Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self.

Chapter 18

The Wedding

With the help of the rest of the Fox family, the wedding was soon ready. Melody was in charge of planning the wedding, getting the caterer and the photographer. She also was personally providing the flowers for the wedding, her wedding present to Sly and Carmelita. Jason called in a favor with one of his friends and was able to get one of the most beautiful churches in Madrid. Bentley and Penelope handled the invitations. Carmelita had them invite some of her closest friends from Interpol, while Sly had them invite some of the more honorable thieves he had meet as he traveled the world.

Dimitri's part in the wedding preparations was finding a band to play at the reception. Panda King and Destiny were put in charge of the preparing the reception. They had decorated the reception hall, and Carmelita and Sly felt that the Panda King should work toward his strength and decorate in a Chinese temple theme. The last thing the group need was someone to perform the ceremonies, but that was proving difficult. It was now a week before the wedding and they still hadn't found someone certified to preside over the wedding and make them official man and wife.

With time running short and the wedding going to be that Saturday Eclipse decided to try something. With out a word he went to Madrid's city hall and found out if they new anyone certified to preside over the wedding. They told him that many of the governments and church officials were out of town at a conference in another part of the country. Eclipse quickly explained the situation to them, and as luck would have it, the city could give him a temporary license as a favor to Mr. and Mrs. Fox if he passed the city's certification test. They were offering it the day before the wedding, and not again till a few months later.

While the others spent the remainder of the week preparing and practicing for the wedding Eclipse crammed on everything he would need to know to pass the test. Finally, the big day came for Eclipse's test, and everybody met outside City Hall in anticipation. Eclipse went in around 8:00 am, leaving everybody outside, hoping he could pass the test because they could never find someone else on such short notice.

As they waited outside Panda King and Bentley paced in front of the benches where they were sitting. Sly was jiggling his leg up and down trying to get rid of some of his anxious energy. Carmelita looked calm, but if you were to touch her she might accidentally pull out her shock pistol and give you a jolt. Penelope was keeping herself busy by tinkering with one of her RC cars while Dimitri watched her fiddle with the many tiny circuits. Destiny just sat patiently, hoping that Eclipse would just do his best.

It was 11:00 when Eclipse finally came out of City Hall. He was hanging his head, and everybody feared the worst when he cracked a wide smile and held up the paper that gave him the legal right to perform the wedding between Sly and Carmelita. With that final piece of the puzzle in place the stage was set for the wedding of the century.

The next day, Sly's nerves were at a high. He paced in the room in the church he was supposed to wait in. He began to doubt himself, then he thought about what his ancestors would think, and then he thought about jumping out the window and rail walking across the rope on the outside of the window to the other side of the street and make a run for it. He was about to have a nervous breakdown when Dimitri came into the room, and told him they were ready.

The church was decorated in a combination of blue and white roses. The blue roses were Eclipse's handy work because he was the one who turned half of the white roses blue with a quick spell. On the left side of the room sat Carmelita's family and colleges, most of which were waiting till after the wedding to go over to the right side of the church and arrest a few people. That was due to the fact that some of the most honorable thieves that Sly, Bentley, and Murray had meet over the years were sitting on the right side, looking completely calm in the presence of so many cops.

Sly waited at the alter with Eclipse who was holding a bible. On the left side of the room stood Sly's grooms men. They were Panda King, Dimitri, Jason, and Bentley. Sly's heart began thumping when he heard the organ begin to play, and he saw the bride's maids coming down the aisle. Carmelita had chosen Destiny, Penelope, Melody, and Melody's employee Brigit to be her bride's maids. They were all dressed in dark blue dresses that matched the blue roses they were carrying. The four girls lined up on the right side of the room. Next came the ring bearer and flower girl. They were both small foxes, the children of some distant part of Carmelita's family, but they were the only ones they could find in time.

Finally Sly held his breath as the whole room turned around and saw Carmelita coming down the aisle. She was dressed in a beautiful white wedding dress that was once Mrs. Fox's wedding dress. Mr. Fox led her down the aisle, and then smiled one more time at Sly before he let her go and sat down beside Mrs. Fox. The organ music stopped and everybody fell silent as Carmelita and Sly went up to the alter.

Eclipse cleared his throat and said, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this fox of the law with this theivius raccoon in holy matrimony. If any among us has any reason that these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace?"

Eclipse looked across the room and saw that there was no movement in the room. He then cleared his throat continued with the ceremony. Thirty minutes later Eclipse smiled at Sly and Carmelita and then turned to Carmelita and asked, "Carmelita, do you take this man as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold till death do you part?"

Carmelita nodded her head and said, "I do."

Eclipse nodded and then turned to Sly and asked, "Sly, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold till death do you part?"

Sly nodded, his anxiety long since past, and said, "I do."

Eclipse smiled and said, "Then by the power invested in me by the city of Madrid and the country of Spain I pronounce you husband and wife, and you may now kiss the bride."

With that Sly gently lifted Carmelita's veil, and they slowly went in for one loving kiss as the whole room exploded with clapping, crying, and cheers. Sly and Carmelita stopped kissing and they went down the aisle heading for the limo where Murray was waiting to drive them to the reception.

