Cas came to with a loud gasp that hurt his throat, sitting upright but falling right back down with dizziness. It was too late though, and he managed to roll to the side just in time to cough up bile and the scant remains of his breakfast.

He stumbled to the bathroom and sucked down water gathered in his palm before it came to him that something had woken him, and he ran to his door, clicking the lock over with only moments to spare before he heard Veronica's shrill voice on the other side.

He didn't know how long he'd been out, though it can't have been long. He still felt like demons were trying to pound their way out of his head, but his limbs seemed to have recovered most of their strength. Probably not enough to attempt to fight, though.

He could hear Veronica screeching at Penny and realized she didn't know he was awake. She must have thought he'd locked the door earlier, so Penny obviously hadn't had chance to give her every detail. More worryingly, though, she was questioning whether Penny thought he was 'already dead' from the pills, and what their story needed to be.

He had to get out. He stretched his arms and legs to check they'd hold him up, knowing he'd be running at some point. Still shaky, but doable. It took only a second to see his phone had no charge, but that didn't mean much about how long it had been - it had been low before - and he pushed it under the mattress.

He went to the French door that gave onto the stone balcony. There was nowhere to get handholds, so climbing was out, but the pool was right there. Not exactly close, but he could probably make it. He'd done the same stunt for one of his movies. He made sure the doors were open wide, because he needed a run up, and he could still hear Veronica going at Penny - accusing her of messing up. Strangely, saying that she should never have gone along with Penny's idea. Thankfully, he seemed to be all out of betrayal-reactions so just sighed.

He knew he didn't have time to overthink - and less when he heard Veronica tell Penny to get Farak - the prison warden - to bash the door down.

He allowed himself one deep breath and one deeply-held hope that his legs wouldn't let him down, and then he sprinted right to the open doorway, launching onto the balustrade before pushing off one-footed, giving himself as much propulsion as possible. He shut his eyes - being able to see would do him no good at all now he was in the air.

When he hit, he thought he'd missed. The shocking sharpness of the landing stole his breath as he screamed in the flash of pain, but then he felt the water suck him under. He almost choked then, ironically, laughing that he'd made it, but managed to claw his way back to the surface.

He pulled himself free of the water, only glancing up enough to see that they'd broken his door down - Veronica's face was puce and Penny looked horrified as they peered over the edge of the balcony.

He ran. It would take them moments to get back downstairs. His car was by the door, but he had a memory of tossing the keyfob onto the side table when he'd stormed inside, so that was no use. But if he made it onto the street, he could get to the next house, beg to use their phone.

He'd got to the driveway when the three of them appeared at the front entrance. He could hear Veronica shrieking at Bamada to get him, but he wasn't worried - he could run faster than the brick wall - and even less so when it became clear Bamada wasn't even trying to move quickly, glancing back at Veronica with a concerned stare with every few steps as he slowly approached Cas.

Veronica was frustrated, it was written in every line of her. She clearly got tired of waiting; running to her car. Cas took off again, sprinting for the gate, his legs tiring already. He just had to make it as far as the road. Ignoring the burn in his chest. His jelly thighs. The angry roar of Veronica's engine.

The car screeched as she span it too fast for the tight space. Cas felt his heart jump and stutter, skipping as he pushed to get past the gate, onto the road. He ran, barely able to see, vision still spotty. Straight onto the road, usually quiet, but now a squeal of brakes. He couldn't run anymore. Hoped it was a neighbor. Anyone. Just someone to stop Veronica. Slumped to the rough ground. Too exhausted for more.

* * * *

"You're awake."

Cas opened his eyes slowly - the room too bright and white.

"Looks like it," he muttered dryly. Out of character.

But Ben's voice was too much. The sight of him by Cas' bed, too much. His heart thumped, skipped, a pitter-patter of overwhelming emotion that he forced himself to lock down.

Ben didn't force him to speak. Stayed by his side in silence, his hands resting on the bed hopefully reaching towards Cas' hand but not touching. Cas ignored them for a while, though he accepted the cool water through a straw with a quiet 'thanks'.

Mainly because he had no idea what to say. He knew it wasn't Ben's fault, not really, that he hadn't been in touch, because Penny had pushed him away. But the little devil on Cas' shoulder was jumping up and down and screaming that he could have ignored her.

