Chapter 6: Mixed emotions and girl power

As the evening was coming closer, Carmelita found out she wasn't so nervous than she thought she would be. Carmelita had been spending her time by making supper with Jessica.

About half an hour before she and Sly would leave, Carmelita heard the Cooper Gang discussing about something in the living room. She didn't want to interrupt them, so she just quietly leapt behind Sly as he was sitting in the smaller couch listening to Bentley. She climbed over the back of the couch to sit next to Sly and leaning on to him.

He noticed her coming and greeted her happily by lifting his arm so that she could lean against him better.

Bentley had drawn something to a roll of papers and was explaining it.

"Hmm.. It won't be possible to postpone the plan to tomorrow night... The diamond won't be on display tomorrow because they will move it to Peru by then..."

"Well couldn't we still do it tonight?" Sly pondered.

Bentley thought a while, and finally nodded slowly. "It might be possible, but then we should really get a move on already. Is the van ready, Murray?"

"Yup, it is, Bentley."

Bentley nodded in approval. He hadn't even noticed Carmelita there, until they all got up to get ready.

Carmelita put her hair into a tight ponytail, decided to wear the darkest clothes she found (dark blue jeans and a black sweater) and after getting dressed, she was ready to go.

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After a while, Murray drove them near the harbour, where they would start to look.

"We circle around here and come and pick you two up after an hour, okay?" Bentley explained to them when they had stopped near the platform. "Oh, and Sly, you have your binoc-u-com, right?"

"Yes."

Sly and Carmelita were left by themselves when the van disappeared from their view. They did what they could, searched every place they could think of. When the sixty minutes were drawing closer, Carmelita started to feel so despondent that she just slumped down on the rooftop and gave up searching.

She had never felt so disappointed to herself before. Or..maybe there was the time when she had quit her job and she felt like she had betrayed everyone in her family, including herself. She stared at the rooftop like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. She had unshed tears in her eyes and her ears were flat against her head.

Sly was a few rooftops away so he didn't notice Carmelita's sudden mood immediately. But after a moment, he catched sight of her and sat next to her, ready to listen if she decided to share her thoughts with him. He canted his head and tried to look straight into her eyes, but she didn't seem to notice. Sly just had to hope that she started to talk about it. His wish came true faster than he thought it would.

"I always try to do my best, but it ends up the opposite. Every single time... I feel..so lost. I don't know what to do." And with that, she finally let all the bottled emotions come out and buried her face into her hands and sobbed quietly.

Sly felt so sorry for her. He knew she was talking about Jenny, but she had said "every single time.." and that confused him. Well, he wasn't going to ask about it right away. She would tell about it when she wanted to. By pulling her close and comforting her he was wordlessly telling her how he cared about her and wanted to make her feel safe and warm. Sly knew from experience that if too many painful emotions were bottled, they could explode sooner or later...

They stayed there until Sly's binoc-u-com rang and Bentley let them know that they were already down in the harbour and waiting for Sly and Carmelita to come back. Bentley was already counting minutes so they wouldn't be late from their schedule. Their ride back to the safehouse was silent, apart from Bentley and Murray's light conversation about a hotdog stand they had visited while waiting.

They stopped in front of the safehouse for Carmelita to stay there with Jessica if any news of Jenny arrived. Sly opened the back doors of the van and she stepped out. Carmelita still looked like she was about to cry and told Sly in a quiet, soft voice that he and the rest of gang should be careful. She tried to smile again, and was about to go inside, when Sly seized her by her arm and kissed her right on the lips. That kiss symbolized strong love between them both.

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Right the next morning (after the horrible night) the wolves came to check up on Jenny and Lindsay. Quickly they started to insist that Lindsay had to tell them where she put the thing she stole. Surprisingly, Lindsay told the truth for once and told them how she didn't know where it was. They grew so angry with them that they said that they could then starv to death, because they were no use to them anymore.

Later in that very same evening Jenny and Lindsay had searched through the room they were in, but hadn't found anything special. There was only the door, and a small window. Besides, the window was really high, there wasn't many chances to escape..

