Hi all! I'm sorry I've yet to upload any of my other stories, but trust me when I say I'm trying to do it! Spring Break is next week, so I may just upload everything!

Anyways, this is my first attempt at a Sly Cooper fanfic.

Sly Cooper and Gang belong to SuckerPunch.

Alicia and other characters belong to me and me only!

Sly leaned against a wall, battered and looking defeated. All he could do was replay the last fight he had with his only love, the vixen Inspector, and hope to God that one of his former teammates found him before he collapsed or died of blood loss, or even worse, of a broken heart.

He looked at the badge that he absolutely hated now and, before giving it a second thought, threw it into the nearest dumpster and kept moving. However, by the limping he walked with and his ragged breathing, he knew that death was near.

'I should never have lied to her about the amnesia… It was wonderful at first, but I didn't want her to love me for a stupid lie…' He thought as he tried to cross the nearest street. The rain was beating down on his tattered uniform from the Police unit where he was up until last night. Then she kicked him out, making sure to almost break a few of his bones.

What upset him the most was the tears; HER tears; the tears of pain and betrayal. Seeing her that way made him scared and guilt-ridden. He never wanted to make her cry, especially over him. He felt nothing now, and he knew that she didn't either. All he wanted to do now was just find a quiet place in Paris and die, his heart wrought with guilt, pain and sorrow.

Somehow, things never really worked out in his favor when it came to his own wishes.

He finally found the old safe house where he and his former gang hung out, before the start of it all. He grinned at the fond memories of Bentley and Murray, wishing to see them one more time and to tell them how hurt he was over what he did to them. He pressed his back against the wall and slid down. He clutched his chest and closed his eyes, the image of the vixen he would love forever etched into his eyelids.

'Carm… I'm so sorry… I love you…' He thought as he welcomed death.

He opened his eyes and winced at the feeling of discomfort coming from his chest. Taking a quick glance around, he noted the starch white walls and the beeping of the medical equipment around him.

His ears perked up at the sound of the doorknob turning, and he was ready to make a run for it, but he noticed that his cane and clothes were missing. The only thing he had on was a robe. The door opened and in stepped in a woman.

She was a bit shorter than him, not more than two or three inches from his own height of six feet. Her long sandy blonde hair was curled and hung loosely down her shoulders, her side-swept bangs framing delicate honey brown eyes. She smiled at him, a kind and caring smile, and pulled up a chair. As she turned, he noted the fluffy tail the same color as her fur and hair, and he realized that it was another raccoon.

"How are you doing?" She asked him, her voice light and airy, like a bell. He seemed calmer now, thanks in part to her beauty, in part to her voice, and just lay back down on the bed.

"I've definitely been better. And who might this gorgeous face be?" He grinned, hoping to have some of his edge from all the flirtations from the previous years. She giggled softly, and he couldn't help but want to hear more of that soft giggle.

"Sorry about that. My name's Alicia. And you handsome?" She teased him back, the playful smile never leaving her lips. For some reason, his heart skipped a few beats.

"The name's… Sylvester James…" He didn't know whether to tell this young woman his full name, but something about her seemed like he could trust her not to spill the beans to Interpol. "…Cooper."

She didn't seem surprised or even disgusted that he was the notorious master thief. She just smiled kindly and held her coat to her chest.

"So you're the Sly I've heard so much about. Nice to meet you." She grinned, making his heart stop for a split second. Why was he feeling this way towards this girl?

"My reputation precedes me." He flashed her a grin before wincing again. She giggled.

"Don't try flirting so much while you're in the hospital. They spent a few hours trying to make sure that all of your bones remained intact, and that you didn't suffer from a concussion." She told him, checking her watch.

"Got a date tonight?" He asked, wondering if she would leave and tell the whole world that the master thief was in a hospital bed. She shook her head.

"No, I'm just wondering when they'll get here." He gave her a confused look and then the door opened again, revealing two doctors. Both wore white coats over their bodies, and was one on a wheelchair?

"So Mr. James, how are you doing?" The one in the wheelchair asked, looking at the raccoon through his glasses. He recognized them and grinned.

"Just fine Doc. A few bruises, nothing much! I'll be up in a few days." He said, trying to sit up to get a better look at his friends. Alicia stood up and helped him, gently holding him up with her delicate fingers as she placed another pillow on his back.

