No one said living your dreams would be easy.
Chief Barkley was shocked when he saw Carmelita Fox walk into the Parisian Interpol offices with Sly Cooper. He almost had a coronary when he saw Carmelita Fox walk into the Interpol offices with Sly Cooper not in handcuffs. He then had to hold his hand over his chest to prevent himself from having a heart attack when Carmelita left Sly Cooper in her office and then came into his office to ask that Sly Cooper be put on the force.
Now, Barkley was Carmelita's mentor, but unlike his protégé, he had enough experience to know that not everything can be dealt with as right or wrong. The Chief was extremely familiar with Sly Cooper's file (Carmelita having gone through it with him many times) and he knew that the man never stole from law abiding citizens, but rather victimized other criminals (he thought that this may have had something to do with the horrible circumstances of his childhood and felt a moment of sympathy toward the man). He knew that there were worse criminals than Cooper out there. In fact, he was pretty sure that Cooper had been instrumental in the arrest of some pretty dangerous characters, but he also knew that Cooper had still been a thief and a black mark on Interpol's arrest record and that the press would have a field day with that.
Carmelita countered with the fact that it seemed that Cooper has amnesia and that he was unaware of his criminal past and that it would better for the community and Interpol to have him pay back his debt to society through helping to bring down other criminals rather than sitting behind bars. She also explained that it might be beneficial to have someone with his talents on the squad and that it might be to their advantage to have a 'reformed thief' working with them to bring down those crooked individuals who seemed above the law or knew how to work it to their advantage. Sly Cooper could be the type of agent who could infiltrate or integrate himself into certain criminal organizations and help bring them down from the inside. She also reminded her chief of her impressive arrest record (minus Cooper, though she now managed to bring him in anyways-in a way) and that she was owed numerous favors from both him and other senior officers in Interpol.
Barkley finally gave in and told Carmelita that they would discuss the matter with his superiors: she was to tell Mr. Cooper to stay put in her office, while they went to talk with the higher-ups. Sly got a little nervous when Carmelita came into her office and told him that she needed to meet with some more people about his 're-instatement'. He knew that she was putting her job (which until this point was her life) in jeopardy for him and promised himself that if he was allowed on the force, he would do everything in his power to make sure everything worked out and to make sure that he would be a valuable partner for her, since he knew how valuable she was to him.
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Carmelita's meeting with the Brass didn't start out too smoothly, but with Carmelita's persistence and the calling in of her favors and Barkley's tentative approval, they finally gave in. There were a few caveats, though. First, Cooper had to pass a psychological examination to be sure that he had no recollection of his past and wouldn't be a threat while working at Interpol. Secondly, no one was to mention or bring up Cooper's past. Most of the officers at Interpol were not familiar with his case (since Carmelita had been the only one assigned to his case for so long), so he would be able to begin on a somewhat equal footing with the other starting officers. Those that knew of Mr. Cooper's past would be informed of the situation and ordered to act accordingly. Lastly, being it was her idea, Inspector Fox would be given full responsibility for Mr. Cooper. His training would be done under her supervision. If he passed training, he would be assigned as her partner and she would be expected to take all the blame if and when things went south.
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As they went back down towards Carmelita's office to tell Sly the news, Inspector Fox hugged her commanding officer and thanked him for letting her take a chance with Sly Cooper. The usually gruff Barkley let out a small smile and told her that if this was what she wanted, then he would comply.
"Is thiswhat you want Inspector Fox?"
"Yes sir, I want to see where this gamble will take me."
"Fine, then you better let your new constable in training know of his current situation."
"Yes sir."
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As Carmelita left, Barkley hoped that everything would work out for her. Yes, he had been tough on her in the past. He even knew that he had been a total jerk (I was tempted to use another word, but I want to keep things clean folks!) to her on many occasions, but he also knew the kind of officer she was and that she took better to hard criticism than to a softer touch. He also knew that she hadn't been happy lately in her work and that today was the first time he saw some of that fire she had started with back in her eyes. He also realized that this was the first time that Carmelita hadn't been black and white on an issue. The 'old Carmelita' would have had that thief behind bars in no time flat, now she had decided to let him work off his crimes as her partner.
'Maybe that Mr. Cooper of yours has finally helped you mature, child,' he mused.
He wished the two of them the best and hoped that things would work out for his colleague and her new protégé.
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Sly was besides himself waiting for Carmelita to come back from her meeting. He had always had a hard time sitting still. He was rare in the fact that he needed to be active to stay calm, so he was pacing back and forth in her office when she walked in. Carmelita smirked when she saw her thief nervously pacing back and forth in her office: she found his occasional vulnerability attractive. She had to compose herself though before she talked to him. She reminded herself that he was supposedly under the impression that he was an Interpol officer suffering from amnesia.
"Now, Constable Cooper, because of your condition due to your work on our past mission."
"You mean me not knowing a blessed thing before you found me in that cave?"
"Right, because of that, the Brass at Interpol felt that it would be prudent for you to go through some psychological tests to see where your mental state is at and if you pass, then we will start your re-training."