They shared the bigger bed which was in the room. Jenny wasn't sleepy, but after rolling in the bed for few hours, she had fell asleep, finally. After a few hours, she woke up when she felt the moonlight shining directly to her face. (A/N: Just to clear things out this is the same night as Carmelita and Sly go and search for Jenny) She grunted and turned away from the window, only to notice that she was merely an inch away form Lindsay's face. She had her eyes open, and she stared at her.

It scared the hell out of Jenny.

"AAAH!" She got up and fell from the bed with a loud thump. "Are you crazy! You scared the hell out of me!"

Lindsay just stretched and got up too. "I didn't know you were going to turn. And I woke up over an hour ago. I couldn't sleep."

Jenny steadied her breath and sighed. "Oh, okay. Sorry for screaming."

Jenny got up from the hard wooden floor. She felt dirty, she still had the same clothes she was wearing the night when the party was being held. She didn't even have her shoes. "I must've dropped them on the way somehow. They were expensive..." Jenny thought and twiddled her hair while pondering.

"Yo Jenny? Lindsay asked suddenly and Jenny's thoughts were interrupted.

"Hmm?"

"I hear the guys talking about something. Come, listen." Lindsay pressed her ear to the wooden door and tried to listen. It was hard though, otherwise the wall was too thick or they were two rooms away, too far.

Jenny tried to hear too, but couldn't hear anything. That frustrated her really much.

"Can you hear anything? All I hear is some mumbling."

"No.." Suddenly Lindsay got an idea. "Hey.. Maybe this could come to our advantage!" Lindsay exclaimed.

"I don't see how this could help us anyhow..?" Jenny arched an eyebrow and stared at Lindsay.

Lindsay just sighed and started to explain. "Look, for once, I did some thinking last night.. Good to do sometimes, really. That window is really high, right? So.. If we could drag this bed under it, then get it open, and...ta-daa! An escape route!"

"But.. They might hear us!" Jenny whispered like she would've been afraid that they heard her voice.

Lindsay grew frustrated with Jenny's doubting.

"Well, do you have a better idea, huh? Because if you do, I'd really like to hear it!"

Jenny thought a second and gave up.

"Well, no. No I don't. I'll help you with the bed."

They started to pull the bed together towards the window. It was surprisingly heavy, and they really had to pull to get it under the window. Luckily things went well and the bed didn't give out too loud noises. Lindsay rushed to the door to listen if someone was coming. She could still hear them talking, so no, they were't coming.

"Linds! Help me with this bolt. This looks like it's really new and apparently no one has opened this before. It's tight!" Jenny yelped while trying to labour the bolt open.

Lindsay went over to help Jenny. Together they pulled it, and after a moment, it opened wih a loud noise.

Jenny and Lindsay both stopped immediately, both of them holding their breaths. Finally Lindsay got her voice back and panicked. She whispered loudly, though it sounded like she was hissing.

"Hurry! I'll help you outside, just. uhmm. Let me, I'll help you up!"

Lindsay took hold of under Jennys ankle and helped her take hold from the edge of the window. Finally Jenny smelled fresh air. Luckily the cabin wasn't too high, so she could easily first sit on the windowsill and then jump to the ground. She didn't have to wait long until Lindsay came from the window and elegantly jumped down.

"Where are we..?" Was Lindsays question right away when they were outside.

But Jenny wasn't listening. She just started at the cabin. She was just starting to realise something. How didn't she before? Mentally she kicked herself. Oh how many times had she walked that same road that she saw going to the front door? And oh how many times did she visit this place before?

"This..this cabin.." Jenny gasped and felt like she was going to faint. She was swaying. Well, she hadn't eaten for a long time, maybe it was partly because of that too.

"What? What is wrong, Jenny?" Lindsay asked concerned.

Jenny seemed to come back to her senses. "I have no time to explain, but I definitely know where we are! My friend doesn't live far from here. Come! Now where did I put that post-it note?"

Lindsay just stared at Jenny like she was crazy, but still followed Jenny who was half running, half walking away from the cabin while digging her purse.

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