Skylar climbed onto her top bunk, not even bothering to change into her pajamas. Skylar and Silvester shared a room, since Carmelita could not really afford to get a place with at least 3 bedrooms. Their room was very small, containing two small dressers, a bunk bed, and two windows. Skylar slept on the top bunk, as Silvester is currently too scared of heights. Her bunk is decorated with a photo of her family hanging on the wall, and a poster of her favorite video game starring a Lombax and his robot best friend. Her bed hasn't been made, but she never really cared if her blankets were straight or not. Her bunk didn't have an actual bedspread, but it did have pink sheets and a few throw blankets to keep her warm at night. Under the bed, she does have a purple bedspread her mother bought her, but she frequently got too hot sleeping under it.

Silvester's bunk was much more decorated compared to his sister's. Covering his bed was a white sheet set topped with a spaceship bedspread. His walls were decorated with rockets and photos of his favorite scientist, a rocket scientist known as Arpeggio. Silvester was aware of his past, but after Arpeggio was found after his apparent death, he turned his life around and decided to work with NASA on building spaceships. His walls were also covered in glow-in-the-dark stars and bubble stickers of spaceships of various colors. He didn't need to change into his pajamas, as he was already dressed in them. His pajamas were nothing special, but they were extremely soft and comfortable to wear. It was just a dark blue long sleeve shirt with a matching set of pants. He crawled into his bed, quiet, hoping Skylar might break the silence.

Skylar stared up at the blank white ceiling. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble, Silver." She cried a bit. "I knew this was going to be a bad idea."

"It was my idea too, Sky." Silvester responded. "I'm just glad mom didn't ground us for Christmas." Silvester remained quiet for some time. "Why do you think mom won't tell us what's in that book?"

Skylar sighed. "Probably because it's an anti-cop book or something. You know how mom is about that kind of stuff." She quickly sat up in her bed with an idea popping in her head. "You think anyone around here might know about that book? Maybe there is a copy circling around we can look at without…you know." She rubbed her wrists. "I don't know about you but handcuffs hurt. I don't want mom to lock me in them again."

Silvester laughed hard. "Mom locked you in handcuffs?"

Skylar groaned. "Yeah. Said I need to feel what it's like to be a 'criminal.' I personally didn't think it was necessary. I got the message when officer Grey pointed that shock pistol at me."

Silvester laughed some more. "You know how mom is."

Skylar giggled a bit. "Yeah. I'm just sad we failed. I don't care what mom says. I have to see what is inside that book."

"Do you know anyone who works for the museum? Maybe we could ask…"

"Silver, no we can't." She interrupted. "It's top secret, remember? Nobody knows what's inside that book. All anyone knows is that it was donated by an anonymous guy and it belonged to the former famous thief, Sly Cooper."

Silvester rolled over, facing the dressers. "How would mom know about that book, then?"

"I don't know." Skylar groaned. "That is rather weird that she knows about that book." She thought to herself for a bit. "Maybe interpol is keeping it a secret because it contains criminal information. Maybe it was donated so people would keep away from it and not read it."

Silvester started to drift off to sleep, not responding to Skylar's theory about the book.

"Silver?" She rolled over and flipped her head looking at Silvester's bunk below. Silvester had fallen fast asleep, holding his stuffed kitty pillow close. "Oh guess you've fallen asleep." Skylar rolled back into her original position. "Goodnight, then."

Christmas morning…

Carmelita slowly opened the twins' room, discovering they were both asleep. Her eyes grew sad remembering what happened the night before. She doesn't want to hide the truth from her children, but the criminal life was a real threat at the moment.

All night Carmelita did not really get much sleep. She debated all night if she should just tell them the truth or not. At the same time she was still worrying about where Sly might be. She knew he did not abandon her, however she feared how he might react knowing he has not just one child, but two. Carmelita brought them up this far by herself, but it was still hard as their days progressed, and the reality of them becoming teenagers was very close.

Carmelita feared the most about Skylar. Skylar was already becoming extremely difficult to handle both at school and at home. Carmelita has gone to countless parent-teacher meetings throughout her life. Starting out, Carmelita could see Skylar was a carbon copy of her father, behavior and all. She recalled an incident when the twins were only 5 years old. On their very first day in school, Skylar stole another girl's crayon box in class. She wasn't very sneaky about it, as the teacher managed to catch it. She was only 5 years old after all. Skylar was punished for her behavior, but nothing really changed. She just got sneakier as she grew up.

Silvester never did anything like this in school. He was actually often called a "teacher's pet." Silvester did love his sister, though, and with his extremely intelligent brain he was able to help his sister with her shenanigans without being caught. Carmelita always suspected Silvester with helping his sister, but she never managed to catch him in the act. Silvester often backed out on his sister, too scared he would be caught and get into trouble. Silvester feared getting in trouble more than anything. All he really wants is to please everyone, including his mother and his sister. Carmelita suspects that he has some form of autism, but she can't seem to find a doctor to confirm this…at least one that accepts her medical coverage.

