Author’s Notes: A big thank you to Evil Little Dog for the beta.
Jaundice
Bonnie was exhausted, functional only because of a steady influx of caffeine. She was seeing-things-move-out-of-the-corner-of-her-eyes tired which, combined with the caffeine, was doing a number on her nerves. She wanted to go home and nap, but that would just mess up her sleep schedule -- or lack thereof. She needed to finish fixing up the wear and tear on Kitt anyway. That and with the goings on in the kitchen, she was a bit afraid to leave the semi unattended.
Michael and RC were carving pumpkins.
She didn’t want to think about exactly what sort of mess they were making.
They’d asked her to join them and she’d begged off with the excuse that she had too much to do. That was at least partially true, but she also didn’t feel much in the spirit of the holiday. Last year had been too unsettling, with the murder in her apartment building. It had taken weeks before she’d been able to go into her bathroom without any hesitation. Of course it had faded quickly enough, but she was surprised to find that when the pumpkins came out and the Halloween parties started up again, she was feeling uneasy. She’d been closing her drapes as soon as it started to get dark, startling whenever she heard water rushing through her apartment’s pipes, and glancing nervously at the mirror and bathtub whenever she found herself at the bathroom door.
Bonnie tied her hair back in a ponytail and tried to concentrate on the screen as a series of measurements scrolled across it, but her mind just kept wandering. She had enough irrational fears, she didn’t need another one. Especially not a fear of Halloween parties and pumpkins. That was just ridiculous.
The data in front of her stopped scrolling and she was relieved to see that the built in test had passed successfully. She just needed to check a few more things and –
Something cold and wet touched her neck and she caught the movement of something orange over her shoulder. She whipped around and flew out of her chair before her brain could catch up. She found herself facing a laughing RC and grinning Michael. Several less than pleasant remarks jumped to mind. Bonnie managed to hold them back and chose “Not funny,” as the least caustic response.
“What do you mean? That was hilarious, ay, Michael,” RC said, still laughing. He was holding a small carved pumpkin in his hands, its eyes lit by one of Kitt’s spare LEDs in the little battery-powered tester she’d built. “The look on your face was something.”
Michael’s hands were covered in pumpkin slime. Bonnie rubbed the back of her neck and her hand came away sticky. She stared down at the jaundiced pumpkin gore on her fingers. “Really not funny,” she said, grabbing a tissue from the box next to her computer and wiping away the offensive slime.
“Oh lighten up,” RC crowed. “It’s Halloween. It’s fun. When did you become such a stick in the mud?”
Bonnie gave Michael a look that she hoped said something like, ‘When I witnessed a murder, was stalked by the killer, thought I was losing my mind, and was nearly strangled.’ Then she looked back at RC and sighed. “I’m just way too tired for this right now.”
Michael’s grin had faded a little bit. “Come on RC, let’s go clean up the mess.”
“Yeah, okay.” He set the pumpkin down on the top of her monitor and the two of them disappeared again.
Bonnie’s heart was still racing, and she doubled her efforts to finish up so that she could just go home. But even having the pumpkin staring down at her was unnerving. She set it on the table next to her where she hoped she could ignore it.
After a few minutes, she’d calmed down and Michael reemerged from the kitchen, his hands now clean. “Is Kitt ready to go?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah. He’s all set.”
Michael came up behind her, set a hand gently on her shoulder, and gave it a squeeze. “Try to get some sleep, okay?”
“I will,” she answered.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. She glanced up and caught the sincerity in his eyes. He plucked the pumpkin off the table and took it with him as walked down the bay back to Kitt.
Bonnie paused from making an adjustment just long enough to ask, “So does Michael have a date to the fundraiser?”
“Yes, Bonnie,” Kitt answered a bit wearily. These conversations left him perplexed. Before the last three fundraisers, both Bonnie and Michael had independently come to him and asked if the other had a date. They both tried to sound casual, as though they didn’t really care, but the tonal quality of their voices said otherwise. And if they didn’t care, then why did they keep asking?
“Let me guess, a blonde?”
“That’s a safe bet, Bonnie. Sixty-two percent of Michael’s girlfriends have been blonde.”
“And since it’s Michael we’re talking about, there’s no reason to think that number isn’t statistically significant,” she sniped.
As much as he might like to, Kitt couldn’t argue that point. He’d given up trying to understand why his partner dated so many women and just accepted it as a peculiar character trait. Although he was again confused as to why it bothered Bonnie. Michael had asked her out on a couple of occasions and she’d said no. But she always seemed to get agitated when discussing Michael’s girlfriends.
