Chapter 13

“How do you like that, huh? You cunt!” Ann screamed at Amanda maniacally as she slapped her daughter’s face once again, merely because it felt good to do it.

“Gonna refuse a Reasonable Request again? You disgust me! This is what it’s going to be like around here from now on, bitch and if you don’t like it, you know where the door is, but you’d probably steal the door too, so it didn’t hit you in the ass on your way out!”

Amanda was already welted from the leather belt Ann had used on her back and thighs, the red stripes an unorganized crisscross of markings that would be obvious for days, at least. Ann didn’t care. She really didn’t even care if Amanda pissed herself right now even though the carpet was less than 6 months old.

Ann had screamed at the kids to get back to their game and to take Emily with them. Lynette, ever the respectful guest, had urged Ann to take a break and open a bottle of wine or something.

Lynette had no idea what the rules of this Tough Love were but she’d seen the amateurish way Ann had wielded the belt to whip Amanda and immediately knew that unlike the spanking, Ann had no idea what she was doing when it came to whipping another person.

Now Lynette began to really worry as Ann had slapped Amanda’s face for the dozenth time and Lynette was beginning to get concerned for Amanda’s safety. It was like Ann had lost her mind or something.

She’d already gagged Amanda as requested, using a dish rag from the kitchen, so Ann’s daughter couldn’t even reply if she’d tried and the bindings holding Amanda in place she’d helped to apply were really digging into the woman now. Amanda’s arms were turning blue, due to the harshness to the bondage.

Lynette, outwardly calm, had agreed to help her friend discipline Amanda but she hadn’t expected to be part of a torture session. Ann had even applied clothespins to any surface on Amanda’s naked body she could get them on, although the ones on Amanda’s ears and nose had long since pinged off.

Now Lynette was ready to go and find Brian. Ann had shouted at her a minute ago to, ‘shut the fuck up unless you want some too’, when Lynette suggested they lighten up on Amanda.

“This bitch won’t break! Ann hissed to no one in particular, then laughed and muttered to herself, “Let’s see if we can set fire to those nasty whore nipples of hers. Where’s my lighter, Lynnie?” She asked, her eyes wild.

Amanda began making choking noises in her throat, trying to get her mom to remove the gag so she could apologize. She was sure her mother had gone insane and she didn’t trust for a moment that Ann wouldn’t really try to set her nipples on fire. With plastic clothespins already place, the jaws would melt to her sensitive skin before the plastic would drip off her. The visual was horrifying to Amanda. Amanda had trusted her mother when Ann had first tied her, sure that Ann was just trying to scare her. Now she was officially terrified.

Brian chose that moment to walk in the front door. With barely a moment’s pause, Brian took in the scene before him, realized that everything had gone awry and strode over to Ann and Amanda even while reaching for his pocket knife. Brian forcefully slapped Ann and pulled her away from her distressed daughter, then threw his wife to the ground.

Ann clutched her face where she’d been slapped, as if horrified that Brian would assault her. Without a word, Brian sliced through Amanda’s bindings and his step daughter slumped to the floor too.

Brian moved to Lynette, ready to physically throw her out of the house, but he saw the fear in her eyes and stopped himself.

“What the fuck was that?” He demanded of Lynette.

“I don’t know! Ann just wouldn’t stop!” Lynette wailed, finally breaking down herself.

“You HIT me!” Ann screamed at Brian, finally finding her own voice.

“If that’s what you call hitting, what would you call what you did to Amanda? Were you intent on killing her?” Brian replied with a question of his own, in disbelief at what he’d seen.

“She said no to a Reasonable Request! What was I supposed to do? But you slapped ME! That’s domestic violence!” Ann accused Brian.

Ann was beside herself. She really didn’t know what had gotten into her. When she finally glanced at her daughter, she saw the marks she had left and wondered for a moment how it had happened. When it occurred to her that she’d done that herself, Brian’s slap was forgotten.

“I’m sorry! I don’t know what came over me. Jason told Amanda to fart the alphabet while doing squats and she said no. I don’t even know what happened after that. I remember telling the kids to go upstairs, then you came in,” Ann tried to explain herself, knowing she wouldn’t have believed it if someone had said that to her.

