"How?" Silvester gasped. Skylar handed him the Thievius Raccoonus. It was really heavy, containing lots of pages written by Cooper ancestors throughout history all binded together with hand stitching, protected by a gold book cover. "Why in the world does uncle B have this?"

Skylar stared in awe. "I have no idea. I don't know why he would just have it underneath a table either. That book looks too expensive to just have laying under a table collecting dust."

Silvester opened the book, discovering the old but well kept pages. The pages were covered top to bottom with instructions on different thieving methods each of the Cooper ancestors came up with. Skylar took the book and layed it onto the floor so both her and her brother could read it.

Back in the living room…

"They tried to steal the Thievius Raccoonus from the museum yesterday night." Carmelita sobbed to Bentley. "I don't know why. I feel like I failed. They said they felt a 'connection' to it."

Bentley sat still, unsure how to feel at the moment. "That's strange that they would feel that way with that version."

"Version?" Carmelita sat up straight on the couch and eyed Bentley. "What do you mean by that?"

"That's not the original book, Carm." Bentley tried to explain. "I…didn't feel comfortable donating the original version to the museum without Sly's consent for this exact reason, so I kept the original."

"Well, where is the original?"

"Oh, it's locked away in a safe." Bentley assured. "I just wanted to make sure an incident like what happened with Le Paradox will never happen again."

Carmelita sighed in relief a bit. "Well, I guess that's good I suppose. Skylar has been asking a lot about Sly lately. I just keep telling her that I do not know why he left or where he is, but she's not really buying it. Next thing I know both my kids pull a stunt like this. I didn't raise criminals, Bentley."

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to talk to them." Bentley scratched his chin. "I don't really want to be nosy or tell you how to parent your kids but maybe they need to know everything about their father. I can tell you I've never met my dad but I felt urges to find out who he was. Maybe that's what they are feeling."

"That's going to make things worse." Carmelita cried. "They are going to know that I was with a criminal so it's going to make commiting crimes okay. I mean I did."

"Carmelita, nobody committed a crime and you know that. Sly never killed anyone, all he did was steal from other criminals. I can recall a few times he actually gave the stolen goods back to their owners. I cannot speak on behalf of his ancestors but I can say it wasn't like he just robbed a bank for the fun of it."

"HE LIED TO ME." Carmelita snapped. "ALL OF YOU DID."

Bentley raised his eyes and blinked several times, unsure how to respond. "Carmelita, Murray and I never lied to you. Sly did to win your heart, you know this. He lied to us too. He faked amnesia and Murray and I missed him very much when he was with you. I just hid from you, but when you caught us I was never once dishonest with you." Bentley sighed. "If you had no trust with any of us, why are you here now?"

"Because I have not one, but TWO babies from a guy who's not here that just committed a serious crime." Carmelita went quiet for a while and started to cry. "I'm sorry, Bentley. I'm not blaming you for anything. I know we are a team now on this. I just don't know what to do. It's still weird for me."

Bentley wheeled over to his small closet-like kitchen and started his coffee pot. "It's weird for all of us, Carmelita. I didn't honestly think you'd ever speak to us again after what had happened, you know." He went over to his sink, filled the coffee pot with water, and added it to his machine. "Would you like any coffee?"

Carmelita turned over and looked at the forgiving turtle. "Actually, yeah, I would."

"It's Christmas, Carm. How about you go get the kids and we will watch a Christmas movie or something? I'll even make some popcorn. I know I have a popcorn maker here somewhere."

Carmelita smiled over at Bentley, agreeing with him about the kids. She got up from the couch and walked down the small hallway to go retrieve Skylar and Silvester. She approached the door leading into Bentley's tech room and slowly opened it. "Hey kids…"

Skylar and Silvester quickly tried to close the book they were reading, but could not hide it in time. Carmelita's jaw dropped. Skylar and Silvester stared at her as if they were a deer caught in some headlights. Their stomachs dropped, as they knew what was probably going to happen next.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?" Carmelita yelled. She stomped over and snatched the golden book from the floor. "You two are NOT supposed to be reading this. Where did you get it?"

"Uh…" This was all Skylar managed to say to her clearly fuming mother.

"You STOLE it didn't you? You escaped and stole it from the museum while we weren't looking?"

"We found it under that table mom!" Silvester cried. "I'm sorry! I told her it was a bad idea!"

Skylar furrowed her brow. "Thanks for the backup."

Carmelita grabbed both of their arms and marched them back into the living room. Bentley looked at Carmelita in confusion, despite the fact he could hear her yelling. She sat the book onto the black coffee table and forced her kids to sit on the couch. "They found your book, Bentley."

"Impossible!" Bentley quickly wheeled over to the kids. "I had that thing locked up tight! Where did you two find this?"

"We found it under the table in the tech room, uncle B." Silvester anxiously replied. "I swear I didn't mean to. I knew we shouldn't have opened that book!"

"Under the…what?" Bentley was so confused. He had no idea why the book would be out in the first place. The last time it was out of its safe was when Bentley was making copies of it to donate to the museum. Skylar was sneaky, but she or her brother were not really smart enough to crack that safe open, despite what anyone said. Bentley tried his hardest to remember if he ever unlocked that safe, but he was more concerned why the book was on the floor under a table. Anyone understanding the value of that book knew the book was only to be kept on a stand, locked away and protected from anyone that planned to abuse it.

Skylar sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter." She turned to her mom. "Mom…how come you never told us our dad was part of a huge thief legacy like this?"

Carmelita's face turned pale, constantly in her brain sorting out something to say as a response.

"You told us dad is missing and never came back." Skylar glared at her mother. "I knew something wasn't right here. Our dad never abandoned us, did he?"

"I NEVER told EITHER of you that your dad abandoned you." Carmelita snapped. "I told you he is missing, and that's the honest truth. I don't know where he is."

