A/N: Hello everyone! I've struggled writing this chapter as it's a bit of a filler...there's plenty of action but not much Doctor/Fred/Master goodness and for that I apologise! I hope you still find this chapter exciting and I'll hopefully be updating soon!

Thanks to all the fabulous peeps who reviewed the last chapter: Simpa007, padmay97, Romana-II, Shifuni, Bad Dog No Biscuit, DancingQueen411, Mrs. 11th, alyssa love, chibiwolfgurl and MayFairy.

And a special note to Brownbug...I hope you're feeling better soon!

So onto chapter eight; we're halfway through already!

Problems and Plans

"Hello, sirs; lady. How many rooms do you require for your stay?"

The Master and Fred had led them down a flight of stairs to a grand wooden booth. Inside stood a man dressed in fine Georgian garb and, with a polite smile, he addressed the Doctor, Amy and Rory. The Doctor blinked at the question.

"What? What? What's going on? Where are we?"

"London, sir." The man behind the desk said as though the Doctor was stupid. "You're at the Clockwork Hotel, sir. How many rooms do you require?"

Amy noticed the Doctor's baffled expression and swooped in to rescue him. "Two please."

"Right you are, my lady." The man picked up a quill and asked, "What name?"

"Pond."

He wrote down the name and handed them their keys. "Rooms twenty six and twenty seven."

"Right next to us." The Master said from behind them with glee before he and Fred disappeared up the stairs and out of sight.

"What's your name?" The Doctor asked the man, ignoring the Master's comment.

"Mr. Horton, sir." He clicked his fingers. "The robots will show you to your room."

Two of the Clockwork robots appeared, dressed all in white and gold, unlike the ones they had seen before. The robots slowly led them up the stairs the Doctor hesitated before following, questions buzzing in his head. He pushed the ones about Fred away. Now wasn't the time to worry about that. What were the robots up to? Why were some friendly and some...feral? The robot in front of him stopped and pushed open a dark wooden door, revealing a luxurious room covered in deep red drapes. The other robot did the same for Amy and Rory. Then they didn't move.

"Uh...thank you." Rory said, hoping they'd leave.

They didn't. Instead, they extended their right hand and gestured inside the room.

"I think we have to go in." The Doctor realised, stepping slowly into the room and going to close the door. Amy and Rory did the same. The robots turned and disappeared. The Doctor opened the door again to go into the Pond's room to discuss their situation. Instead of a deserted corridor, there was a robot stood nearly nose to nose with him. It wasn't wearing white and the Doctor assumed that this was one of the not-so-friendly ones. He stared into the blank dark eye holes of the robot's mask. It stared back before suddenly turning and creaking off down the corridor, stopping at the next room; the Master and Fred's room. They were sharing a room. The Doctor gritted his teeth and his knuckles whitened on the door knob.

No. Not now. Now, he needed to find out what was going on here. The Doctor edged out, expecting the robot to stop him but it didn't. Instead, it remained on guard outside the Master's room. The Doctor slipped inside the Ponds room to find them both poking their heads through another door and exclaiming that it 'wasn't possible'.

"What's not possible?"

They both jumped.

"It's a bathroom. A full, working, plumbed in bathroom. In Georgian London." Rory floundered. "Doctor, what on earth is going on? What are those robot things? Who's the Master? And is Fred the Fred? The dead one?"

The Doctor sighed and collapsed onto their bed. "In answer to your questions...one: I don't know but I intend to find out. Two: they are Clockwork Robots; droids from the 51st century made to blend in with the Georgian era when following orders. Three: the Master is a Time Lord, we were once friends until he took one road, I took another and, well, I ended up like this and he ended up wanting to rule the universe. Four: yes and five: yes."

Evidently, these briefs answers didn't satisfy Amy.

