The spinning centrifuge emitted a soft, hypnotic whirring sound, something almost akin to white noise. Max sat watching it, his chin resting in his hands, trying to stay awake. After three days of burning the candle at both ends, he felt like he was ready to collapse. Early mornings in the lab, followed by a 'break' for evening lectures, and late nights spent with Lily running their private reactions. And even after they were finished here, they had yet to go straight to bed afterward.

On the contrary, Max's pre-dawn hours had been fairly action-packed of late.

The door creaked open. His girlfriend entered, brushing away the same stray lock of hair that was forever falling into her eyes. When she was away, Max found that he forgot, on some deep level, just how huge she had become. And so it always surprised him to see her, an incredibly beautiful woman – his woman – who just happened to have the size and disposition of an offensive linesman.

According to their most recent measurements, Lily now stood six feet six inches tall, dwarfing nearly every other student in the school. As if this wasn't enough, the girl also sported a fantastic bustline, one that had required trips to five different speciality shops to locate a bra large enough to contain. The combination of height and figure made Lily something truly unique, and completely impossible to ignore.

“Hey Pip-squeak,” the girl called, strutting across the room to join him. “Haven't you finished with your reaction yet?” True to her predictions, Lily's increase in size hadn't softened her disposition by one iota. But with time, Max was learning to give as good as he got.

“Oh, you mean THIS reaction? That one that was actually YOUR assignment for tonight? Well Gigantor, it seems that as soon as the centrifuge spins down, there's just one more step remaining. Then we can get out of here. And, I might add, that we would've been done MUCH sooner if you hadn't spent the whole evening in the bathroom.”

The amazonian girl bent over, clutching her stomach theatrically. “What can I say? I've got a touch of indigestion. I'm SURE you don't want to hear the details.”

Max looked up at her, smirking. “You can't fool me. You were in there preening – staring at yourself in the mirror. God knows you do it often enough at home.”

“So what if I was?” Lily asked, folding her arms behind her head and striking a bone-meltingly sexy pose, a pose marred only fractionally by the way she was sticking her tongue out at him childishly. “If you had a body like mine, you'd be checking yourself out, too. But if you REALLY want me to stop....” She took a menacing step forward, letting her shadow fall heavy upon him. “You're welcome to try and make me.”

He looked up at his enormous girlfriend, and shrugged. “Sounds like SOMEBODY is trying say they're already too big for their britches, and that they really shouldn't get any bigger. I'll just pour the growth serum down the sink then, shall I?”

Lily immediately jumped back, looking down at him in terror. “You wouldn't!”

Max grinned at her wolfishly. “But you aren't entirely sure, are you?”

“Okay, okay! Geez, I was just kidding. Here, I'll even finish up for you.” She opened the centrifuge, and removed a pair of test tubes. With practiced precision, Lily poured each of them into a larger vial. The girl held the mixture up to her eye, watching as the two substances reacted, releasing tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide. Once it had finished, she placed a stopper in the opening, and stored the container in the refrigerator.

“There!” she said, brushing off her hands. “Happy? No hard feelings?”

Max nodded, winking up at her. “I'm still your pusher-man.”

She grinned back at him. “Glad to hear it.” She crossed the room, stopping directly in front of him. Bending down, Lily placed her lips gently against his, giving him a short, sweet kiss. “You know Max, I really hate to have to compliment you, but...you've changed recently. For the better. You seem more...I don't know, relaxed. Certain of yourself. You're actually making it a CHALLENGE to get under your skin these days.”

He shrugged, and wrapped his arm as far around her shoulders as he could, which as it turned out was slightly further than halfway. “Thanks babe. But honestly, if I am different, it's your influence that's done it. I've been taking life way too seriously for way too long. Learning to take your bullshit in stride is good therapy. And...well...let's not underestimate the importance of having the world's most beautiful woman at your beck and call.”

Lily grimaced at that “I am NOT at your beck and call!” She paused, pursing her lips in thought. “Well, MAYBE I am. Fuck.”

Max laughed hysterically, until Lily finally reached down and punched him firmly on the shoulder. He winced.

“What I was TRYING to say, before I was so rudely interrupted, is that your new attitude looks good on you. You can see it in the way you carry yourself, the way you talk. It makes you...more attractive. And I'm not the only one who's noticed.”

He looked at her quizzically. “Who?”

She took him by the hand, looking down at him cryptically. “You'll see. Come on. It's beer o'clock. I'm buying.”

He followed her from the room, pausing only briefly to make sure the small vial was still concealed in his pocket. Their nightly attempt at reproducing the growth serum had been completed hours ago, and Max had slipped it into his jacket with the tried and true sleight of hand that had worked so many times before. The rest of the night had been spent running their boring, approved reaction for Dr. Franklyn.

The two walked arm in arm down the hallway, Lily leading slightly. It was well past one in the morning, and that meant a shift change at the security station, and a familiar face waiting for them at the desk. They rounded the last corner, and the girl sitting behind the desk looked up from her worn paperback novel. “Hey Max. Lily. Another late night?”

“Hi Elissa,” Max answered, waving with his free hand. “Yeah, these days late nights are the only kind of nights we have.”

