Bonnie opened the door of her motel room and exited. She felt a little ragged; the pace of the last few days was getting to her. She wondered how Michael must feel. He had seemed near dead on his feet by the end last night - or she guessed it had been technically this morning. She had asked for a wake-up call herself, intending to check in with KITT, but she hoped that Michael was sleeping in a little. He could use the recharge, and he definitely didn't need to be going jogging this morning, not on his twisted ankle.

She walked down to the car and opened the passenger's door. Just in case people were watching, she didn't want to be seen holding a conversation with a car in the motel parking lot. "Good morning, KITT," she said, settling in.

"Good morning, Bonnie."

"Is Michael awake yet?"

"Yes, he is."

"He didn't go jogging, did he? Not on that ankle."

"No," KITT replied. "I intended to try to stop him if he did, but he does show some common sense. Less regarding himself than he does regarding other people, but still, it's some. Normally, he does try to modify his activities as much as he can when he is hurt, as long as he isn't pushed on it. He hates being pushed on just about anything."

She grinned. "I have noticed that a few times. So what is he doing if he's awake already?"

"We did an hour of research on the case, making progress, and then he went in to take a shower and then to call Mary Scott and check on her once it wasn't too early."

She shook her head. He had already done an hour of computer research? The man apparently slept as fast as he liked to drive. She stifled a yawn herself. "KITT, are all of your cases like this?"

"This one has been fairly typical so far," the car replied. "Many of them get worse. Other than the runaway Jeep and then the episode yesterday morning with the two men trying to shoot him, this case has mainly consisted of merely talking. Of course, we have not yet reached the climax of this one. He is hoping to resolve it today."

"I know." She looked at the closed motel room door. "What's he doing now?"

"He left the shower five minutes ago, and he is currently on the phone. Correction, he is hanging up the phone."

"Thanks." She opened the door and stood up, giving KITT's roof a pat as she closed it again. She walked up to the motel room and knocked. "Michael?"

"Come in," he called. She opened the door and walked in. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, still studying the phone he had just hung up.

"How's Mary?" she asked. "KITT told me you were calling her."

"She's fine but worried. Still shaken up over the Jeep on Friday."

"Can't blame her for that."

"No," he agreed. "She also knows that I'm supposed to be leaving by tonight, and that has her rattled. I told her we'd wrap things up by then, but she'll feel better with some tangible arrests. It's hard to come to grips with it the first time you're faced with the fact that there are people out there who tried to kill you."

He was still sitting down, and Bonnie picked up the loosely rerolled Ace bandage from the nightstand and knelt at his feet. He tensed up as she reached for his left ankle, as much in dislike as in pain, she thought. As KITT had said, he hated being pushed on anything. She pulled his sock off and studied the ankle. It was still swollen, obviously offended, but it looked a little better than yesterday. To distract him, she asked the first question that came to mind as she started rewrapping it. "Do you ever get used to it?"

"Get used to what?" he asked. She at least did succeed in drawing his attention away from her current task, and his leg muscles relaxed a little.

"People trying to kill you." She remembered the scene at the storage unit he had been cornered in yesterday morning. She couldn't imagine accepting things like that as part of a day on the job.

He debated for a moment, but he did finally give her an answer instead of a dodging joke. "In a way. You can't ever let yourself get too used to it. Got to keep your instincts sharp, to remember that the enemy is out there. If you ever forget that, you're asking for trouble. But you can't be afraid of it; that cuts down your reflexes. Steals the joy out of life, too. You have to remember, even seeing this much of the bad in life, that there are more good people out there."

She finished with his ankle, pinned the Ace, and put his sock back on over it. "That's a remarkable way to look at it."

He shook his head. "That's the only way to look at it. The only way you can without giving them the victory." He stood up. "Ready for breakfast? We need to have a good one. This is probably going to be a pretty intense day."

Bonnie nodded. "Let's go."