Hey everyone,
Well, Carmelita and her trouble with her boss might have been the main conflict of the start of the story and part of her backstory, but now we are going to focus on Sly and his backstory. And when I say Backstory, I mean that I am going to create more head-canon. I want to create this for two reasons. One, I want to, indirectly, give Michael more chances to shine. Two, I want to give Sly and Carmelita another little something to bond over. Three,
Just cause,

Venquine1990
PS. I PROMISE! I will get to the training for the Cooper Vault! I PROMISE!

Chapter 27
Sly Talks

28th of June 2007
Cooper Hide Out
Carmelita's POV

Bentley has left the room with the statement that he would inform the others that Sly was awake. He had also stared at us for a moment when in the doorway, but then he had left. And suddenly, after he had left, Sly started to talk. "The orphanage where we lived was situated between three towns. The three of them formed like a triangle and the orphanage was situated on the bottom line and the towns were in the corners.
In the center of this so-called triangle, there was this huge building that served as both a primary and high school that all of the orphans went to. And while most of those in the towns really didn't care two cents for us – less even – at least the teachers were often fair in how they treated us. The gym teachers for both schools even had this tradition where they would give us the last ten minutes of our double gym period off, so we could just have fun.

If we wanted to just relax, there was a bit of an area for that. If we wanted to exercise, they would have the gym equipment stalled out like a jungle gym. If we wanted to play a ball game, the goals were easily put in place. At first I used those ten minutes to train my reflexes and my skills. To get faster, stronger, more flexible and to move across as many different kinds of platforms as possible. And Mr. Jugs quickly noticed this.
By the time I had gym class in high school, he and Mr. Cluck had actually agreed that I could use the second half of our double periods for this training. And most of the other orphans really enjoyed watching me train, it helped them forget their own orphaned state for a while. Some even said it gave them hope for a positive future to see me work so hard to prepare for my own. That was definitely one of the reasons the teachers agreed to this change in schedule."

I smile at this, even if I do wonder and worry about what Sly meant when he said that the other towns didn't care much for the orphans that he grew up with. Yet I just leave this for later as suddenly Sly's arms tense around me. I cuddle my head against his chest and this seems to help him calm down. Yet his voice is still full of pain and fear as he says: "Every time I trained, I would have Murray as my safety net. He would catch me if I fell.
But one day, when I was fifteen, he was sitting behind this albino snow leopard named Angel, who had no spots on her bar one. It was on top of her muzzle and it was shaped like a heart." Sly lets out a derisive snort and I noticed his voice sounding incredibly spiteful and sarcastic when he spoke of the feline's name. For some reason I feel like this description rings a vague bell, yet I just ignore this and listen as Sly continues.

His voice, to my concern, sounds even more distant now and he mumbles: "I – I never found out why she did what she did following that one faithful gym class. All I know was that I was training with gym equipment which Mr. Cluck had purposely set to a higher difficulty than before. I had asked him to do this, yet I still felt nervous with some portions of my training. So I turned to look at Murray more than I had done in the months before then.
I hadn't even realized that Angel had been seated before him. Not until it was all over." Sly sighs and he seems to try and gather his strength. I cuddle closer and mutter: "If you'd rather not talk, that's fine, Sly. You've been through enough this week." But while I have my head down, I feel the fur on the end of his chin shake left and right as he shakes his head. "I want to talk about this, gorgeous. I need to. I – I don't think I can again if I stop now."

I nod at this and whisper: "I'm listening, Sly. Tell me whatever you want. I'm here, Ringtail. I love you." I am looking up at his face again and Sly gratefully smiles at me. We share the shortest of kisses, yet I can still sense just how grateful Sly is through his kiss. Then we part and he continues: "The orphanage is actually set in four divisions when it comes to sleeping quarters. Young boys, young girls, teenage boys and teenage girls.
Now young boys and girls could move freely as much as they wanted, but the doors to the teenage boy and the teenage girl quarters were always locked after curfew. Mrs. Puffin was extremely strict and adamant about that. The towns thought negatively enough about us, she didn't want to give them more reason to do so, even if their reasons had always been completely bogus and stupid. But still, somehow, Angel got the key to our quarters.

And that night, after that one faithful gym class, she somehow managed to sneak in, get to my bed despite my sensitive hearing and even tie my hands and feet together. She also blindfolded me and even put a muzzle on me. And I don't mean like a ball-gag or something, but the kind of muzzle you put on wild animals when they are moved across zoos or something of the sort. Then she pulled me onto her back and carried me out like a piece of clothing, like a boa."
Sly's story just horrifies me and thanks to how he is telling it, I can almost feel as if I am in his shoes. As if I am in his bed, as if I am being tied up, as if I am being carried around like that. I am trying everything I can not to let my body tense up as I feel sure that Sly needs me to remain calm, while he talks. "She took me to her own bed and there she changed the ropes for chains. Chains of which the links cut into my flesh, drawing blood.

