Madam Secretary Prompt: (Thin Ice) Jason, not Piper, was the one who freaked out and decided he wasn't ready.

"My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever" (page 298, Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen).

"Candles!" Jason slapped the back of his head. Idiot! No wonder it was so dark in here, he had completely forgotten. Where would he- Blake.

"Hey, Blake!" Jason grinned at his mother's assistant as he ducked his head into his mother's room. "I wanna watch a horror movie while we wait for the meeting, but shutting off the lights makes it too dark for me to see the food I plan on eating… so, do you know where I could get some candles?"

Blake blinked. "Umm… I don't know- does the Secretary usually let you use candles by yourself?"

"What?" Jason folded his arms "I'm not 2, Blake. I'm 17. I can handle a candle."

"Hehe." Matt giggled from the couch "That rhymed."

Blake rolled his eyes "Okay, yes you can have a candle, just please promise you'll be careful. I don't want you to hurt yourself-"

"You mean like the last time the secretary left you alone with him."

Jason glared at the back of Matt's head. "Yes, but I'm older now, and I'm not a snitch."

"Whatever you say, kid."

Blake sighed and dug a few candles out from a nearby closet. "Which one-"

"These are good. Thanks, Blake!" Jason piled the lot of them into his arms and shot through the door, Matt's smirk following him as he went.

The candles lit the room as gently as he had intended. Piper had cooed over the romantic atmosphere and then they had reached the bed. Jason was so ready. Jason couldn't wait.

Her hand was moving closer. It had reached his belly button. This is going to be great.

Piper moaned in his ear. She felt warm against him.

"I'm ready, Jacey." She breathed out. Her eyes were dark and hungry. She sat up slightly and leaned in to kiss him with warm, familiar lips. This he could do for hours; he moaned into the kiss, drawing her in and parting his lips against hers.

Her hand reached the hem of his boxers. They were dark purple with tiny lightning bolts. Piper's fingers moved slowly, sliding on his skin until they dipped into his boxers. Jason's heart felt cold and clammy, yet somehow beating so fast.

Do something!

Jason gripped Piper's eager hand by the wrist. "You first, Pipe." He spun them on the bed, so that he now hovered above her. He locked eyes with her, smiling in the dashing way he knew she liked. Then he kissed a spot below her chest, pattering kisses into a path down her stomach until he reached the crevice between her thighs. Do it. Don't be a sissy. Just do it.

The knot in his stomach tightened uncomfortably. Trembling hands gripped the inside of each thigh and parted them.

Piper moaned, breathily. "Touch me, Jason, please."

Touch her. Jason blinked away the burning sensation of tears. Her skin was warm and soft beneath him. His fingers were only a few centimeters from Piper's underwear. He should just reach out, slip them underneath.

It should be easier than this. Seamus and Rafiq had gone on and on about how to get in a girl's pants, how to make her feel good, how to…

What if he didn't want to? The tears welling in his eyes were testimony to how much he didn't want to touch her. It's not that he didn't like Piper- he loved her. But the thought of doing that… he couldn't.

"Jason?"

Piper's voice was so gentle, so nervous. Jason felt his face scrunch up. No. No.

"Oh my God! Jason! You're crying. Oh God, you're crying!" Piper immediately pushed herself off the bed and out from under him, pulling the sheet with her as she stood. "Is- did I- are you okay?"

Fuck. Fuck. Stop it. Jason waved his hand frantically in her direction, wiping at his face as he spoke. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

"Jason-"

"I'm fine."

"This doesn't-"

"I can do this!"

Piper swallowed. "It's not a question of whether or not you can-."

"I can."

"Jason, if you aren't ready-"

"I'm ready! I am so ready!"

"Yeah, well that's not what it looks like!"

Jason shook his head, still unable to look up at her. "I know. I just…"

"You just what, Jacey?!" Piper pursed her lips before sighing. "Is it me?" She whispered.

Jason shook his head harder. "No! No! Piper, I love you!" He looked up, letting her see his eyes, colored an angry red. "Don't think that, it's not- I didn't mean for you to take it that way.."

"Look, let's just… put something on." Piper shed the bed sheet and, after rifling through the bathroom supplies, put on one of the two bathrobes she found.

"Here." She tossed him one.

Jason stood slowly. The bathrobe was soft and fluffy and he quickly wrapped himself in it. What type of guy can't touch his girlfriend?

The digital clock on the bedside table glared at the two of them.

Piper lifted her face to the ceiling, took a deep breath, and licked her lips. "I want to know if you were just going to keep going even if you didn't want to."

Jason slumped down on the bed, still facing away from her.

"I need to know if you were going to force yourself to… to have sex with me, if I hadn't seen your face and stopped us?"

"I... I wanted this to be special."

