This story was inspired by a certain music video created by the wonderful musicians Lindsey Stirling and the Piano Guys! I have no ownership of the scene they created, or of the Sly Cooper Characters. As always, if you like it, hate it, have a request, or anything, leave a review! Happy Valentine's day, Sly Cooper Fans!

'Why did I think this would work?' I sighed heavily, peering around the now empty restaurant. I'd probably been here for hours, waiting on Carmelita to come. I don't know why I even reserved this table, did I actually think that an Inspector for Interpol would come meet me, a world-class thief, for dinner and a night on the town? My fingers reached for the tickets in my front jacket pocket: Carmen. Opera wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but it was her favorite of the old masterpieces. I thought it might have made her smile. I made a final grab for my silver pocket watch, only to be even more disappointed. 11:45. 'Fifteen more minutes, and I'm out of here.' Another happy Valentine's Day for me.

Eventually a waiter came out to give me my bill; I had eaten a couple of hours ago, my stomach made it too difficult to wait. He was wearing a red and black suit, customary dress for the wait staff. He walked up to me, with an unexpected surprise in tow. On top of the bill was a fortune cookie. By the looks of it, it was hand crafted, not one of those disgusting mass-produced things. He had a heavy Chinese accent, which was normal, being that this was the highest rated Chinese eatery in Paris.

"Compliments of the Chef."

I straightened in the chair, and accepted the gift.

"Thank you."

I cracked open the cookie. 'If this says 'Your life shall be blessed with love and eternal happiness', I'm going to have a cow.' Imagine my surprise when I read this!

Golden Rose Bouquet is being guarded in the Louvre's newest exhibit, Musée de l'éternel amour. Perfect gift for a lost love, wouldn't you think? Back door through the kitchen, one minute. -Bentley

I read it over a couple of times, to be sure I was understanding it correctly. Then I smiled. 'Sometimes I wonder where I'd be without that turtle. Probably still stuck in Prague.'

I pushed out the chair, and made my way for the kitchen of the establishment. Sure enough, there was a back door through the kitchen. My smile grew wider.

I got rid of the suit in the alley, luckily I keep a spare set of thieving attire underneath my clothes wherever I go. I was surprised to find that, in my pack, was a three-piece version of my family cane. Bentley thought of everything. And without me noticing, too!

I started to make my way to the museum, becoming more and more excited with each step I took. This would be a Valentine's Day that neither of us would ever forget...

The three of us met right in front of the Louvre gates. We could see that the museum was alive with the voices of hundreds of people, they must have been putting on a big Valentine's Day event in the main ballroom of the building.

"We do this on one condition, Sly: We each keep one rose, then you can give the rest to Carmelita."

I was beaming. "Are you kidding? This is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me! Keep as many as you want!"

The turtle contemplated that for a moment, but he shook his head. "Nah, We'll probably just end up selling the ones we keep on Thief Net, anyway."

Murray was starting to get antsy, he bashed his fist into his open hand. 'What're we waiting for? We've got a bou... a booke... a bunch of Flowers to steal!"

We both grinned at the blunt way Murray put that phrase. I made my way to the top of the gallery, climbing up the iron gate. Bentley had decided that the best possible way to steal the bouquet was for Murray and he to meet up with me later, so we could haul the goods out together. I'd have to wait till Bentley and Murray did their part, though, before I could get to the top of the building. This job had to be timed perfectly. We'd only done one heist in the Louvre before, so I was a tad nervous. I didn't want to be locked up in Interpol's prison anytime soon, especially on Valentine's Day.

The two of them got into their disguises pretty quickly; Bentley got into in a stuffy old costume that reminded me of an art aficionado, while Murray was his means of travel. I was a bit worried when they came to the night guards out in front of the building, but they surprised me. I could see from my perch atop the gate that Bentley flashed a silver ID card in front of the guard's face. He snatched it from the turtle's hand. Almost immediately his face flushed deep red, from my limited skills as a lip reader, he was apologizing over and over for questioning the man of his authenticity. He even let in Murray without a second thought. 'Shows how many of these guys dropped out of high school...' My turn.

I ran along the gate's edge, hopping over some of the more painful iron spires, and vaulted my way to a ledge of the Louvre. As I shuffled my way along, I wondered if this would even mean anything to Carmelita, if anything, she'd probably return the roses and not give me a second thought. But I had to try, right?

...

Right?

