A Happy Family - Cover

A Happy Family

by Baerd

Copyright© 2019 by Baerd

Incest Sex Story: A frustrated family man complains in a bar about the stresses caused by a sexually adventurous daughter and mother, then finds his family dedicating themselves to becoming a "happy" one.

Caution: This Incest Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa   Fa/Fa   Mult   Mind Control   Fiction   Incest   Mother   Son   Father   Daughter   Grand Parent   Polygamy/Polyamory   Masturbation   Oral Sex   .

The following is a work of fiction and any resemblance between characters in this work and actual persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. This work contains scenes of explicit sex between adults and is intended for the entertainment of adults only. This is fantasy. Life does not work this way. The potential reader is directed to the story codes listed for this story - if any of the sexual activities or relationships are illegal in your area, do not read or download this story, as you are responsible for following the laws of your locality. If you are offended by depictions of adult intercourse or if you are less than the age of majority in your jurisdiction please do not read or download this story. Nothing in this work should be taken as condoning or encouraging any of the activities depicted herein.


It had been quite a row, and I got it from both sides, being in the middle between my mother and my wife, and my daughter. I explained this to the bartender as he poured me a double, light on the rocks, no mixer, thank you. They both loved me, and I loved both of them, but they were like oil and water together -- no make that oil and a torch, because everyone got burned when they got together in the same place at the same time. You could lose your eyebrows and hair just being several rooms away in the same house when they got together and a ‘discussion’ got started, generally with a whooshing sound as the air in the room superheated and the flashpoint was reached.

The bartender topped off the glass of the only other person in the bar, some non-descript guy in an old suit and trenchcoat who was so quiet he was almost invisible, then came back to fulfill his part-time counselor duties.

I took a drink, then a deep breath, and let my frustration flow. “Look, I’m stuck in the middle of a catfight among the women in my life. Really, it starts with my mother, she loves me, but she has these opinions and attitudes, you know? She thinks that because she’s my mother she should be able to run my life, still, even after I’m an adult with a wife and child of my own. Now my daughter she loves, and my daughter loves my mother because Mom unconditionally loves and approves of her like she’s the light of her life and can do no wrong, which is, well ... not altogether a good assessment of Talia’s behavior.”

Further explanation was called for. “Uh, Talia is a bit of a flirt with her classmates, and doesn’t care if she, uh, ‘spreads it around’ more than is wise. And Mom and Talia both unite against my wife on the indiscriminate and adventurous sex is good front, and this makes my wife crazy, undermining her authority in the family. My wife, Delia, is justifiably worried that Talia is getting too sexual too soon. We know that she’s gone as far as oral sex with guys and girls, not that we have an issue with that, really, but there’ve been too many, and we think she’s going to start actual fucking soon, and if she does that like what she’s been doing so far, she’ll wind up the town crotch instead of just the town tongue, you know? God, I can’t believe I’m having to say that about my own daughter!”

I shook my head. “Well, all of this scares the bejesus out of Delia and me, we tried to raise her to make better choices. Delia thinks it’s my mom’s influence, because after Dad died, Mom ‘rediscovered’ her sexuality and apparently, learned a lot of theory from Talia, then she went out and engaged in a fair bit of practice, and then she shared a lot of inappropriate details with Talia, who got encouraged to act out even more on her own, and discovered she liked it way too much!” I threw back most of my drink in a gulp, then slammed down what little was left of my scotch. It took me a minute to catch my breath.

“Mm-hmm,” the bartender said as he refilled my glass. He put down the bottle and leaned on the bar, waiting for the rest.

“So now my wife is looking at me like I should be able to control my mother and my daughter, and support her in the rising family feud we’ve got developing.”

I sighed. “Mom conceived me very young, at fourteen -- she didn’t know much of anything about sex because her parents believed sex ed was abstinence-only, and so she became a mother with me at fifteen. My father was never really part of the picture, because the little town they lived in thought tarring and feathering him and throwing him out into the world alone like that would teach a better lesson to the other boys of the town than making him marry my mother and work to support us.”

I saw the bartender’s docked eyebrow, and answered, “Yes, there are still places that do shit like that, and I’m glad we moved aways from that town so Mom could find work. Now she’s living out her teenage and young life years and fantasies she never got to have -- she went from young innocent teenager to full adult reaponsibilities in just a few months. My mom was a single parent, and I was her little boy, and I still am, in her head.”

