"Welcome to Artie's Aquaria, how can I help you today?" the perky redhead said, climbing down from the stool she'd used to reach a high shelf.

"Hi," Deeks said as he put his daughter on her feet, knowing she wouldn't wander too far on her own. "Is Artie around?"

"We need a Matty-fish!" Gabby explained to the clerk, her light brown hair mostly pulled back into a ponytail, with a few escaped tendrils curling against her pretty face.

"Oh? I'm not sure I know what type of fish that is," the woman said, looking between father and daughter for more information.

Kensi caught up to them, an adorable chubby-faced toddler with blond hair that looked to be as curly as his sister's, in her arms. "This is Matty. We're here to get him a fish for our aquarium," she said.

"This is true, but ours is not just any aquarium," Deeks elaborated. "This is a doppelganger aquarium, which means we're not looking for just any fish. No, we are looking for the fish that best represents our littlest bundle of energy here."

Kensi continued, "Artie usually helps us. He recommended all of the fish in our tank, and he's been spot-on every time. Is he here?"

"No, I'm sorry," the woman said, making faces at the little boy.

"Deeks, I thought you called ahead," said Kensi, equal parts disappointed and frustrated.

"I did! Are you sure he's not hiding out in the office or something? He said he'd be here all day."

"Oh well, he was actually here this morning, but threw his back out moving some stock around. I'm his niece Amanda. I can text him if you want, or I can try to help."

"I wouldn't want to bother him, but we drove more than an hour to get here. And no offense, but Artie's like a fish whisperer," Deeks said.

"Challenge accepted," said Amanda with a gleam in her eye. "Uncle Artie's been training me to take over the business one day. He does say that different fishes have their own personalities and quirks. How about if I text him what your requirements are and we'll see if we come up with the same suggestion?"

"Deal," he said, offering his hand.

"Okay, first why don't you tell me about what you've already got in your aquarium?"

"Dobby-banger akarium," corrected Gabby from next to her father.

"Right, we all have our fish doppelgangers in our tank. For example, Miss Gabriella here is friendly and talkative, always following after me or my wife, and sleeps in the strangest positions. Plus she loves to dance and wear stripes like her mom. So Artie introduced us to the…" Deeks paused, knowing his precocious daughter would fill in the blank.

"Cwown woach!" She yelled, jumping up and down in excitement and pulling on his hand. "Daddy, can we get anodder cwown woach?" She ran to a tank about halfway down the aisle and called, "I found them!" before telling the fish about everyone who lived in their home.

"Ah, the clown loach," Amanda laughed. "Yes, now I see what my uncle did. That fish is extremely social, pretty much always stays in its school, and looks like it dances around the tank. Not to mention the way they sleep upside down, sideways, wedged behind the filter, or squished under rocks. And of course it's striped."

"It's part of our morning routine to look for Gabby-fish's sleeping spot before she wakes up," Kensi said, stepping closer to the nearest tank to show Matty the fish.

"So what fish are you?"

Kensi smiled and walked back toward Deeks to stop her son from grabbing at the displays of items within arm's reach of the tanks. "My husband and I are both angelfish because they form lifelong bonds with one another and spend pretty much all day together."

"Artie described them as hopeless romantics because one would die without the other, which is more me than her. And I've always thought it was the sexiest fish out there, which is more her than me," Deeks winked at his wife.

Amanda smiled at the couple. "That's three. You must have more than that to keep Gabby-fish happy."

Kensi said, "We have a betta for our first dog, Monty, and an oscar for Monty Jr."

"Monty!" Matty said excitedly, pointing to the nearby fish with the sunglasses he had just taken off his mother's head.

"He calls all the fish Monty," Deeks explained. "And the actual Monty Jr. is 'Doggie.' He'll get them right eventually."

"I'm sure he will. And yes, those are two of the more dog-like fishes. Both are curious and active and will do tricks to get your attention. Do yours beg for food too?" Amanda asked.

"All the time. Sometimes we think they're trying to out-do one another," Kensi laughed. "Artie was particularly on-point with the oscar recommendation—both the dog and the fish love to dig up their yard and are constantly 'redecorating' by moving things around."

"We still haven't found one of my favorite running shoes," Deeks said.

