10 years ago…
9 months throughout Carmelita's pregnancy flew by fast. Her belly had grown so large she couldn't even put on her shoes or pants without problems. She had just opted for dresses when she went out and just long t-shirts in the house since she could hardly even get dressed by herself. She didn't even wear her favorite boots since she couldn't tie the laces, instead just wearing any slip-on shoes she could find. She also rarely left the house since she felt like a fat whale.
Rolling herself out of bed, she noticed it was only 9 AM. Fall had just arrived in Paris and the weather started to cool down. Outside her apartment was the parking lot covered in brown leaves and trees turning different shades of orange, yellow, and brown. She soon decided the weather was nice enough to leave her window open. She felt the crisp cool air hit her face as she opened the window.
She waddled into her babies' room, getting ready for the big day. Her due date was only in a week, so she had a lot to do. She gathered up some other new clothing she had received from family and friends and placed them in a laundry basket to get ready to wash. The nursery she had designed was painted a bright but passive yellow with one crib pink and one crib blue. After she found out she was having both a boy and a girl, she figured it would only be appropriate for them to have separate color beds. When she first found out she was pregnant, she was unsure what she had hoped the gender would be, but after finding out she was having one of each, she couldn't be happier.
Carrying the laundry basket to the washer, Carmelita soon felt a tight squeezing pain in her stomach, forcing her to drop the basket. She grabbed her belly tightly trying to ease the pain, but failed. "Oh God." She cried.
She waddled over to the couch to sit down, hoping the pain would pass. The pain only got stronger, now radiating to her back. She tried to lay down straight to ease her back, but her efforts were failing. As she was grabbing her belly, she felt something warm and wet begin down in her underwear. "No…no…not yet." She cried to herself. Hesitantly, she peeked down and saw that she was having a bit of leakage. Her stomach tightened once again, causing her to fall off the couch in pain. "Oh God!" She cried. "It's a week early!"
With all of her strength, she helped herself up to get outside. She waddled as fast as she could to get herself in her car to get to the hospital. Slowly but with determination, she managed to get in her car, only wearing a large ugly white nightgown and slippers.
Carmelita drove as fast as she could, but she wasn't in her patrol car, she was in her normal white car. She soon regretted not taking her patrol car as soon as she saw the famous red and blue lights flash behind her. "Oh great." Not wanting to cause issues, she decided to pull over, hoping the police officer won't take long.
Waiting for a while, Carmelita felt more squeezing in her stomach. She debated to just drive off, but she was not willing to go to jail, especially with her being a cop herself. The cop that pulled her over was in clearly no rush, taking their sweet time to approach the miserable fox.
Soon, a familiar elephant came to her window to confront her. Looking at the driver, he soon realized something wasn't right. "Inspector Fox?"
Carmelita smiled nervously. "Officer Grey? I am so happy to see you. I'm sorry for speeding, but would you mind making this quick? I have an emergency."
The elephant observed Carmelita closely. "Inspector, is everything okay?"
"I'm…" Just before Carmelita could finish, she felt another squeeze in her stomach. "OWWW!" She cried.
Officer Grey knew exactly what was going on. Eager to help, he opened the driver's side door. "Come on, inspector. I'm going to take you to the hospital. I'll call someone to get your car."
Carmelita struggled to get out of the car with the squeezing pain radiating to her back. Officer Grey slowly helped her get into his patrol car to rush her to the hospital. "Dispatch? I have a code 12 with Inspector Fox. Send an officer to come get her car. The make is a white Honda license plate PKL-1276. It is on Mayberry Street."
Carmeltia held her stomach as tight as she could, trying to make the pain go away. "They're coming out!" She cried.
Officer Grey looked at the crying Fox, feeling helpless. "Inspector, the babies are not coming out. You're having contractions. I'm rushing you to the hospital. Just hang tight."
Carmelita knew the officer was right, but it did feel like the babies were coming out. Cruising down Paris at high speeds, she tried her hardest to keep her babies inside of her. After all, she would feel terrible about making a huge mess in the officer's patrol car.
After what seemed to be a few seconds, the officer rushed out of the driver's side door to help the fox get into the hospital. "Inspector, we're here." He assured her. "Just hang tight until we get into the ER. Hold onto my shoulders."
