Carmelita had a rare moment to herself. It was her and Sly's day off and the raccoon had decided to have some 'father-daughter time' with Sadie at the zoo. The vixen decided it was a good time to finish the novel she had been ignoring. As she was about to sit down, Carmelita glanced at the photos on the side table: that infamous picture of the dance she and Sly shared in India almost a lifetime ago: aside from the trouble it caused her, Carmelita had to admit that it was one of the more fond moments she had shared with her husband, a picture of her and Sly in the hospital holding Sadie right after she was born: Carmelita felt she looked horrible in that picture, but relented and let Sly put it up when he told her that there was no more beautiful picture of her, thinking back on his words reminded Carmelita how lucky she was to have him, not to mention how lucky he was to have her. Her eyes finally rested on a recent photo, which she picked up to get a closer look. It was of Sly, Bentley and Murray together with their son and daughters. She smiled as she saw the three former members of the Cooper Gang together with their families. When she tangled with those guys, she never foresaw this: all three of them as proud fathers. She felt good to know that these orphans still had each other and now had families of their own, all girls nonetheless (besides Ben).
As she looked at her daughter and her nieces and nephew in the photo, Carmelita was troubled as she saw the possibility of a new Cooper Gang, a more feminine one, but a new Gang anyways. The vixen was a little concerned for her daughter. Yes, she had great respect for Sly's family (once she got over the whole 'all thieves are bad' mindset), but wasn't sure if being part of the Cooper Clan was more of a curse for its members. Carmelita didn't know how things were for Sly's ancestors, but she knew the trouble Sly and his parents had faced. She shuddered at the fate her husband's parents endured and knew how close both she and Sly had come to wasting away with their unrequited love. Naturally, she didn't want her daughter to face such troubles, though she knew the thrill of Sly's old lifestyle. Before Sadie was born, Sly would occasionally take her for 'Cooper' nights out on the town. She had learned a lot of Sly's moves and felt invigorated when they would silently race around the Parisian rooftops. Granted they weren't out stealing anything and sometimes used these times to stake out certain suspects. Obviously, Carmelita realized that she would have been just as at home in Sly's world as he was in hers, this observation made her realize how much they belonged together, but she was glad that they were working with the authorities instead of against them. They didn't have to hide from anyone and besides, Sly was finally able to get real credit for his talents. Though, speaking of hiding things, there was the matter of what to tell Sadie about their past, if anything. Carmelita's inner cop was totally against telling the girl anything and just having her go into law enforcement. The real Carmelita agreed more with her husband: he felt it was better (and safer) to let their daughter know about their past when she was older and to have her decide about her future on her own.
'No secrets,' Sly had told her when he proposed. It was a funny perspective for a former thief to have, but it was the pillar of strength in their relationship ever since then. As Carmelita placed the photo back to enjoy her disturbance free afternoon, she thought once more of the 'new' Cooper Gang.
'Not if I can help it,' she said to herself and hoped that if that idea ever came up, their dads would push against it since they seemed to be more content in their current lives….
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It seemed that the bond Sly, Murray and Bentley shared with each other was also shared by their children. Though hundreds of miles apart, the cousins were extremely close to each other, especially the three girls (poor Ben). Being an only child, Sadie was real appreciative of her cousins and she got along with them quite well. She was two when her younger cousins were born, so she really didn't know of a time when she didn't have them in her life. Things with Tonya were a little less smooth at first, being that all of a sudden, Sadie wasn't the eldest in the family anymore. She did finally realize the benefit of having someone older who she could talk to about stuff that she was going through: of course she could always talk to her parents, but it was different talking to someone your own age. It also helped that the two of them weren't girly at all, though Tonya's style was a little different from hers. Tonya was more into the punk/metal scene. It probably was more that she fit in better with that crowd since she wasn't too feminine. When she was in high school, Tonya dyed her hair different colors and pierced her nose: her 'pops' didn't mind because he knew she did it because that was her. She wasn't rebelling or going along with the crowd: she was too strong a person and loved her dad too much to do it for those reasons. Sadie liked the fact that she had two brainiacs and a punk tomboy as cousins, she seemed to fit right in between the two extremes. In addition, though she would never have admitted it, Sadie liked the fact that her cousins were proud of who they were. Sadie wasn't always too sure about herself, though she didn't show it. She thought it might have been the fact that she wasn't totally in sync with her parents like her cousins were: she loved having two cops as parents, though sometimes she felt that they were holding something back from her.
Though they lived far apart, there wasn't a day when the cousins didn't contact each other. Thanks to 'uncle' Bentley, they were able to talk in real time over their computers, so they could see each other while they talked. Sadie started referring to her cousins as the 'gang', though her mother got annoyed every time she referred to them as that and Sadie had no idea why. They even had nicknames for each other, though it was really Sadie and Tonya who made up the nicknames: Tonya had referred to the twins once as the twinsees and Sadie loved it, so it stuck. Sadie, who was really close to Tonya would refer to her by 'T' and Tonya in turn would call her 'Sades'. Sadie never cared that she wasn't close with anyone at her school because her cousins were her best friends and all she really needed.