Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 19:40:42 -0700 (PDT) From: Thomas Gaige <togaige@yahoo.com> Subject: My Step-Brother Jacob - Chapter 29 DISCLAIMER: The following story is FICTIONAL. It contains descriptions of sexual activities between teenage boys. If you are not over 18 years of age, or if you find this type of story offensive, or viewing this material is illegal where you are, then please DO NOT READ IT! If you choose to read it, then - I hope you enjoy it! My Step-Brother Jacob Chapter 29 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I stood stunned, just staring at Jane. "You really didn't know, did you?" Jane asked incredulously, suddenly looking a lot less angry with me. "No," I said hoarsely, as I felt my eyes beginning to water. "Laney never told you?" Jane said, "She said she was going to tell you before she went for the abortion!" "Abortion?" Harry said, as he stood behind Jane, his eyes filling with tears. Jane spun around looking upset, she hadn't realized Harry and Jacob were standing there. "She didn't," I said, as Jane turned back to me, "When did she go?" "Her appointment was for noon," Jane said. I looked at my watch, it was 12:15. "Maybe they're late," I said, "My books are in the cafeteria yet, someone take them for me." Then I ran toward my locker. I quickly grabbed my jacket and ran for the parking lot. I leaped into my car and drove as fast as I could to the clinic, swerving in and out of traffic. I ran in when I got there. At the desk I asked the nurse/receptionist if Laney was there, and explained that I was her baby's father. She looked at me and asked rather sternly, "and the purpose of your visit?" "To stop her from making a mistake!" I said, looking at my watch. It was 12:30. "I'm very sorry," the nurse said, "but she's already been taken in for her procedure. "NO! You have to stop them!" I cried. "I'm sorry, it's too late," the nurse said. "NO! PLEASE! Go in and tell them not to do it!" I said, as tears welled up in my eyes. "I'm sorry sir, but, they began a while ago. I was with her when they started. It should be all over with by now," the nurse said, looking a little upset herself now. "It's too late then?" I asked, as a tear slid down my cheek. "Yes sir, I'm sorry," she said, wiping her right eye with a tissue. I wiped my face, and snuffling asked when I could see Laney. She handed me a tissue and told me it would be a while, but I could wait across the lobby in the waiting area. I went and sat down to wait. About half an hour later, Jane walked in. She scanned the lobby, and saw me and came over. "What happened?" she asked. "I didn't get here in time," I said, looking up at her, rubbing my eyes. "I'm sorry," she said, "and I'm sorry about how I treated you earlier. I thought Laney had told you and you'd turned your back on her. I know now, that's not the case, nor would it have been. Your brother set me straight. By the way, I wouldn't have mentioned it in front of him or Harry if I'd known they were there." "How are they?" I asked. "Jacob's OK, but Harry's pretty upset," she said, "I tried to talk to him, but I don't think I helped too much." "Why are you here, now?" I asked her. "I dropped Laney off here, and was supposed to pick her up now," Jane said. Just then the nurse came to tell me I could see Laney. Jane said she'd wait in the lobby. I asked if the nurse had told Laney I was there. She said she hadn't. I wiped my eyes and ran my hands through my hair, making myself as presentable as possible. As we walked past the receptionist's desk, I saw a bouquet with several roses in it. I snatched one, as the nurse looked at me with a shocked look on her face. "I'll send you new flowers," I said, "Laney needs this." She smiled slightly then and said not to worry about it, then she took me back to a recovery area and pointed to a gurney in the corner, where Laney lay facing the wall. I walked over and held the rose over her, so it was down in front of her face. "I'm so sorry Laney," I said, "I wish you'd told me. We could've worked something out. And I never would've let you go through all this alone!" Laney's shoulders began to shake, and I heard her crying. I bent over and kissed her on the cheek, then held her gently. "Why are you here?" she finally asked, "you weren't supposed to know. I never wanted you to know!" "But Laney, you should've told me. It was my baby too! Things could've been different!" I said, as tears began to run down my cheeks. Wincing and holding her lower abdomen, Laney turned onto her back to look up at me. "Unless you were going to marry me, there was no other solution!" she said, "You don't know my parents well enough!" "But Laney, you didn't have to go through this alone!" I said. "I wasn't alone. Jane's been with me as much as they let her. Where is she anyway?" Laney asked. "In the lobby," I said. "So, if you'd known I was pregnant with your baby, would you have