A/N and Disclaimer: Okay, we ended on a sad note last time, so hopefully, things will be looking up this time! As I have said repeatedly, I don't own Sly Cooper, Carmelita, Bentley, Murray or any apartments. I did make up I.S.P., but it's not worth suing over (but it would be nice if you said it was my idea!). Anyway, the story!

Carmelita woke to the sound of shuffling in the kitchen. She sat up, looking behind her to see what was making that noise. The whole gang was moving quietly in the kitchen and dining room. Sly saw she was awake and froze. Carmelita got up slowly, keeping eye contact with the Master Thief as she moved. He watched her get up, and walk cautiously over to him. The others stopped what they were doing, their eyes drawn to this confrontation.

'Sly?' she whispered. Sly turned his back on her. She reached out, putting a hand on his shoulder. 'I'm sorry. I…I…there's just…some things that are secret. You know?' Sly turned back to face her, her hand slipping off him. He looked into her eyes. Pure honesty shone back out at him. He suddenly felt bad about prying, when it was obvious that whatever it was had a special, secret meaning to Carmelita. And after all, didn't they all have secrets?

'Sorry Carmen.' he said apologetically. 'It's just that sometimes you act so odd…' He gave her an odd look again, and she smiled. 'Hey, that's me. Carmen Socks, freaky fox.' she joked, then froze as she realised how obvious she'd made it for Sly to connect Fox to her real self. But the gang were too busy laughing at her clever rhyme. She smiled at the absurdity of the situation.

They continued to laugh for a fair few minutes, and eventually Carmelita had to bring some sense back into the day. 'Hey! It wasn't that funny!'

Sly looked up at her, happy tears in his eyes. He wiped them away with his palm. 'I guess not,' he said smiling. 'But maybe because it was so unexpected it was.'

She smiled, enjoying the fact that she could make everyone laugh. As everybody calmed down, she asked. 'What are we doing today?'

Bentley smiled. 'Actually Carmen, after pulling off a number of heists and recon missions in only a few days, we're taking a break for now.'

Carmelita smiled. 'You mean, like free time?' she asked. Bentley nodded. 'Yes!' she whispered to herself.

'Yes,' he said. 'but that doesn't mean we have nothing to do today…'

And Carmelita, Sly and Murray (after taking the headphones out of his ears) listened as Bentley reeled off his list of chores. At the end, they had all lost hope in having a free day today. Bentley looked at them all.

'Hey, it's not me! This stuff has to be done!' he insisted. But it didn't improve their moods. Murray was the unexpected hero of the day, stirring them all to begin this hopeless list.

'Come on, guys!' he urged. 'The sooner we start, the more free time we'll have in the afternoon! We could go watch a movie later!'

Eventually it got them going. 'Murray's right,' Sly said, getting to his feet. 'Think of the movie we'll get to see later!'

Carmelita sighed. 'Alright, let's get stuck into it, shall we?' she said reluctantly, hauling herself to her feet as well.

And, after a hurried breakfast of toast, they began.

The first on Bentley's list was getting a mattress down for Carmelita, as she had slept on the couch long enough. They put it in the first living room, close to the others. That was dusty work, and Murray did almost all the lifting.

The second chore was to clean the house. Carmelita thought that other things might have rated higher on priority, but Bentley told her that the house had been getting progressively worse. So, in three hours, the whole house, inside and out, was spotless. Not bad for a bunch of bachelors, right?

The third task was to check all the security systems, which Bentley performed almost solely (he needed Sly's help for some access points). After an hour of Bentley running from one side of the house to another, it was lunchtime.

Everyone was thoroughly tired, dusty, sweaty or mentally exhausted by the time 12:00 had rolled around. Murray whipped up a quick lunch of sandwiches (he really is a good cook) and they took them out in the sunshine to eat (and so they didn't put crumbs all over the newly cleaned house).

It was a lovely sunny day. Carmelita was lost in thought, and barely touched her sandwich til Murray snapped her out of it by giving her a playful shove that almost sent her sprawling. She coughed, smiled at Murray and quickly scoffed the rest of her sandwich. Dusting the crumbs off her hands, she stood up.

'You really were hungry, weren't you little buddy?' Murray said, surprised that such a little person could eat so fast. Carmelita grinned at him.

'Guess so.' she said. Then she turned to Bentley. 'Any more jobs, Capitan Bentley?'

Bentley smirked at his new title of 'Captain'. 'None left, son.' he said, acting like an army commander, holding his nose up high. Carmelita smiled.

'Then can I go for a walk?' she asked politely, her hands clasped behind her back. Bentley looked carefully at her, only half pretending to consider this. After a moment, he nodded.

'Be back before sunset.' he demanded. Carmelita smiled one of her most dazzling smiles, and he added. 'If you're not back before sunset, you won't have a home tonight.' he threatened. That sobered the young fox, but she thanked Bentley as much as she could before he shooed her away. She thanked him once more and ran into the house, putting her shoes on and leaving via the front door.

