Hi everyone!

I know most of you want to see more Arya/Gendry scenes, especially after this last chapter, and I really wanted to sneak one in, but it just didn't happen this way, sorry. This had to be done. I'm trying hard to have a coherent plot in this story, which means that every once in a while, something other than flirting and making out has to actually happen :-)

Again, thanks for all the awesome reviews.

Also, I got a comment a few chapters ago about how this fic reminded someone of Veronica Mars. Yes, it's intentional. I'm a huge fan, and if you reread the very first scene, you'll notice it's basically a rip-off of VM's first scene in the pilot. Though I tried to stray from it afterwards because I don't want to simply steal everything from this show, it's normal if you get that VM vibe every once in a while.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! :-D


Six. She'd managed to clear six of the seven Anna she'd identified. Which meant that either the last one was the one she was looking for, or Johanna Waters' ex-roommate didn't live around here anymore. Or her name hadn't really been Anna. Or the age was wrong. Or she hadn't worked in one of the establishments Arya had checked. Ok, so the number of alternatives was higher than she liked. There was still a good chance that Anna Delario was the right Anna. Good enough that Arya was now pounding on the door of her apartment, having decided that messages and emails weren't working quickly enough. When no one opened the door after several minutes, Arya considered her next course of action. She'd dug up Anna's work schedule, and she knew that she wasn't supposed to be at the hospital right now. She worked the night shift this week, which meant she started at midnight. Maybe she'd just gone grocery shopping, or maybe she had a yoga class or something. Either way, it could mean she would be home soon, and since it was 3 p.m., Arya could afford to wait a while before she had to go to the strip-club. Plus, Anna Delario's flat wasn't far from Gendry's, if she managed to talk to her in the afternoon, she could go directly to his place afterwards and tell him everything. Either the woman would give her something to work with and she'd finally have something tangible enough to discuss it with Gendry, or her best and only lead would prove to be another dead end and she'd have to tell him she didn't think anyone could find his father.

She prayed for the first option.

She went back to her car, opened the passenger door for Nymeria, settled in the driver's seat, and got ready to wait.

She didn't have to wait long. After just a couple of minutes, the door to the building opened. Arya would have dismissed it since she was looking for someone coming in, not out, but the flash of dark colors on this sunny day caught her eye and she looked closer, out of curiosity. And then closer, out of disbelief. And then closer, out of growing anger.

The woman who was apparently trying to look inconspicuous (and failing big time) was Anna Delario.

She had been home.

Arya had given her every opportunity to make her presence known. She'd announced her name, pounded for a good five minutes, waited, pounded again. If the woman was home, there was no way she hadn't heard her.

So why hadn't she opened the damn door?

This screamed of someone who had something to hide.

Until now, Arya had treated this investigation like a simple enough case. Well, no, it was a hard case because she didn't have much to go on, but since the information she was looking for wasn't exactly sensitive, she'd based her research on the principle that the people she'd talk to wouldn't try to lie or conceal anything.

This had just changed.

The thought that Anna's behavior didn't have anything to do with her investigation crossed her mind, but the coincidence was just too weird to disregard. Given the messages she'd left, the woman had to know who Arya was and why she wanted to talk to her, seeing her practically run away from her flat right after she'd tried to talk to her in person was about as suspicious as it could get.

Arya's astonishment and distraction meant that the woman had disappeared from sight quite easily, she wouldn't be able to follow her now, but she knew when she would leave home for work tonight, tailing her then would be easy. It would also be relatively useless since she already knew where she would be going, but it would give her a sense of the woman and her habits and make it easier for next time.

"What do you think, Nymeria? Ready to lose sleep and get bored out of your mind for the next few days?"

Her bark was a resolute 'yes!'


She managed to leave the club at 10 p.m., even if for some reason, Wednesday nights seemed a little busier than Mondays and Tuesdays. The girls and Loras let her leave without complaining about her lack of social skills when she told them she had a date with Hot Guy. She'd known looking like she'd started dating a client would come in handy at some point, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon.

She felt a little bad about the lie, but not as bad as she'd felt when she'd sent a text to Gendry earlier today. Because she had to leave the club early if she wanted to make it back to her place to get Nymeria and then to Anna Delario's flat in time to start following her, and because she didn't want him to know what she was up to, she'd told him that her work schedule had changed and that she wasn't working tonight, so she would catch an early night for once and he could stay home.

Not only had it felt wrong to lie to him now that he knew her deepest secrets, she was a bit worried he'd think she was pulling away because of what had happened between them. Which she was absolutely not.

But if she wanted to get answers, she couldn't worry about this right now, so she pushed back the guilt and nervousness to focus on the matter at hand, namely swearing because she'd forgotten to charge her camera. Oh, well, this was more of a reconnaissance mission anyway, she doubted she'd see anything worth taking a picture of. She left her useless camera at home, ushered Nymeria inside the car, and drove to Anna's street, parking a good distance away from her building's entrance. It was 10.48. She'd call Jon in a few minutes, and as soon as she saw her target leave the building, she'd hung up and start following her.

