A/N: I apologize for the delay. The reason in short? Extended work hours plus class, dog-sitting, and a (scary) laptop crash.

THEN:

Catelyn Tully anxiously fiddled with the loose diamond on her silver wedding band. The loose rock was a minor issue, a decidedly small inconvenience considering her field of work and the fact that she was the mother to a brood of five, but it was just another thing to worry about. Although, that particular worry wasn't actually on the forefront of her mind; in fact, she hadn't even noticed the rock was loose until her employee pointed it out. Now, she couldn't seem to stop touching it.

"Ma'am?"

She lifted her bright blue eyes to meet an equally colored pair. The pair that met hers, however, were filled with concern.

"I'm sorry," she hoarsely replied.

The concern shifted from the younger woman's eyes to the furrowed ridge between her brows. Catelyn watched as the pale hairs bunched as the skin between puckered and deepened.

"It's going to be okay."

Catelyn felt her own brows pulling downward into a scowl.

"I promise you, ma'am, I'll find her."

"Yes," she found herself saying back. "Yes, you will."

But even as she affirmed the spoken vow, she could feel her very soul aching as the verifiable truth struck her again: Sansa, her eldest daughter, was missing. Catelyn had been so busy with her caseload, and Ned had been deeply embroiled in dealing with a paternity battle involving his old friend, and somehow their beautiful, innocent child was caught in someone's dark web.

In the grand scheme of things, it was ironic that the head of the Missing Person's Department now had a missing person of her own. The list grew longer with each passing year, and the cries and demands of their fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers echoed in Catelyn's head: where are they? She refused to become one of those voices.

She knew that if she did this, if she pulled the figurative trigger, that she would have to forsake her entire career. It wasn't a choice that she had to give much thought on, if any at all; she would give her life to safely bring her daughter home. In deciding her course of action, she knew she could trust no one more than she could her best field agent: Brienne O'Tarth. The younger woman had initially balked at the illegality of her personal request, but Catelyn knew her agent well, and she implored to Brienne's sense of duty and honor. While the younger woman was visibly hesitant to abuse the system for personal gain, she crumbled under the agreed provision that Catelyn resigned upon Sansa's return.

Catelyn could only answer to Brienne's acceptance with a watery smile. "Maybe it's time for me to finally go home and be with my family."

It had taken a long two weeks before Brienne approached her with any news: Sansa, under the username 'little_byrd,' had been messaging two suspicious accounts via social media.

"It took a little bit of work," Brienne had said, "But we managed to track down the IP addresses for 'mockingjay' and 'hound_12.'" She had pushed the typed Intel across a glass tabletop toward Catelyn, but continued on: "Sergeant Sandor Clegane of the CRD. We believe he's using two different accounts, as 'mockingjay's' IP is coming from the CRD building itself, but 'hound_12' was traced directly back to Clegane's home address."

"Not very smart."

"No," Brienne had agreed.

You had great form the other day, read one exchange from the hound_12 to her daughter. The following messages between them seemed to focus solely on her physicality. While no particular message seemed salacious in nature, the sickening feeling in Catelyn's stomach intensified.

Little_byrd? We must be birds of a feather, mockingjay had sent. The messages between that account and Sansa seemed innocent; almost child-like and naive as the two learned of one another likes and dislikes, talked of their daily routines, and their wishes for the future.

"These are from the same man?" Catelyn had asked.

"Maybe he's treading carefully at work?"

It took another week before Brienne returned with news from Gendry's interview with him: Sandor Clegane was teaching self-defense classes that Sansa was relatively new to. The intent behind his messages now made sense: he was talking about his classes. The bruise on Gendry's jaw showed how Clegane hadn't taken too kindly at being accused of doing the girl harm.

Once, while Brienne had pored over what few facts she had managed to gather, softly discussing them aloud with Gendry, Catelyn overheard a familiar name: "Did you say Baelish? As in Petyr Baelish?"

They had stared at her in mirrored confusion, until she had sat across from the pair and told them of his futile infatuation with her when they were younger. She was adamant that he had nothing to do with this. He would have loved Sansa like she was his own, because she was Catelyn Tully's daughter. It was only a coincidence that he worked at the same division as Clegane. They agreed.

Then another girl disappeared from the same area.

Then another.

Catelyn had informed Brienne that she was being sent undercover to the CRD to ascertain the facts of their current situation. Later, that same evening, Brienne had just compiled a loose backstory when she had pushed herself away from her computer to inform Catelyn that the Jaime Lannister, a former employee at the very bureau they worked at, also happened to be working at the very epicenter of their case.

"What are the odds?"

Brought back to the present, Catelyn stopped twisting her wedding band, and met Brienne's unwavering stare once more.

The pale blonde lifted a broad hand, and ticked off the facts finger-by-finger: "Clegane has been messaging Sansa. Clegane works with the CRD, the very division where you happen to have a personal connection to not only one of the officers there, but the Kingslayer too? And all the while, girls are going missing left and right. What's the connection?"

"What is the connection indeed." Catelyn lowered her gaze to her ring finger, and smiled sadly. "Whatever it may be, I have no doubt you will find it, and that you will bring my daughter home."

Brienne's larger hand reached out, but settled atop the glass desk instead. "They won't get away with this, ma'am."

Catelyn agreed with a slight cant of her head.

But deep down, something inside her told her that these clues were red herrings.

There was something dark and insidious happening in Casterly Rock, and it wasn't just mere coincidences.

TBC...

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