Epilogue

Fortunately for Kitty, Carmen arrived in the knick of time, just as Carmelita was picking up the keys to her Peugeot. "Hola, mi hermana!" Carmen greeted her beloved sister.

"Carmen!" Carmelita said, surprised. "What brings you h---no, I know. She called you, didn't she?" she added, sighing as she understood that her big sister was going to interfere again.

"As a matter of fact, she did, Carmelita," Carmen admitted. "What are you planning for that poor girl? She sounded pale as a ghost over the phone. She claims you're going to kill her."

"She wishes," Carmelita replied, shaking her head. "For once, do you think I could relate my side of the matter before that wretch Kitty interjects?"

Carmen sighed, hanging her coat on the nearby coat tree. "Si, do go on, mi hermana," she urged. Carmen listened patiently as Carmelita relayed to her the goings-on of the last two days. "Dios!" she whispered, after Carmelita had finished. "I can't believe she allowed this sort of thing to go on! My poor Carmelita! Are you all right? That wretch Cooper didn't hurt you did he?" Carmen's concern was touching to Carmelita, as she accepted her sister's hug.

"I'm fine, Carmen," she assured her sister. "Mightily embarrassed maybe, but none the worse for wear, I assure you." Carmelita thought a moment. "Actually, it could have been far worse…Cooper was actually a gentleman about the whole farce, if you can believe that. He even let me go…though, he did blindfold me when he took me back home."

Carmen raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Did he now?" she mused, then grinned. "Then again, mi hermana…I have seen the way that thief looks at you. Somehow I am not surprised in the least to hear this. I think he takes a fancy to you, dear heart."

"He does not!" Carmelita protested…externally at least.

"Come now," Carmen countered, not sure if she were teasing her sister or not. "You know the way he treats you, Carmelita. I am surprised you have not suffered a nosebleed from being up on that lofty pedestal he puts you on…"

"Carmen, stop it!" Carmelita protested, blushing. Did he really put me on a pedestal? she questioned herself.

"Say what you will, hermana," Carmen commented. "That rogue is a charmer, oh yes. And, a very handsome devil too…don't you agree?"

"Carmen!" Carmelita yelped in exasperation.

Carmen only grinned at her blushing little sister.

"You've been hanging around Kitty too much again, haven't you?" accused Carmelita of her sister. "She's been inundating you with her Sly Cooper/Robin Hood malarkey, hasn't she?"

"I really have no idea what you're going on about, dear," Carmen replied, sticking with her story. Fact of the matter was, she had been talking with the easy to like Kitty…more than ever. Kitty was forever going on about what a misunderstood figure the Master Thief and his kin were…of how they worked too toward the betterment of society…just in a different way. She also had insinuated on more than one occasion just what a wonderful couple her little sister and Cooper would make. Carmen had originally balked at such a suggestion, as well as Kitty's assertion of that criminal Cooper's virtues. But, over time, she was surprised that apparently Kitty's views were beginning to make sense to her. However, she knew that she'd never mention that outright to her mercurial little sister…afraid she'd have some sort of fit or something! Carmen could only grin.

"Uh-huh," Carmelita replied with a grunt, not convinced. "Carmen, I don't know what's with you lately," she proclaimed. "Next thing I know, you'll be telling me I should be going out with that raccoon!"

"Well," Carmen slyly suggested a moment later. "I did say he was a very handsome young man, did I not?"

Carmelita couldn't agree more…but, she wouldn't dream of saying so in front of her older sister. "Maybe he is," Carmelita agreed, apparently reluctantly. "But, Carmen…he's a criminal. I don't care if he's the cutest guy in Paris!"

"That is the trouble with you, hermana,"Carmen then observed. "Everything is black and white with you, si?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Carmelita protested.

"If you would be a bit more…er, flexible," Carmen told her. "Perhaps you would not be the beautiful, but lonely woman that you are. You have no friends, but for Kitty, love…and that pains me more than I can say."

Carmelita's ears angled back flat to her head at her sister's backhanded rebuke. "I…I know," Carmelita admitted. "A…a friend of mine told me that too not so long ago. I promise to try harder, Carmen my love."

Carmen smiled then hugged her dear sister, holding her in her arms protectively. "I fear for you, love," she told Carmelita. "I do not want my lovely vivacious sister to spend her life all alone."

"I won't," Carmelita promised…again, thinking of Sly Cooper.

"I hope not," Carmen said, then grinned cleverly. "I want to be an Aunt, you know…"

"Carmen!" Carmelita gasped, scandalized by such a suggestion…especially on top of all those lovely yet disturbing feelings she'd just experienced with Sly.

Carmen laughed softly at her sister's distress. "I push to hard, I know," she admitted with a chuckle. "Just like Momma, huh?"

Carmelita grinned at that. "Well, you and Carlos haven't made me an Aunt yet, you know?" she pointed out.

Carmen then blushed, then laughed. "I should know better than to play these games with you, sister. I always end up on the short end of things."

"Carmen," Carmelita then said, hugging her sister again. "I love you, sister."

