Dr. Raven Albert stomped into the room and slammed her file folder down on the desk in disgust.  “Those idiots!” she said.  She crossed her arms and stood, fuming.

Albert’s lab assistant, Blaine Meir, smiled, hoping to help soothe his boss.  “I take it the pitch didn’t go well,” he said.

“Not.  Well.  At all,” Raven said.

“So, how does this one rate in relation to the other times?” Blaine asked.

Raven’s brow furrowed.  Blaine realized she was about to start crying, something he’d never seen her do before.  “It was the worst,” she said.

“Worse than the third time?” Blaine asked.

“Way worse,” she said.  “They told me never to bring the Candy Rock proposal to them again, or I’d be fired.”

“That’s bad,” Blaine said.  “But it’s not the end of the world.  You’ve still got your research, and your job.”

Raven shook her head.  “You don’t understand,” she said.  “There’s no way you could.”

“Hey, boss, it’s OK,” Blaine said.  He was torn.  He wanted to hug her, to comfort her -- but then, he had wanted to hold Raven since the day he met her.  She was tall, curvy and beautiful, and he had been smitten since he first laid eyes on her.  But she was his boss, and such a move wouldn’t be appropriate on his part.

Raven leaned into Blaine and laid her head on his shoulder.  She sobbed for a moment, then pulled back and worked to compose herself.  “I’m sorry,” she said.  “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s OK,” Blaine said.  “I know this was a big deal to you.”

Raven wiped her eyes.  “It’s more than that,” she said.  “It’s my life’s dream, my life’s work.”

Blaine was surprised to hear Raven say this, all though it explained her obsession with the mysteries of Candy Rock.  “Really?” he said.

Raven nodded.  “Really,” she said, “and I’m not done with this yet.”

Blaine’s eyes darted back and forth as he processed what she was saying.  “But the company said --”

“The company doesn’t control the site,” Raven said.  “I can get us in, and we can do the work there, on our own.”

“On our own?” Blaine repeated.

Raven ran her hand through her hair.  “Oh, I’m sorry, Blaine, I shouldn’t have assumed that.  Look, I know this would be off the clock work -- without pay -- but I believe I can get the data we need to prove my theories on the site, and it really could change science as we know it forever.”

Blaine’s expression looked as though he’d eaten something that he wasn’t too sure was good.  “But, Raven, your research on growth here has been remarkable.  You’ve made more progress than anyone else I know in ways to safely grow crops and farm animals.  If you pursue this, you might be throwing all that away.”

“Blaine, it’s because of what I know from Candy Rock that I’ve been able to make that progress,” Raven said.  “That’s why I’ve got to pursue this.  But I‘ll need an assistant for most of the data collection, and I‘d really like it to be you.”

Blaine was trying to understand what she meant by “what I know from Candy Rock,” but he was also gazing into those clear blue eyes, the most lovely he’d ever seen.  He saw the earnest desire in them.  He knew that desire wasn’t for him, but for his help; still, he couldn’t resist.  “All right,” he said.  “But how will we get in?  Candy Rock is under the control of the government.  It has been since the mid-1950s.”

Raven smiled.  “You remember your history of the case.  Good.  But don’t worry.  I can get us in.”

They set up the plan for Raven to pick Blaine up at his apartment on Saturday morning.  At the end of the day, she came over to Blaine and said, “Thank you.” She craned up on her toes and kissed his cheek, then pivoted and left.  “See you Saturday,” she said, doing a flirtatious finger-wave over her shoulder.

“See you then,” Blaine said.  The things I’ll do for a date, he thought.

On Friday evening, Blaine turned over what he could remember of the Candy Rock case in his mind, hoping he could pull up all the pertinent details.

In 1956, a woman named Emmy Lou something and her boyfriend, Artie Pinsetter (he remembered that oddball last name) had gone off into the woods and rocky hillsides in the area of the town of Candy Rock, named for one of those little crags.  Something had happened -- there was a dispute about what, exactly -- that had caused Emmy Lou to grow to 30 feet tall.  Some said the cause was a magic Indian spring, others Pinsetter’s amateur invention.  Raven was convinced that it had to do with atomic testing in the area in some way.

