a/n: bounces between the story's current time and a couple years in the past. please forgive any errors you find. it's well past my bedtime
"Where do you think it comes from?" Bonnie asked. Her tone was open and friendly, genuinely inviting discussion. Michael told her the conclusion he'd reached with Kitt the night before. "Well, you're right!"
"I am?" Michael asked.
"On all counts. How Kitt ended up holding onto that fear is still a mystery. Alex had a paralyzing fear of the dentists, but Kitt doesn't. Kendra was so scared of mirrors that she had to cover every reflective surface in her workspace! Both of them spent an awful lot of time around Kitt with me. Devon knew I hated flying before Kitt did." That made sense.
"Why would I be afraid of the dentist?" Kitt asked. "I don't have teeth."
"You sure as shit don't have any issues with mirrors either," Michael teased. He and Bonnie laughed as Kitt tried to protest. "Maybe Kitt just imprinted on you like a lost duckling."
"That's kinda the only thing left," Bonnie agreed. "The first time it came up, we hadn't even fitted the CPU in the car. We were talking about what we planned on doing now that most of the work was done. Most of them were gonna be flying somewhere, be it back home or on vacation." She smiled fondly at the memory.
"I still had a good bit of work to do," she continued. "We needed to make room under the hood for the CPU and its armor."
"So that's where Kitt is," Michael mused.
"Where'd you think the CPU was?"
"I figured it was behind the modulator." He shrugged.
"I get why you'd think that," she said. He'd expected her to rib him for his ignorance like she so often did. Then again, he addressed the modulator when he spoke to Kitt from inside the car, something Bonnie had to have noticed by now. "But it's safer under the hood.
"I went back to the lab after we'd had our little celebration to say good night to Kitt. While Kitt could hear us, he could only talk to us via the computer we'd hooked him to. It had become habit to bid him good night before I went home." No wonder Kitt took so heavily after Bonnie. "Before I could say anything to him, Kitt had asked me if he was going to have to fly anywhere."
FOUR YEARS AGO
Bonnie returned to the lab after bidding nearly all the other scientists and techs goodbye. She was gonna miss them, but there was no reason for them to stay now that K.I.T.T. was ready to be integrated into the car. She approached the computer that the fledgling AI had been hooked to so they could communicate easily with it. Even though she knew K.I.T.T. could hear her, she was so used to typing out whatever she wanted to say. Bonnie settled her hands on the slightly dirty keys of the keyboard, ready to let K.I.T.T. know what would be happening next. She didn't know if that mattered to the AI, but she always felt better for doing so. She couldn't have known what sort of influence that would have on K.I.T.T. She paused when she noticed the blinking cursor that indicated K.I.T.T. was typing. She withdrew her hands to K.I.T.T. wouldn't get the impression she was rushing it.
bonnie, the others mentioned flying. i won't have to fly anywhere, will i?
Brow furrowed, Bonnie glanced at the black box next to the monitor. Why would it matter to the AI if it had to fly, she wondered without cruelty. It had no perception of the outside world other than what it would hear through the computer it was hooked to.
you're staying here with me k.i.t.t. tomorrow, the mechanics and i are going to work on the engine. why?
i don't like flying.
Bonnie was speechless. How the hell could K.I.T.T. know if it disliked flying? How could it even form dislikes? Sure, they'd programmed K.I.T.T. to be as human as possible, and they'd programmed it to learn and adapt as Mr. Wilton Knight had directed, but Bonnie firmly believed that no amount of programming on their part could have led K.I.T.T. to develop a dislike of something it had never experienced.
bonnie?
She stared at the chatbox, lost for words.
good night, k.i.t.t.
good night, bonnie
It felt wrong, brushing K.I.T.T. off like that, although Bonnie wasn't sure why. She'd done it before, and it wasn't like the AI had feelings. She had to stop anthropomorphizing the damn things. She didn't even know if she'd still be allowed to continue working on K.I.T.T. after it was officially handed over to Mr. Knight. No use getting attached, she told herself. Well, no use getting any more attached than she already was.