“So is she a Bambi or a Barbie?”
“Her name is Heidi. And she’d actually quite nice.” Kitt kind of hoped that Heidi would be around longer than some of his partner’s girlfriends. She was friendly to him – not all of them were. And she was more engaging than most.
“Oh, I’m sure she’s very . . . nice.”
Kitt detected the sarcasm. He just wasn’t exactly sure what she meant by it. But he could take a few guesses and they weren’t very pleasant.
“Bonnie, I think you’d like Heidi. I do.”
She paused with what she as doing and sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re right. That was catty of me.”
He waited a beat and then said, “If you wanted to go to the fundraiser with Michael, I’m sure he’d be happy to take you.”
She popped up from under the dash, horror painted across her face. “What makes you think I want to go to the fundraiser with Michael?”
“You keep asking if he has a date, so I assumed . . .”
“Trust me, I have no interest in going out with Michael. I was just curious who was going to be sitting at our table. That’s all.” She ducked back under the dash and forced a board into place none-too-gently. The silence that followed was very awkward and it was clear that as far as Bonnie was concerned, the conversation was over. But there was a blush creeping into her cheeks, and based on her vital signs, it looked like she was lying. Or maybe just not being completely truthful.
It was all so confusing. Kitt didn’t think he’d ever understand human mating rituals. Michael often said that women were impossible to figure out and Kitt was starting to see what he meant. Bonnie acted like she didn’t care but she obviously did. And if she wanted to go out with Michael, why didn’t she just say ‘yes’ when he asked her?
But he wasn’t sure that men were any easier to understand. If Michael liked Bonnie, then why did he date so many other women? And with so many women who found him attractive, why would he keep trying to get the attention of one who didn’t? Or at least said she didn’t. The whole thing sent his logic circuits spinning in a hopeless infinite loop. And the part that frustrated Kitt the most was that the two people he trusted the most to help him make sense of the world wouldn’t explain it to him because they wouldn’t even admit that there was anything to explain. Not to mention the fact that he didn’t feel it was right to tell either of them what the other was asking. It felt like he would be betraying their confidence.
So the only thing left for him to do was continue taking in data and hoping that sooner or later he’d have enough information to make sense of it all.
But Kitt had to admit he had his doubts about the probability of that outcome.
------------------------
-knightshade
December 23, 2005
Title: Job Description
Rating: PG
Author’s Notes: Thank you to Tomy for the beta!
Job Description
Bonnie moved the circuit card under the microscope slowly and methodically, following the copper lines along the trace that wasn’t working. She was working almost entirely by the light under her microscope, having turned off the semi’s fluorescents and dimmed the track lighting. Michael was getting some much needed sleep in the office section and she was trying her best not to wake him.
As the various components slid under the lens, looking like the buildings of a tiny city, a small shadow caught her eye. She stilled her hand and took another look, slowly tilting the board in the light. There was a tiny fissure running through one of the little brown, cylinder-shaped resisters. Bonnie glanced over at the schematic on the bench to her right and located the part. Sure enough, a crack there would render the whole path useless. Kitt would experience exactly the sort of symptoms he was seeing. If she had another card, she’d just replace the whole thing, but the only spares were back in the garage. Bonnie flipped the switch on her soldering iron and sat back to wait for it to heat up.
Soldering wasn’t exactly in the typical PhD’s job description. Most of the people Bonnie went to school with ended up in academia where they coordinated research and published papers. Grunt work like soldering was a chore that wasn’t even fit for graduate students. She’d always been more hands on than most in her field – but she never would have guessed that she’d end up with a job where she did a little bit of everything.
Bonnie squirted a stream of water onto a little green sponge and then swiped the tip of the soldering iron across it. The water in the sponge hissed and spat, telling her the iron was hot enough. She pressed a bit of copper braiding between the iron and the end of the resistor. It only took a few seconds for the solder to melt into a silvery pool and wick into the braid. She moved to the other side of the resistor and repeated the procedure.
The truth was she didn’t mind soldering. Unlike much of her job, it didn’t require her to absorb a lot of information or problem solve. It was methodical work that required a steady hand, but her mind was free to wander. And on a night like this, she knew she could take her time and do a good job. She wasn’t in a rush.
Although that hadn’t been obvious when Michael and Kitt first came in.
It had been clear that Michael was not happy about the delay in the investigation – especially not to fix what he considered a non-critical system. Kitt must have locked him in and put the car in Auto to get Michael to come back to the semi. The tension in the air had been palpable, and it hadn’t been long before her own hackles went up. Michael had been pacing around the office like a caged panther asking her every few minutes how much longer she was going to be. But thankfully, he’d flopped down in one of the seats to wait out the diagnostics and his exhaustion had gotten the better of his anger and impatience. He’d been burning the candle at both ends the last few weeks and once he’d stopped moving, he’d fallen fast asleep.
