A/N and Disclaimer: I am SO SORRY it's taken me this long to write this chapter! Really, really, really sorry! Times infinity! Sorry! Anyway, enough talking, on with the chapter before you all kill me. Or maybe you've all gone home… No, don't own Sly Cooper, Carmelita, Bentley, Murray or a bus. Story now

Carmelita became aware of someone shaking her shoulders and a soft voice coaxing her to wake up. She drowsily opened her eyes and saw blackness.

She panicked, sitting bolt upright. Still, all she saw was black. She dimly recognised Sly's voice as he whispered to her. 'Calm down, Carmen.'

She did. 'Sly? What…why are you…how come-'

Sly chuckled. 'I'll explain later,' he whispered. 'When we're on our way.'

'On our way?' she asked softly. 'Where?' Then she remembered. 'Now?'

Sly nodded (but she couldn't see it), so he confirmed it with a whispered 'Yes, now.' Then he took her hand and led her to the back door, finding a hidden keypad and typing something in it before opening the door and leading her outside.

As soon as Carmelita was outside, she could see again. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and the starlight, and she turned to see Sly closing the door behind them. He grinned at her as he started walking to the fence. 'Come on,' he said, waving her over. 'We've got to get moving before Bentley figures out where we are.'

'What?' Carmelita said, stunned. 'You mean Bentley doesn't know we're going to m- Carmelita's apartment?' she asked, trying to remember to choose her words carefully. 'Why are we going now?'

'Because otherwise someone will catch us there,' he explained, jumping onto the fence, a small cobbled lane on the other side, offering a hand to Carmelita, who ignored it, grinning as she scaled the fence excellently. He jumped down and walked out onto the street outside the hideout. Carmelita caught up and began walking down a familiar path leading to a deserted park.

Well, almost deserted.

'HeY, iz stUCK-up bOY!' a voice slurred, and a swaying figure approached Carmelita and Sly. Carmelita instantly recognised the drunken teen, and stood on her guard. Sly frowned as the boy approached. He stopped a little too close too Carmelita, his stinking aroma assaulting her senses.

'Hey boy,' he drawled, swaying and squinting at Carmelita in the dark. 'Youwere s'posed to get drinks forus. Why didn'tcha?' He moved to shove her, but Sly intercepted, his frown deepening.

'Excuse me,' he said politely, but with an icy tone in his voice. 'We have to be going. Come on, Carmen.' he said, pushing past the youth, who almost fell over from his tipsy state. They walked quickly past him, and he called out after them.

'FiNe! Nex' tIme, Inspecta!' he yelled.

'INSPECTOR?' Sly and Carmelita repeated, whirling around to look at the tipping teen. He grinned lopsidedly at the suddenly captivated pair.

'Yeah,' he said smugly. 'You look jus' like that loose bi-'

THUD! And the kid collapsed on the ground, passing out.

'Lucky,' Sly growled, his brow lowering in anger. 'Another word and I would have knocked him out myself.' Breathing deeply, Sly gave one last evil look towards the collapsed kid, and then turned towards the other side of the park at a jog. Carmelita jogged beside him, subtly checking her disguise for any flaws she may have missed. Sly looked up at the sky and frowned again.

'Great,' he mumbled. 'now we're late.' Carmelita looked at him.

'For what?' she asked. Sly motioned to the tattered bus shelter that Carmelita knew well. She grinned inwardly at this tiny little stop's importance for the last week or so. They jogged over, hiding behind the small greenery beside the shelter. No one else was there, so when the bus trundled past not a moment later, they had to sprint to catch hold of it. Once both had a hold of the worn out bus, they climbed up to its roof, holding on by the top of the front window.

'Not far,' Sly said as the bus took them through the sleeping town. Carmelita nodded. Then she looked at Sly.

'Do I really look like…Carmelita?' she asked cautiously. She knew this could cost her the disguise if Sly looked too hard and saw that she really was Carmelita. She held her breath as he turned his head to look at her.

'Yeah, a little,' he said casually, turning back to the front of the bus. 'Now, when we get there, we're going to have to be really quick, otherwise someone might notice two strangers waltzing around in the lovely Inspector's apartment, and that's suspicious.'