Carmelita strolled through the neighbourhood, finding a trashed park with a small playground and park bench in the little block of grass. She walked over to the park bench, covered in graffiti, and sat down on its faded grey timber. Looking around for any unwanted company. There was a man taking his dog for a walk on the other side of the park, and an elderly woman getting of a bus carrying bags of groceries. She bent down and slipped the crumpled paper from her shoe, smoothed it as much as she could, and opened the paper up.

It was definitely from Interpol, the emblem on the paper told her that quite clearly. She read the letter. It said:

Mr. Socks,

You have now been in the company of wanted criminal Sly Cooper and gang for three days. We require information on them. Write a short report on crucial information, and leave it outside the Cooper gang's residence in two days, in their mailbox. It will be collected within the hours of 4:00-5:00am on the third day. If you fail to do this, we will arrest you, as well as the gang.

Regards,
Chief Barkly.

Carmelita read, and re read the letter. It certainly didn't make sense, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Her gut feeling felt that something was fishy. She read it again, scrutinizing every word.

Then she spotted it.

Barkly. It was spelt wrong.

Carmelita smiled a triumphant smile at the piece of paper in her hands. It was a trick. And if she was right in guessing, Bentley had been the one to set it up. Oh, clever, she thought, but not clever enough!

She put the paper into her pants pocket, not as worried with hiding it as she had been before. She smiled and stood up, walking across the park and plotting her revenge against Bentley.

Walking, she came across the same bus line that she had caught the first day of this mission.

This mission…

She slumped down beside the bus stop, feeling depressed. What was she going to do when the real letter from Interpol came? Would she give information on her new friends, the first she'd had in a long, long time, or would she abandon the service she had worked for since what seemed like forever? Did she really love Sly Cooper? How much longer could she hide the fact that wasn't Carmen Socks?

These thoughts raced through her mind as the hot noon sun bore down on her. Something beeped at her, and she looked up to see the old beat up bus stop at the bus shelter. She was going to wave it on, when an exciting thought struck her. Perhaps she could return to her apartment, just quickly?

She stood up quickly, dusting her dirty clothes off, and walked over to the bus, fishing some coins from deep in her pockets. She stepped on the bus, but the bus driver said. 'This is the end of the line, boy. From here, the bus goes back the way it came.'

'That's exactly what I want,' she said, handing him the money. 'One two hour ticket, please.'

He sighed, gave her the ticket and waited til she was seated before swinging the bus around. Carmelita enjoyed the bus ride back to her apartment, getting off a block from the building complex. She walked quickly, memorising where the stop was, and soon she got to her apartment. Scaling the three flights of stairs like nothing, she came to her apartment door, pulling her spare key from behind a pot plant, she unlocked the standard flat door lock, and opened the door to her home.

She took a deep breath as she entered, closing the door behind her. For the first time in more hours than she could count, she was in the privacy of her own home. The first step she took was towards the bathroom.

Stepping inside, she firmly locked the door, and removed everything she was wearing, feeling the cool air on her chest, hips, hair, eyes and legs, for she had not undressed the smallest bit since putting the disguise on. She ran the water in the shower, and as the hot water flowed in, she scrubbed every part of her body, washing her hair and soaping up so much she was sure her fur would dry out.

After a good hour, she closed the taps, and grabbed a towel from the rack beside the shower. She dried herself thoroughly, then reluctantly proceeded to reapply the costume. The last thing she put on were her contacts, and she looked into the mirror, a cleaner Carmen Socks staring back at her. She walked back out into the hallway, and walked to the living room to check the time.

It was only 2:00pm. Carmelita decided she'd lay down, just to rest her eyes. She slid down on the couch, and lay her hands on her stomach, looking up at the ceiling. She decided she had to get a few things clear.

Firstly, which was more important to her, her job or Sly? A week ago, she would have said her job, hands down. But after pretending to be someone else for a while, and having Sly, and his gang, accept her and even become friends, she wasn't sure. Well, she knew what her heart told her, it just wouldn't stop telling her, but what could she do in reality? She did need her job, but she really did like Sly. A lot. Which one could she choose.

Carmelita thought about both sides, frowning at the ceiling. If she chose to go with Sly, she wouldn't have to tell Interpol about them. But if she picked Sly, there was no going back, and she'd be a criminal no matter what. She'd never be an ordinary citizen again.

But if she chose her job, she'd have a choice of staying with her job, and continually chasing Sly (which, she privately admitted, was quite fun) and always being able to go with him later. But that meant she'd have to do her job, and tell Interpol about Sly and his gang. And she couldn't bear lying to him anymore.

Hmm, she thought, as a half thought out idea surfaced in her mind, I never said I'd truthfully tell the Chief about Cooper, and I haven't lied to him half as much as I have to Sly…perhaps I could even the odds…

Satisfied with her half thought plan, Carmelita drowsily skipped to the next problem. Her feelings for Sly Cooper. She knew she felt something for the charming raccoon. She got shivers when he touched her, and when he smiled at her, she felt warm inside. So did she love him?

