"I can not fucking believe we're doing this again!" Owen snarled into his captain's ear, as Jack pushed him into the conference room.

"I'm Ianto's bitch, okay? He gave me those sad Jones’ puppy eyes and I caved like a wet paper bag. Just shut up and...Clear your aura or whatever.” Jack said quietly, and then flopped into a chair. “And don't fall asleep this time!"

Owen continued to snarl as he dropped down on the floor next to Gwen and Ianto. Ianto had his eyes closed, and Jack tuned in to his heartbeat. Awake. The younger man swiveled his head, as if aware of the eyes on him, and blinked, giving Jack a small smile.

Tosh ignored Owen and started handing crystals to each of them, giving Ianto a large purple amethyst, while the others received small pieces of clear quartz.

Jack nearly dropped the crystal when Tosh handed it to him. "It's vibrating. Why is it vibrating? Is it going to explode?"

Tosh's eyebrows shot up, and Ianto was already on his feet, moving over to Jack’s side. "You can feel something?"

"Yeah, like I said it's vibrating." The crystal buzzed faintly in the palm of his hand.

"What does it feel like? Does it feel bad? Good? Neutral?" Ianto questioned, automatically slipping into his Guide voice.

Jack looked uncomfortable. "I don't know...good… maybe?"

Tosh shrugged "Then enjoy it, and relax. It's not going to explode. Some people can feel energy from crystals. It's not a problem."

Owen pouted at his crystal, holding it up and dangling it between two fingers. "Mine's not doing anything...how come Jack gets the good crystal?"

Jack heard a nearly silent mutter of Japanese as Tosh visibly gathered her patience. "There's nothing different about Jack's crystal, Owen. Maybe you just can't feel anything."

"Switch!" Owen demanded wiggling his fingers at Jack.

Jack handed his crystal over and took Owen's. "Still vibrating...though it feels different. Not bad but...different."

Owen made an annoyed noise. "Nothing."

"If it bothers you that much, one of us can do some energy work with you later.” Ianto said. He paused and then frowned, quickly switching Jack and Owen’s crystals back to their original owners.

Jack raised an eyebrow, grinning at the uncomfortable look on Ianto’s face.

“That one’s yours.” Ianto pointed to the crystal that Jack was now holding. “Can we start now please?” Ianto sat down where he was, beside Jack’s chair, crossing his legs under him.

Tosh went to her chair and made her self comfortable. "Okay, we're going to do the same as yesterday, only holding the crystals this time. Nothing else, no need to worry about energy work or anything, just breathe and relax. Ready?" Tosh started the meditation.

Jack watched Tosh through slitted eyes. She was keeping a closer eye on Ianto after yesterday, not that Jack could blame her. That had been…scary, even by his standards. After that, Jack and Owen had decided that one of them would always stay back and watch the younger man during the meditations. Just in case.

Jack was so focused on Ianto that he almost didn’t notice Owen. The steady thump of Owen’s heart had started to slow. Jack flicked his eyes over.

“Shit.”

Owen was staring at the crystal with glazed eyes.

Gwen and Tosh startled at Jack’s outburst.

"Owen zoned." Tosh realized, already on the floor next to him.

She was promptly shoved out of the way when Jack dropped down next to his lover. "Owen? Dammit! I knew, I knew this was a bad idea!"

"Jack yelling won't help. Threaten the coffee pot to wake up Ianto, would you?" Gwen said quietly.

Ianto's eyes were already snapping open on their own. "Owen? Coc Oen, you have very bad timing!" Ianto scolded gently, while swinging himself around on to his knees. He stroked Owen’s hair and slid his hand over his eyes to close them. "It's okay, come back. Owen? Everything is all right, the light's gone, and you’re safe. Come back to me Coc Oen." Gently, he pried the crystal out of his hands.

Owen's eyes snapped open. "Uh did something happen?"

"You zoned."

"Oh." Owen looked embarrassed. "Um I was looking at the way the light was bouncing off it..."

Tosh sighed. "Okay note for the future. Nothing shiny for Owen, and don’t let him look at the crystals."

“Coc Oen?” Gwen asked Ianto with a small giggle. Ianto shushed her with a wave of his hand, and a loud cough.

Jack smiled at Gwen’s confusion before turning back to the matter at hand. They had just proven what he knew all along. Meditation wasn’t going to work. "We are not-"

Ianto leveled a glare at Jack and the captain sighed.

"Ianto, you can not possibly think this is a good idea! First you yesterday, now Owen, this will kill us all before it helps with anything!"

"There's always a few kinks to work out when you start something new. This will help us all in the long run, once we get going smoothly."

"I am not feeling at all relaxed." Owen muttered in a decidedly grumpy tone, and Jack nodded agreeing. He was starting to get a headache.

Ianto breathed sharply though his nose. "Gwen, Tosh would you please give us a few minutes alone? Thank you."

Both women scurried to their feet and out of the room, and Jack wished he could join them. He watched as Ianto got up and closed the door behind them, putting the table between himself and his two Sentinels.

"Maybe if you would work at it more, you would feel relaxed.” Ianto suggested evenly.

Jack opened his mouth, but Ianto didn’t give him a chance to speak.

“But you both insist on being stubborn, on arguing, on falling asleep, or concentrating on thinking that this will fail, so how could you possibly enjoy it, or get anything out of it?" Ianto’s voice remained steady but Jack could see the anger and hurt in Ianto’s eyes. Owen shifted uncomfortably at his feet, as if sensing the same thing.

Jack tried to put himself in Ianto’s shoes, and felt a small sting of guilt. Meditation obviously helped him, when he didn’t spend the time dealing with Jack and Owen’s protests.

"It will help if you try. But you won’t even do that. You told me you'd give it two weeks, to see if it helped. Now you're trying to quit after two days?"

Ianto came back around and kneeled beside Owen, handing him back the crystal he had taken earlier. “I want you two to keep your promises. Now let's try this again for at least a few minutes.” Jack tried not feel hurt as Ianto’s voice took on a slight pleading tone, obviously not expecting the two men to go along.

Ianto waited until both Jack and Owen nodded, and then let out an almost silent sigh of relief.

“I, for one, am getting something out of it." He went to settle down and then stopped, grabbing the large amethyst point that Tosh had given him and switching it out for the crystal in Owen’s hands. He wrapped Owen’s fingers around the new stone. “No looking.” he said with a small smile, “Don’t worry about guidance, just try to relax, just for a few minutes.”

Jack gave Owen an uncertain look as Ianto closed his eyes again. Owen just shrugged, and screwed his eyes shut, frowning as he tried to concentrate.

Jack was pretty sure that wasn’t how it was supposed to work.