A Letter and Ring...

***Sly***

Another day, another moment with my favorite police officer; Carmelita Fox. The only problem is that I want these moments to last for the rest of our lives. So far, everything has been perfect, but something keeps tugging at the back of my mind. The thing is, I’m a Cooper, and Cooper has been the title of master thieves throughout history. I’ve done my fair share of thieving over the years, as is the family tradition, but now I had considered myself retired. I was enjoying my time with Carmelita, but soon the old Cooper itch kept coming back. Of course, I can’t just return to thieving out of nowhere; Carmelita thinks I have amnesia from the incident in the Cooper vault. If I start up again she’ll know that I don’t have amnesia; she’ll know that I was lying.

Thankfully, Carmelita’s apartment has a balcony; sitting here in the night air helps me think. I guess that’s a bit of my thief instinct kicking in. While keeping up this charade seems like no problem, my hand seems to have been forced. Bentley showed up a few days ago and brought me my cane. I was planning to pull a quick heist under Carmelita’s nose and had already scoped out my target. I was trying to figure out a plan when he showed up. Truth be told, I missed the little guy; he was like family, and then he told me he needed my help. I knew that since this was Bentley, it had to be serious; so I slipped out and met up with him and Murray last night and found out the truth.

I said before that the Coopers have been the greatest thieves throughout time, but now that claim doesn’t seem to hold water. Someone, or something, is literally erasing Cooper history and Bentley already had the perfect way to fix this problem. He had been working on a secret project with Penelope in the past few months and he revealed it to be a time machine! After some quick modifications, the device fits snugly onto the old team van. Then Bentley told us about the catch. In order to travel back to a certain time, we would need an object from that period to properly calibrate the machine. Bentley, always thinking three steps ahead, had even found the perfect item to steal; which conveniently was being displayed at the museum that I was planning to steal from anyway. Unfortunately, time was not on our side last night since it was going to be dawn soon. We agreed to meet back at the hideout tomorrow at midnight to pull off the job.

That leads me to where I am now, sitting on Carmelita’s balcony on the night of our big heist; the cool night air helps me think as I put the final touches on the note. I place my treasure in its box and put it on top of the note. While the Cooper vault is gone, I did save a few things, one being a small piece from Thaddeus Winslow Cooper III’s section of the vault. I was hoping to give it to Carmelita at a later date after the whirlwind of emotions in my head and heart were at ease. I placed the box and note in my father’s old pipe case and hid it in our closet; she never checks the top shelf anyway. Carmelita has been on a new case for a few days now and tonight was no different. As I grab my cane I look up to the moon, as bright as Carmelita’s eyes, and feel a small tear run down my cheek. She isn’t going to like what I’m about to do, but I have to do it; I wipe away the tear and head out to meet the guys.

***Carmelita***

Another day, another moment without my favorite thief, Sly Cooper. I still can’t believe he has been gone for 2 months now, and nobody knows where, or rather when, that stinking Le Paradox sent him when his blimp disappeared. Everyone at work tries to comfort me; saying that they’re sure Cooper will come back to the force. But I knew better than that; Sly was, is, and always will be a thief; it’s in his blood, and thanks to this time travel business, I seem to have found new respect for that Ringtail. I put on a brave face at work but ever since that night, things have been different.

I was patrolling the rivers off duty. I found pieces of equipment that reeked of Le Paradox, and an odd piece of paper. I picked it up and saw what it really was: a picture of our first date. I could feel my heart break as I realized that Sly really cared about me, but I never gave him the chance to explain, and now I can’t tell him how I really feel. As I held the picture, I felt a small tear run down my cheek. So many thoughts and emotions swirled around in my mind; so I headed back to my office to get ready for a new case and keep Sly out of my head.

That puts me where I am now, stuck in my apartment because Barkley had to give me the day off to “relax”. I tried to prove that I was fine, but there’s no reasoning with that old badger. I was laying in bed for a few hours before I decided to get dressed and then I kept lying there for a few more hours.

“All right,” I said to myself, “enough moping around, I need to do something; I need to take my mind off of work and off of…him.”

I’m not sure why, but I can’t bring myself to even say his name. I decided that I would go for a walk in the park; but even though it was a nice day, the clouds looked gray so I searched for my umbrella.

“Didn’t I put it in the closet?” I asked myself.

As I opened the closet doors, I saw assorted pieces of clothing in various colors, some larger boxes spread along the floor and a few smaller items on the top shelf. I thought I saw my umbrella in the back on the shelf so I tried to reach around for it. Unfortunately, I knocked down a few boxes before finding out all I was reaching for was an old tube of wrapping paper.

“Darn it, I could’ve sworn I left my umbrella up there behind the…”

I couldn’t finish my sentence because I saw what had fallen from the shelf. It was a small box and it smelled faintly of tobacco, it was probably used for a pipe or cigars, with Cooper’s crest engraved in the top. I found myself wondering what was inside if there was anything at all, and why Sly had put it so far out of sight.

I opened the box and my heart nearly stopped. Inside was a smaller box, lined with what felt like black velvet.

“There’s no way it’s… Oh God please don’t let it be…” I said as I closed my eyes and opened the box.

I stared in disbelief for a few minutes as I felt my legs give way. Sliding down the wall, I curled up in the corner of the room and a few tears came with it. It was a ring; that Ringtail was going to propose! I can’t say that I haven’t dreamt about it every now and then, but it almost seemed unreal.

“Why Sly? Why did you hide this from me?” I sobbed as I gazed into the diamond atop the band.

All of a sudden, a breeze picked up what I thought was the bottom of the pipe box’s lining. It had the Cooper sign etched on the front, so I didn’t think any more about it before now. I opened the folds and saw it was a letter; I guess Sly wrote it before he stole from the museum. As I read the letter, I found myself hoping more and more that this was all just a bad dream.

"Dear Carmelita,

I’m not quite sure how to put this so I’m just going to say it. You're the love of my life and I can't imagine being with anyone else but you. It would mean the world to me if we could spend the rest of our lives together. Although, I must confess that I haven't been entirely honest with you. The truth is, I never lost my memory. I faked having amnesia so we could have a chance to start over, to be together; so I can do everything in my power to make you the happiest woman on Earth. My hunch is probably right about you hating my guts for deceiving you, and if you choose not to accept this ring, I understand. Just know that I'll love you always and will always be watching out for you.

Love, Sly"

I couldn’t hold back any longer; I dropped the ring and note and just started crying. Two months, two long months without Sly and it turns out that he was planning on proposing! I buried my face into my arms as the tears streamed down my cheeks. I could feel the whole world come closing in on me, and I found myself wondering how I was supposed to go on without him by my side, as my true feelings towards him came flooding out. I lifted my head slightly to bring the note into view, before breaking down in tears once again.

“Of course, I’ll accept it Sly! Please, just don’t leave me alone like this! Please come back! I…I…I love you!”