PART TWO

The anguished cries brought unsure looks from some of the soldiers standing over the intruder.  One turned towards the Gate Control room as if to ask, silently, for instructions in this most perplexing situation, and it was only then that the spell seemed to break. Jack was the first on his feet and out of the room, taking off at a run towards the Gate Room and the others rushed out behind him.  All, except Daniel!

The anthropologist remained behind, stepping cautiously towards the control panel that Lt. Simmons’ still remained at, his eyes fixed on the scene in the room below.

“What’s happening, Sir?” The perplexed young officer asked.  Daniel didn’t seem to hear him at first then he shook himself awake, took a moment to collect his thoughts then glanced at the soldier sitting in the chair beside him. 

“It’s a clone,” he stammered quietly then went on to explain, his words coming in halted sentences by the surprise and shock of the unexpected intrusion. “About two years ago we visited a planet, I think it was P3x 989, and met a man called Harlan..”  Daniel now spoke in such hushed tones that Simmons had to watch his lips to follow what he was saying. “He cloned us.  They didn’t know they were our clones, they thought they were us, the real deal-” A quick cough to clear the emotion from his voice then he looked down at the young man, right into his dark brown eyes.  “They thought they *were* us..”

*

With his hands held at his sides - the palms facing the curled-up man in a show of non-aggression - Jack approached the clone carefully.  He wasn’t sure the clone could see him though the mid-length brown hair that fell like a curtain and protected the doppler-ganger from the wall of guns poised on him.

As Jack’s booted foot scuffed the concrete floor at the end of the ramp, the bowed head finally lifted and another cry of Jack’s name faded on the pink lips as Daniel looked up into the soft brown eyes.

“Oh… God.. Jack..” he blurted as he stumbled to his feet and flung his arms around the neck of the standing man, throwing himself full-bodied against Jack.

Jack’s arms wrapped around the familiar, yet unknown, body; partly to relieve some of the weight of the six-foot man clinging from around his neck and partly because it was instinct for him to want to comfort Daniel whenever he saw him distressed.   The sound of guns being readied again filled the room, challenging the only other sound that could be heard – the soft sobs of the clone. 

With a hesitant pat on the broad black back, Jack said, benevolently, “You’re okay. You’re safe.”  That reassurance didn’t relieve the tight grip so he raised the clone’s hands and eased the enfolded arms from him.  He had a bit of a struggle to push the determined man back but eventually the clone gave way and allowed Jack to hold him at arms lengths.  “You’re okay.”

Tear-filled blue eyes searched Jack’s eyes intently then he seemed to snap out of the daze he was in, look around the room and then at Jack again.  Rounding his shoulders back the clone straightened up and said, “I’m okay.”

Jack nodded, dropped his hands and allowed the man free. 

“You’re the Daniel Clone,” Sam said finally from behind Jack’s shoulder.  Daniel’s eyes flittered around until he found her face in the crowd then a small smile of recognition curled his lips. 

“Sam!” he said with such intimacy that it made Sam frown. 

She stepped a little closer then asked again, “You are the Daniel clone that Harlan created, aren’t you?”

A look of bewilderment crossed his face then he wet his lips, tilted his head slightly and with a burgeoning smile said, “I’m fine thanks, and how are you?”

“Just answer the question,” Hammond said sternly.

The clone looked at him then nodded.  “Yes,” he said finally. “I’m the clone that Harlan made.”

“What happened?” Jack asked with a shrug as he shoved his hands into his pant pockets. 

The clone turned to him, again his eyes intimately searched Jack’s face and a faint smile played over his lips. “It’s so good to see you again, Jack.”

Jack looked to Hammond then rolled his eyes. 

“Sorry!” Daniel said as he bounced on the balls of his feet and covered his face with his hands momentarily. “I’m just..” He sighed loudly then looked back at Jack as he said, “I’ve been alone for a month now..”

Jack managed to mouth the word, “What?” but it was the General who actually spoke.

“Where are the other clones that Harlan created?” Hammond barked, not liking the idea that where there were four now there was only one. 

A pained expression filled the clone’s face, crinkling it as he said, “They’re all gone..”

“Gone?” Jack asked, arching a brow.

Daniel turned to look at him.  “Dead.”