Turning on her side, Carmelita thought hard. I think I do, she decided. I think
I love Sly Cooper. She smiled an unhidden smile of happiness. He was so nice, so handsome, so caring, so…perfect. She snuggled in the comforting feel of the couch. She decided that she was definitely in love with him, and she felt warm just thinking about him.

She sleepily turned to the next problem.

Her disguise.

How much longer could she hide who she was? She'd almost given away who she was a couple of times, and surely her feelings for Sly would hint that something was odd. What would they do to her when they found out. Sly had already told her that Bentley considered her, no, he considered Carmen, as a brother. He still saw her a just a threat to his heists. She felt sad that she was the cause of so much stress.

Her eyelids drooped, and she relaxed into the couch. She lifted a lid to check the time.

2:20pm. She had plenty of (yawn!) time, and she was just going to rest her eyes, just for a moment…

Carmelita slept for 2 and ½ hours.

She woke up and stretched on the couch, feeling like she had been dreaming a very odd dream. She looked over casually at the clock.

4:50pm.

'Madre de Dios!' she yelled, sitting bolt upright. Looking outside, she saw the sun sitting just above the Paris houses, casting long shadows over the city. She scrambled up from the couch and quickly patted down her rumpled clothes.
she quickly ducked in the bathroom in case she'd forgotten anything.

But she was safe, and she bolted for the door, quickly shutting and locking it, throwing the spare key in its hiding place before racing to the staircase. She spied the banister on the staircase, grinned, and slid down to the bottom floor.

She burst out the doors of the apartment building and sprinted down to the bus shelter. Not one second later, the same beat up bus turned the corner and spluttered to a stop before Carmelita. She hopped on, and realising that her ticket would be out of date, just paid for a short trip fare. The bus driver nodded, accepted her money and took off before she could steady herself. Which resulted in the young fox being thrown into another passenger.

She apologised profusely to the young retriever, who just smiled at her apologies. 'Don't worry, buddy,' he said. 'All is forgiven.' Before he put his headphones back in. Carmelita was slightly confused when he called her buddy, but after a second remembered she was Carmen, and thanked the now tone deaf dog again.

At 5:10pm she arrived at her stop, thanked the driver and jumped off the bus. There was a group of hooligans drinking by the bus stop. She tried to walk around them, but one stopped her, saying in an intoxicated voice. ' Hey, kid, what are you doing out so late?'

Carmelita ignored him, trying again to avoid him, but he didn't know when to stop. 'C'mon, that's not nice, ignoring people. Say, can you buy us some drinks?'
Carmelita dodged to one side and began running off her anger by speeding back to the hideout. Stupid teenagers, she thought angrily, drunk before it was even 6:00pm.

Speaking of the time, the sun had just begun to set over the Paris rooftops. She rounded a corner, running down the street like a kid late for curfew. She spied the hideout, and a figure standing on the roof. But as she caught sight of it, the figure dropped down to the ground and stuck their head in the front door. Out of breath, she flew past the front gate and ran right for the front door. Sly turned from talking to Bentley inside to catch the speeding fox before she crashed into something.

'Carmen,' he said happily as he released his grip from her shoulders. 'We were just talking about you.' He saw the worried look on her face and decided not to play around this time. 'You made it back in time, don't worry.' he assured her.

Carmelita gave a sigh of relief. She was getting worried there. Sly walked inside, and Carmelita followed him down the corridor, to the first living room, where her mattress lay to one side, and the Cooper gang were playing a board game. Monopoly, in fact.

'You can't play with a character because we started four hours ago, but you can be the bank, if you like.' Sly offered, sitting back down at the coffee table. Carmelita sat at one corner of the table, and Murray passed her the tray full of money.

'We were wondering when you'd get back.' Bentley said, not making eye contact with her. Carmelita felt there was more to this than Bentley would have liked to admit, and had something to do with what Sly said last night. She smiled at him.

'Thanks, Bentley.' she said kindly

He smiled gratefully at her. 'No worries, pal.'

'Let's get on with the game!' Murray said. 'I'm almost winning!'

The others laughed, and began their game again. It lasted long into the night, and they decided to pack it away at 11:00pm. Everyone except Carmelita was yawning (she'd had a nap earlier) and soon they had all gone to bed.

Carmelita sat on her mattress, not very tired after today. But she did run a block and a half home, and her body clock was telling her to sleep now, so eventually, Carmelita lay down on the bare mattress, finding a comfortable spot before managing to doze off.

Just before she drifted into sleep, she felt something warm wrap around her. She looked up sleepily to see a ringed tail disappearing behind a closing door, the light coming from the room ceasing after a moment. She snuggled into the blanket, breathing deeply as she smelt Cooper's interesting aroma on the blanket. Slowly, and dreaming of a certain raccoon, she drifted into dreams.

A/N: Hmm, a bit of a strange ending, eh? Oh well. So, Carmelita finally knows she loves Sly, but what will Sly do, especially if he doesn't know she is herself. Oh, and 'Madre de Dios' is, in a word for word translation, 'Mother of God'. I just had to throw it in! Until the next update!