Alan liked to sleep on the floor. It was a well-known fact and it drove his older brothers up the wall.

Of course, there was good reasons for sleeping on the floor and not the bed.

He never had to make the bed.

He could get up and be ready quicker.

He had a habit of transforming in his sleep.

It had been a bone of contention for him that he was the last to experience his transformation. But then, he was always the last at everything. It had been even more of a shock that he changed into a puppy. Not an eagle, not a werewolf, not a cat. A puppy. A puppy so cute his brothers had 'cooed' over him!

The only upside was that he WAS a cute puppy, and as such tended to get away with things…rather like he did as youngest brother. And he knew how to play both roles to perfection.

Today was no different to any other day. Scott, Virgil and Gordon were off on some rescue or other with John directing from Five and Alan was bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored! Killing zombies only goes so far.

So, when Grandma asked if he'd like to join her on a trip to the mainland his mouth said yes before his brain asked what they were doing.

They were going shopping. He sighed. Grandma's idea of shopping was usually the huge warehouse where they bought everything wholesale, even her purple jumpsuits. She usually went with Virgil, and mostly his other brothers avoided this duty completely, but here they were. However, they had not gone to the warehouse, they had gone to a mall.

He wondered around with Grandma for quite a while as the cart began to fill up, then his stomach growled – loudly – and she took that as a cue to stop for lunch. An hour and burger and fries later they were off again. This time Alan was left to his own devices. Grandma had bedding and household stuff to buy, and Alan could go where he wanted.

He ended up in the pet store. Alan had always loved visiting pet stores when he was younger, fascinated by the cacophony of noise from various animals waiting for homes. He was always drawn to the reptile area, and he happily wandered around the giant store for ages.

Sally also made her way to the pet store. There was food and other items needed for the various animals about the villa – pet and otherwise – and this store was vast. She began making a mental list of everything needed. Fish food, lizard food, fresh bedding material…she was lost in thought and didn't notice Alan in the same store. Nor did anything seem amiss until she Nor did anything seem amiss until she hear the announcement

Oh, great!

'Would the owner of the yellow Labrador puppy currently asleep in the bedding section please come and claim him.'

Sally rolled her eyes and turned back the way she'd come. Following the noise, there seemed to be some giggling and 'aww-ing' going on, she came around a corner to see several members of staff and customers watching a huge dog cushion. She pushed her way through.

There, asleep on a large red cushion, was a yellow lab puppy, merrily running in his sleep. Sally rolled her eyes. He flew rockets asleep as a human, why not run as a dog? She pushed her way through and zoned in on one of the staff members.

'I'm so sorry, I thought my Grandson had him secure.'

'That's quite alright, Ma'am. What an adorable puppy! Have you had him long?'

'Not too long, although sometimes it feels like forever.'

This caused giggles again, and the sales assistant carried on chatting dog facts and feeding habits and had she had him chipped? while Sally smiled and nodded in all the right places. No one noticed the small pile of clothes beside the cushion, and she managed to surreptitiously pick them up and hide them in the bags of shopping. She made her purchases quickly, needing to get Alan back before he woke up and changed in front of everyone.

They did just manage to get back to the jet – thank goodness Alan was such a heavy sleeper like Virgil – and a very embarrassed fifteen minutes later they were in the air on their way home.

Nothing was said about what had happened. Sally had enough embarrassing stories on all of them transforming, and she just added this to the collection. Alan was so relieved to have seemingly gotten away with the whole episode.

Until he went to bed.

Someone had replaced his comfy rug with a giant round dog cushion in bright red.

Placed strategically on top was a picture of a yellow lab puppy fast asleep.