I have many pictures of her.
Pictures of the Arizona Robbins I knew and loved.
The one I do love.
They're all of her beautiful smile, her dimples showing brilliantly, golden hair gleaming under luminescent sunlight, blue eyes piercing.
Pictures of our dates, our wedding, our baby, our family.
I have pictures of her sleeping comfortably in our old, oversized bed - cuddling pillows, her legs wrapped firmly, not wanting to let go.
She always did that to me when I was sleeping, I remember that well. I loved wrapping my arms around her slender body, caressing her pale, white skin - leaving soft trails of kisses among an exposed neck or arm.
I have pictures I don't show anyone.
Pictures of her sleeping face, her hair in a tangled mess, her eyes shut with a peaceful expression. Looking at them, I always wonder what she was dreaming about. I kept them close to my heart, encasing our love in a simple snapshot.
These are things I don't tell anyone.
I always look at these pictures to reassure myself. It was fine to keep the promise. Years of physical therapy and chronic pain? So? I could take responsibility for that. As long as she was with me - smiling at me, looking up at me with those divine blue eyes - gazing into my own eyes, all the while sending shivers down my spine, creating a tingling sensation all throughout my body, in my heart.
And she does. These pictures say it all. I was right to keep the promise, I was right to respect her wishes. It was what she wanted, and I would always give her what she wanted.
I open the cabinet to her wardrobe and scan through her outfits. I find myself relating back to the pictures, as I look at her endless blue and navy blouses - the vivid colors reminding me again of those stunning blue eyes.
"Does this look okay?" she asked me.
"Anything looks good on you," I told her, admiring her figure in the tight-fitted blouse she purchased that morning.
She gave me one of those beautiful, bright smiles - one that told me that she appreciated my comment, though seemingly unconvinced.
I smiled and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards me so I could wrap my arms around her slender waist.
"But.. you know, I think you'd look even better without that shirt on," I told her, slowly pulling up her blouse. I placed tender kisses on her soft stomach, slowly scrunching up the material above her chest.
"Oh?" she asked me, arching her eyebrows, as she wrapped her arms around my neck.
I open boxes of old, worn-out heely shoes - reminding me of the times she skated around the hospital.
I connect these withered objects with those pictures of her.
It brings me to a photo that her little Karev took. A picture of her gliding into my arms.
"What's that?" I asked Karev, fatigued from the long day of back-to-back surgeries.
"It's a camera," he told me.
"Why do you have a camera? Polaroid? Really? I thought we were in the 21st century."
"Oh, whatever. You have no idea how this baby has helped me in the past. It calmed a crisis back in my intern days!" he told me, smirking as he took a snapshot of Meredith Grey filling charts out.
"Which was like yesterday.."
"Callieeeeee!" I heard.
That voice was like music to my ears, a penetrating sound that lifted my heart. I skewed around and watched her slide towards me, in her pink heelies. She had her arms tucked behind her, as if she were a professional ice-skater, gliding on ice.
I smiled and watched her approach, opening my arms to catch her. She gently slid into me, and I wrapped my arms around her, gently kissing her pink, pretty lips.
I smile at the memory, it was the high point of my tiring day. She was always the radiant light brightly shining on my gloomy days.
I close the boxes and go through her clothes. What would suit her now, I wonder? What would she wear today, or tomorrow?
I find her wedding dress in the corner, pulling it out, I remember the happiest day of my life.
The day I married her.
I find the pictures of our wedding, holding the soft material of the dress close to me. I can smell her, and she smells so sweet. Her smell was always intoxicating, no matter the occasion.
I find a picture of our first dance.
"Mmm.." she hummed into my ear.
"Hmm?" I hummed back, smiling at her.
God, she was beautiful.
"I'm just so happy, Calliope. Happy to have found you, this feels like a dream to me," she told me, looking up at me as we slowly danced to the rhythm of the love song playing in the background.
I gently caressed her cheek.
"It's not a dream," I told her.
It almost feels like a dream, though. Those days are just a foregone memory to me - these photos are the only proof that it happened. These photos, these objects, the wedding ring on my finger.
They're proof that you exist.
I embrace the dress in my arms, holding it close to my heart.
I have so many pictures of you, Arizona.
But it's not enough.
It's not enough to quell the unspeakable pleading in my heart. You aren't here anymore. I call out your name, but you don't respond.
I love you, but I wish I hadn't kept that promise.
I wish you hadn't died.
Arizona. Arizona.
These pictures of you just aren't enough.
