Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood. This is merely a depressed fangirl's attempt to find some joy in the Torchwood fandom after so much death.

Summary: The dead are starting to rise in Cardiff, returning to their loved ones and their old lives. Among them a certain Welshman… Zombie Apocalypse, anyone?

[A/N: I really wanted to write something longer than a one-shot (like The Haunting of Jack Harkness) and this is my first attempt at a multi-chapter fanfiction story. I had been trying to come up with a good plot to resurrect Ianto and since my friends and I recently started discussing the Zombie Apocalypse I decided to combine the two and hope it didn't turn into crack. Comments are always appreciated and while I have the basic format of the story already typed, reviews will definitely influence the story. So lemme know whether or not I'm crazy or if this story actually works. Also note I've never watched COE so I'm not sure exactly what killed him, other than RTD's stupidity.]

Chapter 1. Awake

When Jack Harkness wakes up in the morning there is a small space of time that is pure bliss. In those few precious seconds he expects to turn over and find a beautiful Welshman stretched out beside him. He can even smell Ianto's wonderful coffee, wafting in from the kitchen. This bliss lasts for only a few seconds before reality hits him.

Ianto Jones is dead.

That is the second thought to cross Jack's mind. With is comes the unstoppable ache in his chest and the grief that weighs down his shoulders. The memory of holding Ianto in his arms comes back vividly into his mind and it takes all his willpower not to cry out his eyes.

The Welshman isn't beside him, instead it's a man named Alonso Frame. A man Jack barely knows. No smell of coffee wafts through the air, instead it is the scent of Alonso's tea. A watered down liquid that hardly stands up to the legacy of Ianto Jones' coffee.

They found it on a Thursday, sitting atop a pile of rotting garbage in the Cardiff dump. The Rift monitors had, of course, altered them to its presence. As off the scale as the monitors had been Jack and Alonso had expected to find something alarming, giant alien leeches ready to invade earth or a blowfish driving a sports car, not a flower.

"We're down here for a flower," Alonso said incredulously.

"Hey, it's not always giant leeches ready to invade the planet."

Alonso had only been there for a few months, he was still adjusting to life at Torchwood. Jack had promised him adventure and he'd had plenty of it. So it came as a bit of a shock to find something as benign as a flower.

"Looks like a flower from the Nine Deserts of Samal. No, don't touch it," Jack cautioned when Alonso reached out a hand to touch it. "It contains one of the most potent poisons in all the Universe." Alonso quickly put his hands in his pockets. Not so harmless after all.

"So…what now? Grab a containment box from the SUV?"

"Yeah, and the green gloves your hands look so good in," Jack said with a wink.

Alonso rolled his eyes, but smiled as he fetched the containment box. Jack was incorrigible, but it was one of the things Alonso loved most about him. He could be inappropriate at times and sometimes amazingly sweet. He returned with the box and careful placed the flower in the container, he took care not to damage any of its petals.

"You know I dated a guy once, he was a man-eating plant named Larry in the Boshane Province, he could do this really neat trick with his--"

Alonso cut him off. "Can we continue this story in the SUV? It smells here."

"Believe me, this is not nearly as bad as the swamps of Ahkanda."

"I know, Jack, I know."

If there was one thing Jack actually loved about Alonso, it was the fact he knew what the hell Jack was talking about when he mentioned something such as the swamps of Ahkanda.

The flower was the most interesting thing the team had seen in weeks so when they returned to the Hub, Jack, Alonso, and Gwen flocked to an examination table.

"A poisonous alien flower. Of course," Gwen said, running a scanner over it. "Does it have any use?"

"Apart from almost instant death? Some planets use it like opium, it's part of the intergalatic drug trade."

Alonso sat down and stared at it. Out of no where he said, "I suppose everything has a purpose. Except the Snuggie." Jack had recently purchased a Snuggie for himself and Alonso was taking every available opportunity to tease him about it. He was fascinated by earth culture, but honestly sometimes it just didn't make sense.

Jack scoffed. "It's the blanket without sleeves! Of course, it has a use. It keeps my hand free for other uses." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Further innuendo was cut short by several loud thuds.

"What the hell was that?" Alonso hissed. He'd recently been investigating the earth's fascination with horror movies by watching tons of them; the effect was it left him a little jumpy.

"Its just the Hub settling."

"That's what they said in that movie! Then everyone died horribly."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Gwen, did anyone enter the Hub while we were out in the field?"

"No." She checked her computer. "None of the cells below have been open. All Torchwood prisoners are accounted for."

They heard another thud and this time Jack took out his Webley, hoping to calm Alonso's nerves. His lover copied his actions, albeit with shaky hands. "Stay here, Gwen. Be prepared to cover us if anything happens."

Alonso and Jack stood still until they could make out which direction the noise was coming from. The midshipman paled when he realized it was coming from the cryogenetic chambers. "You realize movies are fake, right?"

"Y--yeah, but there's noise coming from that place."

Jack shrugged. They were close now and could make out which chamber was active. The Captain swallowed when he realized which one it was coming from. With a deep breath Jack opened the door, his gun trained on the body bag inside. It was moving very faintly up and down and he could hear breathing. Jack suddenly felt his mouth go completely dry and his heart started to pound loudly in his chest. Try as he might, he could stop the hope that surged through his body.

He holstered his gun, trusting Alonso to back him up as he slowly undid the zipper. With another deep breath he pulled back the plastic and found Ianto Jones' blue eyes, full of life, staring back up at him.

"Jack. Thank God," the Welshman said breathlessly. He sat up and realized rather quickly where he was. "Oh. God. Jack. Why?"

Jack took a step back, and Alonso copied the movement. "You died." Jack couldn't keep the tears out of his voice. Was this real or had he gone so far off the deep end that he was hallucinating his dead lover? Ianto certainly seemed real enough. He was wearing the red shirt that Jack had spent plenty of times ogling him in--or getting him out of, as was often the case.

Jack found that his legs couldn't support him anymore and slunk to the floor. He was shaking violently; various emotions, pain, grief, love, shock, were coursing through his bloodstream. With some difficulty Ianto joined his boyfriend on the floor and put a loving arm around his shoulders. "Cariad." That single word broke Jack and he started to sob uncontrollably.

By now, Gwen had joined them, staring with wonder at Ianto. "You…you're alive…but how?"

"I don't remember anything," the newly resurrected man said, his arms still wrapped around Jack.

Alonso took several steps away from the scene before him. It was too much too bear. He'd known the relationship between him and Jack was casual. They'd never defined their relationship and Alonso had been patient. Jack had lost someone he loved dearly, after all. He'd accepted it. But now seeing the two of them together…he realized he had never meant anything to Jack; the Captain didn't care about him. Ianto and Jack were meant to be together, Alonso and Jack weren't. Such a revelation cut him like a knife.

TBC

[Apologies to anyone who loves the Snuggie.]