“How is that possible?” Sam asked. “The clones were almost indestructible.”

Daniel gave a wan smile as he wagged his finger at Sam and said, “Almost..” He looked back at Jack a little longer then told him, “I’ll explain it all - to you..”

“You’ll explain yourself to us all, now!” Hammond demanded.

With thinly veiled annoyance Daniel whirled around to look at Hammond and said, “They all perished.  Various ways.  Harlan first, then Teal’c, then Sam..” As he said each name he looked at the organic that had been used to create them.  Then he settled his gaze back onto Hammond and his voice was quiet, almost shaky, now as he said, “They were my friends and they are all .. gone.”  The last word seemed very hard to say.

“What about me.. er.. Jack..” Jack said then frowned at the others before looking back at the clone.

Once more the blue eyes softened when they looked at Jack.  “Last month,” he said then coughed to clear his throat and lowered his face.  “I promise you, Jack, I’ll tell you everything you need to know..” The tone left everyone aware that the clone meant just that – explain it all to Jack.  Suddenly, as if remembering he himself had an organic somewhere out there, the clone looked around the room.  “Is Daniel..?”

With a slight jerk of his chin, Jack indicated to the Gate Control Room, very aware that his good friend hadn’t joined them in this room. The Clone raised his eyes and sucked back a deep breath as his eyes met those of his Organic. “My God,” he hissed softly.  “What the hell happened to his hair?”

*

As they watched the interactions below, listening to the voices via the intercom system to the gate room, Daniel explained the events of the cloning incident to the Lieutenant as it had happened before Simmons’ time with the SGC.  Their conversation came to a sudden stop when Daniel reacted to the eye contact with his clone.  Simmons watched him warily then followed the eye line to the room below.

Sensing Daniel’s sudden ill ease at the scrutiny, the technician continued their conversation; “That must have come as some surprise to them then, Sir, to find out they were robots.”

“Not exactly robots,” Daniel told him as he broke the eye contact with the clone to look at the man beside him again. “Clones.  Identical copies of us in every_single_way.  From what I found out when I spoke to this.. Daniel… they were so ‘real’ that they didn’t know they were synthetics, not until they were here and Dr Frasier examined them. Apparently Jack.. the Jack clone, sliced his arm open with a scalpel when he discovered he was different.”

“So they can’t feel pain?” Simmons wondered.

“I asked him if that meant they didn’t feel pain but he told me he could and as far as he knew, Jack would have been able to as well.”

“So why did he slice himself with the knife?”

Daniel shrugged. “I guess.. he wasn’t thinking very clearly at the time…” He pursed his lips tightly as he took in a deep breath, twisted and looked down into the dark eyes staring up at him.  Simmons blinked a few times then shifted his gaze back to the room before them. 

“That would have been a very scary moment.”

Daniel nodded then met the eyes of the longhaired man in the room below them.  “Very.”

“Obviously-” Graham went on as he tapped a few times on his keyboard, “They can cry, too!”

Daniel knew it wasn’t a comment against him, per se, but he did feel the need to defend the clone, if only for himself. “They are sensitive, to touch and empathetically.”

When Simmons looked up from his work, to gaze in at the clone briefly before he returned his attention to the read-outs on the screen, Daniel couldn’t help but think the hard-assed soldier was thinking ‘pathetically’ so he added, “Not that *I* cry like that..”

Simmons’ gaze shifted to him, the eyes looked him up and down then he went back to his work. “Yes, Sir,” he muttered as he picked up a pen and scribbled a note onto some paper.  As Simmons was left-handed the paper was on the other side of him and Daniel fought an incredible urge to snatch up the note to see what he’d written.

After a few more taps on the keyboard the technician asked, “So what’s wrong with him now?  Why is he here?”

Daniel shrugged with a bewildered laugh. “I have no idea.  They were meant to bury the gate, they were strong enough to break the thing down into small pieces if they wanted to..”

“Strong?”

“Yeah, they were stronger, faster, way smarter than.. we.. are..”

Simmons whistled through his teeth as he shook his head. “Smarter than Major Carter?  That would be impressive.”

Daniel managed a weak smile at the Lieutenant’s long-standing obsession with Major Carter.

