Arthur and Merlin were shocked to hear a few days later that Cenred had committed suicide, whist in prison awaiting trial. It had come as a shock to everyone. He had been found hung with his bed sheet. He had even left a suicide note, it seemed he couldn't face another longer spell in prison and was heartbroken at the breakup of his marriage. At least now the two men could move on without the ordeal of the trial. Arthur felt he could breathe once more and no longer had to worry about Merlin's safety.

A few weeks later Merlin decided to drive to the nearby town to get a few extra special items for a meal he was preparing for Arthurs birthday, the next day. Merlin had decided to do a surprise meal and invite their friends. He set off at ten a.m. and was making his way along one of the back roads. There was a sign for road works on the main road, and anyway he loved the smaller country lanes. The road he was on was narrow, with a large drop to one side but it gave the occasional view through the trees across a valley. The sun was dappled as it passed through the trees that completely overhung the road like a tunnel. As he got about half way along he heard a vehicle coming up behind him. But it seemed happy to follow behind.

As he started to go down the hill he applied the brakes to slow down, only to find they didn't work. He was gradually picking up speed, just as he was wondering what to do next the car behind started to pull up to one side of him, and then when it was halfway passed it hit the back corner of his car pushing him nearer the drop at the side. He looked across just as the car hit him again, he lost control and his car went over the edge and started to roll down in between the trees. With that the other car sped away without stopping.

Merlin felt the car roll over and over, he was strapped in well, and the roof held up so he wasn't crushed, but he was still thrown about a far bit. As the car hit yet another tree it stopped rolling and settled onto the driver's side. Merlin was now trapped. He was knocked out and he had a gash to his forehead from the windscreen breaking. After a while he woke and slowly remembered what had happened. He tried to unstrap himself from his chair, but the catch appeared to be stuck and his left arm appeared to be broken, but otherwise he thought he was ok. He had blood running down his forehead but nothing hurt too much although he felt dizzy. He tried to reach for his jacket to get his phone but it has gone over into the back as the car rolled. He sat there for a while hoping that the occupants of the other car would come to his rescue but no one came. The he shouted hoping that someone would hear him, but soon gave that up. The pain from his arm was making him feel sick, but there was nothing he could do, he began to drift off once more. When he woke he started to panic as he realised he was trapped, and that no one would find him. He made himself take deep breaths and concentrated on his predicament. It was now two o'clock and Arthur wouldn't be home for ages. He knew that Gaius and Alice had gone out for the day so if anything was to happen he had to do it himself.

He tried once more to undo the straps but still couldn't do it. Then he realised he needed to sort out his bladder if he could, his abdomen was slightly swollen so he knew he had to do something. He managed to reach the bag that was attached behind his seat. It carried his emergency supplies, He wouldn't be able to do a proper job, but he could probably insert a catheter and leave it in to drain. It would mean he would get wet but better that than damage his kidneys. After messing around for nearly an hour he managed. Having only one good arm made it very difficult. Merlin managed to get most of the urine to drain away from him and he hoped he wouldn't have to wait too long before someone found him. He carefully put a sterile glove over the end of the catheter so it didn't get to dirty.

He then began to try to work out what to do next. He cursed himself for being daft, as he the remembered the car horn and he lent on it. Perhaps someone would come to investigate the noise. He pressed and pressed but couldn't get it to work; something must have got damaged in the accident. He then tried to open a window but the electrics didn't work for that either. He was beginning to have trouble breathing his chest seemed tight, at first he put it down to his panic but it didn't get any better. Then he thought it might be due to the straps holding him, restricting his chest movements. He heard his phone ring but still had no way of getting to it and eventually it stopped.

Merlin was beginning to feel woozy, and very uncomfortable, he found he was drifting off more frequently and began to think he would never be found. Then he remembered he had a pen knife in the glove compartment, and got it out and began to try to cut through the straps holding him in. He hadn't thought what he would do afterwards, but it gave him something to think about. He still kept drifting off but was slowly cutting through the first strap.

Arthur meanwhile was completely unaware of Merlin's plans for his birthday and what was happening to him. He was in the middle of a strategy meeting where the final details of the merger and reallocation was going on. The only downside had been the presence of Uther who had decided to sit in on the meeting. Arthur couldn't stop him he was after all a major stakeholder in the company. They were rationalising the final points before starting the big push on producing their latest product. The product had huge implications for the company, and green technology in general, and they were all expecting big things from it. It was just the sort of thing that kept Arthur's interest going. He loved this part of the job, even having Uther there hadn't spoiled that. The meeting didn't finish until five, but as soon as it did he rang Merlin to let him know he would be late back. Getting no reply he left a message on the answer phone thinking Merlin may have been sorting out his catheterisation process. He would ring when he got to the car. Arthur had warned his husband that he might be late, so he knew the other man wouldn't be worried. Little did he know that Merlin had been trapped in this car since ten thirty that morning.

Uther had been busy over the past couple of weeks; he hadn't had this much to do since he had taken over his father's small business all those years before. He still had contacts from that time. Uther had always been ruthless and determined, not many people knew just how ruthless he could be, and hopefully they would never realise. He had covered his tracks well. In his younger days he had many friends, in what was then called the underworld. They had helped him to get what he wanted and in exchange he had helped them. Now he had called in the last few favours. Cenred was dead and everyone was satisfied it had been suicide. So he couldn't cause any trouble, and by the end of the day he hoped his other problem would be gone. Then he really could retire in peace.

He felt completely safe, he had kept his last favours for years, and there was no way that he would be discovered, he knew far too much about the people who were helping him. What's more the people doing the work knew nothing about him, not even his name. So he could sit back and await the results with confidence. With luck Arthur would settle down with a young lady, and if not, he would have the child from the surrogate to carry on the family name so all was not lost.

Uther sat and smiled as he sat at his club, he had arrived half an hour before after spending the day at Pendragons listening in on the meeting. He hadn't contributed much, but it gave him an alibi that even his children couldn't question.