Title: Seeing Double

Summary: The robots of SG1 return, and resume seemingly harmless lives among the SG1 base, but after encounters of seduction and violence, Sam and Jack uncover their secret motives, as well as their own hidden feelings.

Author: Matriaya

Dedication: Bella, they're all for you. Except that one over there. That one is mine!

It was far too disconcerting, having to stare at herself in the hallway, to walk behind herself, to watch herself interact with her friends, and friends that weren't really her friends as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Ever since the robot versions of SG1 had returned to the base from Altair, Sam just wasn't comfortable with anything. Too many details about her day seemed off, things that malfunctioned around the base or disappeared from her quarters.

It was probably just coincidence, she knew, but she childishly blamed the robots anyway, because it was so much easier. At first, when Colonel O'Niell engaged in an all out snide comments war with his mechanical half, she thought him immature and paranoid, but now that they'd been on the base for a week, she was starting to see what he was getting at. Never in the open did android Samantha do anything but be perfectly cheerful and helpful. Yet when they were alone together, working on a project, or walking down the hallway, an icy chill descended and she became someone else entirely. Someone callus, cold, even mean.

Perhaps the three years on Altair had done something to the robots, took away some of their humanity. There were documented cases among other soldiers, lost in enemy territory, of becoming different, altered people because of their foreign surroundings. Could it have happened to the robots? Sam dropped her pen, and leaned back in her chair in frustration. She knew she was just being paranoid about the whole thing, but something about them got under her skin.

"Hey Carter," Jack stood in the doorframe, arms folded. "What are you up to?" She jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Jesus, sir. I didn't even hear you coming down the hall." She fumbled with her pen, trying to regain composure. "Sorry. I was just trying to work out some equations that Daniel found on P4X-227." Sam turned back to the piece of paper, focusing on the numbers again. Slowly she began to regain concentration; the numbers fell into place, clumps of things turned into equations. The pencil scratched out a familiar dance across the tablet. That familiar sense of calm entered her, the feeling that the world made sense. As long as she could riddle it out on paper, she knew she could solve the problem set in front of her, and it was falling into place, just as it was supposed to.

It was why she didn't notice Jack had moved silently behind her until his hands clamped down on her shoulders, and his lips found the curve of her neck. She froze at first, completely knocked off her axis. All thoughts dissolved as the new, unexpected sensations overpowered her brain. So warm, so soft, so incredibly right. Jack moved slowly, dragging the kisses to her jaw bone, up to her ear. He fixed his teeth on the incredibly sensitive skin there, and nipped lightly. The slight pain combined with a spike of desire snapped her back to reality.

"Sir? What are you doing?" Sam broke free of his grasp and backed away too quickly, knocking over the stool in the process. Every cell in her body was on fire, craving more of what she'd just received, but her conscience told her to get away, and fast.

"Something I should have done a really long time ago." He growled out, and advanced on her with lightening fast speed. Before she could react, she was against the wall, pinned effectively between cement and Jack's body.

Pain stabbed from the point where her head hit the concrete wall, but it dissipated in the overwhelming emotion and heat that tore down her walls of inhibition. His mouth plundered hers, kissing her so deeply she couldn't tell up from down. Further and further she spun out of control, hands moving up his arms slowly, her mind only vaguely registering the feel of the worn fabric from his shirt against her fingertips.

"Jack" his name slipped from her lips before she was even aware of it. One hand moved up her arm, up her shoulder. Then the gripping became tight, almost painfully so, and she drew back out of surprise.

"What…"

But before she could get another word in, he assaulted her mouth, harder this time, faster. He caught one lip between his teeth and bit down, hard, drawing blood. She yelped and squirmed away. Where her hand had caught his face in her desperate attempt to push him away, she now saw three streaks of grey where before blood would have pooled.

Robot Jack.

Sam stumbled backwards in shock. It wasn't her Jack after all, it was… it was…

He took advantage of her unbalanced state, and grabbed her again. This time, when she landed against the wall, there was no pleasure to accompany the pain. Stars winked white in her vision as the pain traveled all the way down her spine.

"Shut up." He growled, and then kissed her neck, his teeth scraping against the sensitive skin. His hand moved right below his mouth, putting just enough pressure on her throat to keep her trapped in place, squeezing just enough to make breathing slightly difficult. His other hand worked on her shirt, pulling furiously at buttons,

"Let g…" The hand around her throat squeezed harder.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" An unfamiliar scream ripped through the air, causing Sam and Robot Jack both to jump apart. A woman, unknown to either person, burst forth from the closet at a panicked run, took one look at the two of them, and tore off down the hallway, blue eyes wide and long frizzy blonde hair in a mess behind her. Robot Jack glared in frustration at the soldier, and then looked back at Sam. Before he had a chance to do any more damage, she side-stepped him and took off down the hallway to find the runaway soldier, and then to talk to the real Jack. It would seem he was right about their counterparts after all.

