Sly was waiting on the little bench for Carmelita to get done. She hadn't been in to long, but he was getting pretty anxious. That, and he wanted to this to be over with as soon as possible.

Carmelita walked out of the office, she didn't look upset, but not to happy. "Did everything go alright?" She shook her head and sat on the bench. "For me, but not for you. He seems pretty angry." The raccoon got up and headed in to see Mr. Raleigh.

"So, how much trouble am I in?" Mr. Raliegh grimaced at the raccoon. "You're never any fun Cooper. Take a seat, if you wouldn't mind." For once, Sly decided to cooperate with the old frog. His dad always gave Mr. Raliegh hell when they were younger, so Sly decided to follow in his foot steps. The frog exhaled with relief. Maybe two Coopers in one life time wouldn't be so hard to handle.

"Now, I want you to tell me how the confrontation between El Jefe, Toothpick, and Carmelita got started." Sly cut the frog a glare. "El Jefe harassed Carmelita, and she smacked him away. Toothpick charged after she got El Jefe to stop, and she kicked Toothpick off of her. She was defending herself. May I go now?" Mr. Raliegh shook his head. "Thank you for cooperating for once Cooper, but now a different matter. Your little PDA with Ms. Fox has booked oth of you a week in detention."

Sly's demeanor changed when he realised he got Carmelita in trouble. "Mr. Raliegh, it wasn't her fault. It was my idea." The frog was tooken a back by Sly's honesty. He smiled at the Cooper in front of him. "Then a month for you from 3 p.m. till 4 p.m. Carmelita is free to go." Sly just stared at Mr. Raliegh for a good few minutes. "So, I get more punishment for telling the truth? Why not just two weeks and we say it's fair?" Mr. Raliegh shook his head, a huge grin on his face. "No. Now get out or it can easily be doubled."

He thought about arguing his sentence, but ultimatley decided that it would get him no where. Before leaving the office, he turned to Mr. Raliegh. "One more thing, sir." The frog looked up, making Sly grin. "Goodbye, mommie dearest." Sly quickly shut the door, nearly recieving a waste basket to the head. Oh, how he loved spiking the old frog's blood pressure.

Sly stepped out to see a rather bored Carmelita, sitting upside down on the bench. "Did you miss me enough to play hooky?" The fox grinned at her ringtail, and handed him an orange slip. "We're excused until fourth since you took so long. I only waited so I could go get food." Sly rolled his eyes and lifted Carmelita out of her not so natural sitting position. "So, did you get in any trouble?" He asked. Carmelita shook his head. "No, but I'm assuming you did." The raccoon nodded. "One month of my after school life is wasted. You're welcome." Carmelita went into a hysterical coughing fit at hearing this. "What do you mean thank you?!"

"I got you out of a week's worth. On the upside, this was one of the better conversations between me and Mr. Raliegh. He completley forgot to harangue me." The fox raised an eyebrow. "I never figured you would be someone with a high vocabulary." Sly picked up a lunch tray, examining which choice would be the least condeming to his health.

"You should know by now I'm full of surprises. It's kind of funny, that was the first 'big' word Bentley taught me when were kids. You steal one sticker book and a teacher wants your tail hanging on her wall." Carmelita snickered. "You're such a trouble maker."

"So, how long have you, Bentley and Murray been together?" The vixen asked. Sly rubbed his chin. "Nearly eight years. I wouldn't call them my friends anymore, they're more of a second family. Well, them and Demetri." Carmelita nodded, a little amazed that they all had been together that long. She wanted to ask about his parent's, but didn't want to press the matter. It soothed her a little knowing he could still think of having a family.

"Are you going to be coming in this late from now on, cracker box?" Dimitri called from the living room. Sly dropped his book bag at the door, and crawled to Dimitri. "Just for the next week. I'm already tired, maybe I should purchase a pillow. Or a comfier book bag. What's your thoughts on that, Dimitri?" The iguana shrugged. "The pillow would be a lot more comfortable. "

Sly grinned. "Sounds like a plan. I'm gotta get some sleep. Night. Dimitri smiled. "Night night, don't let the bad fashion sense bite!" The raccoon laughed while he trudged to his bedroom. It was about two weeks till his birthday. He stopped celebrating after his parents' died. Sly had gotten use to the gang throwing him a small surprise party every year, but it just didn't feel the same.

"Maybe I'll just visit them in France. Only God knows how long it's been since I've brought them flowers." He walked over to his bed side table and rummaged through the drawer. It took a while until Sly's fingers traced over a slick was a family picture they took just a few weeks before his birthday. He outlined the image of his parents and started to tear up a little. The raccoon sat on the edge of his bed for a good few minutes, just staring at the photo till he heard a knock on the door.

"If you're a bill collector I'm not here." Bentley rolled himself into the room. "Very funny. So, you're almost sixteen." Sly laid back on his bed. "Yeah. I'm just another year closer to the cold, outside world of a customer service cubicle. Your point?" Sly smiled at his blank faced friend. "How would you like to take a trip? It will have to be during the Christmas vacation of course." The raccoon smiled. "How about we pull one more heist in Paris?"

Bentley looked at Sly very closely and put a hand on his forehead. "Are you sick? Every time we suggested a heist in Paris, you always decline." Sly gave Bentley his hand back and sat back up. "I was thinking of Brazil or something, but it reminds me to much of El Jefe. That, and there's a little bit of business I need to take care of."

Bentley nodded, a bit too worn out to pursue the matter any further. As he left the room, he found Murray waiting for him in the hallway. "So, where are we going? Are we going to Holland again?" Bentley just smiled. "We're going back to Paris. Sly wants to pull one more heist there." Murray picked up the turtle and hugged him a little too tightly. "Yes! I've actually missed the place." Bentley patted Murray's back. "Me too *breathes* big guy." Murray sat him back down in his chair, ready to go tell Dimitri and plan the heist.

This is one of those 'leading up to a big event' kind of chapters. I'm not sure if I can update regularly for a while. I've been pretty sick, so putting this chapter up was a HUGE deal. (Hopefully it isn't to bad, the next few chapters should be pretty okay.

Lets hope I don't have kidney stones!
PudgyPhantomhive~