TODAY
Misty-eyed, Bonnie affectionately patted the hood beneath her. "It's hard to believe I used to think of you as just another computer," she said. Michael had a hard time wrapping his mind around that too. Bonnie was fiercely protective of Kitt now, and her earlier, albeit unintentional, callous treatment of Kitt flew in the face of everything Michael knew about her. Not that it really changed anything. He'd been a total dick to Kitt at the start, too.
FOUR YEARS AGO
Bonnie couldn't get last night's conversation with K.I.T.T. out of her mind, even as she and the other mechanics pored over the schematics for the Trans-Am's new engine. It was a powerful, turbine-driven thing. Unique, just like the AI that would eventually control it. She wondered what the car would look like when all was said and done. All she knew was the make, model, and year of the car. Things that had been deemed safe for the people outside of Mr. Knight's inner circle to know. How many people were even in that circle?
Bonnie had to admit it was odd working on an engine without the rest of the car, but it was nice to be turning wrenches again. She enjoyed the intellectual challenge presented by K.I.T.T.'s programming, learning about artificial intelligence hands-on and from the most brilliant people she'd ever met. She also enjoyed watching that beautiful engine come together.
It wasn't until the men in white coveralls came to take the engine to Mr. Knight that Bonnie realized just how badly she wanted to stay with K.I.T.T. She recognized one of the men as Mr. Knight's right hand. What was his name again? Millstone? Martin?
"Mr. Miles!" she called before her nerve failed.
"Dr. Barstow, isn't it?" His tone was polite but clipped. She didn't have long to plead her case.
"Mr. Miles, I want to stay with K.I.T.T.," she said. Her confidence faltered as he raised an eyebrow and scowled deeply. She forged onward. The worst he could do was say no, right? "That is, if it's okay with you and Mr. Knight. It's just, I've spent so much time working on it, and I'd like to see the project completed." More than that, she never wanted to leave K.I.T.T.
"I'll present your request to Mr. Knight," Mr. Miles said after a heavy pause. At least it wasn't an outright no…
TODAY
"You were scared of Devon?" Michael asked in disbelief. Now that was hard to believe. Bonnie had put Devon in his place when even Michael hadn't been able to speak up.
"I think he was too stressed to worry about how he came across to people he never thought he'd see again," Bonnie said thoughtfully. "And not that I'd known it at the time, but Wilton was already running out of time."
"Death is on hell of a clock to beat."
FOUR YEARS AGO
An unmarked and unremarkable car arrived at Bonnie's apartment the morning after more men in white coveralls had taken K.I.T.T. away from her. Not away from her, she reminded herself. Away from the lab, and to where it belonged. K.I.T.T. wasn't hers; it never had been. She'd gone and got attached to that little black box and the funky personality housed within. She was still crying when someone knocked on her door. She wished she'd gotten the chance to say a proper final goodbye to K.I.T.T.
Bonnie wiped her face on the dishtowel draped over the faucet and hurried to the door as a second, more impatient knock rang out. She hoped she didn't look as miserable as she felt as she opened the door.
And almost slammed it shut in surprise. She hadn't been expecting any company at all that day, but the last person she thought she'd see again was Mr. Miles. But there he stood. His expression softened briefly as he took in her disheveled appearance and red eyes. "Is everything all right, Dr. Barstow?" he asked. His tone was still polite and formal, but Bonnie swore she heard sympathy there too.
"Uh, yeah!" she said. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"Wilton – that is, Mr. Knight – and I have discussed your request," he said. That business front was back in full force and as inscrutable as ever. Bonnie's heart sank. "We've decided it would be in everyone's best interest to have you brought aboard."
TODAY
"I couldn't believe it," she said. "I almost passed out right there!"
FOUR YEARS AGO
They drove in silence, classical music playing softly from the radio. Mr. Miles had given her a chance to get packed and said that her rent and lease would be taken care of. After that, neither spoke.
Bonnie worried that, if she started asking questions, she'd wake up back in her own bed. Or worse, that Mr. Miles would change his mind and decide she didn't really deserve that honor.