Officer Grey escorted Carmeltia who was holding tightly to his shoulder to the ER. The officer opened the entrance to the ER and rushed her into the back. The nurse at the front desk looked at him with confusion, but since he was a first responder she did not deny Carmelita coming through as fast as they were.
"I radioed in earlier. This is the patient, she is having her babies now." The officer handed Carmeltia to the nurse working the front desk, who escorted her to an open bed.
Carmelita felt another contraction in her stomach. All she wanted was the pain to stop. "Please…the pain!" She cried.
The nurse quickly laid her down on the bed and started to hook her up to an IV. "I'm gonna get the doctor in." She assured. "Just hang tight. We will give you something for those contractions."
Carmelita felt she couldn't wait much longer, but just as the nurse had promised, a doctor was soon visiting her. The doctor rushed in with another nurse to aid her. "Miss Fox, are you okay? I hear you're having contractions."
"No I'm not okay!" She shouted. "The babies are going to come out any minute!"
The doctor looked at her closely. "Miss Fox, do you mind if I take a look?" He pointed at her downstairs region. Carmelita was never comfortable with this kind of stuff, especially with her doctor not being there, but she was in so much pain she didn't care. The doctor and the nurse carefully looked at her to see what stage of birth she was in. "She's pretty dilated." The doctor warned. "Get her up to the birthing ward right away and make sure she gets an epidural."
The nurse nodded and soon prepped an epidural for Carmelita. "Are you okay with an epidural?" The nurse asked.
"YES!" Carmelita cried. "JUST MAKE THE PAIN GO AWAY!"
The nurse rolled Carmelita over and injected the medication into her spine. Very soon after, another nurse rushed in with a wheelchair and both helped the poor fox into it. Carmeltia felt a huge relief of her pain once the medicine was given. "Thank you." She cried.
The nurse smiled. "It's no problem. We are going to get you up to the birthing ward."
"I'm having twins." She pointed out.
"I'll let the doctor know." The nurse soon wheeled out Carmelita to the elevator, taking her up to the 5th floor to the birthing ward. Carmelita started to feel a little loopy from the medication, but she was awake enough to see the ward. It was painted bright blue with clouds covering the walls. As the nurse wheeled her through, she felt a sense of peace as they entered. The ward was so quiet, with new mom's walking around, and wheeling around, with their new babies. The music playing was a peaceful classical melody, putting her at ease. The ward was also warmer than the rest of the hospital, making sure all the new mothers were as comfortable as they could be.
The nurse wheeled her into an open room and helped her up on the bed. She reconnected her IV to her vein and started the machine. "I'm Rachel." She smiled. "I'm going to be your nurse. I'm going to hang out here for a while until the doctor arrives."
Carmelita sighed in relief. All she wanted to do was deliver her babies at this point. Well no denying that Sly is the father. They're unpredictable…like him. She thought. She laughed at herself a bit remembering how unpredictable he really was, kissing her at inappropriate times and sneaking away from her grasp.
A doctor soon walked in and observed Carmelita, who was now dazed. "Well, I see the epidural worked." Carmelita was relieved when she looked up and saw it was a woman doctor this time. She wasn't very comfortable with a male doctor, but she wouldn't have complained about it if that was all she had. The doctor got on the edge of the bed and strapped on her gloves. "Okay, when I say push, push as hard as you can. Don't worry about anything else, me and nurse Rachel here will take care of it. Okay?"
"Okay." Carmelita started to feel an overwhelming amount of nervousness enter her body as she realized the twins were now coming. She closed her eyes, hoping that the birth wouldn't last long.
"Okay, push." The doctor commanded. Carmelita pushed as hard as she could, feeling a bit of pressure but no pain. "You're doing great!" The doctor cherred.
Before Carmelita knew it, she felt something pop out and heard a loud cry. The nurse grabbed a pair of scissors and clipped the umbilical cord that connected the baby to her. The doctor handed the baby to the nurse. "Okay you got baby one. It's your little boy!"
The nurse held the screaming baby and quickly placed him on the scale to weigh him. "He's 7 pounds." She cheered. "His little fingers and toes are pink, no purple in sight." The nurse handed the baby to Carmeltia right away. "He looks just like you."
Carmelita looked at her new son and cried. "He's beautiful. My little Sly Jr." Looking up, Sly not being present hit her all at once. "He isn't here!" She sobbed.
