Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

Quickie note: Yes, Noalyn, Carmelita will be in this...And I'll try keeping her as IC as possible...

[Chapter Three: The Real Work Begins]

The night before, Sly had found another bag on his bed. There was a small slip of paper attached, which he took and read its scribble-like handwriting:

[Dear Sly,

There is a week's worth of clothing in here, including pajamas and a pair of sneakers. Hopefully they'll be your size.

Good luck with your job at the orphanage.

--The doctor]

(Clueless Cody...)

Sly woke up after a surprisingly good night's sleep, despite the stiff mattress and noise from animals walking around on the floor above. He stubbornly sat up, rubbing his eyes gently as he glanced at the clock on the table across from him.

7:30 AM in all its bright, red glory...A half an hour before Sly was supposed to head down to the kitchen for his orders for breakfast. Sly lay back down in his bed. He was about to try to close his eyes for five more minutes, except there was a knock on the door.

"Daniel, are you up yet?" Yup. Just as Sly suspected: Cody.

"Um...yeah. Kind of," Sly replied. He covered his mouth, yawning and then sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Well, get ready and meet me in the lobby. Gertrude will hand off your schedule to you there!" Cody ordered as Sly could hear his footsteps going further and further away.

Sly stood up and stretched, then rummaged in the plastic bag for a new set of clothes. After quickly changing and managing his fur, Sly rushed out of the room, quickly going in the direction to the lobby as instructed. Ignoring the creaky floor and stairs, he practically sprinted down to the "lobby".

Sly nearly stumbled and fell over as he came to a skidding stop in front of Gertrude's desk.

"Oh, Mr. Smith, it's you...Just hold on a minute while I pull your schedule out," the owl secretary instructed. She looked through a stack of papers on her desk until she pulled a certain one out. "There we are!" Sly practically grabbed the sheet of paper from her.

"Thank you, Ms. Deuducle!" Sly said as he scanned the sheet. He smiled bleakly when he saw the first thing he had on the list.

'Looks like I'll be able to continue the story from yesterday...but what will I come up with today?' Sly thought. He was hoping he wouldn't have a creativity block. At least not until after looking after the five through seven year olds.

"Watching the littler ones again, eh?" Sly turned around and saw Cody had been reading over his shoulder. "And look! I hope you have a good story in mind for them at story time today too!"

Sly felt like the color had drained out of his fur. His ears went down. That was two sessions he couldn't have a creativity block in.

"So, Daniel, what are you going to tell them for a story?" Cody asked in a joking tone. Cody didn't notice Sly was fuming as the two of them headed down to the dining room area.

"Actually," Sly started, smirking and breaking out of his annoyed state, "the kids were cool once I got them to calm down a bit!"

"Really?" Cody seemed surprised as his ears perked up. "How did you manage to calm them down, Daniel? They seemed pretty hyper yesterday!"

"Well...I have my ways." There was NO way Sly was going to tell Cody about the story he had started yesterday. No one would really want to know that he had been telling a story to the children about a thief that they all seemed to hate and despise.

"How mysterious." Cody rolled his eyes. "And next you're going to tell me you're some Master Thief named Sly Cooper!" Sly nearly froze for a moment, but then Cody instantly burst into laughter. "Just kidding!" The naïve calico cat didn't realize Sly was fuming once more.

'The thief Sly can't be all that bad!' Sly thought angrily as Cody opened the dining room door and entered it. Sly followed suit and found the children already at their tables, sitting and waiting for their breakfast, like the night before.

The raccoon quickly rushed over to the five through seven year old table and saw the kids sitting patiently waiting for another story.

"YAY! It's Danny!" Chandler cheered. The others also cheered softly as they sat expectantly, waiting for Sly to begin.

"Looks like you guys are excited, eh?" Sly asked. The others quickly nodded. "Well, I...I'll try fitting in more of the story here and then I'll continue during my story time session with you guys." There were excited whispers amongst the group.

"We have you for story time, Dan?" Mike asked. The children were smiling.

