WOWEE. It has been a while, hasn't it? *dodges more chainsaws* I SO SORRY~

But SOMEHOW, by some ONCE IN A LIFETIME stroke of luck... I convinced my mom to watch the movies with me again. :D I COULD watch them by myself, but my grandparents won't let me and when you're the only one in the house... let's say it can be a little creepy. Not that I don't love Tommy, just... you know. A big guy suddenly running down the stairs with a chainsaw... not the most comforting image to think of when you're alone in a house.

... Yeah I know, I'm a sissy. XD I'M SORRYYYYYYYY~

But hey. To make up for the wait, I wrote you guys an EXTRA LONG CHAPTER in one day. How cool? Well... the beginning two paragraphs were done. I wrote the rest of it JUST today. Can we say horror movie kick comin' up? Why yes, I do declare we can! *is ignored*

Sorry... been watchin' it too much, I've started to sound like it... CHAINSAW GOOD.

Hope you guys enjoy, and the wait for the next chapter shouldn't be so long, I know exactly how I want it to go and I'm excited to write it!

Maya's pounding heart and unspoken curiosity came to an end when Tommy reached both hands forward and wrapped his fingers around both arms of her glasses and slowly sid them off her face. His fingertips brushed just lightly against her cheeks as he did, allowing her to feel the rough texture of his skin. She let out the trapped breath, but immediately sucked in another to take its place. She watched him intently, hoping to learn more about how he was communicating.

He carefully set her glasses down on the table, and then turned back to her. His big, beautiful brown eyes stared at her, not even blinking. His hand reached up, and before she knew what he was doing he'd cupped her cheek on his hand. She trembled just a little, being so close to someone she admired and still just a little afraid of what he might do. His hands were rough, slightly calloused, and still covered in dried blood. His hand moved up, his fingers tracing against her temple, and then he did something she didn't expect.

He smiled. He really, actually smiled. Then he nodded, pulling his hand away.

Maya smiled back, somewhat understanding what he was trying to say. "You... think I look better with my glasses off?"

He waved his hands, then gestured to her glasses, to her face, and back, over and over.

"Oh... you like how I look no matter if I have 'em on or not?"

He nodded, rubbing his head with one hand.

"You were just curious, is that it?"

"Uh-huh." He looked down, then grabbed her glasses again and very carefully put them back on her face, before looking down again. He had his hands in his lap, and wrung them a bit for a minute, then quickly got up and headed for the basement door.

Maya blinked as she twisted her head to look, he was opening the door and starting down. She hurriedly got up to follow, but as she did, she'd turned to catch the door slamming, and a glimpse of Hoyt dragging Bailey into the house. She backed up, trying to follow Tommy, but it was hard to take her eyes off Bailey.

The right side of the blonde's forehead, and all down her cheek, was bloody, and it had dried just a little, plastering a few strands of her hair to it. She was shouting and crying, trying to get away from Hoyt who had what was obviously a painful grip on her. He was pulling her into the kitchen, where Luda Mae was. She'd now spotted Maya and was wriggling desperately, waving and reaching out toward the other woman. "Please!" she screamed, even as Hoyt was dragging her in. "Help me! You've gotta help me, please! PLEASE!"

"Shut the hell up!" Hoyt threw her down, and it looked like this was where Luda Mae came in, to keep Bailey quiet and tie up her wrists to the table. He looked back at Maya, and he didn't move. Just the look in his eyes froze her. "You get goin' down to Tommy now, you hear?"

She swallowed, took a step back, nearly tripped over herself, and bolted toward the basement door. Tommy had shut it after himself, and why in the hell would he, she wondered. Hadn't he seen her following him? She pulled on it, and to her shock - and a little horror - it was locked. "Tommy!" She banged on the door with both fists. "Open the door!"

She heard his chainsaw going at it, and the sound ran shivers up and down her spine. Maybe he was cutting up Alex, and he didn't want her to see... but she'd seen him chopping up that arm earlier. Maybe it was just the whole removing-the-limbs-from-the-body thing he didn't want her to see.

She pounded on the door again, harder this time. "Unlock the door! Tommy! Get up here and let me in!" She slumped against the door, breathing heavily. "Thomas Hewitt, you get up here and open this damn door!"

The whirring of the chainsaw stuttered to a halt, and then she heard Tommy coming up the stairs. The same sound she'd heard when she first met him an hour ago - not horribly loud, as someone would expect from a person of his size. He wasn't in any hurry, just relaxed and walking along.