Bonnie removed the broken resistor and got up to find a replacement in the organized rack of plastic bins. It took her a minute in the dim light, but she found the right resistor and sat back down.
Leaning back to avoid breathing in the lead-laden fumes, Bonnie quickly soldered the new part in place. She checked the little mounds of gleaming metal and then clipped the leads on the back side. She plucked a little brush from a bin on the shelf, dabbed it with flux remover, and used it to wash away the burnt residue. Then she inspected the board and cleaned off all of the little dirt and grease smudges it had picked up while being in the car. She had the time, she wanted to be sure the board was in pristine condition before she reinstalled it under Kitt’s dash.
Trying to move quietly in the dark, Bonnie slipped around to Kitt’s passenger door and carefully coaxed it open. Michael was still dosing, his head lolling to the side. She slid into the car and ducked down so that she could see the exposed underside of the dash. The board made a quiet clicking sound as she snapped it into place.
“That should do it, Kitt,” she whispered and sat back up in the seat.
“Thank you, Bonnie. I’m sorry to make you work so late, but I just couldn’t take the chance that we’d need it,” he whispered back.
Bonnie smiled. “I know. It’s okay.” She glanced over at Michael and then rested her hand on Kitt’s dash.
They waited while the system initialized. Then the amber words, ‘Passive Laser Restraint Failure,” changed to green text that read, ‘Passive Laser Restraint Active.’
“It appears to be working now, Bonnie. Thank you.” The relief in his voice was unmistakable.
“You’re welcome,” she answered, directing her comment as much to Michael’s sleeping form as to Kitt.
It wasn’t in a PhD’s job description to solder.
But this was so much more than a job.
---------------------
-knightshade
December 31, 2005
Title: Spare Parts
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don’t own Bonnie or Kitt. I do, however, own Stephen – poor man.
Author’s Notes: Many thanks to Gumnut for the beta. This story takes place pre-series.
Spare Parts
Bonnie looked up and pushed the large magnifying lens back against the bench as one of the other Knight Industries technicians sauntered into the lab.
"I found a replacement for that component you burned up," Stephen said with a grin that she knew was meant to get her goat.
"I didn't burn up anything. That was Evan. And I quote, 'It’s glowing. Is that bad?'"
"Not everyone can be blessed with good common sense."
She rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it."
"You'll laugh about it someday."
"Yeah. So what have you got? These parts are toast - literally."
He gave her a smug grin. "Spare."
"Spare? I didn't think we had any of those."
"Yeah, neither did I, but I started asking around and Jensen had this one hidden away in one of his cabinets." He tossed her a small, boxy component. "Apparently there was some early proof of design work done and Jensen had this left over."
That was surprising. One of the things that drove Bonnie nuts was never having enough spare parts. It was a penny-wise, pound-foolish attempt to keep the Knight Industries Two Thousand project under budget. It was surprising that they'd taken the time to do a proof-of-design phase on a smaller subsystem like this. But she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth either. She started hooking up the test cables to see if it even still worked.
"There is one catch though. According to Jensen it’s an earlier design and Wilton Knight hated it. You’re going to have to modify it with parts from the burned out module to make it look like the new design."
Bonnie shrugged. It was still better than nothing. She applied power, injected a test signal, and was pleasantly surprised when the component jumped to life. She studied it for a moment and then glanced up at Stephen. "I actually like this better than the new design. It’s a lot easier on the eyes.”
Stephen shrugged. “I’m just relaying orders. Jensen said it would be a problem if we used it as is. He was pretty insistent about it, which was actually kind of strange. The whole thing was really strange, now that I think about it. He almost seemed nervous.”
Bonnie didn’t have time to give it much thought. She needed to get the voice modulator back in shape by tomorrow. It really was too bad though. She wasn’t a fan of the flashing red square.
The little canary yellow segmented bars jumped as she applied the test signal one last time.
She wondered what Wilton could possibly have against it.
-----------------
-knightshade
January 6, 2006
Title: Shaking Things Up
Rating: PG
Author’s Notes: Thank you very much to Nutty for the last minute beta. Thanks to Almighty Hat for the information on earthquakes and earthquake protocall.
Shaking Things Up
“It’s one day,” Bonnie said, the frustration building in her voice.
