A/N: I'm so sorry that I haven't updated stalker!! I just thought I'd try something new. It's very Fax…I think you'll like it. The Flock is in Berlin for a meeting with world leaders. After the fourth book. Blah blah blah…it's not a one shot. So yey. Please read and review to tell me if you like it or not! Oh, and it could be the prequel to Adrenaline Rush.

Words are flying out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva

-- Across the Universe by the Beatles

The Flock split three hotel rooms next to each other, with Iggy and the Gasman pairing up, Nudge and Angel in the next, and Max and Fang taking the third room. Running away from the flyboys and erasers had tired Fang out, who quickly changed into sweatpants and a white undershirt and crawled into bed. The spotless, pressed covers were tucked securely around his chin, and he had drifted halfway to dreamland when Max's voice floated back to him. "Can you believe that we're here?"

The silent mutant peeked open a heavy eye to observe his friend, in full day clothes, gazing entranced out their twelfth-story window. Her enthusiasm hadn't waned since they'd stepped out of that plane—if anything, it had burgeoned, absolutely irrepressible. Outside, lights laced the towering buildings like jeweled necklaces. Far below, the streets hummed and glowed with auburn and gold ribbons of car headlights and street lamps. The scene illuminated Max gloriously. Even with her back turned to him, Fang could envision the captivated, stunned look on her face.

"Just look at that. Incredible."

"Max," Fang said, stifling a laugh. "Go to sleep." He glanced at the digital clock on the table between the two twin beds. The red numbers flashed just past three. "We have stuff to do tomorrow. Berlin isn't going anywhere."

"But look at that skyline! It's amazing, isn't it?"

Fang rolled onto his back, sighing, then crawled out from beneath the covers, bringing his knees to his chest. He smiled. "I take it I won't be getting much sleep tonight, either."

"Can you spot the GSW Headquarters from here?" Max rambled uncharacteristically, as she craned her neck and peered at as much of a slant as she could manage. "Maybe…not. Oh, well. We'll see it tomorrow. Those huge sky scrapers are around here somewhere, and over there—see, you can't miss it—the national museum, that Prussian monument, we'll have to see that tomorrow too—"

"And then if we have time, maybe we could even make it to the meeting."

"Meeting?" Max said, unable to pry herself from the window. "Who's meeting? —Hey!"

She spun around as the pillow collided with her back. Fang laughed, preparing to throw another one at her. "If I'm not going to sleep, I can at least make the pillows useful." Grinning, he repeated, "Who's meeting? Great one, Max."

The Flock leader smiled, a hint of embarrassment in the gesture. Taking another glance outside, she slowly removed the baseball cap she had been wearing. She ran her hand admirably over the brim, musing, "It's just overwhelming, being here, you know?"

"Long way from home," Fang agreed quietly.

Earlier, Max had switched off the misleadingly frigid air conditioner and, ridding the hotel room of the artificial humming, threw open the window instead. Fang listened now to the city murmurs below as stray ends of sidewalk conversation twanged between buses' whirring sighs. Even the neon lights crackled with chatty curiosity.

Max, still perched at the edge of the window, breathed in the concrete aroma. For a split second, Edge saw her again with that expression on her face, discontented and yearning for something, anything, better than what she had for the Flock.

"Will you go with me?"

Fang snapped back out of his dalliances. "What, Max?"

"Tomorrow. Will you go with me around Berlin? To visit the sights?"

"Sure." Fang nodded, confused and a bit amused by the request. "Of course I will. You know that."

As she returned his gaze out the window, Max nodded, but uncertainty lingered on her face. Fang had a strange feeling that she could no longer see beyond the glass. "Just promise me something."

"Max, what else would there be to do tomorrow? I said I'd come with you—"

"No, not that." Max rubbed her left hand's fingers together nervously, often like she did before a big fight. Fang noticed it and tried to glance up at her face, but night crowded her expression into the shadows.

"What then?"

"Promise…that you'll go with me."

Fang waited, expecting more.

"Promise."

"I did."

"No, not just in Berlin. Promise that you'll stay with me, Fang." She dropped his gaze, quickly adding, "With the Flock. We're so far from home, but we can't let that change who we are—who we all are—as a core group. I hated it when we were apart. It just felt so…empty…"

Pausing, Fang examined the pillowcase that rested on top of his knees. "We have to be willing to grow. We can't stay sluggish. I mean," he gave a small laugh, "we've really just learned how to live our lives. If we hadn't adapted, we'd still be fumbling around trying to convince each other that we all knew what we were doing."

Max stuffed her hands in her pockets, sulking. "I know we have to grow, Fang. I'm just saying…don't change what the Flock means. What we mean."

The clock clicked closer to four in the morning, which provided plenty of excuses for Max's abstract speech that seemed to come from absolutely nowhere. Fang figured half the words out of her mouth were results of jetlag. Still, if it made Max feel better…

"Max, I promise. I don't know why you're worried, though." He offered a smile, spreading his arms, trying to re-enact the joy his friend bubbled over with earlier. "Look! We're in Berlin!"

A smile flickered across Max's face, and she dropped her eyes momentarily as if to examine her shoes. Rubbing the back of her neck, she allowed softly, "Yeah. We're in Berlin."

Jetlag, Fang reasoned to himself again as he reclined back onto the bed. She just didn't like to fly on planes instead of flying by herself. It had been a long day already, with promises of more work and excitement tomorrow. They were in Germany. He sighed, closing his eyes.

"G'night, Fang."

He was hardly paying attention when Max leaned over—he'd thought he was reaching to set the clock alarm—but when his eyes pulled up Max dominated his frame of vision. Her long, blonde locks accentuated the stark blueness of her eyes, which, beneath the stratus-like line of her eyebrows, seemed to reflect a rising, lunar light. Before Fang could even voice surprise, Max neatly faded into him, placing the wispiest of kisses on his lips.


do you guys want more?

'Cause there's gonna be more whether you want it or not :D

And maybe M rated stuff...because there just isn't enough M-rated Fax stories out there.

:(

anyway, please please PLEASE read and review to tell me what you think so far!!

thanks,

Habs :)