She quickly moved back, away from her former position of hugging the door, since it opened out. It opened a little, and the edge of Tommy's face peeked out at her. If she had to name what that looked like to her, she would have probably guessed embarrassment. The fingers of one hand were drumming up and down on the door, and there was a skittish look in his eye, like he expected to be scolded or yelled at.

She took a step toward him. "What's the matter, Tommy? Because you told me you liked how I look?"

He disappeared behind the door so that even less of his face could be seen, his head pointing down at the carpet. He was quiet and restless and inert for a long time, it seemed. Finally he grunted softly, nodding just enough that a regular person might miss it.

She smiled and put her hand over his on the door. "Tommy, that isn't anything to be embarrassed about, you know. It was nice of you to tell me that, and it made me feel good."

He snapped his head up, and she could see his eyes again, and he looked almost confused. His hand came up off the door and wrapped around hers. The look in his eyes softened a little, and his hand was warm in hers. His other arm came out from behind the door, and reached out to her face, trailing down from her forehead to her cheek again.

Maya was still smiling, though it did falter a little when her eyes flickered to his hands. Now she realized why they were so warm; he was covered in fresh blood from Alex's body. And he'd just dragged his other hand, also stained with blood, across her face. She took in a deep breath through her mouth before trying to continue the conversation. She was somewhat used to the smell of blood, but this close it was a little overwhelming.

After a minute she was brave enough to try breathing through her nose again, and she blinked at him. He was staring at her, his eyes roving all around her face, and she noticed he was licking his teeth too. His tongue flicked over them slowly, then poked out at his bottom lip. He withdrew his hand and placed it over his chest, where more blood was. He glanced down, then looked back at up at her, and he was smiling again as he was running his tongue over his teeth.

She didn't know what it all meant, but she could take a guess. She wasn't sure if the blood on her face meant he'd somehow, in his mind, marked her as his own, but she could try to interpret everything else. "Do I... Do I look pretty, Tommy?"

His nodding was slow at first, then after a second he started nodding more eagerly. The smile never left his face. He brought both hands up to her face, holding them against her cheeks, even with her hand in one. It was a swift and harsh action on his part, but it didn't hurt. Then he leaned down and pressed his face into that little area between her shoulder and neck, removing one hand and wrapping it on her arm. She felt his mask, hot and a bit rough, but she also felt his skin, wet from perspiration but soft and smooth against hers. She heard him inhale deeply, and then he sighed, almost sounding peaceful.

"You..." She giggled a little, patting his back. "Like my face, Tommy?"

A quick nod into her shoulder, then a kind of contented "mm" sound.

"I'm sure if you ever took the mask off, I'd like yours too."

Again, the "mm", but not quite as happy-sounding this time. More... melancholy, or frustrated. "Uh, uh..." he muttered, blowing out a hot breath against her neck that made her shiver inwardly.

"Think about it? I wouldn't make fun of you."

She felt his cool skin heat up a little, and she had to grin. She'd really made him blush, hadn't she? "Uh... uh... u-uh... uh..."

And then Hoyt had to go and ruin it all.

"Well hell, Tommy!" came his grating, sadistically amused voice. "She's your bonus bitch! You do what you want, whatever it is. Sure she won't mind."

Tommy pulled away immediately, letting go of Maya completely. He very nearly vanished behind the door again, but she grabbed his hand. "Hey you, you wait!" she told him, shooting a glare at Hoyt. It was clear that the bastard had just gotten him all bothered and embarrassed again. "Don't let him get to you, Tommy. What he says, it doesn't matter that much, does it? I know he's your family, but you shouldn't let him upset you like that."

Tommy shook his head violently, and to her he looked about ready to cry. He tried to head back down the stairs, but she kept a firm grip on his wrist. How, she didn't know - adrenaline maybe. "Uh... uh-uh... uh, uh..."

"No, Tommy, it's not okay!" She pulled him back toward her, and reached up with her free hand to run a finger along the edge of his mask. "Getting this upset isn't good for you. You just don't listen to him, okay? He can only get to you if you let him, and don't you ever give anyone that kind of power over you."

Hoyt snorted. "Why don't you get goin' down there, huh? Shut your damn self up for a while, Doctor."

Tommy's hand tensed up on hers, and she glare-pouted at Hoyt. "And would you stop it! He doesn't like bein' reminded I'm a doctor! Why don't you go out and make someone do push-ups?"

