Author's Note: This chapter's a long one! Hope you all like it and I look forward to your comments. Thanks for reading :)

Sam was trapped in an unfamiliar room and she wasn't sure how she got there. The room was windowless and there were two doors in front of her. The walls were a lifeless beige. The room was devoid of furniture.

She knew she couldn't stay here, but in order to leave, she needed to pick a door. She just wasn't sure which one to choose. They were identical.

"Hello?" Sam shouted. "How do I get out of here?"

Her voice echoed around the room and she didn't get a response.

She was alone.

Sam walked closer to the doors. They looked like normal wooden doors with brass door knobs. She reached out towards one of them and her hand started to tingle when she got within a few inches. She knew, suddenly, that if she touched the door, her choice would be made.

Sam pulled her hand back and stared at the doors. She didn't know how to choose when she couldn't differentiate between the two options.

"There are some problems you can't fix, Carter."

She spun around, but she didn't see him.

"Jack?" she yelled. "Where are you?"

The only thing she heard in response was her own voice echoing around the room.

Sam waited, but when all she heard was silence, she turned back towards the doors. She couldn't just stay here. She had to do something.

She approached the doors and stood equidistant between them.

"Just pick a door," she whispered to herself. "Fifty-fifty shot of picking the right door. I've had worse odds than that before."

Sam looked at both doors and then her vision blurred. She blinked and her eyesight returned to normal. A cold chill went through her.

"What's happening?" she muttered under her breath. "This isn't right."

Sam lifted her hand and watched as it seemed to shudder and separate before recombining. It reminded her of when she watched Doctor Samantha Carter suffer from entropic cascade failure, but Sam didn't feel any pain.

She wondered if her hesitation to go through a door was causing negative physical consequences.

"Stop thinking so much, Carter."

Jack's voice sounded through the empty room again. This time she didn't bother to look around. He wasn't here. It was some sort of trick.

A chill went through her again and her hands blurred in front of her. Sam closed her eyes and felt an intense pressure in every part of her body as if she was being ripped apart. The sensation intensified and this time there was pain. There was pain everywhere. Just when she was about to scream, it stopped.

Sam took a deep breath and opened her eyes. The doors were still in front of her. Everything looked the same.

Then she heard someone breathing and realized she was no longer alone. She instinctively reached for her weapon, but she was unarmed and her hand clasped around empty air.

Sam turned cautiously towards the quiet noise…and saw herself.

"This is what you wanted, isn't it?" the other Sam asked. "We can fix everything."

Her duplicate inclined her head towards the doors.

"One for each of us," she added.

Sam approached the door in front of her with caution. "Do you know what's on the other side?" she asked.

The other Sam grinned. "Let's find out."

They opened the doors in unison and before Sam could see what awaited her, an alarm started blaring.

She blinked and saw navy bedsheets. The dream faded, but the noise continued. It was paired with a frustrated curse from the body beside her.

Sam felt Jack roll over and heard his hand slap the alarm clock.

She tried to grasp at the details of the dream she'd been having, but the information drifted away. There'd been something about opening a door, but that was all she remembered.

"Time to wake up?" she mumbled, still half-asleep.

A strong arm snaked around her waist and pulled her against his warm body.

"Not yet," Jack said, voice rough from sleep. "My first meeting's not until 9:30 and your people are in Pacific, so we have time."

He kissed the curve of her neck and Sam smiled.

"I hope you turned that alarm off instead of hitting snooze, because I don't want to be interrupted in nine minutes."

Jack's hand stilled in its path up her abdomen. "Lemme check."

Sam laughed as he backed away to go fiddle with the alarm clock. He worked quickly and slid back under the covers with her. Funny how he was a lot better with technology when properly motivated.

"Now where were we?" Jack asked, kissing the curve of her neck.

Sam took his hand and trailed it up her body, stopping just below her breasts. "Right about here."

"Perfect," he mumbled against her neck.

Jack teased her with light caresses before cupping her breast and running his tongue along a patch of sensitive skin under her jaw. She sighed and pressed back against him.

"How much time do we have?"

She didn't wait for Jack's response before turning in his arms and kissing him languidly, the fog of sleep still clinging to her.

"Just enough time for a very good morning," Jack told her, before covering her body with his and setting off to turn that statement into truth.