married me?" Laney asked. Crying openly now, I said, "You know I couldn't have done that Laney. But we could've worked something out!" "No John. We couldn't have. You see darling, unless you married me, it wouldn't have worked! I did the only thing that could've worked for us!" Laney said, as she began sobbing again, "and now it's done. The baby's gone now! Please don't hate me John! I couldn't bear it if you did!" "I could never hate you Laney," I said. Then, crying, I leaned over and wrapped my arms around Laney's shoulders, and we cried together. Sometime later, as we were still holding each other and crying, Jane came in and said, "are you guys OK?" I stood up, and wiped my eyes with my hands. Laney wiped her face and eyes too. "I'll be fine," she said, "everything went well the doctor said. It just hurts a lot right now." Just then the nurse came back in. She said "well, that's what these little pills are for!" She told Laney she could get ready to go home, and that she should rest in bed the rest of the day, and follow the instructions on pill bottle. "I'll drive you home," I said. "But Jane wa-" Laney began. But Jane cut her off saying "that's a good idea. Um, John, why don't you wait out in the lobby, and I'll help Laney get dressed." Then she shooed me back toward the door. About 20 minutes later, Laney and Jane emerged. Laney was leaning on Jane as they headed toward me. I leaped up and ran over and put an arm around Laney, under her arms, and she leaned on me. We walked out of the clinic. I left Laney with Jane, and ran to get the car. Jane helped Laney into my car, and said Good-bye to us, then I drove Laney home. Nobody was home at her house. Both her parents worked, and Harry's bus hadn't arrived home from school yet. I helped Laney get upstairs, and into a nightgown. Then I put her to bed. I gave her the first dose of pills the doctor had given her to take. Then I sat with her while she dozed. A little later, I heard Harry come home. Laney was sleeping, so I tiptoed out into the hallway and met Harry coming up the stairs. He looked upset. I held a finger over my lips so he'd be quiet, and pointed to his room. He headed in that direction, and I followed him. "How is she? Did she have the abortion?" he asked, as I shut his door behind us. "She's sleeping right now. I got there too late, they'd already done the procedure. At least it went OK. She's going to be OK, although she's a little uncomfortable now. She's taken something for the pain, and it seems to be working." I said. Harry looked sadly at me and said "Are you OK?" I was a little surprised, and said "me? uh - yeah - I'm OK, it's your sister who you need to be concerned for." "I know, but, well, I just thought maybe you'd feel bad because it was your baby too," Harry said. "Yeah Harry," I said, smiling slightly as I felt tears forming in my eyes, "I'm upset, but I'll be OK. Laney's the one we need to think about now. And even though she went for the abortion herself, I know that deep down, she's hurting over losing the baby too!" Harry's eyes watered as he looked at me and said, "I'm sorry this happened John." Smiling ruefully, I reached for Harry, drew him to me, and wrapped my arms around him. "I am too Harry!" I said. We stood wrapped in each other's arms, holding each other, and cried quietly together for a couple minutes. As we were wiping our eyes, we heard Laney calling my name, and we went to her room. She was OK, she'd just wondered where I'd gone. She was thirsty, so I offered to go find her some juice, and left her talking with Harry. When I got back to her room. Both of them had been crying. We talked a few minutes, then Laney said she was tired, and wanted to sleep. She told me I'd better get going too, or else her mother would come home and think she was sicker than just battling a stomach bug, which was the story she intended to tell her parents. I kissed Laney on the forehead and told her I'd talk to her the next day. Then Harry saw me to the door. I hugged and kissed him as well, and told him to call me if they had any problems, and to call anyway later that night to update me on how Laney was doing. He said he would. On my way home, I thought about all that had happened in such a few short hours. My eyes filled with tears as I thought about the baby Laney and I had created, that would never be born. Even though I knew that if Laney had kept the baby, it would've caused a lot of problems for us, I felt awful - like a part of me had died. I pulled off to the side of the road and broke down sobbing. After a while, I got control of myself, and wiped my eyes and cheeks, then drove the rest of the way home. Elizabeth's car was gone when I arrived. I found Jacob sitting in the kitchen waiting for me. He wanted to know everything that had happened. I told him, then swore him to secrecy. He hugged me and told me he was sorry. I asked if he'd told Elizabeth or Andy what