For reasons Blaine didn’t understand, Pinsetter had married Emmy Lou while she was a giantess.  After the wedding, he tried to hose her down to give her a shower and she grew a few more feet with the exposure to water.

Ultimately, it was an invention of Pinsetter’s that allowed the excess mass from Emmy Lou to be transferred to Pinsetter’s pet dog.  Unfortunately, the dog didn’t handle the extra size well, and had to be put down.

The problem the bizarre incident had from a scientific standpoint was that no one had been able to duplicate what happened.  There had been experiments performed exploring all theories, including the ones Raven supported, but none had produced any size change in the subject.

Blaine smiled as he thought about Raven.  Her name really didn’t fit her.  She was Nordic-looking, with pale skin, blue eyes and light blonde hair -- not a look one would associate with a raven.  But she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, with the most spectacular body -- large breasts, a relatively small waist and a glorious round derriere.  She had ears that begged to be nibbled on, and a very sexy neck.

What Blaine found most attractive about Raven -- just ever-so-slightly more so than her face and body -- was that she was so wickedly intelligent.  She was quite possibly the smartest person he knew, although he was always a little bit freaked out by a sort of 1930s mad-scientist streak in her personality.

The morning came, and Raven pulled up in a white sports car.  There was a mound of silk in the back seat.  “Hop in,” she said.

Blaine glanced at the back seat’s contents.  “Parachutes?” he said.

“They used to be,” she said.  “If this experiment works, we’ll need them.”

Shortly after they started, Raven turned on the CD player.  “My favorite album,” she said.  “I really wanted to hear it today … with everything.”

At Candy Rock, Raven identified herself to the guards and they immediately allowed her in.  “How do you have that kind of pull?” Blaine asked.

Raven smiled.  “When it comes to this place, I have connections,” she said.

They pulled up near a cave.  After parking, Raven had Blaine help her remove the silken fabric from the back seat.  He quickly realized that it had been sewn into a dress.  From the look of things, the dress was at least 50 years old.

“Is this what I think it is?” Blaine asked.

“If you think it’s the wedding dress of the 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock, then, yes, it is,” Raven said.

“But how did you get your hands on this?” Blaine asked.

“I have connections,” Raven said.

Blaine looked around.  “So, where are we testing, and where’s the test subject?”

“We’re testing in there,” Raven said.  “And you’re looking at the test subject.”

Blaine shifted his head away from Raven, then rapidly back to her.  “You?”

“No choice,” she said.  “It’s got to be me.”

“Raven, you can’t do that!” Blaine said.  “It violates all the principles of science!  The scientist can’t be the test subject.”

“Normally, I would agree,” she said, “but this is my only option here.”

Blaine took a deep breath before saying, “Then at least let me be the test subject,” he said.  “You’re the scientist; I’m just the assistant.”

Raven caressed his cheek.  “That’s sweet,” she said.  “And, as a scientist, it would be tempting -- but not as someone who cares about you.  I know what I’m getting into.  Besides, it wouldn’t work on you.  You’re a man.”

“What’s that got to do with this?” Blaine asked.

“Everything,” Raven said.  “Remember, the original Candy Rock incident happened in the 1950s.  Attitudes toward women were different then, and the military saw the opportunity to create a bunch of giant soldiers -- all of whom would have been male back then.  So, the on ly test subjects in efforts to duplicate the experiment were men -- no women.”

Blaine started to protest, but Raven grabbed his hand.  “Come on,” she said.  “I need to go in to the cave far enough to be away from the fresh air at the entrance, and I need you to stand at the entrance to monitor things.”

“I don’t understand,” he said.

“Scientists thought Emmy Lou Pinsetter’s gigantic growth was due to the water she drank, or Artie’s invention, but they’re wrong,” Raven said, reaching the cave entrance.  “You’ll be able to hear me as I go in.  Anyway, it was the gasses of the cave, infused with radiation carried here by underground streams and mingled into the area’s water supply, that did it.  It wasn’t the water itself.  The radiation level is way too low.  But, when it mixed with the natural and unique combination of gasses in the cave, it produced gigantic growth.”

“But how do you know all this -- like the cave’s acoustics, and what exactly triggered the growth?” Blaine asked.

“Simple,” said Raven’s voice from inside the cave.  “I heard it from Emmy Lou Raven Pinsetter herself.”

