Third chapter. We're on a roll folks!

I'm updating this story a lot faster than I originally wanted to, but it's turning out exactly how I want it to. Each chapter so far, for the most part, has been written in one sitting. Right after I finish a chapter, I re-read it several times, looking for any mistakes, and anything that seems out of place. As I read it over and over, I edit the chapter so it turns out exactly as I want it. All of this seems to take around four hours if I go non-stop. So far, each chapter has been completely finished in one day. So much for the whole "one chapter a week" idea.

Before you all think that I'm rushing this story, let me assure you that I'm not. I take my time when I write and proofread these chapters. I'm just really enjoying writing this story. I actually finished this chapter the day after the second chapter was posted, but I wanted to hold off one more day. If you think that the speed of my updates is affecting the quality of the story, let me know!

I'd like to thank all of the people who have reviewed so far! Sure I only have a few reviews, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't give thanks where it's due! )

And now, without further ado, here's chapter 3 of Confession! Enjoy!

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Chapter 3: A Day in the City

Sly woke up facing his alarm clock. It was 11:42 AM already. He couldn't remember the last time he ever woke up so late. He usually woke up around 7:30 every morning. Even on his days off he would be up by nine. He yawned loudly and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He sat up and looked at his door. Carmelita would surely be up. Sly walked over to his dresser and put on a shirt and a pair of jeans and walked out into the living room. Sure enough, there was Carmelita, watching TV.

"Finally awake huh?" she asked, noticing him walk out of his room. Sly smiled and walked over to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. He then went over to the couch to sit down next to Carmelita. She was watching the news. "How in the world did you sleep for so long?" Sly thought for a second. He obviously couldn't tell her the real reason why he slept in so late.

"Erm... couldn't sleep last night. Last time I looked at my clock before I fell asleep it was around three." He'll let her know about his get together with Bentley and Penelope later.

"Well I hope you're not too tired," she said with a smile. She was excited about their day out today.

"I'm wide awake, don't you worry," Sly reassured her. He had already thought of what they were going to do that day. He knew that he needed to get away from her at one point, otherwise there would be no way to pull off what he was planning, but how?

"So what do you have planned today?" Carmelita asked. Sly thought for a moment.

"Well I thought that we'd walk around Paris and browse some of the shops around the city. Later on we'll go to a movie and dinner."

"Oh?" Carmelita smiled at him. "When are we going?"

"Now, if you want."

She nodded and stood up. "Well then let's go."

-

They spent a few hours walking around, going inside any stores that interested them. It had been quite a while since Carmelita had just gone out to shop, and she was now enjoying every minute of it. She bought clothes, accessories, the works. Sly however, didn't spend much. He bought nothing more than a shirt that he liked. He couldn't spend too much money. He was saving it for something special. After their bout of shopping, Sly decided to take her to a spa so he could go off on his own. When they got there, Carmelita looked at Sly with a confused look.

"A spa?"

"Yup," Sly replied with a smile. "Don't get me wrong, I don't think you need it, being as beautiful as you are. Still, I thought you might enjoy the relaxation."

"And what will you be doing while I'm in there?" Carmelita asked, with a suspicious look on her face.

Sly grinned. "Oh, not much really. I'll probably go get a reservation at a restaurant for later tonight." Carmelita didn't buy it, but she didn't say anything about it. He was up to something, that much she knew. She kissed Sly.

"Whatever you say. I'll see you later then." Carmelita turned and headed towards the spa.

"See ya gorgeous." Sly smiled. He knew she was suspicious, but there was no way for her to know what he was planning for that night. He headed for a fancy restaurant that was close to the local movie theatre and got a reservation for eight that night. After that was done, he headed for his next destination to take care of one more thing. He smiled the whole way there. Of course, he knew that this would only work if Carmelita didn't hate him after he told her the truth about his amnesia. He was still worried about what the outcome would be, but for now he would enjoy the day with her. After he finished his little errand, he headed for the spa to pick up Carmelita. She was standing outside the building.

"Look who's finally here," she said as she smiled. Sly grinned.

"How long were you waiting?"

"Not too long. So where to next?" Sly looked at his watch. It was almost five.

"Well, we're going to dinner at eight, so I say we head to the movies now." She nodded.

"Lead the way."

The movie was around two and a half hours long. Carmelita insisted that they see the new Batman movie; The Dark Knight. They had a shocked expression as they walked out of the movies.

"Wow," Sly said. "Definitely one of the best movies I've seen in a long time."

