(no subject)

[gone_byebye]

The side door in the Firehouse alley opened, and Ray looked both ways before stepping through. "We're good," he announced, and led Kitt around the front. "Man. I can't seem to get over the whole 'walking out the door and into the universe I'm supposed to be in' thing. Watch, next time I try to go home alone I'll end up animated again or something similarly nightmarish."

Comments

[gone_byebye]

"No worries. The door opens normally for me when I'm taking another person through. It's only when I go on my own that Bar screws with me- and even then, not every single time. Just enough to make me crazy." He shook his head. "You'll be fine-"

"Good, you're back," said a familiar voice- Egon's. The physicist had apparently been doing something on top of the white hearse; he picked up a screwdriver and hopped down his stepladder. "Kitt, I just finished that last installation. Welcome back, Ray."

[steadfastknight]

"Thank you," said Kitt, nodding as he looked the array over. "I should've been here, but the bar decided I needed to be there. I did finish most of the work actually scripting those device drivers, though."

He thought he got on well with Egon. Kitt thought that, if his personality had an analogue here (given that he, in this universe, had apparently went haywire), it would be Egon.

[gone_byebye]

Egon, for his part, approved of Kitt. There were very few people other than Ray that he could work with without someone rubbing someone else the wrong way; Kitt was one of them. "Good. That was something I wasn't looking forward to in the slightest. I haven't had enough time to learn the system as well as I'd like-"

As he continued to explain the situation, Ray drifted around to the other side of the car. He'd be participating the work soon enough, he knew that, but for now... well, for now he just trailed a hand over the still-warm surface, gently, and smiled. "You okay in there, kiddo?" he murmured. "It'll be all right soon. Everybody's here to help you."

Egon glanced over in Ray's direction, one eyebrow raised, but said nothing.

[steadfastknight]

Kitt smiled. "That's actually a very good idea," he said so Egon could hear. "She can hear him. And there is no end to how heartening it is to have tactile and verbal reassurance. Especially from someone we trust."

We. How could he help but think of them all as we.

"To give the equivalent, it's like a pat on the shoulder from a professor you admire for doing a good job. Even if all you've done is exist."

He carefully placed the laptop on the surface where it'd been before, and he powered it on again, opening the screen. "She's probably missed him."

And oh, was it ever possible to miss them.

[gone_byebye]

Egon nodded. Ray smiled gratefully and continued along the hearse's length, letting his hand run up and down the edge of the bright red tailfins. "I know I missed her," he said. "It doesn't matter how cool the technology was in the world of the Men in Black, or how fast or funky their cars were. They weren't Ecto- were they, girl?"

Ray was a little too caught up in the moment to look anywhere else. It was Egon who nudged Kitt lightly in the shoulder to catch his attention. The taller man pointed silently at the front hazard lights; they were flashing silently on and off.

[steadfastknight]

Kitt's smile became a grin and he lifted his hand to cover it, feeling a surge of pride.

Amazing.

He felt like he really was witnessing... a birth, but a birth of a more spectacular kind than human. There were millions of human children. But how many AIs like this would there be?

He caught his lower lip in his teeth and waited, breath bated, to see...

[gone_byebye]

Ray glanced up, blinking at the change in the tone of the silence. "Is something wr-"

The vowel never even got formed. The blinking lights at the tips of the tailfins caught his attention before it could get that far. And then the tail-lights proper winked on.

And the rear turn signals.

And the headlights.

"Oh, boy," Ray said, taking a half-step back as the roof-lights slowly flared into life.

[steadfastknight]

And Kitt was grinning. He trusted Ecto - trusted she wouldn't hurt any of them, and that there wouldn't be any danger posed to any of them, intentionally. Kitt glanced at the laptop, reached over and tapped a few keys --

And he noticed, pointing it out to Egon, who was close - the CPU activity between files.

Kitt was eager to see this.

But he didn't transform. He didn't change forms because he didn't want to startle her, or come too close to her CPU and spook her while she was being noticeably active.

[gone_byebye]

Egon had to bite back a murmur of surprise, but he nodded to Kitt before looking up again. Ray was still staring at the car, not sure whether he ought to be gobsmacked or overjoyed or what.

There was a sudden spike in the CPU activity readout. Egon sucked in a breath and held it. Ray's hand came up over his mouth-

And then dropped, suddenly nerveless, as the car spoke.

"Daddy?"

[steadfastknight]

He was thrilled. Absolutely thrilled. Of course, he hadn't known what term to expect - Partner, Ray, Doctor Stantz, Father... But he hadn't really expected Daddy.

Yet, he was so happy to see it.

"I think congratulations are in order," he murmured.

[gone_byebye]

"I think a paper bag is in order," Egon said dryly. "He's either going to choke on his tongue or hyperventilate if he keeps making those noises."

A little too thunderstruck to do more than squeak, Ray put out a hand and stilled its trembling against one of the rear windows.

And then smiled, oh, how he smiled....