I easily made my way to the glass dome above the grand gallery. I could see that their main performance, a piano/cello duo and a violinist, were stringing up a storm! I seemed to recognize the face of their lead violinist, but I couldn't put a name to the face. 'Either way, they're beautiful players.' I shrugged it off, and continued my climb. I found that there was a small stretch of outcropping roof beside the dome. I also saw that there was a large door that, if Bentley's schematics were right, would lead to the west wing of the Museum. And his schematics were always right.

The three of us met up in the west wing. Somehow, it seems like Bentley and Murray weaved their way through the crowd. I wouldn't have been able to, for some reason everyone tries to strike up a conversation with me when I'm in disguise... anyway, we met up at the west wing archway.

"Wasn't too hard to get down here, was it Sitting Duck?"

I rolled my eyes and leaned on my cane. "No, it wasn't. And stop calling me Sitting Duck, it makes me nervous."

'Wait... did I just say that? Master thieves are never nervous, that's what chapter one in the Thievius Raccoonus is all about! I guess the stress of the night's getting to me.' I shook it off, and followed my friends along the wing. A right, two straight hallways, and two lefts later, we came to a huge dome-shaped room. It looked like the room had been closed off for a while, they must have shut it down when the piano performance started. Even in the dark, I could see the beauty in this chamber of the gallery. The entire room was littered with golden and bronze statues, from different eras and time periods. One was a silver monument of Princess Lole and Hercules, another was a bronze statue of Romeo and Juliet, and countless more. On each was a gold plaque, teaching generic information on the lovers in question. In the center of the room was our prize; a massive glass and gold case, inside which was the golden Bouquet. I grinned when I saw it. From my observations, there were twelve roses in the bundle, all wrapped together with what looked like silk. "Jackpot," I said to myself. I started to step towards the case, but Bentley told me to freeze. Me being the rebellious spirit that I am, I questioned why.

"Sly?" He said very slowly, "Do...not...move. Back away slowly..."

I decided that it probably was a smart idea to listen to him, so I did as told.

"Get the dust."

The dust was one of the more useful inventions of Bentley's past. And it didn't become worse with age. He tried explaining the entire system of creating it, how one wrong move with the pumice stone would destroy its purpose, but I zoned out during the lecture. Essentially, it was an extremely fine white powder, made from ground diamond fragments. It was ground so fine, that no laser defense system could detect it passing the beam, and so prismatic, that it made any unseen defenses (namely more lasers) easy to find. The greatest part about the dust is that when it comes in contact with a laser, it stays suspended in the laser's path, keeping it so you can see the beam! An expensive trick, which I originally objected to, but one that's saved us many a time on a heist. I fished out the small silk bag of the stuff, and poured out some in the palm of my hand. I was skeptic in using it. "Are you sure? It takes more than you think to get the diamonds for this stuff, you know."

"Just do it, Sly."

I shrugged, and blew into my palm, sending the shimmering sands into the air. Sure enough, the entire case had been outfitted with a massive laser grid. It made a glowing spiderweb around the golden container, even through the glass in places.

"Hmm... those beams through the glass will probably set off an alarm if we disturb it at all. A pretty ingenious system, one shift in the glass' position and our goose is cooked! Smart move, Le-Froire..." Bentley seemed to be in a trance, mumbling to himself.

I was quizzical. "Le-Froire? Who's he?"

He snapped out of it quickly. "Oh, nothing, nothing. Anyway, this might be a bit tougher than I thought." Bentley flipped a switch on the left arm of his chair, releasing his Binocucom. Murray and I watched as he surveyed the area, trying to find who knows what. Suddenly his look of determination changed to excitement. "Bingo." He pushed another button on the right arm. A miniature laptop-like device popped out, held up by two metallic arms. Bentley cracked his fingers. "I'll hack the system as fast as I can. You two get in position. Murray," he glanced to the hippo, "You get in position on the right of the case. DON'T touch the case till I tell you to, but when I do, lift the case off." Then he looked up at me. "Sly, as soon as Murray gets the case out of the picture, you snatch the roses, and we all get out of here."

"No sweat," Murray and I said in unison.

"Alright... in 3...2... NOW!"

The Lasers flashed off, we could hear the dust fall to the tiled floor. Murray gripped his hands on the bottom of the case, and yanked it clear off its moorings. I proceeded to grab the bundle of roses, and I tried to pull it loose, but whatever I did, it stayed put. "Bentley! Bomb!"

