A/N: So this is my first Torchwood fanfiction. If the characters feel a bit... weird or out of character, that's the reason why. This is AU so there won't be spoilers, I guess. At least not intentionally. Well, either way, I know there are probably a lot of fics following this sort of storyline but I guess the way things happen are always different. I haven't read many Torchwood fiction, so if this seems similar, in any way, to other story, it's pure coincidence. That being said, I hope you'll enjoy my take on this.

Opening the door to their flat, Ianto entered and put the bags down shrugging off his coat as he went.

"Lisa? I'm back!" He yelled as he moved to the kitchen across from the room Lisa was in and started unpacking the bags, putting everything away.

He didn't hear her respond.

'Something's wrong,' he thought, moving across to where Lisa was lying in the conversion unit currently keeping her alive, bags left forgotten.

Entering the room, Ianto took a good look at Lisa and saw that she was obviously in pain. He moved quickly to her side, taking her hand in his and kissing it.

"Ianto?" Her voice was rough.

"Do you need more painkillers?"

"Ianto, I d… don't think I'll… make it," she breathed, every word laced with pain. Ianto noted that, even with the machines doing the work, she was struggling for each breath.

"No, no. Don't say that. We're going to bring you back. You'll be alright." He smiled tightly, even though he was concerned and unsure if this was really going to work.

"I'm not. We both know it." Lisa had tears in her eyes and she was getting weaker by the second.

Ianto felt her grip on his hand loosen.

He was tearing up. "You will. You have to. I love you so much, Lisa."

"I love you, too. But it… it's not working. I'm not …going to… survive."

"I think I found someone that can help us. And I may have found a place for you to stay. A better place where you'll have all you need to…" he stopped when she started to close her eyes. "Lisa? Lisa! Lisa, please, stay with me."

"I'm sorry… Ianto… Just… remember the good times."

"I will never forget you." he told her, sincerely.

"I…"

And then she was gone, lying dead before him. Ianto lost her in the blink of an eye.

"Lisa? Lisa!" He desperately checked her pulse and shook her, trying to wake her up, to start breathing again.

"No! You can't leave me. Not now when I've found a possible cure for all this."

His mind was in complete turmoil, thoughts racing. What had just happened? It couldn't be. She was okay before. How could she die so suddenly?

After a moment, his brain filled with white noise. He couldn't even understand what was happening. His mind blanked. Then he seemed to be set into motion.

He stood up, crying, and started pacing around, looking around the scattered tech in the room, searching for something that would help him bring her back, all the while cursing loudly. "Bloody Torchwood! I knew this would happen someday!"

Ianto tried to bring Lisa back over and over again, with no success.

"Come on, Lisa! This can't be it! Come back for me, love. Please, come back. I'm nothing without you. Nothing. Lisa, please! Please." What started as desperate yells ended as broken sobs to pair with his shattered heart.

After a few more failed attempts, Ianto finally gave up and accepted that she was gone.

Going back to the living room, he started to throw things at the walls. Yes, he was sure that wouldn't help anything, but right now it made him feel better. Torchwood One was gone so there really wasn't much left for him to vent his anger on.

After throwing almost everything he could find in the living room, he felt exhaustion, grief, anger and guilt come to him all at once. He felt dizzy and sat on the couch. He was still crying like there was no tomorrow. And in a way, for him there wasn't.

He thought back to what she told him about remembering the good times.

Ianto closed his eyes and tried. After a moment of concentration, there he was. Happier times.

They were in a restaurant, Lisa, her brother Roger and himself. They were laughing because, as usual whenever they had a meal together, Roger had all these funny stories to tell. Sometimes Ianto wasn't sure he should believe everything the other man claimed to have happened to him, but Roger had been proven right so many times, Ianto didn't really dare to question the veracity of what he said anymore.

When they had first met, Roger had seemed a bit wary of the Welshman and his relationship with Lisa. Being the old brother, it was a perfectly normal instinct for him to want to protect his sister. But after the two men got to know each other better, they actually found they had a lot in common. Roger approved of their relationship and was always teasing them and asking them when they were going to get married.

Ianto remembered this particular time very well. Just like it was yesterday. Roger's boss had given him a huge raise in recognition of the excellent work he had done. The three of them went out for dinner to celebrate.

Roger had been happy talking about his job at the MI5 and how he was the perfect archivist there. Everyone working in the archives envied him. He was talking about this new girl and how she kept messing up, but everyone pitied her and helped her until she got used to the place.

Lisa was happy for her brother. She had a huge smile on her face. She had the most beautiful smile Ianto had ever seen. The Welshman thought about how lucky he was to see that smile almost every time she looked at him.

He cherished this memory and he kept it to remember later when things weren't so good in his life.

That thought drew him out of the pleasantness of the past to the cold, harsh reality of today with an abruptness that was breath-taking.

He couldn't stop the tears from flowing down his face at the memories, but his expression hardened as he remembered her brother. He'd have to tell him what happened.

Curiously his phone was one of the few things that escaped the destruction of the living room. Searching for Roger's number he hit the dial button.

"Hello?"

"Roger?"

"Ianto? What's up, mate?" he answered cheerfully. "Oh, did you hear? Because of that terrorist attack at the Canary Wharf I won't be able to fly back to London for a few days. They want to make sure there are no more terrorists attacking, I'd say."

"Yeah, I heard about it." Ianto said with a sigh, "Listen, I have something important to tell you." His voice was calm, opposed to the way he was feeling at the moment.

"Yeah? What's wrong?" Roger's tone was serious now.

"Your sister… she…"

"No."

"She died."

"Oh God."

