Infinity
by elfin


He watched her walk up to the black car and put her hand gently on the sun-heated roof, barely heard her greeting or his partner's response, but saw the expression as her face lit up into a smile. She paused there, as he paused in the shadows of the mansion's ornate entrance; watching, observing, trying and failing to stave off the flood of emotions that rose to the surface.

They talked for a while, and although he could overhear snippets of the conversation, he didn't pry, didn't listen to what was being said. He knew who she was. Vienna Sorrensen, one of Kitt's highly-qualified technicians, with a first class honours degree and two MIT doctorates. She and his unique partner had hit it off from her first day at the Foundation, when she'd been training under Bonnie in basic maintenance of the AI, and since then they'd become friends. From the start, Vienna had flirted with him. But recently Kitt had begun to return the sentiment; gently at first, finding his feet as it were, slowly becoming more serious.

What amazed Michael about it all wasn't that an intelligent, beautiful young woman would find his partner attractive - Kitt was as human to him as anyone else he worked with - but that his own feelings were starting to come to the fore, and they were fiercer and more terrifying than he had ever imagined they would be.

He watched her pat Kitt's roof, trail her fingers from the warm paintwork, and walk away. With a shake of his head, he stepped out of the shadows and sat down on the second step up in front of the mansion,

"Kitt?"

The turbines span up almost instantly, and the sleek black body of his car reversed a couple of feet before pulling up just in front of him, the gently angled prow inches from his legs.

"Are you all right, Michael? How did the meeting with Devon's friend go?"

"It went fine, Partner. We'll be off as soon as Devon can get our story straightened out." He was distracted and it was apparently in his voice too as Kitt asked,

"And the answer to my first question?"

He smiled. "I'm fine too, Pal." What would he do without Kitt worrying about him? He liked to think that it was because Kitt cared for him, but wasn't it just programming? Wasn't the AI just following the parameters of its code? "Kitt… how do you feel about Vienna?"

"Vienna, Austria or Vienna Sorrensen, my technician?"

It was all he could do not to roll his eyes, not to take that response alone as an answer to his meandering thoughts. "Your technician."

Kitt definitely hesitated. Wasn't that also proof? Computers didn't, as a rule, pause for thought before giving the solution to any given problem. "I'm very fond of her."

For some reason, the words made his heart sink. The same words Kitt had used about him a year ago was it? When a hard knock of his head against a concrete wall had caused temporary amnesia.

"Do you think it's wrong?"

He was lost for a moment. "Do I think what's wrong?"

"My affection for her." He sighed softly, not answering immediately, needing time to sort out his feelings. Unfortunately, his often over-sensitive partner read his hesitation the wrong way… "Or is that you think she could never feel that way about…."

"And you can stop right there! Kitt…." Could he come clean? "I have absolutely no doubt that you could have feelings for her. And I… I know she could have similar feelings for you too, because… because I do."

A speechless Kitt wasn't something he experienced very often. Silently, the car moved forward until the black prow touched his knees.

"Michael…."

Reaching out, he put his hand on the flawless hood and spread his fingers over the warm, black skin. "Sorry, Kitt."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Me neither." He tried to find some explanation that would make sense of how the draw of his partner had changed over the years. You know… I remember Devon telling me that your primary function was the protection of my life - mine. Me, personally. That… that's some ego-boost, I'm tellin' ya. To have something as… as incredible as you, tuned to me… I don't know if you can understand what that means, what it feels like…." Obviously not. Kitt stayed silent, that hypnotic red light tracking slowly back and forth. "The way I feel, you're mine. And I know that sounds selfish and possessive but you're all I've really got and I… I'm very, very, very fond of you. More than I probably should be."

More silence. But the driver's door clicked open, and getting to his feet, Michael accepted the invitation.

Kitt took them off into the grounds of the mansion; somewhere they would be alone under a mask of trees. He seemed to know that Michael needed time to think, time to sort out feelings he'd only just realised ran so deep.

He stared out of the darkened windscreen for a long time, not really seeing the colour-strewn bushes beyond the car or the bright morning sky peeking between the thick blankets of leaves. He tried to find reason behind what was happening, but his mind kept blanking, shifting, like this wasn't something it wanted to think about.

When had he really thought about Kitt? Had he ever sat down and taken stock of what Wilton Knight had bestowed upon him? What had he said to Devon when he'd finally accepted this job? 'All the resources of the Knight Foundation. The world's most amazing car….' He hadn't understood then the miracle of Kitt's life, the true gift he'd been given. Blinking, he shifted his eyes to stare at the dark voice panel. Was this just a trick of the mind? How many hundreds of hours had he spent on the road with just the AI for company? More than he cared to admit. More than had probably been necessary. How many times had Devon offered him the use of the Foundation's jet to have him turn it down?

Kitt was his, programmed to respond and react to him, to develop and grow with him. Didn't it make sense that in his mind he was going to attach such a special significance to his partner that feelings of… love… were a certainty? A given?

Or was this real? Was he actually jealous of Vienna? Because Kitt had never shown anything but a passing, polite interest in anyone else before; he'd always had his partner's full and undivided attention. An attention that was focused; intoxicating and addictive. He'd noticed it in himself, a proprietary need to touch the car when he wasn't inside, to be physically close; a hand on the roof, fingertips on the hood, palm flat on the trunk. The circle of leather around his wrist - the strap of the Comlink - was a constant for him, never taking it off, missing the light weight of it whenever it was torn from him.

