Mark had his eyes firmly on the road as he navigated his car through the dense city traffic. He had left early in the morning, hoping that might help in avoiding the mass of vehicles that he knew would be swarming the road. But since it was Friday, and it was the road leading to the National Mall of Washington D.C, he should have known it would still be slow going.

And this would have been fine. Dense traffic he could handle easily enough. What he couldn't handle was having to steer through the traffic while also arguing with his sister, Cleo, over the car phone.

"Now really isn't a good time, Cleo." Mark sighed as he tried his best to keep his temper.

"It's never a good time for you," Cleo pointed out.

"Well today is a particularly bad time. I'm driving and -- "

"Seriously Mark! I know the two of you will hit it off. She's smart, funny and sweet. And you're a great guy. I showed her a few photos of you too, and let me just say she was more than a little..."

Mark let off a long groan as his sister continued to ramble on the other end of the line. He knew his sister and he knew it was best to just let her finish making her point. Only then could he shut it down.

"… and then she told me she was free on Saturday night. And I know you never do anything on Saturday nights. So, being the diligent sister that I am. I set up a date."

"I really don't --"

"Okay, Mark, seriously. This is your sister speaking and she is telling you it's time you moved on and start dating again. I feel like I spend half my life setting you up on dates with gorgeous women only for you to cancel. I'm like Cher from Clueless, but with a zero percent hit rate."

Cleo was right about most of it, Mark knew that. But that didn't change the fact that Mark just wasn't ready to date again. And really, he wasn't sure if he ever would be. And it wasn't because Mark loved being single or anything like that. The problem was his wife.

Five years ago, Mark's wife, the love of his life, had died in a horrific car accident. Not only was this traumatizing in every way imaginable, but it was made even worse by the fact that Mark saw it as his fault. He was supposed to have been there to drive her, but he had had to work late. His wife had decided to take the wheel instead...

Mark had loved his wife more than anything. She had been his other half, the water to his fire. It had been five, long years and although most men would have moved on by now, Mark wasn't most men. When he fell in love, it was real and he just didn't see the point in dating random women, hoping to find that spark again. In fact, he wasn't even sure that he ever wanted to fall in love again - despite his sister's attempts.

"What's her name?" Mark asked, letting out a sigh. He doubted that he would see the woman, but he wanted to appease his sister. She was the only woman in his life that he could truly say he loved.

Cleo let off an excited squeal. "Tara, her name is Tara. She has blonde hair, long legs and is gorgeous to look at. Like seriously, I forget my own name when I'm with her --"

"That doesn't matter to me," Mark cut in. "What's she like?"

"Oh. Right. I forgot that you were a self-professed romantic. Hmmm let me see... well how about this? Meet her on Saturday and you can tell me what she's like?"

The traffic light turned red and Mark pulled his car to a halt behind a large van. As he did he heard a screech from behind – a large SUV, coming in hot, barely hit the brakes in time. It skidded to a halt within inches of his pick-up truck.

"Saturday? You know I can't do Saturday."

"Oh right, D.C. I'll blame Dallas for that one."

Although Mark didn't want to be in D.C. this weekend, he found himself silently counting his blessings that it had turned out that way. The reason he was down here was for a job. What made it so unique though, was that it was a job that he wouldn’t normally be doing. He was doing a good friend a favor and now, as he spoke with his sister, Mark smiled at the bullet he had dodged because of it.

Two weeks earlier, Mark's sister had been involved in a little trouble.  Mark was actually a cop and would have loved nothing more than to handle the problem internally. But the problem she found herself in extended itself beyond basic law and order. As such, he sought the help of a good friend of his – Dallas. Dallas was an ex-Navy SEAL and worked for a high-end protection agency. He was more than happy to watch Mark's sister for him, while Mark did his best to get his sister out of the bind she was in. However, while Dallas was watching her, the walls came down. The end result was Dallas in the hospital with bullet wounds -- all done to protect Mark's sister. He was alive, but out of action, and of course, unable to work.

