Kensi was just getting to sleep after her mind had spent the last few hours spinning around the concept of marriage, specifically to her partner, when a shrill cry filled the second floor and before she could even register herself moving she was standing in Isla's doorway and already reaching for the crying girl. Her face was screwed up in what must have been a toddler's agony as Kensi tried to soothe and calm her. She was partly successful by the time Deeks joined her in the small bedroom looking a little dazed himself. Isla stopped screaming, but she still sniffled and let out soft choking sobs that broke Kensi's heart to hear.

"She's not calming down," her voice was etched with panic and in typical Deeks' fashion he stepped up and began smoothing Isla's wild curls back from her face as he spoke soft gibberish to her. She calmed enough for Deeks to really take a look at her with her fist shoved into her mouth.

"Hey, baby girl, can I see your mouth?" Deeks asked, trying to gently tug the girl's fist from its new home. Isla was hesitant to allow him this consolation but eventually she was too tired to fight him off and he was able to peer into her mouth. "Looks like she's got a couple new teeth coming in. Hopefully the last two."

"All of this for two teeth?" Kensi whispered, her voice sounding horrified. "I would've thought someone was trying to torture her!"

"I'm sure it feels that way to her," Deeks said sympathetically. "Tomorrow we can talk to a pharmacist about options for helping her sleep or maybe numbing the area a little bit, but for now I think all we can do is a baby Tylenol and let her sleep with us for the night."

Kensi nodded her agreement while biting her lower lip. It was killing her to hear Isla crying and unable to really do anything other than what Deeks' plan had laid out.

"I'll go get the medicine if you wanna take her into our room," Deeks said before placing a chaste kiss on Kensi's forehead and sweeping past her to the door.

Kensi watched him go for a second before following after and detouring to their bedroom with the sniffling toddler. Taking a seat at the edge of the bed, she continued to hold Isla close and tried to soothe her with long strokes up and down her back.

"It's alright sweetheart," she murmured. "I've got you and the hurt will go away. How about I tell you about the time Monty ate four whole sponges?"

Isla's cried hiccupped to stop and she pulled back to give Kensi a curious look. "Spun?"

"Yeah, like the kind we use in your bath to get you clean," Kensi smiled at the toddler's face now alight with genuine curiosity. "One day I was helping Deeks carry in groceries and we set the first few bags on the floor once we were inside. Monty was soooo excited to see us, but we had another load of groceries to get before the food spoiled so we had to ignore him for a minute so we could get the rest first. When we came back with the last load we saw he had found the bag of dish sponges and was scarfing them like it was a large steak!"

Isla erupted into giggles. "Siwee Monny!"

Kensi returned the smile and looked up to see Deeks standing in the doorway with a large grin plastered on his face.

"That is one of my favorite Monty stories," Deeks smiled. Hearing her tell that story and the way her face lit up made him want to kiss her senseless, but with Isla in her arms, that might get a bit awkward and he had to shrug the urge off for now and save it for a time when it was just them. "Alright, baby girl, I've got some medicine that will help you feel better and it tastes like…" he quickly scanned the bottle "cherries".

Isla's face screwed up in disgust and she shrunk back into Kensi's arms to distance herself from the medicine.

"Aw come on, it can't taste that bad," Deeks cajoled. "Here, I'll try some too."

Deeks put a drop on his tongue and his face screwed up in disgust. "Clearly these people don't know what cherries taste like…"

"Deeks!" Kensi frowned. "You're supposed to be helping…"

"Right… well it does taste kinda gross, but sometimes we have to eat gross stuff so that we can feel better," Deeks said, inching closer to the pair on the bed. "So what do you say? Just one taste and tomorrow we'll get something else and you won't have to take this again."

Isla looked thoughtful before nodding her grudging compliance and opening her mouth wide. Deeks moved quickly before she changed her mind and placed a few drops of the medicine into her waiting mouth before her face screwed up in disgust.

"Yeck!" She squeaked. Kensi bit back a short laugh at Isla's face.

"All done," Kensi assured the girl who was smacking tongue and lips to try and rid herself of the foul taste. "How about we all lay down now and try to get a little more sleep."

Isla looked as if she wanted to do anything but nap, but submitted herself to laying down between the two adults. Once all three had settled, Isla curled into Kensi's side and buried her face in her pajama shirt.

"Momma…" she murmured before she stopped wiggling and went still in sleep.

Kensi chewed on her lower lip and locked eyes with Deeks. That single word had melted her heart and she felt her stomach flip. She knew from the beginning that she would be acting as a surrogate mother to the three children, but for them to view her as a mother – as their mother, made her insides grow warm and fuzzy. Tears welled in her eyes as the wave of emotion threatened to overwhelm her but she swallowed them back. Deeks nodded his understanding and gave her a soft smile. He understood.

"We should probably sleep some too," Deeks whispered.

"Yeah, good idea," Kensi whispered back, letting her eyes drift shut. Eventually the sounds of Isla's soft breathing and Deeks deeper breathing lulled her into a deep sleep.

KDKDKDKDKDKDKDKDKDKDKDKDKD

Deeks woke up to some gentle tapping on his cheeks and the sound of little girl singing. He couldn't help the smile on his face when he opened his eyes to see Isla cheerfully squishing his cheeks and tapping them to a song only she knew. He was about to tease her for it when he saw a flash from the corner of his eye and turned to see Kensi already dressed for the day and holding a camera.

"You are a dead woman…" Deeks growled playfully.

Isla squealed when she realized her playmate was awake.

"I say we attack Kensi!" Deeks murmured to Isla who nodded and he swooped her up into his arms and began to chase down Kensi.

"DEEKS!" Kensi squeaked as she dodged his first attempt and then bolted for the stairs.

"MWHAHAHAHAHAHA! Let's get her!" Deeks shouted, holding Isla out a bit to lead the attack.

"What's going on?" Will asked sleepily from his bedroom door.

"Kensi's got a camera and we have to take it back!" Deeks said dramatically.

Will and Elijah only had to share a look and a shrug before they picked up the chase.

"GET DA CAMWA!" Elijah's battle cry rang down the stairs as a train of people pursued a more panicked Kensi.

"Not cool!" Kensi shouted behind her between laughs as she attempted to dodge all three parties, but eventually the boys got her around the knees and dragged her to the ground for a pile of arms and legs.