Silvester wiped a tear from his eye. "But neither of you told us that our dad was a part of all that in the book. That's why Sky and I felt connected to that book, we are Coopers."

Bentley sat his coffee up on a wooden coffee table that stood in front of the old couch. "Carmelita, I really think they need to know. We can't lie about this."

Carmelita sighed. "You two are right, your dad was a thief." She looked over at Bentley and nodded. "I didn't want either of you to follow his criminal past. I didn't lie to you, I just didn't want either of you to experience a criminal life. That is why I never wanted either of you to read that book."

"I'm more concerned about how it got underneath the table in the first place. You two sure you found it under there?"

Skylar looked over at Silvester. "We swear." She responded.

Carmelita looked over at Silvester and smiled. She didn't see much of his father in him, but she saw enough to remind her how much she misses him. "You know you're named after your father, Silvester."

Silvester turned to his mother. "I thought you told me that once. I'm sorry we did what we did mom." He went over to his mother and hugged her tightly.

Carmelita sighed, letting all the anger she was carrying for so long leave her body. She knew she couldn't hide Sly's legacy forever. Her eyes grew hot as she felt them water up. Tears rolled down her face as she remembered the pain she was feeling about Sly being gone. She wished things didn't have to be this way, but at the same time she couldn't have been more thankful that someone from Sly's 'family' stepped up to help her. She was never angry at Sly, but the lies he filled her heart with still stung with great force. She still couldn't move on from the fact at heart he was a criminal, and she has two babies with that blood running through them faster than she could cry "thief!" It was no use being angry at her kids anymore, they deserved to know the entire truth.

"Okay, here is the story." Carmelita took some deep breaths, retrieving the old memories she so long tried to hide away. "Your dad used to break the law…a lot."

Skylar giggled a bit.

"Skylar, it's not funny." Carmelita corrected. "He used to be one of my top criminals I had to catch. I chased that raccoon all across the world trying to put him and the rest of his gang behind bars." Carmelita stopped, as the memories flooded through her head. She couldn't continue, her heart was hurting too much.

Bentley wheeled over to her and patted her on the back, assuring everything was going to be okay. Carmelita gave him a nonverbal cue that it was okay to continue telling the story. "Sly and I used to be a team, along with another guy named Murray."

Silvester raised an eyebrow. "Murray? You've never told us about him."

"Well, I tried to tell him about you two but he hasn't really given me a response about it. I don't really know where he is or what he is up to now. I wish I knew. I was going to tell you two eventually but the subject was never brought up." Bentley quickly shook off his memory of his other missing friend. Truthfully, Murray never really knew how to deal with Sly's disappearance emotionally, so his solution was to run away just like he did when Bentley lost his ability to walk. Bentley tried to check in with him just as he was doing with Carmelita, but unlike Carmelita Murray never really responded. This fact angered Bentley a bit, Sly went missing against his will, but Murray went missing on purpose.

"Anyway," Bentley continued "the book you two found was the original Thevious Raccoonus. The one you two tried to steal was a copy I had turned into the museum. I got a lot of money to help your mother out with, plus it educated the city about the Cooper's legacy, despite I informed very limited information to the museum staff. I didn't want to turn the original book in, for this exact reason."

Skylar crossed her arms and looked at her mother. "It's cold in here, mom." She whined.

"Skylar, just suck it up for now." Carmelita groaned.

Bentley laughed. "Well, a long time ago we broke into this vault full of treasures. Your dad got hit in the head and he decided he was going to fake memory loss to get with your mother."

Silvester gasped. "Wait, he lied to mom? Is that why he isn't around?"

Carmelita laughed a bit, remembering Sly's ridiculous attempt to be with her. "Well, not exactly." Her heart soon bled all her anger away, as her good memories with Sly began to play in her mind. "I actually fell in love with him, and I knew he never lost his memory. I wasn't that dumb. He was actually the most romantic man I've ever been with."

Skylar made fake gagging noises. "Mom, that's gross. If I wanted a romance story for Christmas, I would've watched something on Hallmark."

Bentley laughed. "Well anyway, a criminal named Le Paradox went back in time to try to erase your father's legacy. I built a time machine to follow, and it turned out your mother got mixed up in the mess. It worked itself out, she managed to catch Le Paradox with Sly."

Carmelita smiled but frowned again, remembering Sly going through the portal to wherever he is now.

"Your father fought Le Paradox and won." Bentley stated firmly, trying to push his emotions away. "After the fight, Le Paradox's time machine sent your father back in time somewhere. Nobody knows where he is, if he is alive, or if he is even trying to come back. I've been looking ever since he went missing, and even harder after I found out you two were going to be born, but I sadly haven't found anything."

"So let's go find him." Skylar smiled.

Carmelita frowned. "Sky, honey, it's not that simple."

"Sure it is." Skylar jumped up from her seat. "We just need to go back in time and go get him."

Silvester's eyes grew big. "Skylar, I think what mom and Bentley are trying to say is that they don't know where our dad is. We can't just go back in time and simply get him."

"Why not?" Skylar swung her tail in annoyance. "Uncle B, don't you have a time machine? We can just use it to go get him."

"I don't know what time period to go to, Skylar." Bentley corrected. "As soon as I find out what time period he's stuck in, I'll be going to rush in to rescue him."

"So my dad is a world class thief." Skylar smiled. "No wonder I'm so good at this."

"You got caught by ME yesterday. You aren't going to grow up to be a criminal. Just because your dad was a thief doesn't mean you have to be one."

"Plus, your dad NEVER stole anything for himself. He always stole from other thieves. You have to remember that, Sky. He was never a bad guy." Bentley interrupted.

"And don't forget you two are still grounded tomorrow."