As a means to say thank you, Mark had volunteered to cover Dallas' next protection services job. That’s what had brought him to D.C. It was a simple job, just a routine bodyguard gig for an influential politician's daughter. But in reality, it was baby-sitting. The only positive that Mark could really glean from the situation, apart from avoiding this random set-up from his sister, was that it was a chance to say thank you to his friend for saving his sister’s life.

"OK, how about this?" his sister continued. "You're back on Sunday night? I'll book you and Tara in for a mid-week do. That's nice and casual. Kind of a dipping your toes into the dating pool scene – and don't say no. I loved her too Mark. I did, and I still do. But she would agree it's time you got back out there."

Mark let out a long sigh. There was no way that she was letting him off the hook. If it were anyone else, Mark would easily be able to put them off. Mark had always been a pretty strong-willed guy and was good at getting others to see his way of thinking – whether it was through charm or force. But this wasn't anyone else, it was his sister and she was as stubborn as he was.

"OK," Mark relented. "I'll go on one date, if it --

BEEEEEP!

A car horn blared behind Mark, snapping him back to the moment. He looked in his rearview, seeing the SUV gearing up to move forward. The only problem was the van in front of him hadn't moved yet. The car behind beeped again and this time the van finally started to roll forward.

Mark slowly started to advance but the driver of the SUV must have been anticipating a quick take off, because it suddenly rammed into the back of Mark’s pick-up with a crunch.

"What was that?" Cleo asked apprehensively, hearing the sound of crunching metal.

"It was my weekend getting off to a flying start," Mark grimaced as he turned off his car.

"What?"

"Listen Cleo, I'll call you back tonight, okay – please don't do anything until then. Love you."

As Mark hung the phone up, he glanced back into his rearview mirror. The driver of the SUV, a sweet looking, little old lady, was just getting out of the vehicle. She was rubbing her neck and holding her back, looking like the crash had near killed her.

Mark sighed as he prepared himself to face the old lady. He looked at himself in the mirror, readjusting his tie and hair before climbing from the car. As he did, he found himself thinking back to what Cleo had just said, about him needing to get back into the dating world. She was right of course. It just wasn’t easy to start. Not that he had a hard time finding willing dates – quite the opposite.

Mark knew that he was considered gorgeous by the ladies. He had been blessed with near perfect features, and a body that killed; a picture of what most men wanted to be and what most women wanted to be on. He stood over six feet tall and was built like the proverbial brick shit house, with broad shoulders, muscular arms and an ass that made women turn to take another look.

The old lady was hunched over the front of her car as Mark made his way towards her. She still held her neck and back, and looked even more frail up close. After taking a quick glance, Mark saw that it was her car which had taken the brunt of the damage. His pick-up had a tow-bar on the back, and it had all but crushed the grill on the old lady's SUV. The way she looked at it, her face scrunched up and pouting, broke his heart.

"Dear, I'm so sorry," she said when she spotted him. "My darn foot just slipped onto the gas and -"

"Hey, don't worry about it," Mark said as he flashed her a warm smile. She kind of reminded him of his own nana. "Are you okay?"

"Oh!" The old lady caught site of Mark for the first time. The moment she did, her mouth fell slightly open. Mark was actually used to this response when women caught sight of him, but it made him a bit uncomfortable when it was a grandmother. 'Yes… yes, I'm..."

"I can drive you to the hospital if you like?" Although he made the offer, a part of him hoped she would say no. He was running rather late for his first job and didn't much like the idea of being even more behind.

"Aren't you just the sweetest? But that won't be necessary. And it looks like my car took all the damage."

The situation was easy enough to deal with. Although it was the old lady's car that was wrecked, Mark still insisted that they exchange insurance information. Once he had helped her back into her vehicle and made sure that she was on her way safely, he climbed into his own front seat.

Mark let slip a small smile as he buckled up and turned the car back on. That was an easier situation to deal with than it could have been. He wasn't looking forward to his upcoming job. He had heard rumors about the young lady he was commissioned to look after and if reports were accurate, she wouldn't be quite as easy to control.

But hey, maybe Mark would get lucky.