Disclaimer on chapter one.
AN: Chapter Eight for all of you. Want to say sorry for the small errors in the last chapter I didn't see them until I reread it to refresh for this chapter. Anyway, I think this one was better proof read. Enjoy. dark rolling sea.
Chapter Eight: Hoosier Hysteria

Gibbs felt tired after they had left and went back up to the room for a nap. He got a couple more hours of sleep in before the cat woke him yet again. He swore he had latched the door this time, but lo and behold, it was cracked open again. He shook his head. The cat perked when he realized that Gibbs was awake and bolted to the other side of the bed.

Gibbs stared at it with his stone face and the cat's eyes grew in size. The pupils fluctuated with a furry and its ears flicked front to back to front as it decided what to do. Gibbs could tell the cat's heart was pounding and it was terrified. He lifted a hand suddenly and the cat hunched into the bed and laid its ears back. He cocked his head to the side and seemed to brace for impact, then it leaped sideways to the floor and scurried out the door.

Weird, Gibbs thought. He got up then and looked around the house for a while. He heard a car pull into the driveway and made his way down to the lowest level of the house. Those stairs were quite the workout, Gibbs thought. He was coming off the bottom when he heard a knock at the door as it opened.

"Hello?" a child's voice asked. "Grandma you here?"

"Hi," Gibbs said standing at the bottom of the stairs. The child stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him with a bit of fear in her eyes. She still had one hand on the door knob and she eyed Gibbs suspiciously.

"Where's my grandma?" she asked in an accusatory tone. It made Gibbs smile.

"At church with your grandfather and your Aunt Kate," Gibbs replied. It was then that another child came in behind her and stopped. This one was a boy and he stared at Gibbs with a look of confusion on his face. He then looked around as if to make sure they hadn't made an error and walked into the wrong house. Gibbs heard a couple doors slam outside and two people talking as they came up to the house. He stood where he was as the two children stood in the doorway.

"Go on in, kids," he heard a man's voice say. "The car's gone but they should be home from church soon." The man pushed the first two into the house and stopped when he saw Gibbs standing there. He looked him up and down.

"Hello," Gibbs said taking a step closer towards him. "I'm Jethro Gibbs."

"Josh Todd, this is my daughter Renee, and my younger son Kyler," he said cautiously extending his hand. Gibbs gripped it and nodded. "My parents here?"

"No, they went to church with your sister," Gibbs explained. The man just nodded and looked around a little. A woman and a teenager walked up. Introductions were given and Gibbs learned Josh's wife was named Carrie and their oldest son was Josh junior but he went by J.J.

It was then that they heard another vehicle pull into the drive. Kathy, Doug, and Kate were back from church and they all came into the house. It was a joyous reunion as Kate realized it was her brother and his family that were there. They sat down in the living room and had a catch up session.

After an hour of talking E. J. and his family showed up followed shortly by Charlie and his family. Gibbs was feeling the space closing off again as more and more of Kate's family showed up. He wondered if all weekends were like this or if this was special because of Kate's homecoming and wedding.

Ryan and his family showed up shortly there after and Kathy set out to make a lunch for the horde of people. Gibbs conversed with Kate's brother Josh for a while before he excused himself from the chaos of the living room and made his way into the kitchen. It was just in time too because Kate's grandfather came in the front door just after he excused himself.

Kathy told him there was nothing for him to do, but he insisted on staying so she let him help with the potatoes. He assured her he knew what he was doing and reluctantly she left him to do it on his own. She asked him if he was overwhelmed in the living room and after a moment of not answering her he finally admitted that yes he was. She said he could always escape to her kitchen and Gibbs laughed.

They ate lunch and Gibbs unluckily got stuck between Kyler Todd and Grandpa Jeremiah. The boy just stared at Gibbs the entire time he was eating and although he would never admit it, he was a little unnerved by it. They were half way through lunch when Jeremiah launched into another historical spiel.

"You know this county was organized on June first eighteen thirty seven? Was named after the great Polish General Kosciusko. Yes it was. County seed, that's Warsaw, was named after the one in Poland.

"Course you know some famous people came out of the state of Indiana. For instance Steve McQueen. He was born in Beech Grove in 1930. And Florence Henderson, you know that one on that television show, ah, what was it called, you know the man with three boys and the woman's got three girls and they make a family, damn…Brady Bunch, that's it. She was from Dale, Indiana. Of course there was Larry Bird, from French Lick. Everyone knows him.