Things had been going so well lately that she'd nearly forgotten life had a tendency to laugh in the face of people who tried to make plans.

It all happened in a flash.

She'd started impatiently fidgeting with her keys when the car door was torn open and she felt an iron grip on her left forearm. She was yanked away from her seat, the door slammed shut, and she was pushed against her car as a gloved hand closed around her throat. For a second, all she could see was darkness, but she fought through the initial pain and made herself open her eyes to see her attacker. Masked. Of course.

She could vaguely hear Nymeria's muffled barks, but locked in the car, her dog wouldn't be much help. Arya winced when she heard her throw herself against the window, desperately trying to get to her and most certainly hurting herself in the process. Then the knowledge that she would end up dead if she didn't react shook her out of her strangely detached trance, and she finally started struggling. She only succeeded in angering the guy enough that he back-slapped her, and she felt something sticky run down her chin. She tasted blood. She normally would have made a face at the taste, but at least it meant she was still alive. For now.

The lack of oxygen was going to become a real problem in a couple of seconds.

Her next reflex was to extend her arms to try and reach the guy's face. If she could just push a thumb through his eye socket, he'd have to let her go. But his arms were longer than hers and she couldn't reach far enough. He was so strong that her feet were barely touching the ground, his hand on her throat the only thing that was keeping her upright.

Only then did she realize the fool had left her legs free. She kicked, too far gone to care where her foot landed. There was a grunt as the hit his thigh, but still the hold he had on her throat didn't break. She kicked harder, trying to aim better. It finally did the trick. His grip loosened enough for her to squeeze her own fingers between his and her throat, and as soon as she got a good grip on his forefinger, she twisted hard, pulling his hand away from her in the process. She heard a sickening cracking noise, and he completely let go of her at last, the curse that fell from his lips telling her what she already knew: she'd just broken his finger.

The victory was bittersweet as she instantly fell without his support. Gasping for breath, she got back to her feet, but she'd lost a few precious seconds and her vision was still blurry. Her hand found her throat, trying to rub the excruciating pain away, but it was no use and she needed to focus on her aggressor anyway.

She briefly considered trying to run away, but she was still unsteady on her legs and she wouldn't go far before he caught up with her. Her only option was to fight and it wasn't much of an option given that he was a good foot taller and at least 80 pounds heavier than her. She thought about trying to get back inside her car and driving away, but she'd lost her keys during his first assault. Besides, he was too close, she wouldn't even get the door halfway open before he was on her again.

She tried to block the sounds Nymeria was making to focus on her next move... Nymeria! If she could open the door just wide enough for her dog to...

Before she could complete that thought, the man was on her again. And everything Syrio had taught her came back to her all at once. The guy didn't even have the time to react: quick as a snake, she threw the heel of her hand towards his nose and he had to take a step back, clutching his nose with his hurt hand. Sadly for her, he was obviously used to pain and very good at what he did, for it didn't even slow him down enough for her to grab the damn handle and free Nymeria. He used his left hand to try and punch her. She dodged and his momentum brought him closer to the car, so she had to go around him to avoid being crushed by his weight. This meant he was now closer to the car than she was and all hope of counting on Nymeria for help fell away. Her dog seemed to understand that too because her barks were suddenly more desperate and she kicked harder against the car window. Arya tried to will her to stop before she hurt herself, but it seemed her protectiveness towards her was stronger than her survival instinct.

Her attacker turned back to face her. She'd just been thinking about running away again now that she felt a bit stronger, but what she saw stopped her before she even took the first step.

A gun.

He had a gun.

With a silencer.

Fuck.

Why hadn't he used it earlier?

She realized he hadn't wanted to risk the bullet being identified by the cops exactly at the same time she realized it was irrelevant. She had to do something. As in, right now.

Instead of following her first instinct, which had been to go for the weapon in his left hand and would have left her exposed to his right hand, she threw her foot in his stomach. He mustn't have expected this move. Caught off guard, he bent down against the pain, and only then did she try to take the weapon away from him. Her fingers closed around the barrel and she pulled, but the man pulled the other way. She managed not to release her hold on the weapon, her arm and the rest of her body following the forward movement. In the struggle, her assailant pulled the trigger. She heard a dull sound, instantly followed by a sort of metallic noise. She had no idea what the bullet had hit, but it wasn't her.

Her relief was short-lived. The guy managed to get the gun away from her and aim. She tackled him before he could pull the trigger again, sending them both tumbling to the ground. She stood back up faster than he did, but just as she was regaining her balance, he swept her legs from under her and she went crashing to the ground. Her head hit the pavement hard and she groaned. Panic seized her as she realized that he was getting back up to his feet and aiming, but there was nothing she could do. The shock had left her too weak to move, and she could only watch as he raised his weapon.

The last things she heard were a shattering sound and a scream.


TBC...

I'll try not to make you wait too long for the next chapter after this! We'll get our first (and probably only) Gendry POV since Arya's out at the moment…

I always have trouble writing action scenes, even in my own language, hope it was readable!