Ianto squeezed his hands into fists, fingernails digging into his palms as he tried to convince himself he wasn't shaking. He took a deep breath trying to calm him self down before Jack caught on and got too worried. Below him, Owen was at his desk, growling and muttering and sending off waves of annoyance tinged with fear.

That- that had been the strangest thing.

Owen- somehow Owen had been in his meditation. How was that even possible? How was any of this possible?

He caught him self on the edge of the coffee machine as the room seemed to spin, and shook his head sharply as trees blurred in and out of his sight, the forest merging with the hub, for a moment then fading again.

The dog faded into sight, remaining after the trees disappeared. It gazed up at him with a concerned, and slightly exasperated look. Trying to nudge him, its muzzle passed through Ianto's side with an icy touch.

"Oh fuck off." Ianto hissed, squeezing his eyes shut.

He had to get away. He felt an overwhelming urge to run and hide, and go back to the forest. Maybe he could find out what was wrong. He knew the dog was trying to tell him something; he just couldn't work out what it was. And what was going on now, with Owen and the wolverine? Ianto was scared that he was genuinely going crazy

He looked up again and spotted Gwen coming out of the conference room, stepping through a nearly invisible tree. She gave him a small smile as she walked to her desk, and Ianto held back a gasp at the stab of worry he felt from her.

This...wasn't good. He swallowed hard and caught his breath, watching as the tea cart wavered in front of him. Maybe he should tell Jack and Owen he wasn't feeling right? No. No. Owen said he wasn't going to deal with any more of this kind of thing. It wasn't fair to make him.

Ianto took a deep breath again, and muttered something quietly about taking a nap in the archives, just in case Jack was listening. He'd go down there. Meditate for a while longer and try to work this out him self, without bothering anyone else. Maybe.

He left the coffee maker, coffee still dripping into the pot, and walked out of the main hub as fast as he could without bringing attention to himself. He was barely out of the room, when his vision blurred, and the forest replaced the hall. He grit his teeth and dragged him self back with a nauseating jerk, stumbling towards to the archive, seeing the hub as it really was for a bare second.

"Hold on! Just give me a minute!" he pleaded, trying to force the forest back. At his side the large dog whined, nuzzling Ianto's hand. Ianto stopped, narrowing his eyes as the dog blurred.

"Jack.. Owen." He mumbled, addressing the large creature. "I should- should have told-" he turned, stumbling, trying to go back.

He felt the world tilt, and weave and he fell against the wall, a tree?, sliding down and landing hard against the leaf strewn concrete floor, falling into the other world of his own creation.

---

Owen's head lifted as Ianto went by, half running. He shook his head and tried to ignore the stab of worry he felt. Ianto was big boy, goddammit. It something is wrong he could come and tell him.

Still…

He glanced up and focused on Jack, who was watching the hallway Ianto disappeared down. "Nap" Jack mouthed, with a shrug of his shoulders and a little frown before heading towards the coffee machine.

Owen sighed and turned back to his computer, quickly becoming engrossed with the new files coming in. He narrowed his eyes as the lights became suddenly too bright, and then too dim. The smell of scorching coffee was far too strong. Owen ran a hand over his face, squinting at the screen.

A minute later his head jerked up as a low growl came from behind him. Owen froze, not looking up from his screen, and the growl grew louder. Slowly, he swiveled his chair, staring in disbelief at the large dog that had been in his meditation.

"...I've lost what little hold on my sanity I had." Owen muttered reaching out and poking the dog, half expecting his hand to go though it like a ghost. He tensed a little when he felt a warm, furry body under his hand. The dog leaned into him, nipping at his jeans, and trying to nudge him out of the chair, towards the hall.

Owen looked around to see if anyone had noticed him losing his mind. His eyes locked with Jack, standing in his office doorway, mouth hanging open slightly.

Owen's eyebrows climbed and me whispered, pitched for Jack's ears only, "You see it too?"

Jack nodded and glanced over at Tosh and Gwen working quietly, seemingly not noticing anything weird. He walked over and leaned down next to Owen's ear. "I heard it growl. Why is there a dog in the hub?"

"It's the dog from... the other place! The one Ianto and I both saw."

The dog growled again, and bit down on Owen's sleeve, yanking harder, nearly pulling Owen out of his chair. "Err. I think it wants me to go with it. ... But I'm thinking I should go down into the autopsy bay and find my self some anti-psychotic meds."

Owen yelped when the dog bit him. Tosh glanced over at the sound, and Owen gave her a little reassuring wave that didn't even convince him. She rolled her eyes and went back to work.

Jack bit his lip then pulled Owen to his feet. "Come on. Let's follow it. Worst comes to worst, we're just going insane together. Maybe they'll let us share a padded room."

Owen sighed and followed the dog, as Jack yelled over to Gwen and Tosh, "We're uh, going for a little walk! Be right back! We have our comms if you need us."

Tosh snorted. "Have fun!"

The dog kept ahead of them, keeping just in sight, forcing Jack and Owen to quicken their pace. Owen frowned and looked past the dog as they rounded a corner, focusing in on a dark shape crumpled on the floor ahead of them.

"Shit! Fucking Hell, Ianto!" With a burst of speed Owen passed the dog, skidding to his knees next to the still man.

