Colonel Keaton (the family ties reference)

 "Please! We have to help them!" Ben yelled at our driver, then he softened, "They're just like we were. We have to, because they tried to help us."
 "They shouldn't have," returned the driver, whose accent suggested Yorkshire? That's where 'Privates' was set, right? He sounded exactly like Private Keenan, "and neither should you.THey still did. And you still will. I just need to finishmy job, then I can help you, okay? That is why we are going to take this turn-off for Glasgow, okay?"
 Ben sat back, gazing out the car window at the M74 as it rushed past. I'm sure it was just as monotonous to him and to our driver as the rest of the drive had been, but for me, every bridge, every slip road, every roadside services station was a landmark that indicated we were just a few miles closer to home, like I'd driven to France and this was us finally in the home strait, course it'd be a whole other set of landmarks from that direction, like Drumlanrig castle and the 'IT' hill.
 "Thankyou, sir," I murmured.
 "Name's Keaton, miss,and you're welcome."
 So close.
 And then Glasgow.

 "Do my parents know I'm home yet?" I asked Colonel Keaton as he led me and Ben through the St Enoch's Centre food court.
 "Yeah, they were notified as soon as the fighting finished."
 "And you're responsible for me until they get here?"
 "Yes. Which gives us a very limited time to get out of here."
 "Take this stuff to go then?" Ben motioned to the KFC meal in his hands.
 "Yeah, let's get going. I think Ben's starting to get recognised."
 "Maybe I should have let the beard grow..."
 "How did you manage that?" Keaton asked.
 "We had a bathroom. They actually treated us pretty well Oh My God."
 They were like a brick wall int front of us, an inpenetrable fortress of awesomeness.
 "Hey there," Guntas greeted us, "You know Rebecca, Alex and Shannen."

 We agreed to travel in two groups: the kids, and the adults. Alex was not someone I'd expected to show up. I guess he'd heard about the adventure and felt like Bilbo just before he sprints out to join the  company. I'd seen their faces, but their heights were not something I'd considered. I began to understand the power of Twitter. I'd thought it was about Ben, thoght everyone had been desperate to rescue him because he was so extraordinary. But here he was, safe and sound and here we all were, off to save the life of a girl I'd never met IRL.
 The text was difficult. I knew I'd be in trouble when I got home, but I hoped that they'd just be so excited to see me that me abandoning them right now would fade into the background. I also anticipated they would attack Ben.
 Then we were on the train, on the way to North Berwick.