The nurse tried to comfort the new mother. "Do not worry, Miss Fox. We are going to take good care of you. You have one more baby. I know you can do it!" The father not being present was not new for the nurse at all. In fact, it wasn't common for the father to be present at all. She wasn't there to judge, however, she was there to make sure Carmelita was happy and comfortable.
"Okay, ready for baby two?" The doctor looked up at Carmelita. Carmelita handed Silvester, who was still crying, off to the nurse.
"We're going to put your little boy in the nursery for now, Miss Fox. Just until your other baby is born."
Carmelita gasped. "That's okay."
Another nurse walked in the room and took Silvester away to place him in the nursery. The doctor signaled nurse Rachel that she was ready to deliver the second baby. "Okay Miss Fox. Just like the first round, push when I say to. Don't worry about anything else, okay? Go ahead and push."
Carmelita pushed once again as much as she could. Soon later, she heard another cry, but this time it was a lot louder. The nurse clipped the umbilical cord and laughed at the baby a bit. "Looks like this one isn't happy." She quickly weighed the baby. "She's 6 pounds." After weighing her, she quickly handed her back to her mother.
"Skylar." Carmeltia smiled at the screaming infant. "Miss Skylar, you look just like your father!"
After Skylar was born, the nurse who took Silvester away quickly came back in to hand him back to his mother. By this time, he had calmed down quite a bit, now wrapped in a pretty blue blanket. Nurse Rachel picked up Skylar and strapped on a diaper to her and wrapped her in a pretty pink blanket. She handed her right back to Carmelita, who was now in tears.
"They're beautiful." She held both of her babies close to her chest. "They're so beautiful!" She cried as hard as she ever did, both in happiness but heartbroken Sly was not there to see his babies be born.
"Both of your babies are beautiful and very healthy." The doctor smiled. "You did an amazing job, Miss Fox."
Skylar sat angrily on a small blanket she had brought with her. She really didn't feel like talking to anyone, but she couldn't tell her dad to just go away. He had a point, Skylar did want him back, so why would she want him to go away?
Sly awkwardly entered the room, not sure how to approach his daughter. "So…about what happened back there…"
"What about it?" Skylar asked with a mouthy tone.
"Hey, don't get an attitude with me." Sly crossed his arms. "I'm just trying to help."
"Well, now you know our problem. Mom did not tell us about you, and I don't know why. I was the one who seeked everything myself. I'll admit, Silvester helped, but it seems he only helped to please me. It's just so stupid." She huffed. "Why am I the only one who cares? Uncle B didn't even bother to say much about you. Well, at least he mentioned way more than mom did, but still."
Sly sat down next to her. He didn't want to intrude too much with her feelings, but at the same time he couldn't just let this go. If what Skylar was saying is true, this would be the most heartbreaking thing he could ever hear. He knew in his heart it was true, though. This was in Carmelita's nature. What hurt him more was the fact Bentley never talked about him much. This he wanted to know more about. Why in the world would Bentley choose Carmelita over him? It just didn't make sense. "I..uh…" Sly dug through his mind to try to conjure up a question to ask. "Did anyone even make an attempt to find me?"
Skylar looked over at Sly. "Well, we're here."
Sly sighed. "Well, yes, but you said that was on you."
"No. I…I don't know." Skylar brought her knees up to her chin. "When uncle B told us everything, he mentioned he just couldn't find you. I was eager to change that, and it seemed uncle B was too, but to me, it was like everyone just gave up."
"So, what happened after that?"
Skylar sat quiet for a bit, thinking about what she was going to say next. "Well, actually there was this lady named Penelope that claimed to find you. She, well is kind of the reason my nose is like this, but she wasn't the one who punched me I can assure that. Anyway, it turned out she was wrong about the date but right about the location, so Silvester and I…uh…'borrowed' an Egyptian artifact from the museum and that held the key to finding you. Silvester…'borrowed' the Thievius Raccoonus from uncle B and we both read it carefully. That's how we found the note, and well you know the rest."
Sly perked up at what she was saying. "Penelope?"
"Yeah she mentioned she wasn't on good terms with everyone."
Sly decided not to prie further information about Penelope from Skylar, figuring Bentley would've known if she was up to something. At the end of the day, Sly was eventually discovered, so did it really matter? He couldn't help but dwell on the fact Bentley never told the full story about his legacy. "What has your mom said?"