"As do I, Carmelita dear," she replied. "Now, as to Kitty…"

Carmelita released her sister, and looked at her suspiciously. "Don't even try to convince me to let her off scot-free, Carmen…because I won't do it!" Carmelita vowed.

"I won't even try, Carmelita," Carmen told her. "However, a week's long stay at the salon would crush the spirit out of that poor dear, don't you think?"

"Well…" Carmelita mused aloud, thinking. She was still mad at Kitty…but was she that mad at her? No, not really…but she wasn't about to give in to both Carmen and Kitty that easily. "She has it coming! Letting Cooper's gang in to kidnap me out of my own bed! Really!" She crossed her arms and turned away, so Carmen wouldn't see the hint of a smile on her face.

"Si, hermana," Carmen soothed. "But, won't you consider shortening her stay to one day? Even that to Kitty would be a horror, no?" For some reason, Kitty had somehow managed to worm her way into Carmen's heart, Carmelita observed. Not that the rogue hadn't managed to do the same to her, she readily confessed…but only to herself!

"Hmm, you do make a good point, Carmen," Carmelita acquiesced. "Okay, I'll accept one day's treatment as suitable enough punishment. But only if…"

"Yes?" Carmen coaxed, eager to end this squabble between the two friends, one of which was her own beloved sister.

"Only if she goes to work in her full get-up…and I get to take a picture of her," Carmelita demanded, knowing just who she would send that particular picture to for safekeeping. "Agreed?"

"I hope so," Carmen said with a grin. "Now, let me see if Kitty is agreeable to your proposition, hmm?"

"Go, Carmen," Carmelita replied, shooing her sister to the kitchen. "…and thanks, hermana."

Needless to say, Kitty was less than thrilled with the conditions Carmelita had set. She cried, she protested, she pleaded…but to no avail. Finally, realizing it was this, or a week long stay at Le Petite Beauty Salon…she gave in and agreed.

The next day, after Kitty returned from the salon, the normally optimistic vixen had the temperment of a stormcloud…a very angry one! But, true to her word, she went into work the next day, her hair done up, her cheeks rouged, her eyelids painted, her lashs darkened and curled, her lips painted a reddish-pink. Kitty found herself blushing each time one of the less than couth male constables whistled at her or gave her some very hot looks. She had started the day absolutely furious at Carmelita…but, as the day wended to an end, she began to be much beholden to her friend. When hot eyes locked on her, they would soon look away…seeing the threatening storm in Carmelita's intense eyes. When some knuckle-dragging ape made a sexist remark, Kitty would find him a moment later being chewed out in fine fashion by the belligerent Carmelita. Finally, blissfully…the day came to an end.

As the two detectives walked back to Carmelita's Peugeot, Kitty heaved a very weary sigh. "What a day!" she moaned. She then turned to Carmelita. "Is it like that for you…like today, I mean…every day?"

Carmelita shook her raven-haired head. "No, Kitty…it isn't. Look, you were fresh meat to those perverts, so they were at their worst, you know?" she tried to explain.

"I hated it," Kitty admitted, her blue eyes troubled. "I didn't even feel like I was a person. How would those fatheads like it if I grunted at them every time they walked by?" she demanded furiously.

"You mean, if they'd even notice?" Carmelita teased, pausing to lean forward, swinging her arms in a simian fashion, her expression devoid of even a glimmer of intelligence.

Kitty laughed…for the first time that day. "Good point, buddy!" she crowed. "Now, let's go home, okay? I can't wait to wash my face…and my hair! I want to be just plain Kitty again…"

Carmelita then smiled, and put her arm around Kitty's shoulders. She then leaned over and kissed Kitty on the cheek. "You'll never be 'just plain Kitty', girl…at least not to me."

Kitty blinked at her admission of her fondness for her. "You…you mean that?" she asked.

Carmelita then ruffled the girl's hair playfully. "You better believe it, girl! We're friends…and that means something, right?"

"Right!" Kitty proclaimed as she climbed into the sleek convertible and buckled her safety belt. "Let's go home…I need a bath…and I'm starved!"

Come Monday, much as Sly had predicted, Carmelita received yet another rebuke, as well as suspension from her job. For the proud Carmelita, it was possibly the hardest thing she'd ever done…turning over her badge and shock pistol. She could still feel the shame of having to walk through the staff room in disgrace burn within herself. The only good thing about the whole miserable ordeal was the surprise she got from the sheer number of well-meaning constables and detectives that stopped her to sympathesize about the unfairness of her suspension, as well as letting her know they all supported her. That both surprised and heartened the dispirited vixen…providing a somewhat tarnished silver lining to the stormcloud she found herself beneath.

Her suspension lasted a week, but when she returned to pick up her badge and gun once more, it wasn't more than a week before her chief harangued her again, threatening that if she didn't apprehend Sly Cooper within a month's time, she should just clear out her desk…for she would be fired!

Needless to say, it was much sooner than a month before the chief received his answer from his best detective…oh, though not in the way he might of wanted.