“You’re sorry? And that makes everything better? Not fucking likely!” Brian roared then got hold of his emotions. In a calmer voice he continued, “In this household, an apology by itself doesn’t even come close to cutting it anymore. That’s part of what set Amanda on the path that led her to being a cunt in the first place. But I’m going to give you an option. Join Amanda and Emily in Tough Love or pack a bag and get out. If Amanda wants to press charges, I don’t see it necessary to make the law’s job in finding you as easy as I can,” Brian decreed.

“You can’t! This is my house!” Ann argued.

Usually when his suggestions to Ann met with refusal, Brian would ask his wife what she’d do instead, in an attempt to get her to think. It had been a tactic that had never worked in the past, either. When Ann was given an opening like that, she’d tell Brian what was going to happen and it only ever benefited her. This time Brian was going to try something different.

“I can’t what, Ann? Allow Amanda to report your assault to the police? Or allow you to leave before they come and arrest you? Or I can’t just kick you out because you’re a danger to those living here unless you’re kept under control by someone else? You were clearly unable to control yourself!” Brian summarized.

“You don’t need to do anything, Brian. I’m fine now,” Ann insisted.

“Yes I really DO need to do something. What you just did was unconscionable, Ann! If you can’t decide which choice is best for you then I’ll make it for you. I’ll even pack your bag for you.”

Ann heard Brian intimate that he was kicking her out and got angry all over again. “I knew it! You want me out of the way so you can have those two whores all to yourself!” Ann raged.

“I gave you a choice. Now I’m deciding on the easy way out for you because I love you even though you refuse to take responsibility for your actions. Think about that for a second. Amanda began to do that today and it was a huge step for her.” Brian lectured.

“Then I’ll do your silly Tough Love thing. But you can’t spank me!” Ann bargained.

“This is not a negotiation, Ann. You either do the plan as you wrote it or you walk out that door. I’m not leaving you alone with Amanda in case you assault her again. Lynette, would you please gather a few things for Ann? You’re a woman. You’ll know what she’ll need,” Brian asked, focusing on Ann’s best friend.

“Leave Lynnie out of this Brian, please.” Ann begged.

“No, he should not leave me out of this discussion, Red. I’m as much at fault as you. I should be punished for my part in this also. I would therefore ask that I be subjected to your Tough Love as well. Of course as Jack would be viscerally opposed to it, I would ask for a couple of limitations. Will you entertain my request, Brian?” Lynette asked.

“Lynette! No! Your children are here! Ann balked.

“That was one of my limitations, Ann. I would prefer to keep my children ignorant of this request. I have to maintain my authority as a parent and being seen by Tara and Tony as I submit to Brian’s authority would be confusing to them, to say nothing of how difficult it would be to recover my authority at the end. The other is that I do feel complicit in what happened, despite being unable to stop you when I saw it going too far. For that reason I would appreciate you sentencing me to a single day of your Tough Love Plan, no matter what the details are.” Lynette made her case.

“You’re saying that you want to do this Tough Love thing even though you don’t know any of the rules except what you’ve seen so far?” Brian wanted confirmation. “And what about Ann? Is your offer conditional on her doing it too?”

“I don’t think Ann should do this Tough Love thing of yours for a day, no. I have just explained that I do not want to involve my husband, Jack or the children, yet I must answer to the almighty God for my sins. The Bible clearly states in Ephesians 5:22 that women should obey their husbands in all things just as the church people obey Christ. I can only speak for myself. But I have the sin of complicity to atone for, so I shant mention it to Jack or the children. What Red does herself, will reveal her true feelings about God.” Lynette preached, looking at Ann.

Ann couldn’t tell if her best friend was mocking her, daring her or simply reminding her of their shared faith.

“But I’d have to be naked! You need to think this through, Lynnie. Jason is staying here. I can’t let him see me in the nude and what about you? Jason has a crush on you already. Do you think you could avoid him seeing you undressed if you spent the whole day here?”

Ann was in two minds. Brian was not putting a stop to her conversation with her friend by hurrying Lynnie to do his bidding, yet that could be because he too wanted to see her best friend in her birthday suit. Ann knew that Brian was always looking at girls and Lynette with her huge bust was probably something Brian had always wanted to see. But by Brian allowing the conversation, Ann was better able to put distance between Brian’s demand that she leave the house and whatever she could come up with as an alternative in the next few moments.