Blaine’s eyes widened.  “Emmy Lou Raven Pinsetter?” he said.

“That’s right,” Raven said.  “My first name is my great-grandmother’s maiden name.”

“Great-grandmother?!”

“Give me a minute,” Raven said, her voice sounding louder.  “I’ve got to take a few deep breaths to get the full effect.”  Then after a few seconds, Blaine heard ripping sounds, then heard an even louder voice, saying, “Yes, Blaine.  The 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock was my great-grandmother.”

Blaine was too stunned to speak.  He leaned against the entrance.  This explained so much, he thought.

Then he heard an echoing voice say, “Better clear the entrance, Blaine.  I need to get out quickly, and its gonna be a tight fit.”

Blaine got clear as he saw the enormous head of Raven Albert, rapidly growing slide past him.  He fell back into the side of the crag, then slid down to its base, as he watched Raven, naked and still growing swiftly, emerge.  Her knees were already above his head as she stood up straight, and she was still swelling, surging upward.

Blaine could see everything from his vantage point.  A small corner of him was fascinated to see the private parts of a woman for whom he had feelings, but he was in too much shock to enjoy it too much.

Raven picked up the silken wedding dress.  It looked a bit small as she held it up, but she was still growing, making it seem tinier and tinier.

Raven frowned.  “Must have overshot my mark,” she said.  “Ah, well.  The main thing is, I’m all the proof I need now for my theories.”

Blaine craned his head back to see Raven stop growing.  He estimated her height at just under 70 feet tall.  The dress her 30-foot great-grandma had worn for her wedding now looked like something a young flower girl would wear to a wedding.

Raven turned her colossal head toward her lab assistant.  She gave him a coy finger wave.  “Hi, cutie,” she said.  “So, whaddaya think?”

It had all been too much for Blaine.  He passed out.

Blaine felt warm as he woke up.  He was cuddled in soft, warm, lovine embrace, and he could hear a heartbeat coming through the warmth of a nearby breast.  He was cradled, like a baby, in the arms od a loving woman, and it was the most secure he’d felt since he could remember.

Then, it dimly began to register in his mind:  He was a grown man. How could he be cradled like a baby?

He tried to open his eyes, and saw only a blurry -- and immense -- female face smiling down at him.  “Oh, good! You’re awake!” came the resonant voice.

Disoriented, Blaine panicked for a moment and screamed.  Then he realized who was holding him, and began to remember what had happened.

Raven stroked Blaine’s hair with a fingertip.  “I’m sorry, Blaine.  I didn’t mean to scare you.  Are you OK?”

Blaine swallowed hard.  “I … think so,” he said.  “Sorry.”

“No, no!  I owe you an apology,” Raven said.  “I should have told you the whole story, but I was afraid you’d try to talk me out of it.”

“I probably would have,” Blaine said, rubbing the back of his head.  “So I trust you’re going to explain the whole thing to me.”

“I will,” Raven said.  “Is your head OK?  Did you hit it when you fainted.”

“I don’t think so,” Blaine said.  “That was more of a trying-to-compose-myself rub than an injury rub.”  He looked over at Raven’s very exposed breasts.  They were even more beautiful than he’d imagined they were under her clothes.  “You’re still naked,” he said.

Balancing him carefully, Raven reached down and picked up her great-grandmother’s wedding dress.  “It’s a little too small,” she said.  “But I know where there are some things stashed that I can use for clothes, at least for now.  We can get there quicker if I carry you … and, besides, I kind of like the feeling of holding you like this.  Would you mind?”

Blaine smiled.  “Sure,” he said.  “I kinda like it, too.”

Raven’s smile widened.  “Let’s go,” she said.  Carefully carrying her precious passenger, She arose and started striding up into the hills.  “I’ll tell you the whole story on the way,” she said.

“See, Great-Grandpa Artie took the blame for the whole giantess incident in 1956, as far as the government was concerned.  When they couldn’t duplicate the growth using their male soldiers, they decided the problem must have been his mass and energy shunting machine.  They officially ruled it had caused Great-Grandma to grow to 30 feet tall, even though she knew it hadn’t even been used on her at that point.”

“She protested,” Blaine said.  “Why didn’t Artie?”