Carmelita approached the twins' bunk and gently shook them. "Silver." She whispered to Silvester. "Wake up, it's Christmas."

Silvester slowly opened his eyes. Carmelita kissed him on his forehead and gently went to shake Skylar awake.

"Skylar. It's Christmas, honey. Wake up."

Skylar opened her eyes awake like her brother. Carmelita kissed her on her forehead as well. "Come on guys, let's open presents."

Silvester sighed as he was getting out of bed. "I'm sorry about last night, mom."

Carmelita frowned. "We aren't going to worry about last night. It's Christmas. We can work out last night tomorrow but today we are going to open presents and have a good breakfast."

"We are going to visit uncle B too, right mom?" Skylar asked with excitement.

Carmelita smirked a bit. "Yes, we are going to see uncle B today."

Skylar and Silvester leaped out of bed with joy. Their uncle B was the best. He always had the best gifts for them…and always gave them bad advice.

The twins excitedly ran into the living room, finding a handful of presents laying by the brick fireplace the apartment provided. The fireplace didn't work, though. It was too old and Carmelita doesn't like carrying firewood into the apartment.

Carmelita grabbed a handful of gifts and distributed it to both of her children accordingly. The twins shrieked with excitement, dying to know what they had gotten for Christmas.

"Okay so the ones with the blue wrapping paper are from grandma." Carmelita smiled thinking about her mother back in Spain. "You both need to remember to thank her when we go down there next week."

The twins both tore open their presents, with Skylar receiving a new backpack and Silvester receiving some expensive new shoes he had been asking for. Skylar didn't realize she wanted a new backpack, especially this one. It was purple and had stars all over it. The brand was also very expensive and well known for lasting a long time.

"Okay the rest of your gifts are from me." Carmelita handed each twin two gifts. It didn't seem like much, but Carmelita usually bought her kids nice and expensive gifts, so they both never received a large number of them.

Skylar tore open the nicely wrapped square gift covered in a Santa design. She discovered a shipping box and ripped the tape off. Inside was the video game she had been asking for all year; the new Rift Apart game for her PlayStation. She shrieked with excitement and ran to hug her mom. "Thank you so much, mom! I love it!"

Silvester tore open his gift, which was much larger than his sister's. He tore open the Santa wrapping paper, discovering a rocket ship Lego set. He had been asking for this set for years, but it was one of the most expensive sets available at the store. He ran up to Carmelita and hugged her tightly as well. "I can't wait to build this, mom! Thank you so much! This means the world to me!"

Later that day…

Carmelita drove her patrol car with both of the twins in the back seat. The drive felt like forever, but the twins didn't seem to mind. She quickly spotted their uncle B's house and pulled into his driveway.

The house wasn't much at all. It was a small shack with a wheelchair ramp leading to the front door. The yard was hardly maintained and the neighborhood surrounding the home wasn't the best. Carmelita didn't care much, however. She was a cop and neighborhoods like this she dealt with regularly. Both of the twins excitedly opened the back door and ran up the ramp, knocking on the front door loudly. "Uncle B!" They yelled. "We're here!"

"Kids!" Carmelita snapped.

Before she could really correct her kids a turtle opened the door. He was sitting in his wheelchair making him appear shorter than both of the kids. "Sky! Silver! Merry Christmas!" He cheered in his nasally voice. "I am so glad to see you two!"

Carmelita walked up the ramp as well. "Hello Bentley. Merry Christmas." She handed him a moderate sized box wrapped up in the same Santa wrapping paper her kids' presents had.

Bentley took the gift. "Oh Carmelita. That was very sweet of you, but you didn't have to get me anything."

Carmelita smiled. "Well, you have done so much for us, Bentley. It's the least we could do."

Bentley invited the family into his shack, which was extremely small. It only had an old school tubed tv, a beat up couch, a sad looking Christmas tree, and a kitchen that honestly was just a closet with a hot plate and a fridge.

Bentley wasn't exactly poor, he just did not see a reason to spend a lot of money on his home or furniture. He wheeled over underneath his small tree and retrieved two small gifts, both poorly wrapped. He handed one to Silvester and one to Skylar. There was one last one as well, fairly sized, and Bentley handed it to Carmelita.

"Bentley…" Carmelita smiled. "That is so sweet. Thank you."

The twins quickly tore open their gifts, Skylar getting a new controller for her PlayStation and Silvester getting a new keyboard and mouse set for his computer. The twins smiled and hugged Bentley tightly.