"I'm really sorry. One moment she was okay, the next she's telling me she's not going to make it and… I'm so sorry, Roger." More silent tears streaking down his cheeks as he spoke.

"Not your fault, Ianto. I'm really sorry, too. I know how much you loved her."

"Yeah."

They both sighed.

"I won't be able to get back for a few days, as I told you already. Can you take care of everything? Make sure they do everything right?"

"Yes, sure. That's the least I can do now. She… uh… she wanted to be cremated. Should I make those arrangements before you get back?"

"Yeah, please. God… She was so young. She didn't deserve to die because of those bloody terrorists."

Little did he know what truly happened to his sister. Ianto thought, silently cursing his former employer again.

"I think I'm getting a headache now. I want to go lie down for a while. I'll talk to you sometime later, okay?"

"Sure. Rest your head, you'll need it. Don't worry; I'll take care of things here."

As soon as Ianto hung up, his mask fell and he was the broken man again.

His shoulders heaved and he let out a long, frail sigh before he felt his back hit the wall behind him.

He let the phone drop to the floor and followed right after, crying until there were no more tears left to fall.

Five days later, Roger finally made it back to London. Dropping his bags at the door, he looked for the keys.

The first thing he did as soon as he entered the house was to drop on the couch and sigh loudly. He had to get back to work soon, but he felt like sleeping for a whole week now.

Ianto had called once more telling him he'd cremated Lisa, just like she'd said she wanted when she was still alive. The younger man also said he was going away for a while and that Roger should go ahead with the memorial service, the Welshman would visit the cemetery once he returned.

He left Roger the keys to the flat he shared with Lisa. Ianto had taken his things out and had put Lisa's things in boxes, in case her brother wanted to clear the flat and sell it.

His answering machine had a message. Michelle - his colleague from the archiving department at the MI5 - told him he should report to work as soon as he felt better, jokingly saying the sooner the better, as things in his absence got a little crazy, especially with the new girl still not used to it.

A small smile took place on his lips and he made a mental note to thank Michelle later for bringing a smile – even if a shy and small one – to his face when he felt like curling up in a ball and forget about the rest of the world.

After putting his things away, taking a shower and getting dressed he decided to go to the cemetery where his sister's ashes were before going to work.

About an hour later he was entering the archiving section of MI5. Michelle looked up. She instantly hugged him as tightly as she could in greeting.

"It's so good to have you back. This has been a total nightmare." She stepped back and pointed at the new girl. "She's all yours. I'm done with her, really. I wonder what they saw in her that made them think she'd be a good archivist for an organization like this!"

"Oh, come on! She can't be all that bad!"

"For all that it's worth, do give it a try. And don't send her back to me, I repeat, do not send her back to me. I lost count of the times I told her where things like accounting books get stored." She sighed dramatically.

"Michelle, Michelle. If all the people in the world were like you, no one would get along."

"Excuse me; I get along with all the other people in this section just fine. She's the one who's messing me up."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." He started walking in the new girl's direction when Michelle grabbed his arm.

"I'm really sorry for the Canary Wharf thing and your sister. I heard the Cybermen got to her and that she was partially converted."

Roger eyed her confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember William from upstairs?"

The man raised his eyebrow. "Yeah. What about him?"

"He was part of the team that was sent to Canary Wharf in the aftermath. They were looking for something, no one knows what exactly. Said he saw her body in the wreckage when they first got there. He wanted to go to her but he couldn't leave his post. Could have been brought up on charges of treason, as twitchy as everyone's been lately. When he was able to get back she was gone. I tried to make some inquires but haven't gotten anywhere, then we were told she had died," Michelle explained.

He barely noticed everything she said. "Wait, so she wasn't in the hospital?"

Michelle looked shocked. "I don't know, but a hospital wouldn't do her any good, really."

Confusion was taking over Roger now. "Michelle, could you research, see if she was admitted to any hospital in the area?"

"Sure. Let me search."

A few minutes later she came back. "Nope. Lisa Hallett was never in a hospital."

Anger flooded through Roger in ways it never had before. "So Ianto lied to me."

He walked away before Michelle had a chance to answer.

Roger strode into his little office and sat in front of the computer. Picking up his mobile, he called Ianto, only to find that the number was no longer available.

He cursed and threw the mobile against the wall. A few seconds later, Michelle entered the office asking what the hell was wrong with him.

"I need to find Ianto Jones."

"I can try and see where he's been, if you need him that urgently," she offered.

"Please do. This is really important." She opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted her. "And I'd prefer not to talk about it now, if you don't mind."

"Sure. Just do me a favour and calm down, okay?"

A few hours later, Roger felt calmer and Michelle finally brought him some news.

"Hey, Roger, I'm afraid he's not in London anymore." She sighed.

He frowned. "What do you mean? He's left?"

Roger stood up and started pacing in the office.

"Yes. He bought a ticket to Wales… uh… Cardiff, I think that was it," she said, looking through some papers, "Here it is. Yeah, it's Cardiff."

"What is there in Cardiff that can be related to him?" he asked, trying to come up with an answer.

"Well, there isn't much that could be linked to him there. Although, I don't know if you know this or if it'll help in any way, but Cardiff is the home to Torchwood Three's base."

He stopped and beamed at her. "Of course! Torchwood 3! You're an angel, Michelle." He kissed her on the lips before going back to his computer.

She blushed slightly. "I guess that means I was useful."

"You were more than useful, dear."

"I'm gonna go back to work now. Some of us still do that around here, remember?" She teased him and left to return to her workstation.

Oh, he knew just what he was going to do.

"Ianto Jones, I'll make you regret ever coming near my sister."