My 40th story (: Thanks to all my readers!

So this is in fact a sequel to 'What a Train Wreck!'. Although it can be read alone easily, I highly recommend you read the first story before this one. This is more of a companion piece, but you'll understand the small references better if you read 'What a Train Wreck!' first.

This story takes place during Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves, World #7: Menace in the North, eh? So like spoilers and stuff. Watch out.

EDIT: This was rewritten in March 2020 to coincide with the 'What a Trainwreck!' rewrite.

Sly wrapped a scarf around his neck tighter and fought back another shiver. The tourists didn't lie; northern Canada was cold. Not to mention he still hadn't recovered from the cold he'd indirectly received from being hit by a train no more than two weeks ago.

Bentley's latest demands included asking Sly to remove tracking devices from bears. Sounds pleasant. Then Sly thought about where the devices were: the bears' mouths. Another shiver ran down his spine, this one not entirely from the cold. Sly leapt off of the pole he was perched on and headed toward the bear cave. As he ran across rooftops, he noticed a familiar cabin and decided to make a stop on the way.

He let himself in through her unlocked window. He shook his head at her. She really needed to be more careful about things like this. When Sly entered the cabin, he noticed the fireplace was out and there were no signs of life in the small room. He huffed. He had definitely missed her. She had gotten an early start to her day.

Sly hadn't seen Carmelita since she'd taken care of him after his train accident. His heart missed her warmth and comfort, even while she was chasing him down with a shock pistol. He knew things had been hard for her lately. The fox was an outcast to just about everyone right now. Interpol had turned its back on her, she wasn't a thief running with Sly's gang, and she certainly had no place in the Klaww Gang. She was utterly alone.

Sly decided his mission could wait. He would search across Canada until he could wish his lovely vixen a good morning. He slipped back out the window and perched himself on a rooftop.

Across town, Carmelita was hunting down one of Bison's goons. He took off across the bridge and Carmelita wasn't giving up easily. She chased him across the snow, firing her shock pistol as she went. She chased him around a large cliff with the intent to catch him.

Everything suddenly happened so fast. Carmelita rounded the corner and heard a large metal clang. A few seconds later, a huge shot of pain went through her right leg and she collapsed with a cry. She moved her head to look down at her foot, something that made her a little dizzy. Her right leg was tightly trapped in a bear trap.

Carmelita reached down to try and pry the trap off of her leg, but as much as it shamed her to admit it, she'd never used a bear trap before. She had no idea how these things worked. She was bleeding out into the white snow as she cried out again in pain. Her leg was starting to go numb and she was losing blood faster than her mind could form a plan.

The fox hoped that her cries of pain would attract some help, but unfortunately it had attracted someone else instead. A large brown bear was slowly approaching her, clearly on the trail of her scent. Carmelita reached for her pistol, but realized she'd dropped it when she fell. With no pistol and no one to call for help, she was a snack waiting for a predator. She tried to scoot herself closer to her shock pistol, but movement made the bear angrier and her leg throbbed in pain. She muffled another cry of pain by biting down on her lip, making her lip bleed.

The bear made a jump for her. Carmelita closed her eyes and threw her arms up to try and protect herself. She braced herself for the sharp bite, the painful end she was about to meet. But the feeling never came. She peaked an eye open to see exactly why.

Sly Cooper of all people was defending her. He blocked the bear's vicious bite with his cane, struggling to push the bear back. Carmelita watched, utterly stunned, as Sly Cooper wrestled a bear for her. She didn't know what to say. She was blown away by his kindness and determination to keep her safe because he just jumped in front of a damn bear for her like an idiot.

He shoved the bear back finally, but the bear retaliated by taking a swing at him. The bear just grazed the skin of his chest, but Sly quickly took a swing at the bear with his cane, effectively stunning him for a moment. He turned and scooped Carmelita up in his arms before breaking into a sprint. The inspector clung tightly to him with every ounce of strength she had. She stole a glance at her hero's face. She hadn't seen him this worried and shaken ever, even when they were arrested together in India.

