Sacred finds
Snowfalls23 asked for a oneshot of Snow finding a scrapbook filled with Emma's childhood pictures.
Snow had been cleaning Emma's room (with her permission) when she'd found it. A small scrapbook with the few photos of her childhood that Emma could scrape together. She sat down on the bed and carefully flicked through.
Despite expecting it, it still stung when Snow saw the first couple of pictures of Emma. They were the only pictures where she knew she would recognise her daughter, they were right after her birth. Even then, she looked slightly different even in the smallest of gaps. Little newspaper articles of "Abandoned baby Emma" whose parents "were irresponsible enough to leave a new born out in the cold." She read on to find out that she and David were wanted by police for questioning, but it was doubted they'd ever be found. Not that Snow blamed them. Despite knowing it wasn't her fault a part of her would always feel like she failed Emma. She quickly turned the page to rid herself of the hurtful comments. If only they knew. The next couple of pages were obviously from Emma's first family. Snow felt a bit of rage burn inside her. The ones who gave her up. Snow had never simply given Emma up, she had sent her away for her own good. Regina would have murdered her otherwise. These people had tossed her daughter to the side like she was nothing simply because she wasn't biologically related. It was hard looking at the pictures of Emma with the couple. They did not deserve her daughter. The rest of the book was fairly sparse. A couple of newspaper photos here and there advertising for adoption or foster care, the odd school picture and one or two pictures taken by care workers. Snow looked at them all with great detail. This was all she would ever see of her daughter's childhood.
When she was done, Snow carefully put the book back where she had found it. She would not mention it to Emma, but hoped one day Emma would show her the book. She would, however, make sure David got a look too. She wasn't sure if he would tear up more than she was doing.