The streets hummed with the sounds of cars, honking horns and people trudging their way to work. He was in a world of his own, strolling down the sidewalk towards his building's entrance. His hair danced in the gentle gush of the wind, falling down over his face when the breeze eased. The door attendant nodded to Rumpel whilst he opened the glass door to the building. Rumpel stepped into the foyer of his building that employees and visitors littered.

Stood to one side at the elevators, Rumpel pushed the call button and pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking the messages and emails it had received. The doors opened as he tutted at an annoying message. He shook his head and shoved his phone into his pocket as he entered the elevator, pressing the top button on the panel. Rumpel leant against the back of the elevator with the doors closing in front of him and the elevator began its quick climb to the top of the building.

The elevator pinged when it came to a stop and opened its door to allow Rumpel to exit. Sauntering out of the elevator, Rumpel undid the buttons of his overcoat and pulled half his coat back to slide his hand into his pocket. As he passed employees, they greeted him and stood out of his way in the corridor. He ambled through an open doorway to find his secretary babbling on the phone to someone, organising another meeting into his planner.

Rumpel stopped on the other side of her desk and drew back the other side of his overcoat to put his other hand in his pocket. He watched her roll her eyes, not amused that the other person, on the end of phone, was still talking. Intrigued he bent over her desk to look at the diary. Seeing that he was trying to see the diary, she turned the book towards him for a better look. Another oil company wanted a meeting with him. 'Boring', Rumpel thought to himself. As he straightened himself, he left her to go into his office, shrugging off his overcoat to lay over one of the chairs in front of his large desk.

He walked over to the floor to ceiling window unbuttoning his suit jacket. The view of New York was vast. Studying the view as he did most days, Rumpel wondered if Storybrooke was on the horizon of his view. He knew it was not. It was a good hour's drive from New York.

Leaving Storybrooke had been a big step for Rumpel. He had tricked the Saviour into getting his true love potion and then used it to bring magic to this world. With his magic back, Rumpel had concocted a potion to stop him losing his memory and had left to find his son, not looking back once. It had been nearly two years and all he knew was that Baelfire was in New York. A small location spell using Rumpel's blood had shown him that, but every time he thought he was close to finding him, Rumpel lost his trail. Now that he had more money and power in this world, he had hired several private investigators to find his son and was still waiting.

"Mr Gold," His secretary said coming into the room behind him. "You've got that benefit tonight. Your tuxedo has been dry-cleaned and it is waiting for you at your penthouse. Your driver will collect you at half six tonight."

"Thank you, Laura." He said turning on his heels to face her. Rumpel knew he was lucky to have hired Laura. She was loyal and quick to tend to all his professional needs.

She smiled and said. "Andrews wants to have a word with you before you leave tonight."

"What does he want?" Rumpel questioned as he crossed to his desk, pulling out his leather chair.

"No idea." Laura replied watching him sit down at his desk. "There has been chatter that he's been in negotiations with a rival company."

Rumpel raised an eyebrow whilst he flicked through the mail on his desk. "Has he now."

She nodded and scooped up his coat from the chair in front of her, taking it with her when she walked out of his office. Rumpel ripped open his mail, pondering over the conversation that Andrews wanted to have with him. He pulled the letter out of the envelope and read another report from one of the investigators, telling him how they were closer but still did not have an address for his son. Screwing up the letter, he cursed their continued failure and threw the letter in the bin behind him.

Laura came back into his office, carrying a tray with a tea set on it. "Do you want me to order you some food? I know you never eat at these benefits."

"No, I'm fine, thank you." He replied ripping open another letter to read the contents. Another failure, another letter in the bin. Rumpel groaned at his annoyance as he picked up another letter, turning it over to recognise the scribble. Quickly he slipped his thumb into the small opening and ripped open the envelope to pull the letter out of it.

The teacup chinked in its saucer as Laura placed it down on the desk near him, watching him read over the letter he held between his hands. "News?"

"Sort of." Rumpel mumbled as he turned the piece of paper over to read the back. He was vaguely aware that Laura had left his office again, leaving the tea set for him when he wanted another drink.

