Sly was hunched over on the small bench, resting his chin on his fists. His elbows were placed on his knees and the useless handcuffs still remained behind his back. From his seat, he looked through the bars at the room that his cell was located in. The room was incredibly bland, the white walls leading up to the white ceiling and not a window in sight. The only thing that interrupted the white walls was the white door, positioned five feet in front of, and three feet to the right of the cell. Farther to the right there were a couple more cells that were empty for the moment. There was a table on the left with a chair, where Sly assumed a guard would sit. However, all of the officers were now busy upstairs, deciding what to do with the Master Thief. He had been guarded carefully in the helicopter, all the way from Kaine Island and he was always in the presence of at least one officer when he was in the hospital. He assumed that since he had not tried anything in transport, they thought that he would not try to break out of a station filled with officers. He also noticed that this was the first time that the lovely Inspector had left his side for any real length of time since they were in the vault together. "You're my partner, Constable Cooper." He remembered her saying that, but he was on the wrong side of the jail cell bars to believe that it was or ever could be true.

He knew that he was a master thief, he still had all of his memories, but he had tried to convince Interpol otherwise. Well, not Interpol. He did not really care what they thought about his thieving ways. He had wanted his favorite Inspector to think that he had changed; only her opinion mattered to him. He knew that she was not stupid, and that he could not lie to her, but she seemed to come up with a story all on her own. All on her own she told him what he had wanted to hear. He thought that faking his memory loss would give them the chance to start over. In her world he could not be a thief, and he wanted so badly to live in her world. He had hoped that if he had lost his memory, then he might start a new way of life. He had never dreamed that Carmelita would say that he was her partner. At the time, it seemed as if she was declaring her love by giving them a way to stay together, just as he had declared his by jumping in front of the monkey's blast. Now, it seemed that her view of the world was too rigid to ever love him the way that he loved her. When he took the laser that Dr. M had shot at her, all of his thoughts were about her. She consumed his every thought and when he blacked out for a shot period after hitting his head, all he could see was her.

He had tried to talk to her when was in the hospital, but they never seemed to be alone together. He had spent a week hooked up to impressive machines, and undergoing tests. Doctors took samples of his blood, scans of his brain, and monitored his every move. After the week, the doctors decided that there was no reason for Sly to have amnesia. His head seemed fine, he had a concussion, but it was older than the blast to his chest. His muscles still ached from haven taken the shot, but he was for the most part fine. The only real damage done was his precarious standing with Carmelita. When the doctors told her that there was no reason that he should have amnesia he noticed her putting more distance between them. Recently she had put so much that she was not even on the same floor as him. He remembered bitterly that only a week ago she was holding his hand, comforting him. Times had changed though. He was no longer in danger of death and he assumed that he was not going to be the Constable that Carmelita had made him to be in the vault.

Sly was lost in his lamentation of his fleeting relationship until the doorknob of the white door started to turn. He quickly put his hands behind his back, and replaced the cuffs on his wrists, not locking them. The police station had taken his belt, hat, and his cane was left with his gang from him when they brought him in. His shirt was even changed, now wearing a solid black tee, instead of his preferred blue shirt. He missed his shirt, but that had been removed at the hospital. The only hope of getting a new one was to go to the safe house. Sly knew that, that would not happen any time soon. He had been able to get a hold of a paper clip from an office desk as they brought him into the holding cell, and was able to get out of the handcuffs. He would be able to break out of the cell too, he just didn't want to yet.

The door was finally open, and Sly marveled at the sight of Carmelita for a moment. Her dark blue waves were pulled back into her idiosyncratic braid, but there were still a couple of stands that had escaped and rested around her face. It appeared that she had changed her clothes since he had seen her an hour ago; she must have had them in her office. Sly hoped that it was more than his imagination, but she seemed to have small smirk on her lips. Sly could not tell what her true emotions were by looking, since she was working so hard to keep them hidden from him. She seemed almost pleasantly surprised to see him still cuffed in the cell. He couldn't be sure if she was amused from finally seeing him in jail, or if she was just happy to see him. He really wished for the latter to be true. Despite her reason for smiling, Sly smiled in return upon seeing her. He had already decided on the island that he loved her; all he needed now was a response from her.

"Hello, beautiful," he said, watching her walk towards the cell. He wondered if the swaying of her hips was involuntary, or if she did it just to drive him mad. She approached the bars and rested her hands on the door to cell.

