Author's Note: Hello! I am sorry for the delay, I have been incredibly busy lately. This is part two. I really enjoyed writing this part. I hope you enjoy it as well.

I do not own any characters here, I give all that credit to Sucker Punch and Sanzaru Games.


I ran my fingers over various movie titles. I knelt before the cabinet, trying to figure out what we could watch. She was quiet. I could hear the clicking of the keys on her laptop. She typed quickly, with purpose, but not as quickly as Bentley. No one could type as quickly as him. Even though she was retired she liked to stay on top of criminals Interpol had recently caught, it became her hobby.

I tried to ignore the persistent clicks. I brought my attention back to the movies. I narrowed it down to three. Perhaps she could choose now-wait, the clicking stopped.

It was silent for a few seconds. Our breathing was the only thing that could be heard. She let out a small sigh.

"My father was an inspector at Interpol." She said, her voice shattering the silence.

My finger rested on a movie I was about to pull out of the cabinet. I dropped my hand to give her my full attention.

Carmelita sat on the far side of the couch. I looked at her, inviting her to continue with the story. Our eyes met and her expression grew more uncertain by the second. She let out an uneasy sign and shut her laptop. Without word she placed it on the table besides her and stood up. I watched her take four strides to the other side of the room. There she turned her back to me. I bit my lip, stifling the overwhelming desire to ask for more.

"My father was great at what he did. He was a very strong man. Familia was important but his job always held a special place in his heart. I come from a long line of officers. My grandfather was an inspector as was his father." She turned to face me; various emotions concealed her face.

I felt so helpless. I wanted to tell her to stop talking about it and to help me chose a movie to watch. But, I also wanted to hear about her. Throughout our years of playing cops and robbers I got to know the inspector side of her very well. However, the real Carmelita, the one who hid behind a badge and shock-pistol, always seemed to keep me on my feet. I never knew what to expect from her.

"I guess I broke the seῆior tradition." Carmelita said briefly smiling. "He worked alongside my boss-well old boss. Chief Barkley. They were good friends. I remember him coming over for dinner. He would always tell me how I would someday follow in my father's footsteps. I never really had a second thought about joining Interpol. I guess I was always meant to be an officer just like Barkley said…"

She was lost in thought; her eyes were fixed on a point in the wall.

"During dinner they would share stories. My mother hated it. She thought their stories were bad influences on her niῆa. But, I loved them. They would discuss past criminals they stopped. I remember one story they told me. I was young, just a child. They explained how they ran into the famous Conner Cooper. An un-catchable thief, it fascinated me." She turned her attention towards me. My heart thumped frantically in my chest. My father, he knew my father…

"That's so cool!" I said, jumping up. I couldn't help but smile.

"I always wondered what they meant by un-catchable. I guess my questions were answered when I ran into his son." A small smile tugged at her lips. Before I could truly appreciate the smile, she was sucked back into the past.

She looked deep in thought now, like she wanted to say something. I had a sour taste in my mouth as I predicted the ending to her story. It wasn't like I didn't know the ending. Though, hearing the details from her was completely different then just assuming why I never met her family…

Any hint of happiness in her voice was suddenly gone. "On an everyday assignment my dad was taken by surprise. A criminal that was supposed to be a simple arrest had a lot of backup. A lot more than expected. Mi padre defended his officers and was killed in a shootout. The criminal was never caught." She turned around to face me. Her eyes were glossy but her face was stern. She crossed her arms and kept her eyes pinned on that same spot on the wall.

I felt my heart drop into my stomach. My mouth became dry. I let out a soft sigh, controlling my own rampant emotions.

"Interpol gave up. They didn't pursue the killer. There used to be too much gray in law enforcement, that's why-"

"You see criminals in black and white." I interrupted.

She nodded and continued to look at the wall.

Tension filled the air. I felt a strong sense of déjà vu. I could almost feel the cane in my hand and see a shock pistol in hers. She would yell at me how low-life criminals were and I would joke it off. God, I was so stupid. I shook away the scene in front of me.

"You have been so honest with me these past few years. When you told me of your bad dream yesterday I was reminded of this. I felt it was about time I told you." She said shrugging.

"La vida no es fácil, mi amor." I said as i stepped closer to her.

She looked at me; her expression slowly began to lighten as she came back to the present. She briefly turned her face away from me and wiped a stray tear.

"I'm sorry." I said, feeling helpless as I tried to pick up the shattered pieces that lay in front of me.

"Well, now you know. Now you realize the sacrifice I had to make and the difficulty I had with us." She said, not meeting my eyes. Ouch.

She never seemed to stop surprising me. She had these moments where she was incredibly caring, more caring then I sometimes deserved. But, there were these other times where she wouldn't let me in. It was like she put up a wall that even I was incapable of climbing over. I cautiously reached for her hand.

"While we were stuck in the Ice Age I began to change my view. You were still a criminal, in some ways you always will be one, but I gained more respect for you and your friends that day. We weren't really that different, we just fought from different sides of the law." She took her hand out of mine and walked away from me. There was that wall again…

"I appreciate that Carm." I said, watching her walk back to her seat on the couch. "I was trying to show you that for years but there was always a shock-pistol in the way." I chuckled lightly.

She opened her laptop and ignored my comment. She typed feverishly as she left me standing in the middle of the room like an idiot. I sighed, walked up to her and shut her laptop mid-type. She looked at me, a scowl tugging at her lips. I moved the computer back to the table, ignoring the balls of electricity she was shooting at me in her mind.

I sat beside her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "The low-life criminal who did that to your family deserves nothing more than to rot in jail. I would love to personally do the honors of locking him up. You have every right to look at that as black and white. Just like you did with Clockwerk…. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm glad you began to think a different way in the Ice Age. If you didn't who knows where we'd be right now."

"You'd be on some heist and I'd be chasing that ring-tail of yours." Her eyes locked with mine for a moment before she looked away.

A small smile escaped my lips.

"Oh the shock-pistol, those were the days." I laughed as I rubbed the back of my head where the electricity had singed my fur on multiple occasions.

A faint chuckle came from her direction. I looked at her as I tucked a stray curl behind her ear. Her laughter melted the ice that formed on my shoulder.

"After my father passed away, it was just me and my mom. We slowly got out life back together and tried to move on. Years later, when I was a young adult, my mother got ill. She passed away soon after and I then joined Interpol. Chief Barkley gave me the job without question. He was never the same after the incident, he became a lot angrier. But, I guess he still thought I could follow in his footsteps."

'I'm so so sorry, Carm."

She shrugged and continued to stray away from my gaze. The lit-match that fueled her anger was extinguished, like blowing out a candle. All that was left was the lingering smell of smoke in the air. Her stern expression began to lighten. I took her hand in mine.

It was silent for several seconds. We just sat there, soaking in everything that just happened. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure what words would help at this point, if any words could help.

I felt a smirk materialize across my face. I took her chin in mine and pulled her in for a kiss. She appeared startled for a moment before she reciprocated the action.

Needless to say I didn't think we would watch a movie tonight….


Translation:

La vida no es fácil, mi amor: Life is not easy, my love.

Nina: child (female)

Padre: father

Thank you so much for reading! Your comments are always encouraged! :) Stay tuned for Part Three!