Disclaimer: I don't own Castle

AN: this chapter kind of cements the T rating. Yep

Jo laughed against Matt's lips as his hand tunneled under the back of her shirt. She'd left the house early in the morning to go to school but once she'd gotten to campus, she found out the school was closed because of a plumbing problem and instead of making the hour long taxi ride back home, she went to Matt's.

"Having fun back there?" she asked, breaking the kiss to look at him.

"I just feel like any minute your phone's gonna ring and it'll be your parents and you'll get grounded. Again. You know, it was on the news about that toilet blowing up."

She rested her head against his shoulder. "My parents don't watch the news. It makes my mom miss murders." Matt turned his head to look at her, one eyebrow raised. "Solving them," she clarified. "I mean, I think she likes being at home with us but… she misses it. I don't want to make this all about my parents though. We finally have the whole day to ourselves, no homework to worry about, no little brothers and sisters coming to bother us, no crazy parents. We can just be together."

He smiled, hugging her against him. "So what do you want to do?"

She shrugged then kissed him again.

"Mmm," he said against her lips. "I like this plan."

"I thought you would," she whispered. "Do you have a um…" she trailed off, biting her thumbnail.

"A what?"

"Condom," she said quietly.

His eyes widened as he sat up slightly. "Really? You want to?"

She nodded silently, biting her lip.

"I uh… yeah. I have one. Somewhere." He glanced quickly around the room then scrambled off the bed. "I'll find it. You… stay there."

Matt turned his head to look at Jo, who was laying silently next to him, staring up at the ceiling. "Hey," he said, leaning up on his elbow.

She glanced at him quickly. "Hi," she muttered, one of her arms crossed over her stomach to keep the sheets in place over her chest.

"Are you ok?"

She nodded, biting her fingernail. "Yeah. Sure. Why?"

"You're just being really quiet. You're never this quiet."

She shrugged one shoulder. "I just don't have a lot to say."

He opened his mouth then closed it again before speaking. "Do… do you wish we hadn't?"

"No," she said hesitantly. "I don't know."

"What does that mean? You're the one… you wanted to."

"I did," she agreed, nodding. "And then… I didn't."

"Well… why didn't you say something? You could have told me to stop and I would have. You know I would have stopped."

"You were kind of already done by then," she muttered. She sat up, holding his bed sheet over her chest as she searched his bedroom floor for her clothes.

"Jo," he said softly. "Will you stop? Just… stop. Let's just calm down and talk, alright?"

"I don't know what there is to say. Do you know where my shirt is?"

He glanced at the pile of discarded clothes on his side of the bed then looked towards the small pile next to her side. "Right here." He leaned over her to get her shirt off the floor.

She tensed when his chest touched her bare back. "I got it," she told him.

He held up both of his hands as he sat down again. He quickly grabbed her jeans off the floor and tossed them to her then leaned against the headboard. "Do you want to go get something to eat?"

"Yeah, no. I'm not hungry. I think I should just go." She nodded. "I'm gonna go home."

He ran a hand through his hair, looking at the clock next to his bed. "Your parents aren't expecting you back for hours."

"I'm a writer's daughter. I'll make something up. Don't worry, I'll leave you out of it."

"Alright," he said softly. "I love you. You know that, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Me too." She closed her eyes as he leaned over to kiss her cheek and touched his leg briefly then yanked her hand away. "Bye."

"See you tomorrow," he said as she walked out of the room.

"Right," she mumbled. "Bye."

AN: this chapter was really awkward for me to write. Something needed to happen eventually, Rick's been worried about this since chapter one and Matt and Jo were just floating along in their happy little couple bubble and those bubbles always pop one way or another