I shook my head again, “My arguing with her now is worse than useless. She thinks she knows best even while acting out her teenage years and my wife and I are the fuddy-duddy adults standing in their way. My daughter idolizes Mom for what she’s done, despite the cards being so stacked against her, and loves that Mom is thinking, feeling and acting like an eighteen year old does! The two of them are besties, thick as thieves, partners in crime. And they support each other against my wife and I. Complete, may I add, with storm and drang and a great deal of insolence.”

I paused in my kvetching. “Look. I love my mother. I love my daughter. I love my wife. I agree with my wife -- Talia is 18, and she shouldn’t be having so much sex with so many people who mean so little to her, who aren’t ... well, she should only do that with people she loves, not just for fun or for ‘the experience’, you know? I don’t care that she’s bisexual, I just wish she were more discriminating!” I took another swallow and enjoyed the burn, and the spreading warm glow, then continued.

“My wife, Delia, deserves to be respected by both Talia and Mom. She loves her family, and is the Mother of the family, and should be loved all the more for that. I just wish she wouldn’t put me in the terrible position of having to defy my mother in ways that won’t work, and let me deal with her in ways that will work. And Mom, well, I wish that she would see me as a man. Actually, I wish all three of them would see me as the man of the house, and respect me as such.”

I gestured toward my empty glass. The bartender raised an eyebrow, and when I nodded in confirmation, poured a last double. “That’s hard to admit, you know. I live with a house full of women who don’t really care or consider what I think or feel. I wish they did.”

I tossed a hundred on the bar. “Funny thing is, I’m doing quite well. I make a six figure income, and at work or anywhere outside our home I am very respected. I just wish they’d respect me at home. And I wish they’d remember I love all of them, and return that love instead of focusing so much on their arguments, and ... all the drama. They love each other, too! I just wish they’d act like it!”

The scotch was making me maudlin, I realized. I also realized I was going to have to call a cab or an Uber or something. I suddenly became aware that there had been a change in the bar. “Keep it,” I told the barman as he put my change down. That wasn’t it. What else had changed?

I looked around. “Where did that other guy go?”

“What other guy?” the bartender asked.

“The guy who was sitting over there ... suit, trenchcoat? Was drinking scotch as well? He was there just a minute ago.”

The bartender looked to where I was pointing. There was no glass or napkin, the stool was in line with all the others. It was like no one had been sitting there. “Uh, sir, you want me to call a cab for you? Maybe a cup of coffee?”

I pulled out my phone and opened a ride-share app, and ordered one. “That’s okay, I’ve got it. I won’t drive home like this, thanks. Never mind, I would have sworn there was a guy over there. Guess I’ve had a bit more than I should have.”

The bartender nodded. I was certain that someone had been there, and something was off, but the alcohol was doing its job and I was becoming less and less able to convince anyone of anything.

It took just a few minutes for my ride to show up, but I did have that cup of coffee, if only to make the barkeep less concerned. I went out to the car, gave my address, and smiled and nodded with the driver’s inane chatter as he drove. Most of me was thinking about the vanishing man, wondering exactly when he had left. It was like ... suddenly, I was aware he was gone. It was after I paid my tab, but before I got my change. Maybe even as I got my change. There was a feeling ... I don’t know, it’s hard to describe. Ah, well. It didn’t really matter after all. It was just ... wierd.

We got to the house, and I thanked the driver, and gave him a good tip and a quick good review on the app. I went in, and the house was quiet. I went upstairs and dropped my clothes and crawled into bed beside my beautiful sleeping wife. I kissed her forehead and fluffed my pillow, pulled the covers over my naked body, and let the scotch take me into dreamland.


I awoke at the crack of noon, a bit hung over, of course, but with an amazing sensation happening under the covers. My wife is in a very sexy, and generous, mood, I thought. Her tongue was doing a remarkable pole dance on me, with the perfect amount of suction and pressure. I felt her hard nipple on an ample breast against my thigh. My God, she was taking me deeper than ever before, and damn, her skills had improved! I was on the crest of a massive orgasm, past the point of no return, when the door opened and my wife walked in with a tray holding breakfast. Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck, oh, fuck OH FUCK!!! I was cumming harder than I think I ever have since I was a teenager, clutching the head of someone down hard on my cock as it thrummed and pulsed and blasted in their throat. Delia sat down on the bed beside me as I had convulsions of pleasure and growled my release, and smiled, still holding the breakfast tray steady. As my climax wound down, I released the unknown head, which was still gently sucking the last of my spend from my relaxing cock and panted.