"Oh yeah, how 'bout you? What you do, bitch - boy kind or girl kind?"

"Whichever you want me to do, sir. I can do both. But I ain't gonna." She gripped Tommy's hand, trying to give him as reassuring of a squeeze as she could manage. "I'm gonna talk to Tommy. Maybe you oughta go and help Mrs. Hewitt with lunch."

He scoffed. "I don't know 'bout you, bitch, but we already had that. I guess you just gonna hafta wait till supper, ain't you?"

"Fine. I'll survive." She let go of Tommy's hand, but only after nodding at him to make sure he wouldn't leave. "Just spending some time with Tommy should be plenty good enough. Let me starve, I don't care as long as I can be with Tommy."

Tommy grunted, and she looked behind her to see that he was shaking his head at her. "Uh-uh!"

"See." She waved her hand at him. "Tommy'd never let you starve me. He'd make sure I get fed."

Hoyt nodded, but he looked like he was going to test her or something. He had that same look in his eyes that he'd had when he was torturing Dean and Eric - he didn't think she would be able to brave one of their dinners. Frankly she wasn't sure herself, but she wouldn't let him know that and she'd sure as hell try. "Fine. Let's just wait... we'll just see if you can make it to supper, Missy. Down in the basement with my nephew... hell, Doctor Bitch, you ain't stand no chance."

Maya turned sharply away from him, scowling and fuming. Eric was right, he was a damn motherfucker. How dare he try to control Tommy's feelings like this, and insult her, and then try and pass Tommy off as some kind of monster who couldn't control his anger. Granted he didn't have the best temper ever, but she trusted him. She'd be more afraid alone with the Tea Lady than with Tommy.

Speaking of who. When she finally calmed down enough to look back at Tommy, he was staring at her again. He slowly outstretched his hand, palm up, as a kind of offering to her. He gave a hopeful smile, and moved his head like he was nudging something with it. "Uh... uh...hmm...?"

She gave him a smile in return, and placed her hand in his, mentally giggling at the fact that his hand was so much bigger than hers. It was kind of cute, really, how he really was bigger than her in every way. At least that way she knew he'd be able to protect her if he wanted to - it made her feel so safe with him. "Yeah, let's go be alone for a while, Tommy. It's too crowded up here anyway."

His smile widened a little, and his fingers closed around hers, heat enveloping her hand. He took one step down, and nodded to the door.

"Yeah, I'll get it, Tommy." She grasped the doorknob with her free hand, only to find that Tommy had stepped down again and if she didn't as well she'd fall. He'd catch her, of course, she knew that, but it wasn't right to take advantage of him by being clumsy at every chance got. She stepped down and pulled the door shut.

She made an annoyed face at the last thing she heard before closing it. "You two have fun now, you hear?"

Oooh! This was SO much fun to write. They connected SOOOOOO much. Wait... sounding like a Valley Girl...

Okay, okay... TEXAS Chainsaw Massacre, not California Tanning Bed Massacre...

Tommy: Uh, uh... uh... uh... (Is that even a real movie?)

Me: ... Okay, I'm getting it here... TEXAS YES~

Well ain't that sweet! They're gettin' to know each other more and it looks like they got a bond forming. I think this is my favorite chapter yet, it was beautiful and deep and most important, FUN TO WRITE!

The newest one of this shouldn't be too too long, and then the next chapter of "Clouds" hopefully be up soon. I can't really PROMISE, because school starts soon and it will be HECTIC. But I'm going to try my best! In fact, I'll start writing more RIGHT NOW!

... Ah wait... so tired... waaaa~ I promise I'll write more tomorrow, I shall WILL myself to DREAM of Tommy. I hope... or else it'll be that cute little blind boy who I intend to write a story about because he's just so super adorable. Either way it'll be somebody who's nice and sweet and someone I can grin at who won't think I'm a weirdie.

ALSO. And this is a big ALSO so please look at it...

Will hopefully be starting a new Tommy story, beginning with his younger years (CUTE LITTLE KIDDIE TOMMY!) and an OC. If I can get all the PLOT WHAT PLOT? straightened out and figure out how to complete the first chapter. If anyone's interested, it's going to be called "Texas Toast and Other Mysteries".

... Yes... yes, I am lame. BLAME IT ON MY PARENTS AND THEIR INHERENT UN-COOLNESS.

Well, good-bye all! Reviews keep my writing, so if you want more chapters a review is the best guarantee~

Thanks for reading! ^^