A/N: This is yet another filler chapter. It's kinda meant to divide the team up again and deal with some of the Five-O plots that I don't think have been dealt with very well in the show, especially Doris, but don't worry this will be the last time we see her in this story. I've had enough of her shenanigans. In my head cannon Hetty and Doris didn't get alone with in the CIA.

Enjoy!

Chapter 15: The Information Highway

"So what do we do now?" Callen asked as Hetty returned after having showed Agent Boyd out of the boathouse.

"We start where we left off yesterday." Hetty answered. "Everyone affiliated with the Caltech investigations - resume your cover. Head back to the school and get down to the business of science. Make me believe that you should all be there." Hetty explained and made eye contact with Deeks.

"I'm an amazing scientist!" Deeks stated playfully. "Come on, we're going to do science!" he added excitedly and led the way out.

"As for the rest of you, I want you all to assemble in the ops centre with Nell and Eric to debrief and for reassignment." Hetty ordered as all eyes in the room had fallen on her. "Well don't just stand there staring at me. Go!" she ordered and threw everyone into motion once again.

5-0-NCIS:LA-TBBT

On the way back to HQ, as Hetty had ordered, Steve and Danny managed to procure one of the two loaner vehicles for a quiet ride - separated from all the action of the overly crowded team - or at least they thought it was going to be quiet.

Two minutes into the drive, Steve's phone rang - flashed a photo of his mother - and he knew it would be the end of their peace.

"What is it mom, I'm a little busy!" Steve stated as Danny hit the speaker button on the phone.

"What the hell were you thinking telling Henrietta Lange that I was still alive?" Doris yelled.

"Like she didn't already know," Danny stated sarcastically and regretted it the moment the words were out of his mouth.

"For one thing, the case we are working on has - or we thought it might have had ties to Wo Fat - making you a person of interest and high risk. Secondly, is it wrong for your son to worry about his mother?" Steve asked as he tried to stem the tide of angry words that were now totally directed at Danny and Danny alone.

"I'm a ghost, Steven. I can take care of things myself." Doris huffed.

Danny rolled his eyes and mimed throwing himself out the passenger side window of the moving vehicle.

"Fine. Whatever. I'm sorry," Steve huffed back and mimed throwing his phone out the drivers said window.

Danny chuckled.

"What's so funny, Daniel?" Doris snapped.

"A monkey riding a unicycle on the Venice beach boardwalk," Danny stated and it seemed to be enough to satisfy Doris - even though Danny and Steve were nowhere near Venice beach.

"Have you found your suspect yet? When are you coming home?" Doris asked and there was still frustration in her voice.

"We're not allowed to discuss the case with outsiders." Steve said mechanically.

"Right, you don't think I know or could find out what you are doing?"

"You can try. Maybe you should call Henrietta Lange to see if you can get information out of her."

Doris huffed.

"Yeah, I kinda figured you'd already tried that. Let me guess, you don't have high enough clearance to demand anything from Henrietta Lange, do you mother?" Steve asked as he chuckled but there was distain in his every word.

"Henrietta Lange and I don't see eye to eye," Doris stated.

"Literally and figuratively speaking," Danny joked.

Steve laughed.

Doris growled.

"Any way, I contacted a few of my sources as soon as I was contacted by Catherine and your WITSEC people. Wo Fat isn't even in Hawaii from what we can tell. So I'm not in any immediate danger."

"Yeah, we figured as much if Frank and his boys were able to escape the island then why wouldn't Wo Fat?" Steve asked nonchalantly.

"Then why put me under surveillance?" Doris asked aggressively.

"Any normal person would understand my concern. Do you have something to hide that has made you so adamantly against a little heightened security?" Steve asked suspiciously.

"No!"

"Then it shouldn't matter if we're taken extra precessions until we come back."

"I don't need a baby sitter, Steven!"

"It's more for my house and my property than it is for you mom. If something bad does happen - God forbid - I want it covered by my insurance so that I don't have to do all of the home renovations on my own and out of pocket."

"I'm going to get my own place," Doris grumbled.

"Suit yourself."

"When are you coming home?" Doris asked with a sigh of defeat.

"Fourteen days."

"Why so long?"

"Vacation after the case has run its course."

"Why didn't you tell me you were going on vacation?"

"Because I'm not a child."

In her frustration Doris hung up.

"Oh you are in for it when you get home." Danny teased. "Good thing you didn't tell her about Comic Con or she really would have had reason to think of you as a child."

