Alex and Bubbles spent Sunday much in the same way they spent Saturday: lounging around his house, playing dog games and having sex.
They slept together in Alex's bed again that night, although Bubbles still preferred to stay above the comforter. She didn't let this stop her from snuggling up against Alex all night.
As he drifted off to sleep Alex absolutely dreaded the alarm clock that would inevitably wake him the next morning. The intrusion of work tomorrow might just be the pin that burst their perfect bubble of fantasy.
Alex was at least spared the dreaded alarm clock. Instead he woke for the second morning in a row by being licked in the face by Bubbles.
She bounced around on the foot of his bed, excited to start a new day.
Alex got up and made them both breakfast. He knelt down with Bubbles as she happily ate hers, waggling her tail.
"Listen," said Alex, while she ate. "As much as it kills me I have to go to work today. I really like you. The few days we've spent together have been the best of my life. I really don't want this to be the end. If I never saw you again I'd be devastated. Please, I know you don't like to talk, could you just tell me your name so we can keep in touch? Maybe an email or a phone number?"
Bubbles raised her head from her bowl and licked Alex's face. She rubbed her cheek against his. But spoke no human words.
Alex sighed. It looked like getting her to talk was truly a lost cause.
"I'll help you out of the suit before I go," said Alex.
Bubbles bolted as soon as he said this, running faster than Alex would have thought she was capable of on all fours.
"Where are you going? Don't you want me to take off the suit?"
"Bark bark."
"There are no fingers on it. You'd be stuck in my apartment while I was at work."
"Bark."
"You want to stay here?"
"Bark."
"You sure?"
"Bark!" said Bubbles, a little more loudly.
"It's just you won't be able to change your mind once I actually leave until I get back," said Alex.
Bubbles crawled over to the front door, grabbed Alex's work shoes in her mouth, and brought them over to him. She dumped them at his feet and barked.
Alex put out a bowl of dry cereal and some water in case she got hungry, and turned on the tv so she wouldn't get bored. Still feeling awkward as hell about it he left his apartment and closed to door, leaving the puppygirl inside now helpless to leave.
"If I come back home and I've been robbed I'll have had it coming," Alex thought to himself.
Alex found it completely impossible to concentrate on work. His thoughts were still in his apartment with Bubbles the puppygirl. He hoped she wasn't too bored all alone. He was really curious what she'd get up to while he was gone but knew better than to expect to be able to ask her.
Alex slipped out of the office as early as was diplomatically possible and then raced home as fast as he could. He walked in the door and looked around. Alex half expected to be greeted at the door by Bubbles but she was nowhere to be seen.
He felt his stomach tighten. Had she left? Was this it?
His heart filled with relief when he heard the sound of a bark coming from the bedroom.
Alex ran over and found Bubbles happily standing on all fours, her tongue out, her tail wagging. She was inside of a locked dog crate.
"How?" asked Alex.
"Bark."
"I know you didn't put yourself in there on your own," said Alex.
Bubbles cocked her head to one side. Of course she did.
"Should I be worried that, as near as I can tell, strangers seem to have access to my apartment?" asked Alex.
"Bark bark."
"I'm going to go ahead and worry about it anyway."
There was an envelope on top of the cage. Written on it was the word "Master" and a stylized dog's paw print. Inside was a key.
"This must be for the cage," said Alex.
He looked down at Bubbles again. She looked back up at him with a stupid grin.
"How on Earth did you get in there?" he asked again.
Bubbles just panted at him.
Alex used the key to unlock the padlock holding the door closed. He opened it and Bubbles crawled out and ran to the back door. Alex unzipped her and let her out.
There was an empty cardboard box in the kitchen, addressed to a "Master" at his address, which might conceivably have contained the crate in a disassembled state.
Of course this answered only the least befuddling of his questions: where the cage came from. How it managed to get itself into his apartment, assembled, and with Bubbles locked inside was the real question.
*Stop pulling threads*, Alex thought to himself. *Enjoy this for what it is while you can.*
Bubbles came back in and Alex cleaned her and zipped her back up.
"You've been in that suit for a new days now," said Alex. "You probably need a bath huh?"
Bubbles didn't like the sound of that. She took off, once again moving on all fours with remarkable speed and grace.
"You don't want a bath?" asked Alex.
"Bark bark!" came the reply from the other room.
"You can't just stay dirty forever," said Alex.
"Bark!"
"No, you can't."
"Bark!"
How was he having this argument right now?
Alex went into his bedroom where Bubbles had ran off to. As soon as he entered the room she bolted past him back into the living room.