A/N: This is what happens when I think about Len while listening to the song Concrete Angel. Do not worry though, I am not following the song exactly (why on earth would I do that?) but this story is inspired by it, so be prepared for some angst, child abuse, and scared kids. Oh, and sad stuff as well, because Len and Lisa had a tough childhood, and Concrete Angel is a sad song...like, a really, really sad song.

For this story, Len is about 20 years old, Mick is 22, and little Lisa is 8.

Oh, and this will be a multi-chapter story. Not a really long one, mind you, but it's not a one-shot.

Lisa was in her domain. The ice rink. Arguably her favorite place in the world. Lisa always got such a thrill every single time she set foot on the ice. It was also the only place where she felt truly free. Whenever she glided gracefully over the ice, Lisa always felt like she was flying. She absolutely loved the feeling. It was addicting.

Lisa loved every second that she was on the ice, but her absolute favorite time to skate was during the half an hour before or after her weekly skating lessons. Lisa had been taking skating lessons for the past two years, and though it was a lot of fun to skate with other kids, she prefered it when she had the rink all to herself.

So every week Lisa would arrive early at the rink and skate around on the ice while she waited for all the other kids to arrive. Then, after their lesson was over and all the kids went home, Lisa would usually continue skating for as long as she could, until the older kids began to arrive for their lesson.

This week was a little different for Lisa though. After the lesson, while all the other kids immediately went to join their waiting parents, Lisa stayed on the ice, as usual. A few minutes later, when all the other kids had already left, Lisa was in the middle of practicing her Waltz Jump when somebody from off the ice called out to her.

"Lisa!" The eight year old smiled at the sound of the familiar rough voice. She skated over to the edge near where two young adults were waiting for her. Her older brother, Lenny, who, as always, looked content to just be watching her skate on the ice. Today though Lisa thought that Lenny's smile seemed a little sad, and that worried her.

Standing right next to her brother was his best friend, (though both of them would deny it) Mick Rory. Mick had been the one who had called out to Lisa. And, unlike Len, he didn't look happy to be there at all. Lisa knew that this was just because Mick was being a baby about the chilly temperature of the rink. He hated the cold.

"You're here early." Lisa commented as she got off the ice, sat down on a bench, and began taking her skates off. She knew that when Len came, it was time to go, unless he said otherwise.

"We need to be home early today." Len said. "Dad's going out of town tomorrow, remember?"

Lisa frowned. Yeah, she did remember. She always had mixed feelings about when their dad went somewhere for 'business'. On the one hand, he was always gone for a few weeks, which meant that she and Len could get a break from him. On the other hand, their dad, who was already a mean and easily angered man, always became even more irritable the night before he left. Len said it was because of nerves or something.

Whatever the reason, Len and Lisa always tried to be especially careful around their father when he was about to go out of town. Even on a good day, Lewis Snart was a scary and dangerous man. Especially when he got angry. On days like this though, he would snap at the smallest little thing that Len or Lisa did wrong.

Tonight though, Lisa was determined to not do anything wrong. She would be a good girl tonight. For Lenny's sake. Lisa looked at her brother and she could see the signs of the terrible bruising that was on his neck from when their dad had gotten angry a few days ago. Len was wearing a turtleneck to try to hide the bruise, but it only covered so much.

"So I guess no hot chocolate?" Lisa asked. Lenny almost always took her to get hot chocolate after her ice skating lesson.

"Not today. I'm sorry." Len said, and he just looked so sad about it that Lisa immediately felt bad about bringing it up in the first place. Len did his best to watch out for her, and give her everything that she needed or wanted. He always felt so disappointed when he felt like he wasn't able to do enough for her. As if he was failing as an older brother.

"It's okay." Lisa said cheerfully. She didn't like it when Lenny got like this. He was an amazing brother, even if he was a jerk sometimes.

"You two can finish your conversation anywhere. Why don't we go someplace a little warmer Mick suggested irritably. "Like Antarctica."