"Will Geer was from Indiana too; he was born in 1902 in Frankfort, famous for being Zeb Walton on that other TV show. Then who could forget James Dean born in Marion Indiana in 1931, he's buried here too over in Fairmount.

"Carole Lombard was from Fort Wayne Indiana. She was married to Clark Gable and was in all those movies. Course she died in a plane crash after visiting Indianapolis. Shelly Long was born here too. Also from Fort Wayne. There was Karl Malden too. He was another actor, born in Gary Indiana in 1914.

"Red Skelton was from Vincennes, funny man Red was. Then there's David Letterman from Indianapolis. Howard Hawks, director of those movies like Sergeant York, and the like, he was from Goshen, not to far from here. And then there is Jane Pauley from Indianapolis."

"That's a lot of famous people," Gibbs said in between bites, hoping Lunch was almost over. He noticed that Kyler was still staring at him. He looked at his plate and continued to eat.

"Yes siree. Also some musicians from this here state," Grandpa continued and Gibbs fought the urge to groan out loud. He instead took a bite of his roll and chewed mechanically. "John Cougar Mellencamp was born in Seymour Indiana and still lives in Bloomington. Billy Bailey was from Lafayette, course most know him as Axel Rose.

"Then Janie Fricke was a country music singer from South Whitley. Cole Porter was a famous jazz musician born in 1892 in Peru Indiana. Then of course the Michael Jackson and his band of brothers the Jackson Five were all born up in Gary Indiana."

"Interesting," Gibbs said with a smile. He looked around the table trying to catch Kate's eye, but she was laughing at something her one of her brothers had said. He sighed inwardly. He was finished eating and now had nothing to occupy himself while Grandpa continued with his long winded spiel.

"Famous people from all over though. Got the Studebaker family in South Bend. Started out making Conestoga Wagons then moved on with the automobile. Got a museum for them folks. Though probably the nicest thing bout them folks is the trees in Bendix Woods. Actually spells out Studebaker in evergreen trees if you see it from above.

"Could really get into the Studebaker story. Lots of history in that one there is. Course Henry and Clem started the company with sixty eight dollars and two forges. They were first a repair business. Seeing that they could blacksmith. Their little brother John had gone to California for the gold rush and after a few years his brothers begged him he came back to South Bend. Came back with close to eight thousand in gold nuggets.

"Got him to invest in their company they did. He bought out Henry since the oldest wanted out and wanted to farm. That money from the gold rush assured a future for the Studebaker's and set that company afloat."

"I see," Gibbs said looking at Kyler. The boy smiled at Gibbs and rolled his eyes. Gibbs fought the urge to laugh outright at the boy's gesture and grinned in return. Grandpa was oblivious to it all. Before Grandpa could continue Gibbs was saved when Josh stood up from the table and smiled. All eyes went to him.

"Who's up for some Hoosier Hysteria?" Josh asked. Gibbs saw the eyes brighten of all the adults at the table but he was lost. The other three brothers got up and started for the door while Kathy worked at cleaning up. Melanie and Terri started helping Kathy and Kate smiled. Gibbs didn't know what was going on. Josh followed his brothers out, and Gibbs looked at Kate.

"Basketball game," Kate said. "Want to play?" Gibbs eyed her then grinned. He hadn't played in a while.

"Sure," he replied. "You playing?"

"Of course," Kate said and then walked from the kitchen. Gibbs noticed that she was the only one of the females that went outside. He smiled. He liked that idea. Doug and Grandpa came out on the porch and sat down while the kids gathered around in the grass. Gibbs was a little amazed when he saw that they actually had a concrete court with baskets at each end. He shook his head.

"Play often?" Gibbs asked Kate. She smiled up at him and started to stretch.

"This is Indiana, Gibbs, every kid plays basketball in Indiana," she said like he was an idiot. He looked at her and shook his head. E. J. walked up to Kate.

"It's us and him," he said jutting a thumb at Gibbs. "Can he play?"

Gibbs fought a grin. He looked at Kate as she eyed him up and down. Finally she spoke, "Don't know, but I guess we'll find out."

