Tag for
'Killer KITT'
by elfin
"Okay,
uncomfortable sense of deja-vu…."
Michael stared at the empty back section of the Semi. He'd expected Kitt to be there.
"He's
gone for a drive," Bonnie's soft voice came from behind him and he turned
to look at her. "He'll be back
soon. I think… we didn't listen to what
he said outside the convention centre."
Michael
shook his head. "You mean I didn't
listen. I was as shaken as him. I didn't realise something like this could
happen and now it has…."
"He
was violated. Someone took control of
who he is, what he is, and turned that against him. He's bound to be a little unnerved."
Putting
his back against the wall of the Semi, Michael slid down until his ass hit the warm
floor. "I'll wait up," he told
Bonnie with a brief smile.
She nodded
approvingly and that made him smile even more.
It was
over three hours before the ramp lowered automatically and Kitt's tyres hit the
metal, the car sliding gracefully inside the truck, scanner swishing left to
right.
"Michael? Are you all right?"
Reaching
out, Michael stroked his hand over the smooth black prow, warm from the engine. "Not really, Pal. And I know you're not a hundred percent
either."
The
scanner halted, paused, resumed a slowly pace back and forth. But Kitt said nothing.
"You
said it had been a harrowing experience and we just took the piss out of
you. I'm sorry about that but I'm here
now, so you can talk to me."
Still Kitt
was hesitant, but finally Michael heard, "What was it like?"
He didn't
understand. "What was what
like?" But it was apparently a
question Kitt couldn't clarify.
"You mean, when you were talking back to me, blatantly putting me
in danger, trying to kill me?" He
kept his tone gentle, free of accusation.
Still he caught Kitt's soft moan of pain. Shifting closer to the car, hoping to show
his partner that he trust hadn't wavered, Michael rested his arm over the prow
of the car and rubbed his thumb across the end of the scanner track. "It was terrifying. He turned all your power, your strength, everything
you are against me. Clinging on to the
car for dear life, having it throw me into that snack stand, pretending to be
dead in case it came back to finish the job…."
Another
soft, keening moan left Kitt's voice box, but he sounded calm when he said, "If
you feel that you can no longer work with me, I will understand."
"Ah,
Kitt… Sure it was bad. But it was nothing compared to the thought
that I'd lost you. You were designed for
me and ever since
"They
said I was a tool, controlled by whoever had me."
Michael
ached for his partner - for this gentle soul he'd grown to trust, to love in a
strange way. "The car's a tool,
Kitt, not you."
"But
he was controlling me!"
With a
soft sigh, Michael pushed himself to his feet and slid onto the silky black
hood. "That's our fault. We didn't give you the protection you needed
- the protection you deserved - but Bonnie's working on it, no one will ever do
this to you again." Turning, he lay
back across the hood, lifting one foot to the sloping edge of the car, pressing
his left palm against the windscreen, staring up at the slatted metal roof of
the trailer. "The thought of you in
someone else's hands, even someone good, someone else like me, is an
uncomfortable one. You're mine, Kitt,
and however possessive, however proprietary that sounds, it's how I feel about
you."
He knew
Kitt was processing that.
"I
wish there was some way I could thank you."
Something
underlying Kitt's voice made Michael clarify, "Thank me?" Kitt wasn't saying what he wanted to say.
"I
mean…." He faltered.
"It's
okay, Kitt, just say it."
I've seen
you hug people when you're happy, or to comfort them."
"And
here I was thinking you didn't hold any store by our odd human
interactions." He let his sarcasm
reassure his partner. "Want to hear
a secret? I wish I could touch you
too. You wouldn't believe the number of
times I've just wanted to throw my arms around you and hug the life outta you." He moved his fingers over the hood in a slow
arc. "This is as good as it gets,
Kitt," he murmured, his meaning vague even to himself.
"Can
you understand how I feel after what happened today?" Kitt enquired, voice
soft.
"Yeah,
I can, Partner. I was as scared as
you. But it isn't going to happen
again." Unnerved, yes. Shaken, definitely. Both of them.
And as Michael was starting to realise, it was going to take a while to
work it all out. It just wasn't beyond
he and Kitt. Nothing was.