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

This part includes a reference to the episode "Knight Moves" (Season 1, #18).

Chapter 20

Bonnie watched the scenery fly by as KITT raced through the states. Michael and KITT had plotted a course using roads where there was less traffic. This enabled them to use Super Pursuit Mode most of the time.

"Michael, Bonnie, may I ask you a question?" KITT suddenly asked. He had been quiet since they'd left the inn about an hour before. He had spent the last hour analyzing and studying Bonnie's and Michael's vitals, their gestures and glances as well as the tone of their voices to understand the changes in their relationship better. Human feelings were still a mystery to him, and he was fascinated by the non-verbal signs he observed. One aspect which was of interest for him however was not yet answered by his observations. "Why did it take both of you so long to admit to each other how you feel?"

Michael looked at Bonnie and noticed that she was trying hard not to burst out in laughter. It amused them both that KITT was asking questions about their feelings.

"Well, KITT, usually I don't mix pleasure with work." Bonnie finally replied to KITT's question. She had asked herself the same question several times. "You'll never know if a relationship works. If it doesn't, then you'll feel awkward and uncomfortable whenever you work with that person. I didn't want this to happen. You, my job and my friendship to Michael are too important to me."

"I understand your hesitation but what you are saying doesn't entirely make sense." KITT answered after having analyzed Bonnie's answer. "What made you change your mind now, Bonnie? You and Michael are still working together as far as I know. This is a contradiction to your principle of not mixing pleasure with work."

"Yes, you are right, but…." Bonnie smiled as she listened to KITT. How should she explain him that for once she had decided to forget about her principles and listen to her heart?

"The only reason why your principle wouldn't apply any longer would be if one of you had decided to leave FLAG." KITT had come to this conclusion which he didn't like at all.

"KITT, no. No one is leaving. I'm not going anywhere, and neither is Michael." Bonnie quickly said. Even in his computer voice, Bonnie could hear the fear KITT had that their family would break up. "I realized that my feelings for Michael were too strong to ignore any longer. I know we can make it work and even if for some reason we can't handle both, we will find a way to behave as adults at work."

Michael caressed her hand. "KITT, I won't do anything to upset Bonnie and make her break up with me. I want our relationship to last forever." He smiled at her. His heart was full of love and he felt he was the luckiest man in the world because Bonnie returned his feelings. "And to answer your question, I never told Bonnie how much she meant to be because I wasn't sure how she felt about me. One minute she yells at me, and the next minutes she holds me in her arms and comforts me, when I'm injured or when I felt sad or I'm worried about you. She always rejected me when I asked her out, so I assumed she wasn't interested in me. But luckily, these past few days made me realize that just like me, Bonnie was quite good at hiding her feelings."

She laced her fingers with his and pressed his hand gently. She was surprised how natural it felt to be in a relationship with Michael. As if they had always meant to be. "We wouldn't have wasted so much time if we had had the courage to admit how we felt sooner." She knew that her behavior was mostly to blame for this. She had given Michael the impression that any attempts to ask her out would be without success.

Michael kissed her on the head. "You want to know how often I've tried to tell you how much you mean to me over the last years? And even during the last few days? And whenever I was this close to telling you I either lost the courage or we were interrupted. I was starting to believe that we weren't meant to be."

"I'm glad you didn't give up." She smiled at him. "I don't think I would have ever been brave enough to tell you if you hadn't been so persistent."

"This was worth waiting for." He kissed her again, this time on the lips. KITT decided to switch to automatic and take over the driving while Michael was clearly distracted.

"This will be a surprise for Mr Miles and RC." KITT remarked when Bonnie and Michael broke apart to gasp for air after long kisses.

Michael exchanged a worried glance with Bonnie. KITT was right, it would be a surprise for Devon. A surprise he certainly wasn't expecting and would probably not receive his approval.

"Well, KITT, we were thinking that we should keep our relationship to ourselves for now. Everything is still new to us and we want to get used to us being a couple before we tell Devon and RC." Michael explained to KITT. "We would appreciate if you didn't mention anything to Devon."