I was scared, terrified even. I didn't even know who it was that had me. I was actually afraid that it might have been an apprentice or someone working for the Fiendish Five, as if they had come back to finish the job. Then, while I wasn't able to see or say anything, I felt her run something across my front, along my arms. I was too afraid to really hear what she was saying, but I did hear her yelp when the door was slammed open.
Then – I felt an unbelievable pain stab me in the side, just above my hips. That was it. I passed out and went into shock once again. And like with my parents and like today, I didn't wake for two whole days. It was even the day after I woke up that Mrs. Puffin asked me to come to her office and where she, Bentley and Murray told me what had happened. I had been beyond relieved that the Five weren't involved, but also terrified and confused as to why Angel did this.

She never said. Mrs. Puffin really wanted to take her to the police of even one of the three towns, but – they hardly ever listened. They always claimed stuff like Oh, an orphan did that or Ah, so an orphan broke that law and then they would finish it with a careless how predictable. And if Mrs. Puffin would try to press for charges, she was threatened that she'd spent the night in prison, for disturbing the piece and bothering the law enforcement on duty."
This infuriates me as these kinds of officers just remind me of Barkley and all he was able to get away with. Sly sighs and mutters: "So Mrs. Puffin had no other choice. She wasn't going to be able to get Angel arrested for her kidnap of me or anything, but she wasn't going to let her stay either. Before I woke up, she sent Angel out of the orphanage and told her to follow her conscience, if she even had any. So all in all, I never even saw her."

Sly sighs at the end and I whisper: "I can't believe we even have this in common. Both of our love lives sucked before we met each other." Sly's eyes widen for a moment, but then he bursts out laughing. "I never looked at it like that! Oh my god, you're right. Our love life really did suck before we met. We both got creeps after us for all the wrong reasons." I grin at him, relieved beyond words to see him laugh like this.
Sly slowly sobers up and stops laughing. He looks down and mutters: "Yet I only knew Angel as a classmate and never met her again after she attacked me. You've had to deal with Barkley for two years straight. The only real reminder I have of that night is a scar. You have memories upon memories of what he tried. It might be similar, but it's still so very different." I sigh as I have to give him right and ask:

"Can I see it?" Sly hesitates and gulps. Instantly I want to take back the request, but Sly mutters: "Move up, please." I gently climb up until I am on hands and knees above him. Sly grins up at me and I lovingly smile back at him. Then, while his arms falter from time to time, he slowly moves them over to his right side. He grips the bottom edge of his shirt with both hands and slowly, hesitantly, he pulls it up.
And while I have definitely seen Sly look beat up before, the scar is still something else and it makes my eyes widen. The scar itself is, thankfully enough, not that deep, yet it's still pretty red and actually looks like it only got made a few years ago, not little under a decade ago. "It actually just started to look like this after – Clock-La. I – I think there's some sort of connection, but – after that I just didn't want to find out anymore.
I – I just wanted to leave Clockwerk behind me. You had destroyed the Hate Chip and with that brought an end to the curse he had laid upon my family. I just – I didn't want to give him another way into my life. He was dead and I wanted to keep him that way." Sly explains to me while his voice is almost devoid of all emotion. Only the obvious anger that the Raccoon feels for his former arch nemesis can be heard.

I look from the scar to Sly and ask: "And she was never arrested?" Sly shakes his head and says: "I never sought her out either. Bentley did start to keep an eye out for her location after we moved into the Hide Out, but that was purely so he could keep her away from us, away from me. He – he stopped doing that just after we were arrested. To be honest, I'm pretty sure that my shock and his slip up reminded him for the first time in years."
I nod and yet I can't help but feel as if I know the girl that Sly speaks of. I lie down again as leaning over him feels stupid at this point and lie my head on his chest as I try to think. And then it hits me. "Interpol. That damned little runt has been a rookie for the last three months. She's been making name for herself, because she always manages to get a testimony out of suspects. She also usually leaves them bruised, but not bad enough it'll scar."

Again I try not to tense, but this time it's in rage. Part of me wonders if perhaps Barkley knew of her or if he hired her because he knew of her past and wanted to spite Sly or something. Yet then I remember that Barkley is out of the picture and then I remember something else. "Michael is cleaning Interpol with a fine-tooth comb. That bint's days are numbered." And this thought makes a satisfied grin grow on my face.
"What's on your mind, beautiful?" Sly suddenly asks me and I grin at him as I say: "Just pride. Pride that we both came out stronger and that, in the end, we found each other. That no matter what life threw at us, we got to pursue happiness when it was all over. That and the memory of how you described our future home. It might sound weird, but knowing you went through this makes me want that as a reality even more."
Sly beams at me with tears of gratitude shining in his eyes. He pulls me close and his kiss is once again full of love and joy. I happily kiss him back and when we part, he whispers: "What did I ever do to deserve you, my gorgeous?" And I lovingly and pridefully answer him: "You survived, Sly. You survived and you fought back. You fought and proved that, in the end, nothing they did mattered. In the end, you still won."

