I've Got Soul but I'm Not a Soldier

Changes

It takes Len a minute to realize where he's at, when he wakes up the next morning – or, rather, later that day since they didn't arrive here until very late at night/early in the morning. He's warm in bed with Barry and there's light seeping through the window, and birds chirping outside. He can hear cars driving past, which tells him he's not at the safe house even if he didn't look around the room.

The safe house is on a mostly deserted road, after all. There's no traffic.

He looks around the room, taking note of pictures and posters on the wall. They are at West's house. Hopefully the detective is not here. They parked around back so the motorcycle wasn't noticeable from the street, and Barry said West would most likely just go straight to bed when he got home, so they shouldn't have to worry about it.

But he smells coffee, and realizes that's what woke him.

Coffee sounds absolutely amazing right now.

His mouth waters. He wants.

But getting the coffee is not a good idea, because this is West's house. For all he knows, this is a trap. So he stays in bed despite the lingering ache for coffee.

But then he realizes he has to use the restroom, and once he's taken notice of the need, it screams for release. So he sighs and carefully extracts himself from Barry, climbing out of bed. Barry reaches pathetically across the bed, frowning in his sleep when his search comes up empty. Len shoves a pillow into his arms and the kid seems satisfied, easily drifting off back into a deeper slumber. Len smiles at the sight for a moment, before the need screams at him again and he leaves the room, heading across the hall toward the upstairs bathroom.

After relieving himself and washing his hands, he tiptoes downstairs, peeking carefully around a corner.

Iris sits at the table in the kitchen, and she's already smiling at him with a fresh cup of coffee. Make that two cups of coffee. She pushes one toward the other side of the table.

"About time," she says.

Len frowns but joins her. "Where's your father?"

"At work," she says. "There was a meeting about thirty minutes ago; he shouldn't be home for at least an hour. Oh, and he totally knows you two slept here last night. Together. In a tangled heap on the bed."

Len staggers, staring at her. "He what?"

Iris laughed. "Yeah, you two aren't as sneaky as you think. He is a detective."

"He didn't wake us...?"

That surprises him, really. He's also surprised the door to the room opened and he didn't wake up; he really must have been tired, but Barry's bed's comfortable, and they did stay up late last night...

Iris shakes her head. "He's not particularly pleased he housed a criminal without being consulted, but Barry's an adult so he can't really ground him."

I grounded him, Len thinks, but says nothing. Instead he merely nods and sits at the table, taking a drink of his coffee.

"I figured it was you moving around up there," Iris says with a giggle, by way of explanation for his coffee, watching him. "Barry can sleep like the dead."

This is true.

The coffee is good.

"I wanted to discuss wedding plans with you," Iris says, and Len fights back a groan.

"Shouldn't you do that with Barry?" he gripes.

"I need your input, too, dummy."

"Lisa can give you my input."