"Doctor, what are we doing? Why are we still even here? Didn't the Master say he was sorting this? He seems to know what's going on much better than we do. Shouldn't we just leave them to it?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. Something brought us here and I need to find what is. We're involved with this now." He rubbed his face, the tumultuous events of the day catching up with him. Had it only been this morning when Amy had demanded a rest day? It already seemed like weeks ago. "Right," He shook himself. "First things first; I need to get back to the TARDIS and scan the surrounding area. We need to look for anomalies within the area."

"Surely robots in the Georgian era is a pretty good one...so is a fully functioning, modern bathroom." Rory pointed out.

"True but we really need to know why they're here." He stood up so suddenly that, if he had been human, he would have had a head rush. "You two, go and speak to Mr. Horton again. Find out why he's got these robots here and where they came from. I'll go to the TARDIS and try and establish the difference between these two types of robot and see if I can trace where they came from if they've transported here."

Rory nodded and the Doctor strode toward the door, ready to put the plan into action; until Amy's voice halted him.

"What about Fred?"

"What about her?" The Doctor didn't turn around and tried to not seem bothered by her question.

"What about her?" Amy repeated incredulously. "You travelled with her for nearly two years, thought she was dead and now she's back and travelling with another Time Lord! Don't you find that a bit...weird?"

The Doctor shrugged in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner. "It's her choice." He said shortly and left the room before Amy could nag him further about it. He leaned on the door and sighed. If he was honest, he didn't know what to think about seeing her again. At first, he had been overjoyed to see her; shocked of course, but so happy that she was well. That she could be a part of his world again. But when she spoke to him...the Doctor sighed again. How had he been so stupid? How had he expected that she'd fall into his arms and that she'd be with him again? Of course she'd be angry with him. As Rory said, whether he meant to or not, he'd still left her to die.

He stared into thin air, conflicting emotions of joy, guilt and sorrow coursing through him before he heard a familiar tick-tock. He glanced up and the robot that had been outside the Master and Fred's door was creaking towards him. The Doctor frowned. Odd, he could have sworn that one had been wearing white and gold. Now, it was dressed in rich reds. As it came closer, it raised its arm to grab him and the Doctor hurried away and down the stairs they had come. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the robot had stopped and was watching him go.

He wandered down another corridor, not a hundred percent sure it was the right way to the TARDIS. He stopped, frowned and made to double back but as soon as he turned, he was face to face with a robot, this one thankfully dressed in white and gold.

"Ah, yes, hello! I'd like to know where my TARDIS is." The robot did nothing, seemingly not understanding. "Where's my ship?" The robot extended an arm and the Doctor flinched until he realised it was merely gesturing down the corridor. It creaked past him, leading the way. They came to the end of the corridor, turned the corner and nearly collided with another robot, this one dressed in a deep blue. The Doctor stepped back a little, intrigued to see what happened when two of the different robots encountered each other.

The white/gold one lifted its arm and extended a knife from its sleeve and made to attack but the blue robot touched its outstretched arm. There was a loud crack as a bolt of electricity shot through the white and gold robot and its head drooped, as though it had been shut down. The Doctor was about to scan it with the sonic when its head suddenly lifted again and slowly turned to look at the Doctor. As it turned, a dot of blue appeared on its white uniform where a human heart would be. The dot spread like spilt ink, drowning out all the white and gold. The Doctor's eyes widened and he backed off. It was feral now and joined its brother in reaching for him...

"What do you mean you found it?" Amy asked with a confused frown on her face.

"I mean just that, Mrs Pond." Mr. Horton said, growing wearing of his guests' questions. "I had just set up the hotel four years ago and was redecorating ready for its opening and when I went into the basement, I found one of the robots. It was very friendly and has been helping ever since."

"You found one? Then how come there are so many now?"

"I think Thomas – that's the one I found – had been making more. He likes the company." Mr. Horton smiled fondly as he polished the booth he worked behind.

"But what about the others? The ones that aren't wearing the white and gold uniform?"

"Others?" He stopped polishing and stared at them over the counter. "Mr and Mrs Pond, there are no others."

Bit of cliffy! I know there wasn't any Fred in this chapter but her side of things will be coming up in the next one I promise!

Please review!