"Hi stranger", Lisa greeted him with a small smile, when he walked into the kitchen, looking for some coffee.

"Hi", he smiled back at her, letting her pull him into a quick hug.

"Coffee?"

"Yes please!", he pulled a mug from the shelf and held it out to her, to be filled with freshly brewed coffee.

"Can we catch up? I haven't seen you at all this week", she asked him.

He nodded and sat down at the table. It was true, he had been with Barry a lot the last few days, even taking a break from working. Mick had used the unplanned vacation to get out of the city for a bit, Len didn't even wanted to know, what his Partner might was doing with all this free time. Lisa was out a lot as well and Barry had speculated, that she and Cisco were somehow getting close, as he had caught them on the phone with each other more than once in the last few weeks. He was ok with that. He actually liked Cisco. He assumed Cisco already knew, that he would break his neck if he dared to hurt his sister. But maybe he should tell him that the next time he saw him. Just for good measure, he mused.

"So, anything new?" he took a sip of his coffee, careful not to burn his tongue.

Lisa blushed but shrugged her shoulders.

"Not really", she said.

He arched an eyebrow, "really? Barry told me, that just yesterday, he saw you picking up Cisco from work. That's still nothing?"

Lisa's blushed deepened and she let her hair fall down in her face to hide her embarrassment.

"Maybe, I don't know, I really like him Len. And to be honest, that scares me. What if I fuck it up again?"

"Yeah, I know, I feel the same about Barry. I guess we have to get our dysfunctional shit together and just suck it up. Every man should count himself lucky to be with you Lis", he reassured her. She smiled at him.

"Same for you", she said.

"Well look at us, settling down and everything", she shook her head in disbelief. "But no double dates, yeah?" she added.

"God no, never, I promise", he laughed.

For a while the sat in comfortable silence, sipping their coffee.

"Are you hungry?", she suddenly asked.

He wanted to say no automatically, but it would have been a lie. He was working on admitting when his body needed food. So he nodded slowly.

"Do you want to eat something?"

"Honestly? No, but I probably should." He was working on telling the truth too.

For a second Lisa's face fell, as he admitted, that he still didn't really want to eat, but she caught herself quickly and put on a neutral expression.

"Anything that you would prefer right now? I was going to make breakfast for myself anyway."

He thought about it for a moment.

"I think I could handle some scrambled eggs or an omelette and maybe some fruit too."

She smiled at him encouragingly, "alright, sounds good. Do you want some veggies with your Omelette?"

On the one hand, bulking his meal up with veggies maybe would proof to be too much for him, he generally was doing better with small portions, on the other hand he knew he needed the nutrition and if he ate now, he was almost set for the entire day.

"Yeah, I can try. It might be too much, though", he told her.

"That's ok, Lenny, we'll see", Lisa said getting up to get the ingredients. She handed him a cutting board, a knife, tomatoes and peppers.

"Cut them into cubes", she ordered and Len rolled his eyes.

"I know how to cook, I teached you, remember?"

She laughed, "no offense dear brother, but your cooking skills are barely good enough to keep us alive, but I appreciate the effort", she teased him.

He huffed, but obediently started to chop the veggies.

He nearly finished all that was on his plate. It did help, that it tasted delicious and that Lisa was relaxed and gave him the space to finish in his own time. He instantly felt better, the light headache that had been pulsing in his forehead creased and the nausea went away with it. He felt something like pride for acknowledging what his body needed and actually letting himself have that.

The last few days, he had thought about what Barry had said about telling Lisa the truth about their Dad. There would never be the right time to shatter her world and to bare his soul to her. His mouth went dry.

"Lisa, I have to tell you something", he said, feeling his heart speed up with the prospect of telling her the things that wanted to stay hidden, that made him feel so ashamed and broken.

She looked at him, her eyes suddenly a shade darker, instinctively knowing that this was something serious.

