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Sly Cooper: Truth from Lies

"And here is our apartment," Inspector Carmelita Fox unlocked the door and opened it for Sly.

The supposedly amnesiac raccoon walked in to the fourth story Paris apartment, "Not that big, why do we live together exactly, Inspector?"

"It's cheaper if we split the rent and with how often we get moved around there's not much point in trying for anything larger." Carmelita shut the door behind her then looked at the dust on her hand from the doorknob, "There'd be too much to clean if we lived anywhere bigger."

"Makes sense, very practical." It didn't take long for 'Constable' Sly Cooper to scan the living room for the exits. "So where's my bedroom?"

"Oh well," Carmelita managed to conjure up a quick answer in her mind, "We never had time to furnish the other bedroom so you've just been speaking on the hide a bed," She pointed to the couch.

"Wow, sounds like I procrastinated a lot," Sly began pulling up the couch cushions, "I guess I'm a bit of a workaholic."

"Something like that," Carmelita sighed inwardly, relieved that he wasn't questioning it, "Can you manage being alone for a couple hours, I need to go file our case report."

Sly laughed, "Sorry but I don't think I'll be much help if I can't remember what happened." He pulled the bed out from the couch interior, "I'm pretty drained, I might be asleep by the time you get home."

"Right, blankets and pillows are in the linen closet," Carmelita pointed to the small closet door near the bathroom, "I'll see you later, Cooper."

"See you, Inspector," Sly waved to her as she left. He held his breath until he couldn't hear her steps receding before letting out a relieved sigh and collapsing onto the hide a bed. So far so good, she believed he had lost his memory or at least she wasn't going to drag him off to jail yet. Either way he had some alone time to think about his next move.

"Guess I should look around, get used to this place and get the bed set up." Sly stretched and winced slightly from his injuries earlier that day before getting up to explore his new home. "I wonder how long I can keep this up?"

It was past nightfall by the time Carmelita made it home; it had taken far too long to work things out with her boss and to explain everything to everyone in the office, though she had been convinced to take a week off so things could settle and she could get Sly up to speed on his 'old life'. She wasn't at all surprised to find Sly asleep on the hide a bed with the day they had had.

She tip-toed past him to her bedroom and gently shut the door behind her. As she got ready for bed she had to wonder if she was getting in over her head with this, lying to Sly about being her long time partner and that was if he wasn't lying about having amnesia. She wasn't stupid, she knew it was too convenient but if he was lying then why? Maybe the same reason she had lied to him... Either way, they were in this together now.

OoOoO

It's been a year since the Cooper Vault job and I'm still with Carmelita. Gotta say, working on the other side of the law has been an eye-opening experience for me, I never knew how much paperwork the police had to do. Kinda makes me feel bad for all the trouble I must have given Carmelita *after* she finished chasing me, especially what she had to have pulled off to get me as her partner. I never did like the technical side of things, but I can't leave that to Bentley anymore so I've had to adapt, almost got carpal tunnel in my first month.

_ _

Honestly, the hardest thing for me has been missing my friends and old gang. I've done my best to keep track of them without actually contacting them. Murray's been easy, he's grabbing a lot of attention with his races and I've found myself really getting into the races, if only to cheer on my old friend.

_ _

Dimitri wasn't hard to keep track of either, he hasn't exactly kept a low profile. I didn't feel the need to intrude on his fame and fortune. The Guru hasn't been seen since he left the outback but the guy deserves his privacy. As for the Panda King, he's living peacefully enough. I don't know if I'll ever forgive him completely but I've managed to move on from that. I don't know what Bentley and Penelope are up to, but I know they'll be happy together and as far as I'm concerned I've left the Cooper legacy in good hands. I know he's looking out for me, I flashed him a quick wink while Carmelita and I were at high-class party so he knows what's up.

_ _

And with Carmelita, we work great as a team, going out on field assignments is fun because it turns out sometimes it does take a thief to catch a thief. In fact what I do hasn't changed that much except I have to send the criminal's loot to evidence instead of keeping it myself. It's been hard to resist the urges but I promised myself I'd make a real effort to go legit, for Carmelita's sake.

_ _

Off the field we've been in synch too, being able to go out without it being for work has been a fun change of pace. Still, I can't help but worry about what will happen when she finds out I lied about losing my memory. I know this can't last forever so I'm going to tell her the truth and hope that she understands. I'm banking on all the time we've spent together, as adversaries and as partners, to see me through this.

