Title: Beautiful Stranger
Rating: PG, may contain a few swear words

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Dark Angel, Cameron & Eglee, etc. I own nothing and I'm gaining only valuable writing experience.
Summary: A short, sappy M/A fic revolving around the Madonna song Beautiful Stranger

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at fan fiction, although I do have several other stories in the pipeline atm. Reviews would be welcomed but please be gentle.

Max's POV:

It's a thumping night at Crash and Max is alone at the bar sipping a beer. Original Cindy has hooked up with some honey in the corner and Sketchy is being beaten at pool yet again, and this time his opponent isn't even a transgenic. Max swivels on her barstool to face the crowd. She watches her friends laughing, happy, normal and it pains her. It seems that she just isn't destined to have a normal life. Max sighs and swivels back to the bar to continue her beer. As she sits and evaluates her life and misery a slower song in the tradition of Crash comes on and the words find there way to Max over all the noise of the bar, as if there floating, trying to tell Max something. Never one to steer clear of cryptic messages Max listens intently to the words and finds a story being played out in her mind.

Haven't we met?

You're some kind of beautiful stranger

You could be good for me

I had a taste for danger

Holy shit, it couldn't be? Ben?

Flashback:  You look like someone I used to know. End flashback

This was Ben's face and Ben's body and Max had seen it all before, well not literally all of it, but this was a stranger and he made it all look so different, he made it look alluring, he made it look beautiful. He was so familiar in looks and yet somehow he wasn't. There was a definite difference in the way he held himself, the way he spoke and in those eyes. She knew nothing about him but felt like she should considering he was Ben's twin. To her he was a beautiful stranger and he could be exactly what Max needed. A breathe of fresh air, the rain cloud in a drought, a life raft when you're drowning, someone to challenge her, push her, love her. Whoa, where did that come from? Alarm bells are ringing when I even consider getting close to the clone of Ben. Ben was dangerous which means there's a chance that this strange could be dangerous as well but then again my whole life is filled with danger, what's one more addition to the juggling act?

If I'm smart then I'll run away

But I'm not so I guess I'll stay

Heaven forbid

I'll take my chance on a beautiful stranger

I've been running my whole life and yet it doesn't seem like the smart thing to do. It's not what I want, I want to stand and fight, get this over with so I can try and live a normal life for a change, so my friends and family can live a normal life, so we don't have to live in fear anymore. My head is telling me that I should be running from you as well but my heart is overruling and I guess I'm staying, I know I'm staying, I need to stay. I have to stop running from my past and from who I am. Perhaps you are part of me? I don't have much luck with loved ones, so I rarely let people I meet get that close but I'll take my chance on a beautiful stranger. It just feels right.

I looked into your eyes

And my world came tumbling down

You're the devil in disguise

That's why I'm singing this song

Those deep irresistible hazel eyes, just one look and I was lost forever. My whole world came crashing down around me. There was no returning from there to Logan or any other human or male of any kind once I'd looked into your eyes. I'd lost myself to you with one simple look and there's nothing I can do to change that and it scares me to death. No matter how hard I try and fight it. What's done is done and I need to accept it. Only trouble is now, so do you.

To know you is to love you

You're everywhere I go and everybody knows

To love you is to be part of you

I've paid for you with tears

And swallowed all my pride

I know nothing about you, you're absolutely nothing like Ben. And yet the more I get to know you the more I grow to love you, without even realizing it. You're everywhere I go, whether that be in body or just in my heart with me. I think about you constantly, even subconsciously, I just can't seem to help it. You are a part of me and always will be. Original Cindy seems to have this sussed out long before I was clued into it. Does everybody know? Am I really the oblivious? My guess is that Original Cindy is just too dam intuitive.

I am in love with you and you are a part of me and I like to think that I'm a part of you. That I'm having the same effect, or even just a lil bit of an effect on you like you are on me. You really have no idea how much you effect me. I've had countless number of battles between my head and my heart trying to determine what I should do over you. I'm not one for crying and yet I find myself crying over you. I guess I'll just have to lose the tough girl image and admit how I feel about you. One-day…maybe.

Da-da-da-dum da-dum da-dum da da da-da dum

Beautiful stranger

Da-da-da-dum da-dum da-dum da da da-da dum

Beautiful stranger

If I'm smart then I'll run away

But I'm not so I guess I'll stay

Haven't you heard?

I fell in love with a beautiful strange

I know I shouldn't be telling you that I love you because it's emotional suicide but I just can't help the way I feel and I can't keep it bottled up inside anymore. You have a right to know…right? I should run from this, I should run screaming and never look back, that would be the smart thing to do. You shouldn't be dragged into my melodramatic live any further. I've done enough to you and yet I can't run. I have to stay I can't bear the thought of not having you in my life and what's even scarier is the fact that I can't bear the thought of you not loving me in return. But I need to tell you and I can't bear that either.  I fell in love with you and there's no going back.

I looked into your face

My heart was dancing all over the place

I'd like to change my point of view

If I could just forget about you

I fell in love with you before I even knew you and once I knew you, even just a little, I fell even further. I'm at the point of no return. That can't be good. Just looking at you, into your face, into those eyes, I fall even more, if that's even possible anymore. Every time I see you my heart goes into overload, it's as if it dances all over the place. I would dearly like to not feel this way because it's wrong and yet every fibre of my being is telling me that it isn't wrong, that this is where I need to be, here, with you, forever. But what if you don't share my view? Would we remain friends? I don't know if I could, knowing how strong and deep my feelings really are for you. But then again I couldn't just cut you out of my life altogether. It would be torture just to forget about that and pretend like there's nothing and I know I just couldn't do that. I'm not that strong.

To know you is to love you

You're everywhere I go and everybody knows

I looked into your eyes

And my world came tumbling down

You're the devil in disguise

That's why I'm singing this song to you

Just when I feel strong, like I could get over you, I look into your eyes and lose myself all over again. My world stops and all I can see is you, all I can feel is my love for you and all I can hear is my heartbeat pounding in my chest. I swear one day my heart's going to explode and I'll die. Maybe you're the devil and that's your plan? It seems feasible, why else would you torture me so?

To know you is to love you

You're everywhere I go and everybody knows

I've paid for you with tears

And swallowed all my pride

I just can't take this anymore. I know you, I love you, you're everywhere and it appears that everyone bar you knows how I feel. How is that possible? I've done enough soul searching, enough crying and I've been through enough pain. I'm just going to suck it up, be a man… in a sense and go and tell you how I feel. At least then I will have closure one way or another. Either we move on together or I move period. I can't be around you and not be with you anymore because it's slowly killing me. It's time to swallow my pride and my tough girl persona and go and bare my soul to you.

Max, who had been in a dreamland since the song began, jumped up from her barstool, grabbed her jacket and races out the door of Crash. She had to find him. The man she's really in love with and has been since she first met him, Alec. Max finds herself running into the night in desperate search of Alec. Now all she has to do is find him.

TBC