[size=150]Chapter 10: Scrutiny[/size]

Thomas was in love with Trish. He had accepted it. He wanted to scream it from the mountain tops. He wanted to tell everyone he knew about it, but he couldn’t. Their love was still forbidden and would remain so until Trish was discharged from the hospital and probably a long time after that. He didn’t mind. He would wait an eternity for her if he had to.

At the same time, the full weight of what he had been doing to Melanie by running around with Trish behind her back fell on him. His integrity, what was left of it, demanded that he tell her the truth about him and Trish. The lover in him wanted to believe that Melanie would understand that this was a matter of true love, and respect it. The rational and practical side of him knew that there was no way he could tell her about it and keep his job and ability to see Trish. He went to bed that night restless, his head swirling between a storm of guilt over Melanie and the vast ocean of his love for Trish.

His dreams were strange. In them he imagined him and Melanie sharing the bed at his place. She was riding him like she did the night he was called to deal with Trish's drunkenness, her fingers clutched against his chest.

“I thought I told you to break up with this little girl” a voice boomed from outside, shaking Thomas's windows. The two lovers untangled themselves and turned to witness Trish leering at them, stooping down to look through the window. She straightened, and suddenly it was like Trish had the two trapped in a shoe box on a table. The titan wrapped her fingers over the wall of their containment as she brought her face closer. 

“I'm not going to let anyone or anything stand between us.” She thundered, and brought her hand down to wrap around Melanie and lift her in the air screaming and kicking. 

“No, stop!” He cried as the monstrous Trish lifted Melanie over her head. The giantess tilted her head back and opened her mouth wide underneath her. Trish's eyes wandered down to him, her mouth curling into a loving smile. 

“We love each other.” She said, head still tilted up, lips still aimed at Melanie to end her life. “It doesn't matter who we hurt along the way, right?” She taunted him, and then without hesitation, dropped the protesting Melanie into her mouth, putting her out of her misery. 

Thomas woke up with a start, guiltier than ever. Trish would never actually hurt Melanie, he knew. That manifestation was an invention of his subconscious, a mental image of Trish holding him to task to get him to stop hurting Melanie. He had to end things with her today. He would do it as soon as he saw her, pull her aside before his walk with Trish so Trish could see that he had made good on his promise to end things. 

Thomas’s plan crumbled when he arrived at the hospital. The lobby was chaos, with all manner of administrators and lawyers rushing from here to there, making phone calls and giving orders to the reception staff who were scrambling around at twice the speed and with twice the confusion. 

Melanie rushed to Thomas when she saw him, throwing open her arms to hug him. Thomas dumbly opened himself to it, his body on autopilot as he tried to figure out what was happening.

“They’re arresting Trish!” 

“What?!” He nearly yelled as his arms gripped her shoulders and held her at arm’s length from him. “Are they taking her?”

“They put the gym on lockdown. They’re not letting anyone in or out.”

“Can they do that?”

“We can do whatever we want.” a slimy voice slithered from behind. Thomas whirled around to come face to face with a short, scrawny, balding man in a suit. 

“Agent Grisham. FBI. You must be Thomas Black, the psychologist.” He said, raising a hand to him. Thomas didn’t shake it. “This is all going to go a lot easier if you cooperate.” He said, pushing the hand forward.

“Why are you guys here?” he asked, releasing Melanie and turning to reluctantly taking the hand.

“I hear you are the guy to talk to about her. Tell me, doctor, has Patricia Hostettler had a history of violent thoughts or behaviors?” 

The question threw him for a loop. “Trish? Violent? No, never. Trish wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

The agent smiled cockily. “You know Dr. Douglas Vale? You should, he was a coworker of yours before taking a leave of absence due to injury and declining mental health.” The agent pulled out a few images of Dr. Vale, full sized, showing him with a swollen left eye, right where Thomas punched him.

“Trish didn’t do that!” He protested, but the agent just laughed.