She suppressed a giggle as she imagined her and Sly waltzing around in her kitchen, but Carmelita wasn't entirely comforted by his quick change of subject. He almost seemed to be avoiding the-

'Okay, jump off!' Sly commanded in a whisper, and rolled off the side of the bus. Carmelita panicked slightly, having just come back to reality from her musings, but quickly followed suit, landing five metres ahead of Sly, and doing a small, tight roll to wear of the impact. Jumping quickly to her feet, she looked around and saw Sly motioning for her to follow him. She caught up, and they walked the very short distance to Carmelita's apartment building. But instead of walking straight up to it like she had always done, Sly led her around the back of the building, up a drainpipe, and across a window ledge (Carmelita had to be very careful not to look down there) before another drainpipe lead them to the roof of the apartment building. Then Sly turned to her with a grin.

'Here's the fun part.' he said mischievously, walking over to what Carmelita thought was just a big metal box. He waved her over, and pried off the metal grating to reveal a huge air vent, big enough for both to crawl through.

Which Sly already knew. Carmelita looked at him and saw the obvious. He had known this all along. He had planned to come here for a while. He had been in her apartment before!

But before she could begin to yell at him, Sly turned and crawled through the gap. She watched as his ringed tail quickly disappeared into the darkness, frowning at the thought of entering an apartment illegally, even if it was her own. But a muffled call from inside the vent temporarily silenced her inner battle, and she crawled in after him.

'Sly!' she whispered angrily to his feet, as the pair crawled down the maze of metal. 'You knew where this was, didn't you? You've done this before!' she accused him. But all he did was shush her and kept leading her through the twists and turns until he stopped crawling and turned to the side.

'This one.' he said, prying off a much smaller grating, grinning at her and jumping down with barely a noise, bar the gentle thud of a weight on carpet. Carmelita readied herself and jumped from that awkward angle to land quietly on her own carpet. She had a sudden urge to sit down and just feel her floor beneath her, but Sly had already begun wandering, and she couldn't leave him in her apartment alone!

Sly moved quietly across to the front door of her apartment, and she could only just make out his figure beside her door. She listened carefully as he spoke to get her bearings.

'It seems Carmelita has some mail.' he said playfully, reaching down to pick up a white envelope from the floor. He paused. 'Hmm, I wonder who sends mail to a person on holidays? Especially Interpol.'

Carmelita's heart jumped a couple of beats. 'Interpol?' she squeaked. Sly nodded, ignoring her suddenly high-pitched tone.

'Yeah,' he mused, looking at the envelope. 'I.S.P. to be exact. Hmm, strange…' he murmured to himself, sliding it into his leg pouch.

Carmelita realised then that she was going to have to find a way to pickpocket Sly Cooper.

'C'mon Carmen!' Sly called, alerting her that he was moving around her apartment again. 'We're wasting precious daylight. Or lack thereof.' he joked, looking around the apartment. He poked his nose into a couple of rooms before he found her laundry.

'Ah ha!' he called, pulling out a duster and broom from a thin white cupboard. He looked amused as he pulled them out into the main room. Carmelita was instantly defensive of her belongings.

'What's so funny, Cooper?' she questioned suspiciously, eyes narrowing at his shadowy figure. Sly shrugged his shoulders, grinning.

'Nothing,' he said innocently, his eyes sparkling mischievously. 'Just figured that it's a little simple. You know, you'd think someone who earns a hundred grand a day could afford a vacuum cleaner or something.'

Carmelita's jaw dropped. 'What!' she said, shocked. 'For your information, I-' she paused, hands on hips, despite the funny feeling under her fingers. 'I- I know that she earns far less.'

Sly raised an eyebrow. 'Really?' he questioned sceptically, looking her in the eye. She looked back at him, raising her chin slightly.

'Yeah,' she said, crossing her arms, her tone defensive. But the corners of her mouth were tilting upwards into a very small smile. Sly looked carefully at her face. They stayed like that for a moment, before Sly smiled and turned away.

'Okay,' he said evenly. 'I believe you.'

For the second time in a minute, Carmelita was hit with the unexpected, and was speechless again. Did Sly Cooper just back down from an argument with her? Like, give in? What was he up to? Why did he do that?

Where is he going!