"I'm home," Sly announced himself as he stepped through the apartment door, still in his Interpol uniform.

"What took you so long, Sly? I ate supper without you." Carmelita had already thrown the take out containers again. It was an unfortunate fact that work often left them without the time or energy to cook and neither of them were that good at cooking.

"I ate out. Listen, Carmelita, we need to talk."

The tone in Sly's voice made Carmelita's ear twitch and her tail straighten, though she did her best to hide this. "Is something wrong?"

Sly nodded, "Yeah you see." He took a deep breath, he could back out now, bring up something innocuous and play it off as a joke but he had gone this far already and he wasn't going to start being a coward again. "When I took that blast from Dr. M, I didn't lose my memory. I've been lying all year about losing my memory and... I'm sorry..."

Silence hung over the apartment as Sly's legs shook, fighting the urge to bolt for the window and parkour away across the Paris rooftops just like the old days. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath to try and keep himself calm, then he felt a hand on his cheek and opened his eyes to see Carmelita was right in front of him.

"Sly, I know. I've known, or at least I've suspected it from the start."

Bafflement overcame nerves and Sly asked, "You knew all this time?"

"I wasn't 100% certain," Carmelita withdrew her hand, "But I'm not stupid, Ringtail. It was a bit too convenient for you to lose your memory right then and there."

Sly let out a sigh of relief then asked, "Ok so why did you lie to me about me being your partner?"

Carmelita was a taken aback, unprepared to be accused so she fired the same question back, "Why did you lie about having amnesia?"

They both stood facing each other for a moment, then Sly laughed, "Tell you what, inspector, I'll tell you if you promise to tell me after and if you tell me why you were so aggressive towards me and my gang that year first."

"Deal," Carmelita pointed to the couch, "Sit down and I'll tell you that."

Sly waggled his eyebrows, "So I'm being interrogated then?"

Carmelita sighed, "Not now, Sly, just be straight with me and I'll do the same."

"Alright, alright," Sly sat down. "So why were you so aggressive that year?"

"It's like I told you in Venice, I was tired of chasing you around and having a lack of success in capturing you on my record. More than that, after Neyla's betrayal and your escape from the chopper after I thought I had you..." She took a deep breath, "I was trying to bury my complicated feelings for you by throwing myself into my work as hard as possible and I was determined to end our cat-and-mouse game by any means necessary if only so I wouldn't have it constantly on my mind." She has been pacing the whole time and now turned to face Sly, "Now tell me why you lied about having amnesia."

"I'll be honest, because I was just as tired of our cat-and-mouse game as you were, but not just that." He took a deep breath, "over that year, gathering up a crew to get into the Cooper Vault, two of my teammates fell in love. I saw what they had and I felt myself really wanting something similar but I ignored it to focus on the job. Then, when I was in that giant monster's claws," he shuddered, "I really thought that was it, that I was going to die and everything came back to me. I decided, then and there, that if I got out of that situation alive that I would stop being a coward, stop running and make an effort to be with you, to be a better person for you. The amnesia thing was a spur-of-the moment idea and the only way I could think of to be with you without being arrested." Sly gave her a smile, a gentle one unlike the playful smirk he usually had on his face, "And honestly, the reason I want to be with you is because I love you. I've always respected your dedication, you were the only clean cop who could keep up with me and you never gave up no matter how hard or dangerous it got. I've gotten to see how much you had to put up with this last year working with you and I admire how you handle everything, especially the paperwork. And you freed the Cooper family from the curse of Clockwork when you destroyed the Hate Chip."

"His curse?" Carmelita was trying not to think about everything else Sly had just said.

"He's been after my family for centuries, stalking us from the shadows until he killed my parents. And thanks to you he's gone forever," Sly gave a huge sigh of relief, "So now tell me why you lied to me about being your partner, whether or not you thought I lose my memory."

Carmelita sat down next to him, "A few reasons: first I wasn't sure if you were lying but it wouldn't feel right locking up someone who didn't remember being a criminal, second is that if you were my partner I could keep a close eye on you. I was a bit convinced when you didn't try to run as soon as we were clear of the island and the boss agreed I would be your minder just in case."

"Now come on, you could have locked me up and kept an eye on me too," Sly folded his arms, "and it would have been a faster way to test if I was lying."

