tap tap tap...Anyone still here? I was inspired by the ep this week, so here's a little post-Alsiyadun scene

"I'm surprised you're still awake," Deeks comments with a yawn as he half-shuffles into the bedroom after letting Monty out one last time for the night.

Kensi looks up from her phone and gives her husband a tired smile and a shrug. "Still coming down from the case, I think. I was really scared for Fatima."

Deeks strips down to his boxers and turns off the light as he crawls into bed. His eyes are closed before his head even hits the pillow. Hearing the soft clunk of Kensi putting her phone down, he blindly reaches out and wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her to his chest. He lets out a sigh of contentment – this is his favorite way to end a long week.

Kensi sighs in return, but hers sounds more exhausted than content.

"What's up, Kens?" He presses a soft kiss to her bare shoulder. "I can hear you thinking."

She exhales again, "It's just this whole thing. Our jobs, the risks, our kids…"

"I told you," Deeks mumbles against her skin, "our kids aren't allowed to have a job where someone shoots at them."

Oh, how she wishes that was something they could control. They might not have kids yet, and what kids they do end up having might never even flirt with the idea of a dangerous career, but Kensi knows that if her mom or dad had had the chance to tell her not to become an agent, she wouldn't have listened. She may have ended up with NCIS because of her dad's death, but she wholeheartedly believes that she was born to do this job. How can you let your own fears for your still-hypothetical children dictate who they are meant to become?

"Baby, you know we can't actually stop our kids from doing what we do, right?

Deeks doesn't answer right away and his breathing is so shallow Kensi thinks he may have fallen asleep. She lightly strokes his arm that's draped over her stomach and is surprised when his fingers capture hers, linking their hands together.

He gives her hand a long squeeze as he sighs, "I know."

"Would you have listened to your mom if she told you not to become a cop?

"She basically did. And then we didn't speak for a few years."

Kensi squeezes his hand in return. "I think that would be worse than our kids having jobs like ours."

"Yeah," Deeks nods and kisses behind her ear, "it would be."

Sleep is finally starting to pull Kensi under, so she nestles closer to her husband and lets her eyes flutter closed. As she's drifting off, her thoughts change to how they first need to worry about working on having these kids they are going to support no matter what. She's almost out when a quiet rumble in her ear rouses her ever-so-briefly.

"Can we strongly discourage it, though?