Later, Sam and Jack stood in the kitchen in companionable silence sipping freshly made coffee. Their hair was still slightly damp from the quick showers they'd taken and Sam couldn't help wishing that their lives could be like this more often. She wanted to wake up beside Jack and turn the alarm clock off to fool around with him before work. She wanted to sneak smiles at him while they got ready and share coffee before leaving the house.

One day, she told herself. One day I'll get this full time.

"So, what are you thinking this morning?"

Jack asked the question like he didn't care about her answer, but she knew he did. Sam lifted the mug to her lips and let the hot liquid warm her from the inside.

"Were you going to retire?" she asked.

It was a non-sequitur, but for some reason it felt important. She needed to know if Jack had really thought about retiring back when they were both on SG-1.

Jack lowered his coffee, confusion written across his face. "You know that I tried to retire after we defeated the System Lords and Replicators. They wouldn't let me."

"No, I mean before," she clarified. "Your clone made it seem like you had a plan to retire earlier than that."

Jack took another sip of his coffee before responding.

"It was an idea I was kicking around."

He still did that sometimes…played at nonchalance as a defensive measure. They'd spent so long following pre-established patterns to protect their own hearts that it took effort to recognize when one of them had fallen back into that familiar groove.

"You were going to retire so that we could be together," she said. It was a statement, no longer a question. The truth settled around her like a warm blanket on a cold day. "Even back then, you were thinking about it."

Jack set his mug down.

"Is it really that surprising?" he asked. "I've retired before. I thought about what it would be like if you weren't in my chain of command. And maybe I wondered what it might be like to retire with hope for the future instead of in the wake of a tragedy. It wasn't a plan. Not really. It was a fantasy of what could happen if it didn't feel like SG-1 was holding the security of the planet together with string and duct tape."

Maybe it shouldn't have been surprising, but it was. It made her heart ache to think about how they'd been yearning for the same thing even while believing happiness was out of reach. He reacted to that sense of uncertainty between them by shutting down and she reacted by trying to find fulfillment elsewhere.

"I had no idea," Sam replied.

She wondered if it would have changed anything if she'd known then what she knew now. They'd left so many things unsaid over the years. Most of the time it had been necessary, but Sam was starting to realize that they should have been more open with each other. Both of them were improving their communication, but it was a process.

Sam thought about the information she kept from Jack's clone.

"I didn't tell him that we were together," she said. "Do you think I should have? I didn't want to make things worse."

Jack took his time to consider her question and she appreciated it. Sam didn't want an immediate response intended to make her feel better. She wanted to know what he really thought.

"I don't know if there was a good way to handle it," Jack said eventually.

"Would you have wanted to know?" Sam asked. "If you were him?"

His answer would tell her if she'd made the right choice. Jack's clone wasn't all that different from him when it came down to it. So if Jack would've wanted to know, then she should have told his clone. If he wouldn't have wanted to know, then Sam had made the right choice.

"I would have wanted you happy, Sam. Anything beyond that…" His voice trailed off and he scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know. It'd be rough to know that some other version of you has the life you want."

Jack's statement didn't absolve her of her uncertainty, but it did make her feel a little better. If there wasn't a right way to handle the situation, at least she hadn't gotten it horribly wrong.

"I want to go through with this, Jack," she said. "I think it's the right thing to do. He needs someone and it should be me."

He gave a single, curt nod. "All right. If you're sure."

"I am," she replied. Sam knew in her gut that she had to do this.

Jack poured the last of his coffee down the drain and left his mug in the sink.

"Let's get the ball rolling then." He placed a hand on her arm and kissed the side of her head before walking past her. "Grab your stuff and we'll head out."

They didn't talk much on the way to the Pentagon. Sam kept getting lost in thought and she assumed Jack was similarly preoccupied.

As they walked to Jack's office, he pointed out a nearby conference room where she could set up her laptop and take calls with her staff at Area 51. They greeted his assistant and Sam continued into the office while her husband stayed behind to talk through his schedule for the day.

She sat down in one of the two empty chairs in front of Jack's desk. Her eyes drifted across the office. For the most part, it was devoid of personality, like so many other offices she'd seen over the years. A few papers and non-confidential files were in neat stacks in the corner. The computer monitor was in idle mode, waiting to be turned on. A couple of pens were resting parallel to the leather desk pad that covered most of the wooden surface.

