Bad Hair Day

Monday morning

"Ow!" Cassie cried as her sister attempted to brush her long curls. "You're pulling!"

Cindy gave the brush an extra yank. "Well, I wouldn't pull if you'd hold still!" she complained.

"Ow!" Cassie wailed again.

Fixing breakfast in the kitchen below, MacGyver looked up at the sound of Cassie's protests. "Girls? Is everything all right up there?"

For a moment there was silence, and then Cassie came running down the stairs. "Cindy's pulling my hair!" she accused almost tearfully.

MacGyver raised an eyebrow as Cindy came into view. "Cindy?"

"I was just brushing it!" Cindy protested, crossing her arms with the hairbrush still in one hand. "It's not my fault it's so tangled!"

Running to MacGyver, Cassie hid behind him and looked defiantly at her sister. "I want Mr Mac to brush it!" she declared. *

Apprehension lit MacGyver's eyes as if he faced climbing a hundred-foot cliff without ropes. "Cassie, honey, why don't we let Cindy have another try?"

"No!" Cindy exclaimed, throwing the brush and ponytail holders on the table. "You can do it, or she can just do it herself!" Turning, she ran back up the stairs, leaving Cassie looking up expectantly at MacGyver.

"Please, Mr Mac?"

MacGyver eyed the tangled curls dubiously. If it was this messy after one night, it obviously couldn't go unbrushed for a week; Celia Witowski would hardly appreciate the rat's nest when she got back. Nor was she likely to be too thrilled if he simply cut it off, as he was half tempted to.

Sighing in defeat, he lifted her onto the counter. "Okay, baby, but I might pull a little myself."

"That's okay," Cassie assured him, making him wonder how much she minded the knots and how much she had just been squabbling with her sister.

His own hair was long enough to snarl occasionally, but he always just grit his teeth and yanked the comb through, a method he could hardly use in this case. He brushed cautiously, wincing nearly more than Cassie when he hit a rough spot, and teased the hairs out almost one by one.

At last her hair lay mostly smooth over her shoulders, and MacGyver cast a wary glance at the ponytail holders on the table. "Cassie, how about we leave it like this?" he tried.

"Nuh-uh!" Cassie refused with a shake of her head that threatened to tangle it all over again. "I like pigtails!"

MacGyver sighed in defeat and divided her hair a little unevenly down the middle. He gathered one half clumsily in his hand and then stared at a ponytail holder, feeling for once all thumbs as he wondered how one went about putting them in.

He had on occasion pulled his own hair back, but doing it on yourself was different than on someone else, and even when he had used a rubber band rather than a piece of string, it hadn't had these strange bobbles on it.

In any case, he was so nonplussed at the idea of fixing a little girl's hair that the times he had done his own didn't even occur to him.

His first attempt to pull the hair through sent the ponytail holder snapping out of his fingers and flying across the room. * Cassie giggled and jumped down to run and get it. "You don't know how to do hair, Mr Mac!" she declared.

"No…not really," he admitted, lifting her back to the countertop and parting her hair once more. He found himself wondering how Dave would have managed if he had been staying with the kids without Celia.

His second attempt went more smoothly than the first, and if one pigtail was little higher than the other, MacGyver was sure no one would notice.

He blew out his breath, feeling as relieved as if he had just come through some harrowing experience. Lifting Cassie to the ground, he eyed his work with satisfaction and was silently grateful that Cindy wore her hair short.

Next outtake coming next week! (as long as the library doesn't shut down again…)

* Illustration for this scene can be found at

www . deviantart . com [slash] femalechauvinist [slash] art [slash] Hide-n-Peek-887373609

www . deviantart . com [slash] femalechauvinist [slash] art [slash] All-Thumbs-887373658

I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know!

Please note that I have only minimal internet access, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. (But they are much appreciated, even if you're reading this story long after I originally post it!) If you have questions regarding my MacGyver alternate history, check my profile first to see if they're answered there. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie