Summary: Sly invades Carmelita's apartment to speak with her about what had happened the last time they encountered one another.
It had been quite a while since they had seen each other. Certainly, Sly had thought about her, wanting to encounter her again as soon as possible, but the heists he planned took a rather long time. Even so, he took a bit of comfort in knowing that Carmelita would have been there, in one of her inevitable attempts to arrest him. They'd exchange words, perhaps flirt a bit, and then Sly would run. It was how it had always went. But, now, Sly was beginning to wonder if maybe things would change.
The raccoon had at one point considered himself patient, but there was something that told him he couldn't wait, something that said he needed to see her now. And with that, Sly caved, and decided he would make the trip that night. Sly and his friends had another gathering in which they planned for the heist, with Bentley doing most of the actual planning, Sly cracking jokes and occasionally putting in some real input, whereas Murray mostly listened, laughed, and ate all of the donuts that Sly sometimes sneaked away from a bakery nearby.
When that was all said and done, Sly had changed into something less suspicious: a blue hoodie, a pair of jeans, and his precious hat. He had grabbed his cane and was on his way out the door before he was stopped by Bentley, who had chosen then to look up from his computer to see what his friend was up to.
"So, Sly, where are you headed to? At this hour, no less?" The turtle had said, in the nasally voice Sly always heard him speak in.
"Out. Paris is nice at night this time of year, so I'm told," Sly had shot back.
"Ha, ha. Very funny, pal." A pause. "Alright, well, be careful, Sly, you don't want to get yourself in any unnecessary trouble," Bentley responded.
Sly had laughed a bit at that. "I'm nineteen, Bentley. And you know me. I'll be fine, don't worry,"
Bentley had nodded back in a final response, and turned back to his computer. Sly stepped outside, closed the hideout's door, and breathed a sigh of relief. He would have to be more careful if he was to do this again. The thief didn't want his friends catching onto where he was going. It would have gotten both him and the Inspector into quite a spot of trouble. He stopped worrying, and took off into the night. Sly knew where Carmelita lived (which was moderately creepy) and figured it was about time for her to get off of work, so he would pay her a visit. That ought to surprise her, he had thought.
It was an apartment complex, rather nice, quite a ways from the hideout. She lived on the top floor, which made the matter of getting himself up there that much easier. Sly used his cane to grab the rails that hung off of the balconies of each level, and got himself onto the balcony leading up to the fox's home. He was beginning to wonder if he would have had to pick the lock on the door, before he put a hand on it, and it swung open slowly. Slipped right in, Sly thought. The raccoon entered, and closed the door behind him. It didn't seem as if Carm was home yet, so he came up with a plan to be as surprising as possible. It was only a matter of time before he put it into effect...
Carmelita Fox had parked her car in the lot of her complex, and breathed a heavy sigh. Her boss had been a bit hard on her lately, ever since he had found out about Cooper getting away from her some months ago. And yet, he hadn't taken her off the case, almost as if he knew she still had it in her to catch one of Paris's most notorious criminals. She got out of her car, and closed and locked the door, before going inside the building to ascend the stairs to her apartment. She hadn't told Barkley about what had happened after Clockwerk's destruction, as there were some details in there that would most certainly destroy both her job and her reputation. But thinking about it, she supposed it wasn't that bad. She had gotten a kiss from Sly, something she had wished for for a while, even if it was only so that he could distract her and slip away from him. Damn him, and his sneaky ways... She had thought, before taking her key out of her coat pocket and opening her door.
The vixen had no idea that Sly was inside, waiting for her. And wait he did, considering she got to do quite a bit before he showed his face. Carmelita was incredibly tired, and decided she would just watch TV and lie down on the couch until she fell asleep. She turned on the flatscreen in her living room, and walked back up to the door she had entered from, and hung her keys and shock pistol up on a couple of hooks she had installed in the wall. The fox turned around, with the intent of taking her place in front of her television, only to find the last thing she had expected to see.
There was Sly Cooper, in all of his glory, staring at her TV, with a bag of chips in one hand, and his other hand in the bag. No doubt the chips were hers too, but that was the least of her worries at the moment. The raccoon had noticed the vixen standing there, and gave a slight nod, as if it was no big deal he was there in the first place. She turned to grab her sidearm from where she had left it, only to see that it somehow wasn't there.
"Ah, ah, ah - getting a bit ahead of ourselves, aren't we?" Sly playfully scolded. Carmelita rotated at that, and saw that the thief had her gun. There it was, hanging off of his cane, momentarily before he snatched it off, and twirled it around a finger, before putting it in one of his own pockets. He smirked at Carmelita.