"I'm almost surprised that you didn't try to escape." She said, ignoring his statement and confirming his thoughts about her expression.

"And miss another chance to see you? Never." He got off of the bench and walked to the bars to stand in front of her. She pursed her lips, unwilling to let his charm affect her.

He looked at her, pouting. "Do we really need the handcuffs? It's just you and me, Carm." She narrowed her eyes at his nickname for her, but decided to unlock his wrists.

"Fine, the cuffs can come off, but don't try anything stupid," she warned, "this place is full of cops, and I won't hesitate to shoot you." If Sly tried to escape, she'd rather fight him at his full capacity. She started to dig in her jacket pocket for the key. He reached his arms through the bars, and twirled the handcuffs around the index finger of his right hand. She stopped reaching into her pocket to look at his hands that were supposed to be behind him.

"You don't need to keep looking," he said casually. He extended his hand and offered the cuffs to Carmelita. "I can't help but wonder how many other lucky guys have gotten to wear those." He smiled devilishly. She glared at his double meaning, removing her hand from her pocket to snatch the cuffs from his hand.

"How did you…"

"It was nothing more than your striking gaze that freed my hands."

"Cut the crap, Cooper."

Sly suppressed a sigh at her use of his last name. "Carmelita," he said trying to keep things casual between them. "It's not crap. That's what I was trying to tell you in the hospital. It's what I've been dancing around since I met you."

Carmelita shook her head, not letting his words get through to her. "In the hospital you lied to me. You kept saying that you had amnesia, but you were just faking it. You were just using me as a way to escape without getting arrested."

Now Sly shook his head, "no. I was faking my amnesia, but it wasn't to avoid an arrest. If I was that eager to be free of you, wouldn't I have escaped already? I did it for you." He glanced down at his feet. "I know that if I am a thief, we can't really be together. But, if I didn't know that I was a thief," he mused, looking back up at her, "then we would have a chance. I would have been happy behind bars, as long as I was in your custody." He gave her a wink causing her to cross her arms. "I would have even been happy, a lost soul in Paris with nothing but a name, finding my own way." He continued, not letting her coldness to him deter him. "But you told me that I was the Constable, remember? I thought that you had felt something too."

"I just said it to get you out of there safely. You were hurt, and I didn't want you trying to make a quick getaway."

"Regardless, you did say it, and now we're here. So Inspector, now that you've captured me, and my heart, what are you going to do with me?"

"Stop with the flirting, this is serious. You've been arrested and you are staying in jail."

Sly frowned at her, she still wasn't getting it. "I am being serious. All of this 'flirty chitchat' is real to me. I'm done not telling you how I feel. After I thought that I could lose you, I didn't want to run from you anymore."

His sincerity caught her off guard, but she wasn't about to let him know that. She narrowed her eyes, "How do I know that you're not just putting on a show like you were in the vault? How do I know that this isn't part of some big scheme to break out? Win over the Inspector with charm, then break out, leaving her to look like the fool." Sly stared at her for a moment, hearing the hurt in her voice. He sighed.

"You don't trust me," he stated, knowing it to be true.

"I don't trust criminals, especially not master thieves with silver tongues." How could he win her trust? He had been a thief for so long, but he still couldn't steal her heart.

"Some master thief," he muttered to himself under his breath. She looked at him for him to speak up, but he just shook his head. "Look," he started louder, "You can believe what you want, but I'm just telling you how I feel. You don't have to feel the same way, but it would be nice." He said, mumbling the last part. "How can I earn your trust?"

"You can't." His heart sank upon hearing these words. He had hoped that things would not be as hard, but he was still going to try. "Now, are you going to admit to your crimes?" Sly just stared at her for a moment. He inhaled deeply.

"Yes, I am the one responsible." She had a slight look of shock on her face, but did her best to keep it from him.

"Good, then you will spend the rest if your miserable life in this cell." She turned to go, but he grabbed her wrist through the bars.

"Wait," he started. She tugged her arm out of his grasp and drew her shock pistol with the other hand. She fired the shock, the force sending him backwards to land on his tail. "I told you that I wouldn't hesitate to shoot you. You're lucky that I'm not going to add assaulting an officer to you list of charges." She stalked away from him, heading towards the door.

He sat on the floor gazing up at her disappearing figure.

"Carmelita, I love you." She stopped before exiting the room and turned her head to look at him.
She flipped the light switch to the off position and closed the door hard behind her. Sly was left alone on the jail cell floor in the complete darkness.