Piper let out a sad laugh. "Jason, special isn't practically raping someone your first time." She shuffled closer to him, her feet tangling in the bed sheet that lay where she had dropped it at the foot of the bed. "Special is doing it with someone you love, when both of you want it, and when both of you are ready." She rested her cheek against his forehead. "I don't want to feel like I'm forcing you."

Jason clung to her, clenching at the fuzz of her robe with tight fingers, and letting his tears dry against it.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Wasn't your fault."

"I'm so sorry. So sorry."

"It's okay now, Jacey."

"I just couldn't, Pipes. I couldn't bear to tell you. You seemed so ready, and I didn't…"

"You didn't what?"

"I didn't think I wasn't ready. I mean, they're always… I mean since sixth grade everyones been doing it and I thought…"

"Yeah."

"... guess not."

"One day, Jason."

"Hope so."

"Know so."

Jason smiled up at her. "You know, I got us some chocolate dipped strawberries-"

"Are you serious?!" Piper let out a laugh.

"What?! I was going for a romantic, straight out of the movies, type of thing."

Piper plopped onto the bed. "Okay, lover boy, bring me my fruit."

"At your service, madam!" Jason gave a flourishing bow.

"I mean, honestly, I'm surprised you didn't go even further. I mean the candles and the fruit… where's my music, Jacey?" Piper teased, dragging her boyfriend by the lapels until he fell on top of her.

Jason smirked, pawing for the remote on the bedside table. He clicked play and the buttery sound of If Only For One Night began curling through the room.

Piper through her head back with laughter. "Oh this is so brilliant!"

Jason smiled, opening his mouth to respond when the room shook violently. The sound of crumpled, slightly muffled, thunder burst through the walls. Jason instantly grabbed Piper and dragged her- taking a substantial amount of blanket and sheets with them- down to the floor beside the bed, covering her body with his.

The room seemed to quiver before suddenly everything became steady once more.

"What the heck was that?" Piper's voice shook.

"I don't know." Jason whispered. He rose up slowly, making sure the floor was steady before he pulled Piper to her feet. "We should clean up though, the DS will be here soon to make sure we're okay."

Piper nodded, dazed eyes lingering on the window. People had begun to run outside, reporters scrambling to their feet to do their jobs.

Jason pulled the bed sheet back across the mattress, tucking it in with more care than he had ever done with his bed at home. Piper gasped audibly at the sight of smoke and hints of debris on the side of the building. With shaky feet she stumbled straight for the toilet, her body trembling as she threw up her breakfast.

"You okay, Pipe?!"

"Yeah. Yeah." She wiped at her mouth with the bathrobe sleeve. "I've just never seen an explosion before."

Jason stared blankly at her. "Explosion?"

"Yeah, look out the window."

Jason glanced in the direction of the window. "I'm sure I'll see it on the news."

Piper looked at him, confusedly, before nodding. "Yeah, maybe you shouldn't. It's an awful sight."

"JASON!"

The couple jumped.

"JASON! PIPER! ARE YOU IN THERE?!"

Without thinking, Jason moved swiftly to the door, cracking it open to soothe whatever was bugging his mother. Behind him, Piper flinched and halfway ducked back in the bathroom.

"Mom, what's wrong. Is everything alright? I heard the-"

"Oh thank God!" Elizabeth looked visibly relieved, a heavy breath escaping her. The desire to envelope her son in her arms near overtook her but the sound of saxophones reached her first.

Behind her, Jay and the DS agents winced in realization, but the Secretary gawked in confusion.

"Is that Luther Vandross?"

The bed still held the chocolate-covered strawberries. And in his haste to clean up, the condoms that had been under the blanket, Jason had simply left to lie on top… in view of his mother.

"Mom." Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Oh. Okay." She looked shocked. And slightly sad.

Jason swallowed.

"Mrs. McCord." Piper squeaked from behind him. "Jason didn't do anything. It was all my idea. I swear… I mean not like something happened, we were just- nothing happened, ma'am!"

Elizabeth gawked at the girl, silently, her eyebrows inching further and further together.

"It's not what it looks like!" Jason shouted before his girlfriend could incriminate herself and him any further.

Elizabeth looked him up and down distastefully

Jason slammed his mouth shut. It wasn't like they were very believable. Both of them were still obviously naked and only covered by matching fluffy white bathrobes.

"Matt. Please have Jason taken to his room, and once he and Piper are dressed, have them escorted to where Blake and I set up the office things." Elizabeth spoke tersely and then, eyes softening, reached out to softly touch her son's cheek. "There's been a bombing. We're going home."

A/N: hey so small flimsy connection my brain may be making here, but correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't Elizabeth and Henry also sit in bathrobes and eat chocolate covered strawberries on their anniversary or something. I mean sure the strawberries aren't exactly original but maybe Jason overheard the planning or some talk and that's where he got the idea. And like what kid listens to Luther Vandross. With Elizabeth's recognition of the music, maybe it's something Henry or her listen to. Lol, kid taking notes from his dad's playbook.