"It's gonna be so cool today!" Charlotte exclaimed. "C'mon! Start the story for today! Where they were going to Paris! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE?!"

"All right..."

(Where he left off before...)

Sly and the crew had just left Barcelona and were currently on their way to Paris, France, to go into the police office that contained Sly's police file—the key to the next step.

Now, kids, before I go any further, there was a police officer that Sly had escaped from being captured by back in a city previous to Barcelona: Carmelita Montoya Fox. She had been chasing Sly since she had first joined the police force. Almost every other city Sly had attended to some business in, there Carmelita was, on his tail.

Anyway, Murray had driven the van and parked in an alleyway. On one of the brick walls, there was a pipe—Sly scurried up it to an edge on the building. While Murray had moved the van, Sly made his way to the rooftop, slowing pacing along the ledge about the windows. He then quickly jumped off and landed right on the rooftop of Le Police: the exact police station that Sly was going to take his file from...

(Cut off!)

Sly was cut short when breakfast was served. The children, satisfied with their dose of the story, turned to their meals, chatting amongst themselves on what they thought would happen next in the story. Sly sat down himself and ate quietly.

It was a strange feeling and it seemed like it came out of nowhere: Carmelita Montoya Fox.

Sly thought for a moment as he thought deeper and deeper into his own head. Carmelita Fox. Where had he heard that name before? Had he just made it up because he couldn't think of anything else or had he really met a Carmelita?

"Hey, Dan, you okay?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired," Sly lied. Charlotte shrugged and went back to her meal. The rest of the meal was eventless...

(The first sighting of the vixen...)

The vixen police officer quickly rushed into the hospital. Her shoes tapped on the tile floor and she stalked up to the front desk, her tail twitching in annoyance and her ears down. She couldn't believe no one had told her where he was earlier. They knew she was on the Cooper case. They knew she had been chasing him for the last three years.

"Excuse me; is there a Sly Cooper here?" she asked the secretary at the front desk.

"Oh...no, no Sly Cooper here," the secretary answered nervously. Before she knew it, the vixen pounded her fist on the counter.

"WHAT?! But the police said he was supposed to be here!" the vixen yelled. Passer-bys and other animals waiting to see their loved ones stared at the enraged vixen. The vixen's tail moved back and forth, matching her angry mood.

"The police? You're with the police?" The vixen calmed down.

"Yes, I am. I'm Detective Carmelita Fox and I was told to come here to question Mr. Cooper about the theft at the bank and then arrest him for previous criminal actions." The secretary paused for a moment, thinking about how not to upset the detective.

"Would you like to speak to his doctor?" the secretary demanded. "He should be on his break right about now..."

"Where is he?"

"Hold on a moment..." The secretary tapped in a number on a phone in front of her. "Excuse me, is Dr. Luke Black in the cafeteria right now?...Oh, he is? How convenient! Thank you!" The secretary hung up the phone and looked up at Carmelita.

"I assume he's in the cafeteria then?" The secretary quickly nodded.

"It's on the second floor, two doors down to your right." Carmelita nodded in gratitude and rushed up the floors via elevator and followed the directions the secretary had given her.

Suddenly, it struck the vixen. The secretary had never told her which one was Sly's doctor...There was only one thing she could do...she had caught the name, right? Yes, Dr. Luke Black...Carmelita pulled herself up on top of one of the abandoned cafeteria tables.

(The horror of arts and crafts...)

Sly checked his schedule again to see what his next session was...[Arts and crafts: two through four year olds]

"Oh, looks like you have that too—little assistant!" There was Cody, sticking by Sly's side. "I'll show the way to the craft room..." As Cody guided Sly, it just occurred to the raccoon how confusing the orphanage was set up. It all seemed to appear the same, no matter which way you were going.

"Is this session too hard?" Cody shook his head as he suddenly opened a door to their left. This led to a room with four tables, a metal cabinet off to the side and a box full of smocks and stools.

