A/N: Ta-da! Another chapter! I am not completely hopeless it seems…

DGM and all of its characters and places are not mine, I just play with them.

Timcanpy trudged behind Lenalee rather despondently. She most certainly was not looking forward to a bath. She had the misfortune of remembering forced dunkings by Allen when she was a golem due to her tendency to find mud puddles and the like and become filthy. Her wings already took forever to dry as it was…

Shrugging off her hopeless demeanor, Tim hurried up a bit to walk next to Lenalee, her bare feet smacking the floor purposely. Shifting the robe and slippers Lenalee had given to her to one hand, she brushed the loose strands of slightly damp hair out of her face before asking Lenalee where precisely they were going.

"Oh," Lenalee said cheerfully, "I found an old bath above the bathing rooms that will be big enough to accommodate your wings comfortably. I had a maintenance worker check it over for you to make sure it should still be functional, and he said it would be after a good scrubbing. So I had it cleaned and it is ready for your use!"

Timcanpy smiled at the happy girl. She worked so hard for the people she cared for, and was really sweet to be going through this much trouble to make sure Timcanpy was well looked after.

"Thank you Lenalee, you didn't have to. It's really kind of you to do this for me… I don't know how I can ever repay you for it, but I will find something!" Lenalee laughed, blushing a little at being complemented so.

"Don't worry about it," Lenalee said, brushing it off, "I know you would do the same thing for me. It's just nice to have another girl around, you know?"

Both girls laughed as they walked down the stone corridor to a flight of stairs, which lead to the standard bathing rooms, then up a floor to the room Timcanpy was to use. Cobwebs were rampant in the clearly unused hallway, but the floor had been swept recently. Older styled lights hung from the ceiling, also having just been cleaned, giving off a pale yellow light, dust motes floating gently in their glow. Few doors punctuated the hallway, and the ones that did were old and heavy looking. Lenalee lead Tim down the hallway to the third door on the right, pushing it open on recently oiled hinges.

As soon as Tim stepped in the room, she noticed the huge basin set in the floor that was clearly a bath of some sorts, but it was big enough to be bordering on a small pool. It had already been filled with water, which was steaming gently in the warm light given off of lamps set in the walls and ceiling. A sink was set in the far wall, as well as a stall that she assumed held a toilet. A shelving unit stood next to the basin, and it held bottles and washcloths and other necessities and items for bathing. A screen was set up in a corner, with a hanging rack for changing behind and hanging things on. To Timcanpy's immense surprise, Miranda was sitting on the edge of the basin, wrapped in a towel, bare feet dipping into the pool and waving about to stir the water. Lenalee noticed Tim's astonishment, and explained to her quickly that she had asked Miranda to help her stretch out Timcanpy's wings seeing as it would require two people to be able to do this properly.

"It is quite alright, isn't it?" Lenalee asked, looking worried.

"Oh, yes, it is quite fine! Don't fret about it, I really don't mind, I promise." Timcanpy smiled at Lenalee, placating her, before turning and greeting Miranda. "Hello, Miranda! It's been quite some time since I've seen you. How are you?"

Miranda looked terribly nervous as well as surprised with Tim's massive wings. She glanced at them uncertainly before looking back at Timcanpy's face.

"Um, h-hello Timcanpy. I am doing well, thank you. You seem… very different since I last saw you." She tittered nervously, wringing her hands. Tim remembered Miranda's panicky demeanor from when she was a golem, and noted to herself to be especially kind to the perpetually worried woman. She laughed a bit at Miranda's comment good-naturedly, it was certainly the truth.

"I have changed a bit since I last saw you indeed! Thank you for agreeing to help Lenalee with my wings, I appreciate it. They are quite sore and are in need of some attention unfortunately."