So Beethoven, Mozart, and numerous others that Bonnie didn't recognize filled the silence as the miles ticked by. With a start, Bonnie realized they'd driven past the lab where she'd worked on K.I.T.T. Mr. Miles had mentioned something about a Foundation, so she tried to quell her worries. Besides, he didn't seem like the type of guy who'd take advantage of her. Then again, when did they ever? She figured she could take him in a fight as long as he wasn't armed.
"We're about fifteen minutes out," Mr. Miles said.
"Thanks," she muttered.
TODAY
"Bonnie, I hate to interrupt, but could we continue this over breakfast?" Michael asked. His stomach had been grumbling for the last couple of minutes, and he couldn't ignore it any longer.
"I was just about to suggest that," Bonnie said.
"Great. Kitt, what's there to eat around here?" He slid off Kitt's hood and stretched his back before offering a hand to Bonnie, which she accepted graciously even though it was entirely unnecessary.
"You mean other than some bugs and those sorry weeds in the lot?" Kitt asked.
"Preferably not bugs," Michael said. With a sly glance over at Bonnie and a mischievous smirk, he added, "Though I guess bugs'll do if there's nothing around." That earned him another playful punch and a disgusted, "Michael!" from Bonnie.
"Fortunately for you, Bonnie," Kitt interjected, "there's an open diner not five minutes down the road. We can order something to do, then join Michael and his bugs back here."
"Oh no you don't!" Michael exclaimed. He went to open the driver door but found it locked even as Bonnie settled into the passenger seat. "Kitt," Michael warned. The engine turned over and purred to life. He couldn't hear Bonnie, though he could see her lips move as she said something to Kitt. She then laughed in response to whatever Kitt said, and Michael had to jump backward as Kitt reversed away from him. "Kitt, get back here!"
"I thought you were okay with bugs for breakfast," Kitt said, all innocence. He stayed just outside of Michael's reach. They'd played a similar game before, and Michael knew he'd just have to find a way to outsmart Kitt. Not an easy task, but he'd done it before.
"Alright, Kitt," he said, hands up in a gesture of surrender. "You're right. Those bugs are lookin' real tasty right about now." He dropped to a crouch, pretending to look for bugs to eat. The sound of a window rolling down told him that his plan was working.
"Michael, we weren't serious!" Bonnie called to him.
"You sure?" he asked. Luck hopped his way in the form of a grasshopper, which he quickly snagged. He held up his wriggling trophy. "I'm more than willing to share!"
"Michael really," Bonnie chided. Kitt sounded just like her sometimes.
"Really!" he said, then mimed eating the grasshopper. While Bonnie and Kitt voiced their disgust, Michael pounced. Kitt wouldn't unlock the door until Michael had tackled him, which usually involved landing on the Trans-Am's hood or roof. This time, Michael launched himself toward the open window. He grinned triumphantly as he pulled himself into the car and twisted in his seat, trying to get upright without kicking Bonnie or getting the seat too dirty.
"Now then," he said. "How about that diner?"
FOUR YEARS AGO
Turns out, the Foundation was housed in a beautiful old mansion surrounded by acres of well-maintained lawns and gardens. Numerous other buildings dotted the grounds. Her attention was briefly drawn to a line of tall fir trees that looked almost like a barrier. She didn't have much time to think about that as Mr. Miles brought the car to a stop in front of the mansion.
"Welcome to the headquarters for the Foundation of Law and Government," he announced.
"Thanks," Bonnie said. "It's gorgeous!" She meant that. Just one problem: "What am I gonna stay?"
"You can stay right here in the mansion," a voice from the porch said warmly. She recognized the man as Mr. Knight. Despite the warmth in his voice and eyes, the man looked exhausted, and he leaned heavily on his cane.
TODAY
"I hadn't expected Wilton to meet us there himself like that," Bonnie said once they'd given the waitress their order. "He was always just a name to us in the lab. All we knew about him was that he funded us because we were working on something very special for him."
"Special is right," Michael agreed, affectionately looking at the car parked just outside the window. They'd chosen their booth just so Kitt could easily keep an eye on them. His scanner flicked twice across the length of its track in rapid succession: Kitt's way of waving. Michael and Bonnie waved back.