“That’s not what Dr. Vale says. Dr. Vale says she flicked him when he didn’t bring her enough food one day.” The agent feigned a naive shrug. He knew the story was bullshit. This was all just pretense.

“One way or another, we’re going to get our girl.” He smiled, and patted the stunned Dr. Black on the shoulder. “Don’t think about leaving town, ok? We’ll probably need you to testify.” 

“You can’t do this.”

“We already are. Listen, kid. She’s dangerous. It’s best if you leave her to us.” He said, and moved past Thomas to approach Dr. Jacobson on the other side of the lobby. 

Thomas fumbled with his phone, trying to send a text to Trish, but the line had been disconnected. Thomas swore under his breath, trying to figure out what to do about the sham investigation and feeling powerless to do anything.

“What are we going to do?” Melanie whimpered. 

‘Oh Christ, Melanie’. He thought as he was reminded of her presence. It hardly seemed like the time to break up with her anymore. “We need to make sure Jeb knows what’s going on. He’ll be able to get her a much better lawyer than the hospital will be able to provide.” 

“Oh, she must be so scared.” Melanie cried and buried her head in Thomas’s chest. Thomas wrapped his arms around her, his heart breaking for Trish locked away in the gym. He needed to find some way to make contact with her.

The lawyer arrived on the scene by nightfall. Margaret Hazel, the best lawyer money could buy, according to Jeb. The guards begrudgingly let her in after much legal battering from the quick witted woman. Thomas waited outside the entrance all night with Melanie, Dr. Jacobson and Jeb Hostettler. They were not allowed to see her. 

They waited, unable to get a message to her, unable to see anything that was happening inside. Margaret emerged later that night with a look that carried bad news.

“They’re keeping her in what they are calling investigative custody. They’re claiming that she’s a flight risk and poses a threat of additional harm to Dr. Vale.” the lawyer said with a frown.

“What’s that mean for her?” Jeb asked.

“It means that she isn’t allowed to leave. They aren’t filing charges yet and that means we can’t post a bail. They can keep her for up to sixty days like this.”

“Sixty days! Unacceptable. There must be something to be done.” Jeb demanded.

“I can file requests to the court and fight their injunctions, but they came prepared for that. I’ll do my best, but it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to fight it in a timely enough manner to make a difference.”

“What if I confess to the assault?” Thomas blurted, much to Jacobson’s horror, the first time he had heard that Dr. Black was the cause of it.

“Won’t do us any good now. Dr. Vale is telling the story they want him to tell. When it goes to trial we can present it to try and get her off the hook, but that’ll be a long way down the road.”

“So she’s just stuck in there?!” Thomas asked, yelling. 

“For now. They can’t restrict my access as her lawyer, so I can pass messages to her if you like.” She said, giving Thomas a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“Just tell her…” He gave a side long glance at Melanie, the girl he was cheating on with Trish, Trish’s father, and his boss. He wanted to say desperately that he loved her, but it would be a catastrophe. “Just tell her that we’re all here for her, and to remember to be confident.” Margaret nodded, and the group went their separate ways. Melanie made to follow Thomas back to his car, but he turned and made some excuse about needing to be alone. 

Margaret was right. The investigators pulled every loophole and bastardized every legal code to hold onto Trish for as long as they could. Day after day passed by with Thomas’s only connection to Trish being second hand accounts from Margaret. 

The details were not pretty. Trish’s mental state was on a decline. She had grown sullen and anxious, afraid to move lest it be interpreted as a threat. By all accounts it seemed that Agent Grisham was trying to provoke her. Margaret had to get a doctor’s order to make sure the giant woman was still eating comfortably because they had not been delivering her full portions, the legal code in Kansas only requiring a certain amount of food fit for a normal sized person. Sleep deprivation was also employed, with the agents her up at all hours of the night for additional details about an assault she was not guilty of nor even had any knowledge of.

The injunctions Margaret had filed ultimately failed, and Trish had to wait out the full 60 days inside the confines of the gym. On top of that, the investigators filed charges on the very last day, and placed her on temporary house arrest while they argued in court against bail. Thankfully lost, but not before dragging out her isolation for another two weeks.