"You're quite w-welcome, anything I can do to help…"

Timcanpy smiled reassured way at Miranda before turning her attention to Lenalee, who told Tim to go and undress behind the screen and wrap up in a towel so they could start working out her wings. Tim obliged and walked over to the changing area and sat down on the chair behind the plain paneled wood to pull off her boots. Suddenly and completely unexpectedly, a wave of nervousness crashed over Timcanpy and obliterated any feelings of confidence she had. She had the strongest urge to run to Allen. Shaking slightly, she rested her head on the cool stone wall for a moment, trying to collect herself. She realized that she was having separation anxiety, which made sense in a way, but she didn't expect it to be so debilitating.

Sitting back up, she looked down and her hands, curled in her lap. Yes, she missed Allen and was worried about not hearing from him. She had an almost instinctual urge to run to him. The matter of the Bath was not helping either. She hated baths. While she had been considerably calm up to this point about it, she now felt a little panicked. The idea of bathing with other people seemed even less appealing than the actual ritual itself. The worst part was that she knew she couldn't get out of it.

Forcing herself to breathe calmly and attempt to clear her thoughts, Tim finished removing her boots and then worked on the rest of her clothes. Hanging them on the hooks in the wall, Timcanpy wrapped herself in a fluffy white towel carefully so she would not damage her feathers. Taking another deep breath and purging her mind of all thought, she plastered a calm and slightly happy look on her face. She hoped fervently that she didn't fail too miserably.

Walking across the cold floor in bare feet, Timcanpy approached the full steaming basin, which now had Miranda and Lenalee in it. Tim had been so preoccupied with her thoughts she hadn't even heard them get in, which made her feel a little silly since they were both laughing about something and the sound obviously echoed around the slightly cavernous room.

Reprimanding herself silently, Timcanpy smiled at the girls before gingerly sitting down on the edge of the basin, her sore muscles protesting quiet adamantly. Steam curled gently around her toes, then her ankles, and finally her calves as she eased her feet into the wonderfully warm water. Taking in another substantial lungful of air, and completely smooshing all thoughts away in the far reaches of her mind, Tim unwrapped the towel and set it aside, easing herself the rest of the way into the pool.

Any traces of worry, instinct, and stiffness melted away with the wash of water over her body. Timcanpy sighed mightily, relaxing completely, and leaned up against the edge of the bath.

Maybe baths aren't so bad after all she thought to herself, sinking farther into the water. Tim allowed herself a moment to just enjoy the sensation before opening her eyes and paying attention to the rest of her surroundings.

"Tim, could you move to that side of the bath?" Lenalee asked cheerfully, "There is a bar set into the wall that you can hold onto so we don't pull you over while we work on your wings." Timcanpy smiled and obliged, walking through the swirling water, her hair trailing behind her, and positioned herself in front of the bar, hands grasped firmly around it.

While she had relaxed considerably, she was still not looking forward to getting her wings soaked. They were already slightly damp and uncomfortable, but completely wet feathers took ages to dry. Sighing, and trying not to tense up, Timcanpy gingerly lowered her wings into the warm water, grimacing when her feathers lifted slightly due to buoyancy, and stretched the skin a bit tight. She crouched down to completely submerse them, giving herself goosebumps with the sudden rush of warm water over her shoulders. Sighing again (she was doing that a lot lately) Tim indicated that she was ready for the stiff ligaments and tendons to be worked out by Lenalee and Miranda.

Still chatting happily and now including Timcanpy in the conversation, the girls moved in to relive Tim's muscles of her soreness.

Some time later, Timcanpy feeling particularly relaxed and now clean and smelling of lavender and vanilla, sat on the edge of the pool, facing the wall and wrapped in a fluffy white towels. Her wings still hung, floating slightly, in the water. She was waiting for Lenalee and Miranda to bring over a stack of towels so they could pat as much water out of them as possible before air-drying them over heating vents, which was actually Miranda's brilliant idea.

After the girls laid a line of towels side by side on the floor, giggling all the while, Timcanpy leaned forward and heaved her waterlogged wings out of the water, letting them drip over the basin. When they had stopped dripping sufficiently, Timcanpy basically flopped forward on her stomach, carried over by the weight of her wings, which she stretched out perpendicular to her sides. She laughed, thinking how silly she must look, and propped herself up on her elbows to watch Miranda work on her left wing while Lenalee was on the right.

