Disclaimer: I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions/Sanzaru Games.

Claimer: I own all of my original characters.

Despite my full plate of upcoming stories, I felt the need to write a quick oneshot. Now I don't normally write Sly/Carmelita oneshots…in fact I don't think I've ever written one…but I figured I'd give it a try. And I know it's short…but it's just a quick oneshot. So, with that in mind, please read, review, and let me know what you think about my first Sly/Carmelita oneshot. Thanks!

Air Vents

I sighed quietly to myself, leisurely strolling through the numerous display cases at the local museum. As much as I loved my job as Interpol's top inspector, I absolutely hated museum stakeouts. On just about ever occasion, a museum stakeout was uneventful, quiet, and incredibly boring. The only time that there was anything of interest happening at a stakeout, was if Cooper happened to drop by in the process. But so far tonight, it seemed as if Cooper wasn't coming. I groaned, tossing my head back slightly in the process as I strolled through more display cases. I passed through a variety of different objects inside the glass cases; gemstones, expensive jewelry, ancient porcelain vases, and other random trinkets. The museum was dimly lit, the security lights and my own flashlight being the only sort of illumination. I rested my paw on my shock pistol, which was holstered securely on my hip, as I walked from room to room, looking for anything of interest. It was completely silent inside the museum, the only sound coming from the heels of my boots clicking against the laminated floors of the building.

"Aye," I groaned as leaned sat on one of the benches in the hallway, trying to alleviate the soreness in my feet, "my feet are killing me." I sighed loudly, knowing that this would be a long night of uneventful police work.

My luck changed, however, when a rather audible crash came from one of the rooms I had just walked through. I jumped from my seat, grabbing my shock pistol from its holster and pointed it directly in front of me. I rushed to the room where the crash had come from, scanning the room slowly with my flashlight, looking for the caused of the disturbance. I walked slowly around the room, scanning it silently with my flashlight, a scowl plastered across my face. My light flashed over a reflective surface on the ground, alerting me to what had caused the crash. The cover to the ceiling air vent was on the ground along with another item; one that was all too familiar to me. Sly Cooper's cane was on the ground as well, resting quietly on the ground next to the air vent lid. I felt my eyebrow rise, attempting to figure out what had happened in here. It didn't surprise me that Cooper was here, considering her was a thief and this was a high class museum, but why would he be so careless on a job to make an alerting crash and leave his cane at the scene of the crime. I looked up to the ceiling, where the air vent lid had fallen from, and smiled, realizing why Cooper's cane was on the ground.

"Cooper?" I called up to the thief, who was in a rather stick situation. From the looks of it, Cooper had been crawling though the air vents with the lid simply gave out from underneath him, leaving him dangling from the air vents in the ceiling above. Considering that I could only see the lower half of the thief, I wasn't quite sure what was keeping him suspended inside the air vent, but the raccoon seemed to be hanging onto the inside of the vent for dear life.

"Hey," Cooper's voice was elongated as he spoke to me from the metal vent, "Carmelita! I didn't expect to see you here!" I chuckled, replacing my shock pistol to its holster.

"So always get stuck in air vents when I'm not around?" I heard his scoff, his voice echoing above me.

"I'm not stuck, Inspector Fox, I'm merely just…taking in the sights of the museum." I moved my flashlight beam to focus on the opening to the vent, trying to see the raccoon's face.

"Taking in the sights from the inside of the air vent?" he flicked his tail, a sigh of slight agitation, and I couldn't help but chuckle. Normally, Cooper was the one trying to mess with me while he's on a job. But now, the tables have turned and I was the one with the upper hand.

"Of course not," he chuckled slightly, "I was on my way down when you showed up, and I figured I'd just…hang around for a while."

"Right…" I chuckled as I started circling below the dangling thief, "and in the process of doing so, you got yourself stuck? Am I right?" I shifted a bit, attempting to look down to me.

"I'm not stuck Inspector. I do not get stuck." I barked a laugh, shifting my weight to on leg before crossing my arms across my chest.

"Then come down here, Cooper…unless you're stuck, that is." He scoffed again while attempting to shift in the hold he was obviously stuck in. I could tell he was attempting to claw his way into the air vent by the way his huffed to himself and his feet flailed in the process. He gave a slight shriek after a moment of struggling, sliding down the vent a little bit more, only to flail more in the process. He finally stopped moving and sighed, his legs falling limp and he simply dangled in the air.

"Carmelita," he said after a moment of silence, "I'm stuck." I barked a louder laugh, finding this entire situation to be the highlight of my day. Sly Cooper, master thief and smooth talker extraordinaire, was stuck in an air vent.

"I knew it!" I pointed to the thief, an express of my suspicions to his dilemma, even though he probably couldn't see me from his position, "You, Sly Cooper, are stuck in a measly air vent!" he gave a sarcastic laugh and flicked his tail again.

"Alright, you've had your laughs, Ms. Fox. Now can you please get me down?" I laughed again, shaking my head in the process.

"Oh no, Sly Cooper, you got yourself up there, you can get yourself down." He laughed himself, probably shaking his head with one of his signature smiles plastered across her face.

"Now I am just crushed, Inspector." I smiled, shaking at my head at the thief. Our relationship was…complicated. He was a thief, I was a police officer, so we couldn't be together…could we? I honestly didn't know, I wanted it to work…but I just don't think that it could; unless one of us changed our outlooks on life and our careers. I was snapped out of my thoughts when another audible crash came from the other room. I pulled out my shock pistol, aiming both the gun and the flashlight to the entrance to the room.

"I'll be back," I muttered to the raccoon as I slowly made my way towards the source of the sound.

"I'll just…hang around here for a while." Sly chuckled from his location in the air vent and I rolled my eyes at his poor joke. My police instincts kicked in as I made my way to the next room, ready to investigate the second loud crash of the night. I scanned the room with my flashlight, looking for the crash.

"Freeze!" I shouted once I spotted a figure dart, or attempt to dart, away from the scene of the crash. The shadow was relatively round…and a bit hefty. Then it dawned on me who I had just seen. Cooper's hippo friend huffed as he left the scene of the crash, attempting to resist being shot by my shock pistol. I made my way to where he had been standing, trying to see what had happened. I only noticed shard of glass on the ground; seeing that it was a pointless distraction. A distraction…that's all it was…a distraction.

"Cooper!" I roared once I realized what had just happened. I bolted into the previous room, where Cooper was dangling, and pointed my flashlight to the air vent. I growled loudly when I realized that Cooper was no longer in the vent, his cane had been picked up off the ground, the large gem below him was gone, and his calling card was inside the case. It was now obvious that this entire thing was a sham to get me distracted long enough so Cooper could steal the gemstone he had his thieving eyes on. I felt like such a moron for falling for his trap and could kick myself for doing so.

"You didn't really think I had gotten stuck in that vent, did you?" Cooper's voice purred in my ear, followed by a slight chuckle. I whipped around, ready to fire as soon as I saw him. I felt myself tense and the breath leave my lungs momentarily as his lips brushed against mine, making my anger melt away. Cooper was hanging upside down form the air vent he was 'stuck' in. His lips parted from mind after a few moments, only to have him duck back up into the vent and out of the museum.