I'd like to give a couple of shoutouts: one to my best friend VINAI and one to JessicaLynne: I'm happy you liked it and thank you for your comment, it made me really happy :)
I do not own Knight Rider and/or it's characters. And also I don't own Ghostbusters or the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
As in my other Knight Rider fics, Kitt and Karr have a bond
Normal "..."
Bond '...'
It was early in the morning, an hour before the sun started to rise, when the garage door that was supposed to have been shut, let in the brisk Autumn breeze. It wasn't too uncomfortable, quite the opposite. Inside, as quiet as the morning is before dawn, sat a black and silver Trans-Am. As the wind danced across it's black and silver skin, the gentle sensation woke up the dark AI that was housed inside. As he was enjoying the breeze, he thought, 'It's actually nice, especially after the horrible hot weather we've been having. Wait….'
Blinking his 'eyes' a couple of times, Karr realized that Kitt wasn't with him. 'Well, that would account as to why the door's open. Duh, Karr.'
Shaking himself to rid his systems of sleep, he changed into his human form and started to walk towards the mansion. Musing to himself, he couldn't believe that he was working with the same people who wanted to deactivate him or 'kill' him all because of a flawed program. Shaking his head, he tried to make the lingering thoughts disappear.
'Like it was my fault I had a bad program, fault the AI, not the tech.'
The thoughts were slowly disappearing, another one came to mind. Although not as bad, it was still confusing. Karr finally made it to the front lawn as he heard: "Ok, Kitt. We just have a couple of assignments to take care of and I promise, pal, they're not bad."
"Oh really, Michael? As I seem to recall, the last assignment we took had us going to the marshmallow factory because some nut blew it up. I then realized what the Ghostbusters felt like after that Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was destroyed and that sticky stuff was everywhere! I still have marshmallow coming out of places I never knew I had!"
Chuckling to himself, Karr watched as Michael got into Kitt and the sleek black Trans-Am took off. He had just walked up the steps and was about to reach out for the door knob, his link flared to life, 'Good morning, Karr'
'Good morning, Kitt. Everything ok?'
He heard a sigh, then, 'Not really. I hate these surprise 'assignments'. If they were anything like the last one.'
'Oh? What happened?'
'Something very uncomfortable but I'll tell you later. We probably won't be back til this afternoon. Think you can behave until then?'
A mock gasp was heard, 'Oh, dear brother, you wound me .' Then a chuckle, 'Of course, let me know if you need any help, promise?'
'I promise. I'll see you later, Big Brother.'
'See you later, Baby Brother.'
Karr opened the door and walked into the Mansion. Even though he has been inside the gigantic building, it never ceases to amaze the AI that it almost looked and felt like a castle. As much as he wanted to explore, he needed to talk to Devon.
It took Karr a few tries (and a few wrong turns) to finally find their boss, who was in his office, talking to someone regarding something he couldn't understand since he came in at the end of the conversation. As Devon placed the handset back on the cradle, he happened to look up and saw a tall man with very distinguished blonde and amber tipped hair, regarding him. Making a 'come in' gesture towards Karr, Devon watched the dark AI walk towards him and sit down in a chair opposite the big mahogany desk.
Clearing his throat, Devon neatly folded his hands on his desk as he looked at Karr, a small flicker of fear flitted across his facial features as he forced himself to relax. Not once has Karr done anything to harm them, not even Kitt, so why was he so bothered with Karr being so close? As the thoughts kept appearing and Devon was losing himself in them, he almost forgot Karr was there. A couple of knocks against wood brought Devon out of his musings as he saw a fairly agitated AI staring at him.
A quick shake of his head cleared up the fog as he looked at Karr. Before Devon could say anything, Karr's steel-blue eyes gazed down at the large calendar that was resting on his desk. Devon followed his gaze to the date that was circled and in big red letters 'Kitt's Birthday'.
'Wait, that's today?'
Karr brought his head up, a questioning look in his eyes. Before the older man could say anything, Karr got up from the chair and quickly left the office. Devon brought a hand up to his face as he wearily rubbed his temple and sighed.
Meanwhile, Karr was trying to figure out what he could do for Kitt's birthday. Then a thought hit him. He went to the kitchen, looked through all of the cupboards and the pantry for what he needed and set to work.
