Carmelita was driving down the road. It's 3:46 P.M. She was almost near her mother's house. She was still irate by that meerkat kid's actions but also a little disgruntled because she almost did run him over. But what really bothered her was his attitude.

"Dios, I can't believe the nerve of that kid. These little bastardos are acting up. Some of them need a good beating."

She just shook her head. Despite being only twenty-four-years-old, she sometimes felt she was a little out of touch with the things going on in today's world. She believed she was an old soul, like she's been here before, even her father had told her this on a few occasions, he definitely admired her maturity. Then again, she spent the first ten years of her life in South Bronx, which was very difficult for her but she had no choice but to grow up fast. The environment that she was in wasn't child oriented, you either pulled yourself together or you just remained on the ground. Fortunately, they left that area and moved to a much safer place, mostly because her father got a promotion. She just sighed, she missed him so much.

Carmelita pulled up to her old home, which still looked the same as it did when she left. It was two stories high, it was painted light blue, and the window panes and sills were still white.

"Home sweet home." That's all she said as she stepped out of the car.

She walked up to the door and rang the door bell.

She heard the locks click and the door opened to reveal an older vixen.

"Carmelita, mi hija! Mami's so happy to see you!" Her mother pulled her into a hug and kissed her daughter.

"It's nice to see you too Mami." She was blushing.

Carmelita followed her mother into the house. Her mother went straight to the kitchen. She saw her brother Cameron playing Playstation in the living room. He turned to her and smiled.

"Carm, what's up sis?" He got up and greeted her with a hug.

"It's nice to see you too hermano."

She was amazed at how tall her brother had gotten since she last saw him. He was now a nineteen-year-old college student. He wore overalls, a Coogi shirt, and white Nikes, he even wore earrings. He never dressed like this before. She thought that now he that he grown into his features, he was trying to be a little mack. Despite his wardrobe, he looked so much like their father. He had their dad's orange-brown fur and messy dark-brown head fur. It made her sad to know that he wasn't here to see how much Cameron grew.

"Sis, I know I'm cute and all but can you please stop staring at me like that?" He said in jest and she lightly punched his arm.

"Oh shut up you peste!"

He smiled at Carmelita. "I missed you so much sis, how's life in France?"

"My life is pretty hectic considering my workload but overall its fine. So how's your second year in college?"

"It's all good, I like my classes this semester and there's a girl I've been trying to get at for a while." He grinned as he went back to play video games.

She just shook her head at her brother's new confidence. "You're a little charmer now huh?"

"Naw, I'm still the same old kid I've always been." He replied still concentrating on the game.

"What are you playing?"

"Oh, this new game called Crash Bandicoot. Want to play?" Cameron offered.

Carmelita was about to answer until her mother called her to the kitchen. She walked in and noticed her mother was busy preparing food, there were utensils and food scattered across the counters as well as grocery bags on the floor. Her mother rushing from the table chopping vegetables to the pots on the stove, making sure nothing burned. The aroma from the pots made Carmelita nostalgic, thinking back on when she was a kid when her mother was cooking while her father was reading the newspaper and her and her brother were running around the house like maniacs.

"Mi hija, can you please up set up the table for me?"

"Sure Mami. I see you cooked a lot of food." She said as she grabbed the plates and silverware.

"Oh dear, I forgot to tell you, your Uncle Luis and Aunt Rita and their kids are coming over later."

" Oh boy." She thought, already dreading the idea.

"That's great Mami." She said, trying to hide her disgust.

Later on, around 5 P.M., Carmelita's Uncle and Aunt, as well as their kids Luca and Jaime, arrived at the house. Everyone greeted each other and whatnot. No one really conversed yet because dinner was ready and that's when things took an "interesting" turn…

Everyone took their place at the dining room table. There was food covering every inch of the table. There was Arroz con pollo (chicken with rice), Garbanzos (chickpeas), hot Oxtails, bowls of steamy cabbage and spinach. There were also fried plantains and yucca fries, and pasteles (it's like a tamale). Everyone said a prayer and began to eat. It was a peaceful and quiet meal at first until Carmelita's Uncle Luis opened his mouth.

"So Carmelita, how's France?" He said as he chewed on his oxtail.

"Umm, it's fine, same old, same old, just busting criminals left and right." She reluctantly answered.

Her Uncle eyed her, contemplated his next question.

"So, have you been out with anyone lately?"

"I've dated a few times but I haven't found the right one yet. Besides, with my job taking up most of my time it can be pretty difficult." She took a sip of lemonade.

Her Uncle shook her head in disappointment.

"Dios Carmelita! At this rate you'll never get married."

