My computer crashed but I had this chapter already saved on my flash drive after editing. I'm now working on my old computer which is super slow. I hope I'll be able to post Chapter 15 soon.

Disclaimer: Glen A. Larson and Universal own the Knight Rider characters in this story. Bonnie's family and her family background as well as Scott were created by me.

Chapter 14

It took Bonnie longer than expected to check KITT's systems. Michael was already in his room by the time she returned to the house. She considered knocking on his door, but since the lights were out, she assumed he was already asleep, and she didn't dare to wake him. He needed to rest. It would be a long day for all of them tomorrow. She would talk to him first thing in the morning.

She quietly walked into her room and looked out of the window. It was raining stronger now and Bonnie could hear thundering. She shuddered. She didn't mind thunderstorms when she was in the safety of the semi. But being outside or in a house during a thunderstorm made her nervous. She quickly closed the blinds and the curtains before she changed for the night, then climbed into her bed. She hoped she'd be able to sleep but she knew it wouldn't be easy because she couldn't stop thinking about her argument with Michael.

XXX

He had waited for her to finish working on KITT. All Michael wanted was to apologize to Bonnie, tell her how sorry he was and that he should have never gone behind her back. He should have listened to KITT instead of insisting that Bonnie would understand. If only she'd come back to her room now and would give him a chance to explain. He had looked out of the window to the garage several times. The lights were still on, a sign that either Bonnie was still working or staying there to avoid a conversation with him. Or she had fallen asleep there, which wouldn't surprise him. He'd found her asleep on her desk or in the semi several times.

Finally, he decided to go to bed. He was tired and exhausted, and he figured she wouldn't come back until she was certain he was asleep. But he couldn't sleep. His thoughts circled around the past evening. They had been so close and then he had messed up. Again. Maybe fate was telling him that it was better this way. That a relationship between him and Bonnie wouldn't work. It wasn't the first time that he thought that they weren't meant to be. Him seeing Stevie again after becoming Michael Knight had stopped him from pursuing Bonnie. Then Bonnie left and when she came back, she blocked all his attempts to take their friendship to the next level. She had dressed as Scarlett O'Hara at Devon's Halloween party, knowing he'd be Rhett, but had gone there with someone else. She had tried to set him up with her neighbor when he visited her at her new apartment. He had cried in her arms when he had lost Stevie. She had been there for him whenever he needed her, had helped him through his grief. He wouldn't have survived the last year without her. They had grown very close during that time and he wondered if he'd mistakenly interpreted their close friendship as the beginning of something more.

While his mind was racing and reliving every tender moment he and Bonnie had shared the last few days, he heard sounds from the room next door. He peeked through the window and noticed that the lights in the garage were out. "KITT?" He whispered through the comlink. "Is Bonnie back in the house?"

"Yes, Michael. She left a few minutes ago." KITT told him immediately.

"Thanks, pal. Get some rest. See you tomorrow." His gaze went back to the door connecting the room with Bonnie's bedroom. She was so close yet so far away because of their disagreement. His heart ached at the thought that he had hurt her. It couldn't wait until the next day. He didn't want to spend the next two days on the road with this fight standing between them.

If she didn't want to listen to him now, she'd tell him to leave. But maybe she was just waiting for him to come to her for an explanation and an apology. He decided to take the risk and slowly went to the door and hesitantly knocked on it.

The knock startled her in her vain attempt to fall asleep. She had stared at the door and had hoped he'd come to talk to her. She ran her hands through her hair, hoping it wouldn't look too messy. It wouldn't matter, she thought. He'd seen her like that before but until now she'd never cared.

"Bon?" Michael whispered while he carefully opened the door that connected Lauren's bedroom with Bonnie's. "Are you still awake?"

Of course, she was. Bonnie blamed being sleepless on the caffeine, but she knew that it wasn't the amount of coffee she had consumed. She was used to coffee. She was also used to having her thoughts revolve around Michael Knight. But she wasn't used to having such strong feelings for him.