"Maybe she will be out of my house when I get back." Steve stated optimistically.

"Ah, so there was a method to your madness? For a second there I thought you were a sucker for punishment."

"There is always a plan," Steve stated with a roll of his eyes, "even when dealing with you."

5-0-NCIS:LA-TBBT

Once back at HQ the remaining agents, officers and scientist gathered in the ops centre with Eric and Nell to await further instructions. Hetty came to them shortly after they had all returned - looked McGarrett up and down suspiciously - then proceeded with her instructions.

"Today we will be focusing on the safety of Caltech and their students and faculty. Detective Williams and Agent Callen, President Siebert of the university will be showing the two of you around the university from the inside. Here are your cover stories. You'd better meet up with my agents down in wardrobe to look a little more professional than you do now."

Instinctively Danny looked down at his tie and then at Hetty questioningly but he didn't speak.

"You need to look rich and authoritative, Detective. Can you pull that off?" Hetty asked with a smirk.

"Yes ma'am," Danny answered with a nod and followed Callen out of ops.

"Officer Kalakaua, you will be returning to Caltech with Doctor Cooper, and there you will await further instructions. Set up surveillance from your position in his office and make sure that the two of you are wired with audio and visual devices." Hetty ordered and handed Kono a file as well.

"What will I be doing?" Sheldon asked. "Must I remind you that I'm not very good at lying?"

"I've taken that into consideration." Hetty stated and smiled a wicked and mischievous smile. "The two of you will remain in your office until I've given my instructions." Hetty added and handed Kono a set of car keys. "Pick up your equipment downstairs and make your way to the university."

"Yes Ma'am," Kono and Sheldon stated at the same time and left.

"Doctor Koothrappali, you will be staying with Mr. Beals and Miss. Jones. Find me everything you can on Moira and her movements. Also see if you can get us locations on the remaining members of the test group from project Chameleon."

Raj nodded and returned to the computer he'd been working on the previous day.

"Mr. Hanna, you'll be on patrol with Commander McGarrett outside the university in the event that this operation goes wrong. A secondary NCIS SWAT team will be at your disposal. Go and debrief them." Hetty ordered.

Sam nodded and moved to leave - Steve moved as well but was stopped when Hetty stepped in front of him.

"I'd like a word with you in my office, Commander."

The colour faded from Steve's face.

"Don't worry. This won't be as unpleasant as you think it's going to be." Hetty added and motioned for Steve to follow her.

5-0-NCIS:LA-TBBT

Steve sat down before Hetty's desk and waited as the little woman folded her hands and stared across the desk at him. The stare was worse than any he'd ever received from Doris, or any of his commanding officers for that matter. He felt like the weight of that stare would make him crumble and his heart rate rose as he tried to stay calm in her presence. Then, and without warning, Hetty cracked a smile.

"I received a phone call early this morning and again just before you arrived here for the debriefing. Have you any idea who it may have been from?"

Steve nodded and then lowered his gaze in embarrassment. "Was it my mother?" he asked.

"Indeed it was," Hetty chuckled. "I'd like to thank you for keeping the high level of secrecy and integrity that we demand out of this office, Commander."

"And I'd like to apologize for whatever she said to you." Steve stated.

Hetty smiled, "as you may be aware I'm not Doris McGarrett's favourite person. We never had the pleasure of working together through the CIA, but I have outranked her all of her career and put a few proverbial thorns in her side over the years. She is a very determined woman with her own ways - as am I - but our methods never really meshed well with each other."

"I apologize again that you had to deal with that. It must have been a shock to find out she was still alive."

"Not a shock at all. As you may be aware I have quite the decorated career and influence. I've always known that Doris was alive, but that isn't why I called you in here, Steven. The truth is I don't believe you are fairing well with this information and I wanted to be of some service to you."

"You'd be correct in that assumption," Steve stated and then relaxed slightly, "but it's my own fault and so I have to deal with it."

