That night, Graham was woken from his slumber by a soft sound.

My sleep seems to be interrupted a lot lately, he sighed internally. I'll be happy to get out of this hospital and finally get some decent rest.

He listened to the noise for a moment. It sounded like... crying? He glanced around in the shadowy room for what could be making the sound, and spotted a hooded figure sitting in a chair on his right. The person's face was buried in their hands, and their knees were hugged to their chest. They were definitely crying.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could now make out the color of the jacket. It looked awfully familiar, and suddenly he hardly dared to breathe as he recognized the figure.

"Carmen?" he ventured softly.

Her head whipped up, startled. In the moonlight filtering in through the window, he could see the tear streaks running down her face.

"Gray?" she rasped, rambling as she tried to regain her composure. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. I'll just... leave. You can go back to sleep and forget I was ever here." She began to stand.

"No, please, don't go," Gray told her quickly, sitting up. "I-" He stopped as he suddenly remembered how he hadn't wanted to complicate her life. But against better judgement, he pushed those thoughts away. He was just incredibly glad to see her again. The real her, this time.

"I've missed you," he finished.

Carmen slowly sat back down. He could see the tears still shimmering in her beautiful purple-gray eyes as they stared at each other for a moment.

"I'm glad to know the memory restoring device worked," he said finally. "Carmen, I'm so sorry I let V.I.L.E. mess with your head. I shouldn't have-"

Carmen interrupted him, shaking her head as tears streamed down her cheeks. "No, Gray, it's me who's sorry," she burst out. "I tried to-" he voice broke. "I tried to kill you. You saved me from V.I.L.E, and I owe you everything. And yet I couldn't even bring myself to speak to you because I felt so horrible." She took in a shuddering breath. "Gray, I could have never lived with myself if I had killed you."

She seemed as if she were about to continue, but Graham shushed her. He pushed off his blankets and slid off the edge of the hospital bed, pulling Carmen to her feet and wrapping his arms around her.

"I don't regret anything," he murmured, hugging her tighter as her body shook with sobs. "Besides, it wasn't your fault. That was a deceived, evil V.I.L.E. minion who attacked me. It wasn't you, Carmen. It's alright now, everything is fine."

"It's not fine," Carmen told him despairingly, pulling back to look him in the eyes. "Gray, if you had died-"

"But I didn't." he reminded her firmly. "I'm perfectly safe and healthy. You don't have to feel ashamed of anything that happened in the past."

She blinked at him, and he smiled, reaching out to wipe the tears off of her cheeks.

"I forgive you, Carmen. Now you only need to forgive yourself."

She let out a long, deep sigh, burying her face in his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Gray," she whispered. "I can't do that. I can't imagine a life without you in it."

"Me neither," Graham replied quietly. They stayed like that for a while longer before Carmen stepped back.

She clasped her hands together, a torn expression etched on her face. "Gray, I don't want to stay away, but whenever I'm around, bad things happen to you," she said softly. "I've already tried to kill you, and before that, if it wasn't for my involvement, A.C.M.E. would have never found you. You'd still be living a safe, happy life as an electrician at the Sydney Opera House, without any memory of V.I.L.E."

"But also without any memory of our friendship," Graham pointed out. "Carmen, like I said before, I don't regret anything that happened, other than your mind being fiddled with. It's over now, and you can continue to fight V.I.L.E. like you did before."

He noticed Carmen's expression change slightly when he mentioned V.I.L.E. He took it for worry that he would want to go back.

"I'm not returning to V.I.L.E.," he told her. "I thought that was where I belonged, but I was wrong. What they did to you took it too far, and it made me realize that being a thief wasn't all I had to live for. You were right when you said it's never too late to change."

"I'm glad you finally listened to me," she said, smiling in spite of herself. "But Graham, there's something you should know. V.I.L.E., well, V.I.L.E. is gone. For good."

"Gone?" Graham was thunderstruck. "You defeated V.I.L.E. once and for all?"

Carmen nodded. "They won't hurt anyone else ever again." There was a fire in her eyes as she spoke. "There are still a few operatives on the loose, but A.C.M.E. is hunting them down. Soon they'll be securely locked up with the others."

"Well, I guess if anyone was going to stop V.I.L.E., it would have to be Carmen Sandiego," he grinned, taking in this new information. Suddenly he realized that if V.I.L.E. was gone, it meant that maybe he wouldn't be putting Carmen in danger if he remained a part of her life. But after considering this for a few moments, he discarded the notion. There were still operatives on the loose, and besides that, he had another reason for keeping his distance. Their relationship had been difficult already, and Graham didn't want to cause her any more heartbreak.

He cleared his throat. "Carmen... about staying away..." he looked down at the floor. "You don't need me complicating your life. I'll stay here in Sydney and find a job somewhere, and we can go our separate ways."

He looked up to meet Carmen's eyes, and he saw his own hesitation mirrored on her face. Neither of them wanted to be apart from each other, but if it was going to keep Carmen safe, then Graham knew it was for the best.

"Goodbye, Carmen," he told her, reaching out and squeezing her hand.

"Goodbye, Gray," she whispered.

She stepped over to the window, popping it open and climbing up onto the sill. She smiled at him one last time, despite the tears welling up in her eyes. Graham watched as Carmen jumped out the window and glided away into the night, his heart aching with the knowledge that he would never see her again.