Amanda was still on the floor, but she’d painfully moved herself to a sitting position, the welts on her back and thighs, away from the hardwood floor now, at least. With her arms finally free from their bindings, thanks to Brian’s pocket knife, she’d also finally managed to free herself of her disgusting gag too. While she listened to Ann and Lynette talk, she’d been picking clothespins off her body. Now she spoke her mind, albeit in a whisper.

“You thought it was an easy thing for me to decide too, mom? To let daddy take control of me AND Emily? You did to me what I was hoping daddy would do, but you have no control like he does. You could have killed me! You were going to try to set fire to my fucking tits! You need discipline as much as I fucking do!” Amanda hissed, losing it a little herself.

“Are you staying, under Tough Love, or are you going, Ann? Brian broke in to ask. “Lynette has offered to participate with or without you and I suspect she’ll perform a lot better in a single day, than either you, your daughter or granddaughter would or could in a week. I will accept your request Lynette and I thank you for the offer,” Brian said to Lynette. “So what about you, Ann. Can you take what you deal out yourself?” Brian asked with a raised brow.

“Will you at least return Jason home? And not until after Tony and Tara leave. I’ll do it starting the same time as Lynnie.” Ann agreed.

“That was not the deal, Ann. If you want to start at the same time as Lynette, you could ask her to accommodate you until if and when she returns to serve her own atonement. I trust Lynette though. She’s offered to atone for her part. She will honor that offer, unlike you, Amanda or Emily would. and your atonement would not be for a day. Yours would be at least until Amanda and Emily move to their new place,” Brian summarized.

Ann was flabbergasted. She’d wondered briefly what it would be like to be in Amanda’s shoes and now she was being given a choice to either join her daughter or move out. Well she WAS NOT going to move out of her home!

“Okay,” Ann whispered, not even loudly enough for her to hear herself properly, let alone the others in the room.

“What was that? One rule in the Tough Love Plan is to speak clearly. If I can’t hear you, it may as well not have been said at all,” Brian declared.

“Okay, dammit. I’ll do it! Satisfied? I’ll take my damn clothes off and humiliate myself for your amusement. I hope you’re damn well satisfied!” Ann spat.

“You don’t sound much like you’re sorry for trying to beat your daughter to death, Ann. Not even a little. And there’s one other thing. You should ask your daughter if she’s okay with you joining her too, Ann. It wasn’t agreed to by her OR Emily. You’ll have to ask Emily, too.” Brian insisted.

“Are you serious?” Ann asked incredulously before she could stop herself.

“Do I look like I’m joking, Ann? This IS a serious matter!” Brian spat right back.

“Well I’m not asking a child if it’s okay with her for me to humiliate myself! I have more pride than that!” Ann practically stamped her foot to make her point.

“You have enough pride for the three of you. Amanda’s as bad and Emily’s quickly getting there too. Unfortunately the only thing you have to actually be proud of, is having your name on the title to this house. You put practically no effort into earning that place on the title and if you don’t quit making an ass of yourself right fucking now, I’m done with you. Do you understand that, Ann? We WILL get divorced and the house WILL be sold. You’ll be working as a Walmart greeter because you’re not qualified to do anything more complicated. Are we fucking clear!?”

Ann started to stutter a reply, changed her mind and started to say something else. Eventually she turned and fled the room instead.

“Are you being serious, Brian?” Lynette asked quietly.

“Do I fucking LOOK serious?” Brian snarled then stopped himself. “Sorry,” Brian said, lowering his voice. “It’s probably obvious to everyone except maybe Ann and me that we were steering this marriage into a wall. The wall just hit us. Go be with Ann, Lynette. I still want her to get a head start on the police. If Amanda doesn’t want to press charges I think I will.”

Lynette didn’t need to be told twice. She took off in a most unladylike fashion towards Ann’s bedroom, where she was sure Ann had gone.

“Proverbs 11:2 days when you’re prideful, you fall hard but when you practice humility, you learn wisdom, Red. That was the gist of the Sunday before last sermon, but you missed it because you were hung over from too much wine Saturday night and had to stay in bed. I’m your friend, Ann. As your friend, I am telling you Brian is correct,” Lynette said, while holding a bawling Ann.

They were sitting on the edge of the four-poster bed that Ann had just had to have. Brian had said it was too ostentatious but Ann had insisted. Ann just about always got what she wanted. Except now. Now her husband had just told her he intended to divorce her.

