a/n: the thought child of my jet lag. Please do not sue me because I do not own NCIS or Disneyland or Beanie Babies or the Clippers. Also sorry I'm on the 'Densi deserves babies' side of the ship. And sorry for errors my exhaustion lead me to miss.

3. Clippers

He's never been a huge fan of airports.

His badges help get him through security a tad bit easier than the civilians around him, but that still doesn't mean they're a fun time.

He ended up getting sent to DC for a few days. Despite his initial reaction to being asked to head to NCIS headquarters, everything was more fine than Hetty made it seem. He actually got recognized by Director Vance for excellence in his liaison position at some strange banquet about interagency cooperation. It was a weird, strange couple of days. He wished Kensi had been there with him. He's slightly pissed that Hetty didn't tell him he was being recognized, but a little more pissed that Hetty didn't have Kensi go with him.

Her sweet words on the phone when he told her was lovely. Hearing pride in her voice made his heart swell. It wasn't like he really won anything, but it was just enough to make him feel a little bit better about himself since the Internal Affairs episode.

But his return flight was a little bit of a nightmare. He originally had a pretty simple flight plan, from Reagan to Phoenix's Sky Harbor and then into LAX. But when his 6 PM flight out of Reagan got delayed for four hours, he missed his connecting into Phoenix.

So, in order to not be stranded at Phoenix, he opted to take a layover in San Diego, which annoyed the hell out of him because San Diego wasn't that far from LA, but he'd still have to fly into LAX. He'd tried to get on the flight straight to LAX, but it was completely booked.

When he finally got on the plane that was bound for San Diego, it was almost 11 eastern time, and he could tell that he'd be jet lagged if he didn't try to get some sleep. He sent Kensi a goodnight text and as soon as the safety instructions were done and the lights dimmed in the cabin, he was ready to settle in to rest.

He slept way too deeply for a plane ride. His mind wandered off into a dream, slipped into a place he didn't allow himself to fantasize of consciously.

His hand intertwined with a smaller, softer hand, free of calluses and free of worry. The softer hand belonged to a wispy blonde haired child, her bouncing curls framing her face. Despite the blonde curls, the dark brown eyes scream Kensi to him so loudly.

She leads him around, fingers still wrapped around his hand, and pleads for him to dance with her. And just hearing her voice, he can't resist it. So he spins her around, hand guiding her in a twirl. And when she calls, "you spin, Daddy," he ducks under her little arm to try to do as she's asked. They both smile and she giggles. He looks off a few yards and sees Kensi looking back at him, her belly swollen and glowing. The light reflects off the subtle but stunning diamond on her left hand catches his eye, and he suddenly feels the weight of the ring on his own finger tucked between the girl's hand.

He's unpleasantly startled awake by the captain who announces they'll be descending into San Diego, the harsh lights come on in the cabin and he's utterly confused. Not only is he exhausted and half asleep, but his mind had transported him to some place else, like while his body was bound for San Diego, his brain hopped on the plane to Disneyland- the happiest place on earth, Except happy wasn't how he was feeling. He felt deflated.

He was practically in a daze as he deplaned, Sleep glossed over him, but as he walked up the jet bridge, it was so much clearer. His brain's trip to Disneyland consisted of marrying Kensi, having a daughter with her, and getting her pregnant again.

And the problem was, despite not being 100 percent awake, he knew this was what he wanted, Its what felt good and right to him. Its what Kensi had progressed to wanting with him. Its what he's wanted for a long time, but he's been so afraid of it. They have a right to be afraid. Maybe they're not too crazy to get married, but kids? He didn't want to be a shitty father to Kensi's child, his child. And certainly losing one or both parent in the line of duty wasn't fair to the child either.

But that didn't change the image in his head of a very pregnant and very beautiful Kensi, didn't erase the image of their beautiful daughter spinning around his finger. His head was pounding now, mad at himself for allowing himself to even entertain the thought, let alone start to really think about how much he wants it.

His head hurts more when the brightly lit board of gate numbers shows he still has an hour before his flight for LAX is to board. He could have driven himself to LA in that time, but he doesn't let anyone around him in the airport sense his annoyance.

He slips his phone off of airplane mode and a Snapchat from Kensi comes in. She's curled up in bed in his sweatshirt in her selfie and she's captioned it "last few hours of sleeping without you," and another followed after, "I'll pick you up even if its 1 am bc I love you" with a kissy face emoji at the end. He's not really sure why they downloaded Snapchat but he likes it a lot.

He's not about to start taking selfies in the airport, his hair's a bigger mess than usual and his head's still bothering him, so he takes a picture out the window and sends "love you" with it, and trudges down the corridor.

He decides that maybe a drink would help his pounding head, so he walks into the first gift shop on the way to his gate in search of bottled water. There's a young girl, way too wide awake for this hour of the night, digging through a bin of stuffed animal. She's adorable, the innocent child trying to pick out the perfect new pal. He watches her for a moment after he grabs his water bottle. She digs and struggles, standing high up on her tip toes for a moment before resigning with a humph. Its clear she can't reach the toy she wants.

Suddenly, he's taken a few steps toward the bin. "Do you need help?" She looks a little scared, she's probably been taught not to talk to strangers. Quickly and quietly, he reaches out for his badge. "I'm a detective, I work with the Los Angeles Police Department. Can I help you reach?"

She relaxes, even if just slightly. She can't be more than seven or eight, and showing the kid his badge might have been overkill, but he wanted her to be unafraid of him. In this day and age, he shouldn't have expected that.

"Can you reach the red one?" she asked quietly. He stands and looks over the bin. There's two or three little red bears that all look alike, so he grabs one and then bends down to offer it to her.

"This one?" he asks. She reaches out and takes it from him

"My daddy loves this team. Its his favorite. This one is perfect," the girl says. She hugs him, which is just a little bit odd, but he accepts. "Thank you Mr. Detective," she says, Moments later, she's halfway across the store, showing the little bear to what looked like some version of an inattentive older brother.

He isn't sure what team she was talking about, so he stands and reaches down in the bin to grab one of the other red bears to see if he could figure it out. And sure enough, he's holding a Los Angeles Clippers Beanie.

His breath is gone. Maybe the encounter shouldn't have knocked the wind out of him, but in light of his dream, it does. The sweet child he instinctively wanted to help. The Clippers, his team, it was her father's favorite team. It was like someone was shining a light on him, revealing a path he's convinced himself unable to obtain.

Hell yeah he wanted kids, Hell yeah, he wanted them with Kensi. And if Kensi wanted them as badly as he did, then they deserved to make a baby or two. Maybe not right now, certainly not right now. But this wasn't an impossible and inconceivable thought. It wouldn't be without consequences, they'd seen that first hand the day of the half assed hallway proposal. But since they both wanted it this badly, it would be worth it.

Instinctively , he bought the stuffed animal along with his water bottle. He knew there would be a time he'd doubt what he just decided in his own mind, maybe Kensi wouldn't be on board that easily. But the little bear would remind him of one thing- they deserved each other and they deserved whatever the hell would make them happy. He didn't have to push away this burning desire within him. They were in this together, and if Kensi wanted to make a baby with him, they'd damn well find a way to have a baby.