I'm back! Miss me? :D Anyway, I would have got this chapter up sooner, but I was in Poland for a couple of days, and now its half term I can update to my heart's content!

Which is probably just this chapter and maybe two more if I'm lucky.

*HEADDESK*

Anyway, not too sure what to make of this one. This is the only fic that I've ever written that has a solid plot line, and its been weird not making stuff up as I go along, so I'd love it if you all told me what you think. Anyway, enjoy. :D

March 21st, 1500. Rome.

'Right, is everybody here?'

The people milling around the main room of the Assassin hideout looked up to find the Doctor standing in the doorway, beaming and rocking on his heels. Ezio stood beside him demurely, smiling quietly to himself. It happened rarely, but to have his friends and allies all around him gave him a feeling of resounding contentment safety that he treasured. His family stood nearby, looking on with him. (Ezio's cheek still smarted from Maria's reaction to the news that a descendant existed) His recruits had gathered in the middle, the novices looking eager while the Assassins remained collected. Machiavelli stood to the Doctor's right, hands clasped behind his back with a calculating look on his face. La Volpe eyed him mistrustfully from across the room, murmuring in the ear of a trustworthy thief he'd bought with him. Bartolomeo and Pantasilea stood in the corner beyond him, talking with the two eldest recruits, Bianca and Severino. Despite the both of them being older than Ezio, he was proud of the both of them – with a wealth of experience, they had both taken good care of the recruits that followed them into the order. Amy and Rory remained by the Doctor's side, looking expectant.

There was someone missing.

'Wait,' Ezio said to the Doctor. 'Leonardo is not – '

A clang echoed in the hideout – someone had arrived using the underground tunnels. Giovanni held open the door for Leonardo, who bumbled in while taking off his rain drenched cloak.

'My apologies, Doctor,' he called out. 'Cesare Borgia is a man with mean deadlines!' Everyone in the room chuckled as Ezio and the Doctor stepped forward to greet their friend. Behind him, Giovanni flicked back his wet hood and shook his head free of the rain. Zita approached him quietly with a warm cloth.

'Grazie,' he murmured, and when he took it, their fingers touched. Their cheeks reddened and they smiled bashfully at each other, but the moment was lost when the Doctor called everyone to attention again.

'Alright, everyone! Let's get cracking!'

The room settled into an expectant silence as Ezio stepped forward. 'My friends, welcome. So much has passed over the last few days, and our view on the universe has altered as we know it. But I am glad, as I am sure you all are, that we can count these remarkable people as our friends,' Ezio motioned to the Doctor, Amy and Rory.

'Remarkable, quite,' The Doctor murmured to his companions as a smattering of applause went around the room, which he waved at while grinning. Amy rolled her eyes.

'But now is time for action,' Ezio continued when the clapping died down. 'The Doctor's arrival has bought a greater threat to our door – the efforts of Templars of the present and future combined. This is the biggest enemy we have ever faced, but I am sure that with the right thinking, we can defeat it. But we need a plan – we need to move now to preserve the future.' Ezio turned. 'Doctor?'

The Doctor continued nodding along, and then snapped out of it. 'Me?' he mouthed, pointing at himself. Frowning, Ezio nodded, and motioned for the Doctor to step forward. He coughed awkwardly and moved slowly forward. 'Ah. Right. Me. Yes. Errr…'

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

'Er, right. Yes. A plan. That's exactly what we need. Yes. Well done, Ezio.' The Doctor looked baffled as he sorted his thoughts, and then suddenly lurched into action. 'Yes, a plan! And the plan is this:'

Everybody looked expectant as the Doctor fell short. As the silence lengthed, everyone began eying each other.

'Is?' Leonardo prompted the Doctor helpfully.

'Is…is…' The Doctor turned on the spot, and looked at Machiavelli. 'Mach-Daddy-Veli, where would you start?'

As Machiavelli's eyes widened, whispers began to circulate.

'What?'

'What did he just call him?'

'I, uh – ' Machiavelli cleared his throat. 'These Templars exist in the future. So I would see what the future is made of: I would check the history books.'

'Yes! Mach-Daddy-Velli there, a man after my own hearts!' The Doctor crowed triumphantly. 'We'll check the history books! We'll go to the future and find anything that can help us! Our adventure, already written out for us! Aha!'

'But surely you'll get caught!' Claudia interjected. 'We have difficulty finding Templar spies now – heaven knows how it is in the future!'

'Ah, but we'll go disguised, Claudia! Simple disguises that'll fool all those Abstergo people, watching us! And then, and then after we've got the information we need, five hundred years in advance – that's a huge advantage, absolutely huge!' The Doctor countered, bounding forward to grab her by the shoulders and shake her in excitement.

'And then?' Ezio asked.

'And then we figure out how to tackle Abstergo and the Templars, cripple their technology and stop something like this from ever happening again!' The Doctor replied, releasing Claudia to throw his arms up in the air. She teetered on the spot, and Maria caught her elbow and shot the Doctor a reproachful look, which was ignored.

'But will it kill them for good?' La Volpe called out.