Raven’s smile disappeared.  “Great-Grandpa died not long after the incident,” she said.  “He was about twice Great-Grandma’s age, and fat.  The strain of those few weeks, especially when the government started indicating it would blame him, was too much.  He died of a heart attack.”

“I’m sorry,” said Blaine.  “I didn’t know.”

Raven smiled down at him.  “It’s OK,” she said.  “Anyway, Great-Grandpa had told her that water from the spring, contaminated with radiation, had combined with the radioactive gasses in the cave to produce the giantess growth effect.  His machine had actually been what shunted the mass from her to the dog.  Unfortunately, since the dog smashed the machine and Great-Grandpa hadn’t made plans, he had to build a duplicate from scratch, from memory.  He hadn’t finished when he died.”

“And, since they didn’t use women in  the tests, they didn’t get any giants, because … what?  An X chromosome blocks the effects of the gas?” Blaine asked.

“Or estrogen, or something,”  Raven said.  “Anyway, because of the family significance, we’ve been allowed back for decades, but Great-Grandma never wanted to go too near the cave again.  She said that, without her Artie and his machine, it wasn’t safe to do so.”

“She really loved him,” Blaine said.

“She never remarried,” Raven said.  “She said that, even though their married life was short, she’d had her one true love as her husband, and no other man could measure up to him -- and remember, she was 30 feet tall when she married him.”

“Yeah, why did they get married then?”

Raven chuckled.  “That’s kind of funny, actually.  Artie was trying to explain to her father that, after time in the hills together, Emmy Lou had gotten big, and her dad thought that meant she was pregnant.  He insisted they get married immediately -- which they wanted to do, anyway.”

Blaine smiled up at his giantess.  “That is funny,” he said.

“Great-Grandma said that Artie would tell her every day how happy he was they’d gotten married, that those were the best days of his life.  She was sorry there weren’t more of them, but she cherished them, too.  There was always a … glow about her face when she talked about him.  She loved him to the day she died.”  They had walked in silence for a few seconds when she added, “I’ve always wanted to find that kind of love.”

“So, you want to clear your Great-Grandpa’s name, restore his reputation,” Blaine said.

“Yeah,” Raven said.  “They feds said the effects of the machine wore off with a short-term backlash, causing Great-Grandma to briefly shrink to microscopic size, then return to normal when the machine failed.  Actually, the machine was working fine, and shunted her excess mass to the only source it had at the time -- Artie’s dog.  Before it could do more, the dog smashed the machine and wound up getting put down itself.”

“OK, I think I understand most of it,” Blaine said.  “But you’re more than twice your great-grandma’s height, by my estimation.  Why are you so much biggewr than she was?”

Longer exposure, would be my guess,” Raven said.  “She ran to the mouth of the cave the moment she started growing, where the gasses are to diffuse -- I had to go in a ways, remember?  I stayed in longer, so I got bigger.  Oh, here we are.”

Blaine looked down to see some old barns below them, arranged on three sides of a square  with the driveway covering where the fourth should have been.  They looked to be rotting, and one had a large hole in the roof.  “What’s here?” he asked.

“This is where Artie and Emmy Lou spent their wedding night,” Raven said, pointing to the barn with the whole in the roof.  “And where she got the infamous shower that made her grow even bigger.  But what’s more important is what’s in this barn.”  She walked to the barn in between the other two.  “This was the wintering grounds for an old circus,” she said.  “They left their tents here.  I need to put you down for a moment, Sweetie.”

Unnoticed by Raven, Blaine blushed at the endearment as she gently placed him by the honeymoon barn.  Meanwhile, she casually ripped the roof off the barn with the circus tents.  She lifted two out and fashioned them into a simple bikini.

Blaine marveled at the colossal beauty while she was admiring the feel of the fabric.  “Oh, gosh,” Raven said.  “I know this is heavy, rough canvas, but it feels so fine to me.  It’s like wearing wool, or maybe even silk.”

“OK, now what?” Blaine asked.

“Measure me,” Raven said.  “Your phone has GPS, right?”

Blaine nodded.

“I’ll lay down, and you get measurements.  Don’t worry about inches, just whole feet, OK?”

“Gotcha,” Blaine said.  Starting at her feet, he completed the process as quickly as possible, though he did allow himself a couple of lingering looks as he walked along the length of Raven’s body.