“Was that good, honey?” asked Delia.

“Uh, yeah?” I answered, looking from her to the head still between my legs under the covers. “Um, I thought that was you until you came in -- who ... who just did that for me?”

The covers flew back to reveal Talia grinning at me. “I did, Dad!” she said.

*Oh, God! Talia! What... ? Why... ?“ I stammered, completely stunned.

“Well, honey, we had a good talk this morning as you slept, and we realized some things.”

“Yeah, like, you’ve been right, Dad. We’ve ... Grandma and I, I mean, we’ve been seeing too many others, and having sex with the wrong people. We’ve been ignoring the people we love the most, and been really inappropriate. But we have learned some fun tricks, huh Dad?”

My daughter was kneeling on the bed, naked, a very wet finger running around her button. As she asked her question, her tits bounced as she did with youthful exuberance. Her nipples were stiff. I was far too aware of these facts, and I was having a lot of trouble thinking beyond them. I knew it was wrong, but my little girl was lovely and sexy, and had just given me an expert blow job. I thanked God that Delia had put the breakfast tray down across my lap, because it was hiding what was stirring under it!

My wife, however, knew me too well. “She’s a beautiful girl, isn’t she, Dan?” she said with a knowing grin. I couldn’t believe how my uptight wife was enjoying... this!

I couldn’t believe I was!

Suddenly, Talia got very focused on what she was doing, and began to sound for a moment like she was warming up for a sneeze, an impression which changed after a moment as the “aaahh”s took on a deep and erotic character.

I was still stunned, and watched in shock as my daughter brought herself off in front of my wife -- her mother! -- and I. It was an erotic vision, the moans and sounds she made as her fingers rubbed and slid inside her shaven young pussy, her face contorting in pleasure, her body swaying into it, as if she were atop my cock and about to flood me with juices ... wait, no! Stop! Wrong! my parental brain screamed at me. “Ahhhh! Yes! Yes! Oh, Daddy!” I heard her say as she tensed and came. Holy shit, it was the sexiest thing I had ever seen, and I was both appalled and ashamed. I was also speechless. I had no idea where to start.

As Talia’s orgasm subsided, Delia said, “Oh, baby, that was lovely! Now, you should go shower, or Daddy will never eat his breakfast! Good girl! Run along!”

Talia shivered and then smiled, and got up to do just that, I presume. I looked at Delia with a mute ‘What the fuck?’ look. She picked up a piece of bacon and held it to my mouth. After a moment, I took a bite.

“Honey... ?” I started as I chewed mechanically, not even tasting the bacon. “Uh, Talia just ... and you ... I don’t...”

“We reached an understanding this morning, dear,” she said as I ate more bacon and a slice of toast. “We all realized that we’ve been treating you all wrong for years. I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch.”

She sighed. “And the funny thing is, I knew you couldn’t actually change anything all that time. So did Talia and Beverly. They knew we were right. We were all happy to have you stuck in the middle, dealing with all our frustrations. This morning, we realized just how dysfunctional our family was, and that it was about to explode if something didn’t change.”

“Babe, this is not right! This is not the answer! This is so wrong! It goes against ... everything!”

She slipped her robe off her shoulders, and I suddenly realized it had been open all this time. Mentally rewinding, I remembered her thin bush showing as she came in. I had been a bit distracted at the time. She picked up the tray and put it on her bedside table, revealing my traitorous cock standing straight up.

“Now, let me tell you how it’s going to be from now on,” she said as she swung her leg over me and guided my cock into her very slick pussy and sank down on it. As she began moving up and down and back and forth, she said, “You, my love, are the man of the house, and you have three women who love you, and each other, very much, and we are going to treat you that way. We love our family. You are going to get the most amazing sex, ‘cause I’m going to learn all those tricks that Talia was talking about. And very soon, you are going to make our little girl a woman! And your mother, well, it turns out your mother is a bundle of perverted surprises! What she wants to do for you sounds ... exciting and strange. She’s gone to see the doctor this morning, but I’m sure she’ll tell you about it when she gets back.”