The line of cars stretched for several blocks as everybody that was in the church headed for the rented reception hall. There were Chinese lanterns hung from everywhere on the ceiling, and the whole thing looked like a Chinese reception party, exactly what Carmelita and Sly were hoping for.

The reception went off with out a hitch, and Eclipse presented Sly a very special gift. One of the mystic arts Eclipse knew was called Shaman Magic. Involving summoning spirits from the other side and allowing them to inhabit an item or person. While Sly and Carmelita were cutting the wedding cake Eclipse slipped off onto the stage. Destiny had set up the spirit ritual on the stage for Eclipse, and when it came for the part of the reception where Sly was to dance with Mrs. Fox and Carmelita would have usually danced with Sly's father Eclipse tapped on a microphone on the stage and said, "I hate to interrupt, but at this time I would like to present Sly with my wedding gift." Eclipse knelt down on the stage and the designs on the stage began to glow. Ten flames appeared in mid air and circled the ritual.

Then, in a flash of light there were now two figures on the stage. One was Eclipse, who was lost in a deep trance, and the other was dressed in clothes much like Sly's thieving clothes, and holding a pipe. Sly's eyes began to water as the light dimmed away and he saw his father standing on the stage. Destiny walked over to Sly and said, "Now Sly, this is only for tonight. It takes a huge amount of magical energy and concentration for Eclipse to keep him and give him a form of body. He will be able to keep your father bound to this world till midnight. That is when his magic will be spent, and he will have to return your father to where he came from."

Sly was speechless as his father walked down of the stage, and stood right in front of him. Sly's father just stood their and smiled at him before he brought him into a warm embrace as Sly began to cry. Everyone in the reception hall was silent for 5 minutes until Sly dried his eyes and said, "Now here I am crying at my wedding reception. This is supposed to be a joyous time, and I believe I was about to share a dance with Mrs. Fox. Dad, would you mind leading my wife, Carmelita onto the dance floor."

Sly's father nodded his head as he took Carmelita's hand, and Sly took Mrs. Fox's. They led them onto the dance floor and shared one dance. After that the party kicked off, Sly was having a grand time telling his father about what he had stolen over the years. His father was the proudest guy in the world when he heard Sly had defeated Clockwerk not

once, but twice.

The night went by in a blur, Sly's father must have flattered every girl in the room, and when Sly asked him about it he said, "You got to remember Sly, I have a few hours to live it up again. Now, where is the nearest museum? I feel the need to steal something."

Sly's father was true to his word, and he went to the nearest museum to steal a small sapphire. Sly had come into the museum a different way, and had been able to watch his father work. Technology had changed since his father's time, but he quickly examined every obstacle in his way and went through it with out a hitch. That was until he was about to leave and he stepped on a pressure sensitive pad. The place suddenly lit up with alarms and the security guards soon had him surrounded. Sly quickly used a smoke bomb and swung down. He grabbed his father and they were both out of there and back to the reception before they were even missed. Sly's father was examining the sapphire as he thought about how he had almost been caught. Sly's father realized just how out of shape he was at the whole thieving deal, and how great of master thief his son had become. He gently slid the sapphire into a pretty snow leopard's pocket, who everybody else knew was Destiny, and continued to enjoy the party.

It all came too early when the clock in the hall began to strike midnight. Sly's father turned to Sly quickly as he said, "I am sorry Sly, but I have to leave you again, but remember this. You have done so much with your life, and some thing I and even our ancestors would have never dreamed of. You were to first to actually earn the right to have the Thievius Raccoonus, the first to defeat clockwork, not only once but twice, and the first of the Cooper line to have to assault the Cooper family vault and succeed. You have easily become the greatest member of the Cooper line, and you have even found someone to share the rest of your life with. I am proud of you Sly Cooper, my son, and my better as a thief."

With that Sly's father began to fade slightly as Eclipse began to come out of his trance which is how he had sustained Sly's father in the mortal plane of existence. Sly thanked his father one more time before a bright flash appeared where his father was, and he was gone. Eclipse slumped over on the stage. Destiny ran up to him, and picked him up. Eclipse stirred a bit before he opened his eyes and said, "So, how did my present go over?"

Destiny just motioned toward Sly who was standing beside Carmelita, looking where his father had been standing, a smile on his face and a tear in his eye. Eclipse nodded as Destiny helped him to his feet. As Destiny helped Eclipse get down to the dance floor the band began to play a slow number and many of the people began to dance. Destiny wanted more then anything to dance with Eclipse, but she knew that he was in no state to do anything but sleep. She was about to turn them away from the dance floor when Eclipse used the last of his energy to stand straight up, turn to Destiny and say, "Destiny, could I interest you in one dance? I would hate to have been at this reception the whole time and not even share one dance with you."

Eclipse and Destiny had their one dance, and soon after Destiny got Eclipse out to Murray's van and the second Eclipse was lying down inside the van he was asleep, resting after the huge spell he had just cast. Destiny smiled at him as she put her hands in her pockets and felt a lump. She took it out and saw it was a very beautiful sapphire, and then she looked down at Eclipse. She then gently put the precious stone back in her pocket and gently kissed Eclipse on the lips before she turned and went back inside to enjoy the last part of the reception. The reception went for about another hour when the last of the party goers left. The Cooper gang headed back to the Sky Serpent to enjoy a bit of sleep and a relaxing day after the wedding none, especially Sly, would forget.