But that was not the extent of their torment. A few days before she was due to be released on bail, the investigators wanted to talk to Jeb, Jacobson, and Thomas all of a sudden. Jeb graciously retained Margaret to help Dr. Black, but received nothing but dirty looks from the man after he had left the meeting room. Next was Dr. Jacobson, who was in there a whole lot longer. He gave Thomas a grave look as he exited as well. 

“We need to have a talk.” He said, patting Dr. Black on the shoulder in what felt like pity. Thomas’s heart sank. The investigators had found out about him and Trish fooling around, no doubt. He walked down the hall to the meeting room, feeling like he was heading to the electric chair.

When he entered the meeting room, he found Agent Grisham and a man he didn’t recognize snickering to themselves while looking at a laptop. Thomas and the lawyer took their seats without being invited, and gave each other concerned looks as the men continued to carry on. 

“Dr. Thomas Black. Thanks so much for meeting with us.” Agent Grisham said, trying to be serious. “Now is it Dr. Black? Or is it ‘Tiny Tommy’?” He said, reigniting the laughter. Thomas was immediately horrified. Tiny Tommy was his screen name on various fetish sites. 

“Don’t answer that.” The lawyer ordered as she put her hand on Thomas’s shoulder. 

“Maybe you can help us out with a psychology question then. I want to read you a passage of something our team found on this site.” The agent made a show of putting on reading glasses and scrolling down an unseen webpage.

“Ahem. This is an excerpt from what appears to be a work of erotic fiction.” the agent started. “She stood above the National Mall with her hands on her hips. Her latest growth spurt had put her at a thousand feet tall. She wiggled her massive toes, upturning the earth of the National Mall between her feet. “I’M SO FUCKING BIG,” she said…” The agent looked up at Thomas, who was squirming in his seat. 

“AND SO FUCKING HORNY!” the agent broke out into laughter again. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, ahem. “I’M SO FUCKING HORNY” -you can tell she’s big because she’s speaking in all capital letters-” The agent added. “BUT EVEN AS BIG AS I AM, I NEED TO BE BIGGER…” Her eyes were looking at the ground below her in contempt, eyes lighting upon the Washington Monument standing tall and proud…” 

The agent looked up at Thomas, whose face was beading with sweat.  “You’ll never guess what happens next, no go on, guess.” Thomas of course knew what happened next in that story.

“Don’t guess.” Margaret said, putting a hand on Thomas’s trembling arm again. From his reaction, she knew they had nailed him. The only thing to do now was not to give them any more ammo and hope that this didn’t hurt Trish’s case too.

“Fine, she gets even bigger and has sex with the Washington Monument. Now, for me, defacing one of our great national monuments like that would be horrifying, let alone the idea of a mile tall woman, but there’s this guy here, Tiny Tommy, he responded to this post with: “That’s hot. I hope she gets even bigger!” In your professional opinion, what is psychologically wrong with this person that sees them deriving sexual pleasure from such scenes?”

“What does this have to do with Dr. Black or Patricia Hostettler?” The lawyer objected, cutting off Dr. Black before he could think of answering.

“You tell me.”  Agent Grisham said, then tapped the unknown man on the shoulder, who turned the computer around to face Thomas. The website was a familiar one, a forum for his fellow macrophiles to post images and erotica and even roleplay. He hadn’t visited it since taking Trish’s case. It was absolutely dominated by her. Any picture of Trish ever taken had been posted. They loved the shot of her holding the reporter like a baby. There were edits of her photos too, depicting her the size of a skyscraper and navigating a city. Here was one, that was just a close up of her mouth. Someone had edited a crowd of people running along her tongue, trying to escape her throat. People had taken to referring to her as “Our Queen”, posting emojis of people praying and bowing in response to any mention of her. 