“Well?” Raven asked.

“Sixty-eight feet,” Blaine said.

Raven lifter he head.  “I saw you looking,” she said coyly.

“Is that a problem?” Blaine asked.

“No,” Raven said.  “I actually enjoyed it. Now, I need you to find the elephant hose in the barn that still has an entire roof and set it up to use on me.  I made sure the water supply is turned on.”

Wait,” said Blaine.  won’t that make you grow?”

“Only a little,” Raven said.  “Great-Grandma only grew one or two feet during the shower.  On my scale, I should pick up only a few feet.”

Blaine swallowed hard.  “OK,” he said.

“Let me take off my clothes,” Raven said.  I don’t have a lot of options here, and I don’t want these to get wet.”

Blaine stared as she stripped.  “Wow,” he said quietly.

Raven looked pleasantly surprised.  “You just saw me naked a few minutes ago,” she said.

“It’s just … You’re so beautiful,” he said.

Raven’s smile broadened.  “Thanks, Sweetie,” she said.  “Now, hose me down.”

Swallowing hard three times, Blaine did as he was told.  As the water hit her, Raven’s magnificent breasts and ass glistened with moisture -- and, along with the rest of her, began to slowly enlarge even further.  Blaine watched in fascination, feeling himself grow in a different sense as he saw the most magnificent woman on earth increase to even greater heights.

“Mmmm, it feels good,” Raven said, the resonance in her voice increasing.  “Wow, my voice is really starting to echo off the rocks around here now.”

That snapped Blaine back to reality.  He stopped the water flow and gazed up to Raven.  She was grinning down at him.  “You were enjoying that, too,” she said.

“Oh, no,” Blaine said in mock seriousness.  “I was all about the science, I assure you.”

“Uh-huh,” said Raven.  “That’s why you let me grow more than 10 more feet.”

“There’s more data that way,” he said, grinning.

Raven laughed.  She stretched out, still naked.  “Measure me, you big doofus,” she said.  “Oh, and this time, walk over me, and take your time.”

Starting at her feet again, Blaine climbed up Raven’s body.  She moaned slightly as he climbed over her feet; he guessed it felt like a foot massage to her.  He walked over her magnificent legs.  She bounced her pelvis playfully as he walked across it.  He realized he was hearing the sound of liquid flowing, and found the source of the sound when he looked to her vagina.

Raven’s breasts were the biggest challenge Blaine faced, and she made them more so, giggling as she squeezed them together to keep him from just walking between them.  Instead he had to climb over them,, watching as the nearly yard-wide areolae tightened to elevate her nipples while he climbed over.  She giggled again when he slid down her breast onto her neck, then walked across her face.  “That tickles!” she said.

Soon after, Blaine walked back around Raven so she could see him.  “Eighty feet,” he said.  “You’re 80 feet tall.”

Raven smiled.  “Well, I’d better get dressed,” she said.  “There are people from the town who could come up here, although it’ll probably be a little while.  I’d rather save the eyeful for you.”

Blaine went down the hillside to get some supplies from the car, then came back up.  “So, now what?” he asked.

“Now, we wait,” Raven said.  “If I don’t shrink within about 36 hours from my original exposure to the gas, then that disproves the government’s theory.  It’s as close as we can come to proving Great-Grandpa was right.”

Before Blaine could answer, the pair heard from down the hill a voice  calling, “Hello!”

“We’re up here,” Raven said without shouting, knowing how her voice would reverberate.

A middle-aged woman came up.  “Raven!” she said.  “I see you followed through on your plan.”

“How are you, Mayor?” Raven asked.

“Fine,” said the woman.  She looked to Blaine.  “I’m Bobbi Hamilton, the mayor of Candy Rock,” she said.

“And an old family friend,” Raven said.  “Bobbi, this is Blaine Meir, my assistant -- and my … what would you say you are, Blaine?”

Resisting the temptation to prematurely answer, “Lover,” Blaine instead said, “I think I qualify as you boyfriend now.  What do you think?”

Raven smiled.  “I like it,” she said.  “Boyfriend it is.”

“We bought out a vegetable market so you could have a salad for supper,” Bobbi said.  “and all the churches in the area are getting together to make you an after-church-time dinner tomorrow.”

