Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or it's Characters, they belong to their respective owners. I do, however, own Storm and her alter ego as well as Striker and his alter ego and their story line. This has come from the haunted, depraved, tortured darkness that is my mind.

Opera123: More to come soon, I don't want to rush to the end, it's like a detonation in slow motion, there's going to be a big boom towards the end.

Savysnape7: She remembered a little bit more, another piece to an overly large puzzle but this next chap should be interesting.

Misplaced Levity: I don't want to be too predictable so I want to keep everyone guessing for as long as possible. :D

Suspicions

=Ms. Star's P.O.V=

I sat in my F1 for a few moments just staring at the house outside my window, it was fairly elegant from the outside, not grand like I'd expected but it had a certain charm to it. I sat for a few moments longer before finally picking up the courage to leave the safety of my F1; the longer I spent thinking about what was happening between Mr. Gold and I, the more I felt like running away and never showing my face again and over the course of the afternoon I'd had plenty of time to think about us.

I glanced in my rear view mirror once more and straightened out a few strands of hair before exhaling and slipping out of the old pickup, I cringed softly at the hefty slam the door made as I pushed it shut and started towards the front door.

I glanced at the watch on my wrist again. Five to six. I wet my lips walking up the path towards the front door and stopped at the front door, hand hovering over the knocker briefly as I tried to gather myself before knocking loudly and waiting for Mr. Gold to open the door. I turned away humming softly and tapping my fingers against my thigh, my tune idle and random.

"You're early"

I turned back to the door and smiled at Mr. Gold. "By five minutes"

"Come in dear" He stepped to the side allowing me into the main entrance hall, I slipped off my shoes and looked around as I shrugged off my jacket, the place seemed to be filled with small trinkets and various artefacts.

I looked over a set of painting decorating the walls, various battle scenes depicting some sort of ogres and them meeting fiery ends and another of a beautiful old castle in the snow, I could almost swear the it looked familiar I just couldn't place where I'd seen it before.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

I turned to look at Mr. Gold and nodded lightly. "Is it a real castle?"

"No, no dearie, just a painting," He paused looking up at it before looking back at me. "Why?"

I shrugged lightly. "It just seems familiar"

He gave a soft 'hmm' and beckoned me to follow after him before showing me into the front living room, a fire crackling in the fireplace, several sofa's settled around it and a coffee table in the centre of them. "Sit, I'll bring us a drink"

I gave a nod and paused looking around the room before settling on one of the sofa's, warmth spilled from the fireplace to wash over me as I settled into the sofa getting comfortable. I smiled taking the drink from Mr. Gold and felt the Whiskey burn as it slid down my throat. "This place is big for one person"

"I like the privacy"

I grinned softly. "Good to know"

A timer went off in the kitchen causing him to stand. "I'll be right back"

I nodded shifting on the sofa getting comfortable as I sipped at my drink; I let my fingers wander over the dark green fabric of the sofa tracing the darker green pattern of swirls and fleur-de-les' stitched into it.

I glanced around the room taking everything in slowly before glancing over my shoulder at the open doors that led into the hallway, through them I could see another set of doors; I furrowed my brow looking towards the doors, something about them seemed to call out and something in my brain wanted me to go towards them.

I closed my eyes briefly and inhaled slowly before exhaling and glanced towards the doorway Mr. Gold had disappeared through before standing quietly and silently making my way towards the hallway, I couldn't see through the crack in the doorway, the room was pitch black and silent. A glimmer caught my eye; something was shining in the centre of the room.

I stood in the doorway for a moment before stepping inside and making my way towards the object in the centre of the room. I came to a halt in front of the dark oak pedestal, a deep purple velvet pillow sat on top of it with a flower lovingly placed in the centre of it.

I stood in awe of the flower, it looked to be an iris but I'd never seen any type of iris like it, its colours shimmered and glowed; I slowly walked around the pedestal, the flower itself appeared to be encased in glass, the tips of its petals a bright vibrant orange, the colour bleeding down into the inners of them, a fiery red at it's very core, just like the colours of the autumn leaves outside.

I wanted to reach out at touch it but fear that it might shatter under my touch held me back; the glass like casing around the flower shimmered again as if light had caught it. For the first time in my life I was truly breathless.

"If you'd have asked I would have given you a tour"

I turned towards Mr. Gold, my eyes wide as a sudden moment of clarity came to my mind, everything that had been bothering me fell into place and made sense for a brief second before my grip on that clarity slipped and it drifted away from me just as quick as it had come, the confusion that replaced it was stronger than ever.

"Dinner's ready dearie," He paused stepping forward into the room. "Come on; don't want it to get cold do you?"

I hesitated and looked at the flower again, the very tips of its petals were beginning to take on minute shades of blue; I looked towards Mr. Gold, he didn't seem at all angry that I was in here, it was obvious this room was very personal and private for him but yet he didn't say a word about me being in here.

I nodded numbly following after him towards the dining room.

"You seem distracted dear, something the matter?"

I looked up at Mr. Gold and took him in for a moment before shaking my head. "Nothing..."

"And yet it is something"

I sighed softly debating internally for a moment about whether or not to tell him the truth or not, I'd never been one to lie... too much at least. "Just something in the back of my mind, something that keeps telling me that Grahams death wasn't just nature taking its course"

"And if it wasn't nature then what was it?"

I shrugged lightly. "I don't know but everything about it just... it's all unsettling, it doesn't seem right, something just seems... off"

"'Off'? How so?"

"I don't know, it's just something... hell everything, I don't know what it is but there just something that makes me think Regina had something to do with it"

He paused looking up from his meal properly. "What makes you think the mayor had something to do with it?"

"I don't know, that's the thing; I guess it's just all the little things, the way she acts, the way she says something," I let out a soft aggravated sigh. "It's driving me insane; it's eating away at the back of my mind," I glanced towards the clock off too my left as it chimed on the hour, the night had worn on faster than what I'd expected. I shook my head lightly as we lapsed into silence and laced my fingers under my chin giving Mr. Gold a smile. "Thank you for dinner"

"Not a problem dear, go sit down, I'll be there in a minute"

I stood and made my way back towards the living room before taking a seat and glanced around taking in the entire room properly before watching the fire in the fireplace crackle and waver, I looked over to Mr. Gold as he came in with a tray and set it down on the coffee table.

"Are you going to stay?"

"Stay? I hadn't planned on it, why?"

He shook his head lightly. "Merely curious, I wouldn't mind it if you did"

I thought about it as I sipped my cup of tea and finally nodded. "Alright I'll stay"

He gave a genuine smile as he relaxed back against the sofa and sipped at his cup of tea.

Updating everything today, enjoy I'm off to go and write some more towards my Stolen Tune story because I've been sorely neglecting it recently, trying to get a few chapters ahead of what I'm posting on each of my stories.