All my thanks to all the fans that added my lil ol story and lil ol me to their favs! you guys are the best!! Thanks for taking the time to review my story and encouraging me, did i mention you're the best!

Location: Carmelita's place

Carmelita turned on her side and glanced her tired eyes at the digital clock. Twelve forty-nine. She sighed; yet another night without sleep. Turning on her back and rubbing her temples, the fox decided that closing her eyes and clearing her mind wasn't enough; maybe a book would help her fall asleep. Her body ached from non-sleep and dragging herself out of the bed that teased her with its soft cushions was a task in itself. 'The sleep masters-sleep guaranteed', the tag on the edge of the mattress read. Carmelita pulled the dishelved covers over the edge of the mattress and dragged her feet to the living room.

She made her way to the shadowy bookcase and felt through the books. Of course, besides the darkness of the room and the lack of her reading glasses, her headache made it even harder to identify the titles and it appeared as though all the books were blending together. She looked at her hand that was supposed to be on the edge of a dictionary, but its edges appeared smeared and blurry.

This is what it must feel like to have a hangover.

Carmelita sighed again. Does Rum Raisin ice cream even have rum in it? Of course it does, that's why it's called Rum Raisin. Or maybe it doesn't, maybe it just sounds nice in front of raisin, like rocky does in front of road.

Ice cream.

Carmelita and Kelani went to get ice cream.

Carmelita sighed again, but not for herself. Poor Kelani. Poor young, naive... stupid-annoying-Kelani. The fox squinted. She despised Kelani. What made her agree to go anyway?

some hours before...

After overhearing the brief rude message from the new raccoon lady, Kelani just sat on Carmelita's sofa, her mouth shaped like an o.

Carmelita stood a few feet away from her, lost in angry thoughts.

Kelani finally rose to speak. "Off the hook from what?"

Camelita reached and picked up the folded paper. She held it with both hands "Off the hook from the museum job; but I dont believe that wretch, I'm going."

What?! Kelani's mouth dropped. This was like, something her father would never do. He was the harshest in the world to his officers. What Kelani didn't know was that she didn't know Carmelita well enough to think that she would actually take a day off from work. She whined and lept in front of Carmelita.

"NOOO! If the chief said not to go, then why go?"

Carmelita put her hands on her hips. "Who are you to-"

Kelani interrupted. "Really Carmelita, you've got to let loose sometime. You're always working," The lioness whined to the fox, as a child would to his mother when she got home late from work as usual and was unable to fix dinner. Kelani's voice lowered. "If she's saying it because the chief said it, then maybe someone else is going to do it."

Carmelita wasn't having it. She strided past Kelani and out the door.

Now she was begging. "Come on, now you'll have some free time and you can go out!"

Carmelita quickened her pace. Now she really had to go to that museum. "I'm not going out with you anywhere."

Carmelita had read her mind. Kelani insisted, "Aw, come on Carmelita, my friends are like totally gonna blow me off anyway like they always do, and you have nothing to do, so what's so wrong with spending some time together?"

Because I don't like you. "Because I don't-" Carmelita huffed. She put her hand on the doorknob of the chief's office, indifferent to the way he had just spoken to her and to whether Mona would be in there. "I do have something to do."

Carmelita surprised herself when she saw that pang of hurt and failure in Kelani's eyes; She actually felt a little bad. Little did the fox know, going out with Kelani will give the girl some self confidence- that the lioness knew how to hide her lack of so well. Carmelita will change her thoughts about maybe only disliking the girl a little, and she will find out what's hidden behind that always happy smile of hers. And by the end of the night, she would have done a good deed and warm her own heart up a little.

"Then again," The fox let her fingers slip from the doorknob, and having coming up with no strong reasons to either go to the museum or go out with Kelani, she spoke. "I guess we could do something."

Kelani squealed. "Yay! I'll tell daddy I'm going."

Carmelita moved back from the door as Kelani squeezed her way through.

In the office...

The chief hovered his crossword puzzle protectively. He was stiff and nervous, and it seemed as though everyone who looked at him could read his thoughts. Still, he completed his puzzle with ease.

"Four letter word for passionate desire..." He put his eraser to his chin, then filled the boxes in using the n from a word going across. "Mona."

"Daddy?"

Snapping his neck to stare wide-eyed at the intruder, his daughter's eyebrows raised.

"I'm done for today." Oh; she meant to ask, but it came out as a statement- her father's gonna blow. She braced herself.

"Okay." He dismissed her, looking back down in his arms where the squares of his crossword puzzle- all filled out with Mona- were silent.

"Uh..." Kelani let out as she closed the door and shrugged at Carmelita.

"We're outta here!"

A few hours later...

After mall trotting, park dwelling, and lunch snarfing, Carmelita made sure to let Kelani know that this would be the last stop.

"Okay, Okay," She had said, waving her manicured hand.

And here they were, a Le petit creme de ice shoppe in midtown Paris.

"Why are we here?"

"Carmelita! You said one more stop, and this is it, my fave-o-rit ice cream shop!" Kelani folded her hands and swung her hands to her sides. She skipped inside. Carmelita followed, reluctant.

The shoppe was small; one had to make a left once they entered and take 15 steps to reach the counter. There were two tables on either side of the shoppe, and they were all occupied by young daters.

"Ah Goody," Kelani said, smiling at the guy at the counter. Carmelita stepped suddenly loud steps in her boots, retrieving the annoyed stares of disturbed girlfriends- and the interested stares of unfaithful boyfriends. She ignored both.

When the females reached the counter, Kelani leaned completely over-Carmelita thought she was going to flip right over it- and her nose barely touched the nose of the guy at the counter.

"Heya Joe."