Lisa giggled and Len rolled his eyes. "Stop your whining. We're going." He shouldered Lisa's skating bag and led the way out. "You know, if the cold bothers you this much, why don't you just bring a jacket next time?"

"It's the middle of summer." Mick said. "Somebody would have to be crazy to wear a jacket in this heat."

"Lenny's wearing a jacket." Lisa pointed out. She tugged at the sleeve of said jacket that he was wearing over his long sleeved turtle neck. Lisa wondered, not for the first time, why he didn't seem the least bit bothered by the heat.

Mick smirked. "My point stands." Lisa laughed and Len made a face that was part scowl and part pout. Mick chuckled and threw an arm over Len's shoulder. Len glared at him in annoyance, but then cracked a slight smile.

Lisa grinned to herself as she watched Len and Mick interact. Her brother just seemed so sad and lonely all the time, and he almost never smiled. Ever since he began spending more and more time with Mick though, that had started to change. Mick was the only other person in the world that Lisa knew who could get Len to smile. Other than herself, of course. And for him to be able to accomplish that on a day like this, it was truly impressive, and Lisa couldn't be happier that Len had met Mick, even if they had met in juvie.

The three of them went out to the parking lot and Lisa was slightly disappointed to see Mick's car there. She always liked it when Mick and Len took their motorcycles to pick her up from ice skating. She enjoyed riding in the sidecar of Lenny's bike. Lisa wondered just why Mick had brought his car instead, because she knew that the two of them prefered the motorcycles just as much as she did.

Lisa didn't ask about it though. She just kept quiet and slid into the backseat. The drive home was a quiet one. Mick kept on trying to make conversation, but Len's answers were short and cold. Eventually, Mick gave up trying. It was obvious that Len wasn't in a talking mood. Lisa appreciated Mick's effort though, especially since he usually wasn't a fan of small talk.

The closer they got to home, the more anxious and irritable Len became. He tried to hide how he was feeling, but Lisa saw that he was nervous. And, if the concerned glances Mick kept on throwing Len's way were any indication, he also saw it.

Far too soon they arrived at the Snart house. Mick parked across the street and, for a moment, none of them did anything. Lisa was admittedly kinda scared, but she relaxed when she saw that the driveway was empty, which meant that their father wasn't home now. For some reason, this information didn't calm Len. If anything, it made him more nervous.

Len took a minute to collect himself before unbuckling and opening the car door to leave. Lisa followed his example. Once he was outside the car Len turned back to Mick.

"Thanks for the ride." Len said shortly. "You can leave now."

"Hell no." Mick snorted. "Not gonna happen." To prove his point, Mick turned off the ignition and pocketed the keys. He looked at Len smugly. In return, Len gave Mick an exasperated look, though there was another emotion in his eyes that Lisa couldn't quite identify. Relief? Gratitude? Lisa wasn't sure what she saw, of if she even saw it at all. Maybe she just imagined that look in her brother's eyes.

"Do what you want." Len shrugged. He took Lisa's hand and began to walk to their house. Lisa looked up at her brother, turned her head to see Mick still sitting in his parked car, and then back to Len.

"What's Mick doing?" Lisa asked.

"He's being an idiot." Len muttered, though there was a layer of fondness and appreciation in his voice. He didn't explain any more, and Lisa didn't ask.

The two siblings entered their house which was, as predicted, silent and empty. It looked as if their father really wasn't home yet. Lisa breathed a sigh in relief. Len narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Lisa didn't really understand what his problem was. Their dad wasn't there, which meant they could relax.

For some reason though, Len didn't seem to get this. Instead of becoming less tense, he seemed more nervous that their dad was absent. Len could get quite irritable when he was on edge like this. He never got nearly as mean as daddy did, but Len could still be pretty scary when he wanted to be. Lisa could tell that, despite their dad being gone, Len was in a bad mood, and likely would be for the rest of the night.