Sly had grabbed her pistol and hooked it onto his belt before he picked her up. Carmelita lazily reached a hand down and took it from his belt. For a moment, Sly was afraid she was going to shoot him then and there. She aimed over his shoulder at the bear and fired a shot off, electrocuting the bear and stopping his tirade. She lazily smirked at her victory. Sly stopped running and leaned up against a tree. He caught his breath as he held his fox in his arms. He smiled down at her. "Morning, gorgeous."

"Hi Cooper," she replied. Sly sunk down the tree with Carmelita now sideways in his lap. He gently moved her leg, which made her wince in pain and slap his hand. "Careful!"

"I know. I just want to see what's going on here," he replied with a kind smile. Carmelita, in pain and exhausted from her early start, huffed. She couldn't deny that her head was starting to feel heavy and things were spinning. She needed medical attention now. Sly examined the bear trap carefully, noticing that she was bleeding in several different spots. "Hey, stay awake." Carmelita hadn't noticed that she was falling asleep until Sly nudged her gently.

"Sly, I need a hospital."

"Well, we don't have one of those, so you're coming with me."

"Sly!" Carmelita exclaimed as the raccoon hoisted her up into his arms again. She almost made a quip about how she could walk by herself, but she realized that probably wasn't true, and instead kept her mouth shut. "And where are you taking me?"

"Bentley. He's pretty good with this kind of stuff," Sly replied, seeing nothing wrong with it.

"Bentley? I do not want to shack up with your gang," the stubborn vixen said. Sly rolled his eyes.

"Carm, let me just take care of you, for once in your life. That's what my gang does, and like it or not, you've been a part of it for a few months." Carmelita didn't answer. She truly was flattered by Sly's affections. But if she let any of her interest in him show, she'd never hear the end of it. Sly would never let her live it down.

Shock pistol in her arms, Carmelita was carried across the snow until they arrived at a small shack. It wasn't anything like what she expected their hideout to look like. The exterior made it look like a clean, homey little fishing shack. She was even more surprised when they walked in. There was a table covered in pizza boxes and some blueprints on her left. On the right sat a red worn out couch and a TV with a video game console attached. It really did just look like a bachelor pad. "Sly? Is that you?" a nasally voice came from upstairs.

"Yeah, I'm back pal," Sly called back. He walked Carmelita to the couch and laid her down carefully. She was utterly taken back by everything. Never in her life had she viewed Sly's gang to be so domestic, so very much like…family. "I need your help down here Bentley!"

"What did you do this time? You know, if you left your communicator on, we wouldn't have this problem so often…" Bentley's voice trailed off as he came around the front of the couch to see Inspector Fox wincing in pain. His eyes wandered down to the bear trap on her foot. He couldn't find words for a moment. "In-inspector Fox! I, uh, I…" the turtle stuttered.

"Relax, Bentley. If you can get this taken care of, I think I can let you slide for a day," Carmelita said nonchalantly before letting out another groan of pain. Bentley didn't say another word and ran off to get his medical supplies. Sly pulled up a chair beside Carmelita's head after making sure she was as comfortable as possible. Shortly after, Murray wandered out of the kitchen with a slice of pizza in hand.

"Hey little buddy. How'd the mission- Inspector Fox!"

"Relax pal, she's hurt. She won't be able to chase you far," Sly joked. Murray still looked uncomfortable. Sly supposed it was fair after their episode in another part of Canada with the rescue mission. Carmelita bit her lip to stop another cry of pain. Sly wrapped his hand around hers and squeezed, trying to reassure her that he was there to help. She squeezed back. It was comforting in the chaos.

Bentley returned with his first aid kit and several towels. He carefully set things out before looking at Carmelita's leg. He mumbled a few things to himself before nodding. "Murray, give me a hand. We've gotta pry this trap off first."

"Sure thing, Bentley." Murray stuffed the entire slice of pizza in his mouth before grabbing ahold of the metal. Carmelita's grip on Sly tightened. He intertwined their fingers and let her squeeze as hard as she wanted.