“What am I going to doooo?” Ann cried against Lynette’s shoulder. “I really love him!”

“He told you not more than 5 minutes before using the ‘D’ word, that he loves you too, Red. Now you have a choice to make. Either your marriage or your freedom. He’s made it clear it’s one or the other. If I were you, although I am not, I would choose the marriage,” Lynette softly said into Ann’s ear.

“What did you mean when you said you wished I’d do what your mom did, Amanda? Just be honest for once, please,” Brian asked carefully, once they had the room to themselves.

Amanda thought about his question for a few seconds before she replied. She was still scared and excited and feeling totally confused herself.

“The spanking thing is a whimpy punishment for someone as fucked up as me, Sir. I’m sorry for cussing but there is no other way to describe the way I view myself and the feeling of absolution I got when mom went crazy.”

“You liked it?” Brian asked incredulously. “She left welts, dammit! Your skin was totally unmarked she started!”

“Sir! Welts fade to nothing. I didn’t say I enjoyed it, just that I needed it. Although...” Amanda clarified.

“It got you wet like the spanking does?” Brian asked, finishing her sentence but still not ready to quite believe Amanda.

“Im screwed up, okay? Part of me was feeling the searing pain, but another part of me was reliving some of the things I’ve done. Things I’m beginning to feel sorry for, for the first time. Of course I couldn’t be punished like that every day. That’s why there’s so much more to what I know I need,” Amanda quietly admitted to Brian.

“The Hard Way Plan. That’s what you mean, isn’t it? Well that’s not going to happen. Not right away. I want to see you AND Emily fulfill your end of this Tough Love thing for a few days at the absolute minimum first, before we begin to discuss it. Does that mean though, that you’d accept your mom joining you? She’s probably up there packing a bag now, so it doesn’t matter, but it just seemed the right thing to do, to make her ask you. I want to know what your answer would have been,” Brian insisted.

“I can’t answer that, daddy. The point of this Tough Love is to take our freedom away. By telling you what I think, I’d be undermining your authority to do whatever you wanted up to the limits we agreed to,” Amanda explained as politely as she knew how.

With little more than a quiet sigh, Brian took a step closer to Amanda and knelt down, bringing himself much closer towards being eye to eye with his step daughter. Amanda thought he wanted to tell her something quietly.

Without warning, Brian then grabbed one of Amanda’s nipples in each hand and twisted both savagely in opposing directions. This was completely different than the inspection outside. That had been clinical. This time, Brian had just taken hold of her nipples as if he owned them and this was being done to cause pain, just like the tit spanking had.

Brian had intentionally stepped over an imaginary line by spanking Amanda’s breasts earlier but this, to him, was far more personal. He continued to look Amanda in the eye while twisting, hoping to hear her cry uncle. Amanda gasped at the sudden torture but otherwise allowed it. Her sex immediately began leaking girl cream again, though.

Brian held the twist for five seconds then still twisting, spoke. “Are you refusing me or are you just trying to be clear in your understanding about what I asked? I certainly DIDN’T ask for your opinion!”

“Sorry, daddy! I thought you didn’t understand what you were asking!” Amanda managed, through gritted teeth, her hands coming up to his wrists in an attempt to free her abused nipples.

“Put your damn hands down now, cunt!” Brian hissed. Amanda stopped trying to wrestle his hands away and with some determination, dropped them to her sides again.

“Good! Now stop thinking FOR me! It was a simple question. In fact, a yes or no question. Answer me and I’ll reward you for your honesty. Refuse or lie and I’ll see how much weight your cunt flaps will support before they rip off!”

Amanda had new tears in her eyes and a respect for Brian she hadn’t had before. Almost fear, in fact. This was definitely nothing like it had been with Aaron in Virginia.

“Yes, I mean no, I don’t mind! Mom’s as lazy as Emily and I are!” Amanda squealed, then bit her lip when the pressure eased.

“Thank you Amanda. I’m going to reward you by letting you flick your bean for a few seconds, but I’m keeping my fingers on your udders in case I don’t think you’re trying hard enough to cum,” Brian promised.

“And it’s not because you just want to keep touching my tits?” Amanda asked with a small smile, even as she felt Brian’s fingers tighten against her nubs a little, again.