Skylar sighed. "Well, she said you were charming, sweet, romantic, and you would've loved us. When we were growing up she used to tell us stories about how you used to mess with her, but it was never at the level we expected. She just said one day you were, well just gone. She insisted she didn't know why. Every time my brother or me asked, she would just shut us down. It just seemed nobody knew anything about you. I just figured you must've left because of us."
Sly just perked his head up. "What? No! I could never leave you guys! You're my kids. I've always wanted to have a kid, and lucky me I have two! I couldn't be happier you two exist."
Skylar smiled slightly. "Well, I'm glad you feel that way. My stupid brother obviously does not understand that. He thinks you're just a bad criminal and he doesn't want me to 'copy' you or something, which I think is so stupid. That's all mom has been telling us since we found out the truth." She soon began to mock her mother. "Oh, don't read that book, it's for criminals! You don't need to know what's in that book! Trust me, I know about that book." Skylar huffed and buried her face into her knees.
Sly couldn't help but blame himself for all of this. At the end of the day, Carmelita has a point. He is a criminal, and nothing was going to change that. He still wished that she would've just put her feelings aside and was truthful to their kids. He still felt despite her having a point, it still wasn't right. Not only that, not all of the Coopers were bad people. His dad wasn't a bad person, the only 'bad' Cooper he could really think of was maybe Tennessee Kid Cooper since he robbed that bank, but that was really it. He met most of them, and not one of them was a bad person. They were just thieves being thieves. He didn't agree with some of them stealing for the fun of it, but at the end of the day he was changing that. Carmelita never understood that, and he knew it. She was so black and white she refused to understand it. He hoped one day she would change, and when he thought she did, he just had to ruin it. Now, everything was backwards. He just regretted bringing two children into this mess, and it was even worse he wasn't even there for their young lives.
"Mom is just a cop." Skylar sighed. "The law is the law."
Sly shook his head. "No, it's not. That's not true."
Skylar remembered her mother throwing her in the back of the patrol car when she robbed that museum. "I'm a criminal. I'm her worst nightmare."
Sly just frowned, not sure what she was talking about. "You're…you're me. I don't even have to know you long to figure that out. Look at you, you're a clone of me…except a girl and long hair…and your tail resembles more of a fox, but you're still me. You're not a criminal, I think. I hope not anyway."
"I stole from the museum…twice."
Sly smiled. "Well, that's impressive."
"Mom doesn't know about the second time. She doesn't even know we're here. Besides, I got caught the first time and mom was PISSED off."
Sly snickered a bit picturing Carmelita getting all angry. "Well, don't…don't do that again." He couldn't contain his laughter at the ridiculous situation. To him, this was not a big deal at all.
"I steal from school, I steal from my brother…please don't tell him that. I steal food, and I steal what I feel like from the store. Most of the time it's just a game, but mom is always getting on my case about it and calling me a criminal." Skylar just stared off at a wall as she was explaining her past, not really thinking about what she was saying.
Sly scratched the back of his head. "Uh, you know that's bad right? You obviously have a talent, but you shouldn't use it for stuff like that."
Skylar groaned. "Who cares? It's done now. Oh, and I would like to mention my brother isn't innocent. He helped me with most of the stuff."
"That reminds me. You don't hate your brother, do you?"
This question stung her. She paused for a minute to process the question. "No, no I don't. I just think he doesn't care about you. If you would have just known the situation, I think you would understand."
Skylar was right. Sly couldn't understand what was going on. 10 years is a long time to be away, and all he wanted to do was go back to Paris. He couldn't help but feel sorry for Skylar for the way she was feeling. He chose not to think about Carmelita in the meantime, but it was hard for him. He loved her so much and he felt she just hated him and would never love him back. Skylar soon snuggled underneath her blanket, drifting off to sleep. Sly couldn't help but just look at her, wishing things were different. For now, he had to at least try to fix everything with his children. He already loved them so much. He looked over to confirm she was really asleep, and tucked her in. He kissed her little cheek and cried to himself. "I love you. I'm sorry it took this long, but I love you." He quietly got up and left the room, leaving her to peacefully sleep.