Carmelita rest her elbow on the counter, then rest her head on her fist. This guy who Kelani seemed to be real friendly with-well actually, Kelani was too friendly with everyone; Carmelita dismissed that thought. Still, this nineteen or something year-old guy was as red in the face as a... a guy blushing. She looked down into the freezer at the various containers of ice cream, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"H...Hi...H...Hello Kelani!" The red guy managed to utter. "Here for ice cream?"

"Well ah-duh,"

Carmelita snapped her teeth.

Kelani continued. "Me and my friend here-"

A voice yelled 'Jared' from somewhere behind the shop somewhere. Kelani's smile vanished. The guy at the counter excused himself and left. Carmelita looked at Kelani with a skeptic look. The gods had to be testing her. Why today?

Kelani whispered to Carmelita a little too loudly. "Carmelita! Don't worry, this guy's in love with me, he always gives me discounts." Carmelita returned her attention to the ice cream. Kelani spoke to her head, "When he comes back, he'll probably feel he has to apologize, with more ice cream!" Kelani did a thumbs up.

Carmelita spoke through her teeth. "Where is he?"

Carmelita's call was answered by an older bartender-looking guy.

Kelani and Carmelita exchanged glances.

"Sorry for that." The older guy pulled an ice cream scoop out of his apron pocket and opened the sliding door of the freezer, respectively. "What are we getting?"

Kelani, suddenly pissed -not only about Joe's disappearance but about the strictness of his father's attitude- drummed her fingers on the counter. "We are getting strawberry and," She looked at Carmelita for her cue.

"Rum...Raisin."

As the dad guy leaned into the freezer and began scooping, Kelani leaned over the counter again and said, "And make sure to makeCarmelita's extra-special."

"Extra special it is, then."

Jared reappeared in the doorway of the only employees exit. He didn't have his apron on. He pulled off his cap and laid it on the counter as he swung open a little door on the side of the counter. Closing it behind himself and telling his father goodbye, he began to blush again. He bowed, and mumbled a goodbye to Kelani as well.

"Okay. Bye, Joe."

Little did the ladies know, as their eyes followed Jared out the door, his father was specially preparing Carmelita's ice cream. He and the ladies both turned at the same time, and the sides gave suspicious looks across the counter. They paid for their desserts and left.

A few minutes into the walk home, Carmelita had taken her first lick, and it tasted...bitter. Now, she was unknowingly licking the sweet treat compulsively despite the fact that she disliked the taste and the burning sensation in the back of her throat. It had been a while since she had had ice cream, but was this really how much she missed it? Kelani had begun talking as soon as the little hanging bell announced their exit out of the shop, and her voice garbled on, like a chicken drowning. Carmelita looked at her as though she were a stranger. A stranger that talked so fast that no one could understand what she was saying.

To Carmelita, her yapping reminded her of her yakkity cousins. The fox's mouth dropped. How many words was this girl speaking in a minute? Was she even stopping to take breaths? She licked her ice cream, that was now flat in the cone. Woah. Brainfreeze. Snap back to reality. She squinted.

"Que?"

Kelani stopped talking. "What?"

"What?"

Carmelita sure was acting funny. "I said, I'm glad we were able to go out together today. I hope you're feeling better now."

Carmelita bit her cone. She didn't know what to say, and one of the reasons was because she had no idea what Kelani said. "Oh."

"Is that it?"

"Hmm?"

Kelani shook her head. Nothing... In fact, the lioness wasn't smiling. She was feeling a feeling that was indescribable, almost. She picked at the frozen strawberries in her ice cream.

"I mean, I really appreciate you coming with me today." She blushed. " My friends aren't very nice to me... unless they need a favor. " She faked a laugh at Carmelita, who had just bitten the bottom of the cone and was holding it upright as she sucked the remaining ice cream out. A guy walking his dog stopped and stared at the spectacle- the sounds, the sight, the everything- and his dog pulled forcibly until his owner stumbled down the sidewalk.

Kelani gave her the look of a very uneasy 'okay...' and she spoke, "I mean, for a while I thought you didn't even like me." She faked laughed again, while Carmelita licked her fingers. "But from the first time I saw you on tv, I wanted to be just like you. And when I did meet you and got to know you, I thought of you as like an older sister, or even like a mom-"

"Look, girl." Carmelita spoke with the help of her hands. She stressed her words. "Don't start getting all mushy with me, we're supposed to be having fun outside!"

"Oh," Kelani smiled. She didn't expect for Carmelita to act like this, but Kelani wasn't acting herself as well, so she didn't look into Carmelita's attitude change.

So much for pouring out her hidden sadness and confiding to carmelita. "Sorry." She took a big bite out of her ice cream, and puffed her cheeks when it hurt her teeth.

Currently at Carmelita's place...

During the senior moment, Carmelita had managed to make her way back to bed. She was sitting up with her back flat against the headboard. She unfolded the frames of her glasses and arranged them on her face. Clapping her hands together to revive her lamp, she thought, I've got to change that lamp.

Carmelita picked up her unusually light book and flipped through its three pages in defeat. She sighed and squinted at the wavy title: THE AMISH PHONE DIRECTORY.

Throwing her book and glasses off her face and clapping the light to sleep, Carmelita plopped onto the bed with thoughts ringing in her head.

You shouldn't be here. You should be outside, patrolling and stopping punk criminals like Sly Cooper!

Carmelita scream was muted by her pillow.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WO HOHO! What a long chapter, at least we know what Carmelita's been up to!

advice from the stars:

carmelita- Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.

Gabby- Life is an orange. It has stuff outside and stuff inside.

Mona- Never go to bed angry, stay awake and plot your revenge.

Kelani- The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.