As Sadie got older, she started to realize that once in a while, her parents would get a little uncomfortable around her. It looked like her father wanted to tell her something, while her mother looked dead set against it. This made her feel nervous and upset. So far she had a good childhood: her parents were so loving, not only with her, but with each other and this occasional tension between them was unusual. Her parents had a very open relationship with each other and with her. It wasn't a real policy, but there were just no secrets in the Cooper family. Their actions made her doubt this. Finally, right before her thirteenth birthday, Sadie had enough of this weird behavior and asked her parents if she could talk to them. She had said that there was something she wanted to discuss with them.

"Sure mi hija, what do want to talk about?" her father asked as he and her mother sat down on the couch across from her.

"Look, I don't want to make things worse, but I've noticed a building tension between you guys for a while, especially after looking at me. Are you two thinking of breaking up, but are only together because of me?" she vented her suspicions to her parents, on the verge of tears.

Her parents became upset and got up and comforted the nearly crying girl.

"Is that what you thought hija?" her father asked her in his comforting way that he always talked to her in.

"Honey, your father and I are fine, besides we've been through too much and love each other and you very deeply to ever think of separating," Carmelita said as she and Sly hugged their daughter. Carmelita kissed Sadie on the head, while Sly kissed his wife on the head.

"If you're fine, then why all the suspicious behavior aimed at me?"

Sadie's parents looked at each other. Sly had an 'I told you so' look in his eyes, while Carmelita was expressing great displeasure in her eyes.

"You promised, querera. If she asked, we would tell her. Besides, she's old enough for what we discussed."

"Fine," his wife said, finally giving in to her husband, "but remember the conditions we talked about."

"I wouldn't dream of going against you, querera," Sly replied with a smirk, that his wife finally caved in and returned.

"What's going on?!" Sadie screamed, finally not able to contain her curiousness.

"Listen, honey, you know that we don't keep secrets, right?" her mother asked her.

Sadie nodded.

"Well, we felt that in order to keep you safe, we had to keep some things from you while you were younger."

"In fact, hija, it's your safety that's the reason your mother and I decided a while ago to have this conversation with you when we felt you were ready."

"What? What have you been keeping from me?" Sadie's curiosity couldn't be contained any longer.

Sly looked at his wife and waited for her to nod before he continued.

"Sadie, before your mother and I worked as partners at Interpol, we had a different type of relationship."

"What kind of relationship, dad?" Sadie asked quietly, cueing off the seriousness in his voice.

"Well, to get to the point, I was born into a family of Master Thieves and your mother was assigned to my case. She had been chasing me for years before I finally came to my senses and joined her on the same side of the law."

Sadie couldn't do anything but just stare at her parents, disbelief plastered all over her young face.

"Sly, it would probably be best if you just start at the beginning and continued until you came to Interpol," Carmelita said as she caressed his hand with hers. She knew he was proud of his past, but could hear the shame in his voice for having to admit to his daughter that his life as an officer of the law went against who he originally was. Though she felt her noble husband had nothing to be ashamed about and hoped her gesture would show him that.

"Okay querera, but please feel free to add your point of view to the story when you want," Sly told his beloved.

"Of course," she quietly said to him as she kissed him tenderly on the cheek.

Sadie listened as she sat between her parents as her father and mother explained the main trilogy of events that made up Sly's former life. Sadie's eyes widened as she heard the stories of revenge, danger, romance, hilarity and betrayal her parents told her. She almost couldn't believe what she was hearing- encounters with mobsters, a voodoo priestess and hordes of ninjas; train robberies, bi-plane dogfights and an island full of mutant monsters. She couldn't believe that these events happened to her parents, as well as to her unassuming and doting uncles and aunt and she got a thrill imagining what it would be like to have similar adventures of her own. When Sly was finished, Carmelita caught the look of excitement in her daughter's eyes.

"We didn't tell you these stories to put crazy ideas in your head, hija," Sadie's mom sternly told her as she looked at her husband for support. He was sitting there thinking that the old times weren't so bad, when he was brought back to reality by his wife.

"Um, yeah. Look mi hija. I know that these stories sound exciting, but the reason we finally decided to let you know about our past is that I, we feel that this past could come back and that it may come after you."

Sadie was stunned to hear this from her father and her eyes went even wider as she looked at her father for comfort.

"I don't want to scare you, maybe your mother does, but I don't," Sly said and smiled as his beloved hit him on the side of his head. "Look," he continued rubbing the side of his head, "those dangerous people who we defeated, a lot of them are still around. Granted most of them are in jail, but they could still pose a threat. Besides, your mother and I have put away numerous criminals since I joined Interpol and they could also pose a threat to our safety, though hopefully they won't. I know this is a hard subject to bring up, but we think it's an important subject and one you should be aware of. It's a scary fact, but those people who we put in jail may want to get back at us by harming you," there was a sad and terrified look in both her parents' faces that let her know that this wasn't a joke.

