CHAPTER SEVEN~ Syd POV

The background sound of Vaughn typing on his laptop was probably the only thing that kept me from hyperventilating. Well, okay so I wasn't sure dogs could hyperventilate, but that really wasn't what my mind was on right then.

So far that day things had gone from weird to weirder. As if being turned into a dog wasn't weird enough, right? First Weiss implied that Vaughn was in love with me, then his ex-girlfriend took me on a walk. Then when she brought me home, after a quick stop at her apartment, I watched her and Vaughn sort of break up again.

I'll admit I felt sorry for him, and a little guilty for reasons that I'd rather not discuss. (It was COMPLETELY my dog brain's fault!)

After she left he went strait to the bathroom and I heard the sound of water running a couple seconds later. He stayed in there for nearly half an hour, in the mean time I wondered around yet again looking for either a way to communicate with Vaughn or something to keep my bored mind occupied. I inadvertently found both.

I stepped on a book lying on the floor next to his nightstand. As I looked down the illustrations on the front struck me. Dogs are colorblind, but I could tell it was brightly colored by how vivid the pictures were. They showed a sequence of a boy slowly transforming into a poodle.

Talk about deja vu. I started wondering what the book was about and why Vaughn had it. I flipped through the pages with my paw catching a few words here and there, but not enough to make any sense.

Vaughn came out of the bathroom as I was struggling to make out more words on one page. He seemed awfully amused to catch his dog trying to read. I'm sure I would have found it very funny also had I not actually been said dog.

I tried tapping the cover of the book thinking that might be a way to clue him in, but it didn't work. Instead he sat down and started saying something to me, actually probably more to himself, about wanting someone to talk to. It caught my interest so I hopped up to sit next to him. He was usually my confidant so it would be a change for me to be his. However, he didn't know it was me he was talking to, which is what lead to my near heart attack later.

He said he loved me. And this time was different then in Rome, or the time at the observatory, or when he tried to explain to be about Alice. This time there was no question whether he was really trying to convey other feelings for me or just friendship. "I'm in love with Sydney Bristow," were his exact words. I'd say that pretty much clarified it!

I whimpered involuntarily and started pacing even faster than before. After his unknowing confession Vaughn left, returned with his laptop, and started working on something. Meanwhile I leapt off the bed, retreated to a small corner of the room, and started pacing around mindlessly.

Vaughn said he loved me, Vaughn said he loved me, repeated in an endless loop in my head. I forced myself to stop pacing and stand still for two seconds. This was getting me no where. Not that I'd been accomplishing a whole lot before though.

I turned around when I heard the keying sound stop behind me. I watched as he rubbed his eyes and laid his head against his left arm, using his right to push the rolling mouse in the middle of the keyboard. He scrolled through something for a while until his eye lids gradually dropped and his hand relaxed. I stood for a couple of minutes after realizing that he was asleep then slowly made my way back over to the bed.

I jumped up onto the end and laid down resting my head on my paws. He was lying on his stomach with his head toward the foot of the bed. He looked peaceful in his sleep, without the worry lines in his forehead that appeared all too often on my account. I sighed.

All day I had been torn between being able to do things that I never could normally and the insane fact that I had been turned into a dog, but now I was certain.........I did not what to have to be his dog to be able to sleep in Vaughn's bed.

Not that I had ever thought about it.

I snickered inside my head. You've got to know it's a lie I couldn't even say that to myself without it sounding sarcastic. I wanted to be human again. I wanted to be able to know the casual details of his life without having to be lead around on a leash. I wanted Vaughn to tell me he loved me as me instead of me as is dog.

I sighed again. The only problem was I had yet to even find a way to let someone know that I had been turned into man's best friend, much less a way to reverse it.

Suddenly an idea popped into my head. I stood up and walked over to him. Careful not to wake him up I used my nose and front legs to push the computer away from him just enough so that I could get in front of it.

Okay, that was easy enough. But now what do I type?

What could someone possibly say to their handler when they had been turned into their dog, then heard a confession of love without them knowing that they were confessing it to anyone?

Finally, I decided and carefully placed my long nails on the keys.

Vaughn POV

I woke up the next morning feeling oddly refreshed. I had this feeling bubbling up inside of me... I wasn't sure what it was, but it had to be a good sign. Maybe they'd found Sydney!

With that hope in mind, I pushed past Donovan to grab my laptop at the foot of my bed, not bothering to wonder how it had gotten there anyway. I was about to check my e-mail to see if there was any new word on Sydney, but something caught my eye.

'Word' was open, and a document was minimized in the corner of the screen. I couldn't remember opening the word processing program the night before. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes to see if I was imagining it, but it was still there.

