strange and beautiful (I'll put a spell on you)

Chapter Four

STORYBROOKE, Maine

Emma had moved in with Mary-Margaret. Regina was not thrilled, but Regina was never thrilled about anything (especially when it had to do with Emma.) Regina also knew that Rebekah was no longer walking Henry to his bus anymore, that it was Emma who was doing that. When Regina confronted her, Rebekah calmly said, "You may be able to control my life, but you can't control Emma. She's his mother and if she wants to spend time with him, I have no legal right to stop her." Regina had glared, angry that Rebekah had a point and Rebekah gave her a false smile and then went back to work.

Rebekah started her work day by going over all the paper work Regina had given to her while she stepped out to go confront Emma, and when someone came into the building, she looked up briefly only to look back up immediately upon seeing who it was, "Mr. Gold." Rebekah said, sitting up a bit in her chair. "The Mayor is out right now – but if you'd like, I could leave a message for her saying you stopped by."

"Oh, there's no need for that, dear." Mr. Gold said, using his cane for support as he made his way over to Rebekah's desk. "I came to see you."

Mr. Gold was...a strange man. He was feared, that was for sure. He owned half of Storybrooke and spent a good amount of time trying to buy up the shops he didn't already own. Everyone had a debt they would owe him, giving him money at the end of each month, and if they happened to be short that month? Well, people learned very quickly not to be short when it came to paying Mr. Gold his monthly take in their businesses.

It was like he was a mobster without a gang of goons to help him. It was only him and people were sometimes even scared to look him in the eyes. Not to mention that he worked closely with Regina, which was never a good thing.

Anyone who worked for Regina was shady (excluding Rebekah, who only worked with the woman because said woman made her.) Graham wasn't either. He was just a man who fell prey to Regina's charms. (If Regina had any - Rebekah still didn't understand why Graham continued on sleeping with Regina.)

"You came to see me?" Rebekah asked, eyes wide in confusion. "Why?"

"The other night while I was on my walk, I saw you visiting a certain property." Mr. Gold said and Rebekah tensed. He saw her go to Jefferson's? Well, he would have seen her leave like a coward without even knocking. "The home has been abandoned for as long as I can recall." Mr. Gold said and Rebekah's shoulders slumped a bit in relief. He wasn't talking about Jefferson's house.

"I saw it when I was looking for David Nolan." Rebekah began to explain, "I couldn't remember going over any property information in that area so I was surprised to see that there was a house even there."

"Did it look familiar to you?"

"No," Rebekah said slowly, pushing her hair behind her ears as she looked to Mr. Gold who seemed to be waiting for him to remember something that she didn't. "Why?"

Mr. Gold simply smiled, shrugging his shoulders. "No, reason. I only wondered if maybe it was a property you had recalled seeing. I intend to buy it and I would like very much for someone to help me put it together."

Rebekah nodded, opening up her book that listed all the companies in Storybrooke, "I can get you the number of a construction crew if you'd like – we don't exactly have interior designers in Storybrooke," Rebekah said as she flipped through the pages. "-But I'm sure Marco would be willing to help make any furniture you might need."

"I was hoping you would help me with all of that."

She looked up from the book, "Oh, of course – I'll call around to get you an estimate of everything."