Carmelita started, noticing Sly's ringed tail disappearing around a corner, back towards her living room. She joined him shortly, not wanting him to escape her gaze. She had all these questions floating inside her head, but when she almost bumped into Sly, he just handed Carmelita her broom and suggested they'd better get to work.

Carmelita usually grumbled half-heartedly about cleaning, it was not one of her favourite things to do. Usually she used her work as an excuse to only tidy up every once in a while, and when her parents were coming over. But at four in the morning, hiding behind a disguise in her own apartment, helping the infamous Sly Cooper clean her living room, she settled for pulling faces at the broom and mop.

After an hour of brushing, dusting, sweeping and scrubbing, Sly decided that Carmelita's apartment was clean enough, and that the sun would rise soon, so they ought to head back. Carmelita was relieved to say the least. Although she did have to admit that her apartment did look much better than she'd seen it in a long while. While she packed the cleaning stuff away, Sly quickly checked over the whole house, making sure no trace was left of their presence.

Or not much of it. Carmelita watched carefully as he darted left, then right, then left again all around her apartment. She still didn't trust him entirely, and became suspicious when he stopped suddenly at her dining table, bent over and scribbling something.

'Hey!' she said loudly, stepping forward from her out-of-the-way spot by the cupboard. 'You can't graffiti on that table!' She reached out one hand and was about to sweep his arm from the table when he spun around, grinning.

'All done,' he said shortly. 'Let's go.'

Carmelita looked at him for a moment. Then at her table, expecting to find horrible scratch marks or big black texta scribble staining it. But there was something she hadn't seen all week.

A Cooper calling card.

She bent over to read the hasty pen message on it, but two arms she had forgotten about pulled her back. 'Come on, Carmen, let's move!' their owner urged, and Carmelita had to leave her curiosity unfulfilled, for now, as she turned and climbed back into the air vent, pulling the grating back with a strong piece of rope.

Which was already firmly attached to the grating, Carmelita noticed, smiling dryly. Ooh, that sneaky raccoon! she fumed quietly. He is so going to get what's coming to him!

They emerged from the vent system at sunrise. Thin streams of gold were spread across the sky like streaks of paint someone had spilled, and Sly's face looked like he was the one who spilled them.

'Oh no!' he cursed quietly. 'We're late. Again!' He turned back to Carmelita, a serious look in his eyes. 'Alright Carmen, we are going to have to sprint off the edge of this rooftop, and then you'll have to grab on to me. Okay?'

Carmelita's shocked look said no (well actually it was more like, 'ARE YOU COMPLETELY CRAZY RINGTAIL!'), but Sly just nodded and turned towards the edge of the roof. She barely had time to gulp before he quickly counted. 'One. Two. Go!'

And Carmelita watched for a moment as Sly ran, full pelt, towards the edge. Then she felt something pull hard at her wrist, and the next thing she knew, she was running too! The cement rushed quickly, and the open sky loomed closer, then 'Jump!' and she latched on to Sly's waist as she rose briefly from the jump's force.

Then they were falling, and Carmelita bared her teeth and shut her eyes (to protect them from the wind, of course). She anticipated the dropping feeling, the extreme pain and tension from the fall. But a large gust of wind proved that they were not actually plummeting to the ground like she thought. In fact, if she didn't know better…

She looked up, gratefully seeing the paraglider Sly was controlling. Now they were just drifting down, calmly descending from the not extravagantly but still quite painful height of seven stories, down to the pavement. Well, the roof of a bus, really.

As they came to a metre range, Sly pulled a cord on the paraglider, literally like a rip tag, because it caused the glider to tear apart. Carmelita didn't see it, however, more intent on landing quietly on the metal roof.

They dropped down and…phom. Not too bad for a first try, Carmelita thought, grinning. Sly smiled at her, then crouched down like before, holding onto grooves, indents or other unintentional handles. She copied, and quickly noticed the force that had made her run.

A piece of rope. Just like the one in her air vent. Tied around her wrist, connecting it with Sly's. Damn that raccoon!

She was about to blast Sly, when she saw his leg pouch within arm's distance. And she remembered the letter.

This one was the real deal, she was sure of it. And if he read it, she was as good as gone; they'd send her packing so fast she wouldn't be able to breath. Carmelita's imagination whizzed around her brain, thinking of what the gang would do if she was found out. They wouldn't hurt her, she was confident, but she'd break the blossoming friendships she was creating. And she hadn't had friends that truly cared about her in a long time.