"Ready? One, two, three!" Together, Bentley and Murray pried the trap off and Carmelita yelped and closed her eyes. She started to take deep breaths to try and manage the pain. Bentley rolled up the right leg of her jeans and got to work. He started with cleaning the blood from her wound and applying pressure to stop more bleeding. Sly tried to give reassuring smiles to his fox, but she wasn't having it. She wanted to bear the pain as independently as she could. Typical Carmelita, Sly thought. "Okay Inspector, once your wound stops bleeding I'll be able to stitch you up. I'll have to make sure there's no more metal in your leg so I don't seal anything in there. I have an anesthetic in my kit that I can administer-"

"No, it's fine. Just give me the stitches," she demanded. Sly's eyes widened as he looked at her.

"Carm, that's not a good idea…"

"I'll be fine. Just do it," she demanded. Bentley was far too scared of her to argue, so he listened to her instructions. Murray brought a stack of bandages over to Sly in the meantime. Sly huffed before pulling his blue shirt over his head, letting go of his vixen in the process. Sly's scratches were shallow enough that they would just need to be dressed and he could move on with his life. Murray carefully wound the bandage around his middle as Carmelita watched.

All her life she'd known the Cooper gang to be crooks. They were criminals, no different from murderers or rapists or robbers- they all deserved to be brought to justice. But the way Murray joked with Sly beside her made her think differently. It felt wrong to put their gang in the same category with drug lords and traffickers. It didn't make the Cooper gang good, but Carmelita had a hard time watching the two brothers and labeling them as bad. "Inspector Fox." Carmelita's head snapped to the end of the couch, where she saw Bentley shaking. "I'm going to check for metal debris… are you sure you don't want me to numb your leg?"

"No, go ahead," she replied, a little less tense than before. She saw Bentley swallow the lump in his throat before prepping his needle. Sly tugged his shirt back on and Murray walked off with the spare supplies. The raccoon flashed one of his trademark smirks at her and took her hand. She didn't seem to mind. The warmth of his hand in hers brought her ease.

The second Bentley's tweezers disappeared into her leg, she knew she'd made the wrong call. She cried out in pain, but she certainly wasn't going to let her pride go. Bentley was sweating buckets, afraid of receiving a boot to the head from the feisty vixen. Her grip on Sly tightened and she screwed her eyes shut. Sly suddenly had an idea. "Carmelita, do you remember the case we met on?"

"You mean, when you tried to get me fired?" she croaked out as Bentley kept working.

"I most certainly did not. I helped you. We've been over this."

"Tell it to me again then," she snapped back, clearly seeing that Sly was trying to distract her.

"Okay, no more metal. I'm going to start the stitches. I can still numb you, Inspector Fox."

"No thank you," she replied. Bentley looked ready to faint. Sly nudged him lightly and gave a reassuring smile, which helped a tad.

"I was out sightseeing in the lovely city of Paris-"

"You were looking to rob Paris," Carmelita corrected.

"That is not true. What is true is that your boss kept yelling at you. You were a rookie, and he didn't think you were up to the task of protecting the Diva Diamond."

"He was just trying to encourage me," the cop lied through her teeth. It was true that Barkley did not have high hopes for her originally.

"Did he encourage you up onto the roof where I was too, or were you just being thorough?" Bentley stuck the needle in and the fox cried out. Sly tried to keep her attention on him. He wrapped his free hand around their entwined ones, effectively trapping her hand between his own hands.

"Just being thorough, as a good inspector is. And it's a good thing I was, or you would've walked off with the diamond that night."

"Oh my naïve fox, I had no intention of stealing anything, well until I met you. Your heart has been number one on my wish list for years now," Sly said as his eyes met Carmelita's. She really was becoming more relaxed. Sly's distraction was working.

"Let me tell you a secret, Cooper- you don't win a woman's heart by escaping from the closet she tried you up in so she can get chewed out by her already upset boss."

"Oh trust me, I know. But you can win a woman's heart by helping her stop a rotten thief and making her look good in front of her boss."

"It's a shame that's not what you did," the fox replied.