"I always wished I could have spent more time with the old man," Michael added somewhat wistfully. "He died shortly after…" Bonnie nodded.
"He really was somethin' else," she said. "Devon once pointed out that you're awfully like Wilton when he was young."
"Is that why Devon hasn't killed me yet?" Michael asked, only half joking.
"Probably." Bonnie was entirely serious.
FOUR YEARS AGO
Bonnie settled into her new room in the mansion. 'Room' didn't really cut it. It was a full suite: bedroom, sitting room, full bathroom, and an office. It looked like her old office in her apartment, right down to the worn-out desk chair. Had she not been part of the team that had built Mr. Knight's AI, she would have been terrified. Instead, she found herself mildly shocked, bemused by the speed at which these people moved, and touched by the certainty of the gesture.
TODAY
"Devon had told Wilton about wanting to keep me around months before I told Devon," Bonnie said. Again, she paused her recollections as the waitress returned to refill their mugs.
FOUR YEARS AGO
Two days after Bonnie had moved into the mansion, Mr. Miles came to her room and told her that there was something he wanted her to see. Despite her badgering, he refused to elaborate. She followed him out to his car. Not once did he stop talking until they'd reached their destination: a squat cement building with large bay doors in the side. So this is what those tress are hiding, she mused. The blunt, utilitarian nature of the garage did clash with the rest of the estate.
The smaller of the two bay doors rolled up as they approached. Bonnie couldn't see much inside the garage since it was so much darker than the bright summer morning. She hadn't seen Mr. Miles push any buttons or do anything else to activate the door, but she wouldn't have been surprised if there was some sort of sensor in his car that opened it.
Mr. Miles pulled his gar into the garage and parked it next to another car that was covered by a tan tarp.
TODAY
"Alright, folks!" the waitress said. "Here we are!" She set her tray on the table behind her. "Biscuits and gravy?" Bonnie raised her hand briefly, eyes lighting up at the sight. "And the 'enough eggs and bacon to feed a small army' must be for you," she teased. Michael beamed up at her, and Bonnie rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. "You let me know if you need anything." She picked up her tray and returned to her other tables.
FOUR YEARS AGO
Bonnie wanted nothing more than to yank the tarp off that car herself. Mr. Miles seemed to be enjoying her impatience. For the first time since she'd met him, that frosty front melted. He leaned toward her, placing his hands on the hood of his own car, eyes twinkling with a mischief she hadn't thought him capable of. "Are you ready, Dr. Barstow?" he asked conspiratorially.
"Gods, yes!" she said, louder than she meant to. The garage echoed her enthusiasm back to her.
"Good!" With that, Mr. Miles spun neatly and pulled the tarp away with a flourish. It took Bonnie a second to realize what she was looking at. The Knight mansion, Mr. Miles, a Trans-Am of the exact make, model, and year that she'd helped build an engine for…
"Is that…?" she asked, moving cautiously around Mr. Miles' car as if any sudden movement might send the other car running.
"K.I.T.T.?" Mr. Miles asked. "Yes!" His enthusiasm, although quieter, matched her own.
TODAY
"It wasn't until they told me about you than I knew why they'd chosen the Trans-Am," Bonnie said. "Not that I would have chosen any differently," she added hastily. Michael chuckled. Kitt took great pride in his appearance; her addition had been for Kitt's sake.
"Do you have any idea how long Wilton'd had his eye on me?" Michael asked. It had been quite the shock when Devon revealed that the black Trans-Am in the garage wasn't actually his Trans-Am. Right up until Devon brought the hammer down hard on the hood, Michael hadn't believed the man. Even then, he'd had his doubts.
"I don't actually know," she confessed. "All I know is that you showed up before any of us were really ready for you. Even Kitt wasn't totally ready. Or so we thought."
"Whaddaya mean by that?"
"I was still working out some… Michael, at the time, we thought they were bugs, flaws in Kitt's code." Michael froze, fork halfway to his open mouth.
"Beg your pardon?" Had he heard her right? Sure, he'd made his dislike of Kitt clear at the time, but that really hadn't had much to do with the AI's personality.