"I'm telling you, Matty was in on that caper," Kensi said to Deeks before turning to the clerk, "He's into everything, our mischievous one here. In case you couldn't tell." She pulled her glasses back from the toddler just as he started gnawing on them.

Deeks reached into the diaper bag on his shoulder and found a container of dried fruit. Picking out a piece of strawberry, he offered it to his son, "Here you go little man. Much tastier than Mama's icky glasses, yeah?"

"Mama icky!" he said with a mouth full of berry.

Kensi chuckled, "Yeah, that's what he takes away from that."

"Aww, no, Mama's not icky. Mama's the best," Deeks said, kissing his wife and son on their cheeks.

"Mama bet," Matty repeated and gave Kensi a fruity kiss.

"Hey, I want kisses!" Gabby came bounding over to her family and latched onto Deeks' legs.

He picked her up and obliged with several pecks to her cheeks, "You want a snack too? Matty's having some dried fruit."

She nodded, "Yes pwease, before Matty eats it all up."

"Yeah, your baby brother definitely inherited Mama's appetite, didn't he?" Deeks laughed and said to Amanda, "He'd eat us out of house and home if we'd let him."

"Hmmm, so we have a mischievous little boy who's into everything and loves to eat," Amanda typed a message to her uncle. "I think I have the perfect fish in mind. Let me show you while we wait to hear back from Uncle Artie."

The family slowly followed the redhead down a far aisle, Deeks stopping periodically to listen when Gabby described something that caught her interest and Kensi holding one of Matty's hands as he toddled along, now out of reach of the merchandise hanging at adult level.

When they caught up to her, Gabby let out an "Oooh, look at all the Matty-fishies!" upon seeing several fish with yellow and black striped backs and silver-white bellies in the tank Amanda indicated on a lower shelf.

"Now watch this," the clerk said as she picked up the small net resting atop the glass tank and opened the hood. Amanda gently dipped the net into the water and drew it toward one of the fish, whose belly instantly blew up to at least twice its size.

Gabby squealed as she jumped back slightly in surprise and reached quickly for Deeks' hand. "Daddy, did you see?"

Deeks laughed and took a step closer to the aquarium, bringing his daughter with him, "I sure did, Princess. That was pretty cool, wasn't it?"

"Coo!" Matty yelled as he slapped his hand on the front of the tank. The fish closest to it puffed up as well and Matty let out a shriek of delight.

"Baby, no, that's not nice," Kensi said firmly as she took his hand and picked him up again. "Sorry," she said to Amanda.

"No worries, they're used to it. As soon as people see what type of fish these are, they all pretty much do the same thing," she said, nodding to the sign attached near the top of the tank that read, Colomesus asellus—South African pufferfish.

"So why do you think this should be our Matty-fish, Amanda?" Deeks asked, keeping a straight face.

"Well, even though it has nothing to do with the sudden puffing of their bellies, which is a defense mechanism, they do eat a lot. You'll actually have to be careful you don't overfeed it, or its stomach will begin to distend a bit. They're also known for being very curious and getting into everything, especially anything new to them, and have quite the reputation as mischievous."

Deeks said, "We'll take one."

"Are you sure?" Amanda glanced at her phone, "I haven't heard back from Uncle Artie yet. I'm curious to see what he would recommend."

"Doesn't matter," Kensi said, grinning at Deeks knowingly. "You nailed it. You clearly have your uncle's gift, and we'll be sure to let him know."

"I don't—I mean I had a couple of others in mind, in case—"

"Nope," Deeks interrupted. "The pufferfish is more perfect than you know. Watch this," he nodded toward his wife and son.

Kensi put Matty back on his feet and crouched down to his level. "Hey little man, did you have too much to eat?" she asked as she poked him gently in the abdomen.

Matty giggled, "Too mush" as he pulled up his shirt, stuck out his gut and waddled around, rubbing and showing off his now very-pronounced tummy.

After everyone's laughter died down, Deeks explained, "I'm not sure how our son came to imitate a man with a beer-belly, but he does this most evenings after dinner. So you can see why we're sold on this particular fish now, yeah?"

"Well then I guess we can pick out which exact fish is Matty and then I'll ring you up. Unless there's anything else you need?"

"What about the wainbow wocks, Daddy?" Gabby reminded him.