"We?" Sly asked, though he hoped he knew where this was going.
"Since we were partners before this unfortunate incident, I am going to be responsible for the majority of your training, I mean re-training, and once you earn your proficiencies, you will be reinstated as my partner."
"Sounds tough, but fair. So, when do we start?"
"We can start some basic training after lunch, but it will be a short session today, since we still have to get you settled in."
"Settled in?"
"Well, yes, it seems like you have had a severe case of bad luck, Constable. Besides loosing your memory during our last mission, I was informed that there was a fire in your building while you were away and your apartment along with all of your belongings were destroyed," Carmelita lied, she hated lying to Sly, but he was too clever and could possibly figure things out if she didn't have a good cover story. She thought that she might even have to fabricate a false news article about the fire if he inquired any further.
"Wow, that's a bombshell, so where will I be staying in the meantime?" Sly asked really impressed with Carmelita's cover story.
'She thought of everything' he thought and was really turned on by her cunningness.
"Since at the present time, you are my responsibility, you will be staying with me," Sly thought that he saw Carmelita blush as she said that, "I have a spare bedroom in my apartment and you were given a small stipend to buy some clothes and other necessities after we leave work today. Don't worry, after a few months back on the payroll, you'll be able to get your own place. Do the current arrangements sound sufficient to you?"
"Yes, fine Inspector," Sly said politely, though inside, he wanted to jump up and kiss Carmelita. He was so happy that he was going to spend so much time with her.
'Don't forget Cooper', he told himself, 'this is your one chance, so Do Not screw this up.'
"Very well then, I'll show you to your desk and then we can go down for lunch, you'll need some energy before we start training," Carmelita said business-like. She was overcome with so much joy she wanted to scream like a little girl, who knew that the chance she took on that horrid island could lead to this.
'Now remember mama', she told herself, 'take things one step at a time, your life is finally taking a positive turn, so don't mess this up.'
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"It's small, but it's home," Carmelita said as she opened the door to her apartment and both her and Sly walked in loaded with the purchases they made in order to get Sly settled.
"Well, here's the bedroom," Carmelita said as she put down the bags she was carrying into her spare bedroom and turned on the light in the room, "Why don't you get yourself settled in and I'll start making dinner."
"I just want to thank you again, Inspector for being so gracious to me."
"Don't mention it, and as I said before when we were shopping, you can call me Carmelita when we're off the clock, okay Sly?"
"Okay Carmelita."
Carmelita closed the bedroom door to give the raccoon privacy while he settled in and went into the kitchen to start cooking dinner for the two of them. Both of them took a moment before they started what they needed to do and let out a contented sigh.
'Wow', they both thought, 'how lucky am I right now?'
One would think that shopping for clothes and toiletries would be a bit boring, but after the games they played with each other for so long, the cop and former thief both enjoyed going out and shopping together, like a couple. Of course they weren't a couple yet, but Sly wasn't being chased by Carmelita, avoiding shock pistol blasts either, so it was a start. Secretly, they both hoped that this gamble would pay off.
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Sly didn't take too long to get settled in and he went into the kitchen to see if he could help Carmelita fix dinner. When dinner was ready, Carmelita opened a bottle of red wine to go with their pasta and salad and Sly took his glass and toasted the beautiful lady sitting opposite him.
"To our new partnership, well new to me anyway."
"To our new partnership."
The glasses clinked together and they each took a sip before settling into their dinner.
"Now I went a little easy on you today Sly since it, uh, was your first day back, but don't start to think that because you're staying here and we're friends and all, that I'll go easy on you in training. You may not remember this, but I expect very high standards from myself and from all of my partners. I'm tough, but I think that I'm also fair," Carmelita told Sly after they had finished dinner.
"Yes, ma'am," Sly said with a smirk on his face as he saluted his new partner.
"Okay wise guy, let's clean up this mess and then it might be time to get some sleep, today was a tiring day and I promise you, tomorrow will be even worse," Carmelita said with an evil, yet playful smile on her lips.
After they had cleaned up the dishes, they both went to go to their bedrooms for the night.
"Well, goodnight Carmelita," Sly said as we went to go and kiss her on the cheek. L
Luckily, Sly caught himself before he got too close to her and hoped she didn't notice or else she might realize that he really didn't have amnesia.
"Goodnight Sly," Carmelita said as she went to her room, not noticing the kiss that almost was.
'Phew, that was a close call, come on man, you have to be more careful, you're supposed to not know that much about her, remember your amnesia?' Sly said to himself before settling down in bed.
'I wonder, it looked like he was about to kiss me goodnight there for a second' Carmelita thought to herself. She was flattered, but a worried thought crossed her mind, 'Do you think he knows who he is? Is he just using me?' The cop inside her screamed 'yes!' though her heart took over and said, 'maybe not, if he was about to kiss you goodnight, but then thought better of it.'
'Oh, well, this looks like it's going to be another sleepless night,' Carmelita thought as she went to bed with her conflicting thoughts raging in her brain as always.