--

There was something about the ceiling of his quarters that never ceased to amaze Jack. When he was busy, or had other things to do the ceiling was just a plain block of white looming unnoticed overhead. If he was bored, though, it became a treasure trove of interesting cracks and markings. There was a splotch in the corner, once black though over the years it had faded to a brown, which was vaguely shaped like Italy. Right above his head, there were over 240 little nicks in the cement, which he intended that evening to make at least 250.

The pink bouncy ball hurled up towards the ceiling, struck the cement with a muffled thump, and then hurled back down at his face with increased speed. Relying on his reflexes, honed to perfection by mindless activities just like this, he reached out and grabbed the ball before it had a chance to smack him in the face. Almost instantaneously, he threw it back up again, and repeated the process. Over and over, he could do it now without even thinking.

"Colonel?" Sam poked her head in just as the ball was on its downward descent. Jack managed to move out of its path, and it thumped into his pillow.

"Carter," he sat up, glancing a little disconcertingly at the ball for a moment, and then focusing on her. "Come on in. What's up?" She slipped inside and closed the heavy door behind her. Instantly, he tensed up. Damnit, she was wearing the sweet tank top number again. He hadn't seen that in years. The skin of her stomach almost glowed in the florescent lights of his quarters, and he found it very distracting.

"I couldn't sleep." She whispered, but the grin on her face begged the opposite.

"Feel like a midnight snack?" he asked, moving to get up. "We could raid the kitchen. I could use some fruit loops."

Sam crossed the small space between his bed and the door before he put his feet on the ground, and crawled up onto the covers.

"A snack sounds good." The smile that graced her lips was far from the normal Carter exuberance, this was almost animalistic. Beautiful, intriguing and incredibly hot, but not normal Carter.

"Carter, I'm not sure this is the most appropriate…"

And then she kissed him, and all the words that had massed on his tongue dissolved. He knew this was wrong, so unbelievably wrong, and yet it didn't seem to matter anymore. One calloused hand found her face, his fingers moved into her soft hair, still spiked from sleep.

"Carter…" her name was a whispered prayer on his lips. Blue eyes stared back at him, full of desire. Physical attraction he could understand, they were two hot-blooded adults who'd worked in close quarters involving life or death situations on a bi-weekly basis. But Carter's resolve was always so rigid; she would never do anything to jeopardize their careers. So why…

As she kissed him again, more urgently this time, she crawled forward and settled herself in his lap, legs half tangled in the covers. His body reacted in sync with hers. One arm wrapped around her waist, drawing her even closer, but still her warmth eluded him. The hand that had buried itself in her hair retreated slightly to touch her cheek, his fingers playing lightly over the soft skin.

Her tongue tangled with his, drawing him even deeper, hypnotizing him with the taste and feel of her. Everything about that moment became etched deep in his mind, the weight of her small body against his, the slide of her silken hair against his fingers. He could die right then, he knew, and leave without regret. Of course that wasn't exactly plan A.

"Sir, I'm sorry to…" A voice at the door was distant, background noise compared to the blood that rushed passed his ears, but there was something familiar in the voice; something too familiar. He looked past the gorgeous blonde in his lap to see Sam standing in the doorway, with an expression of utter shock on her face. The happy bubble of bliss he'd been previously floating in popped with a loud bang, and he crashed down to Earth. Oh fuck.

In the space of three breathes, Jack looked back and forth between the two Sams. The Sam he held in his arms looked at her twin, and then back at him with a grin that suggested sex and treachery. The other one was caught up in a maelstrom of emotions that played out subtly on her pale face. Seconds stretched out languorously as Jack tried to come up with enough coherent words to ask what the hell was going on. As it turned out, he didn't need words to ask, because the Sam who was still tangled up in his arms made her move.

With reflexes fast, she reached down and seized a knife at her thigh. Jack didn't even have time to react, she had him pinned fast. Raised high in the air, the knife reflected the horror on Jack's face, the evil smile on Sam's, and then…

The shot was fired almost before Sam could comprehend what she was doing. She'd reached for her gun purely on instinct, all she could think about was the danger Jack was in, and how there was no way in hell she'd allow herself to sit back and watch her best friend die. So she acted, and now there was a smoking hole in the Sam that now lay across Jack, and a gun in her hand that still vibrated with the force of firing.

"Shit." Jack stared down at the dead woman, slumped over against him. Where blood should have been pouring from the hole in her heart, there were tiny sparks erupting. Her body jerked a few times, and then she was completely gone. The knife slipped from her lax fingers and clattered to the floor. "Oh shit."

"Are you ok, Sir?" she asked, slowly lowering her gun. Displaying signs of nervousness, he shoved the body off his lap and jumped out of bed, reaching for his own gun and training it on Robot Sam.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked incredulously. Sam. She'd kissed him, turned him into jelly. She seduced him. She tried to kill him. No, it wasn't Sam. It was that robot who looked like her. Sam would never try and kill him.