She paused to let her words sink in. My conscience was screaming at all of this, but what she was saying and the way she was saying it made my cock feel like it was ... oh God, what an amazing thing was happening to my cock, it was so hard it should have been painful but somehow that pain was only pleasure and thrusting maleness trying to reach my wife’s core, to fuck it, to cum in it, to claim her like a caveman. I was certainly growling like one! Delia was also breathing very hard, and making noises of raw sexual need and pleasure. Using my expert’s knowledge of my wife’s sounds during sex, she was about 4/5 of the way to what sounded like was going to be a truly ecstatic orgasm.

I saw two hands reach around from behind and cup Delia’s beautiful tits, squeeze them and then punch the nipples. This took Delia over the edge into a long, screaming orgasm, her pussy clenching my cock in a rolling iron grip that nevertheless kept sliding up and down, back and forth, slamming down hard with a grind against my pelvic bone, and I let fly deep into her womb with my own beastial howl. I saw Talia biting Delia’s neck and the look of ecstacy on her face which were the evilly exciting things which took me over the edge. My wife responding to my naked, freshly-showered daughter’s teasing as she climaxed on me was ... damn. It was so wrong, but God help me, so exciting! I felt like such a pervert.

“Don’t move, Daddy,” said Talia, and she kissed her mother deeply, stroking her breasts and back. I, frankly, couldn’t move. I was a puddle. To my utter astonishment, I wasn’t completely limp, my cock was still semi-erect somehow.

I laid there and watched as Talia and Delia made out for a while. My conscience was waking up, and I was feeling guilt for watching, and everything that had happened up to that point. I felt even guiltier that I was still watching, and that I still found it hot, and that I could not bring myself to stop it.

My wife was getting more and more turned on again. She was starting to move on my cock, which was hardening again. Talia asked, “Are you getting hard again, Daddy? Are you ready to cum in her again?” I doubted the last, but the previous was definitely true. I don’t know how -- I’m not that young anymore. I watched as Talia’s body and Delia’s moved together, and I saw Talia’s hand move down to her mother’s button, and stroke around it, not touching it. Delia moved up and down on me again, and Talia pulled her in a way that made her hips move in a circle as she did. Oh my.

Talia seemed to know exactly what her mother needed to increase her passion. Then she did something that truly blew me away. Facing her mother and still kissing her deeply, she moved and swung her leg over me, and the next thing I knew, my lips were on her clean-shaven pussy, and she was moving it in the same rhythm that my wife was using on my cock. She grabbed my hands, and placed them on her tits, and squeezed my hands around them.

Yes, I knew it was wrong, but at this point it was in for a penny, in for a pound, and I began to lick and nibble what she pressed against my mouth, and I squeezed and teased her hard nipples with a slight pulling motion that Delia loved. It was on.

Talia is goddam sexy, as is my wife, and I had two sexy women in my bed doing things I had only fantasized about. Okay, in my fanyasies, it had never been my daughter, but wrong may have been wrong, but it was also so fucking hot. I lost my mind, and pulled her down harder on my face by her breasts. My tongue worked her lips, and then deep inside, and then out to her clit, then back again in a cycle which spent longer and longer on her throbbing little button. She tasted of youth, tart but not too musky, and she produced a lot of juices which got smeared on my face, nose to chin. My wife’s movements began to accelerate as her passion obviously climbed, but it took a lovely long while for us to get seriously close to cumming.

Talia moved her ankles away from my head, and I heard the unmistakable sounds of two women about to reach climax. I was sure I was damned for it, but I was all in, relishing every moan, sigh, taste, scent, and sensation. Dear God, how could damnation feel, be so good? We were all being swept toward climax, carried by a wave of lust and love that could not be denied. Talia said, “Fuck her Daddy, make her cum for us, and fill her with your seed!”