"I know. Can you believe the Joker? He was ridiculous! They better not ever make another movie with him in it, because they would never be able to find an actor to top that performance." Sly nodded in agreement. They headed towards the restaurant. It was almost eight. Sly started to feel nervous. He knew he had to tell her soon. He had decided that morning to tell her during dinner. And there was still something else to worry about. Something that he had been planning it since he got home after seeing Bentley and Penelope. It had to be perfect. It had to go well. But first, there was the matter of telling her that he remembered everything.

They talked mostly about the movie for the first half of dinner. After a while they started to gossip about their fellow officers. Who they liked and who they didn't like. After they had finished eating, they decided to order dessert. Sly felt more worry. He looked at Carmelita. He had to tell her. It had to be now.

"Carmelita," Sly said with a worried tone. She looked into his eyes. They showed worry. He was nervous about something, but what?

'What's wrong?" Sly sighed. It was now or never.

"There's something I really need to get off my chest, but I don't know how to go about saying it." He looked down at his empty plate. Carmelita moved her hand over Sly's. He felt a little better. He breathed heavily. "First off, I just want to say this. Carmelita, I love you. I don't think I've ever loved anything more than I love you. This past year has made me extremely happy. But lately I've been feeling, well, extremely guilty."

"Why?" Suddenly Carmelita felt worried.

"Because..." Sly paused. This was it. There was no going back now. Carmelita squeezed his hand to comfort him. "Because... I know who I really was, before my accident."

Carmelita's grip weakened.

"What?"

Sly sighed. "I know I wasn't really your partner. Hell, I wasn't even a constable. Quite the opposite actually. I was a thief, born into a long line of master thieves. You were the inspector that was assigned to my case."

Carmelita's jaw dropped slightly, and closed again. She pulled her hand away from his. She didn't know what to say.

"You've... you've got your memories back..." Her eyes started to tear up slightly. She avoided Sly's gaze.

"Not exactly..."

"What do you mean not exactly Cooper?" she demanded. Sly winced. She hadn't called him by his last name since he was a thief.

"I mean, I..." He didn't know how to say it. He sighed again. "Carmelita, I don't have amnesia."

"No kidding!" Her hard gaze at Sly made him feel terrible.

"No, I mean I never had it."

Her ears perked up. Her face went from angry to confused. She started to tear even more.

"Wh... What?" Sly looked down at his hands. He couldn't bear to look at her in this state.

"I faked it." Carmelita's jaw dropped again.

"But... why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sly asked. When Carmelita didn't say anything, he continued. "You didn't know it at the time, but you gave me a choice that day on Kaine Island. I could either go back to being a thief, or I could give that life up and have a chance at being with you. I don't know if you noticed, but I loved you Carmelita. Of course, I still do, but back then I couldn't think of any way to end our little game of cops and robbers so I could go after you. Luckily, you did it for me. I didn't really realize how much I loved you until I was almost killed by Dr. M's monster. When I was inches away from death, the only regret I had in my life was never taking the next step with you. Sure, I flirted whenever I got the chance, but besides the day that we took down Clock-La, I never really got a chance to just sit down and talk to you. Not as a thief and a cop, but as normal people. I wanted to be with you Carmelita. Before you showed up and saved me, I promised to myself that if I survived, I would tell you how I really felt. I know there's no way to make up for lying to you for so long. What I did was wrong, but I don't regret it. I love you Carmelita, and I've been the happiest I've ever been ever since that day. Still, if you want me to leave, I will."

Carmelita stared at Sly in complete shock. She didn't know what to think or say. She wanted to be angry with him. He had lied to her. Deceived her. For over a year. And it wasn't just some little white lie. He had her completely fooled. And yet, he did it all because he loved her. He didn't become a cop because she tricked him. He did it because he chose to. Because he wanted to. He willingly gave up his life as a thief, his friends and all of his possessions. All to be with her. She wanted to be angry with him. She couldn't. Strangely enough, she felt relieved. Her fear of him leaving her disappeared. She still felt guilty about lying to him, but he had done the same thing. For the same reason.

When Carmelita didn't say anything, Sly's heart fell. His face turned grim. He reached into his pocket for his wallet, pulled out some money, and placed it on the table.

"This should pay for the dinner," Sly said quietly. He tried to hide the sadness voice. He was on the verge of tears, but he didn't want her to know it. He started to get up out of his chair.

"Sly wait..." Carmelita said quickly, before he could stand up. He stopped and looked at her. Before he could say anything, Carmelita leaned over the table and kissed Sly. Deeply. In that kiss, all the fear and worry melted away. It seemed to last forever. He couldn't believe it. He had just told her that he had been lying to her for over a year, and now she was kissing him! "The world works in funny ways," he thought. When the kiss broke off, Carmelita smiled at the confused raccoon.