had happened. He said Elizabeth had had an appointment and left as soon as he'd arrived home, so she didn't know anything, but that Andy knew something was wrong and was asking him a lot of questions. "You need to tell him," he said. I looked at him glumly, then headed up the stairs. Andy knew the minute he saw me that there was something wrong. He listened quietly as I told him what had happened. When I finished, he sat looking at me, not knowing quite what to say. I could tell he was struggling with the knowledge that his and my relationship had almost become much more complicated by mine and Laney's baby. At the same time, he knew the baby was gone, but that I was upset because the baby was gone. Finally, he said simply, "I'm sorry John." "I know," I said, "um, Jacob and Harry know about this, but let's not tell Elizabeth." "OK," He said. Then I asked him if he needed anything. He said he didn't, so I excused myself and went to start dinner. We both avoided the subject after that, and Andy didn't question me about why I spent that evening by myself. Harry called me later in the evening, and reported that Laney was doing OK. He said she was taking the next day off from school, but would probably be in the following day. Later, in bed, I thought Andy was asleep. I laid on my side, facing away from him, thinking. I began crying again, as I thought about what had happened. Out of the darkness behind me, I heard Andy whisper, "I'm here if you want me." I rolled over to face him, and he hitched his arm, cast and all around me as best he could, pulling me to him. Then he held me as I cried myself to sleep. Laney did take the following day off. I ended up in the Head Master's office that morning, for leaving school without permission again. I told him there had been a family emergency. He asked the nature of it, but I had to decline telling him. He said he was sorry, and that he did understand, but that he had to give me a detention anyway that afternoon. I just nodded, and that afternoon I stayed after school. Devon Lankford happened to be in detention too, and he just kept smirking at me, as I did my homework. Laney returned to school the following day, looking pale and tired. As she joined me for lunch that day, she whispered to me "Let's just forget the last couple days happened, and see if we can get back to normal." I nodded. Lunch still seemed quieter that day. Eventually after a few days, Laney began looking and feeling better, and things did return pretty much to normal. Devon's pranks seemed to have stopped too. In fact, I didn't even see him around the school anymore. I asked Evan about that, but he said he hadn't seen him, or heard anything about him either. Over the next couple of weeks, I ran Andy to a bunch of doctor and dentist appointments. His injuries were healing well, and the dentist fixed his broken and missing teeth. The cast on his leg was shortened a bit. It now extended from his toes to just above his knee. He loved getting rid of the top of it! He was feeling a lot better too. Things were slowly starting to return to normal, as the end of February, and my 18th birthday drew nearer. The afternoon before the day I turned 18, Evan invited me to the "Bell & Crown" for a pint after school. We had a couple pints, ate some "Doughed Bangers", and played a game of snooker in the back room. I noticed Evan kept glancing at his watch every so often. I figured he must've had somewhere else to get to later. As suppertime got closer, I invited Evan back to the house for dinner. As he was still checking the time every so often, I was pleasantly surprised when he happily accepted. When it was time to leave, I said I had to go to the loo. Evan looked at me nervously. I said, "You can join me Evan, it's OK!" He turned red in the face, but followed me to the bathroom. We peed together, and I didn't catch Evan trying to look me over this time. He looked embarrassed when I smiled at him as we were washing our hands. Turning a bit red in the face, he smiled shyly back at me. "See, that wasn't so bad!" I said, winking at him. He grinned sheepishly at me then and we both snickered a little. When we arrived home, I was surprised to see that the house looked dark. I wondered if we'd lost our power. As we walked in, the lights came on and several people screamed "Surprise!" and jumped out at me! I was shocked. I'd never expected a party. I turned and looked at Evan and said "did you know about this?" He smirked and said "yeah - but if you hadn't invited me over I wasn't sure how I was going to explain that I followed you home!" "Arse hole!" I muttered, and we both laughed. Besides Jacob and Andy (who apparently Jacob and Harry had somehow hauled down the stairs), Harry and Laney and their parents, Mr. Walsh, one or two of Dad's army friends, who I knew fairly well, a couple of Elizabeth's friends who I knew, and some other neighbors of our's were there. And