"Welcome to your first off-meal session!" Cody grinned. "This is one of my favorite sessions...it...reminds me too much of the cub I let down though..." Instead of Cody's ears going down, Sly's went down in the guiltiest way. Before Sly could try consoling his fellow worker, a group of thirty children entered the room and quickly rushed over to their seats and awaited orders from Cody.

"Hello, kids. Before we go on to our class today, I'd like you all to meet Danny here," Cody greeted. All eyes were on Sly for a moment, then a couple of whispers took a wave throughout the group.

"He looks like Sly Cooper," a four year old lamb commented. A couple other four year olds and a two year old all at the same table nodded in agreement. Sly made sure he didn't make any faces or suspicious movements, otherwise his cover would be blown.

"Now kids, just because he's a raccoon doesn't make him that THIEF," Cody pointed out.

"Why doesn't he talk?" a three year old demanded. The two year olds were silent, as their vocabulary couldn't really express what they wanted to say, except Sly knew they were agreeing with every word.

"Because I'm not really the teacher," Sly muttered low enough for only himself to hear. He couldn't believe that the youngest kids had figured out who he resembled, yet the older kids didn't pick up any clues...He knew this session was going to be torture...

(Dr. Luke Black...)

"Excuse me, is there a Dr. Luke Black here? Dr. Luke Black? I have some questions to ask him!" Carmelita shouted. All of the doctors who had been enjoying their meal looked up at her and gave her strange looks. "Please, folks, I need your cooperation! I'm with the police!" A Siberian tiger stood up and darted his narrow eyes towards her.

"I'm Luke Black!" the tiger announced as Carmelita got down from the table. "And you would be...?"

"I'm Detective Carmelita Fox. I'm here to ask you a couple questions about a Mr. Sly Cooper's stay here."

"Sly Cooper?" The doctor sat down at the empty cafeteria table. He looked over both his shoulders to make sure the rest of the workers were back to their meals. Carmelita sat down as he was doing this. "Sly Cooper is off elsewhere right now." Luke had lowered the volume of his voice to a low, bass whisper.

"Where is he?" Carmelita had taken to the same volume Luke had.

"I can't tell you."

"WHY NOT?" Carmelita pounded her fist on the table, but no one else had seemed to notice.

"Because it wouldn't be fair to him."

"Are you just covering up just so he can go steal more stuff?"

"No...he was injured on the night of the robbery." Carmelita's eyes widened. "He has amnesia. Last time I checked, he still hasn't remembered anything." Carmelita looked at the tiled floor in guilt. She was now regretting the tone of voice she had spoken to the secretary in.

"So...he's safe somewhere else?"

"That's right."

"Can you tell me where? I won't arrest him until he remembers everything...I just want to ask him a couple things."

"Well...you seem trustworthy, detective...All right. I sent Sly over to Happy Campers Orphanage over in Lauderville. He's working there under the alias Daniel Smith." Carmelita cocked what would be an eyebrow and gave the doctor a weird look.

"Sly? With KIDS?"

"I actually received a call from one of my friends who works there. He says he's actually quite good with the kids. They seem to enjoy being around him." Carmelita looked even more surprised than before and suddenly burst into laughter. "Um...is there anything wrong?"

Carmelita stopped laughing and wiped a tear from her eye. "Sorry, doctor, it's just that I can't imagine Cooper being around KIDS!" Luke nodded and checked the watch that was on his wrist, then stood up.

"My break is over."

"Thank you!" Carmelita left the cafeteria and made her plans—off to Lauderville she was going.

(Relief at last...)

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Cody asked, trying to cheer Sly up.

"Well, if you think being called 'thief', 'meanie' and 'the Cooper' for two hours okay, than I guess it wasn't so bad," Sly said sarcastically.

"Sorry about that. I'll try calming the kids down at lunch...Say, what do you have next?" Sly pulled the sheet of paper out of his pocket and inspected it, smiling gently as a wave of relief washed through him.

"Story time with the five through seven year olds!"

