*This one is probably one of my favorites so far because well it's based off of "Dead Man Dating." Okay, it has really nothing to do with that episode, but it is the story of Mark and Piper and their road to romance. Oh I had to make Mark a little bit older so that my story would make more sense. So from now on, Mark is 27. All the italics are flashbacks.

Lisa: I was going to have them kiss, but I couldn't write that scene. It was like something was stopping me (maybe because I have their first kiss planned out in my head). Thanks for your review :)

Georgia: I'm trying my best to make sure that Piper is a believable whitelighter. So thank you for saying that she is. And also thank you for your review :)


The minute that I knew that I was alone, I orbed upstairs. I jumped into the shower, hoping that the water would help me clear my head. I actually felt worse now that I knew that Leo liked me. I felt more guilty. I also felt more torn. I felt that I wasn't being fair to Mark if Leo was in my life because I would constantly be thinking of him, instead of Mark. And Leo, I was sort of stringing him along by not ending our relationship, because nothing could happen between us while I was still married.

I got out of the shower more confused then when I got in. As I brushed out my hair, I started thinking of all the good times between Mark and I. More specifically, I thought about when we met about ten years ago.

I was a young whitelighter. I had only been a whitelighter for a few years. I had only one charge, a witch named Wendy, and the Elders felt that I was ready to have another one. A future whitelighter, named Mark. The Elders told me where to find him so I sensed for his location and immediately sensed that he was in danger.

I orbed to his location and realized that he was being attacked by two darklighters. I couldn't see the one's face, but the other I recognized almost instantly. He was my ex-boyfriend Dan (more on him later). They shot an arrow at him and before I could do anything to stop it, Mark orbed in place. This stumped both me and the darklighters. We we're expecting a whitelighter-to-be, not someone with whitelighter powers. Mark too, was shocked. I knew that I would have to ask the Elders about him later, but first I had to make sure Mark lived. I grabbed the athame that I always carried and threw it at the unknown darklighter, instantly killing him. My ex-boyfriend turned to my direction, and growled before orbing away. I didn't have time to dwell on him. I had to focus on my charge.

I ran over to where he stood. He looked terrified. He also didn't look older than 18 years old. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked him. "Who were those people? What did you do to the one? Why did he vanish?" "I'll answer all of your questions, but first we need to get out of here, before the one comes back." Mark nodded and we ran away. He took me to his house. It was a nice house, very big.

His mother saw us approach the house, and instantly started talking to Mark, asking who I was. He told her I was a friend. She angrily started yelling at Mark in Chinese. I stood there awkwardly. After a few minutes, Mark convinced her to let me in. She asked me to stay for dinner, and I kindly accepted. I couldn't remember the last time I had had a home cooked meal. Mark then dragged me to his room. I explained everything to him. He took it surprisingly well.

He kept asking me questions until dinner. But one question will always stand out in my mind.

"Piper, you are extremely beautiful. Will you go out with me?" "Excuse me? I mean it's forbidden. And how old are you anyways?" "I'm seventeen, but I'll be eighteen next week." "Oh."

Luckily, his mother called us for dinner. I was still stumped why this boy could orb and I was also surprised that he asked me out. I mean sure I didn't look that old, but I was way older than him. I could have been his mother. Okay, not really, but still. There was an age difference between us. And I was extremely flattered that he would even ask me. I have never been the girl who got that many dates. I was the nerd in high school. And after that, I wanted a career and not a family, so I never went on any dates. Oh how I wish I could go back and have a family. Anyways, too late to change the past.

After dinner, Mark escorted me out. "Please, Piper think about my offer." I nodded. And told him that if he needed me, all he would have to do was call for me. He nodded and I orbed away. I went "up there" to ask Them about Mark. They were as stumped as I was. And told me to figure out how Mark could orb. I nodded and told them I would tell Them as soon as I knew.

It was many weeks before I saw Mark again. I was still so confused about everything, and I didn't want my confusion to interrupt my job. But I needed to figure out why he could orb. So one day, I went to his house. And after hanging out with him all day, I finally had my answer. His father orbed home in front of me. And instead of listening to him try to explain everything I orbed out. I reported my findings to the Elders and went "home." Okay, I didn't have a home, but I lived on top of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I stayed on that bridge for many hours. Then of course the Elders called for me. After speaking with Them-They gave me a new charge-I went back to Mark's house, and accepted his date offer, even though I knew I was breaking the rules, but I take pride in breaking the rules.