"That's good then. Ms. Alicia, I believe that he's ready to head on out. Are you going with him?" The turtle asked. She nodded and handed the other doctor, a giant hippo, a small bag. The hippo smiled happily and stuffed the bag into his pocket, to save for later.

"Yes. I'll just help him grab his things and then we'll be heading on out." Both of the doctors nodded and began to leave, the turtle first. The hippo waved at the sow and left, closing the door behind them. Alicia then reached under her coat and pulled out Sly's blue thieving outfit.

"You might want to wear your disguise over this." She handed them to him and then added another pair of black shoes, a pair of comfortable jeans and a brown jacket.

"Thanks…" He put them on as she turned around, being too shy to look at him when he was changing, for obvious reasons. He tapped her shoulder and grinned. She nodded and handed him the Cooper cane and began to head out, but he stopped her as he grabbed her wrist.

"Alright, Alicia. Tell me who you are?" He asked, tugging her towards him. All she did was give him a teasing smile.

"My my, so forward Mr. Cooper. Is this how you treat the other women in your life?" He froze at the mention of the other women and let go of her wrist. She blushed at his reaction and remembered what she had learned from the others and took his hand with a gentle grip and squeezed it. He looked at her and she gave him a caring smile.

"I'll tell you about me later. Over coffee maybe?" She asked him, hoping to lighten his mood. He chuckled and nodded.

"Alright, coffee it is." They picked up the last of their things and left.

After a few minutes of walking outside, Alicia and Sly had reached a small building near the Eiffel Tower. She knocked cryptically on the door and it opened, revealing a turtle in a wheelchair. He let them both in and locked the door behind them. Inside was just the way Sly remembered it all.

The walls were covered in computer monitors, and some had moving bodies on the screen. One of them seemed to be off, and Sly knew why (even though he hadn't been there in months). Off to the side, a large body was looking at a TV, his fingers pressing the buttons furiously as the figure on the screen jumped, ducked and hid from the bad guys. Sly chuckled and slapped him on the back.

"So Murray, how've you been these past few months?" He asked his friend. Said man looked at his friend and grinned.

"Awesome. "The Murray" has yet to go hungry thanks to the amazing cooking ability that our Alicia possesses. Only thing that she cannot surpass "The Murray" in is video games!" He pointed to another screen where a paused game was in motion, and the second player seemed to be about two laps behind. Sly turned to the girl and she smiled, blushing softly.

"I-I was never very good at video games… So o-of course any one can beat me…" She told him as she placed her jacket on a coat rack beside the door and ran into the adjacent room. Sly tuned back to his friends, and immediately heard a scream.

He ran into the kitchen and saw what the scream was about. Alicia was trying not to cry as she inspected the damage to the kitchen. The walls were plastered with cookie dough, the counters covered in dirty bowls stacked upon one another. In the trash and littered about the floor were the burnt remains of what we can only hope are cookies. She swallowed back her tears and knelt down to pick up the scraps.

"Oh… Aly's back..?" Another feminine squeak came from the open door frame. A small mouse peeked inside, a grim look on her face as she tried to take off the sticky batter from her blond hair. She looked at the sow through her glasses and stepped in from under Sly.

"Aly, I'm sorry… I-I got caught up in trying to make you another hand mixer, and the batter went flying…" She explained as she grabbed a towel and began to try and clean the walls. Alicia sighed and smiled at her friend.

"It's alright Penelope. It was an accident." She picked up the broom, not realizing that Sly was still there. When she finally noticed, she turned a bright red and mumbled something in Spanish as she tried to clean up.

As she moved around the kitchen, Sly noticed that she had the whole thing under control. None of her movements were wasted as she cleaned up and avoided Penelope. Her reflexes were quite amazing too, seeing how she dodged the broom that fell from Murray's hands as he tried to help her out as well. She looked as though she herself was a descendant of the Cooper clan, but he knew that wasn't the case…was it?

As he was about to ask, he decided against it as the door opened once again, revealing a large panda and a smaller koala right behind him, both carrying bags of food. Alicia went over to them and thanked them for going out and she took the groceries into the kitchen, on a now-clean counter.

Instead of bothering with asking her, he went back to where Murray had gotten to and started to play video games with him.

About an hour later, Alicia tapped Sly on the shoulder. He looked up and met her honey eyes.

