The Knight is Still Young

Chapter 43

I can't believe that it's been over a year since I updated this!  Geez that's an awfully long time!   I'm really sorry that it's been that long, but I'm going to post now and I hope that those of you who are still reading this enjoy it!

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A week after KITT's birthday Ashley, Hailey and Mathew returned to school. Of course none of them wanted to, but with all the time off that they'd had already it was necessary for them to go and get their grades up. If they didn't attend enough days at the school they would have to repeat and that would be worse.

Thankfully things there had calmed down, no one was asking too many questions about where they had been or why they hadn't attended school, and Ashley was glad to see her friend Ruth.

'I'm so glad your back.'  Ruth said, hugging her close.

'I'm glad to be back.'  Ashley smiled as she hugged her back before letting her go so that she could look at her as they talked.  'What have I missed?'

'A lot.  It might take awhile to tell you everything.'

'That much?'

'Well you were gone for ages.  Or at least it felt like that.'

'I'm sorry, I missed you while I wasn't here.'

'I missed you too.  It wasn't as much fun without you, but now that you're back we can keep having fun again.'  Ruth beamed at her.

'Yeah!  But shouldn't we be going somewhere?'

'Yes we should, come on.'  The girls took each other's hands and with the promise catching up fully at recess, they walked with their things to class.

Mean while Michael took Hailey and Mathew to see their parents in the hospital.

The kids were both excited and worried to see their parents.  Naturally they were both relieved that finally their worrying could slow down if they got to see that they were ok, but Hailey was still nervous about what condition their parents would be in.  It had been so long...  Would they really be ok?

When they arrived at the hospital, Michael asked a nurse to show them to the Riders' rooms while on the way she explained that the two would be allowed to leave the hospital shortly.  Mathew grinned at his sister, thinking that meant they would be able to return home and live just as they had been before all of this mess started, but Hailey wasn't convinced.  She wouldn't be until she saw her mother and father looking well.  The pair waited with trepidation as they stood outside the door of their parents room.

'Stay here for a moment.'  Michael said gently to the pair before he went inside to speak to the Riders, closing the door behind them.  Michael proceeded to explain them that their children were there to see them, reassuring them that the two children had been kept safe and well while in the care of the Foundation.  Naturally Mrs and Mr Rider were overjoyed to hear that they would be reunited with their children again and wanted to see them straight away so Michael opened the door again and beckoned the pair inside.

Hailey walked in with her brother and upon seeing her parents sitting up in their beds, looking very much alive and well, her face lit up in a brilliant smile.  'Mum!'  She ran over to the side of her mother's bed where the pair hugged each other tightly.  'I missed you.'

'I missed you too, sweetheart.  Have you been ok?  I'm sorry that we couldn't see you sooner.'  Teagan held her daughter close, gently stroking her hair with one hand.

'It's ok mum...  It wasn't your fault.  I'm just happy you're ok.'

'I'm glad that these people were there to take care of you.  I've been so worried about you all.  We had no idea where you were or what had happened to you, until we were told that Mr Knight were looking after you and Ashlyn. How is Ashlyn?  Is she alright?'

'Yeah, she's ok.  She's just at school right now.'  Mathew said.  He had gone to his father for a hug and was beaming.  'We've got lots to tell you.  We made some new friends and they're really great.'  He glanced back to Michael with a grin, hoping he would be allowed to tell his parents all about meeting the members of FLAG, including KITT and KARR.

Michael thought about it for a second then nodded to him with a kind smile.  The kids couldn't be expected to keep such a big secret from their parents forever, and after all this they would continue working closely with the family anyway.  They deserved to know the truth given how they had been dragged into this mess, they had been attacked because of them, so Michael knew they should be told what was going on.  His instincts told him the foundation could trust them.

The kids sat with their parents on the beds and quickly started explaining some of the things that had happened since they last saw their parents, starting with meeting Bonnie, Mr Miles, and RC3.  They wanted to tell them about the cars, but Hailey had thought that maybe it would be better if they waited a while to tell them about that.  She got the feeling that the adults wouldn't believe them if they started telling them about cars that could talk and drive themselves.  Of course they wanted their parents to meet all their knew friends as soon as they were allowed to leave the hospital and Michael agreed.

'Yes, we will have to introduce them soon.'  He nodded.

'You can all come over to our home.'  Hailey suggested, but he was sad to say that wouldn't happen for awhile.

'You won't be able to go home together just yet, even when your mum and dad are allowed to leave here.'

'Why?'  Hailey asked with a frown.

'It might not be safe, so we will be providing you all with another place to stay.'

'Will we get to keep living with Ash?'  Mat asked.

'We'll have to ask Mr Miles about that.'  As much as Michael didn't want to see the three kids split up from each other, he finally had his daughter back and living with him again, and part of him didn't want to give that up so soon.

Regardless of that, Jackson looked up at the FLAG agent with a small smile.  'Thank you for taking care of our children, Mr Knight.  We're grateful that they were so well looked after.'

'We are forever in your debt.'  Teagan said, also looking to him.  'I don't know what would have happened if you and your organisation hadn't been able to help us.'

'There's really no need to thank me, I was just doing what I felt needed to be done.  It was a pleasure to keep an eye on your children, Mrs Rider.'  Even if that task hadn't always been easy, it had been worth it to see the family back together now.

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Alright!  So the Rider family is all back together again, yay!  I was really looking forward to writing that scene because it gives all the characters a chance at some level of normality again.  I know that it's not particularly exhilarating to read, but I hope that you guys liked it and that you can forgive me for going  for so long without updating this book.  With that said, I will do my best to keep updating this as often as I can, now that I'm starting to get back into the groove of this story.  Thank goodness my writers block is clearing a little so that maybe we can get to the bottom of some of those mysteries that are still left to solve.

~ Lexa