"Devon told me Kitt had been showing off for you the first moment he got," Bonnie said. "He wasn't supposed to want to impress you. He wasn't supposed to want you to like him." She shook her head fondly. "None of us ever expected Kitt to come alive. We don't know how that happened, but you, Michael Knight," she said, pointing at him with her fork for emphasis, "are to blame."
"It's not all my fault," Michael reminded her, wagging a finger at her.
FOUR YEARS AGO
Bonnie couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched by someone other than Mr. Miles. "Hey, K.I.T.T., it's Bonnie," she said to the black car in front of her. "Do you remember me?"
She nearly jumped out of her skin when it responded verbally. "Of course I remember you. You're quite hard to forget."
Tears of pride stung her eyes as she walked around the car. She couldn't believe it. In all her wildest dreams, she'd never imagined that she'd be part of something so important. As she came back around to the front of the car, she noticed a curious red light set into the prow, bouncing back and forth at a steady, relaxed pace. He wondered how she'd missed that funky light before. Maybe it hadn't been on earlier.
"What's that?" she asked, gesturing to the light.
"It's a special sort of scanner," Mr. Miles explained. "It's K.I.T.T.'s primary method of observing and interacting with its surroundings.
"So it can see me?" Bonnie asked. She crouched in front of the scanner, almost hypnotized by the gentle rhythm.
"We've installed numerous cameras in and around the car," Mr. Miles said. "So yes, K.I.T.T. can see you just fine." Bonne felt a little foolish crouched down like that. K.I.T.T. wasn't a dog or small child! She didn't need to get down on its level like that.
TODAY
Michael paid their bill, and the two strolled arm-in-arm at a leisurely pace to where Kitt waited. He opened the doors in anticipation of their arrival.
FOUR YEARS AGO
Blushing slightly, Bonnie stood up. "You know, I did the same thing," Mr. Miles said.
"Really?" Bonnie couldn't imagine the straight-faced Englishman doing something so undignified. She looked over to where he leaned against his own car, completely at ease. Maybe she had him all wrong.
TODAY
Kitt returned them to where they'd watched the sunrise. It was a good spot for memories. Unlike earlier, Michael and Bonnie decided to stay in the air-conditioned car. Despite the early hour, the temperatures had risen considerably.
"While Devon was right about your crouching down to my scanner level being unnecessary, I still greatly appreciate it," Kitt said.
FOUR YEARS AGO
Michael Knight was not at all what she expected. He was bitter and angry, driven only by his desire for revenge. Bonnie understood, to a degree. It made sense that Knight would want revenge against Tonya Walker, the woman who had nearly killed him. Or had she actually killed him? Knight had a new face, a new life, a new identity now. Thinking about it too much made Bonnie's head hurt. No wonder the poor guy was so mad.
What she couldn't excuse was the way Knight treated K.I.T.T. He'd been unimpressed from the start, even telling Mr. Miles that he hated the AI. Mr. Miles told her that K.I.T.T. had been showing off for Knight on their very first test drive.
"That selfish, ignorant, arrogant bastard!" she raged. She wanted nothing more than to give him a piece of her mind, but he'd left the estate grounds immediately after returning to the garage with Mr. Miles and K.I.T.T.
"Quite," Mr. Miles agreed coldly.
"What was he thinking, taking it out on K.I.T.T. like that?"
Mr. Miles sighed, and Bonnie saw a bitter sort of recognition and resignation in his face. "I'd worried about this sort of thing happening. He's not ready to go back out yet. Oh sure, he's fine physically. Psychologically?" Mr. Miles shook his head.
TODAY
Michael cringed at that particular memory. "You didn't deserve that, pal," he said, addressing his words to the modulator as he always did.
"I'll understand if you don't want to tell me," Bonnie said gently, almost as if speaking to a frightened child, "but what went through your mind when you first met Kitt?"