"Lenalee," She said, looking at her out of the corner of her eye, "What does it feel like to fly for you?" Lenalee paused in her ministrations to think for a moment.

"Well, I suppose its like someone is pushing me by my feet, and I have to direct which way to go. If I want to go faster or anything, I just think of it really. I've never actually thought of how it works and whatnot. I just do it." Lenalee replied, smiling softly and looking thoughtful.

"F-Flying would scare me too much, I think." Miranda quipped, and all the girls laughed. That was probably very true.

Bathing now completed and dressed again in warm clothes, the girls headed down to the main hall to sit Timcanpy over the massive vent system that resided on one of the walls. As Tim clopped down the stairs, she played with the end of the braid that Miranda and put her hair up into, thinking how she needed to learn how to braid because it looked like a good deal of fun. She wondered what Allen's hair would look like braided briefly, then giggled at the thought.

The girls reached the main hall faster than Timcanpy thought they would get there, and set Tim up over the vents, fanning her wings slightly. She watched the proceedings with interest, and was happy to see that everyone seemed to be in a good mood even though it was storming outside.

Waving her feet about and leaning forward on her chair, Timcanpy craned her neck to try and see Lenalee and Miranda wait at the window for Jerry to hand them three sandwiches on separate plates with three bowls of slightly steaming soup on a tray. Her stomach rumbled in response and she laughed to herself and sat back, waiting for the two girls.

Timcanpy thanked them profusely when they arrived, and they began to eat. Rather suddenly, a very loud bang came from the kitchen, startling them all, and a cloud of white smoke puffed out of the door. A figure appeared in the cloud, coughing, laughing, and waving a hand to clear away the smoke, which turned out to be flour. When it all settled, it was obvious the person was Lavi even though he had a generous coating of white all over him. The girls looked at each other with arched eyebrows, and smiled when Jerry could be heard swearing vehemently in the kitchen. They watched in amusement as Jerry stomped out and shoved a broom at Lavi and gestured animatedly at the mess.

Around the same time all the commotion was going on, Allen and a few others walked into the hall. Tim's attention immediately zeroed in on Allen, and she waved to catch his attention. Catching sight of her, he smiled broadly and waved back, changing his direction to come over to where Timcanpy and the girls were. When he reached them, Tim gave him a bear of a hug. He laughed appreciatively and patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.

"How are you doing?" He asked kindly, sitting down next to Timcanpy when she scooted over.

"Much better. Lenalee and Miranda are miracle workers." Miranda blushed and Lenalee waved the compliment off, clearly pleased but embarrassed by the praise. Allen was about to say something in return when Komui burst into the hall, robes all a flutter and Reever following behind, looking a little breathless and a bit peeved.

"Exorcists, Exorcists!" He called loudly, "We have a new and urgent mission for you! Reever here will fill you in on it!" And with that he exited as promptly as he came.

Reever watched him bustle out, muttered something, then indicated that everyone needed to come over to him.

When everyone had formed a semicircle around him, he handed out folders to everyone but Timcanpy.

"Sorry Tim," He said to Timcanpy gently. "No mission for you this time. Maybe next time?" Timcanpy gave him a smile in response; she really hadn't expected to receive a mission yet. It was just going to be rather lonely without Allen and everyone else around.

Sighing, she said her goodbyes to everyone as they left the room, leaving it quite empty. Turning, she saw Lavi has only halfway finished cleaning up the flour. Thinking she had nothing better to do now that her wings were mostly dry, she picked up the broom and began to sweep in a steady rhythm, humming softly to herself.

A/N: Whoo. Somehow I managed to crank out another chapter. Lol. Sorry for making you guys wait so long, but updates will be sporadic at best. My apologies….

Anyway. Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter! I appreciate it! And things should be starting to get a little more exciting from here on out- finally haha. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! YOU ALL ARE SO AWESOME.

Peace!

Oh, btw, on my profile are some links. One is a illustration of Fem!Human!Tim and the other is Timcanpy earrings I make if anyone is interested in looking. Thanks guys!