"Oh my god!"

The scream from the doorway made Cas jump, reminding him that his muscles were aching from the earlier strain.

"Hey Kirsten," he said wearily, going limp while she hugged him.

"Are you okay? Have they given you the all-clear?"

"Uh, I don't actually know." Yeah, he probably should have asked Ben what the doctors had said.

"He's been asleep for eighteen hours," Ben said. "The doctors said it was fine, just him getting rid of the drugs Veronica had given him."

"I just finished with the cops. They want your statement too, Ben, and I said I'd tell you. They're coming here for yours though, Cas, so they're probably on their way," Kirsten said.

"What did they want from you?" Cas asked.

"I was there. I guess you were too out of it. I got your text. It was basically garbage, but a couple of the words were enough to make me drive over. You said 'trapped' and 'drugged'"

"Yeah, you rang me," Ben said, "and you were slurring your words so hard I couldn't understand you. Honestly, I came straight over because I thought you were drunk out of your mind and I was worried about you. I knew something bad had happened because you hadn't phoned me before."

Cas felt a pang of guilt. Sure, he was angry with Ben for not getting in touch, but he'd done the same. Penny had fucked with both of them.

The police arrived then, accompanied by a doctor, who told Cas he'd been drugged with two types of opioids and that he'd been very lucky that the dose had been just below the limit for potentially serious repercussions. As it was, he'd been able to sleep off the effects and shouldn't suffer anything worse than excessive sleepiness over the next day.

The police took down his statement and were very excited to hear he'd recorded as much as he could - saying they could get Penny and they had no doubt she'd roll on Veronica if the recording was clear. They went off after taking Ben's statement too, to get the phone and search the sink pipe for traces of the pills Cas had spat out.

"What now?" Kirsten asked Cas, perching herself on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know. I think I might be broke. Penny said Veronica has been stealing from me. And I don't even know if the contract is broken. It won't be if she gets away with it somehow."

"I might have something on that," Ben said, "I spoke to a friend of mine who's a lawyer now. He pointed out a loophole. The contract only says that you can't sign to an existing agent. If you sign to someone who starts with you as their first client and has never been an agent, it's an escape clause. You could be free by the end of the year."

"Who would do that?"

"You might not want it, now, but I was getting pretty bored with being a runner. I could-,"

"You'd do that? For me?"

"Cee, I'd literally do anything for you. Why do you think I walked away when Veronica threatened your career? Pulled in this guy who was a total dick in school to help? You wouldn't believe the crawling I had to do. Stayed away when Penny told me it was safer for you, even though I ached to sneak back and see you?"

Kirsten yelped as she was unceremoniously dumped off the bed when Cas flipped up onto his knees to grab Ben and pull him close.

"I'm sorry I let her get to me," he whispered, looking down into Ben's hopeful eyes.

"You're forgiven. I'm sorry I let her convince me she knew better about you. No one does."

Cas ignored Kirsten's comedy gagging sounds as he kissed Ben, sinking straight back into the shape of his mouth as if they'd never been apart.

* * * *

In the end, it was far more straightforward than Cas could have dreamed. The media got hold of Veronica's transgressions and eviscerated her. Though she only got community service and it was for embezzling money from Cas and her other clients, she hadn't managed to get everything, so he had plenty of money left and could use some to buy a gorgeous cottage in the Anaheim Hills on several very private acres. Penny served time, because the recording Cas had taken came out very clear, and forcibly drugging people and keeping them captive is frowned upon, even in Hollywood.

And Cas took control of his own career, not even needing Ben to fake being an agent for him, because Veronica well and truly broke the contract herself. He got the part in the drama, and there was already award buzz, even as he waited in the limo line for their turn on the red carpet of the movie premiere. Lila was at home, being dog-sat by Kirsten while they watched the awards on TV.

"You ready?"

Cas turned to Ben, taking a moment to drop a soft kiss and rest their foreheads together.

"As I'll ever be. Are you?"

"When I have you by my side? Always," Ben said, stealing another kiss and taking Cas' hand firmly in his.

"Let's do this," Cas said, exiting the car to face the greeting of hundreds of flashbulbs and the clamoring of fans and press alike. "Fans first," he said, squeezing Ben's hand.

The End