“That’s very thoughtful,”  Raven said.  “Thank you.”

The two women talked for awhile, then Bobbi started to move down the hill.  “Well, I’ve got mayoring to do,” she said.  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Raven -- oh, and there’s no rain in the forecast.”

“Good thing,” Raven said.  “See you, Bobbi.”

“Nice meeting you, Blaine,” the mayor said.

“You, too,” Blaine answered.

“Keep an eye on her,” Bobbi whispered to Blaine.  “She needs an Artie to her Emmy Lou.”

Once the mayor was out of sight, Raven stretched out her amazing form in front of Blaine.  “Now then,” she said, “We’ve got a lot of time to fill.  What do you want to do?”

Blaine swallowed hard, but smiled.  “That depends,” he said.  “What would you like me to fill?”

Raven looked at Blaine flirtatiously.  “Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something,” she said.

When Blaine awoke Sunday morning, he basked in the warmth he felt from Raven’s left breast.  Her heartbeat pulsed comfortingly beneath him.  He was aware that, if he stood up, he would no longer be within the warmth; the morning air was cool, and Raven was too big now to fit in any of the available structures.  But her own natural body heat, especially at areas such as her amazing, huge, soft, firm, round breasts, was high enough that he didn’t need clothing.

Blaine positioned himself so he could gaze up at the woman who had become, voernight, his colossal lover.  He knew that, realistically, the boss-employee relationship was at an end.  There was no way she could continue with the lab if her theory was correct, and its leadership would probably fire her for insubordination if it wasn’t.

But that didn’t matter as he gazed up at the sleeping face of the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen.  How could someone so big look so much like a baby? he wondered.  If anything, she had become even more lovely overnight … but then, maybe that was just due to what they had done overnight.

Blaine smiled at the memory.  Sinking chest-deep into the woman he loved, she was aware of his every move and thrilled when she realized that she could tell he was enjoying it as much as she was.  Then she had extracted him and cleaned him off by the only means available -- placing him up to the chest in her own mouth.  That had, in turn, triggered further reaction from him, which had delighted her even more.

Raven’s eyes fluttered slightly, then came open.  She got her bearings, then mumbled sleepily, “Oh, yeah.  I’m big.”

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Blaine said.

Raven smiled down at him.  “Good morning, you stallion,” she said.  “How long have you been awake?”

“Just a couple of minutes,” Blaine said.  “I was just basking in you, your warmth and beauty.”

Raven tilted her head lovingly.  “You were amazing last night,” she said.

“You weren’t too shabby yourself,” he said.  “Wow, your vaginal muscles are strong!  I was afraid I’d be crushed at first.”

“I’ve got some level of control, andf I wasn’t going to hurt you … well, not too much, anyway,” Raven said.  “I sensed you tense up slightly when I brought you to my mouth.”

“I think that was instinctive,” Blaine said.  “You know, fear of being eaten is a primitive response.  But I liked the results … a lot.”

“Oh, good,”  Raven said.  “Hey, have you got any idea what time it is?”

“Not directly,” Blaine said.  “My phone is with my clothes, and it’s my watch these days.  Why do you ask?  Do you think you should be shrinking if the government theory was right?”

Raven shook her enormous head.  “No, it’s just that the church people from Candy Rock were going to be coming up here to make us a meal.  From the position of the sun, it may be getting pretty close to time for them to come up here.”

“Right.  We’d better get dressed,” Blaine said.  Raven gently lowered him to the ground.  With only her makeshift, circus-tent bikini, she was dressed before he was.  “Come on, slowpoke,” she said.

“Take it easy.  I need more layers than you,” Blaine said.

Once they were dressed, Raven lifted Blaine to her shoulder.  “So, your grandpa never knew his dad,” he said quietly.

“No,” Raven said, being careful not to shake her head and risk injuring her lover.  “Artie had only just found out Emmy Lou was pregnant when he died.  The funny thing was, Great-Grandma was convinced she had become pregnant on their wedding night, when she was 30 feet tall.  He was absolutely normal in every way, but she was still convinced of that.  Anyway, she gave birth to Grandpa Lou ‘Bud’ Pinsetter, and my mom was his daughter, Abby Pinsetter Albert.”