Michael couldn't bring himself to look up as he spoke, so he fixed his gaze on a small scar on his left thumb. "It wasn't Kitt that I hated then, not really. I thought that at least behind the wheel like that, I'd be in control, supercomputers and artificial intelligences be damned. Then, just like that, Kitt took control, and I lost it." He hesitated, eyes unfocused as his thoughts drifted back to those nightmarish early days. He didn't like thinking about that time. He flinched slightly as Bonnie gently placed a hand on his, and she withdrew. Shit
FOUR YEARS AGO
As she torqued down the last bolt of K.I.T.T.'s new exhaust, Bonnie realized that she hated Knight. She knew his story, knew how he'd ended up there, but that didn't excuse his careless, cavalier attitude toward K.I.T.T. He constantly brought K.I.T.T. back damaged. More often than not, the damage was minor, with no replacements or repairs necessary. Sometimes a circuit would be knocked out of alignment, if not brought offline entirely. She dreaded the day Knight brought K.I.T.T. back inoperative.
"Bonnie please be careful!" The alarm in K.I.T.T.'s voice jolted her back to her work.
"Sorry, K.I.T.T.," she said, shoving aside everything that didn't have to do with repairing K.I.T.T.
"Apology accepted." Of course K.I.T.T. accepted her apology. It always did. The next time she saw Knight, she wasn't going to let him get away in one piece. If she couldn't get her hands on him, then she'd just ask Mr. Miles to pass on her message.
Bonnie got her chance the next morning. She headed out to the garage to check how K.I.T.T. had fared though the night. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw that the access door was already open. It had to be Knight. Who else would be so careless? She quickened her pace, hoping to catch him before he bolted again.
"… don't have feelings, Michael," K.I.T.T. was saying. Bonnie stopped at the threshold. She knew K.I.T.T.'s scanners had a rather limited range, something she'd been hoping to have fixed before Knight had taken K.I.T.T. Now, she hoped K.I.T.T. wouldn't notice her there.
"Like hell you don't!" Knight shot back. She couldn't see his face, so she couldn't be sure, but he sounded more distressed than angry.
TODAY
"I never wanted another human partner, Bon," Michael continued. Even to him, his voice sounded raw and small. It wasn't like Bonnie didn't already know that. "I thought if I could get Kitt to just shut up, maybe I would make it work. It Kitt wasn't human, he couldn't get hurt, yknow?"
FOUR YEARS AGO
Bonnie's anger deflated, and she retreated around the corner of the garage, out of earshot. She'd yell at Knight later, when he sounded more like the arrogant bastard she knew. Pick a time when K.I.T.T. came back hurt and Knight swanned in like he owned the place. By no means had she forgiven Knight. She just knew that a confrontation now wouldn't get her anywhere.
She heard one of the bay doors clank open, followed shortly by the distinctive whine of K.I.T.T.'s engine. Knight's expression was drawn and serious as he drove off toward the main road, jaw set firmly. She wondered what else had been said, but was it really any of her business? No, she decided. What transpired between Knight and K.I.T.T. wasn't her business at all.
TODAY
"Kitt might not bleed like a human partner, but gods he still gets hurt." Michael reached for Bonnie's hand, wishing that his own wasn't shaking quite so badly. She gently ran her thumb across his knuckles.
"I came real close to walking away when I realized just how human Kitt was." Guilt clawed at his throat and coiled tightly around his heart. "But I couldn't, Bon. I couldn't do that to Kitt. Woulda broke his heart."
THREE YEARS AGO
Bonnie lost balance and landed hard on her ass at the sight of blook on the driver seat and center console. Swallowing the wave of nausea, she steeled herself for what else she might find there.
Whatever happened to Knight must have happened outside the car. KITT was damn near everything-proof, or so she'd thought. Much to her chagrin, she'd realized that 'everything-proof' didn't mean Knight-proof. How he kept finding things to damaged or break baffled her. But blood? That was new.
Bonnie saw Knight more often know that the semi was operational. Knight also now only returned KITT to her garage for serious repairs. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, that was a good thing. The success of this whole madman's dream hinged on Knight and KITT working together. On the other hand, she missed talking with KITT during their rare moments of downtime.
She thought back to the last time Knight had been by to check on KITT. Had he been injured then? Bruises and scrapes, she'd thought at the time.