Carmelita thought over the situation a good ten minutes, brooding the whole time. Then, in typical Carmelita Fox fashion, she came to her decision.

The canine chief got his first indication of her displeasure by way of the shattering of Carmelita's ceramic coffee mug…mere inches from his most startled head. "You can take my position and stuff it, Chief! I gave this damn department the best five years of my life! I have a conviction rate that's the envy of every branch of Interpol…and you know it!" She then stalked the now startled Chief Rob, who furiously backpedaled under the thoroughly riled vixen's tirade, eventually finding himself pinned up against the wall as his best detective proceeded to read him the riot act for a good ten minutes. "…and I would of thought that you, of all people, would be looking out for me…not stabbing me in the back! Thanks, Chief! Thanks…for nothing! Oh, and by the way…good luck on finding anyone here that has even a ghost of a chance of keeping up with the likes of Cooper. You think you have pressure now, Chief…you ain't seen nothin' yet, fella!" Chief Rob's face was pale by the time Carmelita whirled off in a huff to clean out her desk, accompanied by muttered, sulphurous oaths that made more than one detective pale and move discretely away from the thunderously angry vixen.

Two months later, Kitty found herself watching the early morning Paris news on the television. A perky female raccoon reporter began going on about the top story of the day. "The top story of the day: the infamous Master Thief, Sly Cooper, has apparently somehow managed to find himself a new partner in crime. Here we have an admittedly poor picture of this new accomplice." The picture showed a shadowy, definitely feminine figure on a Parisian rooftop. "And, while this mystery figure still remains unknown, our sources all confirm that she's female. Eyewitnesses have reported that this new criminal menace was armed with a pair of short cane-like weapons that sport tips much like those used by the Master Thief himself." The news station zoomed in on the blurry photo so show the distinctive weapons. "Also, our sources report this figure sports a costume all in deep rust red and black," the reporter announced, checking her notes. "The latest caper of Paris' Master Thief---and his new friend---was the theft of rumored to be cursed Khan Ram Emerald, whose estimated worth on the black market would be in excess of sixty million francs." The cute raccoon reporter then smiled, and added. "Now, we'll cut over to the latest developments from late last night. Take it away, Guy…"

Then, on the TV, the scene shifted to field report Guy Reynard, a young dark gray fox, with startling amber yellow eyes, who appeared as he walked into the Paris Interpol headquarters. "Hello, Celine, I'm here at Interpol's Paris offices to discuss the Cooper case with Inspector in Charge, Detective Petro." The scene panned to see Kitty seated at her desk, a fist-sized emerald before her on her desk blotter, along with two calling cards…the familiar blue masked raccoon of Sly Cooper, as well as a mysterious red masked fox card. "Inspector Kitty Petro of Interpol, who has been assigned this baffling case, seems to the odd recipient of late of those items stolen by the Cooper duo…as well as the supporting evidence this brash but likable detective needed to make yet another telling bust. Well done, Ms. Petro."

"Thanks, Guy," Kitty said with a charming smile. "I wish I could take all the credit…but most of that would go to my predecessor, the incomparible Inspector Carmelita Fox. For although she and Interpol have parted company, she has left behind a wealth of leads and invaluable files on Sly Cooper. I'd of been lost without her tireless and very thorough research." The interview went on for several minutes longer, but Kitty paid it no never mind…having been there herself, of course.

Kitty looked down from the television, where she had been recorded accepting the congratulations of her peers at Interpol. She smiled, knowing that she was the only one who knew just who this mysterious figure that was all the rage in Paris. After all, hadn't Kitty seen Carmelita dressed in that very same criminal outfit before? You betcha, she had! But, she knew that her friend, Carmelita, wasn't stealing these treasures because she was fond of thieving…as the news media was alluding to. No, she was doing this because it was the right thing to do, her way to truly hurt the criminals of Paris…to hit them where it would hurt them the most. In their bank books!

Kitty, after she had come to her rather startling revelation, had secretly contacted Carmelita just once after she turned to her purported 'life of crime'. "As you always told me, Kitty," Carmelita had told her during that meeting. "Sly isn't really anything more than some modern Robin Hood. And, frankly, kid, I've been able to hurt the scum out there more being this modern day Maid Marion, than I ever could as an Inspector. My methods might be unusual…but, hey, the results are what counts, right?"

Kitty was actually rather happy for Carmelita. And, it didn't hurt that with Carmelita and Sly´s help, she managed to get herself promoted to Inspector. And, the oddest twist of all was this: to think…all this happened because of an most unusual idea for a birthday present from Sly´s closest friends. This current and excellent source of justice all came about because those two guys wanted to give their friend Sly the perfect birthday present.

Wasn't Fate one weird lady? Maybe, Kitty thought to herself, though she sure wasn't complaining…no sir! Kitty holstered her shock pistol, slipped her badge into her purse, and whistling a jaunty little tune---one that Carmelita would of known immediately!---made her way home for the evening. After all, one didn't want to be late for dinner…especially when she was having it with her friends Carmelita and Sly Cooper!

End