A few hours later, Michael was walking through the Mansion towards the kitchen. He was hungry, the assignments he and Kitt had weren't bad this time but he wasn't able to get any lunch. As he got near the kitchen, he heard, "Time to do some sketchy shit, doodah doodah. Hope I get away with it all the doodah day."
Pushing the door open, he saw Karr standing by the countertop, doing something. Walking into the kitchen itself, Michael saw a bowl with some leftover batter and decided to swipe some of it up in his hand. He then tiptoed over to the dark AI, his plan foolproof. As he kept the hand with the batter level (he didn't want any to spill onto the floor), he then went to sneak up behind Karr, bringing up the batter-filled hand. As he was about to tap Karr's shoulder, a warning was heard, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Michael, unless you have a deathwish."
Knowing he was caught, Michael's head dropped, defeated. He chuckled as he walked over to the sink to wash the batter off of his hand. As he walked back over to the dark AI, he asked, "So, uh, what are you doing? I never knew you could bake and I'm surprised the kitchen is still standing."
"Oh like what happened a few months ago when the kitchen was halfway underwater courtesy of the Great Flood of Michael Knight? And what about…."
"Ok, let's stop right there, Karr. So, what was with the song?"
Smiling, Karr was about to tell him when he asked, "Where's Kitt?"
Grabbing a dish towel from the counter and wiping his hands dry, Michael answered, "He's with Bonnie. He's getting an update done on his systems. Want me to keep him out of the kitchen?"
"Please? I would appreciate it."
Walking towards the island that was in the middle of the kitchen, Michael grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. Taking a bite, Michael nodded and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Karr alone.
It was about dinner time when there was a delicious smell wafting from the kitchen. Michael decided to poke his head inside and saw a bunch of platters covered with food.
"Wow, Karr. Don't tell me you cooked all of this?!"
Karr spun around, a shocked look on his face. As soon as he saw that it was only Michael, a sigh of relief was heard and the shocked look was gone. As he gestured towards the food, Karr asked, "Would you mind giving me a hand, Michael? I just need to get a couple of things."
Michael entered the kitchen, with the promise that he would help. Karr turned around, his attention on something else, when he heard clapping. The dark AI turned back around, Michael was in mid clap. Seeing the look on Karr's face, Michael, deciding that he really wanted to live to see his next birthday, started grabbing the platters and walked towards the dining room.
Devon, Bonnie and Kitt were talking when Michael came out, arms laden with food. As their eyes widened, Bonnie asked, "Who made all of this?"
Michael started placing the platters down in the middle of the table when he answered, "You'll see in a minute or two. And believe me, you'll be surprised," and walked back towards the kitchen.
Pretty soon, the table was full of Beef steaks, mashed potatoes, vegetables, homemade rolls and salad with all of the fixings. As the last of the food was placed on the table and everyone was seated, Karr decided to make his presence known. Walking towards the other side of the table where Kitt was sitting, he took the empty chair besides his brother. As he reached for the salad bowl, Kitt asked, "You made all of this, Karr?"
A small but shy smile answered the young AI as Karr started to fill his plate. As everyone had questions, they decided that they probably weren't worth asking as they all dug in.
After everyone ate their fill, Karr, without a word, got up and disappeared into the kitchen. Michael, knowing what Karr was about to do, turned out the lights and stayed next to the light switch. As the door leading into the kitchen opened, a few lit candles seemed to float towards the table, Kitt heard, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Kitt, happy birthday to you."
While everyone was singing, Karr placed the cake in front of his brother and stood off to the side. Kitt took a deep breath, waited a few seconds and blew out the candles. There were cheers all around as Michael went to turn on the lights. The cheers turned to gasps as all eyes looked at the cake.
The cake itself was shaped as a Trans-Am and it looked expertly done. It even had a 'scanner' (which was red food coloring mixed with white frosting). What really made the cake, well, take the 'cake' was marshmallow drizzle all over the Trans-Am. Before Kitt could even open his mouth, Karr beat him to it, "I kinda overheard you telling Michael about your mishap on your last assignment and when I saw that it was your birthday today, I wanted to do something special for you. It took me forever to find the mold that I needed for the cake. I hope you like it, Kitt."