"Bonnie?" KITT asked. Urgency shaded his voice, and she wondered how long he'd been trying to get his attention. "Your vitals indicate distress. Is something wrong?"
"I'm fine," she said, still a little shaken. "Just really don't like blood." She took a couple deep breaths to steady herself. "KITT, what happened to Knight?"
"Fletcher stabbed him," Was it her imagination, or did KITT sound upset? "I couldn't follow him into the penthouse suit." KITT definitely sounded upset.
"That wasn't your fault," she protested. "I know we programmed you to protect him, but Knight knows the risks of this job." Some of her earlier anger returned. "I'm pretty sure he goes out of his way to find the most dangerous way to do something. Why the hell would he keep coming back so unharmed while treating you like this?!" Was that unfair? Knight clearly hadn't come back unharmed this time. How many times had he come back just as dinged up as KITT?
"If I tell you something, please promise you won't be too mad at Michael."
"What's he done?"
"Promise me, Bonnie."
"Alright! Fine! I promise. I won't kill him."
"That last time you had to replace part of my exhaust?" he prompted. Oh, she remembered, all right. "It wasn't his fault."
TODAY
"Technically, it was my fault," Michael said.
"Technically nothing, Michael," Kitt said. "You had two broken ribs and several contusions to your left lung!"
"Bonnie didn't need to know that," he hissed. There were a lot of injuries Bonnie didn't need to know about. She had enough on her plate with Kitt. Michael didn't need her stressing over him like that too.
"Michael!" she gasped, utterly horrified. "Broken ribs and a bruised lung?"
"Hardly the worst I've walked off," he said, trying to downplay it.
"I don't think that was the right thing to say," Kitt said.
THREE YEARS AGO
"I don't care whose fault that was!" she snapped. "You're the one who needed repairs, not Knight!"
"Well, this time Michael needs repair," KITT retaliated. "The only damage to me is superficial. Upholstery can easily be replaced." Bonnie couldn't argue. KITT was indeed fine except for the purely cosmetic damage.
"That doesn't mean he gets to keep hurting you!"
TODAY
Bonnie seethed as Michael tried to gather his thoughts. He'd definitely said the wrong thing. Might as well keep digging… "Ever wonder why you don't ever find any blood in here anymore?" he asked.
"I guess I just assumed no one ever stabbed you after Fletcher," she said. Michael barked a short, bitter laugh.
"Gods, I wish! Kitt told me what happened after you saw my blood that time." He paused. There was no way he could take back what he'd already said, but he didn't want to say more.
"Bonnie, Michael learned to stitch himself back together and how to remove blood well enough to escape your notice," Kitt supplied.
THREE YEARS AGO
Bonnie didn't see Knight for almost a week. She relished the time with KITT, grateful for a chance to get caught up with him. She upgraded his scanners and made some changes to the configuration of the dash as they swapped stories. She marveled at how much KITT had grown, how much he'd learned.
He'd also become a great deal more outspoken, something Bonnie found almost as annoying as she found it endearing. KITT had always had something of an attitude, even when his only method of communication was the old computer his CPU had been hooked to. That had to be Knight's doing. She couldn't really blame him for that. KITT had been programmed to learn, and the two of them spent a lot of time together on the road.
It didn't occur to her that Knight's absence was anything more than that. The man was still more unpredictable than she would have liked, but he was mellowing out. She did wonder if maybe that was KITT's influence on Knight.
KITT's attitude dragged a memory back to the surface. "What did you mean when you said you don't like flying?" she asked, trusting that KITT would know what she was talking about.
"I don't understand," KITT said. "It's a perfectly straightforward statement. I don't like flying."
"You've never flown before," she pointed out.
"Cars aren't meant to fly," KITT said with a verbal shrug. Bonnie might have accepted that answer even just last year, but now –
"KITT, buddy, you ready?" Knight called from the entrance to the garage.
"Always, Michael."
TODAY
"That reminds me, Bonnie," Michael said. "You still haven't told us why Kitt hates flying."
a/n: y'all I really hoped to have an answer for you in this chapter but it's 13 pages long already I'm so sorry my loves