"You want me to lie, Michael?" Michael's request confused KITT. If Michael and Bonnie were happy, why didn't they want to share their happiness with the rest of the team?

Michael and Bonnie glanced at each other knowing that KITT didn't feel comfortable lying to Devon.

"Well, buddy, I wouldn't say lying. Just don't tell him that Bonnie and I are now in a relationship." Michael explained quickly.

"Michael, may I ask why? Don't think he will be happy for you?" KITT tried to understand Michael's request but it didn't seem logical to him.

"Well…. well, yeah maybe. You know he doesn't know how close Bonnie and I have become, and he is clueless about our feelings. He might need some time to understand and accept that we've become more than friends." Michael sighed. He was afraid Devon wouldn't understand how important Bonnie was for him and would tell him that their love might endanger their work. Years ago, Devon had made it clear to him that Bonnie was off-limits. A lot had changed since then, and he hoped Devon was aware that Michael was no longer looking for fun and a casual fling.

"Michael and I want to be sure that our relationship won't influence our work. We know we can separate work and love, but Devon might not be convinced." Love. She said it out loud. She quickly looked at Michael and noticed that there was a huge smile on his face. "Devon will probably be concerned about this and might use it as an argument. However, if we wait for a while before we tell him, we can explain that our relationship won't be a danger for our work." "She explained. "I doubt that he will ask us to stay apart or reconsider our relationship. But he'll be worried, and we don't want to give him any reason to worry."

"Thank you." Michael mouthed and smiled at Bonnie. She always found the right words to explain matters to KITT and Michael was glad that she had helped him explain their reasons to KITT.

"I understand and I respect your wishes." KITT said. "But do me a favor, Michael. Don't use me to cover for you. I may be able to avoid talking about the two of you, but I don't want to have to lie into Devon's face."

"I promise, buddy. I won't. We will be careful and don't do anything that'll make Devon suspicious." Michael reassured him quickly. "I can't tell you how glad I am that Christmas season is coming up."

"Why, Michael?" KITT asked.

"Let's just say, there will be lots of mistletoes everywhere." Michael said with a huge grin on his face while he wrapped his arm around Bonnie and pulled her closer.

XXX

Hours passed while they were speeding on the roads. Michael realized how nice it was that he wasn't alone on the road this time. Though he usually enjoyed talking to KITT during their often-long trips – unless KITT told jokes-, he loved having Bonnie with him. This gave them lots of time to talk and to steal a kiss here and there. By the time they reached New Mexico Michael decided that he would try to convince Devon to let Bonnie accompany him on assignments more often. He would have to find a good excuse for her coming along with him and KITT and not in the semi without making Devon suspicious. Not when he was working on a dangerous case. He didn't want to risk putting Bonnie in danger or having his enemies find out how much she meant to him. But having her with him and KITT on easy cases would be nice and give her a chance to be out in the field.

"Chief Joe's Café? Holbrook? Isn't that where the town where we helped the A.I.T. truckers?" Bonnie's question interrupted his thoughts. He looked at the sign she was pointing at and nodded. It said Chief Joe's Café in Holbrook/New Mexico. Yes, this was the trucker's restaurant where Devon and Bonnie had waited when he helped Terri Calley and her brother Rick soon after he had joined FLAG.

"Beware of the Sloppy Joe's." He chuckled as he remembered Devon who had pretended to be Cedric Bagshaw being invited to a Sloppy Joe's by the truckers while Michael was using the semi to catch Riggins.

Bonnie laughed. "You should have seen his face. His eyes were watering from the chili and the salsa. He tried so hard to convince the truckers that he had already eaten a large breakfast, but they insisted on him trying Norma's Sloppy Joe's."

"Definitely not what he usually eats." Michael grinned. "Those were the best Sloppy Joe's I ever had. I planned to stop here the next time I travelled through New Mexico. Never had a chance though."

"We could stop now." Bonnie suggested. "We haven't stopped yet and it would be nice to grab a bite and stretch our legs."

"Good idea." He smiled and steered KITT towards the café. "A Sloppy Joe's would be perfect now."