of course, several of my friends from school were there as well. The party was wonderful! Elizabeth was quick to tell me that she'd had the party catered - so the food was safe to eat! She'd even gotten a bartender and full-stocked bar as well! There was a large cake, and lots of presents. With good music, eating, visiting, and dancing the evening flew by. Everyone had a great time! By the end of the evening, I was sitting on the couch next to Andy. Everyone had left except for Evan, Harry and Laney and a few of our closest school friends. They were all gathered around us, and we were chatting about all kinds of things. During a lull in the conversation, one of the guys, Richard Greely, looked at Andy and said "So Andy, I never did hear how you came to be injured. And, how come you're staying here with John now, instead of at home?" Suddenly all that could be heard was the crackling of the fire in the fireplace. All eyes had shifted to Andy, who suddenly looked rather ill. He looked at me rather pleadingly. I gave him a questioning look, then I saw him nod imperceptibly at me. I leaned a little closer to Andy and put an arm around his shoulders and drew him to me. A couple of the guys looked confused. Looking depressed, Laney got up and went out to the kitchen. A couple of the girls glanced at her questioningly as she left. "You sure?" I whispered to Andy, looking into his eyes. He nodded again, and smiled nervously. "OK then," I said, and I gave him a hug. I looked back at our friends, and saw that all of them, except Evan were looking at us with puzzled looks. I said "well, this may or may not come as a surprise to you, but Andy and I are partners." I saw a couple of momentarily confused looks, a couple of smiles, one or two people's expressions remained unchanged. Then Niles Dellsworth piped up "what kind of business are you opening?" That broke the tension as most of us began laughing, while poor Niles looked confused and said "What? What'd I say?" "You Wanker," Rob Grisholm said, "he means they have sex together!" "WHAT?" Niles asked, looking at me incredulously, as everyone laughed even harder. "Oh come on Niles," said Jane, "you can't say you haven't heard the rumors flying around at school?" "Well, yes I did," said Niles, "but I never believed them." Then he looked at me and said "Really?" I smiled and said, "Yeah Niles, Andy and I are a couple. We love each other." "And you have sex together?" he asked somewhat incredulously yet. Everyone laughed even harder. Poor Andy was turning pink in the face. "Yes Niles, we have sex together," I said. "Son of a bitch! You two are living together, shagging all you want, and I'm still a bloody virgin!" Niles exclaimed. Everyone was roaring by that point. After the laughter died down, I chuckled and said, "Well Niles, I expect your right hand works OK - doesn't it?" Poor Niles finally realized he may have said a little too much, as everyone started laughing again. He now looked rather embarrassed himself. When the laughter ended, I apologized to Niles, who good naturedly said "it's OK." Then I said to everyone, "Andy and I haven't come out to anyone yet, except our family, and now you guys, who are our closest friends. We'd like to keep a low profile. Can we ask you all to please not spread this around at school? Everyone nodded or said yes. As there was another lull then, Richard said to Andy, "So, your parents are letting you live with John?" Andy took a deep breath, and let it out, then he said, "Well, no, you see when they found out I was gay, they threw me out. John and his family have graciously taken me in." "WOW!" someone said. "Oh Andy, that's awful," one of the girls said. "So how'd you get hurt?" Richard probed further. "Some of my injuries are from my father and brother. Others are from when I was living on the streets for a few days and I got attacked." "Oh my God!" Betsey Buehler exclaimed, "you poor thing! But why were you living on the streets?" Rob said, "That's terrible Andy! But you're getting better now right? And will you stay with John after you're better?" "Yes, to both your questions, Rob. And Betsey, I'm sorry, but I'd rather not answer that question," Andy said, smiling a little. "That's OK," Betsey said, "I'm just glad you're going to be OK!" I noticed then that Evan was watching Betsey rather intently. She was a really hot looking girl, with great tits! From my vantage point, I noticed that Evan had to "adjust" his genitals a couple of times, as he sat watching her. He got red in the face, but grinned shyly when he caught me watching him. I grinned back at him. Elizabeth and Laney came back in then. Elizabeth said she was going to go up to bed, but that as long as we kept the noise down, we could continue partying. Laney looked tired and said she was going home, and offered anyone a ride. Harry quickly asked if he could stay-over. Laney looked at Elizabeth, who nodded, so she said