"Michael? Is something wrong?" Bonnie asked, chastising herself for sounding almost friendly. She didn't want him to think that she'd forgiven him. At least not yet. She thought about adding a question whether his guilty conscience wouldn't let him sleep but she bit her tongue. She didn't want to fight with him, and this would cause more harm. Smalltalk would be a good start until she'd found the courage to tell him that she had overreacted. "Can't you sleep?"

"Well, um yes…no..." He answered hesitantly. He was relieved that she hadn't told him to leave and hadn't immediately yelled at him. "You know, the pink in Lauren's room is a bit scary. And this fellow here is keeping me awake." He showed her Lauren's old teddy bear, hoping he'd get her to smile. His plan worked as he caught her trying hard not to grin. "And...I was wondering if you had remembered to recharge KITT." He knew that she had thought of it. Bonnie would never forget KITT. But it was the first thing that had come to his mind and immediately he regretted saying it out loud. He hoped she wouldn't get it wrong and feel criticized.

As expected, she shot him an angry look, ready to tell him that unlike others, she took taking care of KITT seriously. But she decided to keep this for herself. She was aware that his question about KITT was only an excuse for Michael to knock on her door. It was their disagreement that caused his sleeplessness and she saw from the look on his face he was desperate to talk to her.

"He's fine and he's recharging until tomorrow morning." She motioned him to come in. He sighed in relief and walked slowly over to her bed. "You look tired. You should get some sleep."

Michael shook his head. "I can't. I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No, you didn't. I couldn't sleep either." Bonnie wondered whether he would sit down on her bed. "I guess that's the price for being a night owl."

"Well, I think we both know the reason for not being able to sleep, don't we?" Michael sat down at the end of her bed. She hadn't turned on the lights yet, but he didn't mind. It wasn't dark because the occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the room. He noticed that her eyes were red from crying.

Feeling his gaze upon her, she quickly turned her head and looked down. She was looking for the right words to tell him that although she was angry at him, she understood why he had gone through her file.

Michael's heart ached. She had cried because of him. He hated this thought. All he wanted was to wrap his arms around her and tell her how sorry he was. He didn't want to push his luck though. She'd probably push him away if he tried to establish physical contact. "Bonnie, I feel really awful. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you." She still didn't look at him. "KITT warned me that you'd become upset."

"You should have listened to him." She mumbled.

"I know. And I should have asked you instead. But I was worried about you. I had this weird feeling about Scott." Michael explained. He wondered how Bonnie would react if he confessed that this weird feeling was jealousy. "I only wanted to protect you and to make sure no one would hurt you. But in the end, it was me who hurt you." His hand now searched for her hand in the dark, hoping she wouldn't yank it away.

She slowly looked up as she felt his hand take hers. She saw that he was sorry. She believed him. He'd never intentionally hurt her. "I know, Michael."

His heart jumped with joy. This was a good start. "I would have never forgiven myself if you'd gotten in danger and I hadn't done everything I could to prevent it."

"It wouldn't be a surprise, right? My track record isn't the best." She knew this would make her sound naïve. It wasn't a secret that more than once she had trusted the wrong men. She had admired and liked David Halston, Simon Grant, and Austin Templeton. Templeton had used her, Halston had kidnapped her and Grant had tried to kill her. "Ask me next time, ok?"

"Don't sell yourself short. Grant had fooled me too." He cracked a smile, hoping that she would have forgiven him. "I won't go behind your back anymore, I promise."

For a moment, he believed to spot a smile on her face before she quickly looked down again. "I have to apologize too, Michael. You know my temper. I overreact before I think. I should have given you a chance to explain." She paused before she continued. "Besides, KITT reminded me that I also looked up some of your former girlfriends."

"Oh, really? Did you think I needed to be protected too?" He grinned surprised. She had never directly asked him about the women he met while on the road or he went out with. "Or did you have a weird feeling too?"

She shook her head. "No, I was just curious."

His smile grew bigger. He would have never pictured Bonnie as being nosy or jealous. He wondered if the indifference she used to show was only a way to hide her feelings. He could only think of one time she had reacted jealously - when Liberty Cox had mentioned that they had spent the night together. "Does this mean I'm forgiven?"