"You. Why the hell are you here?" Carmelita demanded. There was a little part of her that didn't want him to leave, but there were more important matters at hand.
"I couldn't wait any longer, mon amour. I had to come see you again. Didn't want to have to steal something to get to talk to you," Sly said honestly.
Carmelita couldn't tell if he was playing with her again or if he meant what he had said in French. She didn't let it faze her for too long, however, as she had almost immediately thought of a reply.
"I could wait. I could wait quite a while, mapache. You're aware that what you're doing right now is a crime, yes?" Carmelita spoke back. She was a bit furious with him for not only breaking into her house, but for being this arrogant about it. He was always kind of arrogant, though, she realized. And it was part of what made him so alluring, that he could always manage to be this cool in situations.
"Crime?" Sly inquired. "I haven't stolen anything...yet."
"Breaking and entering. Evading arrest. That sort of thing, Ringtail."
"I didn't break in, the door was unlocked, and I highly doubt simply 'entering' is a crime," the raccoon coyly replied.
"Don't be cute with me. You and I both know you shouldn't be here."
"I shouldn't, but I am."
"I'm going to give you ten goddamn seconds before I force you out," she snarled.
"Because that ended so perfect for all of us last time, hmm?" Sly tilted his head as he said it.
Carmelita was left nearly speechless. She wasn't in the mood for Sly and his mixed signals, the ones that threw her awry so often on their chases, and had reached a high note so long ago with the incident he mentioned.
"Oh. I probably shouldn't have mentioned that." Sly winced a bit. "Sorry."
"Sly."
His attention was caught by the usage of his actual name, which coming out of Carmelita's mouth, was far and few between.
"...Yeah?"
"Why are you here?"
Sly gave his, once again, honest answer. "I came to see you. I felt like I should have, after what happened last time."
"I find that somewhat difficult to believe, all things considered," she replied.
He sat up, one hand gripping his cane. "What, you don't think I have feelings or something like that?"
"No, no, that's not what I meant, it's just..." I didn't think you cared enough to come out here, as illegal as it was, is what she wanted to say. But she let the sentence trail off, not having the courage to say what she actually was thinking. That was a bit odd, for her, being as stubborn and hardy as she was.
"It's alright, I know what it is you think I came here for," he sighed. And with that, he got up, and twirled his cane a bit, before turning around, and walking towards the door. Carmelita would have walked a bit forward, with the intent of stopping him, when Sly quickly turned again at the door, swung his cane out, and wrapped it around the vixen's waist. He pulled her closer to him, so that their faces were extremely close. The fox was confused at first when the cane wrapped around her, but the confusion quickly turned to anxiety as Sly's face was remarkably close to her own.
Sly had never taken this long to look at the Inspector this close, considering their relationship as it stood. He noticed the little mole underneath her eye, and then her eyes, which were a very captivating hazel. Her hair, however, was one of Sly's favorite parts about her. Her hair, be it natural or dyed, was a very similar shade of blue than that of what he typically wore. Sly's favorite color was blue.
"Carmelita Montoya Fox...would you like to go out with me?" Sly slowly, and almost sensually, said to her.
If she weren't who she was, the vixen would have agreed, and then maybe even taken him for herself right then and there. But Carmelita was an Interpol officer. Something like this couldn't possibly work out to end well. And yet, as dangerous as it was, she found herself wanting it more and more.
"C-Cooper," she said quietly, suddenly finding herself without words. "I don't know if it's going to go well for either of us..."
Sly reached his hand that wasn't holding his cane up to her face and brushed away a few strands of her hair to cup her face in a hand. "We'll keep it on the down low, if that would help...I'm very good when it comes to disguises."
She sighed. I can't say no to him, can I? she thought.
"Well, assuming you're as good as you say you are...I don't suppose I could refuse."
He smiled at that. Not a triumphant smile, because there was nothing to win in this case. They would both come out of this on top, he hoped. The smile was more thankful than anything else. "It's a date, then." And with that, he closed the gap between their faces, and kissed her again. This time, it was longer, filled with more emotion than the first one, and it was almost, almost, as good as the first one.
They separated after that for a moment, and they discussed the matter for a while, before another peck on the cheek was given to Sly as he left the same way he had come. Unseen. Which was best, for the both of them. Nobody could know about it, and it was going to be hard to keep under wraps, but both of them were willing to try.
Love is going to make me do some stupid things, isn't it? Sly thought, as he dashed his way back to the hideout. There wasn't going to be much room for error in this case. It would have to be perfect. Which, both of them would know, wasn't exactly a bad thing.