She knew that there was a yo-yo in one of those desk drawers and probably at least one notebook filled with doodles, but the only personal touch that was visible in Jack's office was a set of three framed photos tucked on a shelf over by the wall.

The first was a picture of SG-1 a few years after they became a team. They were in a forest that was millions of light years away, but indistinguishable enough from a North American national park that it could be displayed. In the photo, she stood between Daniel and Jack. Teal'c was on Jack's other side. Daniel had his arm looped around her neck and Jack rested a hand on Teal'c's shoulder. The back of her hand was barely touching the back of Jack's. It had been a good day—a happy one—and you could see it in their faces. Teal'c almost cracked a smile.

The second was a picture of Cassie in her cap and gown at graduation. They'd been so incredibly proud to see her walking across that stage to get her diploma. In spite of the hole left by Janet's loss, it had been a great day.

The third frame was angled more towards the desk than the other two, so Sam could only see a sliver of the picture from where she was sitting. She knew which photograph it was anyway. Jack always said it was his favorite one of her.

It wasn't a photo of Sam in her dress blues looking professional or a photo of her in a low-cut dress looking sexy.

It was a picture of her without make-up and wearing a borrowed green baseball cap. Her cheeks and nose were pink with the aftereffects of a mild sunburn. A fishing rod was gripped tightly in her right hand and she was grinning like a fool because Jack had spent the morning teaching her how to fish. It turned out that fishing was an endeavor that had involved a lot of hands-on instruction and very few actual fish. She liked it that way.

Sam was jolted out of those pleasant memories when she heard the door close.

"So, where do you want to start?" Jack asked as he strode over to his desk. He turned on his computer and sat down in his chair.

"I have a list."

Sam pulled a folded sheet of paper out of her laptop case. She unfolded it and handed it across the desk to Jack. "I put this together yesterday. It should cover everything that needs to be done."

Jack studied the categorized list that Sam had painstakingly created. It included steps they had to take, documents that needed to be created, items that had to be purchased, and more.

She was sure that she'd covered everything that needed to be done to prepare for her clone, but as Jack continued to review the document, Sam started to wonder if she missed something. She listed details related to housing, school, identification, clothing, finances, and even strategies they could use when talking to the IOA. She'd been thorough in her preparation.

What could she possibly have forgotten?

"I'm missing something, aren't I?" she asked when he turned the document over and frowned.

Jack set the paper down on his desk and looked up. "You'll be bored."

"What?"

It might not be fun going through that list, but Sam didn't think she'd be that bored by the tasks.

"I don't mind doing any of the items on that list. Some requests might be better coming from you, but–"

"She'll be bored," Jack corrected. "We should throw some work her way."

He was talking about the clone.

"You think I'm that much of a workaholic that my clone won't be able to figure out ways to entertain herself?" Sam asked, unable to hold back an amused smile.

"This shouldn't come as a surprise to you," Jack replied, "but you are a workaholic. It's how your brain works. Even when we were mind stamped you needed to redesign their whole system. High school and college classes won't cut it."

Sam wanted to deny that he was right. Her clone could create her own life, one not tied to the Stargate program, and still be happy.

"She's going to have homework and she'll need to get a real job at some point so she has something to put on her resume. Plus, she might not want to have her life revolve around the Stargate."

"I'm not talking full-time," Jack replied. "Flexible hours, whatever you want to do. It'll be a hell of a lot more money than getting a waitressing gig. We can falsify the employment records for resume purposes. Call the job an internship at a tech startup or something else that could be reasonable for an eighteen-year-old to get."

It was a better idea than she wanted to admit. Her clone might like the opportunity to continue to work on cutting age Stargate projects in some capacity, even if she otherwise lived a normal life.

"You always had projects you were complaining you didn't have time for," Jack continued. "Some of them have been on hold for years because there's only one of you. Write down a list of the projects you don't have to be on site for and we'll see what we can do."

"Okay," Sam agreed, her mind already filling with a list of those projects that were important, but never urgent enough to demand her attention.

"It'll be an easier sell if the Air Force and IOA are getting something out of it," Jack added. "This way we have leverage when setting the terms for any potential interaction between our clones and the government. Plus, I don't want any roadblocks in terms of funding."

"I can pay for whatever she needs," Sam said.

Jack shot her a disapproving look and she immediately knew the cause. She still forgot sometimes that they were married in every sense of the word. His house was their house and her apartment was their apartment and they made big financial decisions together now.