"Yan? Ianto I'm going to kill you, I swear to god!"

Jack knelt beside them and ran his hands though Ianto's hair and down his shoulder. "Pulse and breathing are slow. Ianto? Sweetheart, come back."

Owen hissed sharply though his teeth in frustration when Ianto didn't respond. He reached out, putting one hand firmly on Ianto's chest, the other sliding down to capture Ianto's own hand.

"Ianto don't do this to us! You'll... You'll …" he searched for the right words. Joking had worked before. It couldn't hurt, as long as it worked. "You'll make Jack cry!"

Jack raised an eyebrow at Owen but ran with the idea. "Yeah. I'll cry. You don't want that do you? You know how my eyes get all puffy." He cupped his hand around Ianto's face, stroking the younger man's cheek with his thumb. "Owen might even cry. He's already sniffling! Please Ianto? Come back to us." Jack coaxed quietly.

"Come on, Yan." Owen whispered.

After what seemed like an eternity to the doctor, Ianto's eyes slowly opened and he stared up at them woozily. "Jack? Owen? What-" his eyes widened as he glanced around. "Uh-"

"What the fuck happened, Yan? What are you doing down here, and why were you zoned again?" Owen demanded, as he started taking Ianto's pulse again. Ianto was staring past them, at the dog, he guessed.

"I uh. I felt like I should meditate a bit more and um...I sort of couldn't wait to get to the archives?"

"Ianto, you shouldn't try to lie. Not just because you're talking to two human lie detectors, but because you're really bad at it." Jack told him, hand dropping to rub Ianto's shoulder.

Ianto opened his mouth then sighed. "I- after our meditation, I started feeling...odd. I kept seeing the forest." Ianto shifted, sitting up a little straighter. Things kept blurring back and forth, and I just- I just knew I had to go back. It's like a rubber band. When I'm there, I feel it tug when it's time to come back, but this time, I felt it yanking me back into meditation."

Owen bit his tongue till he tasted blood, to keep from snarling and yelling that they never should have started this. "Okay. Let's get you up, and back to the hub. Next time you feel rubber bands yanking you somewhere, talk to one of us, yeah? A bit safer then falling over in the hall. You shouldn't have tried it without us."

Ianto frowned as Owen and Jack pulled him up to his feet. "I didn't mean to go. I just kind of..fell into it. I tried not to. How did you find me?"

Owen shook his head at the sudden veer. "We were on out way to try making out in the halls again. See if this whole meditation thing has helped that." Owen said with a casual smirk, not missing a beat.

Jack gave Owen a small questioning look, which Ianto missed, still being a little dazed. Owen shrugged. He wasn't about to try and explain.

"Right. Making out."

"Oh and that is just so safe. No chances of you zoning and dying, or anything with that, is there?" Ianto huffed.

"Well then that makes us a matched set I guess. All three of us are stupid." Owen said as they reached the last hall to main hub. Ianto nodded absently.

Jack stopped, gently gripping Ianto's face and turning it so he could look in the younger man's eyes.

"The trees." Ianto shook free. "They're still here." He swallowed thickly.

Suddenly a large furry body shoved into Ianto, making him stumble.

"Oi! Bad dog! Bad! Don't fucking trip Ianto or I'll find a way to neuter your freaky psychic arse!" Owen yelled, catching Ianto, and holding on to him. The wolfhound looked thoroughly unimpressed, and nudged the Welshman again.

Ianto stared at Owen open mouthed. "You-"

"Yeah we can see the dog too." Jack sighed stumbling to the side when the dog turned and shoved against his legs.

Ianto winced. "You followed him here." At Owen's questioning look, Ianto shook his head. "I can see it. Sort of."

Owen opened his mouth to say something, but yelped when another, smaller body banged against him. "Oh don't fucking tell me, you are getting in on this too?"

The wolverine grumbled up at him.

Jack looked down in surprise, feeling a tentacle wrap around his ankle.

Owen stared.

"What the fu-"

"Swamp Lion. A Boeian Swamp Lion!" Jack sounded far too excited for someone who was being groped by a large pink cat.

Owen glanced back up at Ianto, only to find him kneeling down, stroking the wolverine's fur tentively, as a purple tentacle wormed carefully around his neck. As Owen watched, the floor wavered, becoming covered in ghostly leaves.

"It's real isn't it?" Ianto asked in a small voice, as if he weren't quite sure. "I'm not going crazy?"

Jack and Owen exchanged looks.

"I think," Jack said carefully, scratching the wolfhound behind its ears. "It's about as real as everything else that's going on."

Owen sat down heavily on the forest floor, blinking as he found himself with a lap full of pink cat. He hated to admit it, but Ianto, considering how they had found him earlier, actually looked relieved, and relaxed.

Owen swatted a tentacle out of his face. "Are we-"

Ianto seemed to waver out of focus for a minute, and then gave them both a reassuring smile. "We're fine. Just… meditating." He turned his attention back to the wolverine that was head butting him and grumbling.

"Hunh."

Owen glanced up as his captain spoke. The man looked amused, if slightly suspicious. Jack knelt down between the two men, settling in as the wolfhound laid down beside him. "So this is where you come? This is nice. Kinda homey."

(Author's note: this took so long, because it was written after the fact! All of those reviews are giving us good ideas!)