Surprise. My hike got rained out on. Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter Eight:

Cups of coffee were passed around at eight o'clock. A production assistant had tacked photos of the women on the walls. Shawna, Faye and Macy approached it:

Sarah, Mika, Lena, Kayla, Mary, Ava, Mel, Bella, Alison and Halia.

"So, a group date and a one-one-on date," Macy said. "What do we have planned?"

"We have a group ballroom dancing lesson and a balloon ride for the one-on-one," Shawna said.

"I am so glad I talked you out of turning that into a salsa session," Faye said.

"You didn't," she said. "You won a poker game."

"I told you never to play poker with her," Macy said. "Moving on. Spencer needs to pick a woman whose afraid of heights."

Faye sighed. "Does he know which women are afraid of heights?"

"Of course not," Shawna said. "We have Mary, Mel, and Allison."

"Well, he doesn't like Allison that much," Macy said. "Maybe he can push her out."

"Not funny," Faye said. "I'll present him the options. Do you care who he picks for the group date?"

"Make sure the buxom blond is in it," Macy said.

"Okay, I'll talk to him," Faye said.

She went up the stairs and knocked on the door.

"Are you decent?"

"Of course," he said. "Come in."

He was reading a book at his desk in a vest over a long-sleeve shirt.

"I know," he said. "I need to change."

"Don't worry about it," she said. "We have dates to discuss."

"Can ask you something personal, first?"

"We're going to be stuck together for several weeks. Sure."

"How do you manage living away from your husband for so long?"

She looked completely shocked.

"I know you're a profiler, but how could you have known? I don't have a tan line and I rarely discuss my personal life."

"It's simple," he said. "We have good chemistry but you always seem to keep me at an arm's length. It's more like I'm your brother more than anything."

"You are good," she said, still in shock.

"Let's discuss the dates then instead, shall we?"

"The first date is a balloon ride," she said. "You have the choice of Mel, Allison, and Mary."

"They're all afraid of heights, aren't they?"

"We really cannot put anything past you, can we?"

"Mary," he said.

"Okay," she said. "The only limitation with the ballroom dancing lesson it is five women and that has to include Leah."

"I really don't like her being the comic relief on the show," he said.

"Then don't let her then."

…

They found the date card an hour later. Ava read it out loud:

"Mary, let us take our relationship to new heights," she said.

"Okay," she said slowly.

"Not a fan of heights?" Mel said.

"I'll do anything for love," she said with a weak smile.

"Allison, Bella, Mika, Bella, and Leah. Let us dance the day away."

The other women looked slightly disappointed.

Shawna, Faye and Macy watched from the monitors. Macy laughed.

"Mary looks positively green."

"So, whose watching what?" Shawna asked.

"I'm watching the women, while the balloon ride is going on," Faye said. "I trust Spencer to take care of Mary and the sound is crap anyway."

"I get to supervise the balloon ride then," Shawna said and picked up her things.

"I'm getting out of this hole, to take care of other things." Macy said.

Faye took a seat. "Have fun ladies."

Both women disappeared.

…

Reid knocked at the door at one o'clock. He was dressed in beige slacks and a blue dress shirt. Mary appeared in a white cotton blouse with a denim jacket and jeans. Several of the women also appeared.

"Hi Mary," he said and nodded towards the woman. "Ladies."

"Hi Spencer," she said.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Then let's go," he said.

The women waved at them.

Faye pulled out a notepad and began to take notes. None of them looked too desperate yet but looks could be deceiving.

She watched as several women approached the pool.

"I wonder where Leah is," Kayla asked. "She seems like the tanning kind of woman."

"Probably reading a dictionary for tomorrow's group date," Sarah snickered.

"That's not nice," Lena said. "I'm sure he sees something he like about her…"

"Oh please," Mika said. "She's either a charity case, or Spencer is more physically attracted to that kind of woman than we thought."

Faye switched monitors. Some of these women were playing bitchy for the cameras and others were just mean. She couldn't tell which and she didn't care at the moment.

Star was teaching Bella (dressed in a simple white dress) and Leah about Dungeon and Dragons. She had a map, dice and rule book.

"This is all crazy," Leah said. "How do you master all these rules?"

"That is what a grand master is for," Star said patiently. "To keep the game on task."

"I like how you can customize the character to fit whatever personality you want," Bella said.

"So, you'd be an elf-bride?" Leah said jokingly.

"I'd be an elf-warrior," Bella said. "The dress was to get his attention."

Macy came down stairs.

"The weirdos are forming a pact," she noted.

"They're different but I think Spencer, likes different," she said. "Okay, I have no idea what he sees in Bella. But if I had to guess he didn't want to deal with the kinky florist."

"Something else on your mind?"

"Why?"

"You're not obsessively taking notes."

Faye sighed. "You've known me too long."

"Spill it."

"Spencer figured out I was married. I've worked with people here for at least three years and they're still hitting on me. How did he figure it out?"

"If I had to guess," Macy said. "I think he's been friend-zoned fairly often on his job."

Faye looked at the monitors. "We've got to find someone in this bunch for him."

Macy patted her on the shoulder. "We will."