he could. He and Jacob high-fived each other. Laney smiled and rolled her eyes. The other girls said they'd best get going themselves. I looked at Rob, Rick, Niles, and Evan and asked if they'd stay for a little while yet. They all agreed they could stay, but only a little longer. We saw the girls out, and said goodnight to Elizabeth, who told Jacob and Harry it was time for them to go to bed. They looked dejected, but Elizabeth gave them a stern look, so they said good night to us, and scampered up the stairs, with Elizabeth following them. I retrieved a bottle of brandy and some glasses from the bar, and offered night caps. Rob declined, but accepted a glass of tonic, as he said he was driving himself, Rick and Niles home. Rick and Niles each took a glass of brandy though. I looked at Evan and told him he could sleep over if he needed to. He grinned and took a brandy then too. We all sat around and talked for about another 3/4 of an hour, before Rob said that they would have to get going. Evan got up then too, but I noticed he was a little unsteady, so I pushed him down on the couch next to Andy and told him he was staying. He grinned sheepishly and said that'd be OK. I saw the other guys out. Then, as Andy and Evan sat leaning on each other, sharing another brandy together, I picked up the livingroom. I grinned as I saw Evan hold the glass of brandy to Andy's lips for him to drink from. I was glad to see that they got along so well together. When all was picked up, Jack had gone out to pee, and I'd locked up for the night, I went to get Andy, to take him upstairs. Evan looked at me and asked where he should sleep. I offered him the couch, or an airmatress on the floor, with some blankets and a pillow in our room. Evan looked at us and said "well, I suppose it'd be a little lonely down here all by myself." I snickered and told him to go ahead of us, up the stairs then. I scooped Andy up, and followed, as Evan weaved up the stairs. Evan headed straight for the bathroom, and peed with the door open, while I stood outside it, holding Andy waiting for our turn. When he'd finished, I told Evan to go wait in our room, while I helped Andy in the loo. When I carried Andy back into our room, we found that Evan had gotten undressed, crawled into the far side of the bed, and was fast asleep! We both snickered, as I put Andy in bed and tucked him in. "Where are you going to sleep?" he asked me. Surveying the situation, I said, "You have a problem if I sleep between you guys? Looks to me like there's room enough." Andy snickered, and said that'd be fine. Grinning, I went back to the loo then to pee and brush my own teeth. When I came back, I stripped, leaving my briefs on, and lifted the covers to climb over Andy and get between him and Evan. We both snickered when we saw that Evan was bare-ass naked. Andy looked at me, waggled his eyebrows, and whispered, "God he's got a cute ass! Maybe you and I should get completely naked too, so he has a thrill in the morning when he realizes we were all sleeping naked together!" "Oh you're wicked!" I snickered, but stripped off my briefs, then took Andy's off him as well. Then I turned out the light and crawled over Andy, and settled between him and Evan, pulling the covers up over us all. I turned onto my side, facing Andy, and put my arm over him. I felt my ass pressing up against Evan's smooth ass. A minute later, just after Andy and I had gotten settled together, Evan rolled over and spooned the front of his smooth warm body up against my back, butt and legs, wrapping his arm around me, and laying his hand down between my stomach and Andy's side. "Thanks for being my friends," he slurred almost inaudibly, as he snuggled up against me, burying his face in my hair. I could feel his flacid cock pressing against my butt crack. My own dick started to pulse just a little. In the moonlight, I could see Andy smirking at me. I winked at him, and he smiled back at me, and snuggled into me again. "It's our pleasure Evan," I said softly. I felt Evan give me a small squeeze. Then a couple minutes later, his deep, slow, and rhythmic breathing told me he'd fallen asleep. Andy fell asleep next, followed by me, within minutes. When I woke up in the morning, I rolled over and realized Evan was gone. I was still curled up with Andy. Rolling over onto my back, I looked around and saw that Evan was sitting, with my house-coat on, in the chair in the corner of the room. He was leafing through one of my photo albums. He smiled at me. "Happy Birthday!" he whispered. I grinned and whispered, "Thanks! What're you doing over there?" He looked sheepishly at me and whispered, "It was getting rather warm with all of us cramped together. So I thought I'd give you two a little space. I got up a little while ago and decided to cool off a bit over here. Been looking at your photos. Hope you don't mind. Hope you don't mind me putting on your bath robe