My mouth was too full of pussy to answer except with a growl, and I bucked my hips so hard I knew I’d pay for it for days, but I didn’t care. I had to get as deep in my wife as I could, and I sucked Talia’s hard little clit like a baby sucking a nipple. It was Talia whose climax took her first, and she ground her pussy hard on my face, with a scream of release. Delia and I came with her one stroke/slam later, and my wife screamed her release in a kind of harmony with Talia’s. My tongue and cock were gripped with the clutching, rolling, milking muscles of cumming cunts as I sent more seed into my wife. It was a forever moment, one that stops time, that burns itself into your mind at every level. It felt like all of existence was cumming, and my heart broke and flowed into them.

God I loved these women! I wanted that timelessness, with all three of our voices, bodies, and souls blending together, but, of course it broke and ended into sighs and sobs and moans, and an urgent need to breathe. Talia was leaning forward towards Delia, and making happy satisfied noises. I began to wriggle to get air, and Talia dismounted, but as she did, she dragged her soaking wet pussy across my chin, a move which made her “Mmm!” in pleasure. Her juices dripped down onto my neck, around it, and soaked into my pillow.

Delia was still mounted, though my cock was done for a long while, completely soft, and would drop out as soon as she moved at all. She seemed to want to keep me inside her as long as she could. Talia lay down next to me and kissed my ear. She moved her foot up and pinched her mother’s nipple with her toes, and giggled sexily. Delia smiled smiled, and said, “Those were the best orgasms I’ve had in a long time!”

“Double the people, double the pleasure!” Talia responded. “Have you ever had another woman as a sex partner?”

“No.”

“We know what we respond to and like better than guys do,” said Talia. “And I’ve learned a lot from Grandma. Not with her yet, just from her.”

“Hmm,” was Delia’s answer. “And you seemed to have a pretty good time, honey.” she said to me, and flexed muscles inside her. Unfortunately, this pushed my cock out of her, which was sad, because it had been happy there.

“I, uhm, did, yes. I ... we need to talk. This was wrong. We could probably go to jail for that. If Talia were a year younger, we definitely would!”

“Only if anyone found out, and they’re not going to do that, are they? We certainly won’t tell! We want it to happen again and again!”

Holy fuck, my cock twitched and flopped over when she said that! It wasn’t going to get hard anytime soon, but it had made it’s own comment. Both my wife and daughter laughed.

“Honey, this is going to save our family. The family is most important, here. And you are the man of the house, the man of the house, you have a lot of women to keep happy, and believe me, we’re going to make you happy! We’re leaning more about how to do that.”

I was learning, too. There were things that excited me that I wouldn’t have believed, hell, wouldn’t have conceived of, before!

“Your mother, by the way, gives the best head, better than Talia, even, at least on women! We all tried each other out this morning. I would expect that she will be the best of us working on you!”

“Uhh...” said I, the soul of eloquence. Speaking of things I couldn’t conceive of, this was in a tie for first place with something else that had never crossed my mind.

Talia said, “She knows so much fun dirty stuff! She’s done a lot, and she’s read about so much more!” She grinned evilly, “You’ll see! And she knows exactly what she wants! She told me a couple of her fetishes. It is going to be interesting! I’m reserving judgement on how hot it will be, but it will be interesting! She is kinky!”

“Uh, you want to give me a hint?” I reached over and tweaked a nipple.

“Hah!” she shied cutely. “I definitely do, but she made me promise not to tell.” She batted her eyes, then grinned. “It’s weird, but might be cool. I dunno.”

“And you?” I asked, turning to my wife.

“I second that. Knowing you, you may very well enjoy it!” Delua said.

“My mother...” I said, trying to imagine it. Nothing. I was laying there naked, with my naked wife kneeling/sitting across my pelvis, with my naked daughter curled up next to me. “I just can’t see it.”

“You will.” they both said, smirking at each other.

“How did we get here? It can’t be a dream, because if it was I would have awakened with the first orgasm. But I haven’t cum three times like that since I was a teenager!”

“I’d think we had something to do with it!” said my wife.

“Well, yes. I mean, how did this happen? Did you just wake up thinking that you two needed to have a threesome with me?”

They looked at each other and sort of shrugged. “Kind of. We knew things had to change, and we knew how. All three of us talked while you were asleep and just realized it was the perfect answer. Every family problem was answered with this, and we, well, we got excited and talked and planned some more, gave demonstrations of our skills, and then your mom left on her errands, and Talia and I thought we’d wake you up and tell you the news. We thought you’d argue less this way.”

