into my hair. I'm ashamed to say I panicked. I screamed and tried to claw it out of my hair, creating an awful metal-on-metal sound. Edward grabbed my hands quickly, pulling me close to him. I heard that awful crunch sound, accompanied by a squelch and Edward was instantly soothing me.
"You're safe. It's alright, it's dead. You're okay." He said, pulling me closer.
I was shaking. The others were surprised, for the most part at the intensity of my reaction. Edward said nothing, but he continued to smooth my hair down and hug me close. After a few minutes I was as calm as if nothing had happened. Surely Edward would see how weak I was, how unworthy I was of his affection. There was no such change in his demeanour. He looked at me just as lovingly as he had when we were sitting together on the bench. God, I loved this man.
As we got out into the Volvo, Alice squeaked in surprise.
"Adorable! Can we keep it please?" she asked. We all turned to look at her, confused. She then reached forward and pulled a butterfly from my hair. It had gotten trapped in my curls.
"Edward's hairstreak!" Jasper chuckled.
"We definitely have to keep it. We can call it Bronze." I said. They looked at me like I was insane.
"Edward's hair is bronze. Any streak in his hair would be bronze, thus the name for the butterfly, despite the actual wings not being bronze. Okay?" I explained, rolling my eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Alice giggled a little, handing me Bronze.
"How many more friends are we going to adopt? We have Steve, Cinnia and now Bronze."
"Does Steve have to keep coming up? How many times are we going to keep bringing him up? He's not even real." Rosalie sighed. We all turned around shocked. Not real? How was Steve not real?
Emmett clutched at his heart frantically.
"First the Easter bunny, then the tooth fairy, then Steve. Now you're gonna be telling me Santa doesn't exist!"
I was only half sure he was joking.