too." "No, that's fine." I said, smiling, "you sure everything's OK?" "Yeah, everything's fine. Really!" he said. "Well, OK," I said, glancing at the clock, "but it's awful early, don't you want to sleep some more? Besides, it feels nippy in the room. My nose is cold." "Um, well, maybe in a few minutes, I have to go to the loo first though," he said. "OK," I said, stretching a little. Evan looked a little embarrassed, as he stood up and walked toward the door. I saw that he was tenting the front of my house coat. I snickered and said, "well if that's all it is that's bothering you, you don't have to be embarrassed, I wake up that way everyday!" Evan blushed and snickered as he reached for the door knob. "Hey! There's a jug of hand lotion under the sink!" said, winking at him. Evan blushed darker red, but snickered again as he opened the door and stepped into the hallway. I heard him go into the bathroom. In the early morning's stillness, I can usually hear what's going on in the bathroom through the wall, as it's right behind my head. I heard the vanity door klunk shut and grinned to myself. I didn't hear anything for a couple minutes, but then, I started to hear a steady fast rhythmic slapping sound, and heavy breathing. A few seconds later, I heard Evan gasp. He gasped a few more times before the slapping sound slowed, then stopped. I heard several tissues begin pulled from the kleenex box. A minute later the toilet flushed. A couple minutes went by, then I heard Evan open the bathroom door, then he opened our door and walked back in closing it behind him. Evan looked flushed, and my housecoat wasn't tenting anymore. He got red in the face when he saw me grinning at him. Evan walked around to my side of the bed. Turning a couple shades redder, he took off my house coat, as he prepared to get back into bed next to me. He was stark naked. I hadn't seen his body fully naked before. He was damn fine looking. Smooth, clear, creamy skin covering slightly muscular flesh. He didn't have an ounce of fat on his frame. His nipples were pert little points due to the morning chill. His dick was pretty much flacid now, but I saw some telltale moistness on the tip of it, which was just sticking out of his foreskin. The base of his cock was nestled in a bush of dark brown pubic hair. His armpits each had little tufts of matching hair in them. Other than that, he had no body hair. He had a mop of light brown hair on his head and soulful hazel eyes, that were hooded by thick eyebrows. "Damn Evan!" I said, staring unabashedly at him, and feeling my cock beginning to throb, "You certainly do have a nice body!" I said. Evan blushed profusely. He picked up the covers and went to jump into bed next to me, but caught sight of my naked body, hardon and all. He froze, and stared for a couple seconds. Then, hopping into bed and pulling the covers over us, he said, "You do too!" "Thanks!" I said, and grinned. Our hips and thighs were pressing lightly against each other. Evan didn't move away though. "I-I'm sorry I ended up sleeping half on top of you last night," Evan said. I chuckled and said, "Hey! I thought it was nice! You felt all warm and snuggly! Besides - your cock felt good nestled into the crack of my ass!" "You bastard!" Evan said snickering. I chuckled. "We're going to wake Andy up," Evan said. I snickered and said, "Don't worry about it. It'd take a brass band to wake that boy up in the morning!" Evan grinned and said "You two looked really cute sleeping snuggled up like you were earlier." I smiled and said "thanks. So that hand lotion helped?" Evan blushed again, but said "uh yeah!" I snickered and said "Nothing to be embarrassed about! I do it to - unless of course I'm getting some action!" Evan snickered then too. "So that Betsey Buehler - she's hot - huh?" I asked. "Wh-what makes you say that?" he asked. I snickered and said, "C'mon, you can't tell me she's not the one you were thinking of while you were jacking off a few minutes ago!" Evan gave a nervous chuckle and turned red in the face again, but never said anything more. I decided to drop it. We laid quietly next to each other, both lost in our own thoughts for a while. I must've dozed off then. It must've been about an hour later that I woke up again. I had Andy snuggled up to me on one side, and Evan had rolled over again and was sprawled half on top of me, with his arm around me, and his body pressed up against me. I couldn't see he face, and I couldn't tell whether he was asleep and dreaming or what, but he was breathing heavily, and had a hardon again, which he was gently dry humping me with - grinding his cock back and forth against my hip. His thigh was rubbing back and forth against the underside of my engorged penis as well. Fuck! It felt great! "What's going on?" I heard Andy ask suddenly... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next chapter in this series will be published shortly.