Since the older AI was still standing, Kitt pushed his chair away from the table, stood up and gave Karr the biggest hug he could. Karr, not wanting to waste a hug from his brother, wrapped his arms around the young AI and hugged him back.
"You didn't have to make dinner or bake me a cake, Karr. A card would've been fine."
"I know but I just wanted to do something special for you."
Kitt turned his head to look at the cake and smiled, "Well, let's try it."
Michael gave Kitt a knife to cut the cake as Bonnie handed Kitt the small dessert plates to place the slices on. As the knife cut into the cake, a yellow substance was seen. Kitt's eyes widened and his shock transferred over the mind link.
'That's lemon filling. I didn't know if you had a favorite flavor so I picked lemon. And also, the color has a meaning….'
Seeing the embarrassed look on his brother's face, Kitt gave him an encouraging look to continue. Not knowing if he should say it out loud or on the link; Karr decided with the former:
"The real reason I picked the lemon filling is because, well, it reminds me of the sun and the sun reminds me of you. You're always warm, bright-"
"Unless it's summer then it's really h-"
"Shut up, Knight. No one's asking you."
A couple of chuckles were heard as Karr rolled his eyes and sighed. Looking back at Kitt, he continued:
"Anyway, as I was saying, you basically light up my life. My world was always dark, no one ever gave me a second chance, except you. You always give me a reason to smile even if I don't feel like it. That's why I picked that color for the filling, Kitt."
Kitt didn't know what to say, he was speechless. His eyes started welling up. He didn't know that he meant that much to Karr. As a tear slipped from his eye, a thumb gently brushed it away. As he looked up at Karr, the dark AI smiled.
"I didn't think the cake was that bad, Baby Brother."
Chuckling and wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, Kitt started cutting the cake, making sure to cut each piece equally, and handing the plates out. As everyone took a bite (except for Karr who was waiting for their feedback), he was greeted with, "Wow, this cake is really good, Karr" and "You'll definitely put the bakeries out of business, Karr."
Karr then decided to eat his piece and immediately found out why everyone liked it, it was delicious! As everyone finished their cake, Devon and Bonnie cleared the table and Michael offered to do the dishes, giving the brothers some time alone.
Getting up from his chair, Karr walked towards the door, wordlessly asking Kitt to follow him. Walking out the back of the Mansion, Kitt was going to ask Karr where they were going when Karr led them straight to the wooden bench that was beneath a magnificent oak tree.
Karr sat down first followed by Kitt, the brothers saying nothing, just watching as the sun was starting to set, painting the sky orange, pink and purple. Kitt laid his head on Karr's shoulder as the dark AI's arm wrapped itself around the young AI and pulled him close, resting his chin on a blonde head.
"Karr?"
"Yes, Kitt?"
"What you said earlier, I didn't know I made you feel like that."
"You do, each and every day. Which is why I'm so lucky to have you as my brother, Kitt."
"And I'm lucky to have you as my brother too, Karr. So, did you want to go back to the Mansion for the night or the garage?"
"Hmm, maybe the garage, at least I won't get lost trying to find my way out."
Kitt gave Karr a very confused look before the older of the two laughed and said, "I'll tell you later, Little One. I'm not sure about you but I am exhausted and I'm about ready to pass out."
Kitt chuckled softly, "I wonder why."
Getting up from the bench, both AI's walked towards the Mansion, only stopping momentarily to bid everyone goodnight before retiring to the garage. When they walked inside their 'home', Karr walked towards his spot by the back wall and Kitt towards the side wall and they both changed into their Trans-Am forms. Karr ticked his engine on for just a moment to drive forward to press his nose against Kitt's fender and turned his engine off.
Before shutting down for the night, Kitt whispered, "Thank you so much for everything, Karr. I had a wonderful day. And I loved the cake. Goodnight, Big Brother, I love you."
A warm smile was in Karr's voice, "You're very welcome, Kitt. Anything for you and I'm glad you did. Goodnight, Baby Brother, I love you too and Happy Birthday."
As they fell asleep, an idea planted itself into Kitt's mind: 'When I find out when your birthday is, Karr, I'm pulling out all of the stops for you.'