"You should know, Michael," his partner's voice surprised him, "your feelings are returned."

He frowned at the dancing lights, anxiety crawling around in his stomach. "Which ones?"

"You're really all I have. As you say, your life is my primary function. And my fondness for you surpasses that which I feel for anyone else."

He was cracking up. He caught himself reaching out to… what? Pat the dash like he'd pat a dog? This was impossible, but in his life the impossible was commonplace and he'd become so used to accepting miracles of technology on a daily basis that he'd started to make up ones for himself. He allowed his fingers to touch the edge of the dash, stroking the black material with his thumb.

"Do you realise that in the last five years not a day's gone by when I haven't seen you and spoken to you?"

"I am your car, Michael, it stands to reason we'd spend a considerable amount of time together, especially given your phobia regarding flying."

Phobia? "Kitt, I'm not…." All those times he'd driven instead of accepting the invite to use the jet…. "Ah." He had to smile. "I'm not scared of flying, unlike some people not a million miles from here." He spread his fingers across the top of the dash. "I just don't like to be without you."

"Oh."

What else was he expecting? What other answer could Kitt give? Not for the first time, Michael wished he could put his arms around his partner and hold him, just once, just for a while. When he'd started to do more than anthropomorphize the AI in his car, started to return the affectionate feelings he had, in his mind, endowed Kitt with, he'd reasoned that it was simply his innate reaction to the beauty, power and speed of the car itself. Nothing more stimulating than feeling the forces created by stepping on the gas on an empty desert road. All he'd done, he decided, was make that reaction one to Kitt, as well as the TransAm in which he was housed.

"That feeling is also mutual," Kitt finally told him, "I do not like to be separated from you. But I'm sorry, Michael, I'm a little out of my depth."

"That's okay," he murmured softly. "Me too."

"If you need something more from me, you only have to ask."

More? From a soul who already gave him everything that he was? "I can't ask for anymore from you, you don't know how much you give me, how much… you mean to me. It's not something I can quantify or put into words."

"But there is more, isn't there, Michael?" So softly spoken, almost… sensual. Definitely - *definitely* - losing it.

"It's something I have to figure out on my own, Kitt. You can't help with this one." There was apology in his voice, so far from his dismissals of old.

"Yet, if there is anything I can do…."

"You'll be the first to know. The only one to know."

Silence prevailed again, neither of them making any move to return to the mansion. And eventually Kitt said, "Maybe we should take a vacation? Get away for a couple of days and go somewhere quiet, somewhere… private."

The idea blossomed in Michael's head, tentative imagination slowly painting in details. "Just you and me?"

"Just you and me." Was there something in Kitt's voice that hadn't been there before? "Switch off the homing signal, cut all communications channels. We would be completely on our own, no one knowing where we'd gone or how to find us."

Michael was hooked. Just the two of them, somewhere secluded. Long drives, barbecues under the stars, lots of quality time spent just being together. Had he ever told Kitt how very much he loved him? Maybe, just maybe, this time to themselves would be the ideal opportunity.

"All right. We do this job for Devon, then we take a couple of days off."

Kitt's response surprised him, "Is this job potentially dangerous?"

It seemed to Michael to be a particularly odd question. "Aren't they always?"

"Then I would suggest we leave for our vacation now. I know the perfect place; somewhere I can ensure we have complete privacy by interfacing with the booking computer."

His eyes widened. "You're suggestion we just… take off? Send Devon a message and deal with the fallout when we get home?"

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting. These assignments have a habit of injuring you, or me, or landing us in a situation which takes weeks, even months to untangle ourselves from." Somehow he knew Kitt wasn't finished. "Besides, if we don't go now we may never go."

Michael knew instinctively that Kitt wasn't talking about the risk. He was referring to Michael's confusion and uncertainty about his feelings, about the situation; for a hero, a knight in shining armour, he was very much a coward when it came to this. If the right woman came along and threw herself in his path, he was liable to take the proffered out.

Something deep inside him didn't want that, didn't want to give himself an excuse to run, not this time, not until he'd had a chance to work it out with his partner. "Let's do it."

"I'll wait until we're safely away from the Foundation's grounds before sending the message."

Michael took control of the car as Kitt fired up the engine. "What are you going to say?"

"That something's come up. That we'll be back in five days."

"We'll be in for it when we get back."

"You, Michael, not we. I'm afraid that Devon's wrath is something saved for you and you alone."

Grinning, Michael followed the curve of the driveway down to the gates. "Well, we'll just have to change that, won't we? We're supposed to be partners in everything, including getting yelled at by the boss, especially when this was your idea."

"Then we'd better make sure it was worth it."

Michael laughed as they turned onto the main road and accelerated away from work, away from Devon, away from everyone and everything they knew, except for one another. Letting out a deep breath, the knot of anxiety finally unravelling in the pit of his stomach, he relaxed into the seat designed for him and glanced at the visual centrepiece of the AI coded to him.

"You know, Kitt… if you wanted to spend time with Vienna…."

"Michael," the admonishment was gentle. "There's only one person I want to be with, and you're here." He paused. "Devon's trying to get through to us."

Michael shook his head. "Five days, Kitt. You're all mine, and I'm all yours."

Those five days, and their infinite possibilities, spread out like an eternity before them.



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