Brian was not in the mood for humor, yet recognised that it was how Amanda coped with stress. “We’ve been over this, Amanda. There IS a sexual element to it. A LARGE sexual element. We both understand that. It’s how you’re motivated to change and it certainly doesn’t hurt me. But it’s simple Tough Love. I’m not like your mother. Sex isn’t the unspeakable thing done in the dark behind a locked door and I have no aversion to anything sexual, unlike Ann. Except seeing two men making out. That really bothers me. But now your time is wasting. If you’re not going to masturbate, it’s no skin off my nose.”

Just as Amanda put her fingers against her sex, Brian removed his from her nipples. “Times up. Crawl to the guest bathroom. On the shelf is some aloe gel. Bring it to me,” Brian ordered.

He watched as Amanda left to do his bidding, studying her ass cheeks undulate and her tits sway as she crawled away, just enjoying the view before she disappeared around the corner. Then his mind began to wonder what was going to happen between him and Ann. There was sadness there as well as anger and of course guilt. He felt responsible for allowing his relationship with Ann to get so far off track, guilt that he found his stepdaughter sexy and sadness that Ann couldn’t be trusted for even ten minutes.

“Fuck!” he quietly whispered to himself.

Then he heard movement at the top of the stairs and looked up the staircase, expecting to see Ann with her overnight bag already packed. Instead, he saw her standing there, looking nervous as hell, hiding her chest and pubic region, glancing over her shoulder as if she expected Jason to burst out of the room he was in with Tara, Tony and Emily. Ann was nude.

“Do I ... Can I ... Ummm ... This is what you wanted, right?” Ann asked hesitantly, the fire gone from her eyes and doubt and embarrassment the only emotions now on display.

Lynette appeared behind her and gently put her hand on Ann’s shoulder. “Is there anything in your rules pertaining to how you should stand or move about?” She asked Ann quietly.

Ann began to shake her head, no. Then she remembered the second rule. As if freeing her arms and hands from their position as body coverings was a supreme effort, Ann slowly dropped her hands to her sides.

Brian motioned Ann down the stairs. As she hesitantly reached the bottom step, Amanda came crawling back with the gel she’d been ordered to retrieve.

“Ah, good. Look what we have here, Amanda. Your mother appears to have made a decision. You may not believe this, Ann, but I really am relieved,” Brian said.

“So I can put my clothes back on again before Jason sees me?” Ann asked hopefully.

“I’m relieved that you decided to do this instead of leaving. It wouldn’t be the same here without you, although it won’t be the same here WITH you either, for a while, if Amanda agrees. You have to ask her first, though.” Brian reminded his wife.

Lynette whispered to Ann from the top of the stairs, “Remember James 3:16, Ann. Brian, would you like me to fetch Emily whilst I’m up here?”

“That’s the one about Jesus dying for everyone isn’t it? I fail to see how that’s applicable here,” Brian replied for a tongue-tied Ann after overhearing Lynette’s reference. “And yes. I did say that Emily must also agree. Thank you Lynette.”

“You are quite welcome, Brian. As for the scripture, I believe you may be thinking of John 3:16. James 3:16 says that jealousy breeds every vile practice, Brian. What you happened upon earlier was the result of jealousy and I too think this will do Red a world of good. Even the nudity within your home. The bible only says that naked people are sinners, not that the actual nudity equates to sinful behavior. I just begin to lament not introducing nudity as an acceptable behavior in my own home. I have two very body-conscious teenagers myself because of my lack of foresight. Enough about me. I will be back with Emily directly,” Lynette finished then spun on her heel.

Ann attempted to look at Amanda defiantly, but her daughter was on all fours, clutching a pump bottle of aloe vera gel. All Ann could see was her daughter’s welted back and it made her feel guilty all over again. Ann’s face fell and she looked away at the wall instead of what she’d done to her daughter.

Brian allowed silence to reign at the foot of the stairs, dividing his attention between Ann and Amanda. Given another 20-30 years, Amanda would most likely look exactly like Ann. There was a very strong family resemblance. He thought back to the image that had popped into his mind at Dunk’s place. All three females standing naked, waiting for him to give them direction.

Brian realized his cock was hurting, it was so hard. No one, even Lynette who absolutely could not have failed to note Brian’s condition, had made mention of the fact even though it was plainly obvious. If Emily agreed for Ann to join her in her Tough Love experience, Ann was definitely going to taste cock tonight, Brian decided. He’d been denied a simple blowjob, one month too many already.