Sly grins at me and then he asks: "Can I be honest with you?" I nod, though I feel confused as well. Sly turns to look away from me and starts to stare up at the canopy again as he says: "The first few times we met – I was acting." This startles and confuses me. "I mean with how suave and carefree I was. The whole thing with Angel left huge emotional scars with me, to the point that I could only stand Mrs. Puffin's presence.
With other girls, even girls I had grown up with at the orphanage for years, I would tense up and all I'd be able to do was remember how that night felt. It took an older orphan who had been studying different kinds of medicine and mental health training on her own time meeting with me monthly before I got over it. Or better said, until I managed to suppress the whole thing and pretend like it never happened, at least when around girls.

By the end of it all, I was able to look relaxed around girls, but I never was, not really. It wasn't until I met you and got to know you, until I realized how much you had been helping me take down the Fiendish Five that I was able to move on." Sly is now looking down at me again and he says: "That was one of the reasons I kissed you that day. I admit, part of it was me wanting to see if I really did feel comfortable again, but – it was also to thank you.
Not just for your help with Clockwerk, but for the fact that you had stolen my heart. That you had managed to push past the shadow that surrounded and encaged my heart when it came to women and that you had, driven it away, so to say. I am beyond grateful, Carmelita, and I always will be. Without your help, both with my heart and with the Fiendish Five, the Claww Gang and Clock-La, I really would have been the last of my line, the last Master Thief."

Instantly fear grips at my heart at the thought of a world without Sly – or worse a world without Sly's influence to make the whole thing better. And the idea that Sly would die alone and childless, the last of his line and the end of a three-thousand year old family, is too horrible for me to even consider. I grab Sly's face and growl: "You are not the last of your line, Cooper. I will be yours and I will have your kids. You will continue the line, I swear it."
Sly grins at me and pushes his face against mine. And the kiss we now share is full of the promise I just made him, as well as him returning that promise right back to me. "I would not want to live that dream, Carmelita. Not with anyone other than you. You mean too much to me. You truly are my past, present and my future. And I will do anything and everything to keep it that way." I grin at his words and lie down again.

For a few minutes we just lay in silence and Sly starts to gently run his fingers through my hair. The touch feels divine beyond words and I let out soft sighs and moans every now and then. Then suddenly Sly speaks up and mutters: "I just thought of something. Maybe, what Muggshot did to my family farm, is a good thing." This statement just utterly baffles me and in my shock, I resort to my native language as I ask: "Que?"
Sly grins at me and says: "I mean it. Now that that bank is there – if it's even still there as I'm sure Michael has had someone make work of that by now –." I nod at this as Michael actually contacted us about this the night that Sly got back. Yet Sly's next words stop my thoughts dead in their tracks. "Well, with it gone, we can use the Otto Van Cooper Law to hire some construction workers. To start building our future home together."

I stare at the Ringtail, my mouth slightly ajar and I stutter in shock even. Sly just grins his usual lopsided grin at me and when what he has said finally clicks, I just react out of instinct. Pure love, elation, excitement and glee are conveyed through my kiss and Sly happily and gleefully wraps his arms around me as he kisses me back. I part after a moment and growl: "Never change, Sly Cooper. You are a true work of art."
Sly grins back and then suddenly he moves us both. I move along with his movement and when we stop moving, I am sitting in his lap with his legs wrapped around my hips and his hands lying across my stomach and waist. My back is against his, yet I am slightly leaning down while he is leaning against the headboard. And then Sly makes everything perfect as he whispers: "And you, Carmelita, are the future of my life and my family."
And as he starts to rub circles across my stomach and lower waist there is no mistaken what he means or what he is currently imagining. And the thought of me pregnant of his child, instead of turning me on like it did last time, just make a content loving grin grow on my face. I lean back against him and just happily enjoy the loving ministrations and the delightful sensation of his fingers drawing circles across my abdomen. And somehow, I can already feel what it would be like if I were to indeed have a rotund stomach, full of the next Cooper in the line.

You dream, Carmelita,
Okay, that was beyond sweet – and beyond horrifying at the same time. And I don't think I need to explain to you who is going to be coming up soon or what he is going to do once he does find out. HOWEVER! I promised that I would get to the training for the Cooper Vault soon and I intend to do just that. Plus, this will allow me even more of a chance to flesh out both the Cooper Gang and the Cooper Hide Out. And trust me,
I have plans,

Venquine1990