It turned out Raven guess on the time was a good one.  The townspeople, led by Mayor Hamilton, started arriving within about 15 minutes of when the couple got dressed.  Soon a feast was presented, with enough food even to fill the colossal woman’s stomach.  She actually wsn’t all that hungry; the salad the previous night had met her needs, and her metabolism was slower now that she was a giantess.  She wouldn’t necessarily need to eat very often -- but, if she hadn’t eaten in awhile, she would need to eat quite a lot.

Throughout the lunch, the townspeople expressed their support to Raven and Blaine.

Raven’s favorite message came from the oldest person there, a woman who had been a girl at the time of the 30-Foot Bride incident.  “You know, Artie Pinsetter wasn’t exactly considered the best catch in town, and a lot of people didn’t like him,” she said.  “But we all knew what had really happened with and to Emmy Lou, and we could all see how much they loved each other.  And he was one of us.  We were happy for both of them for all too short a time, and what they did to your great-grandpa’s reputation was wrong.  I’m glad you’ve got the guts to do this, and I hope you prove them wrong.”

The visit lasted hours.  During that time, Blaine’s phone buzzed that he had received a text.  He opened it to find it was from the mayor, who was standing nearby.  He looked at her, confused.  She nodded to the phone, then went back to schmoozing with the crowd.

The text began, “U should know what Raven told me she’s planned.”  He read from there.

Then his phone buzzed again.  It was a second text from the mayor, with a set of instructions.  He caught her eye, nodded and mouthed the words, “Thank you.”  She nodded back.

All too soon, it was late afternoon.  The crowd was leaving, and soon Blaine was alone with Raven.  She looked sad to him, and wasn’t putting him anywhere on her body.

“You OK?” he asked.

“If the government was right, I should have shrunk by now,” Raven said in a voice surprisingly small for one so big.  “Great-Grandpa was right.”

“You should be happy,” Blaine said.

Raven sighed.  “Yeah,” she said.  She sat down.  “You know, I felt so loved by the people from my old home town when they were up here.  I wanted to hug them, and to be hugged by them, like I’ve done so many times before -- but I couldn’t.  Without Great-Grandpa’s machine, I’ll never be able to hug anyone again -- at least, not that way.  I never thought about how much I’d miss being hugged.”

Blaine ran over and hugged the giantess’ foot.  She laughed.  “Well, maybe hugs are just different now,” she said, still sounding sad.  She scooped him up and hugged him lovingly to her chest, starting to cry.

Blaine craned his next back to look up at Raven.  “This isn’t just about hugs,” he said.  “You’re going to do something else.”

Raven nodded.  “Science needs to know if a second exposure to the gas will trigger further growth, and how big someone exposed to the cave’s gasses can get.  I won’t fit in anymore, but I can inhale at the entrance and draw more gasses out.”

“Raven, no!” Blaine said.  “If you do that, the sheer volume of gasses you can draw -- especially if you’re doing it repeatedly to see how big someone can get -- could make you so big you’d be mountainous.  And then your body would trigger rainstorms, which would make you grow larger.”

“Only until the gas is finished being metabolized,” Raven said.  “Great-Grandma was still influenced by the gasses after Artie shunted the mass away, but she didn’t grow when she got wet or took a drink.  Once the gas was fully metabolized, she didn’t grow anymore.”

“But you’ll be too big to live, at least with people,” Blaine said.

“I know,” Raven said.

“And, safely, with me,” he said.

“I know,” she said.  “But the science demands it.”

“No!” Blaine shouted.  “No!  You have thr right to live a life.  You’ve done what you set out to do!  You don’t have to further sacrifice yourself for the sake of this data.”

Raven sighed.  “But we do need to know if a second exposure triggers more growth.”

“Then let me suggest a compromise,” Blaine said.  “Take one inhale -- just one, no bigger than you wish -- and that will give you the evidence about repeat exposures.  You’ll be bigger -- probably way bigger -- but you may just be able to have some kind of connection to humanity … and to me.”

“But the data --”

“Dammit, I know you’re a scientist, but you’re also human, and I thought you had feelings for me!” Blaine said.

“I do,” said Raven.  “Actually, I think I love you.  I just wish I’d acted on my impulses toward you sooner.”