"We can pay for whatever she needs," Sam corrected. "Right?"

"We could, but I don't think it's necessary," Jack said. "Regardless of what she decides to do with her life in general, there are going to be times when we might need her help. Just think about the problems that could have been solved over the past several years if there actually were two of you. I consider it a down-payment on future world-saving assistance."

Jack jotted a few bullet points down on the legal pad in front of him. She assumed he was taking notes for their meetings later in the day.

"Even if all she ever does is look at your back-log of unfinished projects in her free time," he added, "it'll still be an immeasurable benefit to the Air Force and Stargate program."

Sam knew that he was right and it was always flattering to know how much he valued her contributions, but the idea of her clone working for the Stargate program still chafed for some reason.

"What if she wants a normal life?"

As soon as Sam said the word, it felt sour on her tongue. It reminded her of a house purchased without her input and a relationship that didn't fit.

"Why do you think she'll be that different from you?" Jack asked, scribbling a few more things down. "Normal will be her version of normal. Even in the alternate realities where you didn't go into the military, you still wanted to solve the mysteries of the universe. She'll find her version of that."

He looked at her and Sam felt like he was seeing too much…seeing more than she was even aware of herself.

"It's not going to be a simple do-over of high school and college, Carter. She might look like a kid, but your clone is going to be an adult. She's going to have the same interests as you. She won't be required to do anything and we'll make sure that's down in black and white, but do you really think you have it in you to quit cold turkey?"

Sam didn't have an answer for him. She'd been so focused on Jack's clone that she hadn't given much thought to her own.

"Why worry so much about normal," Jack added, "when you're meant to be extraordinary?"

He asked the question nonchalantly, as if he had no idea that the words would make her fall even further in love with him.

Sam was starting to rethink her stance on PDA at work when Jack's assistant knocked and opened the door to the office.

"Sir, the President is on line one."

Jack thanked him and as soon as the door closed again he sent an apologetic look Sam's way. "Gotta take this, but I'll talk to you after."

He folded up Sam's list and handed it over before picking up the phone.

"Hello, sir, thanks for making the time."

Sam closed the door behind her and headed over to the conference room that Jack pointed out earlier. She spent time pulling together a list of her shelved projects until it was late enough to call her team in Nevada for updates. When he stopped by to bring her coffee, Jack let her know that his call with the President went well and they had a meeting scheduled that afternoon with the IOA.

They made time for lunch at a casual restaurant close to the Pentagon and, after Jack put a halt to further clone-related discussions, had a good time talking about how Cassie was doing at college and planning their next trip to the cabin.

When it came time for the IOA meeting, Jack took the lead. He argued her case with skill, highlighting the benefits of Sam's plan without ever referencing their relationship.

"We have an opportunity here," he told the representatives around the table. "Colonel Carter's encounter with my clone brought to light the fact that he's an undervalued resource. As I'm sure you're aware, Earth's best defensive weapon can only be used by someone with the ATA gene. I'm the only person who's used it successfully in battle. We've had hundreds of people sit in that chair and most of them were useless. One almost accidentally killed me. The only person who's able to handle Ancient tech as good or better than me is John Sheppard and he's over in another galaxy. If I'm ever unavailable, my clone is our best bet to save this planet and, frankly, we screwed him over."

Jack explained that they would revisit some of the components of the Air Force deal with his clone, namely reducing the restrictions placed on his career choices, fast-tracking some of his credentials if he chose to pursue them, and giving him more freedom to contact Stargate program staff if he chose to.

"And," Jack continued, "even though I don't think that we should go around cloning everyone, Colonel Carter has volunteered to undergo the procedure. There have been countless times when her expertise was the only thing that stood between this planet and complete destruction so I think you'd all agree that having a backup of her brain would be beneficial."

Sam drew strength and comfort from Jack's steady support. Whatever reticence he felt about the cloning idea the night before, he didn't show it in the meeting.

She presented the budget, timeline, and list of projects that her clone could potentially address on a part-time basis.

When Richard Woolsey spoke up, questioning the value of this spur of the moment project when resources were already stretched thin, Sam opened her mouth to speak but Jack lifted a hand to stop her. He turned to face Woolsey.

