Between the warm coffee and rising sun, they warmed up as they drove.

Carmen cocked her head as she thought, reaching a hand out to lower the volume of the radio, "Is this your first time in California?"

"Uhh," Gray intoned, trying to remember all the places he had been on VILE operations. "Yeah," he stated after a moment.

Carmen nodded.

"Are you gonna give me the tour?"

Carmen chuckled lightly, "No."

"I haven't really stayed here that long." She tapped her finger against the side of the car door. "I've only just moved here about 6 months ago." She finished.

"Wait, no." She wondered aloud suddenly. "Longer than that."

She forgot things sometimes and she didn't really know how long she was with VILE. Carmen felt a bit uneasy at the realization.

As Gray glanced over to Carmen when her voice drifted off, catching her vulnerable, pleading look.

"I don't know," Gray began. "A little over 6 months, I think." He was silent for a moment, hesitating, before continuing. "I don't know the exact amount. We just got an announcement from the faculty that you'd be coming back." He took a moment to run his hand through his hair, glancing at her again.

Her look was desperate and he could tell she wanted him to continue.

He swallowed before continuing, taking the moment to decide what he wanted to say. He could not talk about what happened next without mentioning the ferris wheel and this was not the time for that. "I think it was 6 months."

"Oh," Carmen intoned.

She could tell that he was avoiding something, but she couldn't really bring herself to blame him. She was also distracted by what Gray had said.

6 months. She was with VILE for 6 months. She was struck with some panic when she realized that she didn't really remember much of it. She had no idea what she did for 6 months. But Gray knew, or at least, he knew more than he was letting on. And she knew he would answer if she asked, but she really didn't want to.

She didn't know if she really wanted to know. After all, ignorance is bliss.

A/N:

It's kinda hard to figure out the Carmen Sandiego timeline, so I kinda guessed. IDK, I tried. Title from AJJ's Sorry Bro.