Simmons went on, more to himself than to the man beside him, “To be bigger, faster, stronger, more sensitive but pretty much impervious to pain or weakness..” Graham shrugged. “That’s got to be better, surely?”

Daniel gazed back into the room, and at the crowd around the clone.  “I guess,” he said solemnly, “that just depends on your definition of ‘better’, Lieutenant.”

*

“It’s called a hair cut,” Jack said then met the blue eyes as the clone turned to him again. 

“I thought you liked long hair..”  The colonel reacted at that comment then shot a glance towards the others in the room, wondering if they caught the implications behind the words. Relief eased through him when he realized no one seemed to take up the comment, or if they had, they weren’t letting on.   The clone bowed his head and muttered that he was sorry before he raised his chin and continued, “I think we ought to talk.. in private.”

Jack stared back at him momentarily. His gaze shifted over the clone’s shoulder to the concerned blue eyes of his 2IC.  She pursed her lips and widened her eyes as if to say, ‘don’t do it, Sir’.  Jack refocused on the clone’s eyes now and lifted his chin in a challenging stance as he asked, “Why?”

Daniel’s face took on a no-nonsense expression.  “Just.. because.”

The scarred, graying brow furrowed as Jack sized up the expression on the young face before him. He sensed that the clone was guarding something, something he’d only know about once they were alone.  Twisting to face the General now, O’Neill said, “I’m game, Sir.”

“Sir!” Sam took a step towards them.

The clone spun at her. “Back off, Sam. I’m not going to hurt him!” Despite his benevolent tone there seemed a veiled threat lurking in his words.

For a split second, Sam was sure she saw unguarded hatred in his eyes so she faltered, aware that the clone had far more strength and speed than anyone else in the room and, even if he was shot in the process, the damage he could inflict in the milliseconds before being gunned down could really impact on her.  Holding her hands out, she stepped back but her eyes again told Jack that she thought being alone with the clone was a bad move.

Yet, the smile that filled the clone’s face was so beguiling now she wondered if she’d imagined the look.  “Well, you don’t have to back off *that* far,” he said, again with a gentle laugh, “it’s not like I’m going to hurt you.. or him..”

She was confused and looked again to the colonel for reassurance.  Jack didn’t appear to see anything untoward so she nodded, stepped back in line with the General and left Jack to make the decision for himself.

Hammond was also looking to Jack for reassurance; reassurance that he was comfortable with talking alone with the Clone.  When he saw that the colonel was, he nodded, jerked his head towards the door and said, “Escort the gentlemen to Interview room 9.”

The others started to walk off but the clone remained on the spot.  Jack casually turned to him. “What?”

“I want Room 6,” Daniel demanded, doggedly.

Hammond bristled, rounded back his shoulders and said, in a tone that was peculiarly unnerving, “You’ll take room 9, son..”

“No.” The clone shook his head adamantly as he folded his arms over his chest and bit his lips together tightly. He met the small blue eyes and again shook his head before continuing with, “I won’t be listened to.  Room 9 is where you put prisoners that you want to listen to. What I have to say is for Jack’s ears only.” His eyes darted between Jack and Hammond as he spoke. “I want room 6!”

Jack rolled his eyes as he looked at Hammond then he turned his back on the clone slightly as he muttered to the General, “I’ll be okay.”

“Until we can be sure how the other clones perished..” Sam interjected tentatively.

“I’m not going to hurt him, forcryingoutloud!” The clone wailed as he flung his arms wide then allowed them the fall and slap against his thighs amidst a chortle of disbelief. Jack spun on the spot to look at the man who’d used his ‘saying’ and the clone grew serious as he added, “But what I have to say is strictly for Jack’s ears only.”

Everyone exchanged glances while Jack slowly sized up the expression on the stranger’s familiar face.  The corner of Jack’s eye twitched slightly as he intensified his stare, as if he was telepathically trying to gauge if the alien meant him harm, or not.  The look he received in response was enough to make him turn his back on the clone and face Hammond square on.  “I’ll be all right, Sir.”

Hammond’s concentration snapped from the longhaired man back to the colonel, and the look of reassurance in the light brown eyes.  To reaffirm the look Jack supplied a slight nod to the older man, and Hammond shifted his beady eyes onto the clone that was standing slightly behind Jack’s right shoulder – a very familiar pose, Hammond thought to himself.

