So this chapter is a short one, but I have been strapped for time lately and I wanted to at least get one chapter out for you guys to get you by for another week as I work on the next two plot driven chapters. This chapter shows a bit of a snapshot occurring around the same time of chapter 36 of Kelsey, José, and Natalie's life in their household. Hope you enjoy!

Late at night in Suburban Ottawa

({No POV})

José was looking at himself in the mirror of his and Kelsey's ensuite master bathroom of their bedroom.

He kept just looking at himself and also simultaneously reaching down and attempting to get himself aroused… emphasis on 'attempting'.

For the past year once he hit his 50's, José has been noticing difficulty with his personal physical arousal in sexual situations. Even though he and Kelsey (as much as they still got on each other's nerves to at least some degree after almost 3 decades of being involved with eachother) still had a very active sexual relationship and involvement together. Practically to the point of almost obsession still in terms of sex.

In fact, it was almost as if things even 'picked up' in frequency between them since Kelsey's 'appetite' is almost more insatiable as the years went on and never seemed 'satisfied' for too long.

And despite their annoyance with eachother more often then not, it was almost like they were willing to put up with each other for the status of being together in their marriage, the fact that they ran the cosmetic company together and dealing with that in a divorce is too much to deal with, and most importantly their 'sex life' kept them stuck like glue at this point in their marriage.

It was just too convenient for them since both of them still had this almost 'infatuation' and 'obsession' with each other and both of them were so used to each other and knew how to satisfy each other that it was just easier to stay together for that reason anyway.

And even José was fine with it since their convenient 'sexual situation' satisfied him enough to keep him content as opposed to 'mediocre sex' with most other women by comparison from his perspective.

Well… at least until now.

José was almost looking severely frustrated now as he continued to make direct and intense eye contact with himself in the mirror as he continued to try and fail to get himself aroused.

He continued to try until finally he released himself and slammed his fist on the vanity in frustration before running his other hand through his hair before grinding out through his teeth, "Carajo…"

After a few seconds, he had almost entirely forgotten about his wife waiting for him in their bedroom as he heard her call out in annoyance, "Um, hello?! Does it really take you 10 minutes to piss?! WHAT THE HELL IS TAKING YOU SO LONG?!"

José knit his eyebrows together and called back through his teeth passive aggressively, "I'm coming, bombón."

"What?" Kelsey retorted, getting progressively annoyed with being 'kept waiting'.

"I'M COMING!" José shouted back in frustrated annoyance (both over himself and his wife).

Not to mention the fact that Kelsey had no idea about his more recent 'diagnosis' with his sexual situation that José bribed/threatened their doctor NOT to tell Kelsey about.

José kept stewing to himself in seething and frustrated rage as he ground out in frustration to himself, "Mierda…"

After a second and as much as José still despised resorting to it after his doctor wrote him the prescription and begrudgingly gave in out of his own desperation to continue his usual sexual activities.

He did a quick look over his shoulders before pulling out the bottle of male enhancement pills he hid in the bathroom away from Kelsey's attention and quickly downed one of them before striding into the bedroom, trying to strategize how to 'stall for time' with Kelsey before his pill kicked in.

Meanwhile down the hall

"WHAT THE HELL IS TAKING YOU SO LONG?!"

…

"I'M COMING!"

Natalie was staring up at the ceiling with a livid and almost dead inside expression combined with being completely 'done' at what she was hearing through the walls down the hall in her parents' bedroom.

This was something she had been used to her whole life and despite having two other rooms between them… Natalie could always hear EVERYTHING her parents were 'up to'.

And it only got worse the older she got and understood since she could never tell what context exactly her parents were speaking in?

Which almost made it even worse in her opinion as a now 18 year old and hearing those two 'ambiguous lines of dialogue' from her parents just now that honestly could have gone either way as to whether it was arguing or sex.

But even then, she still wasn't sure she even wanted to know.

Or even cared to know at this point honestly.

Eventually Natalie just as stoically reached over to grab her headphones and secured them over her ears before turning her music on (her usual coping mechanism to block out any parental noise) and put another pillow over her face.

All the while simultaneously trying to say in a mantra to herself that she only had 6 months more of this before she was able to make a 'clean getaway' from the current life she was in and finally have the chance to live her way.

Again, I know this was short that really wasn't imperative or relevant to anything in the plot of this series of mini-arcs and one-shots, but there were some of you who were curious about seeing what Kelsey and José were like as adults in there 'home life' at this point in the timeline as 51 year olds with an 18 year old daughter. And as you can see… they are STILL just a toxically hot mess. Although still married with no intention of any sort of divorce or separation for one reason or another, they are most definitely NOT happily married or even just 'happy' in general much like they haven't been for their whole lives. Kelsey and José are VERY superficial, lazy, and entitled people that do nothing to prove or improve themselves. They spend all their time caring about pleasing people (like their parents and associates) for perks rather than genuinely trying to do anything to improve themselves and not rely on others for wealth and success. Because, and as you saw, Kelsey and José have reached a point where they really don't and can't exist without each other. Now from the surface and with any couple that could be a sweet sentiment, right? But not with these two. With José as CEO and Kelsey as the CFO of Elena's old cosmetic and skin care company, these two hold more power together than they could apart at this point in their career that's mainly due to their complacency. And the other is with their 'sex life'. Another reason Kelsey and José still stay together is due to the fact that they have reached a point where they are just too used to eachother now (if not still sexually/physically addicted to) each other, which leads us into the fun Karmatic curse (at least in José's mind) I decided to bestow upon good 'ol José over here. And what better short end of the stick to give a shitty brother and son and womanizing douchebag than early onset erectile dysfunction at the age of 51 and him feeling insecure about hiding this 'dirty little secret' from his 'super-freak', sex driven alpha-female wife to save his pride and use male enhancement to compensate for feeling like 'less of a man'. And real talk for a second, if you are a guy struggling with this and think this way about yourselves and you are with someone who is not supportive you and thinks you are less because of your 'sexual performance ability', don't waste your time on someone like that and you deserve better! Being a man shouldn't be defined by your 'sexual performance' and your worth is so much more than that. Everyone deserves to be respected! :) Anyway, back on track and in short, Kelsey and José are shallow and cling to any superficial things to advance themselves that unfortunately includes Natalie. Because to them, Natalie is not a person to love and genuinely show care for… she's a symbol of their status of producing an 'attractive young woman' as their child and puts them at the receiving end of MANY compliments from peers much to Natalie's dismay. Speaking of Natalie, she is miserable as ever and has been in this toxic environment 18 years too long and is psyching herself up to finally 'run off into the sunset' with Felix to live her life as a professional boxer. If you all want to see more of José, Kelsey, and Natalie's lives or any interactions with any of the characters in this series just let me know! Thanks so much as always for reading and constructive feedback is always appreciated. :)

Stay classy, safe, and healthy friends!

Dexter1995