A sequel to Olivia Takes a Bath. Enjoy!

Olivia and Fidget were almost finished with cleaning Basil's living room when Basil came back home for the evening, seeing how his items were organized. "Hello, children," Basil greeted.

"Hello," they greeted back.

Suddenly, Fidget accidentally tipped over Mrs. Judson's vase and he gasped. "Sorry, Basil."

"It's not that big of a deal," Basil assured him, "Mrs. Judson doesn't think it's important to her, anyway, although she was going to get herself flowers. She was far too busy. So please try to be careful."

"You're right," Fidget replied somberly and both of them cleaned the mess up with a broom and dustpan. When they were finished, Fidget found a corner for himself to sit in.

Basil walked over to the bat and bent downward to his level. "Fidget, I know what will make you feel better."

"And what will that be?" Fidget asked.

"Well, you'll find out," Basil replied matter-of-factly with a smile as he offered him his hand.

This made Fidget smile in return. Olivia followed them and they all made their way into the bathroom. A bathroom? Why? How is that going to relieve his stress?! Then they came to a tub.

Fidget tooted. "Excuse me," he said with embarrassment; he was nervous.

"It's okay, Fidget," Olivia said, "We all do that."

"She's right, Fidget," Basil said quietly. "Well, I may as well get the water going." And he did, checking to see if the water was the right temperature, making sure it wasn't too hot or too cold.

Fidget turned away for just a moment. He dreaded the thought of getting a bath at this point. It gave him bad memories.

"What's the matter, Fidget?" Olivia asked as she put one hand on his shoulder.

"This reminds me of when Ratigan tossed me overboard…like garbage, Livy," Fidget answered sadly.

"Well, Ratigan's not here," Basil said, getting up when he finished getting the water ready for Fidget, "But I am sorry to hear that this haunts you." He took off his shoes and socks, revealing his bare feet and set Fidget on his lap to keep the poor little bat calm and steady.

Yet Fidget thought this meant something else, meaning that he thought Basil was going to beat him as Ratigan would, so Fidget started to bawl, making a River Thames from Basil's trousers all the way into the tub. "I'm not going to hit you if that's what you're worried about," Basil assured him as he rubbed his back, "I don't believe in corporal punishment like Ratigan does and neither does Olivia."

At this, Olivia nodded in agreement.

To Olivia, he said, "Olivia, could you get me a back scratcher, please?"

Olivia nodded and found a back scratcher lying on the living room table. "This will settle Fidget down," Olivia said to herself and headed straight back to the bathroom. "Here, Basil, here's a back scratcher." Then, she handed Fidget a tissue.

Fidget dried his eyes and blew his nose until he finally stopped crying. "Whenever Ratigan beat me, I farted because I was so scared," Fidget confessed.

Basil nodded. "Your boss may have beaten you in the past, but can he do this?" he said thoughtfully; he wanted Fidget to feel better. Having this spoken, he carefully stroked Fidget's back with a back scratcher, making Fidget chuckle a breathy chuckle.

"Stop, Basil!" Fidget giggled, "It tickles!"

"I just started," said Basil, "It seems to me more like you enjoy it." He, himself, laughed inwardly.

"He might be checking out for buggies, Fidget," Olivia said, also giggling, "Because they must like you."

The bat felt the gentleness on his back increase with each scratch…and it wasn't stopping. How could he help it? It was fun and stress relieving. Nothing like a good back scratch to settle him down.

"I think you should stop now, Basil," Olivia commanded after a while.

"Oh, no sense letting him die of laughter," Basil said, passing the back scratcher back to Olivia and the two mice gave him time to breathe.

In case Fidget passed out, Olivia quickly fixed up a glass of water and gave it to Fidget. The bat cautiously sipped the water and continued to respire before he got ready for his bath, but suddenly, he became sleepy, so he went to sleep on Basil's lap.

"Uh, oh," Olivia whispered pleasantly, "It looks like you put him under a sleeping spell."

"Oh, I did?" Basil said, bewildered by what he'd done, but looked down to see Fidget, smiling comfortably during the process.

Fidget's nap lasted for twelve minutes.

The girl mouse turned to Basil. "Basil, do you think we should wake him up?"

"I will," replied Basil. To Fidget, he whispered gently, "Fidget, wake up." This did not work, so he suggested, "You try. This isn't working for me."

"Fidget, wakey wakey." Olivia patted Fidget's back, doing her best to awaken him. "This is no time for a nap; it's wake up time, silly bat."

The bat woke up with a start, confused by what was happening. "What…what's going on?"

"You fell asleep on my lap," Basil stated.

"Oh, I was resting my eyes," said Fidget.

"I think you did more than that," Basil corrected.

"Oh, I did?"

"Yes, I heard you snoring. Not to worry. It wasn't really that loud. You seemed to have slept like a bear, nevertheless."

The mouse detective placed him on the floor and he and Olivia left, so Fidget could get set to take his bath. Completely naked and slightly embarrassed over being undressed, Fidget wrapped himself with his wings and stepped into the tub, filled with bubbles. He was enjoying his bath until he had soap in his eyes. "Aaaaaaah!" he screamed.

Shocked by Fidget's scream, Basil and Olivia rushed back to the bathroom to see what was wrong with the bat.

"Fidget, what's wrong?" Basil asked. "Did you get soap in your eye?"

"Yes," Fidget sniffled.

"Here," Basil said, handing Fidget a cup of clean water to wash out the soap in Fidget's eyes, "It'll wash out the soap in your eyes."

Eyes closed, Fidget poured water into his sudsy eyeballs, cleansing away the soap.

With that taken care of, Basil asked, "Are you finished with your bath?"

Fidget nodded. "I just need you to scrub my back."

"Maybe Olivia can do it," Basil suggested, "Because my arm is tired."

"Okie dokie," Fidget said.

"Ready, Fidget?" Olivia inquired.

Fidget nodded.

"Good."

"I'll leave you two alone," Basil said as he exited the bathroom.

Olivia began to scrub Fidget's back. "Scrub-a-dub-dub."

Fidget laughed.

"You like that, don't you?"

"I do."

Olivia stopped scrubbing his back and set the back scrubber down before leaving the room so that Fidget could get out with a towel that was lying on the floor and dry himself off. He then went to his room and got dressed for bed.

With his towel in hand, he smirked as he smacked Basil with it just to be funny.

"Ow! Fidget!" Basil scolded slightly, "That hurt!"

"He's probably doing that to be funny, Basil," Olivia assured him.

Fidget giggled some more as he smacked Basil with a towel once again. The second time was enough, so he set it inside a basket of dirty towels that needed washing before hopping into bed.

In bed, Fidget lied on his back, smiling until Basil came in with a back scratcher. "Are you ready for bed?" Basil asked.

"Yep," replied Fidget.

"Well, before you go to sleep, how about I bring you a cheese crumpet and warm milk?"

"That'd be great. Thanks."

Basil went downstairs to fetch Fidget a cheese crumpet and a cup of warm milk. Back upstairs, he brought those items out.

Once Fidget had his cheese crumpet consumed and his warm milk sipped, Basil set him over his lap again like he did in the tub and scratched his back with a back scratcher until Fidget fell asleep.

Once the bat was peacefully asleep, Basil tucked him into bed. "Goodnight, Fidget."

"Nighty night, Fidget," Olivia whispered before she headed off to her bed.

The End