"Right, how could I forget? We promised we'd add some sparkle to the tank. You have those jewel-like gravel accents, I think?"

"Yes, over there by the accessories," Amanda indicated an area at the front of the store.

"Kens, can you and Matty handle the selecting of his doppelganger while the Gabster and I find some pretty, sparkly stones for Monty Jr.-fish to dig around in?"

Kensi nodded absentmindedly as she and their son focused on their options in the tank.

The family met up again at the register and paid for their purchases. Matty, worn out from all of the excitement, was nodding off in Kensi's arms, and Gabby was doing her best to count each of the different colored "jewels" still in their bag.

"It was great to meet you, Amanda. Thanks again for all your help," Deeks said, putting his credit card back in his wallet.

"The pleasure was all mine, really. Uncle Artie hasn't responded yet, so I'm guessing the muscle relaxant is doing its job and he's asleep. But I'm sure he'll be sorry he missed you all."

"Tell him we hope he feels better and we'll look forward to seeing him next time," Kensi said.

"You have a beautiful family, and your doppelganger tank is a wonderful tradition. I hope I'm here the next time you have to find a new member of the fish family."

"I think we have our hands full with these two. There's not going to be any new fishes to add," Deeks said firmly as they headed out the door.

After completing the well-practiced procedure that included getting their kids, kid-related essentials, and purchases safely secured, Kensi and Deeks settled in the front seats. Matty was now sound asleep and Gabby was listening to a story with her headphones while following along with the book.

Buckling his seatbelt, Deeks chuckled. "Man, I hope Amanda didn't jinx us with that more fishes comment. Can you imagine having another baby? They'd outnumber us!"

Kensi, who had yet to fasten her seatbelt or start the engine, cleared her throat, "Uh, Deeks—"

"Oh, sorry, right, we might need to add to the fish tank if we get another D-O-G," he spelled the word and glanced back at their daughter to make sure she couldn't hear him, "like someone is always begging for. Or maybe an iguana or something else. I mean, I love them beyond all reason, but another kid?" He gave an exaggerated shudder at the thought.

"Yeah, about that, babe…" Kensi said with a small frown.

"Yeah?" He looked at his wife, "Why are you just sitting there? Everything okay?"

"Well I thought it was. As a matter of fact, Amanda gave me the perfect opening but…"

Deeks stared at Kensi for a heartbeat. Then, "Wait, are you saying—are you—are we?"

She nodded, "We're going to need another doppelganger fish, and not for a dog."

He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Well this is a surprise." Then Deeks quickly released his seatbelt and pulled a shocked Kensi into his arms, kissing her. "The very best kind of surprise! Oh baby, this is incredible news." He kissed her again and put a hand to her abdomen, "Hello there, little tie-breaker!"

"What—are you sure you're okay with this Deeks?" Kensi asked hesitantly. "Because just a few seconds ago you seemed pretty dead set against having any more children."

"Truth?" he asked solemnly.

"Of course! This is kind of a big deal, don't you think?"

He smirked, "I might have been messing with you just a little bit because I might have found the positive pregnancy test in the bathroom trash this morning."

Kensi's eyes widened in shock before they squinted in annoyance. Her hand pulled back, gearing up to deliver a smack to Deeks' chest.

"Uh, uh, uh," he cautioned with a grin, "Little eyes see a lot."

Instead she grasped his hand, squeezed hard, and smiled evilly. "You're going to pay for that performance—with diaper duty. For the first six months."

Deeks nodded, "Fair enough. I do think this is insane though; not only are we going to be outnumbered but give them a decade and we'll probably be outsmarted too. But I love our kids and I love that we get to be their parents. And I love that we're going to have another one."

"I love you," said Kensi, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I love you too, baby. No matter how many doppelgangers we ultimately need."


AN: "The Chosen One" happened to air on USA this morning, so I guess posting this today was meant to be! A big shout-out and many thanks to Ejzah, who helped me with the kiddie-speak in this fic; but any mistakes or annoyances are my responsibility. Now I know why I haven't written Densi with (talking) children before. Also, I took many liberties with what kind of fishes can/should live together—Matty-fish would probably kill everyone else in the tank, for example—so don't try to emulate the Deeks family with these particular fish in your own aquarium.