“Of my vacation,” Michael reiterated. He was already regretting his trip to the lab to find her. Kitt had said she’d wanted to see him, so here he was arguing instead of starting his much needed break.
“You’ll still be on vacation. I just need Kitt for a day to run some tests.”
“Kitt needs a vacation too!” He knew that was a flimsy excuse, but he and Kitt were supposed to be out of here tonight and he didn’t want to get caught hanging around. Vacations got canceled all too often.
She rolled her eyes. “It’s one day. You can pack or something.”
Michael shook his head and started for the lab door. “Take it up with Devon if you really need Kitt. Maybe he can plan for a test day when we get back.”
“Michael.” She was right on his heels. “I don’t want –“ She stopped mid-sentence just as Michael was nearly knocked off his feet. It felt like he’d been standing on a pier and a boat had slammed into it. Then he heard the sound of equipment hitting the floor.
Earthquake.
Michael grabbed Bonnie and pulled her against the closed door, curling over her to protect her head while trying to hold onto the frame to keep himself upright. The lights went out, pitching the basement lab into darkness.
The shaking subsided but Michael wasn’t sure if that was it or if he should be prepared for aftershocks or something. Bonnie put a sure hand flat against his chest. “I think it’s okay.”
Michael tentatively stood up a little straighter and backed away, giving her some space. Bonnie had spent most of her life in California – earthquakes were nothing new to her.
“Wow,” he said, not sure if he could really trust the ground under his feet.
“First time, huh?” she asked, the smile clear in her voice.
“Yeah, no earthquakes in Nevada. Did I do okay?”
“Yes.” There was a hesitation. “Next time though, you’re probably better off diving under the lab benches.”
“Sorry. I thought that you were supposed to stand in doorways.”
“You are. But you’d probably have better protection under a bench, especially with the door closed.”
He suddenly felt embarrassed about what was probably an over-reaction on his part.
“But thank you,” she said softly and just as quickly, he felt a bit better.
“So what now, oh earthquake veteran?” he asked, but before she could answer, his comlink beeped. It was so much a part of him that he didn’t even fumble for the right button in the dark. “Hey, pal. Pretty wild, huh?”
“Yes, Michael, most disconcerting. Are you both alright?”
“Yes, we’re fine. Is everyone else okay?”
“From the looks of things, yes. Security is making rounds to try to locate everyone and check for injuries. Devon is in his office and fine as well.”
“How’s the building over our heads?”
“It’s sound, Michael. Although there are power lines down, so you should stay inside.”
“You got it. Let me know if security needs any help.”
“Of course.”
He let the button go on the comlink. “Stay here, or go check on Devon?” he asked the darkness.
“Lingering in the basement probably isn’t the best idea,” her disembodied voice replied.
“Isn’t that going to be tricky? It doesn’t look like the emergency power came on. Will the cardkey lock work?” There was a pad on both sides of the door to swipe a magnetized card through.
“There’s a mechanical release,” she said. He felt her move and then heard a clicking sound. But instead of the door opening, something small and metallic hit the floor. Then Bonnie sighed.
“That didn’t sound good.”
“So much for the mechanical release. It broke off in my hand.”
“Not the best safety feature, huh?”
“Apparently not. It must have rusted through from lack of use. I’ll have to talk to security about it.”
Michael hit the comlink. “Hey pal, is there anything you can do to get us out of the lab? The door’s emergency release is broken.”
“Not without power, I’m afraid. And that might be a few minutes. Security is working on turning on the back up generators, but they need to ascertain that it’s safe first. Are you okay? Should I send someone from security?”
“We can sit tight for a bit. Let them make sure no one’s injured first.”
“I’ll try to get you out as soon as possible.”
“Thanks, Kitt.”
“I guess we sit and wait, huh?” Bonnie said. He heard her slide down to sit against the door jam.
Something occurred to him and he fished around in the pocket of his leather jacket until he felt something smooth and rounded. He pulled it out and flipped the wheel. The lighter made a chalky click before he had a small orange and yellow flame in his hand.
“Let there be light,” he joked and slid down the door frame to sit next to her. Bonnie had one leg tucked under her and the other resting straight out. He bent one leg up so that he could rest the hand with the lighter on his knee. The flame didn’t carry far, but it was better than nothing. He held it up so that it cast a golden hue on Bonnie’s cheekbones and reflected from warm highlights in her dark hair.
“Since when do you carry a lighter?” she asked. “You don’t smoke.”
“There are three things I carry in the inside pocket of my jacket. A Swiss Army knife, a lighter, and my lock picking set. They all come in very handy.”
“Too bad your lock picking tools won’t help. Looks like we’re stuck for a while.”