E. J. grinned and trotted back over to the other three to get his turn in with the two balls that were bouncing around. Gibbs watched as they warmed up then jumped in when they were done. Once everyone was ready they set forth into a very competitive battle on the court as the family cheered them on.

Gibbs found that he was a little out of shape compared to the younger crowd he was playing against, but he wouldn't let them know it. He pushed himself just as hard as they were pushing and it turned into a pretty good game.

The score was tied and they had been playing for quite some time. They had left the scorekeeping up to the kids on the grass and they would yell it out when a basket was made. Gibbs was starting to feel the fatigue but he fought on.

"Next bucket wins!" someone yelled from the grass. Gibbs stood waiting. Josh had the ball and was coming down at him. Kate had Charlie covered and E. J. was containing Ryan. All Gibbs had to do was stop Kate's oldest brother. The man stared him in the eye as he dribbled with his right hand towards the basket. Josh faked with his body to his right, then shifted the ball to his left hand and attempted to step around Gibbs to the left. Gibbs had seen the weight shift in the man and although he almost bit on the fake he stepped into the man as he shifted the ball.

Gibbs found himself with two hands on the ball and it coming away from Josh. He turned to protect it with his body and managed to complete the steal. E. J. and Kate both broke up the court towards their end and Gibbs managed to pass the ball around Josh to Kate. He jogged towards the net as Kate was instantly covered by Charlie. She didn't have anywhere to go so Gibbs broke towards the net.

She bounced a good pass to him and he caught it in stride and turned for the basket. As he drove he saw the collision coming but couldn't stop his momentum. There was no way he was going to be able to get a shot off so he flipped the ball around Josh to E. J, who had managed to escape Ryan for a second.

Gibbs' shoulder slammed into Josh's chest and both mean grunted in the impact. Josh pitched backwards from the impact and landed hard on his butt on the concrete. Gibbs tumbled forward and managed to twist his body to avoid coming down on top of Josh. As they collided E. J. made a move around Ryan and put and easy lay up into the basket to an eruption of cheers from the sidelines.

The cheers were little short lived as everyone realized that Josh and Gibbs had collided, leaving both men on the ground. Gibbs looked at Josh to make sure the other man was alright before he felt his shoulder to make sure it was in place. His arm was aching with dull pain from the impact. And he felt his hand had a little road rash from catching himself after the fall.

He sat up on the concrete and saw the other players coming around them. They all had smiles on their faces. E. J. looked at his brother Josh then at Gibbs. He shook his head with a grin.

"He's got no fear, Josh, ran smack into you. Got us the winning basket, because my boy Ryan here can't stop a…"

"Don't finish that, Little Brother," Ryan said grabbing E. J. in a head lock and hanging onto him. "You all right guys?"

"Yeah," Josh said rubbing his chest where Gibbs' shoulder had barreled into him. Gibbs smiled.

"Yeah," he replied getting up and extending a hand to Josh. Josh took his hand with a grin and Gibbs pulled him up to his feet. "Nice game."

"Likewise," Gibbs replied.

"You can play round ball with us any day," Ryan said with a smile. They all agreed and Gibbs thought he had just passed some kind of test. He looked at Kate who was smiling. He nodded.

Later after everyone but Josh and his family had left, Gibbs sat with Kate on the couch. Josh and his wife were busy getting their children ready for bed and Kathy was off helping them. Doug was no where to be found. Gibbs leaned over and kissed Kate on the temple.

"Did I pass a test today?" Gibbs whispered. Kate looked at him and saw he was serious.

"Um, sorta. My brothers, well Ryan was a finalist for Mr. Basketball, Josh won the award, and both were all conference, all area, and all state all four years in basketball. Charlie was all conference and all state three of his four years and E. J was all four years. All four were four year starters on the varsity squad. We have six state basketball championships between the four of them."

"Guess this is a basketball family," Gibbs said with a smile.

"It's Indiana," Kate said with a shrug.

"But I passed?" Gibbs said leaning in close again.

"You did. Not backing down to Josh planting the body. Took guts in their opinion."

"And in yours?" He said kissing her neck.

"It was just you being Gibbs." She said with a smile. He laughed out loud at that.

"What about you? You play in high school?" Gibbs asked. Kate smiled and looked at him a moment.

"Yes," was all she said.

"Wait till DiNozzo hears about this," Gibbs said with a smile and felt her elbow gently collide with his ribs. His body flinched and then he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

TBC…