Lisa decided to go up to her room to play for a bit. Len seemed like he needed some 'alone' time. Lisa spent a couple of hours by herself, most of which she spent going through her jewelry collection. It wasn't exactly playing, but Lisa found it fun, so it counted. Around 7:00 Lisa noticed how hungry she was, so she went back downstairs to get some dinner.

In the kitchen Lisa quickly made herself a grilled cheese sandwich, which was one of the few meals that she actually knew how to make. Once it was done cooking Lisa took her sandwich and, as she ate it, went to go find her brother. It didn't take long to find him, but as soon as she did Lisa kinda wished that she hadn't.

She found Len sitting on the floor against the wall in the living room. One of his legs was drawn up to his chest, and the other was spread out in front of him. He was constantly tapping one of his fingers on the ground, and he kept on looking up at the clock on the wall anxiously.

Lisa frowned, a slight feeling of fear came over her. It wasn't very often that she saw Len like this (though, according to Mick, it seemed to happen all the time and he just tried to always hide it from Lisa) but whenever she did, it always scared Lisa.

Whenever Len got like this, he could stay that way for a few hours. During that time, he was much more jumpy, but also much less responsive. Half the time, when Lisa saw Len like this and tried to talk to him, he wouldn't even act like he had heard her at all.

"Lenny, are you okay?" Lisa asked cautiously. The tapping of Len's finger paused momentarily.

"I'm fine." The tapping continued immediately, but Lisa still breathed a sigh of relief. At least Len was responding to her. That meant that he wasn't too far gone to his thoughts yet. Lisa took her half eaten sandwich and held it out to Len.

"Eat this." Lisa pleaded. She knew that he hadn't eaten dinner yet, because if he had made food, he would have made some for Lisa as well. And, knowing her brother, he probably hadn't eaten anything all day. If he had, it would have only been because Mick had forced him to. "Please."

Possibly because he couldn't say no to Lisa's begging, or possibly because he was just not in the right mindset to argue, Len took the sandwich. Lisa gave a small, sad smile, glad that she could do at least that much for him.

Lisa sat down next to her brother, took Len's available hand (the one he had been using to tap on the floor) and made it so that his arm was wrapped around her shoulders. Lisa leaned against her brother. She began talking to him. She told him about how school was going. She talked about her ice skating. She just talked about whatever came to her mind because maybe, if Len was busy listening to her speak, he wouldn't become trapped within his own thoughts.

This worked for a while. Len still didn't talk to Lisa, but at least he seemed to understand what she was saying, and she considered that a win. Time passed and, before Lisa knew it, it was nearly 8:30...her bedtime.

Lisa knew what time it was, and that normally she would be going to bed about now, but she couldn't. She wouldn't leave Len all by himself. Not tonight. So Lisa kept quiet about the time and just hoped that Len wasn't aware of how late it was.

...yeah, since when was Lenny not aware of the exactly time?

At precisely 8:30 Len shifted a bit. "It's time for bed, Lisa." He said blankly.

Lisa shook her head and held tighter to her brother. She couldn't go to bed right now. "Can I stay up just a little later? Please?" Lisa asked.

"Not tonight." Len moved his arm so it wasn't wrapped around Lisa anymore. He gave her a small, gentle push to get her moving.

Lisa wanted to argue with Len. She wanted to stay up so that she could make sure that he was okay. She was sure that she could get away with just refusing to go up to her room. After all, Len wasn't in any state right now to force her to go to bed.

But she didn't. Despite desperately wanting to do otherwise, Lisa did as her older brother said, because she knew that she had to. Their father may have not been home right then, but he could return at any moment. If Lisa was still awake when he got home, their father would get very, very angry, and that was the one thing that the siblings wanted to avoid that night.

Lisa sighed in defeat and stood up. She gave her brother one last hug and planted kiss on his forehead. She whispered "Goodnight" and "I love you" to him. Len didn't respond, but Lisa hadn't expected him to. She began to head toward her room, but paused for a moment when she heard Len begin tapping anxiously at the floor.

