The Not So Lonesome Knight: Mistake at the Motel

The Neby Third Party

Michael and Bonnie had settled into their respective seats with him behind the steering yoke and her reclining in the passenger's seat. Each one wearing a pensive expression and neither daring to look in the other's direction.

The silence is unbearable! A dense and heady aura of stiffness permeates throughout the entire cabin until it is nearly absorbed by the upholstery itself. Its mere presence feels nearly suffocating to the somewhat confused third-party. It is certainly a stark contrast from the previous nights more festive air.

"Michael?" A pause. "Bonnie?" Kitt dares to breaks the absence of sound.

"Yes, Kitt?" They both seem to respond at the same time. It is then, and only then, they hazard the briefest of glances in each other's direction before turning their eyes to the center console.

"Are you both alright?" The question is just a precursor to the more important ones to follow.

"We're fine." Michael grimly answers. His azure hues casually sweep over to examine Bonnie. Even in the sharp flashes of the afternoon sunshine pouring through the windows she was a positively radiant sight. If only he had spoken life to his feelings sooner, maybe, they wouldn't be here in this tense situation.

The brunette apprehensively lets her tongue traverse the terrain of her lower-lip before affirming his reply. "Yes. Kitt. We're..." She didn't want to lamely use the same word Knight did but she couldn't think of another fitting term. "Fine." She settles.

The first inquiry was based on Kitt's intuition, this second one was borne of Kitt's observations. "Your heartbeats are both extremely rapid. Is something wrong?" He knows from research and his programming that frantic heart-rates were indicative of the flight or fight response caused by alcohol, drugs, panic, tachycardia, stress, and caffeine overdoses. His processors take to computing the likelihood of each. Confidently, he rules out the tachycardia because it is unlikely to hit two people at the very same moment. However, that left panic, alcohol, drugs, stress, or caffeine overdoses. With a little further digging, he determines that alcohol, drugs, and caffeine were not to blame. So what was it? He doesn't quite give the two human Flag agents a chance to answer before he tacks on, "does this finding have something to do with the fact that you slept together?"

Michael's jaw falls open at the blunt way in which, Kitt phrased the question. His anxious finger-tips rhythmically tap the steering yoke as he contemplates an answer that would not offend either of his co-workers. His eyes peer out the driver's side window wishing an answer would just up and present itself, written on some passing tree or surface but there isn't one ripe for selecting. So he chews the inside of his lip in careful consideration.

Her pale-rose shaded lips fall aghast and she slumps down further into her seat. Internally, Bonnie thinks to herself, she ought to have known better than to make Kitt so clever! Maybe, she should invent something that would keep him from nosing into her personal business. But what? Arms fold protectively over her chest, her fingers digging into her elbows. "Uhmm, I..." she breathily releases. She didn't want to talk about this with Michael, what made Kitt think she'd want to discuss it with him? Her gaze pries off the console and slips towards Michael in an effort to discern what answer they should collectively give. However, he seems equally as flustered and as lost. Her mind reels to life seeking out ways to get out of this conversation.

Michael was just about to inform Kitt that what happened in that motel room was 'none of his business' when Bonnie speaks up. And boy, he thinks, not a moment too soon as the sweat begins to gather upon his brow.

"Kitt?" She starts, this time sounding more like her natural and more patient self. "Why don't you show us the files we're supposed to review for our meeting with Devon?" Besides, it was best for the three of them to not show up unprepared.

Kitt begrudgingly obliges. Whilst their answers were not forthcoming nor were they forthright, their respective silences spoke volumes. If there was going to be a divorce or break-up between them, he wanted custody of himself first and visitations with both second. But he'd clarify his stance when things didn't feel so heated between them. He allows his vibrant red scanner swooshed side to side, the tv monitor comes alive with a brief static flash. The pixelated image rapidly growing clearer by the second.

Missing person cases weren't all that unusual though they did seem like a matter best suited for uniformed officers of the law rather than territory for the Foundation. However, there were special circumstances surrounding this one as it involved a former Foundation employee and their family. Heavens only knows what knowledge was being requested by the shady third parties and what the said information was going to be used for. No doubt any information garnered from even a former agent would be utilized to carry out nefarious purposes. The files they had been gifted gave little except a hazy timeline of events and a little background on a seemingly squeaky clean employee.