"Sly, you're not the only one who lied. I did the same thing as you. I lied to you. I made you believe you were something you weren't. Or rather, I thought I did. I thought you had amnesia, and I decided to take advantage of it for my own personal gain. Sure, it was an advantage to everyone, seeing as how you became one less criminal in the world, but that wasn't the main reason."

"I'm not upset that you lied Carmelita. Hell, if I was, I would probably still be a thief. But what was the real reason?"

"The same reason you lied to me Sly."

Sly was surprised at that. Was she saying that she lied because she loved him? That couldn't be right. He had always been nothing but a nuisance to her, hadn't he? How could she have loved him? Sly didn't know what to say.

"I didn't really realize how much you meant to me until you were shot by Dr. M," Carmelita continued. "I thought you were dead. And then you woke up, apparently with amnesia. I was relieved that you were going to be okay, of course. When you asked me who you were, I got the idea to bring you into the force. That way we would be on the same side of the law, and I would have a chance at being with you."

So she did lie because she loved him. Sly grinned at her.

"How could you love me? I always thought that I was nothing but a pain in the ass to you."

"As much of a pain in the ass as you were," Carmelita said with a smile, "you were always good to me. You always had something nice to say, even if I thought it was nothing but flirty chit-chat. Not to mention the fact that you saved my life three times, without thinking things through I might add."

"Hey, Bentley and I sure as hell thought things through when we saved you from the Contessa," Sly said in defense. Carmelita chuckled at him.

"All of that, piled with the fact that you were charming and handsome, is why I love you. You know, to be honest, it's actually a bit of a relief knowing that you lied to me. It shows me that you weren't tricked into this new life. You chose it. I've always been afraid that you would one day remember everything, and then you would be out the door. Well, there's no need to be afraid of that now is there?"

"I guess not," Sly replied. He couldn't believe it. It couldn't have gone any better. He didn't know what to expect when he told her the truth, but he certainly didn't expect this. He wasn't the only one who lied out of love. He had always thought that Carmelita lied to him only because she wanted to keep him from being a thief. He smiled and said, "So, you're not going to throw me in jail then?" Carmelita laughed.

Their desserts had arrived. As they ate they started talking about old times. Sly would tell her about his old heists, and how he pulled them off. Carmelita was very interested in how he really worked as a thief. He was a lot more complex than she had thought. She couldn't believe how much work a simple heist really took. As they finished up their dessert, Sly started getting more nervous. There was one more thing he wanted to do before they left. He had been planning it out since he got home from Bentley's. He had everything he needed, thanks to his little errand earlier that day. The time was now.

"Carmelita," Sly began. She looked up from her nearly finished slice of chocolate cake. "There's something else I wanna talk to you about, now that the truth is out and everything."

"What is it?" Carmelita wondered what he was thinking. He was obviously nervous about something, but she couldn't think why. He had already confessed his lie, why would he be nervous now? Sly got up from his chair and walked closed to Carmelita. "Might as well do this right," he thought. He knelt down in front of Carmelita and took her hand.

"Carmelita. I never expected for everything to go so well tonight. I was so worried that you would be angry with me because of my lie, but it turns out that it has only made you happy. We both lied to each other for the same reason; because we wanted a chance at love. We took that chance, and look at where it's brought us. I've never been happier in my entire life, and I can only assume that it is the same with you." Carmelita nodded. She was speechless. Was he about to do what she thought he was going to do?

"I want that happiness to stick. I want it to be never ending. I love you, and I want to be with you until the day I die. And there's only one way for that to happen." He reached into the pocket on the inside of his jacket. He pulled out a black box and opened it to reveal a ring. It was pure silver, with a large diamond in the middle.

"Carmelita Montoya Fox, will you marry me?"

She teared up again, but this time they were tears of joy. She smiled at him. "Yes Sly, I will." As Sly slid the ring onto her finger, they both thought the same thing. "This is the happiest night of my life."

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And there's chapter three!

For those of you who haven't figured it out, that was what Sly's idea in the last chapter was. To propose. I'm sure some of you figured it out before the dinner scene happened. I tried my best to keep it from being obvious, as I didn't want it to be revealed until he asked her.

But wait, you say. The summary of this story stated that the result of his confession would turn out to be worse than he anticipated! What gives? All in due time people!

Well, it's September, and you know what that means! Yep. School's starting again. Between that and my part time job, I won't have as much time to write this story as before. Luckily, however, seeing as how I'm a senior now, I'll be getting out of school early every day. So, I'll still have plenty of time to work on the story. I still plan to get out at least one chapter a week, but don't be surprised if I only get one chapter done in one week. I got lucky with the first three chapters because I had all the time in the world to write those chapters, save for a few hours of work during the week.

Until next chapter folks!

-eaglefan101