"Shall I call in that coffee date from earlier?" She smirked and stepped over to the door. "Come on. We're not needed here." She pushed a flowered hair pin into her hair and grabbed her jacket as Sly just laughed and took off his mask.

"Fine, fine." He followed her out and she led him to a coffee house a few blocks away. Penelope waited until they were both gone before starting to direct everyone else.

When they got there, both raccoons grabbed a booth near the back of the room. A waited came by and asked for their orders, and they both picked something to eat and a coffee to go along with it. As soon as he left, Sly turned to the girl.

"Alright Alicia, spill. How do you know us?" He asked, not really worried but curious. She took one of the straws that were sitting there and twirled it around her finger.

"Well, I'm a bit of a thief. I got fired from my old job because Louis thought that I was getting greedy." She sighed. "So I put up an ad on ThiefNet for a semi-decent thief, and Bentley contacted me a few days ago."

'Which explains why she moves around so fluently and without wasted effort…'

"Okay, sounds reasonable enough…" He commented as the waiter came back. He placed down their small meal and their drinks and bowed before leaving those two again. Alicia picked up her latte and took a careful sip as she tried to figure out how to tell him what was next.

"So, the Cooper Gang hired me as their stand-in thief, and when they discovered that I can be a bit of a home-maker, they decided to keep me on as Golden Goose and Head Cook for the meals. It actually is better for me. I enjoy cooking more than thievery, but I do what it takes to get by." She looked up as Sly was sipping his own black coffee.

"It turns out that my main mission these last few days was to monitor you." At this, Sly spit out his coffee.

"W-WHAT?!" She motioned for him to lower his voice. "You mean you were doing recon?" She nodded.

"Bentley thought that the Inspector was starting to catch on about your amnesia, so he wanted me to make sure that if she did, we could bail you out." She stared at her cup and he could see the hurt in her eyes.

"What I hadn't planned on was that you would have told her yesterday and ended it all. I found you right after you collapsed, it seems, and I took you to the hospital. Then you woke up after the bandages were up." She finished and set her cup down. She reached for the croissant that she had ordered and ripped off a corner of it.

"I'm sorry I couldn't go in and get you outta there before she attacked…" She told him in a quiet voice. He saw the look on her face and placed his hand under her chin to tilt it up so she could look at him.

"Don't worry about it. Happens all the time." He grinned and let her go back to her drink. As she ate, he couldn't help but run his eyes over her. She reminded him so much of her, and yet they were complete opposites. For one thing, Alicia was on his side, and she wasn't trying to shoot him at any given moment. She seemed like she wouldn't betray anyone who told her a secret, and most of all…

She was someone that he could relate to, in more ways than one it seemed.

"Hey, Aly?" He began, taking his own slice of bread and eating a bit. She looked up from the steam of her cup and tossed him a curious glance. He grinned.

"How about I take you out on the town tomorrow night?" He asked her. She turned a soft red and gave him a smile.

"Are you asking me out Sly?" She asked, leaning forward a bit so that she could rest her chin on her hands. He leaned back, that grin still on his face.

"Depends. Will you accept it as a friend, or as a co-worker?" She giggled and once again, he felt his heart skip a beat.

"If I said friend?"

"Then a date it is." She giggled and checked her watch.

"Sly, could you do me a favor?" She asked him. He looked at her curiously.

"Could you run out and buy me…" She tried to think of something. "…some cake supplies? I wanna make something for everyone later." He nodded and she handed him her card. "Thanks a lot. I'll meet you back at the safe house then?"

"You got it." They both paid for half of their meal (Sly wanted to pay it, but she wouldn't ask him to pay for her side) and left. As soon as Sly disappeared over the rooftops, Alicia ran back to the safe house, avoiding people and vehicles with ease.

When she arrived, the room was quiet until she spoke.

"How's it going?"

A few hours later, Sly finally came back (nearest store was about ten miles away). He stepped inside a pitch black room, but then he switched the lights on.

"SURPRISE!" He was shocked. Everyone was dressed up festively, and there were many dishes on the table. He looked at his friends for an explanation.

"It was Alicia's idea. She thought we should have a 'welcome back to the gang' party for you." Bentley explained. Sly looked over to the new girl and she gave him a smile, tugging on her red skirt.

"Welcome back, Sitting Duck." They all announced, making this the second greatest day in Sly's life.

Next chapter is considerably shorter, and it will have our favorite Interpol officer, Carmelita!

Tune in,

CagedBird17