“Then, if you love me -- if you even just think you might love me -- you have to limit this experiment,” Blaine said.  “Think about it.  You’ve been doing all this for Artie and Emmy Lou’s memory.  What would they want you to do?”

Raven thought for a monment, then smiled.  “All right,” she said.  “One breath, then I’ll stop.”

“Thank you,” Blaine said, tears running down his cheeks.  “I love you.”

She caressed his cheek with her index finger.  “I love you, too,” she said.  “Come on.  Let’s get this science over with.”

They made their way back down to the cave entrance.  Raven laid down with he rface at the entrance, while Blaine stood what he hoped was a safe distance back.  Raven looked at him.  “Ready?” she said.

He nodded.

Raven closed her eyes, then inhaled deeply once and immediately pulled away.  Immediately she began to swell.  She undid her makeshift bikini before she shredded it and stood up.  Higher and higher she climbed growing to more and more colossal size.

Once the growing was done, Raven laid down, being careful not to squish Blaine.  Realizing how big her voice now was, she whispered, “GPS me.”

While walking the immense distance of his lover, Blaine heard Raven whisper, “I guess I’d better get used to whipsering from now on, huh?”

“Yep!” he shouted.

Raven started to cry.  “I can still hear you!” she said.  “I was afraid I’d be so big I couldn’t!”

“No such luck!” Blaine shouted, which prompted a laugh from his massive love.

When he was done measuring, Blaine shouted, “You’re 400 feet tall.”

“Don’t move,” Raven said.  “There’s one last step in this process.”  She reached more than 100 feet to a stream and dipped her fingers in it.  She grew a bit larger.  “Now, GPS me again,” she said.

Blaine did as he was told.  After a few minutes, he called out, “You added 30 feet.  You’re 430 feet tall.”

Raven turned her head to gaze at her love, who now looked like he was the size of a large bug to her.  “Now what do we do, Sweetie?” she asked.

Blaine held up his phone.  “The mayor gave me some directions to something she thought you might need about now,” he said.  “We can head there, if you like.”

Raven shrugged.  “I’ve got nothing else to do,” she said.  She reached up the hill to the place where the tents were. She made a top from the two she’d worn as a bikini earlier.  It was skimpy, but workable.  She used one that had remained in the barn for the bottom of the bikini.  “Now that I’m dressed, let’s go,” she said.

Blaine climbed on her finger and they set out.  Soon they arrived at a large complex.  There were several immense gigantic Quonset-hut-style buildings there, including one that was fully 500 feet tall.

Raven gasped, “What is this place?”

“Apparently, the government was so sure they could grow giant soldiers in the 1950s that they built this giant barracks,” Blaine said.  “They scaled them up based on the sizes they thought they might get.  You’ll just fit the largest.”

“I have a place to live!” Raven said.

“And so do I,” Blaine said.  “There are family quarters attached.  There’s even one that leads right onto your bed, and an elevator in the bedpost for me to get down to the floor.”

Raven looked at her beloved.  “But how will we live?”

“Are you kidding?”  Blaine said.  “You’re going to be, quite literally, the biggest thing to hit science in decades.  There will be journal articles, lectures, TV interviews -- not to mention things like book deals and celebrity stuff.  And, let’s face it, darling:  You’re beautiful.  The media will love you.  We’ll be able to make a good living, and I can be your go-between with the normal-sized world.”

“But … what about sex?”  Raven asked.

“I was thinking of taking SCUBA lessons,” Blaine said.

Raven laughed.  “I love you, Blaine Meir.”

“Then marry me,” Blaine said.  “Please.”

Raven’s enormous eyes widened.  “You mean it?  Even like this?”

Blaine nodded.

Raven beamed.  “Great-Grandma always said that when you find the right love, they’re the biggest thing in the world, no matter what your relative sizes,” she said.  “Yes, I’ll marry you.” She held the tiny man top her lips and kissed him.

Then Raven looked around.  “Well, as big as I am now, I guess we’ll have to do the wedding here,” she said.

Blaine laughed.

“What?” Raven said.

“You know what that’ll make you?” he said.

Raven thought for a moment, then burst out laughing herself.  “I’ll be the 430-Foot Bride of Candy Rock!”

“Yep!” Blaine said.

She kissed him again, one more of a lifetime of kisses and other ways of loving the couple would share over many years to come.