What's stolen

Just the two

Julia had been extremely nervus to meet with the one and only Carlotta Valdez, why wouldn't she? This was the mother of the woman she had come to love, the woman she had just started to date, and she was already put face to face with the mother. A mother she had to look for, a woman that had to fake her on death to be able to live with the person she loves and the child she would lose. It had been one of the weirdest things Julia had to do research on, mostly because it meant Julia would have to dig into Carmen's past.

So, finding herself standing in front of Carlotta Valdez now, it was weird. It did however turn out that she had nothing to worry about, Carlotta had given Julia a big smile before walking over to hug her daughter, then she had pulled Julia into a hug too. This had surprised Julia but seeing the warm and happy smile on Carmen's face, Julia relaxes.

Carlotta then led them into the kitchen, the only place Julia could see so far was free from children. A few of them did however try to act sneaky when trying to see who had entered the house, all of them smiling big when they saw Carmen. With a stern look from Carlotta however, the children run away. Once the three of them are alone, well, probably four, Julia had a feeling that Player is listening in on what is being said, Carmen starts to explain to her mother what is going on.

The woman in front of her were understanding and she had agreed on what Julia had pointed out earlier. She had not been all to surprise that Carmen's friend would want to talk to her face to face and Julia was starting to wounder just how much Carmen had told her mother about what had been going on.

"I should head out; I have to make sure things are still safe around here."

Carmen points out once done with the explanation, making Julia look at her. They had gone through what Carmen was too do, how she should handle the meeting. She had found that Carlotta and herself had been thinking about the same things. She couldn't help but to feel slightly worried, with everything that had happened the this past few hours, Julia had managed to forget the danger they were all in. And this should have been another good reason as to why Carmen shouldn't have taken her to meet with her mother. Carmen had seen her starting to worry because Julia's vision is soon covered by her face.

A warm and caring smile had taken over har face and it did help Julia to calm down slightly.

"Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it."

She kept her voice low as she spoke, planting a kiss on Julia's forehead before turning towards her mother, nodding her head and the walk away. Left in the kitchen with woman, made Julia's face heat up slightly, mostly due to the sudden display of affection from Carmen before she had left. Carlotta was however giving her a warm smile before standing up.

"Would you like something to drink?"

She asks and Julia nods her head at this.

"Some tea would be good."

She answered and Carlotta nods her head at this, before starting to heat up some water. A silence fell over the kitchen as Carlotta fixed up their drinks, leaving Julia to her won mind. In this moment, she could reflect over what had happened that day properly, how it had all started out like any other day, only for it to turn so quickly. She knew the life of an ACME agent would never be an easy one, but this was a whole new turn of event.

"Carmen told me you are the one who managed to locate me."

Julia jumps slightly, she had completely forgotten that Carlotta was in the room, the woman was now sitting down once more, two cups placed on the table. With a nod of her head, Julia takes the cup placed closes to her.

"Thank you for that, I had given up hope to ever see my little girl ever again. It has been two long years, all about learning and getting to know one another. But I'm happy, with the life she had been given, with the way she had to grow up, I'm overjoyed she managed to become this caring and strong young woman."

Carlotta tells her and Julia smiles, even if there was a hint of pain in the smile. She knew everything that Carlotta said is true, but she had also seen what could have been the real Carmen or rather Black Sheep, if she had not managed to break free from VILE when she had. Having to try and capture an evil version of Carmen wasn't something Julia would ever want to do again.

"She has spoken very highly of you, telling me about all the times you have helped her. How you were the only one to actually trust her."

Carlotta continues and Julia could feel how she was starting to grow red once more. This wasn't a conversation she had expected to have with Carmen's mother.

"She helped me too, if it had not been for her, I'm not really sure where I would be today."

Julia admits, realising she wasn't all to sure about what she would have been if Carmen had not put so much trust in her. If it had not been for Carmen and the whole getting kidnaped and taken to Egypt by VILE, Julia is sure she would still be working as a professor. It had been a calm and quiet work for the time she had have it, but she was missing the excitement that came with working with and sometimes against Carmen Sandiego.

Deciding to push those thoughts for another time, Julia turns her attention towards Carlotta. She had so many questions to ask the woman, only to realise she doesn't know how to ask them or if she really should be asking them.

"You're wondering how I can be so calm about Carmen going back into the line of danger once more?"

Carlotta had somehow managed to read Julia's mind and she nods her head at this.

"It wasn't an easy decision. When Player called her, Carmen was torn about what to do. I could see that all she wanted was to go back, to feel that she was doing something good. But at the same time, she wanted to stay here, to try and live the life that had been taken from her. But I knew she wouldn't be able to just sit on the side-line. She's her father's daughter, she has the same traveling soul he had, and she needs to be out there."

Carlotta explains and Julia smiles ever so slightly, Carmen had told her the night they were reunited that it had been one of the hardest decisions she had to make for that last two years. She had not mention that her mother had more or less pushed her to do it, however.

"Our work wouldn't be the same without having Carmen Sandiego around to make it easier for us."

Julia says, earning a laughter from Carlotta.

"What I have come to understand, that organisation would have been far better of from the start, if they had just listened to you."

This comment made Julia blush once more. She did however now that the older woman is right about that. A lot of things that had happened during her time as an ACME agent at the start could have been prevented if Chief and the others had listened to her, then again, she's quite sure she wouldn't be where she is now if they had.

At an incoming signal from her phone, Julia looks down at it out of surprise and worry, taking it out from her pocket, she sees that she had received a message. Lifting one eyebrow at this, she opens it, the worry growing even more at what she sees.

"What's wrong?"

"Carmen is on her way back, but according to Player, Ivy, Zack and Chase is following her and she can't shake them off."