AN: Day 4 - I chose to do Snowing buying their daughter's gift, but put a different spin on it to "kill" you all with feels. Warning, this is pure mush with sprinkles on top, rainbow kisses and unicorn stickers. I may have also cried while writing it. Oops, so I apologize in advance. :)
Thanks for the great reviews! Keep them coming! Here are individual responses:
onceuponatime1005: I will have to see if I can do anything with that one.
SecretLoveCara: Aw thanks! Glad you liked it! I agree, Grinch sweaters are perfect for the Mills sisters. You're welcome, I know I miss them so much! It's just not the same without them. Glad I could help you get in the Christmas spirit!
Austenphile: Yeah, the Mills sisters in ugly Christmas sweaters would be a sight to see for sure! I haven't seen those pics yet so Ill have to go look for those. Glad you're enjoying it!
Have Yourself a Charming Little Christmas
A Very Special Gift for Emma
It started out innocently enough and they weren't even sure they were supposed to be hearing what they heard. Emma and Henry were in the living room playing video games when Henry beat Emma by a very narrow victory.
"YES!" Bow down to the champ!" Henry cheered.
"Man...if this was the old school video games, I would have totally beat the pants off you, kid," Emma complained.
"Oh yeah? What games did you have when you were a kid?" he asked, but then instantly regretting it, nearly forgetting that she probably, in fact, didn't own any.
"Uh...well, I didn't have one per say. One of the group homes had a Super Nintendo and I rocked Super Mario back in the day," she replied.
"Sorry Mom…" he apologized.
"Nothing to be sorry about, kid. It just wasn't meant to be for me. That's why I gave you up, so you'd have your best chance. My parents did the same for me. I may not have had the ideal childhood, but everything I went through got me you and then my parents," she told him.
"So I can ask you stuff about it now?" Henry asked.
"Sure kid...it's in the past," Emma replied.
"I've always gotten what I've wanted for Christmas and I know you probably didn't have that. Was there something you wanted when you were a kid that you didn't get?" he asked curiously.
"Wow kid...right for the jugular," she joked. He winced.
"Sorry Mom...you don't have to answer," he said.
"No...it's okay. I want to," she replied, as she thought back to those times. They were still painful, but she didn't blame her parents anymore. They were put in a terrible situation with the curse and then the lies about the wardrobe. Marco may have told that lie, but she blamed Blue for letting it happen. She had a feeling that if the Blue Fairy had really wanted to, she would have found a way for both her parents to go with her through the wardrobe, but that was neither here nor there.
"Well...when I was around six, I was friends briefly with a little girl that had a My Little Pony dream castle and stable with all the My Little Ponies," she said.
"I was in love with it and for the few months we were friends, she let me play with it every time I came over. I wanted the dream castle and all the ponies so badly," she added.
"My friend even let me have a pony to keep, because she had two of that one. It was this rainbow unicorn one and I adored it. When I got moved to another foster home, it was in another city and I never saw her again," Emma said sadly.
"And the pony?" he asked. She shrugged.
"One of the other kids stole it and then ruined it so the Mom in the house threw it away. But I wrote to Santa that year and asked him for the dream castle and the ponies that went with it," she added.
"But you didn't get it," he replied sadly.
"Afraid not...but it's okay. Everything turned out great...eventually," Emma replied.
Little did either of them know, Snow and David heard the entire conversation from the doorway of their bedroom.
Later that night, they cuddled together in bed and lamented about their daughter's terrible childhood. It was definitely not the first time they had done so, but Emma was reluctant to give them too many details about her days in foster care.
"I wish we could make this better," David said, as he pressed a kiss to her hair. That's when Snow got an idea. She sat up and looked up at him.
"Maybe we can't make up for her childhood...but maybe we can give her a piece of it back," Snow said.
"How?" he asked, as he watched her jump up and grab her laptop, before scurrying back to the bed.
"We are going to use one of the greatest advantages of this world. The Internet," she said simply, as she powered it on and pulled up a search engine.
Christmas Day
Christmas dinner was eaten and almost all the presents were opened, as the Charming-Mills clan enjoyed their new things, while David and Zelena opened new toys for their little ones. Emma got lots of new things from her parents, like a new jacket, gourmet hot chocolate from Godiva, a few movies, the really good makeup she hated buying herself, and new leather gloves. She thanked them profusely and insisted they bought her too much, but secretly thrilled that she had parents now to go overboard on her.
"Oh Emma...I think we have one more for you," Snow said, giving her husband the signal, as he went and got a large wrapped box from the closet.
"You guys have spoiled me enough already, don't you think?" she asked.
"Just think of this one as something you should have gotten a long time ago," David replied, as Emma tore off the paper and looked inside the box. She gasped, as she took out vintage My Little Ponies, still in their packaging from the 1980's and then the dream castle with the stable as well. All in either new or mint condition.
"I...I don't know what to say. How did you get all this?" she asked in disbelief, feeling tears already swimming in her eyes.
"We weren't eavesdropping the a few weeks ago, but we happened to overhear your conversations with Henry," Snow explained, as tears were already falling down her cheeks.
"So your Mom got the idea to go online and see if some of this stuff still existed. And it turns out there are a lot of collectors. So we were able to get a lot of it," David said. Emma Swan was not a crier, but on that night, she literally burst into tears, as her parents took her in their arms, with her father cradling her head.
"We know it's a little late, princess. But we wanted to give you what you should have gotten when you were a kid," he said, as a few tears slipped down his cheeks.
"We wish we could have been there for you so badly, baby," Snow cried. Emma sniffed.
"I know...I love you so much Mom and Dad," she gushed.
"We love you too, princess," David said.
"So much baby," Snow agreed, as they dried their tears. And even though Emma was a bit too old to play with My Little Ponies now, she adored the gift and had the whole set proudly on display in her room, for it was the best Christmas present she could and would ever get...
