I've been away for way too long. School has kept me busy (I finally finished graduation) and my new job is keeping me occupied. Throw in my too short attention span and we have a recipe for procrastination on a grand scale.

One of those distractions, though enjoyable, was catching up on the entire Sly Cooper series. This little story comes from the end of Thieves in Time, so beware of spoilers.

Stolen Heart

Carmelita Fox scoured the waterways of Paris with a "borrowed" police boat. She shook her head. Who was she kidding? Sly's relaxed view of thieving was starting to rub off on her.

The Latin vixen shivered in the cold night air, but brushed it aside and continued to shine her flashlight across the still waters. She couldn't allow herself to be stopped by something like cold temperatures, not when there was so much at stake right now.

She'd helped the Cooper Gang make repairs to the past, thereby saving the future. There had been several close shaves, but they'd finally come out on top, and defeated the rotten crook behind it all, Cyrille Le Paradox.

Everything should have returned to normal then. Should have...

Sly had stayed behind to ensure that Le Paradox didn't make some kind of last minute escape as his malfunctioning time vortex went haywire. Sly had defeated the damn skunk, but was unable to escape from the time traveling blimp before it disappeared.

So here they were, weeks later, combing through every available piece of information for some sign to Sly's whereabouts.

Bentley did what he did best, his brain pushed to its limits as he tried to figure out where Sly might have ended up.

Murray might not have been as active in searching for Sly, but his diligence in making sure that he was ready for his friend's arrival, and his willingness to help on any leads that were uncovered was more than enough.

Carmelita frowned as she recalled how she had tried, unsuccessfully, to lose herself in her police work. Feeling that this alone was unsatisfactory, she had decided to begin her own private search, and look for the raccoon on her own.

That was almost two weeks ago, and she'd already searched all of Cooper's old stomping grounds and exhausted all her leads. She was running out of options, and she was beginning to lose faith.

She'd been avoiding this area, the spot where several portions of Le Paradox's blimp, as well as the stinking bastard himself, had fallen. It would do her no good, she reasoned, to leave such an important area out of her search.

A large bunch of scrap caught her eye, breaking her out of her thoughts, and she turned her flashlight on it. She spotted something odd amongst the twisted metal and wood frame, and drew her boat closer to get a better look.

She saw what appeared to be a small piece of paper stuck in the wreckage, and quickly plucked it from the flotsam.

Her eyes widened when she saw that it was a slightly damaged picture of her and Sly, she holding a single red rose in her hand, a shocked look on her face as the charming thief planted a kiss on her cheek.

She'd noticed the picture was missing long before Sly had begun this whole caper with the museum robbery. From what she was seeing now, he must have been holding onto it for a long time.

She didn't realize she was crying until she felt the hot tears splash onto her hands, and saw both her and Sly's faces obscured by wet splotches.

Carmelita was conflicted. Part of her was angry at herself for crying. Shouldn't she need her strength now more than ever, so that she could get her ringtail back to her? Another part of her felt like laughing. After everything that had happened recently, this is what it took for her to finally shed a few tears?

But the biggest part of her, and the part that she heeded the most at the moment, wanted to stay there and cry, to bawl her eyes out until there was nothing left. She held the tattered picture to her chest and wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks as Sly's absence finally hit her like a freight train.

How many times had Sly shown a willingness to apologize, to explain, to make peace? And how often had she brushed his attempts aside, often with a warning shot from her shock pistol?

She still remembered how she felt when he came to rescue her. She was concerned for his safety of course, but more than anything, she was elated that he was there. That damn raccoon always had to play the hero, didn't he?

Carmelita was unsure of how long she stood on that boat, crying and reminding herself of all the times, good or bad, that she had experienced with Sly Cooper.

Eventually, she wiped her eyes and began to steer the boat for the shore. She was ending the search early tonight.

She felt it then, stronger than ever before. Sly Cooper had stolen something precious from her, right from under her nose, and for once she felt okay with it.

That didn't mean she would let him get away with it though. He was a thief after all, and it was her job as a cop to ensure that he got his just reward for everything that he had done. She would find him.

Carmelita Montoya Fox smiled to herself, a half-smirk that highlighted the rekindled hope in her eyes. And as the boat neared the shore, she tucked the battered picture into the breast pocket of her jacket and whispered to no one in particular, "I'll be seeing you soon, ringtail."

As I said, I played through the entire Sly Cooper collection, plus the new Thieves in Time game (I'd recommend it to anyone that hasn't played it yet). And thus, I was struck by a sudden liking of the game's premier couple, Sly Cooper and Carmelita Fox. So I did what any good writer does: I gathered information (cough played video games cough) and wrote a story.

I hope you all like it. Please review and tell me what you think.