She wouldn't seduce him either, he thought as he lowered his gun and faced her.

"You were right, sir. About the robots. One of them attacked me as well. We should go warn the others." She said matter-of-factly, but refused to meet his gaze. Too many things pounded against her skull to form a rational decision at this point, she would just follow the Colonel, follow orders. Its what she was good at.

What the hell had she walked in on? He was kissing her. Well, not her her, the robot her, but clearly he hadn't known the difference. He was kissing her, and clearly enjoying himself. Thoughts of robot Jack rose to the surface, and she remembered the way he had made her feel, if even for those brief moments. Damnit, she couldn't be thinking like this! He was her superior, it went against all the rules, all her training. And yet…

Jack thrust past her and took off down the hall at a fast gate, heading straight for General Hammond's office. He would have gotten there in record time too, if it hadn't been for the 190 pounds of muscle that leapt from behind a corner and landed right on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

"Sir!" Sam cried out, jumping back a step to avoid being dragged to the ground along with him. Limbs flailed and punches were thrown as the two Jacks rolled around on the hard concrete floor. Her immediate response was to protect the Colonel, but it wasn't clearly apparent which one was the human, and which one was the killer robot.

"Carter!" one of the Jacks managed to cough out, but it was difficult with the other one's hand wrapped around his neck. He returned the favor, and they were both slowly strangling each other to death. "Help!"

Then the other one spoke.

"Damnit Carter, help me!" Within both their eyes, mingled with the rage and surprise was a pleading fear. The only difference was one was forced, but she couldn't tell the difference. Whichever one the robot was, he was an excellent master of human emotion. Clearly, the deformed twisted part of his personality could be hidden to mimick the real Jack.

Time bottled up, slowing down but with every intention of bursting forward in a rush of blinding speed. Sam had to choose, and now. If she didn't act, one of them, or perhaps both of them would die, and she feared it would be the real Jack. It wasn't something she couldn't live with, but what if she were to shoot the wrong one?

Hell with it.

The cold weight of the gun felt extraordinarily heavy in her hand, but it slid from the holster with chilling ease. Once more, she surveyed the two men, who were quickly turning a purplish color, took a deep breath, raised her gun, closed her eyes, and fired. The deafening noise from that single shot bounced up and down the hallway, cracking at her skull.

Silence followed, chasing away the dying sound of the gunshot. She couldn't breathe, could move; wouldn't allow herself to open her eyes. The hand that still gripped the gun with white knuckles was now trembling. Frozen in fear, she could do nothing but attempt to suck in air, try to stop the shaking that moved through her entire body. Jack was one of her best friends, one of the few people in the world she truly deeply cared for, and the knowledge that she may have just killed him was too much.

A large hand moved over hers, pushing the gun down slowly.

"Carter." Jack's voice trickled in through the overwhelming roar of blood rushing past her ears. She visibly flinched at the sound of his voice, and jumped back. When her eyes flew open, she was greeted with the sight of a very battered Colonel Jack O'Niell. But which one was it? Automatically, she jerked away from him, trying to raise the gun again, but Jack caught her arms and held her in place.

"Carter!" he shook her gently, "Sam. Its me." Her blue eyes filled with fear as she tried again to get away from him.

"How do I know?" she pressed herself against the wall. Jack looked at her a moment, really looked at her. He took in the fear and emotion that he so rarely got to see on his friend's face, and battled the urge to pull her into his arms and erase it all.

"You see the sparks coming out of that bullet wound?" he gestured to the body on the ground. Sure enough, white hot bolts of electricity escaped the seared wound in the man's body. With hands still trembling, Sam lowered her weapon, and stared, wide-eyed at Jack.

"I thought…" her voice broke, "I didn't know which one… I didn't…" This time he didn't hold back. With one tug, he pulled her close to him, buried his face in her neck, and held her.

The memories came back; her taste, her scent, the feel of her skin as it slid across his. Identical to the trembling woman against him, only now he felt the heat radiating from her small body.

"Sam." He whispered her name, and pulled back a little bit. "Are you going to be ok?"

She nodded, and blinked away tears that she refused to show.

"Yes sir," she nodded. "I just…" thought I was going to lose you, thought I wouldn't get the chance to tell you… "was worried."

On cue, the reliable old Samantha Carter defense system geared up and the walls around her emotions become impenetrable once again. For a moment, though, he saw it in her eyes. Blurred with fear and relief, but he saw it, and it was all he needed to know. He raised one hand to her face, allowing himself to touch her once more, just for that instant.

"Thanks, Carter." He told her.

Jack turned away from her then, and forced himself to walk down the hallway towards the infirmary. A moment longer and he would have lost control, but for now he had the warmth of her skin as a reminder, lingering on his finger tips. Besides, he had an errand to run.