Not the Day She Planned

Swan Savior asked for a one-shot of just Emma, Hanna, and Snow bonding more as mother and daughters like a mother-daughter day. This one is set during the 6 week period during season 4.

Snow couldn't contain her excitement. Henry was with Regina, David was at work, and Neal was with Granny, giving Snow the chance to spend the day with just Hanna and Emma…a girls day. This girls day wouldn't be like your typical girls day though. Snow knew Emma and Hanna weren't partial to the more "girly" stuff like getting their nails or hair done, so Snow came up with a different plan. She had her bow and arrows slung over her arm. She was going to take her girls out and teach them how to shoot a bow. She showed Hanna only the one time. They never got out again to practice. Snow tried while they were in the Enchanted Forest, but Hanna never wanted to. She never got a chance to teach Emma at all. Now she had the opportunity though and Snow couldn't wait to get out in the woods and…that's when she heard it. Thunder. Snow looked out the window and saw the huge storm clouds in the sky.

"Mom, are you ready yet?" Snow heard Hanna call from the living room. Snow sighed and put her bow and arrows down.

Snow walked from her bedroom to where her girls were waiting. "Well, there goes my plan for the day."

"What were we going to do?" Emma asked. Their mom hadn't told them what she had planned.

"Well I was going to take you out to the woods and teach you how to shoot. We were going to spend the whole day out there. I even had a picnic planned and everything." Snow pointed to the picnic basket that was sitting next to the door.

Emma and Hanna looked at each other. They could tell how upset their mom was about the weather ruining her plans. They knew how excited she was about today. The day wasn't lost though. They could still make today fun.

Emma walked towards the door and picked up the picnic basket. "We can have our picnic inside, Mom!"

"Yeah, come on," Hanna grabbed ahold of her mom's hand and pulled her into the living room. "We can lay out a blanket and everything.

"We can put in a movie and even paint each others nails," Emma told her.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, girls." Snow smiled and pulled her girls close, giving them each a kiss on the top of their heads.

Hanna laid out a blanket and put in a movie while Emma ran upstairs to get her bag of nail polish.

Hanna dug through Emma's nail polish selection. There were more colors in here than Hanna thought there would be. "Alright, Mom…Emma and I each get to paint one of your hands, okay?"

"And you have to close your eyes so it can be a surprise," Emma added.

Snow saw the looks on her girls' faces. "Should I be afraid?"

Emma and Hanna looked at each other and grinned. They both just shrugged their shoulders, not answering…this was going to be fun.

"Just close your eyes, then you can guess who did which hand," Hanna told her.

Snow closed her eyes and played along.

"Okay, open your eyes," Hanna said a few minutes later.

Snow looked down at her nails. "Oh, wow girls. You did a beautiful job. All black, Emma? Really?" Snow said with a grin.

"How did you know that was mine?" Emma asked with a sigh. Hanna and Emma even moved around before they started and after they were done painting to try and confuse their mom.

Snow just shrugged. "I'm your mom…I know things. I love my multi colored nails, Hanna…very creative."

"I couldn't decide on a color, so I just did all my favorites!"

"Okay, now it's my turn," Snow said with a grin.

She made Hanna and Emma close their eyes so she could surprise them too. Emma opened her eyes to find bright pink fingernails and Hanna had yellow and orange ones. Once their nails were dry and they had their fill of picnic food, Snow made some hot chocolate and they all sat on the couch together to watch another movie. Snow just smiled contently when Hanna and Emma each rested their heads against her. She wrapped her arms around them both and held them close. This was not the day she planned, but Snow couldn't have been happier with how their girls day turned out in the end.