Opening old wounds

December 24th

Bentley sat by the tree, searching through thief net. Their next heist would be at the Musée du Louvre at 2:00 a.m., December 27th. Recent messages by other thief net members have informed the Cooper gang of recent stolen goods that would go for high prices with their buyers. Finally, they all decided that they would steal the "starry night" painting by Vincent Van Gogh. Too many others had been caught trying to break into the museum, which gave the guys a challenge.

While the turte was drawing up a few entrance routes, Sly and Murray were pre-cooking Christmas dinner. "I still don't see why you insist we always precook everything." Sly mumbled. Murray raised up from his paistries and smiled his big, goofy grin. "If we waste all day tomorrow cooking, then when are we going to open the presents?" The raccoon nodded in understanding and continued to layer icing on the "Santa" cookies. "Guys! Help!"

Sly and Murray raced over to Bentley. and couldn't stop laughing. Bentley had gotten himself entwined in the Christmas lights. "Why?" Sly could barely contain his laughter at his unamused friend's facial expression. "I wanted to shine bright like a diamond." Murray untwined a not to happy Bentley. "Really, what were you doing?" Murray asked. Bentley sighed. "I was going to send Penelope a funny photo." The turtle pulled up a photo of the mouse inside an over sized stocking with ginger bread men in her hands. "Awww, that's so adorable!" Murray gushed and hugged the turtle. Murray was always more affectionate around the holidays.

Sly smiled and took a picture of the two. "This should work. Tiny turtle gets hugged by Christmas enfused bundle of joy." Sly transfered the photo to Bentley's laptop and sent it to Penelope. There's nothing like a Cooper family Christmas ^-^

Bentley rolled over to get a better look at the picture and smiled. "That could be a Christmas card." He laughed. Dimitri walked in and peered behind the turtle's shoulders. "Nice photography, cracker box." The iguana sat on the couch and flipped through the tv channels until he found a frosty the snowman movie. "How you can watch the same puke over and over every year I don't Understand." Bentley wheeled himself to his room and focused on the heist. Murray had gone back to his cooking, and Dimitri was entranced by the magical singing snowman.

"I'm going for a little walk around town you guys. Try not to give each other heart attacks till I get back." Sly reached for his black and lue striped jacket and waved.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Murray asked. Dimitri looked at him for a second and smiled. "Do you really think he's going to get himself hurt out there? If he can fight me in a hand to hand fight, he can handle pretty much anything." Murray grinned happily, and continued his preparations for tomorrow.

Sly stopped by a small flower shop on his way to visit his parents. "Hello sir, what do you need?" A black and white female cat asked him. Sly looked at the roses and shook his head. "Do you have any flowers that represent rememberance?" The girl smiled and nodded. "Hold on a moment." Sly played with the hem of his shirt when the cat brought back a few bouquets. "We have poppies, forget me nots, rosemary, and statice." Sly chose two forget me not bouquets with blue ribbons.

The girl gave him a sympathetic look. "You're going to visit the grave yard, aren't you?" He was shocked, but nodded cautiously. She smiled and handed Sly two rose buds joined on a single stem. "You got two of the same, so I know they were close together. Put this between them." Sly smiled, a look of grief crossed his features momentarily. "How much do I owe you?" The cat smiled. "It's free for sad occasions." He smiled and left the little shop.

Before stopping by the grave yard, the raccoon walked to his old home. He sat on the curb, just staring at the dilapidated building. They still haven't gotten around to cleaning the rubble.

"Honey! Get the Camera! He's about to say his first word!" John (Sly's dad) ran into the kitchen, camera running. "Say dadda son, say dadda." The baby smiled and gurgled. "Come on baby, say dadda" his mother encouraged him. "Sarah, I don't-" Sly hit his hands against the table of his high chair. "Dadda! Dadda!" Sarah picked him up and smiled. "I told you he was ready. Mommy knows these things, doesn't she, Sly?" She cuddled him to her chest, making him giggle happily.

You're going to spoil my little thief." John grumbled. Sarah rose up, growling. "I think you mean our baby." Her husband gulped. "Y-yes dear." Sly giggled at his parent's display. John lifted Sly up and into his arms. "You know, you're one of the prettiest babies I've seen." He ruffled the baby's head fur, watching him fall to sleep.

Sly was quickly knocked out of his trance when he heard a car honk at him. He rolled away from the street, receiving a few profanitized insults. The raccoon trudged his way to is parents' resting place.

He walked to the back of the graveyard, near the willow tree where his parents were buried. John Cooper 1976-2006 Sarah Cooper 1978-2006. The city refused to put anything nice on his parents' graves, which always made Sly choke up with anger. He sat infront of them, setting the flowers inside the little vase that was there.

"It's been a long time mom, dad. I miss you both. Ya know, It's been pretty crappy since you've been gone." He whiped at his eyes. It never got easier for him, no matter how he approached the situation. Sly usually saw their lifeless bodies now, instead of the once loving forms. He rubbed the tombstone, tracing out their names. "I love you guys. I always will. Sometimes I wish it was me instead, but I know you would cry, mom. You always cried when I got the tiniest little scratch. Dad would say 'stop babying him! You'll turn him into a softy!' I'm not to soft dad, I promise." The raccoon let the tears flow for a few minutes, then whiped them away. "I hope you guys are proud. I'm sure you've seen Carmelita already. She's something else."

Sly looked at his watch after he finished talking to them. "I still have to help the guys! I'll try to come by soon, mom and dad. I love you." Sly got up and dusted himself off. It was going to be a pretty long walk to get back to the safe house. Even after all the cooking and decorating, Sly still had a little present in store for everyone.

Hopefully this was an okay chapter. I haven't been able to focus during this "you need to take these drugs and hopefully you wont die" episode.

Yes, this is still a high school fanfic! High school students get holidays to, but it will get back to normality soon.

P.S. Not the real names of his parents (obviously since they were never named)

Later, taters! ~PudgyPhantomhive