She had to get that envelope. She glanced at Sly's face and body, and, seeing that it wasn't moving, she slowly reached out her hand for that red pocket. Closer, closer, she almost had her fingers level with it.

'Hey Carmen,' Sly said, turning to look at her. She flattened her arm to the bus and looked at him.

'Yeah?' she said nonchalantly.
'Can you climb?'

Carmelita raised an eyebrow, momentarily forgetting the envelope. 'Of course I can,' she stated proudly. 'I got onto the roof by myself, didn't I?'

Sly smiled. 'Right. But what about things like trees?'

Carmelita shrugged (as much as her position would let her). 'Same thing, isn't it? Climbing is climbing, end of story.'

Sly nodded and turned back to looking at the front. Carmelita stared at him a moment longer, wondering where he got these crazy questions from. Then she focused back on his pocket. Her hand had slipped a little, but she moved quicker this time, her fingers soon able to open the pocket.

But it seemed like Sly didn't button down his leg pouch, as the top flap fluttered slightly with the rushing air. Carmelita shrugged, that wasn't the hard part. Actually getting the envelope out would be tricky. With extreme caution, Carmelita slid her fingers slowly into the pocket. She frowned and felt further.

Empty. But she had seen him put it in here! Where could it have gone in just two minute-

It clicked. Sly had posed that odd question as a distraction, knowing what she was trying to do, and taken it out without her realising. That sneaky ringtail!

More than a little frustrated that her efforts had been in vain, and that she had been so obvious about it, Carmelita needed to vent her anger, and Sly's shoes was the first thing she saw. She drew back her arm and whacked it as hard as she could, mentally cursing him.

But he didn't flinch, or yelp in pain like she expected. He laughed.

She looked at him in mild confusion, and he turned to look at her.

'Sorry Carmen,' he apologised, his eyes teasing her and the corners of his mouth lifting in a smile. 'But there's no way you're getting to this before I am.'

He smiled fully, waving the envelope with his free hand. Carmelita desperately made a snatch for it, but he easily pulled it out of reach.

'But I'll tell you what,' he teased, pretending to be thoughtful, tapping his chin with the white corner. 'I'll lend it to you after I finish with it. Although I don't know why you want it so badly. What interesting things could I.S.P. possibly want to say anyway?'

Carmelita frowned deeply, baring her teeth. She just HAD to get her letter off of that arrogant thief, and there was NO way he could be allowed to read it! She tried to think of a plan while he chuckled at her face.

'You know, with your face like that, you could probably be Carmelita's cousin or something.' he said grinning at her.

Outwardly, she poked her tongue out at him. But inwardly, she filed this away as a possible excuse to use later on. Hmm, now why hadn't she thought of that?

Sly looked like he was about to comment on something else, but his ears perked and he whirled his head to look at something on the not to distant horizon. Which was slowly going golden. He turned back to her, a serious look on his face. 'Okay Carmen, enough jokes. We get off here and sprint back to the hideout, before Bentley fries us up and eats us for breakfast. Got it?'

She nodded, trying not to giggle at the picture of a big and scary Bentley cooking them in a frying pan with bacon and eggs (yes, that was a little random, wasn't it?), and they crouched in ready position on the metal roof. On Sly's signal, they both jumped off and ran the few blocks to the hideout (passing by an unconscious and unpleasant youth as they went by a nearby park). Panting, Sly quickly vaulted the fence, almost injuring Carmelita as his jump pulled fiercely on her wrist, and she had to climb quickly to avoid dislocation.

Approaching the house very quietly, the pair snuck inside with nary a sound. As they crept past the kitchen, Carmelita grabbed a knife and sliced the rope bond between them, setting them free. She looked down at her frayed end for a moment, then placed the knife carefully back in its holder, and made her way, ever-so-quietly, to her mattress, before flopping down to sleep again.

Holding on tightly to a crisp white envelope.

A/N: Okay, that seemed to have no point whatsoever. I hope it was a little funny at least? Anyway, once again, I am really sorry about the lateness, I hope it doesn't happen again! Anyway, until next time!