Date: Post-1986

Time: 02:00 Military Time

Location: Knight Estate - Main garage

Two Beeps

Again two beeps

And again, two beeps - "Michael?" A voice questions softly.

"Kitt? It's the middle of the night." Michael Knight replies with a yawn while looking at his comlink.

"I'm sorry, Michael. Would you please come down to the garage?" The Knight Industries Two Thousand asks again softly.

"Anything wrong, Pal? Why aren't you recharging?" Michael asks, concerned. This behavior is very unusual, similar to when the AI had nightmares after the acid pit incident.

"I couldn't, Michael. There are so many questions I need answered. Please come down." the AI whispers like pleading.

"Be there in five, Kitt." Michael sighs, grabs his housecoat, dresses, and leaves his room. He steps down the stairs quietly, not to up the others in the mansion.

Five minutes later, Michael arrives inside the garage, where he sees the dark form of his partner under the soft glow of a table lamp nearby.

The driver's door opens in invitation to the sound of Kitt's Anamorphic Equalizer, although quieter than usual. The cabin inside is dimmed, with only the LEDs of the SURVEILLANCE bar lit up along with Kitt's voice modulator.

"Michael, thank you for coming. Please enter. I need to know some things, and be honest with me." Kitt murmured.

"I'll do my best, Buddy. Ask away." Michael replied while sitting down in the driver's seat.

The driver's door automatically closes. "I'm not sure where to start, Michael." Kitt hesitates.

"Start at the beginning, and we'll go from there." Michael encourages.

"Michael, What if I hurt you when reprogrammed against my will?"

"I would recover."

"What if I never fought against my reprogramming?"

"I would have convinced you eventually, Kitt. You're a good listener and know what's right."

"What if you never found my body when I was inside that portable television."

"I would keep searching for it for as long as it takes. It belongs to you only, Buddy."

"What if I couldn't recover from the acid pit?"

"I would remain with you, keep encouraging you, tell you that you're strong until you feel the time is right to resume your life. No matter how long it would have taken."

"What if Stevie didn't die?"

"I would be happily married and away from this life, we lead. I'm sorry if that hurts you, Buddy. I'm being honest."

"I know, Michael. What if it was permitted - Would you want me in your life if she was still alive?"

"Kitt. You're the best friend - a man could ever have, and I love you. Stevie would have loved you too."

"What if I left the Foundation without permission to be with you - what would you do?"

"Oh boy, that's a real tough question. Honestly, the right thing to do would be to tell you to return to the Foundation, but inside my heart and soul, I want you to stay with me. I don't know, Pal. That's the best answer I can give you."

"Thank you, Michael. What if I was permanently deactivated?"

"I would mourn you, Pal. Oh God, I would mourn you. You're everything to me. If you were gone - I would leave and never come back."

"You're everything to me as well, Michael. One more question, and then no more. What if we never met?"

"Simple answer, Kitt. I would have been dead - very much dead. You might have been partners with someone else. My God! I just thought of something - maybe you wouldn't be online? Tell me you were already alive before we met."

"I was online a few years before we met, Michael. However, I was not the same computer as you now know. Ever since I met you - I've grown beyond my programming for the better."

"Good, I'm glad you were alive before we met - at first, you were so robotic. Now you're almost human. Consider that as a compliment, Pal. Can I ask you a what-if, Kitt?"

"Certainly, Michael."

"When I was in the hospital the last time, what if I didn't survive the surgery - what if I died - what would you've done?"

"Same as you, Michael. I would mourn you and leave the Foundation. It is my home, but it wouldn't have been home without you, Michael. Strange as it may seem - I'm connected to you beyond my programming. I never want to lose it."

"Kitt, as much as I want us to be together forever, I'm only a man. Very much mortal. You'll have to face my death eventually."

"I know, Michael. I know, however, I'll cherish you until the end of my days, no matter what." Kitt said warmly.

"Me too, Pal. Me too." Michael responds while rubbing Kitt's steering wheel.

Michael didn't want to return to his room - he removed his housecoat and used it as a blanket while Kitt reclined the driver's seat. The man promptly falls asleep smiling as Kitt watches over him, satisfied his ' What ifs ' were answered the only way Michael knew how-

-With his heart.