Sly, feeling as if he was hit in the head with a bunch of bricks, slowly woke up in the dark cave. He looked over and saw that it was now daytime as Murray had opened the rock to let the sun shine through. He sat up from the ground he passed out on and looked over at Bentley who was reviewing some blueprints. "Bentley…" Sly wasn't really in the mood to talk to him, but figured if they were going to be stuck here he had to clear the air with him. "Can you please just tell me what happened?"
Bentley folded up his blueprints, prioritizing Sly. "Sly, I'm sorry." He sighed. "I was wrong. I know you're gonna ask about Skylar and Silvester, aren't you?"
Sly got up slowly. "Yeah, I was."
Bentley knew there was no reason to hide anything. "I'm sorry about what happened. I made a deal with Carmelita about you. If the twins didn't ask, I wouldn't mention it. They slowly asked, and to be honest I dropped a few facts about you. I should've just told them everything from the start, I know this. I'm sorry I wasn't a good friend."
Sly accepted Bentley's apology. It was going to take a while to heal the wounds, but at the end of the day Bentley stepped up and helped out. That was more he could ask. "I forgive you. It's, well it's gonna take a while to heal but I forgive you."
Bentley smiled. "Well, I'm glad you forgive me. I just hope you find it in your heart to forgive Carmelita too. You have to understand her position. Prison has changed a lot since you've been gone."
Sly raised an eyebrow, now curious. "What do you mean?"
"Prison is nothing like where you went that one time, Sly. Everything is owned by one guy, I'm not sure why to be honest. It seemed like it just happened one day. I looked into it but, well, I found nothing about it. I guess that's the way the world changes sometimes. Prison is more of a torture chamber now. Remember the Contessa? Think about that, but worse. That's what prison is like. It's dirty, hardly any food, and prisoners get beat daily. Carmelita sees that regularly. When Skylar started to commit crimes, Carmelita had to do what she thought was best. Skylar is easily manipulated. She may not seem like it, but she is. Carmelita's worst nightmare was Skylar or Silvester being thrown in there someday, and she wouldn't know if she would be able to see them again. If you don't believe me, when we get to Paris, I'll show you myself. It's not the same."
"But I don't steal for the fun of it, Bentley."
"I know that." Bentley frowned. "But Skylar and Silvester don't know that. They don't understand. They're only 10 years old, Sly."
"The world isn't black and white, Bentley. Carmelita can't just continue to think like this." Sly grew irritated, refusing to understand what the turtle was saying. "She's always thought like this. That's why she always tried to catch me all those years."
"Okay, I'll be honest with you. Sly, this needed to be said for a long time. You taunted her. If you would have just explained, she would've changed. You made the decision and lied to her. If you had paid attention to her, you would see that she did change. She finally understood your ways, but you continued to taunt her for, well I don't even know why. I'm not blaming you for her methods, but I'm saying you didn't help. She is a police officer, she has to fight crime, that's her job. She has to protect both of your kids." Bentley felt relieved to say this, but he wasn't angry with Sly at all, and neither was Carmelita. "She's just protecting your kids, Sly. Nobody is angry with you, we just want you to understand."
Sly felt ashamed for what he had done to Carmelita in the past. Bentley was right, he did taunt her, and he broke her heart. He was lucky she forgave him when they were trapped in ice together, but he knew she wasn't completely over what he did. At the end of the day, Skylar and Silvester both had to be protected. Carmelita had to do it by herself.
"Now, I just need to know what's with all these buildings popping up here, and also where your ancestor is. I promised I'd find him, and I'm keeping that promise." Bentley unfolded his blueprints and continued to examine them.
Sly didn't respond, but soon understood where everyone was coming from. He soon felt forgiveness for what Bentley had done. He didn't do anything wrong. Things just weren't what they seemed to be. A lot changes in 10 years, and Sly understood that. Now, all he wanted to do was just go back to Paris and fix everything, if he even can. He had two kids now, and there was no way he was walking out on them.
"Oh, that reminds me, you're gonna be way younger than everyone else if you haven't realized that yet. I invented this to fix that." Bentley pulled out a yellow gun that looked more like a water squirter. He shot Sly directly, making him jolt with some electricity. Sly soon was released from the shock, soon falling on the ground. He bent over, feeling a great amount of pain in his back. "It's the age-o-meter! I invented it before we left so you could be the age you would be in the present. Pretty cool huh?"
"My back!" Sly cried. "What did you do to my back?"
"This is the unfortunate introduction to your late 30s, Sly."