"And suddenly, the baby armadillo began to feel sad. 'My aunt!' the armadillo called out. "My aunt took my took pet elephant!"
She could hear her husband's thick laughter and her son's little giggles. The Armadillo book was one of Max's favorites- and for no reason besides Deeks' animated readings. Every night she would she would sit at the top of the stairs and listen to the laughter. She'd laugh too, but not loud enough to be heard.
"This armadillo has some serious issues, man!" Deeks said. Max laughed harder, and she could just close her eyes and imagine his facial expressions as he read. It relaxed her at the end of the day, and it made her happy. She may be an adult, but listening to 'The Armadillo' story every night made her happy. It made her smile and laugh and it made her heart swell with sweet love and pride over her two perfect boys.
When she heard the lines "And once the baby armadillo had his pet elephant back, he could fall fast asleep," that Kensi had to brace herself.
As Deeks would tuck him in, Max would tell him goodnight and that he loved him. But then he always said some variation of a phrase that melted her down to a Kensi shaped puddle.
Tonight it was, "Can you pwease tell Mommy that I wuv her too?
It didn't matter that he'd told her just 15 minutes before starting his bedtime routine with his dad. Every night, he'd ask his father to tell her that he loved her.
And it just made Kensi so happy. On her worst days, that little push is just enough to make everything okay. But what follows also usually can do the trick. Once he shuts the lights off and shuts Max's door, Deeks embraces his wife in a hug and tells her himself, even if he knows she heard. And he always adds that he loves her too.
This night in particular, all the 'I loves yous' particularly hit her. Because she can imagine another having another little baby and her son playing with a baby and her husband holdong a baby… and she's so thrilled to be pregnant again.
So she doesn't hesitate. After his I love you, she replies, "We love you too."
It doesn't take him long to figure it out from there.