"Thank you uncle B!" Skylar exclaimed.

"This is an awesome gift!" Silvester smiled.

Carmelita opened her gift, only finding it was a gift card to her favorite perfume store. She didn't mind, it was in fact her favorite perfume store. "You didn't have to get us all of this, Bentley." Carmelita smiled.

"It was nothing." Bentley smiled. "Besides, I know it's gotta be hard…you know not having much family here and all."

Carmelita frowned. "Yeah. It is pretty difficult." She glanced over at the old TV set. "You haven't…you know…found out anything yet have you?"

Bentley quickly realized what she was talking about. He frowned as well. "Carmelita, I am working as hard as I can. Besides, what happened yesterday at the museum?"

Carmelita refused to make eye contact. "Well, Skylar and Silvester tried to steal…you know…THAT book…"

Bentley raised an eyebrow and looked at the twins, who were too occupied admiring their new presents. "Guys? Why did you break into that museum?"

Skylar looked over at Bentley. "We just wanted to know about the Thevious Raccoonus." She replied.

Bentley looked over at Carmelita. "Hey Carm…you know we can't…"

Carmelita cut him off. "Bentley, they don't need to know what's in that book. It's for criminals."

"So you've read it?" Skylar asked.

Carmelita looked over at her and frowned. "I told you I know about that book. I've read a little bit. It's in the museum to learn about Paris's history and to prevent people from reading it."

"How about you kids go play in the tech room?" Bentley interrupted. "You can test your new gifts on my stuff for now."

The twins shrugged and went down the hall into Bentley's tech room. The room was covered in screens and bright lights. The room was still about the size of a closet, but it was full of computers and gaming equipment for the twins to play with.

"Come on Silver, let's get uncle B's PlayStation set up." Skylar reached underneath a steel end table to retrieve Bentley's PlayStation. Skylar and Silvester have been in this room a million times, but what Skylar found under the table was something she had never expected to find. As she pulled out what she had in her hand, Silvester walked up to her and looked at her prize she had found. They both gasped.

"Silver…it's the Thevious Raccoonus."

10 years ago…

"Carmelita…I'm not sure what all I can do for you."

"Bentley, please." Carmelita begged. "I can't raise a baby by myself. You are the one who reached out to check up on me. I just was honest and told you."

Bentley rubbed his chin. "Right, but…"

Carmelita cried. "Have you heard anything about Sly? Anything at all?"

Bentley sighed. "Carmelita…you'd be the first person I'd tell if I found out anything. Believe me."

Carmelita looked out the small window looking onto the sketchy neighborhood's street. "I don't know what to do. I didn't mean to get pregnant. I don't even know what to tell Interpol. They'll fire me for sure."

Bentley wheeled over to her. "Now calm down…you sure it's Sly's baby?"

Carmelita glared at him. "I'm not a whore, Bentley. Of course it's Sly's baby."

"I didn't mean it like that." Bentley murmured. "Look, how did you even get pregnant anyway? You and Sly fought the entire time."

Carmelita looked at the ground. "...Bob's…yeah…."

"The ice age?" Bentley laughed. "Well I guess that's one way to get warm."

Carmelita growled. "It's not funny, Bentley. I'm pregnant with a criminal's baby…alone."

Bentley's laughter faded away, but he was still smirking a bit. "I get that. Carmelita, you're gonna be fine. I'll help you out, I mean I'm technically an uncle."

"Bentley…"

"Yes?"

"I don't want my baby to be a criminal. You, Sly, and Murray were arrested by ME a lot. I don't want that for my baby. Surely you understand."

Bentley raised an eyebrow. "I don't."

"Look, I just don't want my baby in trouble, you know? I don't know when…or if…Sly will return. I just don't…"

"Carmelita…" Bentley interrupted. "You cannot hide their father. They don't deserve that. You know Sly would be crushed if he knew you did that."

"I want my child to know their father." Carmelita interrupted. "I just don't want them to know about his criminal past. I don't want them to get…inspired."

Bentley sighed. He disagreed with her, but this was her baby. "Carm, I'm not going to lie about their father if they ask. I understand you're hurt, but you can't just lie about it. What am I supposed to tell them if they ask?"

Carmelita sighed. "I was just going to say their father went missing and we don't know what happened. I was just going to tell them how wonderful he was and how much he would have loved to meet them. You know, the good qualities."

Bentley started to agree a bit, but he was still hesitant. "I respect your decision, however I just still disagree. You're the mother though. I'll do what I can to help."

Carmelita hugged him. "Thank you, Bentley."

Bentley felt extremely awkward with Carmelita hugging him. "Uh…Miss Fox…please don't…"

Carmelita quickly separated. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'm just so thankful you're going to help me out."

Bentley laughed nervously. "It's okay."