He turned the piece of paper back over in his hands and reread the letter again. Regina had wrote to him asking for help. She explained in her letter that two strangers had come into Storybrooke and taken Henry through a portal, and now she needed his help. There was a small tug from his conscious to help his ex-pupil, her worry evident in her letter. However, nothing would make him help her, not after seeing the glee in her face when she had told him that Belle had committed suicide. If there had been at one time, a form of friendship between them, she destroyed it that day.

Tossing the letter onto his desk, Rumpel reached for his tea and sat back into his chair, his gaze fixed on her letter. Why she thought she had the right to ask him for help, he could not understand. Regina had tried all her might for twenty-eight years to get him to do what she wanted, have him under her thumb. Simply by saying please to her, Rumpel had managed to thwart her plans with 'please'. He grinned remembering the look on her face, trying to comprehend why she always did what he wanted instead of the other way round.

His phone beeped before Laura spoke. "It's nearly five o'clock. Do you want me to send Andrews in, he's waiting out here?"

Rumpel put the teacup back on its saucer as he sat forward reaching for the button on his phone. "Send him in."

He stood from his chair and pulled his waistcoat down under his suit jacket as Andrews came through the open doorway. Rumpel could sense that the other man had a hint of apprehension about him. Andrews stopped on the other side of Rumpel's desk and extended his hand towards Rumpel, which he took and shook firmly.

"Andrews, what can I do for you?" Rumpel said gesturing for Andrews to take a seat and sat down into his chair.

"Oh, thank you." Andrews quickly sat, plonking his briefcase beside his seat. "I was hoping to have a chat with you, sir."

"Okay… And?" He retorted, motioning with his hand for Andrews to continue.

The young man nodded his head at Rumpel. "I have been approached by Zegman to work for him."

"That's nice." Rumpel chided, picking up his tea to drink it. "And you're hoping… What? I plead for you to stay?"

"Well… I was hoping you would give me a counteroffer." Andrews said surprised by Rumpel. "I've worked here since you formed this company. I have helped you…"

Rumpel cut him off. "You haven't helped me to do anything. I have gotten this company where it is on my own. You, you just share in the wealth that I make and I already pay you handsomely for your duties. If you want to go over to Zegman, then go. There are plenty of people in New York that want to work for me, who would kill to work for me."

Rumpel stunned Andrews, he could tell by the fish impression that Andrews was doing across the desk at him. He did not care and poured himself another tea. Rumpel knew he was right. The amount of applications and letters that human resources got weekly was enough for Rumpel to know he could open another branch if he wanted. His company, Gold Import and Export, was a phaenomenon. The amount of interviews he did, where they ask what led to his success over night was becoming tiresome.

"Right, if that's how you feel, Mr Gold." Andrews collected his briefcase and stood from his chair. "I'll let you know my decision tomorrow." The other man marched out of Rumpel's office, leaving Rumpel to watch in his wake until the other man turned out of sight. Andrews was a good employee, but he had never really brought anything business wise to Gold Import and Export. Less than a handful of times Rumpel could remember being in a business meeting where Andrews had been the lead on the deal.

The intercom beeped before Laura said. "Your driver is waiting for you downstairs."

"Thank you, Laura." Rumpel replied to her, holding down the intercom button. "If you haven't got anything important to do tonight, you can go home."

"Thank you, Mr Gold. Night." She said through the intercom. Sipping at his tea, Rumpel turned in chair to look out the window over New York. He sighed contently finishing the last of his tea, thankful that Laura could brew nearly the perfect cup of tea. There had only been one person in his life that had made his tea to perfection, but sadly and regrettably, she was not here anymore. Another one of his failures that haunted him.

The year they had spent together felt like a lifetime, but was too short. An honest declaration of love from her and he had thrown her out, sending her to her death. She had been right, he had regretted it every day since he showed her the door and lied to her. Belle had meant more to him, more to him than he had ever imagine. Now all he had was memories and her teacup that sat on his desk at his penthouse.

Grunting at the time, Rumpel stood out of his chair to place his teacup back on its saucer and exited his office to get his coat from the coat stand behind Laura's desk. He sauntered out into the corridor, feeding his arm into his coat and then the other to pull the heavy overcoat on. The floor was empty. Everyone had evacuated the building as soon as the clock turned to five o'clock. Rumpel shook his head at their urgency to get home and pressed the call button for the elevator.