She nodded, bouncing shadows against the door behind her.
“You aren’t afraid of the dark are you?” he asked.
The glow from the lighter made her smile radiant. “No, and you?”
“Nah,” he said smiling. Then he gave her a sideways look. “Well, maybe. Just a little bit.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
Somehow, despite being at odds not five minutes ago, Michael found that idea appealing. “I used to have a Teddy bear for that purpose, but unfortunately he met with an untimely demise.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, my dog Charger pulled out all of Mr. Binky’s stuffing.”
“Mr. Binky?” she laughed.
“Gimme a break, I was five.”
She gave him a look out of the corner of her eye. “It’s just cute.”
“Better cute than developing a pathological fear of the dark.”
“Well, I’d give you a tour of the lab and check in all the closets for monsters, but I’m afraid it sounded like most of the equipment found its way to the floor.”
“I’ll take a rain check. Or in this case, an earthquake check.”
“So, got any other ideas on how to pass the time?” Bonnie asked, leaning her head back against the doorframe.
Oh, he had ideas. But none that he was going to admit to. Funny how a little brush with a natural disaster really got the blood pumping. It was better to just let that one go. “On long road trips Kitt and I play the movie quote game.”
“Which is?”
“One of us throws out a quote and the other has to guess it.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll go first. Ahhhh, how about, ‘Luke, I am your father.’”
Bonnie rolled her head to the side and just gave him one of those looks out of the corner of her eyes. “That’s not even worth gracing with a response.”
“What? It would’ve stumped Kitt.”
She laughed. “Remind me to update his popular culture programming.”
“Somehow I don’t think that would do any good. I think he deletes out of principle.”
She gave a little shrugged. “I guess that wouldn’t surprise me.”
“I’m always throwing out quotes from action movies and he’s always quoting Citizen Kane or Casablanca or something.”
“Maybe Kitt and I should play.” She gave him a sly look. “Either that or we need to update your high-brow culture programming.”
“Oh no, I’m strictly low-brow.”
“Have you even seen Citizen Kane?”
“Nope.”
“Do you know what Rosebud is?”
“No.”
“We’ll watch it sometime, it’s a good movie,” she said, grinning.
He gave her a withering look.
“I’m serious. I like Star Wars too, but you do live in Tinseltown, you could at least see some of the great old movies.”
“I’m not a fan of old movies.”
“You’ll like Citizen Kane. It’s a good story.”
He gave her an incredulous look, but the reality was watching it with Bonnie would probably make it worth it. “Okay, but only so that I can surprise Kitt on our next long road trip.”
Bonnie was quiet for a moment and then took in a long, slow breath. “Speaking of Kitt and road trips, I’m not looking to start another argument, but I did want to explain. The reason I didn’t want to ask Devon about testing Kitt was that I didn’t want him to get involved. Believe it or not, I was worried about your vacation somehow getting shanghaied. I thought that maybe if we just worked something out between the two of us, and he didn’t know you guys were still here, you’d be able to slip away undetected.” She looked up at him, contrite. “I really didn’t want to ruin your vacation."
He sighed. ”It’s not that I mind, really. I do understand that you need time to run tests on him. It’s just that so often our vacations get cancelled that I’ve gotten to the point where I’m leery about hanging around.”
“I know.”
“If you really need him, I guess I can hang around tomorrow,” he conceded.
She laughed. “You’re just saying that because you know all my equipment’s trashed and I wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway.”
“Thought hadn’t even crossed my mind,” he said, knowing his grin was giving him away.
“Uh-huh. You’re devious, you know.”
“Just when it comes to getting my vacations. You have to –“
He was interrupted as the emergency lights sputtered and then flashed on. A second later his comlink was beeping. “Go ahead, pal.”
“Michael, I can open the lab door now.” There was a sudden click and Bonnie leaned away from the door as he gave it a push open. “Thanks pal.”
“What a mess,” Bonnie sighed, giving the room a once over. Michael turned to see several expensive looking items lying on the floor, surrounded by rings of plastic and glass shrapnel. He reached down and gave Bonnie a hand to pull her up. “I’m going to be here all night,” she complained.
Michael rested a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t think so.”
She just looked at him.
“I have it on good authority that it’s not a good idea to linger in the basement after an earthquake. I think the appropriate response is to find safer ground – particularly safer ground with a VCR.”
Bonnie smiled wanly. “I suppose it could wait until morning.”
“Yes, it could.” He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, leading her out. “Besides, Kitt and I have a long drive tomorrow. I want to surprise him with a few Citizen Kane quotes.”