"That means you'll have to go to the first classroom," Cody pointed out. "We usually use it for the eight through ten year olds for their education during the fall and winter, but we use it as the story time room in the summer." Cody paused for a moment, concentrating on the path ahead. "You sound awfully excited, Daniel."

"Well...it's a break compared to the other class." Sly was then silent. He was leaving out all the details. Cody had attempted a couple more times to try and spark a conversation, but Sly was too busy cooking up ideas for the next section of the story...

"Here we are, Daniel!"

Cody opened a door to a room that contained things a classroom would normally have: a chalkboard and a desk at one end of the classroom, a file cabinet and a bookshelf lined along the wall, cubbies and desks set up in "pods". Instead of the usual creaky floor, this room had a blue carpet.

Cody waited for an answer from Sly, but then he shrugged. "I'll leave you to it then!"

Sly heard him walk out of the room as he heard the familiar sounds of the five through seven years olds proceeding down the hallway behind him. Before they entered the room, Sly quickly dashed over right next to the desk. It was in the knick of time as well, as the children entered the room, sounding very excited as they chatted amongst themselves and sat down in the pods.

As soon as the chaperone who had taken them to the room had left, the children quieted down.

"So where did I leave off, you guys?" Sly asked, trying to mentally recap.

"You told us about Carmelita, the officer," Chandler started.

"And then you had Sly go on top of the Le Police thingy and then that's where you ended," Mike added. Sly nodded.

"So we were right before the story would begin to pick up, eh?" Sly asked, grinning. "Let's see how far we can get within two hours!" Sly cleared his throat and looked at everyone in the class with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

(His two worlds collide...)

"Murray, I can't believe you got us delayed for over an HOUR!" a turtle complained as Murray pulled into the gravel driveway of the orphanage in the gang's van.

"I couldn't help but stop at that hot dog stand, Bentley! I was hungry and then all those...animals challenged me to a race!" a purple hippo, Murray, pointed out as he parked the van and turned the ignition off.

"Remember, Murray, while we are here, we call Sly 'Daniel' or 'Dan', not 'Sly' or 'Cooper'!" the turtle called Bentley exclaimed as the two of them unbuckled and got out of the van, slamming the doors shut behind them.

"I'll let you do the talking," Murray muttered as they walked through the front door and headed towards a desk with an owl secretary sitting behind it.

"Can I help you two?" the owl asked, yawning and looking up at the two friends with rather excited eyes. There was silence for a moment, but then Murray nudged Bentley (or more like Murray tried nudging Bentley, but due to height difference, he accidentally hit Bentley in the head).

"Is there a Daniel Smith here?" Bentley asked.

"Oh? Are you friends of Mr. Smith?" the owl asked. Bentley and Murray quickly nodded. "He's in a session right now, but I could go get him and replace him with someone else to cover him."

"This is an emergency!" Bentley said. "We need Mr. Smith right now!" The owl stood up and walked away from the desk.

"Wait here. I'll come back with him," the owl commented as she walked away.

"I still can't believe he accepted to work here...that is out of character for him..." Bentley trailed off. Murray nodded in agreement.

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes seemed to turn into hours as the two of them waited for the secretary to return with their thief friend, Sly. The clock on the wall ticked on, bringing closer the impending reunion. Bentley and Murray were both clearly nervous with their plan to bring Sly back into the group quietly.

"Here we are, Mr. Smith." The secretary had come back with a familiar raccoon. The owl sat back down behind her desk as Sly stared back at the two pals with suspicious light brown eyes. His ears were raised and alert and his tail twitching

"Um...We're friends of Luke," Murray whispered. Sly's ears went down in relief, slightly.

"We have something you might want to see something outside," Bentley commented as he yanked Sly by the wrist and made Sly follow him into the van. Murray had quickly followed as fast as he could and shut all the windows and the van doors behind him.

"Who are you?" Sly demanded. Bentley shook his head. Murray remained silent in his own corner.

"Sly, don't you recognize us?"