[a/n: You know when you write something and you're like, okay this is it and then you redraft it and suddenly you have way too many possibilities before you and you're at a loss of which to choose? This just happened to me with this story. Aaaigh! There may be something worse than writer's block.]

Chapter 2. Questions

Hours passed before the team was finally able to return to the Hub. Only minutes after Ianto had-they hadn't yet decided what to properly call it-risen, the Rift monitors had started to go crazy. So Ianto had been left on his own.

He wasn't sure what to make of the fact that he'd been dead. It didn't feel like he'd been dead. He remembered thinking, I'm about to die, and the 456, then only darkness. When he'd woken in the morgue, panic had gripped him. Desperately he had tried to escape, struggling violently, but in vain. Suddenly Jack had been there and nothing else mattered. He hadn't been able to understand the tears that had filled Jack's eyes until he told him he'd died. And he hadn't time to focus on that statement because he found his lover crying.

Ianto looked down at his hands, the same hands Jack had gripped tightly before he and his team had answered the Rift alert. It was the only thing keeping Ianto from going insane; he had too many questions.

In an attempt to take his mind off things, he'd showered and changed into his clothes. Most of his things were still there. Right next to Alonso's. Since he had the time and the motivation, (who was this Alonso Frame fellow anyway?), and a desperate need to distract himself, he began furiously cleaning the Hub. He was horrified by the state it was in. Papers littered the floor, the cages below hadn't been cleaned properly in months, and there was takeout and pizza boxes strewn everywhere; also a mysterious stain in the kitchen that may have once been some sort of meal. And then there were the tea bags. He stared at them with a mad look in his eyes; there had undoubtedly been brought in by Torchwood's newest team member. He started to mop the floor with more vigor than absolutely necessary.

After a couple more hours, he decided to clean the coffee maker, which hadn't been used since his apparent death, and brew himself a relaxing cup. The only problem was that when he got around to taking a sip it tasted vile. Ianto Jones set the coffee cup back on the counter. He paused; come to think of it, he wasn't the slightest bit hungry or thirsty. He ought to have been ravenous. He thought of Owen suddenly. Was he a dead man walking now? Before the panic could set in, Jack swept into the Hub, alone.

Part of Jack had been afraid that Ianto had really been an illusion. When the familiar shape of Ianto turned towards him, he felt relieved. Like he was finally home. They faced one another, silently staring at the other. There was so much to say and Jack didn't know where to begin.

"So…you and Alonso." Ianto took a bitter sip of his bitter tasting coffee. He hadn't intended for that to be the first words out of his mouth. It was reflex; Ianto could feel the bitter feeling of jealously rise up in him. He didn't try to fight it.

"Ianto." Jack stayed where he was, his eyes locked with his lover's. "It's not like that."

"Then, tell me, what is it like?" Oh, great, now he was jealous and angry. Perfect.

"He isn't your replacement. You could never be replaced."

"Then, what is he?"

Jack cringed mentally. He hadn't wanted Ianto to ask him such a difficult question. "After you died, I left this galaxy. I traveled, wandered really." He looked down at his hands. "I wanted to die, but of course I couldn't. I was in a bar, drowning my sorrows when the Doctor led me to Alonso. So I took a chance. I thought maybe if I had someone to hold onto at night, it would lessen the pain." He sighed. "It only made me miss you even more."

"Alonso is just a part-time shag, then?"

"You could put it that way." What Jack didn't say was, Please please forgive me. I love you.

Ianto seemed to come to a decision; the frown lines on his forehead went away and he looked suddenly calmer. He was jealous. Jack had been fooling around with someone else, regardless of whether or not this person meant anything. Ianto had been dead and he supposed that made it forgivable, even if the thought of Jack and that shrimp was unbearable. He loved Jack too much to stay angry with him for long. He sighed. "It's okay, Cariad. However, you will have to be punished," Ianto said innocently.

Jack who had been staring at the floor suddenly looked up with a hopeful expression on his face when he heard the word "punished." To confirm his suspicions the Welshman grabbed him by the collar until their faces were only inches apart. "Until you beg for mercy." That sentence sent a chill down Jack's spine (and also made his pants feel suddenly tighter.) He loved when Ianto talked like that.

"But first, taste this coffee."

"Is this part of the punishment?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"I suspect it might be."

Jack took a sip, making a sound that made Ianto's breath hitch. "It's perfect."

"It tastes awful to me."

Jack just shrugged, his mind more intent on other things, as he kissed Ianto.

The next day, Jack and Ianto were no where to be seen in the Hub. Gwen and Alonso were monitoring the Rift, under strict orders from Jack not to call him unless it was dire.

Alonso swiveled his chair so that he was facing towards Gwen. "Can I ask you something?" Gwen nodded, rearranging the contents of a folder. "When Suzie came back didn't she start killing people?"

Gwen paused. "Yeah, she did. But it was her plan from the start. Look if you're thinking of Ianto, it's not like that."

"How can you be so sure?"

Gwen was protective of Ianto. She still remembered how broken Jack had been when he returned to Torchwood. When Jack had left Torchwood he'd left everything in shambles, when he came back he was the one in shambles. Even thought he'd brought Alonso with him, he wasn't Jack. Only recently had Jack started to return to normal-cracking jokes and sexually harassing almost everyone he met. But Gwen could still see that it was an effort on his part. With Ianto back, Jack would really come home and for Gwen that was a wonderful development. "He loves Jack."

"Exactly my point. If he loves him," Alonso's heart felt like it was constricting as he said those words, "Then planning on his death and his return isn't that unlikely."

"Ianto wouldn't," she said firmly, but doubt started to creep into her mind. It did make perfect sense, she reluctantly admitted. Ianto knew something of what had Jack lost during his long life. All the people Jack loved would die eventually, but he would continue on. Was it really so wild an idea that Ianto had made safeguards to keep himself by Jack's side for as long as possible? Gwen remembered Ianto hiding Lisa in the basement; he had deceived them all for months without a hint. "But he just woke up, it's nothing like with Suzie."

"Don't you find that odd?"

"Alonso, this is Torchwood. My co-workers coming back to life is not the weirdest thing I've seen."

"People don't just come back to life."

Gwen bit her tongue. Apparently Alonso had no clue about Jack's immortality. She pondered what Alonso had said about Ianto. What safeguards could he have possibly created to bring himself back to life? She remembered Suzie and the aptly named Risen Mitten, but there hadn't been a string of murders that required Ianto's resurrection and no one in Torchwood had attempted to bring Ianto Jones back to life. "How could he?" she mumbled aloud. She turned back to Alonso. "I think it's worth looking into. Go through the alien tech files. See if you can find anything that might bring a person back to life."

[Review if you ever want to see an ending. I mean, please review, I appreciate your thoughts.]