“You’re the man of the house, Daddy, and we’ve treated you badly. We love you, and want to show you.”

This sounded ... familiar, in a warped way. Hadn’t I said something like that last night? I hadn’t meant... this, though! Not at all! This had never crossed my mind. “Man of the house”, “treat you that way”, “love you, and each other”, “seeing too many others and ignoring the people we love the most”, these words were so like what I had said the night before!

“Am I hallucinating, or in a coma? Was I in a car wreck on the way home last night? I swear I thought I’d gotten an Uber or Lyft or something...” I said.

“No, Daddy, no coma.” smiled Talia.

“You were in bed naked when I woke up, dear” said my wife.

I looked over the bed -- yes, there were the clothes and shoes I would have taken off last night. I didn’t sleep in pajamas, hadn’t since I was a kid. Of course, if I was in a coma, how would I know? This was certainly unreal enough! Was I really that big a pervert to have come up with this on my own? Freud certainly would say yes. But I had been and was feeling sensations in such detail! And things made more sense than they usually did in my dreams, albeit a disturbing kind of sense. I took a sip of my tepid orange juice from the tray. The eggs were cold. These details never showed up in my dreams, and as far as I knew, I’d never wondered if I were dreaming in my dreams, and any moral or ethical questions always waited for morning.

Delia got up and ran a hot bath for me, and as she did, Talia asked me, “ Do I taste good, Daddy?”

“Sweetheart, you taste fine. That’s not something I should know, but you do.”

“Oh, good! I was worried you wouldn’t want to do that anymore!”

“Sweetie, we really shouldn’t do that anymore,” I said. “I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that. I should have stopped everything as soon as I realized what was going on. I’m so sorry!”

“Oh, Daddy! That’s exactly why we did it this way! We wanted to show you how it should be before your conscience woke up and screwed things up! And you did not ‘take advantage of me’.”

“What happens when your conscience wakes up? What if you regret this, get angry with me, never want to see me or your mom again?”

She looked at me very soberly, and said, “Daddy, our consciences are awake now. They haven’t been for a long time. That’s why we’re going to make this right!”

Another universe, maybe?

“Honey, do most fathers have six with their daughters?”

“Well, no, of course not! Though if they knew how good it was, more daughters would definitely fuck their parents!”

Okay, not another universe, and how the hell do you respond to that?

“Sweetheart, that is down for the count for quite a while to come.” She was playing with my flaccid cock. My soaked, cum-covered flaccid cock, slippery with her mother’s and my juices. It actually hurt a bit for her to do it, and I told her so.

“Oh! Sorry Daddy! I just like touching it.”

“Um.”

She stopped. I was becoming worried that it might try to get hard again.

I looked at my naked daughter, who was leaning back on her elbows, one leg stretched out and her other drawn up halfway. This placed her entire body on display, from long lovely legs, shaved and still-wet pussy, lovely torso neither slim nor heavy, pert orange-sized breasts with light pink nipples, graceful neck, and beautiful face with smiling lips and knowing eyes. She was enjoying being looked at, and no doubt thought I’d never seen a figure more beautiful. Most men would agree with her.

It would probably hurt her feeling to know that I thought her mother’s figure far more appealing. Talia was ... young.

Look, nothing against youth, really, but I prefer a woman who has lived in her body longer. The roundnesses that blunt the angularity of youth, and a smile and eyes that have seen more, and have more experience and wisdom behind them.

She had her mother’s body from twenty years ago. Her face was almost all her own, though -- its features were finely sculpted and lovely, with only slight reflections of her mother and myself. She was grinning and stroking her still-hard left nipple, enjoying my regard. A drop dripped from the bottom of her pussy to the sheet -- she was really enjoying being watched! She’s a bit of an exhibitionist, I thought. Well, that would explain some things.

Delia walked in and took my hand. “Come on, honey, the bath is ready.” I waggled my eyebrows at Talia and got up to follow my wife into the bathroom.

 
There is more of this story...
The source of this story is Storiesonline

To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account (Why register?)

Get No-Registration Temporary Access*

* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.

Close
 

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...

Storiesonline is for adult entertainment only. By accessing this site you declare that you are of legal age and that you agree with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.