Growing frustrated by what he saw was a waste of time, the Daniel sighed in exasperation and said, “You can still watch us from the little room upstairs.” He flung his hand palm up, fingers tight together, towards the ceiling above them to accentuate his words.  “Post a sentry at the door, post ten, for all I care!’ He was bouncing on the balls of his feet in agitation now then he clasped his hands together in front of him as if praying, while he beseeched the General with, “But, please, give us some privacy.  I_won’t_hurt_him!”

Hammond again looked towards the Colonel for his opinion.  Jack rolled his eyes then caught his breath as he felt the touch of a hand against the small of his back.  As it was just the two of them facing the concerned group Jack knew it had to be the clone’s hand, and the way the fingers were dancing over the flat of his lower back, following the seam of his pants and rubbing intimately through the material, indicated to him that he was in no danger from this visitor. 

Jack shoved his hands into his pockets as he said, as casually as he could under the circumstances, “I’ll be alright and he is right, you know.  You *can* still watch us in 6.”

“Colonel, I won’t let you...” Hammond started but was cut off by Jack raising his hand.  He could feel the way the clone was rubbing his back gently now, even if no one else was aware of the intimate display.  He gave another quick nod as he said, “I’ll be alright, General.  I don’t think this clone’s here to hurt me.”

Hammond looked at Jack then at Sam, who gave an uncertain shrug. “Okay,” he finally reneged.  “We’ll be watching though!”  He pointed his finger in the face of the clone. 

“I wouldn’t expect anything else,” the Daniel smiled amiably, unerringly indicating his knowledge of this man, and this facility. 

.o0o.

Jack closed the door to Interview room 6 and turned to the man sitting at the table, hunched over and fascinated by his clasped hands in front of him. It didn’t pass Jack’s eagle eye to notice that Daniel had deliberately positioned himself with his back towards the camera in the corner over the door, probably so that what he said to him wouldn’t even be read off his lips in the silence of the small monitor room upstairs. 

As the lean officer straddled the chair with his long legs then slowly slipped down into it he noted the way the eyes across the table lifted just enough to watch his crotch disappear beneath the edge of the table then lift all the way to match his eyes completely. 

The face seemed so youthful that it almost looked dewy, even in the sterile lights of the interview room.  Jack had forgotten what Daniel looked like with the longer hair, and suddenly he felt a pang of sorrow for the ‘innocent’ days of Daniel Jackson.  They were, alas, far behind him now, especially since last month, and despite his efforts, there wasn’t anything Jack could do about it.

The seconds passed slowly as Jack waited for the visitor to speak. The look on Daniel’s face indicated he was about to burst forth with some amazing fact. Jack had seen that look so many times before, but the clone just sat there, mute and with a gentle smile lighting his eyes. 

After still more ticks of the clock on the far wall Jack scratched his palm across his chin then part way down his throat that he arched back slightly before he dropped the hand onto the table loudly.  He averted his gaze to his hands and was forming words in his mind to break the silence when he heard, “It’s great to see you again-” It was said with such honey-dripped intimacy that Jack almost cracked his neck he lifted his chin so fast to meet the blue eyes glittering in the harsh light.

Jack was a little taken aback in the smile of Daniel’s eye. “Glad I’m still here to be seen!” He mumbled, as he stared at the engaging expression.

“You’ve changed a lot,” Daniel said as his gaze took in the longer, grayer hair and the more rugged the face. Despite the slightly fuller features, the tanned skin and more wrinkles, the clone found one feature that hadn’t changed.  He stared into the soft brown eyes, and he practically glowed with his smile. 

“What are you doing here?” Jack asked, curtly.  Daniel raised his brow slightly. 

“I needed to see you!” he said, his voice rising again, surprised by the harshness in Jack’s tone. 

“Well, that’s just peachy!” The soldier snapped. “Why the hell didn’t you bury the damn gate?”

“We did!’ Daniel tried to explain.  Jack tilted his head and gave him an ‘and yet you’re here’ look.

The clone stood quickly and paced the small room.  He was wringing his hands together nervously as he spoke.

