"Where have you been?" Carmelita asked Sly when he got back, "I've looked through all the suspects none of them match"
"I've got somebody on the lookout for more rabbits that may be behind this, you don't need to worry." Sly said, avoiding her question. He sat down at his desk and started to do some paperwork. Carmelita looked at him for a moment trying to figure out if he was hiding something from her and what it could be. Sly looked up and smiled.

"What are you doing", he asked.

"Wondering what you're up to. You didn't answer my question. Where were you?"
"I'm not up to anything. I was out finding the best person to help us with this case."
"Who?"

"Am I one of your suspects, inspector? Does it matter who, I found the guy and he said that he'd help isn't that enough?"
"Fine", said Carmelita, not totally at ease with what Sly was up to, "if you need anything I'll be in my office." Sly knew that Carmelita would have more to say about this but he was glad to have a moment of peace. He had to find a way to tell her that he knew about his past and that he was faking his amnesia without her feeling betrayed. Carmelita sat down in her chair and stared out the window. She was worried that Sly had been in a shadier part of town and might run into some old thieving buddies. She had to find a way to tell him about his past before he heard it from someone else and picked them over her.

"Penelope", Bentley said, "I can't find anything about this rabbit print." Bentley had been rolling around his office for hours, thinking about who would frame them and why they would slip up now.

"I made it as fast as I could", Murray said, crashing through the front doors. "The race took longer than I thought."
"It's okay; I haven't been able to think of anything." Bentley, Murray and Penelope went into Bentley's office and sat around the table inside. They sat there looking at the picture Sly had left.
"Ugh, I can't think of anything", Murray grumbled. "This just doesn't make sense".

"You're right pal, this doesn't make sense. I haven't been able to figure out what this could mean."
"Do you think the print was left for the police to find?" Penelope asked.
"Maybe, but why? Do they want us to find them? They must know who we are, they've been framing us. How could they know that we would find it? What would they expect us to do? Is the clue for Sly? There are just too many possibilities!" Bentley put his head down on the table in exasperation. Penelope patted him comfortingly on the back.
"I wish that things would go back to how they were, with just all of us hanging out", sighed Murray.
"I know what you mean", Bentley said, raising his head from the table slightly, "things were so much easier when we knew the bad guy and I had all the information on my computer. Who would do this? I just can't think under these circumstances! We need to talk like the old times, to just sit around and talk. That's it, Murray, call Sly, we need to have a meeting."
Sly was still busy with paperwork, when his phone rang. He picked it up and a heard a bad French accent on the other line.

"Bon Jour. Zis is un persion zat wants you to come to ze building at ze down town at ze now." Sly would recognize Murray's attempt at French anywhere. He poked his head into Carmelita's office.
"Hey, I may have gotten a new lead on the case. I'm not sure if it will go anywhere and two may blow the deal. I'll let you know what happens when I get back." Carmelita opened her mouth to say something but Sly was already leaving the station. She knew that she had to tell him about his past when he got back. Sly went back down to Bentley's office and went straight to the back room. The four of them talked about what all the clues could mean. Soon they were talking about their old adventures. They even talked about their old 'Cookie Steelin' Plan'. Then Bentley got an idea. He went over to his computer and hit some buttons.
"Yes, it may be coming together. Murray can you go to the closet and get my projector? Hm we may need police help with this one." Bentley said his nose in the computer.

"Wait, before you explain, there is something I need to do, can you wait a few minutes?" Sly said getting up.

"Yeah, we'll wait for you to get back." Bentley responded

"Where are you going?" Murray asked.

"I'm going to do something that I should have done a long ago." With that, Sly left Bentley's office. As Sly went back to the police station, he knew that he had to tell Carmelita he knew about his past. He could not keep going behind her back. He wanted to work with her not around her. He went up to her office and raised his hand to knock on her door.

"Inspector Fox, Constable Cooper has just returned", a voice from the intercom crackled.
"Thanks", she said back into the box. Carmelita got up and opened her door. Sly was standing in the doorway, about to knock.
"Carm,"
"Sly", they both started at once. They shared a moment of awkward laughter. Carmelita let him enter her office and shut the door.

"Ladies first", Sly said taking a seat on Carmelita's couch. She sat down next to him and avoided his eyes.

"Sly, there is something I need to tell you", she said looking at the couch, "but you have to promise me you won't be upset."
"I could never be upset with you", he said lifting her face so she would meet his gaze as a feeling of dread filled him.

"Well, I'm going to just say it.", she said looking down again, and took a deep breath "I lied to you a few months ago when you hit your head. You weren't my partner, you were a thief. The famous Sly Cooper from the Cooper gang, from a long line of thieving Coopers. Please, don't be mad that I was hiding that from you. I just said that you were my partner so we could be together." She looked up and saw that Sly was smiling.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I never had amnesia. I pretended to lose my memory so we could be together. I didn't want to tell you, so you wouldn't feel betrayed by me." Carmelita was smiling now too. Then a look of confusion swept over her face.

"That explains why you were looking out for Bentley and Murray but why did they pretend to not know you? Didn't they want you back in the gang?"
"Of course we all want to be together and friends again but they knew that I was happy here and didn't want to take me away."
"So you chose me over your old gang?"
"Well, I didn't want to keep playing cops and robbers. It was the perfect chance to stop playing games and start over with you. I'm just glad that you felt the same way and wanted me as your partner. You had always said that I would make a good officer." They smiled, remembering a long ago night, not far from where they sat now. "This is not all that I have to tell you. The person who I've been meeting is Bentley. He has always helped in the past and when I saw him here I thought that he could help with a break through. It turns out I was right. He found out who was behind all this and we could use your help."
"Aiding criminals? This sounds like the old days." Carmelita said with a smile, remembering their old adventures.
"Come on, Bentley wanted to talk to all of us down at his office" Sly got up, took Carmelita by the hand and led her down town.