I FOUND A WONDERFUL FRIEND ON TUMBLR ALL THESE UPDATES ARE FOR HER. 3

March 17th, 1500. Rome

When Leonardo helped Amy up the last step with Ezio following them, Amy walked into what was clearly a room from the Renaissance. It was just the way it looked, and the atmosphere was literally buzzing with change. Amy remembered that the last time she'd been here it was in Venice – with water vampires.

She hoped to God that there weren't any here.

Leonardo helped her over to a chaise at the side of the grand room – Amy sunk into it gratefully, still holding the cloth to her head and clutching the blanket around herself with her spare hand.

'Can I see that for just a moment?' Leonardo asked, guiding the hand that held the cloth to her head away – Amy winced as the air hit the wound. 'It does look nasty, but it's just superficial. No long term damage – you'll be back to normal within a few days. Although I think you'll agree that normalisn't in your vocabulary?'

'It hasn't been for a long time.' Amy agreed, smiling quietly. Leonardo smiled back, and placed the cloth back in its place. She turned to the sound of footsteps on the other side of the room – the woman who had been holding her down earlier – Bianca – was bringing over a chair and a goblet of something that steamed pleasantly.

'For you, Signora,' she said to Amy, handing her the goblet, which turned out to have the hot wine Leonardo had ordered. 'Forgive my earlier actions – you gave us quite a scare!'

'It's fine, honestly.' Amy said, although the thumping in her head told her it wasn't. Bianca smiled, and then turned to Ezio. 'A chair for you, Maestro.'

'Grazie,' Ezio said, taking the chair from her, placing it opposite Amy and sitting there with his elbows resting on his knees, his hands laced together and looked at Amy again. She looked away, uncomfortable all of a sudden.

'Ah, Bianca! Just the woman I need!' Leonardo said, clapping his hands together. 'I don't suppose you could accompany an old man back to his prison? Only if I'm not back soon the Borgia guards will notice my absence.'

'Wait, the Borgia?' Amy asked, looking up at him. 'The one with his sister?'

'Well that's the first I've heard it put.' Ezio remarked, smiling slightly.

'And you're working for them?' Amy asked incredulously.

'Against my will, I'm afraid,' Leonardo sighed. 'It is a bother when your employer threatens to kill you if you don't build him his machines.'

'Machines?'

'Sì! I am an engineer as well as a doctor. Oh, and an artist as well, although I have had such little time for that recently…'

Amy took a look at Leonardo.

A good, long look.

'Are you Leonardo Da Vinci?'

'Why, of course!'

There was a gurgling sound.

'Amy, are you alright?'

Amy choked on the wine she'd snorted. 'Just dandy!' She said airily, waving her hand as she took another sip. 'Great wine, by the way.' She said to Bianca, who beamed.

Leonardo took a moment to frown at Amy, before turning to Bianca again. 'Well, will you?'

Bianca bowed. 'Happy to, Signore.'

'Excellent! Amy, I bid you a swift recovery, and a wish that we may meet again soon.'

'You're leaving?' Amy asked, suddenly scared again. Leonardo represented safety, and believe it or not, she wanted that right now.

'I am indeed, but I am sure another will visit me in the middle of the night to bring me on another adventure.' Leonardo sighed again. 'I do not know how much an old man can take.'

'Stop complaining and design something useful – like a stick to help you walk.' Ezio suggested, smiling quietly.

Leonardo ignored him and addressed Amy instead. 'Pah. He doesn't know what he's talking about – back in Venezia, I had to leave my window open every night for him to stagger into with an arrow in his leg.' He grinned, but then looked serious. 'I really must go. But I'll be back, you have my word.' He bowed to Amy, and as he walked away, grasped hands with Ezio has he passed him. 'Arrivederci!' He called over his shoulder as Bianca followed him out and shut the door behind him.

The awkward silence fell on the room like a damp cloth on a candle. While Ezio did nothing but look, Amy busied herself with her hot wine, resisting the urge to look up and meet his eye.

'Stop looking at me like that.' She snapped suddenly. Ezio raised an eyebrow.

'Like what?'

'Like – like that.'

'I can hardly stop if I don't know what I'm doing.'

'You're looking at me like…I dunno…like you're sizing me up.'

'Sizing you up…?'

Amy rolled her eyes and huffed. 'What year is this?'

'1500?'

'Right. Okay. You're looking at me like you're sizing me up for…the chopping block! Aha! I can do this,' She congratulated herself, taking another sip of the wine. Not surprisingly, it'd gone straight to her head.

Ezio frowned. 'I'm looking at you like I'm about to kill you?'

'Exactly!'

Ezio reasoned that this fact wasn't exactly new. It was slightly disturbing, though, to know that he had been looking at people like this. He supposed it was an instinct he'd developed – his eyes falling on a random face in a crowd of innocents and subconsciously calculating the best move to stop the owner's heart.

He pushed the thought aside. 'I have so many questions.' He admitted.

'I bet you do.'

'My entire understanding of the world's been altered tonight. I think I have the right to answers.'

'Look, buddy, I've got questions too,' Amy hissed, suddenly angry at his demand. 'Like – where the hell am I? And – where have you hidden my husband and my best friend?'

'Your husband?'

'Amy!'

The shout came from the opposite side of the room – Amy's head snapped up at the sound of her name and Ezio jumped to his feet. There in the doorway was the man with the nose, fighting the grip of La Volpe and Bartolomeo, each holding an arm as he struggled forward.

'Rory!'

Ezio turned to see Amy get to her feet very slowly, holding the cloth to her head as her world lurched around her. Ezio turned back and held up his hand.

'Let him go! He's her husband!'

He didn't see the wedding bands around their fingers – he didn't need to. The fierce flame in the man's eye, the indication of the kick of adrenaline around his veins as he subconsciously geared up to protect that one woman from any danger – that was how Ezio knew.

He himself had such a flame in his eye for another once.

La Volpe and Bartolomeo hesitated for a moment before letting go. The man called Rory threw himself across the room, pushed past Ezio like he wasn't there and had his arms around Amy, questions tumbling from him like boulders down a landslide.

'Are you alright?'

'Fine, I'm fine,' Amy snapped at him – although it was clear she was pleased to see him.

'Where are we? Where's the Doctor!' Where the questions that came next, but it was the latter that was answered by the creak of carefully placed boots on the stairs. Ezio wheeled around to see the man they had placed on his bed emerge, holding his head and looking angry at them all and Ezio knew in that very single instant that this was the man Zara had spoken of back in the hillside, without a shadow of a doubt.

The man in his blue box.

La tempesta in arrivo.

Il Dottore.

And what he said was this:

'Listen you lot, I've got a massive headache right now and I'm not in the mood for any shouting, so who's going to tell me what the hell is going on first?'

This chapter isn't very good, I know. MOAR UPDATES TONIGHT.