Sam stood at the window overlooking the Infirmary's isolation room, her arms folded across her chest lest she do something melodramatic like touch the glass. Really, she wanted to be down there; with him. At the same time, she wanted to be far away. Fraternisation regulations were in place for a reason; so officers could retain their objectivity on duty and not place their comrades in danger. She watched with a sad expression as Danny collapsed again; Teal'c catching him and then depositing him on the trolley as her Dad and Frasier appeared to run further tests. Sighing quietly, Sam turned around to face her senior officers as they entered the observation deck.

"Sirs."

Jack walked towards the window and looked down at Teal'c talking to Danny. Hammond meanwhile said, "Any news, Major?"

Sam sighed, this time inaudibly. She said, "I think I might have an idea, Sir. The Asgard clone themselves. Their very existence relies on transferring their consciousnesses into new bodies when the old ones degenerate." She shrugged slightly. "It's left them with grave diseases due to thousands of years of the practice."

Jack said testily, still looking through the glass, "Carter…"

Sam inclined her head briefly, quelling an urge to utter an obscenity at her commanding officer. She said to Hammond, "Not one of the people we interviewed were clones; their DNA doesn't have the same abnormalities."

Hammond asked, looking highly confused, "Then why is Doctor Jackson, or whoever that young man is, a clone?"

"Perhaps in those cases, the Asgard responsible replaced the people with clones so as not to arouse suspicion. They could have studied the original people and then returned them after a period, switching the clones back."

Hammond continued to appear confused. Jack said grumpily, turning to look at Carter, "I knew it. He's waiting for us to say nice things about him." He looked to Hammond. "Permission to seriously rough up our shovel bum?"

Ignoring Jack, Hammond said, concerned, "So, whoever took the real Doctor Jackson is going to return him?"

Sam shrugged, sighing inaudibly again. "It's all we have, Sir. Teal'c thinks that maybe Daniel's clone not maturing is a mistake."

"Why?"

"Assuming that it's the same Asgard responsible, their past actions appear to suggest a desire to remain covert." She paused. "And the fact that Daniel's clone is genetically unstable." She blinked, willing herself not to break down in front of her senior officers. Now was not the time to lose her objectivity.

Jack remarked, glancing at his second in command, "So they fudged it."

She nodded, her gaze downcast. "Pretty much, Sir." She raised her gaze to meet Hammond's. "I'm betting that they don't know there's a problem yet, or they would have tried to fix it. The whole point of having a clone appears to be so they can conduct experiments on the original without anyone the wiser."

Jack said, looking towards Hammond, "General, this sounds like an ol' bait and switch. We go in, split some wigs, and come back with Daniel's attention-seeking ass."

Hammond frowned at Jack before returning his attention to Sam. Feeling as though he was starting to understand something – he wasn't quite sure what exactly – a bit more, Hammond said, "Major, I'm assuming you have a plan."

Sam smiled slightly, trying to mask her underlying despair. She said, "Sir, I believe recreating the conditions in which the supposed switch took place may be our best option." She glanced at Jack. "The Colonel's bait and switch."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

After collapsing yet again, Danny was helped back onto the trolley by Teal'c. This time, he didn't want to try to get up; to try and pretend to be normal. What was even the point? He glanced towards Jacob and Janet, both looking at various monitors and reading print outs as they discussed his condition. His condition. He knew who he was. He was Daniel Jackson. He had been through many trials and tribulations throughout his life, including death, and reverting to a teenage body was going to be his undoing; his final act. What a way to go. But in death, at least, or one of them, he wanted to be himself. Why were they insistent on denying him his personhood? He knew himself. He tried to calm himself, to focus. Perhaps Oma could help him out. She had helped the Abydonians after all.

He looked up at Teal'c, his friend. Teal'c had killed Sha're. But that didn't hurt any more. He had only recently regained that memory, but it was as though it had happened to someone else. Teal'c was his friend; someone whom he had shared kel'no'reem with on sleepless nights as memories previously lost returned to the fore. Being cast down, or whatever had happened, was a bitch. He and Teal'c often played Ancient Egyptian boardgames, and Teal'c would tell him about his childhood, of what it was like growing up on Chulak; of how he had met Drey'auc.

He was drawn from his inner torment, woefully deciding that he couldn't quite let go of his life here to return to the Ascended; even if they would have him back; maybe he didn't want to go back. He saw Sam enter the room he was in and he tried to sit up. With Teal'c's assistance, he sat on the edge of the trolley and faced her. She appeared self-conscious, almost awkward. Good, he thought; that was the least she could feel for denying him his identity. He closed his eyes briefly, pinching the bridge of his nose as he silently scolded himself for his thoughts towards her.

He looked up at her again as she began to speak. She said, "Daniel… we may have found a way."

He retorted, trying to curb the snippiness in his voice but failing, "A way to what?"

Sam glanced nervously at Teal'c, and then at Janet and Jacob who had both turned to look at her. "To get Daniel back and to get to the bottom of this."

"Well, I'm here."

Sam closed her eyes for a moment, partly hurt; partly wanting to hurt him for his sarcasm. On opening them, she said, "You're a clone. If Daniel's out there somewhere; we need to get him back."

Danny looked at her sceptically. "So… the fact I'm dying doesn't factor in anywhere, does it?"

Sam, looking helpless, said, "We… we don't know what else to do."

Looking at Sam, Teal'c suggested, "Perhaps the Asgard responsible can fix the genetic damage?"

Danny said, debating whether to grit his teeth to reinforce the point, "But I'm me!"

Janet stepped around the trolley to face him. She said, concerned, "I'm sorry, Daniel; there is nothing we can do." She looked towards a just as concerned looking Jacob. "Jacob and Selmak have run out of ideas bar a blending, which you objected to."

"Um, damn right I objected to a blending!" He looked towards Sam. "I don't know what the Asgard did or what laughs they got, but this is me."

Sam looked towards Teal'c and then back at Danny. She said, "But Daniel, if we find the Asgard responsible, they can fix your cell damage at least. You can still be you."

He replied dejectedly, "But you won't see me as him, will you?"

She looked at him sympathetically. She didn't know what would happen; whether their hastily prepared plan would come to fruition. But while there was hope that Daniel was still out there somewhere, she couldn't give up; they couldn't give up on him. They owed him that much after everything. He had never given up on any of them when they had been lost in various escapades.