"I set this meeting because you have budgetary approval of projects related to the Stargate program and need to be informed when we contact our alien allies. We can move forward on this without you on the Air Force's dime, but I'm guessing if that happens our clones would be more reluctant to help the IOA in the future if they're needed. The President's behind this either way." Jack leaned back in his chair, his expression showing the confidence of a man who already knew he won. "Personally, I think it's a small price to pay to protect the planet."

Several other members of the IOA asked questions after that, but the tone of the conversation swung from adversarial to supportive. By the time they walked out of the meeting, the IOA had rubber stamped the project and agreed to provide funding.

Sam didn't reach for Jack's hand after they left the meeting, even though she wanted to. They kept their relationship on a need-to-know basis and she didn't feel like any members of the IOA deserved or needed that information.

Even so, she nudged his arm when they turned the corner. Jack glanced her way, eyebrows lifted in question.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "You were impressive in there and I appreciate it."

"Anytime, Carter," he replied.

Sam took a quick look around to make sure no one else was in the vicinity and added, "I'll show you how much I appreciated it later tonight."

Jack kept looking forward as they walked down the hall, but even in profile she could see the corner of his lips pull up into a grin.

"Sweet."

They headed to a secured storage facility in the basement and showed their credentials to the guard. When the door unlocked, they walked to the back corner of the room. The SGC and Area 51 stored most of the Stargate program's alien technology, but Homeworld Security kept a limited number of items on-site at the Pentagon.

"You're really sure you want to go through with this?" Jack asked one last time as he opened the safe where they kept the Asgard long-range communicator.

"I'm sure," Sam replied.

Jack reached out to take her hand before activating the communicator, his palm warm against hers. He spoke into the device in a steady voice, asking to see Thor as soon as he was available. Sam added that it wasn't urgent, but they hoped to see him soon.

Communication with the Asgard was never reliable, so they continued with their preparations while they waited for a response from Thor.

Then, approximately twenty-six hours after they sent the subspace message, there was a sudden bright white glow in Jack's office. When Sam opened her eyes, a familiar gray Asgard was sitting in the formerly empty chair across from Jack's desk.

"Hey Thor, how are ya?"

The alien's expression didn't change, but he slightly tilted his head before responding.

"I am well, O'Neill. Now that the Replicators are no longer a threat, we have been able to focus our time and effort on scientific endeavors that will ensure the future of the Asgard."

Sam watched while Jack did his best to look interested as Thor elaborated on several promising experimental paths. He didn't really succeed, but the attempt was sweet.

"That sounds like…fun. Good for you, buddy."

"I'm glad to hear that your scientists have been making progress," Sam said. "Tell Heimdall that we said hello."

Thor gave a small nod. "I will, Colonel Carter."

"Here's the thing," Jack said, cutting to the chase, "we kinda need a favor."

Sam was tempted to cross her fingers. Her entire plan relied on Thor's answer to this request. She wasn't sure what she'd do if he said no.

"Remember a couple years ago when Loki made a mini me?" Jack continued. "We need you to do the same thing for Carter."

Thor turned towards her, the barest hint of confusion registering on his face.

"Are you ill, Colonel Carter? If so, we might be able to heal your disease so that cloning would be unnecessary."

"Oh no! Not at all," she rushed to reassure him. "I'm not sick. I just need you to clone me."

Thor tilted his head and looked at her. Sam was tempted to fidget under his gaze and breathed a sigh of relief when the Asgard looked back over at Jack.

"It was my understanding that humans regard the cloning process with distaste," Thor said. "You were angry to discover that Loki had cloned you, O'Neill."

"Sure," he agreed easily, leaning back in his chair. "I didn't sign up for that. She wants to."

Thor turned towards her. "Why do you wish to be cloned, Colonel Carter?"

Even though she should have been prepared for the question, Sam was caught off guard.

"I…"

"It's my clone," Jack said, helping her out. "She thinks he needs company."

Sam cleared her throat and tried to get her bearings.

"I saw Jack's clone a couple days ago and he's having a hard time. He's lonely and depressed. I'm worried about him and I thought, maybe, if I cloned myself and she could be there for him…"

If a version of her could be there for Jack's clone, it would fix everything and then she wouldn't have to worry. They'd have each other.

"We're married now," Jack told Thor. "We're together. She thinks this idea is romantic."

If he'd been condescending with that romantic line, Sam would have glared at him. Instead, he sounded affectionate and a little proud…almost as if he was coming around to her conclusion that this was a good idea.