There were dozens of stories. “Patricia eats Chicago.” Was popular. “Patty outgrows the world.” Was another. There were roleplaying forums, with one person pretending to be Trish, talking about how she secretly never wants to stop growing until she can fit the whole world in her pussy, or adopting people to become her ‘foot slaves’, something the real Trish would never say. It’s exactly the sort of thing Thomas would be into, only if he hadn’t gotten to know Trish as a human being.

“I’ll cut to the chase. We know you’re Tiny Tommy. We traced your account’s email and can even tell you where you were when you made the account. Now, there might not be anything criminal here, but maybe Tiny Tommy here is covering for Ms. Hostettler’s violent tendencies because he gets off on the idea of a giant woman killing thousands of people.” 

The agents let the implication hang in the air. There were no further questions, and the lawyer would not let Thomas defend himself. The two got up to leave. The last thing the lawyer said to Thomas before walking faster down the hall was “What the fuck, man?” 

“Can you tell her I’m sorry?” He yelled after her, but didn’t receive a response.

“So do you have a paraphilia for what’s happening to Ms. Hostettler?” Jacobson asked point blank at their meeting later. His lawyer was present, taking notes.

“Yes.” Dr. Black admitted.

“Have you ever had sexual feelings towards her?” He asked sternly.

“Yes.” Dr. Black gulped.

“Please tell me you didn’t act on them.” Jacobson implored. Dr. Black said nothing, afraid to lie lest new information come to light about him and Trish. His silence was enough to confirm it.

“Jesus Christ.” Jacobson said, disgusted. “I’m suspending you without pay until we can figure out what to do with you. Security will follow you to get anything you need from your office.” 

Dr. Black packed up the few personal items in his office in a daze. Everyone stared in disbelief as he carried his office in a file box through the lobby. Melanie broke rank to run to him, only being stopped by security. 

“Tommy! Oh my god, what happened?” 

Thomas’s throat went dry, he had no will to lie any more. The only thing for him now was rock bottom.

“They found out. They found out about me and Trish.” 

Melanie felt a lump in her throat. It’s not like she hadn’t noticed Thomas’s growing distance over the last couple of months. She had her doubts, of course, but she always returned to her faith in him, that he was just such a good guy. 

“What about you and Trish?” She asked stupidly, and having asked it knew it was stupid, but something in her made her hope that this whole thing wasn’t what she knew it was.

“I love her Melanie. I’m sorry. I love her.” 

Melanie froze in place. Thomas turned back to shout it as he was ushered out more violently by security. “I love her! I fell in love with her! I’m sorry!” He shouted as he was pushed from the hospital doors. Melanie could only watch dumbfounded and red faced as her ex-boyfriend was thrown out of the hospital.

Losing his job was terrible, but not as terrible as breaking Trish’s trust. If he could just explain to her that he didn’t just lust after her for being a giant, that he loved her for who she was, if he could just talk to her before the agents got their hooks in her and spread doubts… He tried everything. He tried to talk to Jeb or her lawyer, but neither would give him the time of day. 

So he waited, and waited. He spent every day parked in the parking lot outside the gym where Trish was. University security kicked him off of campus, but they couldn’t stop him from parking on the public cross streets. He kept his eyes on the gym for the last week of her captivity. He knew they would move her to Jeb’s property as soon as they could. He just needed to wait, and he would catch her. They would see each other, and she would remember how happy they made each other, and she would forgive him. He practiced a hundred iterations of his speech in his many lonely hours waiting by his car as voicemails from Melanie piled in his mailbox.

He knew it was happening when a large tractor trailer truck pulled up to the gym in the middle of the night. A lot of people were gathered around the loading dock she used to exit the gym. preparing for her. Thomas exited his car and made for the bushes behind the building, taking up a spot not far from where Trish danced naked in an attempt to tempt him into bed with her.

He waited and watched as members of the security team waited around anxiously. Finally, Jeb exited the building, descending down the stairs of the loading dock, and then looking back, taking steps back to make way for the emergence of his giant daughter. One long arm reached through, and she planted her hand in the parking lot. Then the other. She pulled herself out of the loading dock door, the large door she used to duck under, now too short to pass through without getting on her hands and knees. 