Carmelita sighed, "Alright, Ringtail, you got me. Truth is I wanted to be closer to you too. Even if we were on opposite sides of the law you were my most reliable partner, thanks to you I was able to arrest some of the most notorious criminals in the world and, for a while at least, chasing you was fun. I admit I was frustrated during that last year but when I saw you in danger, I had to help you not just because what Dr. M was doing was wrong for so many reasons." She took Sly's hand, "And since you admitted it, I think I'm in love with you too. Now that I know for sure you didn't lose your memory I can see that you have made a serious effort to clean up and be an honest person. I know you are because of what happened in Australia. As infuriating as it was that you left all those pictures in my camera, you still watched over me. I know there's a lot of people who would have taken advantage of me in that state."

"Thank you, and I've always been honest, just not on the right side of the law," Sly smiled.

"I still checked to make sure you weren't lifting anything from evidence." She saw Sly's hurt look, "I had to be sure, Sly, after chasing you for over half a decade you can't expect me to drop all suspicion."

Sly laughed, "I know. And thank you." Sly leaned in and gave Carmelita a kiss as she pulled him into a hug.

Sly eventually pulled back, "So how are you going to handle things at work?"

"We'll figure something out," Carmelita assured him. "Do you ever miss your old life, Sly?"

"Somewhat, mostly I just miss my old friends," Sly admitted, "Bentley, Murray and I, we've been together since we were eight-years old in the orphanage. Can't risk trying to get in touch with them for various reasons."

"Relax, I'm not going to force you to track them down. So far they've kept themselves out of any trouble," Carmelita reassured him.

"There's one more thing," Sly reached into his pocket, "I actually went to get this after work." He pulled out a small box, "I've been thinking about this for a while, but now I know I want this. The last thing I've stolen is your heart. Carmelita Montoya Fox, will you marry me?" he opened the box to reveal a silver ring with an emerald set in it."

Carmelita just stared, "Sly, wait did you..."

There was a rustle of paper as Sly pulled something from his other pocket, "and here's the receipt, just to prove I paid for this."

Carmelita couldn't help but smile, "Sorry for doubting you. Yes, I will marry you, Ringtail."

Sly grinned and slipped the ring onto her finger. "So where do we go from here?"

Carmelita grabbed Sly by his shirt collar and pulled him into an even more forceful kiss, pulling back with an eager grin on her face, "To the bedroom."

Sly lit up as she stood up and pulled him to his feet, "Really?"

"Yes, Ringtail," She all but dragged him towards her bedroom, "It's been half a decade of unresolved sexual tension and we're going to relieve it, now!"

Sly couldn't help but grin as he pulled her bedroom door shut behind them. He began to undress and watched as Carmelita did the same, "I thought I'd never get to see you like this. Nice legs."

Carmelita stopped when she was down to her bra and briefs, and turned to Sly, "It's because of you, needing to keep up with all of your rooftop running." She looked Sly up and down, now just standing in his boxers and got a hungry look in her eyes, "You're not too bad yourself, Sly."

"What can I say, I stay in shape."

"Yes you do," Carmelita sat on her double bed and slid back until she was sitting up against one of the pillows. She reached back and undid her bra, slowly pulling it off and watching as Sly's eyes nearly bugged out of his head, her breasts seeming to grow a cup size as they were freed. "Now that my girls are free, are you going to ravish me?" She grinned as she saw the tent pitched in Sly's boxers.

Sly all but pounced on Carmelita, grabbing her firm tits and squeezing as he pressed a forceful kiss on her; Carmelita kissed back and grabbed his ass until the kiss stopped.

"Enough playing around," Carmelita pulled her briefs off, "Show me what you can do, Ringtail!"

Sly pulled his boxers off and almost immediately plunged his hard cock into Carmelita's waiting pussy. She winced slightly as she was penetrated but grabbed his sides as he did likewise. It was a brief but passionate session that left them both lying tired on the bed.

"Sorry that was so short," Sly apologized as he snuggled up with Carmelita, one hand squeezing one of her breasts.

"With how much we built up, I'm surprised you lasted long enough to deflower me, Sly." Carmelita chuckled.

"Really, I'm your first?" Sly stared at her, "I mean... A beautiful woman like you never went this far before?"

"Believe me you're not the first to try, but I have standards and I didn't want to risk anything, not with the way my school taught me about the dangers of sex and my career on the line," Carmelita sighed, "What about you? Anyone else before me?"

Sly smiled and kissed her, "Nope, I've only ever had eyes for you. The little flirting I did with Neyla doesn't count."

"She doesn't count for a lot of things," Carmelita sighed, "Now let's get some sleep. We have a lot of planning to do for the wedding."

"Yeah," they kissed again and settled down to sleep.