"This will hurt you and I'm sorry", he told her, looking at his shaking hands. "I never wanted to tell you, but I don't know, I think not knowing hurts us both even more."

"Lenny, you know that you can tell me everything, right?" she answered softly.

He nodded and took a deep breath.

"Lisa, Dad used to starve me", he started.

He went through everything. He told her all about the beatings, the hurtful words, the hunger, the sleep deprivation and that their father had used her to get him to do what he wanted, that he had used Lisa to force him into submission. He even told her, that she was the only reason, he was still alive.

He didn't even stop talking, when the first tears rolled down her cheek. At the end, she was crying heavily, but silent. Her whole body was shaking.

"I'm so sorry Lisa, I never wanted you to know, I never wanted to hurt you. I know how much you love Dad, I never wanted to take that away from you. I just felt that, if you really want to understand what's going on with me, you probably need to know these things", he said guiltily.

She violently wiped away the tears, that still were falling from her eyes.

"Don't you dare to apologize to me", she whispered, "if anything I need to apologize to you. All these years he did that to you and you never said anything? How could I be so blind? I know he was working you like a dog, but I thought you liked it. I was jealous because he spend so much time with you and not with me", she shook her head, took in a shuddering breath.

"I'm so sorry Len, how can you ever forgive me for being such a selfish brat?"

"Lisa, this wasn't your fault, there is nothing you could have done", he told her, "you were a child."

"So were you."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Can I please hug you?"

He nodded and went to pull her into his arms. She squeezed him so tightly, he thought she was trying to break his ribs. Hot tears dampened the shirt on his shoulder and they held each other for a long time.

He was just glad, that she believed him without a doubt, he secretly had been scared, that she wouldn't, that she would think that he was a liar.

"I'm so sorry Lenny. I love you so much. I know you went through this to protect me. But I want you to know, that you need and deserve to be protected too, and I will do anything I can to protect you like you protected me. You are the person I do love most in this world, I want you to know that!"

"I know", he simply said, "listen Lisa, this was exhausting, do you mind if we talk later? I think I need to lie down for a bit."

His head was spinning and the nausea was back, stronger than before. If he wasn't careful, he would loose all the breakfast he had managed to eat earlier.

"Yeah sure", she took one glance at her phone, "I was planing on meeting Cisco in an hour, but I can cancel if you want me to stay?" she offered.

"No, I'll be fine. I think I'll call Barry, see if he's up for a little Lunch meeting", he said, although it was highly unlikely that he would be able to stomach lunch. But he would call Barry anyway. He needed Barry right now.

"Uggh, look at my face, I'm so ugly from all that crying, I think I'll need a shower before I go out", Lisa said.

Len nodded, he probably needed a shower too, he felt tainted from all the dark secrets he finally had dragged to the surface. They squeezed each other one last time and then Len left the kitchen.

Lisa let out a shaky breath, clenching her hands into fists. She was overwhelmed with anger and grief. She was tempted to grab the coffee mugs and haul them against the wall, just to see them splitter and jump into a thousand tiny pieces. But Len would probably hear that and would be upset that he made her upset. So she breathed through the anger, trying to stay calm.

She send a quick text to Cisco canceling their date, with the promise to explain later.

Then she went to take a shower. She dressed into tight black leather pants and a black T-Shirt, that hugged her curves nicely. She then did her Make-Up carefully and at last, she slipped into her leather boots and jacket.

Then she quickly left the house and climbed onto her bike.

Iron heights was just a few miles outside the city.

Her father smiled at her, when she sat down on the other side of the thick glas wall, picking up the phone to talk to her.

"Princess", he exclaimed, "to what do I own the pleasure of seeing you?"

She kept her face straight, even if she was seething with rage and wished nothing more, than to hold her gun to his head. But that was probably better, than he deserved in the first place.

"I know what you did to my brother. After all this years, he finally told me. You are a monster!"

Notes:

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