A/n, Hooray chapter 2! Apologies for the long wait, I've been without a computer for a while.

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"Carmeltia, who gave those to you?" Carmeltia's partner asked as her eyes went from the roses to the card and back again. The vixen fox sighed deeply and rubbed her forehead for a second before speaking.

"Sly Cooper, the well known thief here in Paris. I've been after him since my first few days here at Interpol." she said putting the roses back on her desk."

"Well, it looks like he want to get to know YOU Carm," Her partner said in a slightly snickering tone.

"Yeah, well he'll get to know me all he wants when I get him behind bars." She said as she grabbed her shock pistol and loaded it. This was really getting out of hand for her, the chief is shoving her harder and harder to find the person who apparently is falling for her.

It's a mad mad crazy f#ed world She thought as she and her partner when out to speak with the local florist about a certain customer. They got to the flower shop and went inside. Upon entering there was noone behind the counter, Jance rang the bell on the table as Carmeltia looked over the desk at the purchase history clipboard.

Steven hoopins

Jill Terry

Amanda Haped

John Kenning

Bill Tratner

Seth Sunderland

Grace Garcia

The list went on for a few pages as she searched for a Sly Cooper but to no avail. It would be harder to find him apparently then looking for an address on a flower purchase history.

"Damn, well Jance let's get back to the station, maybe we can get a different lead of some kind."

"Aw, but these black magic bouqets look so nice, can't we-"

"No" Carmeltia really did not feel like rose shopping at the moment, the last thing she really needed was to have her boss see her "wasting time as usual when she should be finding Cooper". Her partner pouted for a few seconds and then finally followed her out the door.

In the car on the way back to the station Carmeltia was trying the very best she could to figure out what may be a local spot for her caring criminal to hang ot at.

"Carm, what'cha thinking?" Jance asked

"I'm wondeing where would be a place for Cooper to go to sometimes, problem is though, I don't know anything about him, his interests...well, besides thieving-"

"And his interest in you." Her partner added, Carmeltia glared at her with one eye as she continued to drive.

"Just, What does he think like? What does he do, what does he want?" She asked, trying to get at least a fragment of a picture so she'd have something to go on. Most men would go to the bar or strip clubs and drink their problems away, some would go to the shooting range. Of course this was based on the men that were at Interpol. But Sly was nothing at all like that, he was different than Paris's Finest, which seemed odd to her, yet also it pleased her. He wasn't a repulsive ape of a person, or a perverted jerk. On the occasions they were able to speak with eachother during a chase, he looked into her eyes rather than at her chest as most of the staff at her job did. He actually listened to her and respected her as a person.

They pulled into the building parking lot and her partner looked at her watch uneasily.

"Gotta be somewhere?" Carmeltia asked her, Jance sighed and nodded.

"Yes, I'm sorry Carm, I'm meeting someone in about an hour and I have to go home and get dressed for it, do you mind if I go about two hours early?" She said

"Yeah, I don't mind, I got stuff to do anyway and people need to get out, have fun kiddo." She said, hiding her slight dissapointment with a smile. She disliked being alone in her office at night, but she didn't want her partner to feel obligated to stay for her selfish reasons.

"Thanks Carmeltia!" She said. Hugging her partner, she got out and walked off towards her car. Carmeltia went upstairs to her office to think.

Passing the officer who had pinched her behind, she paused to look at him as he tried to avoid coming near her almost, he appeared to still be upset at having been thrown out a window and looked to try and place his blame to her. She ignored him and continued on to her office. Shutting the door she sat on the small couch she had for overnight work and took a well deserved nap for about 15 minutes before the chief called her to go home.

Carmeltia stayed for a few hours after the rest of the staff went home, a bad habit of hers but a habit she couldn't shake. Looking out her window she decided to go for a moonlight walk to get some fresh air and maybe go home. She only lived a few blocks away from the station so it was pointless to drive back.

As she walked down the neighborhood she saw movement out over the corner of her eye. Across the street she saw a black and grey striped tail flicker off into the darkness into a house.