“After you left, Jack did as you asked him.  He covered the Gate.”  Stopping to shoot Jack a quick look, the clone added, with a shake of his finger, “Do you know how hard it is to bury one of those things?  They’re so tall!  We’re strong, but even the four of us had some troubles.  God-” He sighed and looked up to the ceiling as he rubbed his hand over his chin, “I’d forgotten how many people it had taken for us to burying the one on Abydos after the Ra incident…”

“You never went to Abydos..” Jack cut in bluntly.

The clone lowered his chin. “Not in this body, Jack, but I was there.  So were you.”

They remained in a locked stare then Jack conceded that point with a wave of his hand to encourage the clone to continue. The clone rolled his eyes, went back to his pacing and told him, “You’ll have to excuse any mistakes, Jack.  It’s so hard to think of myself as the clone here. I was just Daniel back home…”

Jack watched as the clone licked his lips quickly – such a ‘Daniel’ thing to do.

“Speaking of home -” Jack quirked his brow as he tilted his head back to look up at the standing man.  “How did it happen?” He was trying to be delicate about the deaths, if that what you could call it, of the other clones. 

Ignoring the question, the clone leant across the table and smiled at him. “You’ve changed a lot over the years.”  The colonel blinked as he stared into the close blue eyes as Daniel slipped into his seat again.

 “Well...” He felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach as he watched the man intimately scan over his features then look deeply into his eyes.  “Time hasn’t been as kind to me as it has to you,” he said, taking in the younger, gentler features of his good friend.  

“You’re still gorgeous, Jack!” Daniel breathed out deeply.  He nibbled his bottom lip in as he stared at the man in front of him.

“Wha… WHAT?” The colonel pulled back.  No wonder he’d been looking at him so damn intimately! 

“Daniel must tell you that all the time..” the straight brow wrinkled slightly as Daniel said, “I’ll admit that I didn’t expect the gray…”

“Whoa, back up just a little here…” Jack crawled backwards off his chair, standing on unsteady legs as the face looked up at him lovingly.  Wagging a shaky finger, Jack almost squeaked, “What the hell did you just say?”

Daniel’s smile faded then a look of regret took its place in the blue eyes.  “Jack, don’t tell me you and my organic never told each other how you really felt?”

Jack felt his face flush a bright red and the heat tipped his ears.  “How we felt?”  Suddenly Jack was grateful they were in the room without audio transmission and understood why the clone had insisted on it.  Typical of Daniel, any Daniel, to be concerned with another’s feelings, even at a time like this!

Laughing humorlessly to himself, the younger man dropped his face down and pressed the tips of his thumbs into the hollow of his eyes to pinch the bridge of his nose tightly. “I guess not.”

Jack sank into the chair again and sat, in stunned silence, for a moment. When he spoke to his synthetic last time, he told him then there were some things they needed to talk about, but Harlan had called him away before they had a chance to touch on anything more than National Security.  Thoughts filled Jack’s mind now as to how his synthetic would have found the courage to confess something that he, himself, had kept hidden all these years.

Daniel sat back, one arm hooked over the back of his chair, his other hand lying on the table between them.  “That’s a pity, Jack,” he said sadly, “because I’ve had the most incredible two years of my life, with,” he held his hand out then gave a quick laugh, “you!”

Jack choked on his next words.  “You and me.. err..him!?”

Daniel nodded. 

“Two years?” Jack’s voice rose in surprise. 

“Technically it was one and a half that we were together..”

“So,” Jack cleared his throat gently, “so if it was so damn great, why are you here?”

Daniel tilted his head and set his eyes squarely with Jack’s. Surely that was obvious.  “They’ve all gone, Jack.”

“I’m sorry but I can’t.. help you make another.. me.”

Daniel pursed his lips as he shook his head.  “Jack destroyed the machine after you all left, saying that there would never be anyone else trapped like we were..” 

Jack cringed. He knew that once he came home that day, as he stepped off the ramp, he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he thought about the clones, trapped there for thousands of years. He wondered how his clone was going to cope.  He didn’t think he could.

Daniel had been talking and Jack caught the last of his words, “I’ve come here to be with you, Jack,” he said, with a sweet smile on his face as he finished with,  “when I die.”

End of Part 2