'No, no, of course not – this whole thing is just one branch of the Templar empire, it'll take more than us to wipe them out. But maybe we can bring some of your expertise into the Assassins of today – advice from the great Mentor himself! This is going against all the rules of Time, but this is great! I feel so naughty, breaking all the rules,' The Doctor was dancing around with glee, and then he suddenly fell serious again. 'No, but in the meantime, we need to hide. We need to be careful. It'll take one of us going outside, looking like we don't belong and there'll be musicians singing songs of blue boxes and handsome devils in bows that'll go down in history and it'll just take one nosey little Templar to look that up and they'll be able to pinpoint a precise date and we'll be found! But we can't hide in here because if we're spotted it'll be all the more cause for suspicion no, NO…' the Doctor frowned deeply, and then opened his eyes again. 'We'll become one of you!'

'What?' Ezio frowned.

'Of course I can't, I'm too clever and too breakable, but you can take Amy and Rory! Teach them to do something, anything!'

'Oh. Great.' Rory said, while Amy glared at the back of the Doctor's head. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, La Volpe had begun a muttered conversation with his fellow thief, and Claudia and Maria had begun to discuss something in low voices.

'Well, Ponds?' The Doctor asked. 'This is sixteenth century Rome. What do you want to do with your lives?'

'We will take Rory.'

Everyone turned in surprise in La Volpe's direction: he had stepped forward, and the thief he had bought along had settled against the wall and was nodding. 'You said, Rory, that you had spent some time in Roma before?'

'Well, uh…' Rory rubbed the back of his head. 'If you count artificial memories of ancient Rome while being a plastic robot then, uh, I guess so?'

La Volpe blinked, and then grinned slyly. 'You are as confusing as your Doctor friend. But, artificial or not, you have something of the Roman about you – a forgettable face with the nose to match!' He laughed as Rory touched his nose subconsciously, and then motioned behind him to the thief. 'My thieves will teach you all you need to know – the basics of rooftop travel and stealing. And who knows? There may come a time again when you need those skills on your adventures – Centurion.' He added slyly – Rory's eyes widened and Amy blushed violently. 'The eavesdropping skill comes standard with training.'

Rory shrugged off his embarrassment and coughed a little awkwardly. 'Yeah. Yeah, alright then!'

La Volpe nodded, and stepped back. Rory grinned happily, and turned to see the Doctor frowning at him and Amy.

'Centurion? Really?' He hissed.

'Shut up!' Amy hissed back.

'If you are finished?'

All three turned to see Maria looking at them with an arched eyebrow. 'We have a proposition of our own.' She said. 'We would like to take on Amy as one of our girls.'

'WHAT?' Rory and the Doctor exploded as one.

'She has something of the foreign beauty about her. We obviously don't expect her to perform our girls' usual duties,' Maria said pointedly. 'But she would do well in serving drinks and listening to the secrets that drunk men like to tell pretty women.'

'But…but she's my wife!' Rory gestured wildly. 'She's – she's mine! You can't - !'

'Who says I can't?' Amy said primly. 'I quite like the idea. Sounds glamorous.' She added, grinning at Maria, who smiled and tipped her head in response.

'But…but you can't…' Rory said uselessly.

'Amy – ' The Doctor said, and Amy glared sharply at him. 'Just…think about this, alright?'

'I'm done thinking.' She said.

'Then it's settled,' said Maria. 'If you will come with us now, we will have you fitted for more suitable clothing.' She held out her hand and Amy took it. But as she stepped forward, she was surprised to feel a grip on her wrist. She turned and saw Ezio, who was giving her a very level look as he stepped forward to whisper in her ear.

'You are a married woman, Madonna, with a husband who loves you very much. I hope you do well to remember it.'

Amy had no response to that, other than to gape uselessly at Ezio as he stepped back and smiled at her. Rory had followed the transaction anxiously with an upset look, and she threw him a smile that had something of the guilty edge behind it before leaving the room with Claudia.

'Well…right…' The Doctor struggled for words as Rory trailed towards La Volpe with a slump to his shoulders. 'Who's up for a trip to the future?'

Leonardo was barely able to contain himself. 'Doctor, I would love it!'

'Just the very man to take to the future! And who else…' The Doctor didn't look far – he looked straight at Ezio. 'Ezio!'

Ezio seemed surprised. 'You mean for me to accompany you?'

'Of course! We've got the brains, but we need, uh, the stabby stab. You know, just in case we run into trouble. You can scare 'em off.' The Doctor told Ezio, waving his fingers at him for dramatic effect. 'So! We need to get you some clothes sorted. If you come in all Leonardo Da Vinci-ish and Mentore-ish, the guys behind the security cameras'll freak out, start ringing alarms and that won't be good, so if we just nonchalantly sneak in as a couple of tourists, they won't know any the wiser. Perfect.' The Doctor congratulated himself, beaming.

'But Doctor, where are we going?'

'To the best place I know for history,' The Doctor said. 'The British Museum.'

I wasn't too sure about the Doctor's characterization on this one, please review and tell me what you think :)