He quickly pressed another button, and a bomb was flung from the wheelchair. "Murray, Sly! Get out of the way!"

We both ran out of the way, just in time to get out of the bomb's blast radius. I saw the roses soar up to the ceiling, just about hitting it. I ran to catch the bunch, constantly looking up to see if I was close enough to it. My arms outstretched, I jumped out to grab them. I hit the ground, sliding, just catching the bundle in my arms before it his the tile. I had a big grin on, now at least I had a chance of Carm forgiving me.

Murray jogged over to me, whooping and hollering happily. "Nice catch, Sly!"

If it was possible, my grin grew even larger. "Thanks, big guy!" I got up from my knees, and sighed. "I couldn't have done it without you guys."

"That's right, and don't you forget it!" Bentley wheeled over, and looked at me happily. "You get out of here, that bomb had to have drawn some attention. We'll get back in disguise and meet you back at the Safe House, you just focus on getting out of here quickly."

I nodded. With the roses in tow, it was a bit more difficult to move up to the large window, but it wasn't impossible. Using my free hand, I swung up using my cane, and landed (if a bit awkwardly) on the window sill.

"Oh, and Sly?"

I was just about to jump out the window, when I heard Bentley. "Yeah?"

He smiled. "Tell Carmelita we said hi."

Dang, I have great friends.

The female fox sighed heavily as she shut the door to her apartment. She'd had a long, LONG day at Interpol. Her hands were blistered and cramped from all the forms she had to sign, being an Inspector for Interpol wasn't the fun-filled exciting life she once had. Apparently, management decided that she'd been out of the office for too long, and should be back in 'An enviroment fitting for a woman in the police force'. She wanted to roundhouse kick upper management in the teeth. She missed the days when she roamed the world, hunting for her arch enemy, Sly Cooper.

'Arch Enemy? Eh.'

She didn't know what she'd do the next time she saw the raccoon; kiss him, or shoot him in the foot. Maybe both. She let out a breath of air as she flopped down on the old couch in her living room. She shut her eyes to try and relax. She'd gotten an invite from Sly a couple hours before for some Chinese food and a surprise. 'He'd be the one getting a surprise,' she thought as her gaze drifted to the shock pistol on her coffee table. She rose from the couch, heading for the fridge to grab a can of Pepsi, or milk... 'Just something cool enough to calm me down.'

As she went into the kitchen, her jaw dropped. Right in front of her, on the kitchen counter, was a massive bouquet of roses. Now, that would have freaked her enough, seeing as it was impossible for anyone to get inside her apartment. But this was the kicker: the roses were made of gold. Pure gold! She just stood there, dumbstruck, staring at the flowers. Slowly she stepped up to the bouquet, to see ten of the golden roses placed in a beautiful silver vase. "What the..." As she inspected the vase, she noticed a card beside the vase. She smiled slightly as she read it.

I would have written a poem to confess my undying love to you, but it would have sounded terrible. I would have told you how beautiful you were face to face, but we both know how that could have ended.

On the opposite side of the card was a snapshot of Carmelita and Sly running through the Kung Lung Mountains. Carmelita was shooting her shock pistol at the thief, with an angry look on her face.

If I could ever find a way for you to forgive me, I would... but I know I can't fix the past. Not yet, at least.

She looked at the bundle of golden roses beside her, and continued reading.

God knows that I'll try though. I love you Carmelita Montoya Fox... Never forget that. Please, never forget that.

-Sylvester Cooper

She grabbed the vase, and brought it with her to the living room. She sat down on the couch, and contemplated about Sly and Her relationship. In the old days, if she had caught Sly in the act of showing affection, she would have thought of some snappy comeback and chased after him with the pistol. She would find something within her subconsciousness, something she thought up a couple days before, and turned that annoying smirk on his face into a frightened frown. But she didn't.

She walked out her balcony, to her surprise, and found Sly perched on the top of a nearby building. She smiled sadly to the raccoon, her gaze locking with his.

"What, not going to shoot me, Carmelita?"

"That's left to be decided. Do you know how sappy you just sounded in that letter?"

He looked down sheepishly. "Yeah, but would it have been any better if I hadn't?"

She paused for a second, in thought...Then smiled. "Maybe not."

The two just watched each other for a while, looking deep into each other's eyes. They could have said anything to each other, and they wouldn't have meant any more than the few words said there that night.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Ringtail."

The thief returned the smile. "You too, Miss Fox. Happy Valentine's day."