Or it could be that he just liked being able to tell one of his alien friends that they were married.

"Was that not the case already?" Thor asked. "Based on our knowledge of humans, I believed that you were already a mated pair."

"Carter here was a little slow on the uptake," Jack said with a teasing smirk.

This time she did glare at him.

"Okay, maybe I was too," he corrected with a shrug. "Point is, we're together now. We never would have asked before, but–"

"Can you clone me?" Sam said, needing to refocus the conversation. She couldn't think about why Thor might have believed they were together in the past or why Jack was so confident this had never been a possibility before.

Thor looked at them both and Sam wished that the Asgard were more expressive. They were really hard to read.

"Please," she added.

Thor's head lowered and raised in a single, subtle nod.

"There are other matters I need to attend to now, but I will be able to fulfill your request once those have concluded. I will return at that time to retrieve you."

Sam had barely finished thanking Thor before he disappeared in a flash of glowing white light.

"That went well," Jack said, tapping the top of his desk for emphasis. "Pizza?"

She didn't even realize it was almost dinner time. "Sure, that'd be great."

Sam felt like she was in a daze as they gathered their belongings and got ready to leave. It was actually happening. She was going to clone herself. Now that it was happening, it felt surreal.

Jack wrapped an arm around her and kissed her right above her ear. "Let's head out."

The next several days were a whirlwind. Sam worked closely with Jack's staff to get everything set up for her clone. She probably did more than she needed to, but it felt personal and she wanted to make sure that she got everything right.

Of course, focusing on preparations for her clone during the day meant that she had to spend time at night catching up on her projects at Area 51 while Jack watched hockey and Simpsons reruns. It wasn't exactly the way she envisioned their time together, but he didn't complain that she was preoccupied. He didn't even tease her much for being a workaholic.

The weekend passed quickly. Jack convinced her to get out of the house a few times–to go see a movie, to go hiking, and to try a new restaurant–but she had a single-minded focus on making sure everything was ready when Thor came back.

Sam's brain only stopped spinning when Jack lured her into bed at night. He was surprisingly good at distracting her now that he had a wider range of methods at his disposal.

On Monday morning, Thor sent a subspace message informing them that he would arrive in a few hours.

"I know that I shouldn't be so anxious," Sam said as they waited in Jack's office. "Everything is all set."

She'd planned everything out. The paperwork was ready, a studio apartment had been leased and essentials purchased, a bank account had been opened under the clone's new name, and she knew that Jack's clone would be happier if a version of her was with him.

She wanted Jack to comfort her and tell her that everything would be okay, but he seemed distracted ever since they got the call.

"I felt too old to be walking around with a backpack," Sam tried to joke, nodding towards the blue JanSport on the floor next to her suitcase. Everything else had been purchased by Air Force staff in Colorado and left in the new apartment, but the backpack contained a few personal items that Sam thought her clone should have.

Jack pulled his attention from the computer screen. "What?"

"Nevermind," Sam replied. "I never like waiting."

Jack stood up and walked around the desk to stand in front of her. He leaned back against the wood.

"You're better at it than the rest of us." He paused and seemed to think about his statement for a moment before correcting it. "You're better at waiting than Daniel and I. Teal'c's probably got all of us beat when it comes to patience."

Sam's lips curved into a smile. "Good point.'

She glanced at her suitcase. As difficult as the waiting was, she also didn't want to leave.

"When do you think you'll make it out to Nevada?" Sam asked.

Jack frowned and looked at his calendar. "Assuming there aren't any galactic crises, I should be able to head out there on the 14th. The Prometheus is in orbit so I can at least beam over."

Two and a half weeks. They'd been separated for longer before, but it still felt like too long.

"Think we can ask Thor for our own Asgard transporters," Sam asked, only half joking. "Put one at the house and one at the apartment?"

"Why not?" Jack agreed with an easy smile. "He owes us a wedding gift."

Sam wanted to smile back, but it all suddenly felt like too much: the fact that she spent so much time separated from the man she loved, the emotions that had overwhelmed her since running into his clone, and this whole crazy idea of making a copy of herself.

"I'm nervous," she admitted.

Jack stared at her for a long moment and then leaned forward.

"I love you," he said before kissing her with an unexpected gentleness. "Always. Remember that."

For some reason, the words felt like a goodbye.

Sam didn't have the chance to respond before they were engulfed in the glow of the Asgard transport beam.