She nearly choked from her beverage as she heard that and coughed a bit, with Cameron patting her back. When she recovered, she spoke.

"Uncle, I have plenty of time to worry about that later. I mean I'm only twenty-four." She said as polite as possible.

"You may be young now but eventually you're gonna keep putting it off until you're one day over fifty, alone, with no children. Is that the kind of life you want? That's the problem with you young women today. You women are too busy with working and trying to outdo men instead of doing what God intended for you to do. Get married, stay at home, and raise children."

Everyone, except Aunt Rita, even the children, turned their attention to Uncle Luis. Carmelita began to turn bright red in a mixture of anger and embarrassment, to say she was appalled was an understatement.

"Luca and Jaime, go outside and play." Carmelita's mother motioned the two children to leave the table.

When they were out of sight, the adults at the dining room table went right back to the conversation at hand, it was definitely not over.

"Luis, how could you fix your mouth to say something like that?" Carmelita's mother asked.

"Now Brenda, I'm just being realistic, a woman needs to stay in a woman's place. I don't approve of Carmelita's choices in life, isn't that right Rita?"

Aunt Rita nodded but didn't speak.

"Look, I don't care if you disapprove what I do with my life, I'm not a child, I am a grown woman and I can do whatever I want." Carmelita expressed, showing no hesitation. Cameron held her hand to calm her down.

"See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. This is why you need a man, you need to be put in check for your back talk." He shook his head as he shoveled rice in his mouth.

Carmelita had reached her breaking point. Uncle or not, she was not going to allow him to talk to her like she was beneath him. She opened her mouth to speak until her brother rose from his chair and interjected to defend her.

"I've had enough of your vile sexist comments towards my sister. What she does with her life has nothing to do with you. Get with the times, we are not in the '50s anymore, this is the '90s. I would step off if I were you." Cameron spoke in a low, mature tone, looking at the older fox in mild disgust.

Unfazed, the Uncle just wiped his mouth and also stood up from the table, looking right into the younger fox's eyes.

"You think you're a man, mi sobrino? I see that you growing up with two women in the household made you soft. You are a little boy, nothing more."

"If my father was alive today, he would be proud of me and Carmelita, and especially our mother. He would also agree that at age nineteen, I am more of a man than you'll ever be. Any person who thinks or speaks the way you do don't even deserve to be called a man. Look at the way you treat your own wife, she doesn't even look at you in your eyes. Your mentality is not needed here, you have overstayed your stay. Now get the hell out of our house." The younger fox pointed to the door.

The older fox just laughed.

"You are weak and you will learn one day, sobrino. Rita go get the kids." His wife did what she was told with head down in shame.

After Uncle Luis and his family left, the three of them finished their meal, cleaned up, and sat outside in the backyard patio. Not much was said between the three for a while until Carmelita spoke.

"Hermano, I want to thank you very much for defending me." She said humbly as she gave her brother a small kiss on the cheek.

"It was nothing Carm, it was the right thing to do. I wasn't going to allow him to talk that way to you or Mami." He hugged both his sister and mother.

"I just can't believe he said those things." Their mother finally spoke up. "I see why your father rarely had us visiting his brother, he's loco. I feel sorry for his wife and kids."

They all nodded in agreement.

"I am proud of the two you and so is your father. I bet he's looking down on us right now, smiling." She said as she held her children close to her, looking up at the reddish-purple evening sky.

Carmelita was heading back to the hotel in Yonkers. She could have spent the night at home but she needed some space to herself right now. She was still a little shaken by the incident at dinner but she was blessed to have a brother like Cameron. She had never seen that side of him before. Cameron was normally playful and laid-back so to see how he stood up to their misogynistic Uncle with dignity and no fear made her realize how much he really grew up. Whether he was there physically or spiritually, she knew she could count on her brother to make her feel better.

As Carmelita drove down the highway, thoughts of Sly emerged. She still hasn't seen the Raccoon since that time in the alley, where was he and what other plans could he have up his sleeve? She couldn't answer those question, she pretty clueless at that point. She hoped that he wasn't in New York, then again why, unless he knew about the Sword of The Samurai. She shook the ridiculous thought out of her head.

"Impossible. Still, I wished that damn Ringtail would stop invading my dreams." She thought with a bashful smile.


A/N- Ok y'all this what I'm going to do. I don't want the chapter to be too long because I know what it's like to read a good story but get a little bored of it because of how drawn it can get after a while. So I decided to post this for now and then post another chapter later on today, but be aware this is subject to change and maybe all end up posting the whole thing in one chapter, but more than likely I may not for now. The next chapter will be about Sly and Damien, this chapter as well as the next happens all in one night.