"That's not entirely true." Hetty stated, opened one of her desk drawers and pulled out a file. "A man of your training and with the evidence that was piling up around you, you were bound to uncover the truth sooner or later. We - none of us - can run from our past forever. Doris knew that one day her's would catch up to her. Her decisions after that, however, were selfish. Protocol states that, as a ghost, you remain a ghost. You were allowed to know that she lived but she should have disappeared again after explaining everything that you should have been given, but she didn't, now what I have given you is information into the people that are after your mother and why. She was adamant that you not be given that information even though the CIA had cleared it for you. We - all of us - have our own secrets. You deserve these answers but you have to decide if you want to know them or not. I've already dealt with Doris's anger today and she knows that I'd go against her wishes to give you the truth because my orders were my orders and she went against them. My question now, Steve, is this; are you prepared to let her go again if she decides to fall back into protocol? She will always be a CIA agent. She tried for a while to fall away from it - to have a normal life with you and your sister - but we make sacrifices and the past will always catch up to us."

Steve sat silently for a long moment with the closed file in his hands.

"How hard would it have been for me to obtain this information through my own investigations?" Steve asked.

"You were getting extremely close on your own and with your mother trying to cover her tracks," Hetty answered, "but that doesn't mean you would have found it before anything else happened."

"I know my mother is hiding a lot from me." Steve said with a sigh still pondering the file in his hands.

"It's all part of this business we all seem to be wrapped up in." Hetty said kindly and with a very knowing smile. "I may be able to give you some answers but there are many more secrets out there covering up the truth and just waiting to move in and confuse you. The thing about the truth, however, is that it does not like to be covered up for too long."

Steve smiled.

"Now you may go. Mr. Hanna will be wondering where it is you got to."

"I'm sure they are all whispering behind my back about getting sent to the principal's office." Steve joked.

"Indeed, Commander McGarrett. Why do you think I sent Detective Williams off as I did?" Hetty asked with a wink and then shooed Steve away with a wave of her hand.

5-0-NCIS:LA-TBBT

As the morning wore on and Leonard started to get used to the additional people in his lab, he managed to carry on with his research and as they played to their characters, Kensi and Chin managed to offer more assistance then just protection.

The morning passed quietly with the lab under full surveillance and very little interruptions from the rest of the faculty. By the time the noon hour rolled around Leonard just could wait any longer and he managed to talk Kensi and Chin into heading for the Cafeteria for lunch.

Together they found a table big enough for five people and within a short period of time Deeks and Howard joined them.

"So how goes the space arm?" Kensi asked as she picked a chip off of Deeks's plate.

"Totally awesome!" Deeks stated and high-fived Howard. "Today we programmed it to launch a paper airplane."

"When it can fold the airplane I'll be impressed." Leonard stated with a shake of his head.

"That would be so epic!" Deeks stated as he turned to Howard. "Can it do that?"

"Theoretically speaking, sure."

"Awesome!"

"I think you've found yet another calling Ted," Kensi stated as a stranger neared the table and then walked right on by.

"Nah. Engineering is way cool and all, but I'm all for the law." Deeks stated as President Siebert entered the cafeteria with Danny and Callen.

"May I have your attention please?" Siebert stated and all eyes turned toward him. "As some of you may be aware, this great university has attracted some of the most brilliant minds in the world, but we also have attracted some of the largest company sponsorships as well. This is Mr. Gamble and Mr. Johnson and they are here to spend their money. They will be auditing and flowing about the campus all day and it will be up to you and your brilliant minds to convince them which departments will win their much needed funding, but there is one little catch because what fun would it be for them if you all just started groveling? No, you must be smart and cunning. You must lure them to your classrooms and laboratories. You must wow them, and that doesn't mean with a mob mentality. They will be here all afternoon. Catch their attention, grab it and hold onto it!" Siebert finished his speech and for a moment it sounded like you would be able to hear a pin drop, and then there was a stampede for the doors and the cafeteria emptied.

"That's one way to clear a room." Chin stated but paid more attention to his lunch rather than the prospects of funding.

"I believe my work here is done." Siebert said to Danny and Callen and then left the cafeteria all together.

"So what was the point of that?" Kensi asked as Danny and Callen came toward the table.

"He was a little apprehensive about having to escort us around and possibly fall into harms way if something went wrong." Callen stated and motioned over his shoulder in the direction of the fleeing president.

"It was also meant to spark Moira's interest. She needs a new job and funding for her research - why not give her the means to scorn the university at the same time?" Danny asked.

"Except she wasn't even in the cafeteria to hear the big speech," Leonard stated.

"Are you saying that gossip doesn't get around in this place?" Callen asked.

"No, but the biggest gossip wasn't here either." Howard stated.

"Sheldon is in his office with Kono." Danny stated. "And Hetty is about to let him loose."