Auburn Hair
by dcat
This is a Hardcastle and McCormick fanfic. The characters do not belong to me. 3-30-07 Rated G
This is in response to Lizabeth Tucker's challenge and I quote….
"Yes, I know I can't get into this until after tax filing season is over, but this line has been bouncing around in my head for a solid week now and I have to get it out. See what you can do with it.
She was everything he wanted and nothing he needed. She was trouble with a capital T, yet he couldn't resist her lure.
Okay, who or what is she and who is he?"
Here goes my version. And thanks for the challenge!
She was everything he wanted and nothing he needed. She was trouble with a capital T, yet he couldn't resist her lure.
The lure was auburn hair.
He however, never listened to Hardcastle especially when it came to women. He had his own mind and he couldn't get her out of it, no matter what he tried. The Judge merely telling him to stay away from her didn't even faze him.
God, she was beautiful, was all McCormick could think.
"Judge, she has auburn hair," Mark must have said it for the 56th time as he carried in the last two bags of groceries and set them haphazardly on the kitchen table.
Milt rolled his eyes and shook his head and reached into one of the eight bags and found the package of Chippie Chips. He ripped open the bag and took a handful and began to chew them. "Oh enough already McCormick, you sound like a raging blob of testosterone. Grow up already. You need to stay away from women like that. They're nothing but trouble."
"Auburn hair," Mark closed his eyes and sought out his memory and added, "mmmmm."
The Judge watched his young friend virtually float around the kitchen as they both started to put away the groceries. "You're like a love sick teenager McCormick. Just once I'd like to see you actually find a woman, who is as beautiful as you say, and who also has a brain in her body. You know there are women like that in this world."
"What are you trying to say Judge?"
"I'm trying to say quit bringing home bimbo's. Raise your sights. Find a woman who can think for herself for a change."
"And just how do you know that this lovely goddess doesn't?" Mark raised his eyebrows and added a 'hmmmm?"
"Maybe because I know you McCormick, that's why. Did you even get her name or did you just fawn around up and down every aisle at the Piggly Wiggly?"
"I happened to do both," Mark answered him.
"Uh huh," the Judge said, plastering a smirk on his face. "So what's auburn hair's name?"
"Jennifer Jones," McCormick stretched out her name making it last longer.
"Jennifer Jones?" a skeptical Judge asked. "Ha, she's an old time actress. You can do better than that kiddo. Who do you think you're fooling?"
"It's not that Jennifer Jones, I told you Judge, she's got auburn hair and she's about my age."
"Would you stop with the auburn hair already, I got that after the 29th time you told me. Did you remember to get popcorn, cause we're out of popcorn?"
"No, I did not forget the popcorn, or the steaks you wanted or the brown mustard that you absolutely had to have. I even asked her out on a date and she said yes."
"When's the date?" the Judge questioned.
"Tonight, we're going out for dinner."
"Ok, you just met this woman in the supermarket, she's gorgeous and you asked her out and she said yes?" Hardcastle had to sit down because he didn't believe this story.
"Yes, it's all true, and she likes to be called Jen," he grinned.
"What else do you know about her?"
"It's a good thing you're sitting down right now Judge. Would you believe that she plays in the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra? She's second violin. And in her spare time she writes romance novels. She's already had three published."
"You're right, I am glad I'm sitting down and I don't believe it. There's got to be more to this story. And my bet is that you don't have a clue as to what's in store for you. What did you tell her about yourself?" the Judge wondered.
"I told her the truth that I was in law school."
"And?" the Judge prodded.
"No, I didn't tell her that yet, give me a chance here okay? I thought I'd save the crime fighting duo part of my life for dinner," he teased.
"You know what I mean."
"Judge," he paused, "auburn hair. I can't tell her that yet, really, let me see how dinner goes all right?"
"You know you have a lot on your plate right now, are you sure you really want to start a relationship?"
"Judge, if I didn't know you better I would think you were trying to talk me out of this. I thought you'd be happy for me."
"Hey, no that's not true. I'm just saying take it slow okay? There's lots of auburn hair out there you know?"
OOOOOOO
The dinner was impeccable, perfect, stupendous, wonderful and a host of other adjectives McCormick couldn't even think of. Jen was witty, charming, smart and funny. The evening flew by and it didn't take Mark long to realize he was in love with more than her auburn hair. This woman was everything Hardcastle had alluded to, she had brains and looks and she was just as interested in him as he was in her. If he wasn't wide awake, he'd have thought it was a dream.
Then the bomb dropped.
OOOOOOO
McCormick pulled the car up the familiar driveway and quietly retired to the gatehouse, even though he saw from the lights in the house that the Judge was still up. He'd find out soon enough how the date went. McCormick was hoping he could just get some sleep and he'd tell him all about it the disastrous date in the morning.
He hated it when the Judge was right.
OOOOOOO
Hardcastle was finished eating breakfast, but was enjoying a third cup of coffee when he saw McCormick walking over from the gatehouse.
"You were out pretty late there kiddo, must have been a good time? I thought maybe you'd bring her out for breakfast."
"She's not in the gatehouse Judge."
"Oh?" Hardcastle sounded surprised. "Why didn't you come over when you got home then? I would have liked to hear about this auburn haired beauty last night."
"You were right okay? She wasn't the one. Is that what you want to hear?" McCormick bit his lip.
Hardcastle didn't understand, "No, that's not what I wanted to hear, why would you think that?"
"That's what you said yesterday."
"Look kiddo, there's nothing I would like more than to see you finish law school, start up your career, find a nice gal and have a family, do you really need to hear me say that? There it is okay?"
"Nah, I know that," he sighed and continued. "It was that damn auburn hair Judge, I'm a blubbering sucker for it. I always have been."
"You want to give me all the pieces here kiddo, so I can put the puzzle together. What happened?"
McCormick shook his head thinking back to the whole night's events. "Dinner was great, she was incredible. We talked and laughed for hours. And I was so gone Judge. My world was complete. I should have realized it was way too easy and things were falling into place way too fast. Life, well, my life anyway is never like that. The other shoe always drops, the game is lost in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, and 'ole McCormick never gets the girl for one stupid reason or another."
"No pieces here yet sport, it's very poetic though," Hardcastle almost yawned.
"She didn't want a boyfriend, she's already got one, she wanted a lawyer or almost a lawyer to help out with the legal problem he's in." There, McCormick had given Hardcastle every piece he needed for the puzzle.
"You're kidding me?"
"Does it look like I'm kidding you?"
The Judge nodded no. "I'm sorry kiddo."
"Yeah, yeah. I really should listen to you. You know a lot more than I give you credit for."
"Well, what was the legal beef the boyfriend was in?" the Judge asked.
McCormick cleared his throat, "well, he apparently had a corvette and he couldn't afford the insurance, so Jen suggested he put it in her name, because the insurance would be cheaper. They had a little fight, he left and drove off in the car, she had him arrested. Do you want me to continue?" he said in a monotone.
Hardcastle started to laugh, "Kiddo, you need to stay away from auburn hair."
"I should have known she was trouble with a capital 'T'.