"I understand dad," Sadie paused for a moment, looking very solemn and added, "Is there anything I can do?"

Sly looked up at his daughter with real pride and happiness in his eyes.

"Good girl. That's the Cooper and Fox spirit. Well, I guess this leads us to your early birthday present," Sly looked at his wife and they both stood up.

"I thought, and your mother agreed, that since you're almost thirteen, we could start your training."

"Training?" Sadie was excited and apprehensive, "You mean to be a part of the Cooper Clan?"

Carmelita gave Sly a look that told him that he'd better derail this train of thought or he'd be in serious trouble.

"No, mi hija. You will receive training from both myself and your mother on skills that we learned in our jobs as a thief as well as with Interpol. The idea, at least what I keep trying to tell your mother," he smiled lovingly at Carmelita as she shot him another icy look, he knew he was going to pay for that tonight, "is that I feel that you should go through the training that both I received as a thief- minus some things," Carmelita's stare warmed up a little with that said, "and the training your mother received as a police officer. We feel this training will get you ready to deal with a lot of different situations. Now as to your future, I feel and your mother agrees…" here he gently touched Carmelita's hand and tried to calm her down- he knew her inner cop was trying to take over, but he knew his wife. Sure enough, she calmed down and squeezed his hand as she gave him a look that let him know that he could continue, "That it is up to you to decide. We will both try our best not to influence you. When you're old enough, it will be your choice to live your life your way, as a cop, as a thief, or whichever path you want to choose, though you do know the path your mother wants you to follow…" Sly knew what was coming with that comment and got a good knock to the back of the head by his gorgeous wife.

Sadie giggled at her parents and hugged them.

"You two are the best."

"Don't you know it, mi hija," her father replied.

"Now…" Sadie looked at her parents with a mischievous look in her eyes, "No more secrets?"

"No more secrets," her mother replied.

"Yeah," Sly added with a content look, "No more secrets."

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Sadie's training had begun in earnest promptly after the talk with her parents. She was thrilled to finally be permitted to use the barn where her parents worked out and that she wasn't allowed to enter when she was younger, but her excitement waned as she realized how serious her parents were taking this training. She had started off with one training a session once a week from each of her parents, (as she got more proficient in things, the number of sessions would increase, her parents explained) and soon wasn't sure if she dreaded training with her father or her mother worse. Granted, her parents had extremely busy careers and Sadie was thankful to spend more time with each of them, though she wasn't too thankful when her father was putting her through her paces or her mother kept constantly drilling her. In addition to her physical training, her father had given her his family's heirloom, an old book called the 'Thievius Racconus'. He told her that reading it would give her an understanding into the Cooper family history as well as information on how to do various moves that they would be practicing. Her mother also gave her an old photo album and some journals that gave Sadie a look at the Fox family history as well as help on moves that her mother worked on with her during training that would help counter the moves she learned with her father. With school, her gymnastics and these new training sessions, Sadie was starting to feel a little worn out. She couldn't even vent to her cousins because her parents told her that they let her uncles know that they explained their past to her and so told Sadie that she couldn't mention anything to her cousins until their parents let them know about their own pasts themselves (luckily it wasn't too long until the whole family knew. Still, in the meantime, Sadie felt frustrated without having anyone to vent to).

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One morning at breakfast, Sly could see the frustration in his daughter's eyes and thought of a way to make her training a little more interesting.

"Sadie."

"Huh," Sadie said, pulling herself up from her bowl of cereal.

"I know training has been hard on you. So how about this: every time I feel you've done a good job at training, I'll let you ask me any question about my past, within reason, that I have to answer. I know that you know the basics about my past, but you don't know the real important stuff, like how to tick off Dimitri Cousteau or how dumb Mugshott really is."

Sadie started to grin at her father's proposition. Now she had a real reason to get through training, and once she informed her cousins of this, she knew that the four of them could come up with some good questions for her to ask.

"Deal," she said as she shook her father's hand.

"I don't know if that's such a wise idea Sly," Carmelita remarked.

"Come on mom, this is good way to motivate me. Besides, I'll be even more motivated if you agree to it too."

Carmelita could see the Cooper in her daughter's scheming and shook her head, but decided that it was a decent way to motivate her daughter and to have her get to know her as more than her old 'madre'."

"Fine, besides I think it'll really motivate you to train harder when you have the opportunity to ask me about how your father really was when we first met," Carmelita said as she also shook her daughter's hand and gave Sly an evil grin.

"What?!, No fair!" Sly said to his two girls as they giggled at him.