TAG for Season 4

by elfin

Secretly he lived for times like these; long drives, cross-country, just him and Kitt, no other vehicles on the road, stars above them in the cloudless night sky, gentle music on the radio, nothing but empty tarmac between them and the horizon.

There was never a time before his live had taken this weird and wonderful turn that he could remember being so content. Certainly people kept trying to kill him, there had been times when he'd been low, felt so down, that he'd almost, almost given it all up. But here, now, in Kitt's warm darkness, with his partner all around him and the forgiving suspension rocking him to sleep, there wasn't anywhere in the world he would rather be. Wasn't anyone he'd rather be with.

Kitt's quiet, out-of-the-blue statement, then, came as a complete surprise.

"I'm being replaced."

He opened his eyes, stared at the dash, and convinced himself he hadn't dreamt the words before he answered with the only thing he could think to say.

"What are you talking about?"

"RC."

Frowning, Michael had to shake his head, once, "Kitt, I honestly don't know what you're referring to."

"He's always with us now, Michael, following us, backing you up." That beloved voice sounded sad, and it wasn't something he was used to hearing in it. "I might as well just be a set of wheels."

Spreading his hands, he clarified, "Have I ever, ever made you feel that way?"

A pause. "No." He loved the lilt Kitt gave to that simple, two-syllable word sometimes. "Not as such."

"Good. Thank you." But thinking about it, his partner did have a point. These days he barely saw anyone while he was working. He tended to act on a strange kind of auto-pilot in a world of his own that contained the case facts, the solution, he and Kitt. Everyone else was usually superfluous to the situation - even the women Bonnie and Devon seemed to think he was obsessed with. Perhaps he'd allowed RC to get too close, to become too involved.

"How about I remind Devon that we work alone?"

Another pause; Kitt backing down from his complaint. One day, Michael had sworn to himself, he would convince Kitt that his feelings were just important as those of the human beings he worked with. "Am I being paranoid, Michael? Or selfish? If you feel you need a human partner…."

"Aw, Kitt, how can you ask that? You're not being paranoid. I get so wrapped up in you sometimes I don't actually notice what's going on around us. Maybe he is coming on a bit strong. I'll have a word with Devon. And no, I don't feel I need a human partner. Why would I need a human partner? I have you."

It wasn't like Kitt to let go of an issue that easily, and this one was no exception. "There are times I can't reach you, places I can't go."

"Five years, Kitt. We're both still here. And I still feel the same way I felt when Wilton Knight first dragged me outta the desert and rebuilt me; I don't want another living, breathing partner. It's what makes you so wonderful. So perfect."

It was going to go to Kitt's head, but so be it. By the sounds of it he needed an ego boost anyway.

"Thank you, Michael." He smiled, settling back into his seat, letting his mind wander again. He was almost asleep when Kitt interrupted him again. "Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you mean when you said you get wrapped up in me…?"