A couple of minutes later, Lynette reappeared at the top of the staircase, this time with Emily. The teen had a defiant look on her face and words written in sharpie all over her body. Even her forehead sported the word, ‘PIG’ in big, black capital letters. Her upper chest had the words ‘MILK SACKS’ with arrows pointed to each breast. Under her breasts, high on her stomach, the word, ‘EMPTY’ with a frowny face, was drawn. Brian assumed that meant there was no milk in her tits, but maybe it meant she had an empty heart or something. On her shaven groin, just above the teen’s distended labia and visible clit, someone with a different printing style had put, ‘LUBE DISPENSER’ and a little arrow pointing at Emily’s puffy, still-aroused slit. Of course ‘CUNT’, ‘WHORE’ and any other cuss words the teens upstairs could think of, was written in seemingly any space available.

“God, those immature assholes,” Emily muttered when she saw Brian looking at her.

“Those immature assholes are your betters, Emily. And it looks like they enjoyed themselves too,” Brian noted. “Now come down here and get into the ready position next to your mom,” he added.

“I am going to have to take my young ones home soon,” Lynette admitted from the top of the staircase. When I entered the study, both Jason and Tony had their shirts off and Tara had her jeans unbuttoned. If I had not entered the room when I did, there is no telling what state of undress I would have discovered them in. I decided it was most prudent under the circumstances, to ignore their clothing, however I SHALL get a full confession from Tara and Tony later.” After a quick glance down the hallway towards the closed den door, Lynette added, “Would tomorrow be too early for me to return, Brian? Jack has golf in the morning and I will send the children to their aunt’s home. I can collect them on Monday.”

Lynette made the suggestion as if she were actually looking forward to returning as soon as possible, because she really was. The working ‘vacation’ she had just returned from had been one of her better multi-day gang bangs but it paled in comparison to what she’d stumbled into here. Originally, she’d intended to masturbate to thoughts of Rufus from yesterday, breeding her ass, as soon as she returned home from catching up with Ann. But now instead, she definitely planned to fantasize about Brian and Jason with three nude females and how the pair would likely be screwing those nude females brains out later.

Thoughts of Jason screwing Ann’s ass particularly got Lynette’s motor running because she could imagine it was her own ass instead. Maybe tomorrow he WILL take my ass? She wondered, still having no idea of what the Tough Love rules were.

Emily saw her grams standing next to her kneeling mom and her eyes went wide. “Gram’s tits are out! What the Fu ... hell is going on here, Sir?” she asked even as she scrambled down the rest of the stairs.

The last she’d seen was grams getting bent out of shape and sending her and the others upstairs. Jason hadn’t even hesitated. He’d herded them all into the study and closed the door then turned up the music he had playing so no one outside the den would hear them. Before Emily had been distracted by the Reasonable Request game the three teens had continued with her, she’d heard indistinct yelling and the sound of slapping. She figured her mom was in for some more spanking, but no way those welts had been caused by hands! All she could think about was that she’d SO won the side bet with Amanda! Grams had gone batshit crazy, obviously! If that didn’t count as flipping out, she didn’t know what did.

“Ann has something to ask you, Emily,” Brian said after Emily had assumed her position next to her mother.

“Ask me? I am NOT going to tell her what a fabulous body she has if that’s the question? Big ol’ saggy tits aren’t everything, you know, Sir,” Emily smirked, staring enviously at her grandmother’s bust.

Ann’s D-cup boobs were a little saggy, but nothing like they could have been. She was actually very proud of how firm and round they still were after giving birth to 4 children. Having her granddaughter stare unashamedly at her bust was as embarrassing to her as if Jason were here doing it. She wanted to tell Emily not to look but it was hard enough to keep her hands at her sides, much less berate the teen for looking.

Ann suddenly gasped quietly. She could feel moisture between her legs! No! No, no, no, no, no! She couldn’t be peeing herself too! Not now! But she didn’t FEEL like her bladder had slipped and let go a little. It felt more like ... well more like when Brian was ... NO! She was a mature woman! Sex was dirty and sinful! NOT something to be flaunted like the two hussies kneeling near her were doing! And it was all Brian’s fault, too!