“You and me both,” Elissa said, laughter in her voice. She flashed him a wide, radiant smile, which Max returned without thinking.

The girl had been a classmate of his almost as long as Lily. There had never been much of a friendship, between any of the three, but they had all been at least vaguely aware of each other. There had been a time, however, when Max had been much more than simply aware of Elissa. In his freshman year of college, he had harbored a secret crush for the girl.

If Max had a 'type' back then, Elissa was exactly it. She was a quiet, mousy girl, with long flowing blonde hair. A cute pair of owlish, wide-rimmed glasses framed her face, adding to the perception of intelligence that so dominated one's first impression of her. Elissa was petite, standing barely over five feet tall, and was almost worryingly thin. Yet despite her emaciated appearance her figure still managed to be curvy, with wide, deep hips and a generous swell of bosom. In the early days, as he'd watched the girl from across the lecture hall, her body had reminded him of French architecture – how archways and buttresses could seem to stand beyond any reasonable interpretation of the laws of physics, and as a result magnify their beauty a hundredfold.

Max had never found the courage to approach her, and gradually the crush had receded, until it was all but forgotten. So it had been a shock to find her, late one night, dressed in full uniform, grinning up at him from behind the security desk. Whatever feelings he once had for her were now the unquestioned and exclusive property of Lily Phillips, his girlfriend, as big as she was beautiful. Yet he often found himself taking a painfully long time signing the security log on the way out, making excuses to stay awhile, to chat with Elissa.

“So, what have you guys been working on tonight?” she asked, taking the clipboard from Max's hand and stowing it behind the desk.

“Nothing important,” replied Lily evasively, her voice coming out a trifle curt.

“Yeah, just some bullshit for the study we're working on,” he added.

Elissa grinned, and gave Lily a significant look. “Okay. If you guys don't want to share the details about the growth serum you're making, that's fine with me.”

At these words, Max and Lily's heads snapped up in unison. They looked at each other, mouths agape, completely at a loss for words.

“Um, is everything okay?” Elissa asked, and cleared her throat nervously. “That was...ah...that was a joke.”

Max's eyes widened. “Oh. OH! No, I understand. It's just been a long week....”

“...and you've no doubt noticed that I actually HAVE been growing lately....” Lily continued.

“...but there's no such thing as a growth serum.” Max finished, nodding enthusiastically.

“Oh...kay,” Elissa said, looking mildly uncomfortable. “So umm...pardon me if this is a sensitive subject, but...how exactly DID you get so big, Lily? I mean, I remember you being WAY shorter than me, and now....” She craned her neck up to peer at Lily, the girl towering over her by a full eighteen inches, and shrugged.

“Growth spurt,” Max answered.

“Hormonal therapy,” Lily said at the same time.

Elissa seemed to consider this for a moment. “So, she had hormonal therapy...and the growth spurt was a side effect?” she asked, cocking her head in confusion.

“Exactly,” Max and Lily said together.

“Oh. Makes sense. And hey, maybe I should look into this procedure.” She looked Lily up and down, an almost lecherous grin spreading across her face. “I wouldn't mind gaining a few inches. Or....” Her eyes went to Lily's chest, a whopping 42-F according to their most recent measurements. “...gaining a few inches. If you catch my meaning.”

Max laughed, and glanced slyly at Elissa's bust. “Not that you need it.”

She laughed warmly, and when she did Max saw something behind her eyes, an expression almost that of a master fisherman who has just felt the first snag of a trophy bass biting down on the line.

Abort! Abort!

He contrived a yawn, stretching theatrically. “Well listen, I'd love to stay and talk, but I think we both need to be heading to bed. Umm, see you tomorrow?”

Elissa nodded. “Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel. And hey,” she reached out, catching Max's hand before he could pull it off the desk. “If you....” She paused, glancing sidelong at Lily. “That is, if you guys...if you ever want to hang out...give me a call. Okay?”

Max smiled apprehensively. “Ah...okay. We'll do that. Take it easy, Elissa.”

He turned and strode off down the hallway, Lily following close behind. As soon as they were outside the building, she reached out and slapped him – hard – on the back of the head. “'Not that you need it,'” the giant girl repeated, her voice an evil growl. “What the hell is the matter with you? Did you forget I was standing RIGHT there?”

“Hey, take it easy!” he protested, his arms coming up defensively. “Sorry! It was instinct!”

“I'm sure it was,” she snarled. “Apparently you're 'instinctively' looking to ditch the deluxe model, and pick up something more...compact? You know, like, a girl you can actually HANDLE?”

Max sighed. “Okay, question. Do you actually BELIEVE that? Is this a real fight? Or are you just trying to nail me on some trumped up charges so I'll offer you another dose of serum to smooth things over?”

Lily glared down at him, but then she turned away, concealing a smile. “You're getting too good at this. Fine, you're off the hook. But do you see what I mean? That Elissa chick was all over you! She couldn't have been any more obvious if she'd been wearing a t-shirt that said 'FUCK ME NOW.'”

He nodded. “Point taken. Now come on, let's go back to your place.” Max patted the concealed vial in his pocket. “I think it's high time we ran a little experiment.”

Lily's eyes brightened. “It's a date.”