The Brink outline
a male/female research partnership working on cellular immortality gets their funding cut when they report barely significant results, and only in females
(she's short a bit overweight, has a bit of a snacking problem. he's nerdy but cute. she's into him, but he's oblivious)
neither are willing to give up, so they scrounge to continue their work independently
her family owns a unused farm, so they setup shop there, as it's a good place to house the animal test subjects. he gets a job in the city, and can only visit infrequently
he comes to visit for a weekend, and she's a bit 'too hospitable', as they work on science. she has a brilliant idea about why the results are sex-linked. as she talks about it, the ah-ha moment clicks for him, and he realizes the reason. estrogen isn't mediating their drug, their drug is mediating estrogen. It's estrogen that is responsible for the cellular immortality. That's why women have longer average lifespans. She's following him, but confused about why estrogen replacement therapy wouldn't have already shown this effect. It's because most of the estrogen is in a dormant form. Their drug unwraps it, unleashes it into it's active form. All they need to do is provide a constant supply of their drug, and the body will do the rest.
she's impressed and encouraged, and will get right on testing that theory. it's late, and she makes herself a nervous snack before trying to make a pass at him, while simultaneously deprecating her own body and low level of fitness. He very awkwardly rebuffs her. The whole situation is uncomfortable.
that week, she tries to synthesize larger amounts, and does get some encouraging results in the cellular plate testing. However, the amount she'll need to deliver seems far too large to inject. She has the idea to try making a retrovirus to get the host's own cells to assemble the mediator. She tries it in a rat, and has astounding results. In just seven days, the subject rat looks healthier, more active, and has grown 12%.
She calls him about her results, and encourages him to come back that weekend to see. He can't. He's swamped with work. In fact, it may be a couple weeks. She apologizes about the awkward situation, and promises it won't happen again. He says it's not that. He just has work to do, the overtime will help keep their research going. She's disappointed, but she understands. She'll keep working on it.
She spends her days 'talking to' her subject rat, checking on how she's doing. Each day the rat's results look more impressive. She's eating more, and getting stronger, healthier, and larger each day. Her wheel activity is up 68%, despite her turning up the resistance on it.
Meanwhile, she's feeling horribly snacky herself. She mows down a whole bag of chips and dip before scolding herself for the bad behavior. Then after making four portions of a meal, planning to save some for later, she eats three of them in one sitting. She gets on the scale, and sure enough, she's put on another eight pounds that week. She forces herself into some vigorous exercise running the peaceful grounds of the farm. After one lap, she's winded and almost quits, but then realizes she doesn't have anything else to do on the farm, so she runs another, and another. Ten laps later, she's drenched with sweat, but feels incredible and exhausted. She crashes.
The next morning, she's famished so she makes and eats a huge breakfast, talking to her prize subject as she eats. After eating, she decides to go for another run. She tells the rat she'll check her stats when she gets back. Two hours later, she's back inside, drenched with sweat, and shocked she'd been running that long. She takes the rat's measurements, and is shocked to find her wheel activity up to 180% of normal. She's also 22% larger and heavier than baseline, which is astonishing. She sets her next to a 'normal' rat, and she looks oddly big.
She calls her partner, who is a bit astonished at the figures. She's just as surprised herself, but these are the results. He starts to question her methods, and finds out she's using a retrovirus for delivery. He flips out, as they don't have any of the proper contamination precautions for her to be doing that. No clean room. No hasmat suits. She downplays it. Who is going to get exposed? She's the only one there. When are you going to come see the results? Maybe next weekend.
Four more days, and sixty miles of laps around the farm, and it's obvious that something not-normal is going on with her. Despite all the running, she's been eating like a pig, and so she has actually gained another eight pounds. However, she doesn't feel fatter, if anything she just feels stronger. It doesn't take long for her to wonder if she accidentally exposed herself to the virus. She talks to her subject-rat about it, knowing there is nothing she can do about it now.
Three days later, she takes full measurements of herself along with the subject-rat. It's not very easy to measure her own height, but she's pretty sure she's grown two inches in about three days. Also, her flabby midsection is melting off. She still has a bit of pudge, but there is no doubt she's more fit than a week ago. -- She takes the measurements for the rat, finding equally impressive results. The rat is up to 28% larger than baseline. She asks the rat if she should call her partner, but decides she'd have to tell him about her self-contamination.
He makes the decision for her when he calls. He says he's free the following weekend, but could make a day-trip sooner. She stammers, and tells him he doesn't need to go out of his way. Things are progressing with the subject. The results will only be more conclusive in another week.
--
Twelve days later, she wakes up. She's up to six-foot-one, five inches taller than her baseline. She's also lost every bit of pudgy fat. She doesn't even recognize herself. The woman in the mirror looks like a gym rat fitness model, wearing the only clothes of her that still fit her (panties and a sports bra). She decides she better cover-up her body, so she doesn't shock her partner when he shows up. She throws on some extra farmhand clothes (overalls and a long sleeve tshirt). She checks on her rat, who is now 33% larger than baseline. She puts her next to a normal rat, and she just looks surreal. A super-sized rat.
That's when her partner shows up.
---
he's floored by her height. asking her what happened, before realizing exactly what happened. She gave herself the therapy.
she explains it was an accidental contamination. he was right about them needing those containment precautions. however, the good news is, it works, and she's not only taller. she's dramatically lost weight and increased muscle mass. She peels off the top of the overalls, just trying to show him how much thinner she is. "see"
he's floored by how fit she is. 'holy crap, we have a serum that makes women hot?'