Lisa frowned and looked out the window. From here she could clearly see the still empty driveway, and she could also see Mick's car still parked across the street. Lisa was glad that Mick was so near, but she wished that he was actually here rather than over there. Mick knew how to deal with Len when he got like this better than Lisa did.

She was almost tempted to go out there and get Mick, but Lisa knew that she couldn't do that either. If their dad came home to find Mick with Len, then they would all be in really big trouble.

Feeling completely helpless, Lisa continued the small trip to her room. Lisa put on her purple and gold pajamas, decided to skip brushing her teeth that night, and crawled into her bed. Lisa's mind was racing and she just couldn't stop worrying. It felt like she would never get to sleep. Eventually though she began to doze off and soon after she fell into a restless sleep.

A few hours later the sound of the front door slamming shut woke Lisa. Immediately wide awake, Lisa sat up in her bed and hardly breathed as she tried to listen to what was going on downstairs. Only a few moments passed before the shouting began, which just confirmed Lisa's initial suspicion that their father had finally come home, and he was mad.

Lisa whimpered and pulled her blanket close. Tears gathered in her eyes at all the yelling, crashing, and just noise in general that was coming from downstairs. She tried to tone out the noise. She tried to think about something else, anything else than what she knew was going on. But she couldn't block out everything, and any noise that was particularly loud or jarring only served as a reminder of just who was downstairs getting hurt, while she was up here, cowering pathetically in her room.

Lisa sobbed quietly and clutched tightly at her pillow. She hated that there was nothing she could do to help Lenny. She wasn't old enough, or strong enough, to stop their father from hurting Lenny, and if she tried then it would only serve to make their father more angry, and then he would just hurt Lenny even more.

The only thing that Lisa could do was sit here and wait for it all to end.

So that's what Lisa did. She sat quietly on her bed, trying to stifle her sobs. She waited, and she listened. She hated hearing all the noises from downstairs, but she listened to it anyways, because how else was she going to know what was going on.

After what felt like forever the noise suddenly stopped, almost all at once. There was no more yelling. No more crashes. There weren't even any thumps. The house was completely silent.

Lisa sat in the silence and darkness with bated breath. Her father's anger had burned out for now. It was all over. Any minute now Lenny would come through that door to check up on her, just like he did every time this happened.

Lisa waited impatiently for her brother, but five minutes passed and he still hadn't shown up. Lisa began to grow afraid. Something was wrong. Len was taking way too long for this to be normal. The silent house that Lisa had found comforting just moments ago suddenly unnerved her. Why was it so quiet? Where was everyone?

...Why hadn't Len come to get her yet?

Unable to take it anymore, Lisa climbed out of her bed. If Len wasn't going to come get her, then she would have to go find him. Lisa slowly opened the door to her room, wincing at the slight squeak it gave off, and left her room. Lisa tentatively crept down the stairs. The lights weren't on, but after sitting in the darkness for so long Lisa's eyes were well adjusted. She could easily make her way around, even with the knocked over furniture and broken vases.

Lisa crept into the family room and froze at the sight that she saw before her. There was a person lying there on the ground, unmoving. It felt like Lisa's heart stopped, because she instantly knew who it was.

"Lenny!" Lisa rushed to her brother's side. She shook his shoulders in an attempt to wake him up, but he didn't respond. "Lenny, you need to get up. Please!" Lisa began crying as she begged her brother to wake up. No matter what she said or did though, it didn't work. Len remained as unresponsive as ever.

It scared Lisa just how still and quiet Len was being. She couldn't even tell if he was breathing or not. If she didn't know any better, Lisa would think that he...that Len…

"No!" Lisa screamed. She desperately held on to her brother as sobs wracked through her body. "Lenny, wake up! Lenny!"

Lisa was focused entirely on her brother that she didn't even notice her father coming up behind her, a broken, bloody beer bottle in his hand.