She waited a moment before she looked up and smiled at him. "Yes, you are." She saw that he was relieved. "I don't want to spend the next two days on the road with you in silence."

"Neither do I." Happily, he got up from the end of the bed and sat down next to her. "It was killing me that you were upset with me." He gently put his arm around her and drew her closer.

She leaned into him. He was so close she could almost hear his heart beat. "Michael, you don't have to have a weird feeling about Scott. He's a friend, that's all."

"I know." He was glad that she didn't see his face turn red. She had seen through his excuse and she knew that he had been jealous. "Your mother seems to think differently though."

Bonnie sighed. She was still upset with her mother for being unfriendly to Michael. "She adores Scott and she wishes I would fall in love with him or with someone like Scott. Lauren disappointed her by marrying Luke. I'm her last hope." Bonnie moved closer to Michael. "This is probably the only thing Lauren and I have in common. We both don't like the type of men Mom wants us to marry."

Michael was surprised by her openness. Until yesterday he had assumed that men like Scott were exactly the men Bonnie would go out with.

"As you know from your research, Scott and I briefly dated in college. I was ready to tell him that it would never work after the first date. Probably already before the first date. I've known him since childhood, and it felt strange to go out on a romantic date with him. We had nothing to talk about except for our interest in science. I don't mind talking about computers and research at work, but I want to talk about different things on a date. I find opposites far more attractive." Bonnie was surprised by her openness too. But she owed Michael an explanation. "I wasn't happy that Mom invited him for dinner. And I wasn't looking forward to going to the symphony with him."

"Too much in common, huh?" Michael looked at her with a huge grin and she nodded. "So you would rather go out with a guy like Luke... or me?"

She didn't avoid looking into his eyes. "Yes."

"Really?" Michael asked her again.

"Yes, Michael." Bonnie blushed, relieved that the lightning seemed to have stopped and it was dark in the room.

"But you always said no when I asked you out. I finally gave up because I thought you weren't interested." Michael remembered the first year he and Bonnie had worked together.

"You liked to flirt. KITT had told me everything about your "conquests" while you were on assignments. I didn't want to be just one of many. And I didn't want to get hurt. I realized that I was wrong after you had saved me from Graham Deauville and the Helios people. I was actually considering saying yes the next time you would ask me. But you didn't." Bonnie admitted.

"I saw Stevie again. And I realized that I still loved her. It wouldn't have been fair to you." Michael remembered her reaction when he had asked her to program KITT with information on Stevie's case.

"I know how much you loved Stevie." Bonnie whispered.

"I will always love Stevie. But Stevie wouldn't have wanted me to mourn her forever." Michael told Bonnie. "I don't want to put my life on hold forever and I don't want to give up on love either."

She looked into his eyes and she saw that he was talking about her. He loved her.

Michael felt that this was the right moment to tell her that he loved her and that he wanted to be with her. He leaned over, ready to finally kiss her and show her how much she meant to him.

It started thundering again and Bonnie cringed before his lips could move closer to her face. "Are you okay, Bon?" Michael asked her, holding her closer. Did his attempt to kiss her scare her?

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just, I don't really like thunderstorms. At least not when I'm not in the semi where I feel safe." Bonnie explained. She was sure he just wanted to kiss her when the noise of the thunderbolt had startled her and interrupted him. She hoped he wouldn't think that she was afraid of him kissing her.

"I had no idea." He whispered. He loved thunderstorms, especially when he and KITT were on the road. He always enjoyed watching the lighting when driving through deserts or sparsely populated areas.

Bonnie relaxed in his arms now that it was quiet again. The next thunderbolt would be imminent, and she would tense up again. She wouldn't be able to sleep as long as it was thundering. "Um, Michael, this may sound a bit immature and silly, but would you mind staying here until I fall asleep? I feel a lot safer when I'm not alone."

"Not at all." He pulled her closer to his chest and kissed her head. A real kiss would have to wait. He doubted she would be able to enjoy it if she was frightened of the next thunder. "Good night, Beautiful."

"Good night, Michael." Bonnie whispered. She rested her head on his chest and listened to the calm beat of his heart which quickly lulled her into a quiet sleep.