"Au contraire, my vixen, for that is exactly what I did. That shady stage manager had his greedy paws all over the diamond when I caught him. I didn't tie him up and literally drop him in front of you with that diamond for nothing!" Sly exclaimed. It even earned a light chuckle and smile from Carmelita. Bentley was trying to focus on Carmelita's wound, but he was having a hard time. He'd seen Sly and Carmelita interact in a professional manner more times than he could count, but it was extremely rare to see the two of them set their lives aside and be together. In fact, he was almost positive that this was the longest amount of time they'd spent in casual conversation without a weapon aimed at one another in his presence. Bentley could clearly see the love Sly carried for the fox, and he wouldn't deny that he could see Carmelita return those feelings. It was a dangerous situation, one that could get either of them seriously hurt. He knew he needed to speak with Sly candidly after he finished with Carmelita.

"My fine detective work did earn me my promotion that night, and I went from being Detective Carmelita Fox-"

"-to Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox," Sly finished for her. His smile was glowing as the two of them got lost in their conversation. "The title suites you."

"Thank you," she replied honestly. Bentley pulled the string tight and tied off her wound.

"There you go Inspector. I would be careful running on that leg. You don't wanna rip those stitches open. It should only be a week or two until the flesh will have healed itself. Until then, make sure you rest and stay off your feet when you can," Bentley encouraged and packed his stuff up. Carmelita managed a light smile aimed toward the turtle.

"Thank you, Bentley. Truly," she said honestly. The turtle nodded and looked at Sly.

"Sly, a word?" Sly gave his fox's hand a squeeze and a smile before he stood from his chair and followed Bentley upstairs. Carmelita closed her eyes and rested on the couch. Once they were out of earshot, Bentley set his kit down, crossed his arms, and glared at his lifelong friend. Sly flattened his ears against his head. Murray joined their huddle as well before Bentley started his lecture. "I hope you realize that by bringing her here you've compromised the mission and the safety of the safe house," he said. Sly rubbed his neck.

"Bentley, what else was I supposed to do? I couldn't leave her there to die. She's as much a part of my life as you guys are," Sly tried to explain. Bentley wasn't having any of it. He jammed a finger against Sly's chest.

"You were with her that night you disappeared, weren't you? Sly… please don't tell me you were in bed… with a cop…" Bentley moaned out. Murray looked surprised and awaited an explanation from Sly.

"I couldn't make it back to the safe house that night, I told you guys. I might have ended up staying with her, but I wouldn't compromise your safety over something like that."

"You just did, Sly."

"C'mon pal, you know that's not fair. Carmelita doesn't play dirty like the Contessa or Neyla. She's been running with us for a few months now, and we've helped her out like she's a part of the gang. She helped me take down Clockwerk, why can't I repay the favor?"

"The favor has been repaid several times over, Sly! Listen, I know you love her," Sly winced at that, "but you have to remember that she's a cop, assigned to dragging us into jail. Do you think her feelings for you will stop her from doing that?"

"They have before," he defended, thinking back to the train accident that he hadn't told his gang about.

"They have?" Murray asked, obviously out of the loop.

"She saved me just a few weeks ago, Bentley. I got hurt. She was the one that rescued me. I owe her this," the raccoon demanded. Murray looked rather surprised, but Bentley was not the least bit shaken.

"Sly, you're going to turn me grey before I turn twenty-five," the turtle sighed. "I know nothing I can say will stop you, but please, just be careful. You both can get seriously hurt, and you need to figure out if this is something you can pursue in the long haul. I know exactly how long you've been pining over that fox, and I hope you find something that works for both of you."

"I know. Thanks, pal. And thank you for taking care of her. I owe you one, Wizard… again," Sly chuckled. Murray brought them into a group hug against their will, squeezing the life out of both of them. Once everyone's feet were back on the ground, Bentley and Murray retreated to the bedroom to nap in preparation for the coming heists. Sly wandered back downstairs to check on Carmelita.

When he came around the couch, he was surprised to find it empty. Looking over, he noticed the front door was unlocked. She was gone. He noticed a note left on the stand by the couch. He gently picked it up and read the handwriting, which was nowhere near as graceful as his own.

Thank you for saving my life. I owe you one again, ringtail. Stay warm and take care of yourself.

Carm

Above Carm's name, the word 'inspector' had been written before being crossed out. Sly chuckled and set the note down. He assumed she'd overhead their conversation and stepped out before she could cause any more problems. He gazed out across the snow, hoping she could take care of herself.

Bentley was right. Sly was ridiculously in love with that fox, and there was no end on the horizon.