"Cooper." She said to herself, sure at the time where she didn't have her shock pistol on her, the ONE time she felt it was unessesary, who does she see but Sly Cooper. She watched him go into the house, he seemed to not have noticed her as he took out a key and unlocked the front door and walked in. Waiting for a second until she knew it was okay to go, she followed him in as quietly as she could.

The house on the outside was nothing special, shingles, black roof, grey trim, greem siding, brown door with a gold knob. As she came inside though, it looked twice as good. She crept into the dinning room that had a stainless steel chef's stove, refrigerator, wood cabinates, tile lining the kitchen. It was dark yet she was able to see well enough for herself. Crossing hrough into a living room she spotted Sly with his back to her,his blue gloved paws clasped behind his back, staring out the window next to the stone fireplace. He stood still and silent for a moment until he spoke up.

"Hello Carmeltia." He said in a warm greeting voice, still looking out the window. Carmeltia looked around her setting, a large grandfather clock quietly in the far left corner, a dark green velvet couch sat behind her, a persian rug underneath her feet.

"I'm guessing you thought this might be my hideout huh?" He said chuckling a bit.

"Well, maybe...I where are we then?" Carmeltia looked around again, this house didn't look expensive enough to be one of Cooper's jobs.

"This, is my father's house. I was raised here...somewhat." He said, sighing quietly as he raised a gloved paw and let his fingers drum gently on the window.

Carmeltia thought for a second and then it hit her like a train. Sly's father had been murdered in this house by a group of thieves called The Fiendish Five. She had read an article about it during one of her days of training at the academy.

Sly slowly turned to the left and walked around the living room, continuosly sliding his fingers down the dusty objects the sat in the room.

"I can see you know what happened here." He looked at her softly yet somewhat pained.

"I read about it, yes." She said.

"This place brings to me the memories of the good and the bad. Yes, I watched my father die here, but I also remember him reading to me, teaching me when he could of his own traits. Tell me Carmeltia, have you ever experianced loss?"

His question stung her as he said it, although he said it gently as if not to hurt her. Carmeltia had never had to deal with any of her family or friends passing away, yet because of that she knew it was not the right time to badger him about how she was hauling him off to prison for his crimes. Sly seemed to be in pain, he hid it very well, but even his mask couldn't hid what his hazel eyes told her.

"No, I haven't. How old were you when, it happened." Just because it happened to him and not her didn't make talking about it any less easy.

"I was very young, about eight really. After the police took my father's body away, I was sent to the orphanage Happy Camper. The police investigated what happened for about oh maybe a week and then moved on to another case." Sly said with a hint of anger in his voice as He looked at the wall of the room.

The fox detective looked down at her feet for a moment. It was sad to think that her department had given up so quickly on Sly's case. To think he was oprhaned at such a young age.

"But you got who did it later, didn't you?" She asked.

"Yes, it doesn't really help very much though. They got a long sentence, they got to see more days than my father go to, justice for all, right?" He looked at Carmeltia for a second before walking up to her.

"No shock pistol? A first I must say." He said, a slight grin still on his face. He couldn't help it, no matter what the situation was, he could never keep from smiling at Carmeltia, she just warmed him up for some reason.

"One slip up and only once I'll assure you." She replied in a convincing tone.

Sly stepped closer until he and Carmeltia were only inches apart. Staring into her eyes for a second he suddenly wrapped his arms slowly around her. At first she kneww not what to do, hug him back or not, finally though she caved and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. Tey stayed like that for a few minutes before Sly let go,

"I'm glad you came here Carmeltia. You don't know how much I appreciate it." He spoke sincerly.

She raised a paw and rubbed her thumb against his cheek softly. He took her paw and kissed it gently.

"Ha, I'm glad I could be such a service to a criminal." She said in a sweet yet sarcastic tone. They held eachother again and kissed slowly.

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Sorry about the long wait for the second chapter again. FINISHED!