Thomas’s heart broke when he saw her. She looked tired, unkempt, and underfed. She was wearing clothes that were much too small for her, her clothing needs neglected in face of the legal troubles. She wore a shirt that would have fit her when she was thirteen feet tall. The formerly form fitting garment was stretched to its limit, ripped in places to make way for her expanded form. She had no hope of fitting into her old shorts, so they had taken one of her old sundresses and altered it into a wrap around her hips as a short skirt, ending at mid thigh.

She pulled her feet forward, placing them under herself, nearly a yard long each. The assembled helpers took careful steps back as they eyed her warily. Finally, she started to stand.

Trish was wobbly on her feet. Hunger, sleep deprivation, stress, and general misery had exhausted her to a near breaking point. She watched as the ground moved further and further away from her. She stumbled, exhaustion plus the fact of growing nearly six feet since she last stood up straight causing her head to swim. She braced herself on the roof behind her, above level with her shoulders, and continued to look down at her dad and his staff, her knees about level with their shoulders. Fuck. She thought. I’m fucking huge now.

The knee-high people signaled her forward to the tractor trailer. A long tube that she would have to cram her body into, the top of the trailer not even chest high. She placed her hands on her knees and stooped to look inside.

It was now or never. Thomas sprinted forward, dodging the ground crew and security as he yelled for her.

“TRISH!” a tiny voice called from somewhere below her. Her eyes listed over, spotting the little person running towards her. She squinted, trying to tell the difference between this one and all the other little people gathered around her knees. Oh, it was Thomas. The only person who didn't see her as a monster. She almost smiled. But that wasn't true. He saw her as a monster all right, he just got off on the idea of her stepping on him, or eating him.

He stopped short of her, her eyes dark and tired and clearly not amused by his presence. It didn't take long for security to jump on him, grabbing him by either arm. He kept his eyes locked on hers, that entire speech he had practiced leaving his mind now that he was beneath her gaze. 

"It's ok, let him go". She croaked, her voice noticeably louder and deeper than before, even though she was speaking softly and tiredly. The men obeyed hesitantly. After judging that a man a third of her size didn’t pose any serious danger to her, they complied.

Trish looked at the little guy, and heard him start to babble something she didn't care to pay attention to. She stood up from the trailer and faced him, seeing just how tiny he had gotten. Way smaller than when he had made her scream and curl her toes. Doubtful he could do that again, especially when the warm confident smile she loved him for was so hard to see from up here. 

She squatted down, bringing her knees to her chest in order to see him better. He flinched, she noticed. And there was no smile, just tear streaked cheeks and whimpering. Pathetic. Why did she ever love this man? Oh right, he brainwashed you into it so he could live out his perverted fantasies.

"I don't want to talk to you right now." She said flatly, cutting him off, whatever he was saying. Thomas looked broken. Good. She stood up in front of him, watching him dwindle in front of her.  Thomas watched from the ground as Trish stood back up to her full, incredible height, staring down at him with a contemptuous gaze from 18 feet above him. 

A dark thought whispered: maybe I should step on him, since he apparently wants it so bad. She lifted her right foot and pressed her big toe into his chest with enough force to knock him off his feet, barely managing to balance on one leg. As she saw him sprawl out on the ground underneath her foot, she gave a small chuckle. That’s right, you creep.

She stumbled again once she brought her foot back to the ground. She managed to catch herself on the tractor trailer before falling down into the parking lot, but the roof was not strong enough to hold her massive weight. A loud bang echoed through the parking lot as she fell on the tailgate, the force of her fall shattering the trailer's axle. 

Thomas was dragged struggling and screaming away from the scene, eyes locked on Trish as she disentangled herself from the ruined truck trailer. 

"Ugh. I'm just gonna walk home, Daddy." She groaned. The last he saw of her was her rising walk into the night. He heard her footsteps booming away long after he lost sight of her.