Thanks for the review (you know who you are)! This chapter sums up in a nutshell why this thing is rated T (well, it's Dorian Gray, so, you can guess why!) I need to catch up on this series, so if Rapunzel (she's in this) has been mentioned in an episode I haven't seen, sorry.

Chapter two

Knock…knock…knock!

Rumpelstiltskin waited, impatiently, outside the home of Dorian Gray. He looked the small house up and down awfully shabby for someone of his 'status.' He thought. In his world, Dorian had been a rich playboy; he had inherited so much money that he could live lavishly and never had to work a day in his life. This small dwelling had a coat of black paint which was long overdue for a touch-up. Its tall door was painted green with one broken hinge, and one window was broken, the others were simply unwashed.

Gold impatiently rapped on the door again, this time a young woman answered the door. She was a skinny young woman with pale skin and extremely long blonde hair which she had braided several times. She wore black high heels and an extremely short French maid's dress.

"Oh…" she said, smoothing down her skirt so it covered her a bit more, "hi, Mr. Gold…"

"Hello, Miss Southham?" Asked Gold, unsure of what this woman's name was,

"Southerland" replied the woman "Arabella Southerland."

Rapunzel… he thought, glancing at the hair which hung almost all the way to her heels.

"I'm…Dorian's…housekeeper" said Arabella uncomfortably.

"Yes, is Mr. Gray home at the moment?"

"Um…yes…but he's a bit, busy at the moment, so if I could ask you to…"

A shout of "Arabella!" rang through the hall, "Arabella, my dear? Where are you?" It was Dorian's voice.

"Oh no…" sighed Gold, rolling his eyes.

A half-dressed Dorian Gray ran into the hall and saw them at the door. "Who is it?" He asked.

"It's me, Dorian!" Shouted Gold, massaging his temples.

"Oh" said Dorian, he rushed over to the door and wrapped an arm around Arabella's waist. "Hey there Rumple, how are you this evening?" He asked, "sorry, but Arabella and I are a bit, 'preoccupied' at the moment." He said, causing Arabella to nervously giggle.

"Take your time; I'm not getting any older, out here." Replied Gold, Dorian's self-satisfied smirk faded a bit. "It's your life, not mine" he said, turning around.

And with that, Dorian dragged Rapunzel-Arabella Southerland back into the house. There was the sound of a wooden object, possibly a small table, falling over and breaking, followed by the sound of two bare-foot young people running up the stairs, shrieking with laughter.

Gold shook his head; he always was a terrible womanizer. He sighed, poor Sybil…

After several minutes of waiting outside, the door swung open. A fully-clothed if not slightly mussed Dorian came to the door. "Sorry to keep you waiting,"

Gold's only response to that was an utterance which vaguely sounded like "you haven't changed a bit."

He stepped inside without being invited. The inside of the house looked a bit better than the outside. The living room, which this door opened up to, was comfortably furnished. A red sofa accompanied by an armchair of the same color sat across each other and a small black, coffee table had been placed in between the two. A white, standing lamp, which was in desperate need of a good dusting, stood next to the sofa, and a small wine cabinet sat at the back of the room just next to a fireplace.

Dorian walked over to the wine cabinet and opened it "what's your poison?" He asked, pulling out a bottle, "actually, all I've got is scotch, so would you like some scotch?"

"No, thank you" said Gold, Dorian poured himself a glass and sat down on the armchair.

"What did you think of my, 'housekeeper?'" Dorian asked, taking a sip from his glass.

"She's not what I…expected" said Gold, trying his best not to think about French maid's dresses, "I had never met Rapunzel until now."

"Pretty, right?" Laughed Dorian, "good in bed too…"

"Enough" snapped Gold, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "I didn't come here to talk about who you… jump into bed with, Dorian." He pulled out a small vial filled with a syrupy, off-purple liquid.

"Is that for my hand?" Asked Dorian, pulling at the black leather glove which still covered his hand,

"Of course it is." Gold held the vial teasingly in front of Dorian's face. Dorian tried to swipe the vial from Gold; he pulled his hand away.

"Oh, that's right; the terms of our agreement." Sighed Dorian, cocking his head to one side,

"What could you possibly offer me that I would ever want?" Asked Gold,

"What, the pleasure of my company isn't enough?" Dorian scoffed "how about, my eternal gratitude? Or maybe the promise that I won't throw a Molotov cocktail into that shop of yours?" He sipped his whiskey nonchalantly.

"And I could do the same thing to your house; the difference, I could do it from twenty miles away."

Dorian watched the ice swirl around in his glass as he considered this. "Right" he stood and walked to a small bureau at the back of the room "I do have something that might interest you." He opened the drawer and pulled out an object wrapped in red velvet.

"What's that?" Asked Gold, suddenly interested, Dorian unveiled the long object and showed it to Gold. It was a long, decorative knife. The hilt was black and covered with leather which had begun to fray off. The end of the knife was coated in dry blood.

"Do you recognize this?" He asked, twisting the knife in his hand.

Gold nodded slowly "yes." Gold looked back up at Dorian "this is the knife you used to kill Basil Hallward."