So after that day I started dating Mark. A few months later I realized that I loved him and couldn't imagine my life without him. And I knew that he felt the same way. Three months after meeting him, he asked me to marry him.

"Piper, these last few months have been amazing." Mark said to me during one of our training sessions. The Elders felt that the best course of action was to train Mark as a whitelighter, and once he was ready, he would be assigned charges. We were also secretly dating. "Yeah they have Mark. I'm so glad I was assigned to you." "Me too." He replied before giving me a quick kiss. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself." I blushed.

"Piper, there is something that I want to ask you." "What Mark?" "I know that we haven't known each other very long, but would you marry me?" He asked me while getting down on one knee. I looked at him with shock and nodded my head yes. Before he put the ring on my finger, we were forcefully pulled away from the earth.

The Elders told us we couldn't get married and Mark and I fought it.

"You have broken the rules, Piper. You know that falling in love with your charges is against the rules." "Please, don't yell at her, this is my fault." "Stay out of this half-breed, we will get to you later. Now your love affair is over. You will not see each other again. If you do, then we will recycle your souls."

"Go ahead and recycle our souls, because a life without Mark, is one that I don't want to live." "Careful Piper, we might actually do it." "Or better yet, I'll clip my wings for him. Because there is not way I'm living without him and if you separate us, and erase our memories, we will find a way back together." "What about your destiny as a whitelighter? All the good you're still destined to do? If you clip your wings, then your destiny won't be fulfilled." "If it doesn't include him then I don't want any part of it." "We have a lot to think about." The Elder said and orbed us into separate rooms.

After a couple of hours they let us get married, as long as our marriage never interfered with our jobs. We agreed and we orbed down, told his parents and got married the next day. I never regretted having a quick wedding ceremony, because in the end, I was married to the man I loved. We spent five years in completely happiness. After those first five years, we started talking about having a baby.

"Piper, let's clip our wings and have a baby" Mark said to me one day. I was sitting on our bed reading. I looked up at him and smiled. "Do you think we're ready for a baby?" "Well, I'm not getting any younger. I mean I still age." "Yeah, but once I clip my wings, then I'll start aging as well." "So, we will grow old together, like we planned. And have a whole bunch of kids." "I want that so much." "Good, we will go tomorrow and clip them then," "Okay, sure. But tonight, we should practice for our future as much as possible." I said with a wink.

The next day didn't go as planned. The next day I saved the Charmed Ones. And I got assigned as their whitelighter.

"Piper, we would like to applaud you for all of you work today. If it wasn't for you, then the Charmed Ones would be dead. And since we lost Sam, the former Charmed Ones whitelighter and your personal mentor, we would like to offer you the position. Now, we know that we don't normally, give a new whitelighter such high profile charges, but you are the best one in the field and you definitely deserved it!" "Thank you so much. This is such an honor. I would gladly accept."

The next minute I orbed down home. I think Mark was expecting that I would be wing-less. In all of the excitement, I had forgotten my promise to Mark. I sighed and told him the news. He congratulated me and gave me a hug and kiss. Then he said that we would celebrate so he took me out to dinner. When we got home, we had some celebratory sex and he went to bed. The whole time he didn't speak to me. And when I woke up, he was gone.

I cried that day. It was the first time I ever cried over our relationship. Mark sensed my pain and came home and comforted me.

"Piper, I'm sorry. I was being a selfish jerk yesterday. This is a huge thing for you and your career. Even though it might put a temporary stop to our baby plans, I think that you deserve this. And I don't want anything to change between us. Promise me that it won't" "I promise."

I knew that Mark was happy for me, but our relationship changed drastically after that. Our relationship turned into the one that I was currently in. We have been having the same problems five years later.

This fight basically led me to Leo. Leo. He was the one that was making me cry. Not that it was his fault or anything. How could he have know that Mark said the exact same thing to me?! It was the last time I had hope in my marriage.

If only things were different. Then maybe I wouldn't be sitting here on my bed crying my eyes out. Man, I've done a lot of crying recently.

I composed myself and got ready. Today was Mark's birthday and I needed to go and make his favorite birthday meal. I put all thoughts of Leo from my mind, because after spending the afternoon looking back at my memories I remembered something: a life without Mark was one I didn't want to experience. And I also still loved Mark as much as I did when we first met, and I would do everything I could to help him remember that he still loved me too and that our love was still worth fighting for.