Curious, I clicked the 'restore' button.

I quickly read the few sentences that had been typed there. The cursor was blinking at the end, as if flashing a warning sign.

"Oh, my God..." I whispered, the room around me spinning. "This has to be a dream..."

Some of the words were spelled wrong, as though the person who typed it couldn't quite work the keys. But I could decipher it. "Oh... my... God..."

"VAugn-

You will tink this issz crazyy byt i Am ur dohg. HElop ne.

~Syd"

I read and re-read the message probably about a million times in ten seconds. Before I had a chance to think my cell phone blared from across the room. I hoisted myself off the bed and cleared the room in a few strides.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"The information you gathered from Irina was correct," a voice said immediately cutting to the point.

"Jack?" I asked stupidly. I could practically see his annoyed look since I obviously already knew it was him.

"Yes. The Rambaldi device does change people," Jack said with a pause before continuing, "into animals."

I didn't respond but instead glanced over toward the bed.

Donovan.....Sydney.....whoever, was sitting there giving me a look as if to say "Yeah". I felt an uncomfortable cramp starting in my abdomen.

"Vaughn?!" Jack snapped.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"A technician at SD-6 was transformed into a fly after touching the outline on the Rambaldi device. Sloane was hesitant to believe at first but Marshall witnessed the entire event and it was recorded on the security cameras, " He explained, and I knew that he had a hard time believing it also. He continued barking instructions but I didn't hear them.

I caught my breath and cut in. "Jack listen, I'll meet you at the warehouse in ten minutes," I said and shut off the phone without waiting for a reply. Before leaving, I jammed my laptop's wire into the printer and hit the 'print' button.

I attached a leash to Donovan's.... Sydney's..... Whoever's (as I had decided to refer to him/her as) collar, feeling extremely uncomfortable with it now knowing the truth. I mean, seriously. I was placing a leash on my agent's neck.

Time to take the double agent for her walk.

I tried not to think about it, then I grabbed my coat off its hook, yanked the freshly printer paper out of the machine, and raced out the door, DonovanSydneyWhoever pulling on the leash in my hand and racing ahead of me.

When I finally arrived at the warehouse, Jack was already there, seeming extremely distraught. But he couldn't be anywhere even close to what I felt.

He glanced down at the leash I was holding, then to DonovanSydneyWhoever. "Couldn't you have found a more appropriate time to walk your dog, Mr. Vaughn?"

I took a deep breath, not sure how to get this out. "You might not want to refer to her as 'your dog.' I doubt she'd appreciate it."

"This is not the time to be worrying about the dog feeling disrespected!" Jack commented forcefully. "We have to find out what happened to Sydney."

"Jack... first of all, it is the time to be worrying about your dog. Disrespecting the dog is disrespecting your daughter. And with that said, I'd like to add that I know what happened to Sydney."

At first, Jack said nothing, just stared in confusion from me, then to DonovanSydneyWhoever, then back to me. "Are you saying..."

I didn't answer, just handed him the paper. "This was typed on my laptop this morning."

He took the paper and read it quickly, eyes clouded.

He looked up at me and spoke slowly, "Sydney... is in your dog?"

At that DonovanSydneyWhoever barked loudly. Jack's piercing gaze shot to him/her. He glanced away for a second, seeming almost freaked out. You've got to know a situation is weird when that happens because Jack Bristow and freaked out just do not go hand in hand!

"Jack, what are we supposed to do about this?" I asked.

"SD-6 has the document that explains how to reverse the effects. I'll have to find a way to get that document to the CIA."

"Alright... it shouldn't be too hard," I agreed, then looked back down at SydneyDonovanWhoever. She/He stared back up at me, and I swear I could actually see Sydney in the dog's huge round eyes.

Suddenly, I remembered our little conversation back at my apartment, and almost slapped myself in the head. I mentally cringed and tried to keep my face from turning red.

"Jack, what are we going to do about this?" I finally asked.

"SD-6 has a document that explains how to reverse the effects. They tried it on the technician and were successful in restoring him normal," He explained, "It would be too dangerous for me to try to steal the device back and deliver it to the CIA. I'll have to take Sydney to SD-6."

I nodded and slowly leaned down to remove the collar so that Donovan's identification tags would not provide SD-6 with a link Sydney and me. As I undid the strap Sydney/Donovan turned his/her head and met my eyes. I felt an odd feeling come over me followed again by the cramp. He/she lingered by my side for a moment before walking over to Jack.

As I watched them leaving the warehouse I bit my lip and hopped that everything would go alright.