Bellerophon

by Melora

Rating: T (for some mild violence, language, and sexual situations)

Pairing: Sam/Jack; Sam/Pete

Category: Mystery, Angst, Romance

Spoilers: Season 7 – Chimera, Heroes, Resurrection; Season 8 – New Order, Affinity, Endgame, Gemini, Prometheus Unbound, and Full Alert.

Set: Prologue - before Season 8's Affinity; Chapters 1-5 and 8-15 – after Season 8's Endgame; Chapters 6-7 - after Season 7's Resurrection; and the last few chapters set around Season 8's Full Alert. It jumps around a bit, but I will try to keep it from getting too confusing.

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. No copyright infringement is intended. Created for entertainment, not monetary, purposes.

Summary: As Sam and Pete take their relationship to the next step, Jack and Sam must embark on mission to uncover a threat to the SGC.

Author's Notes: This is my AU idea on how to rectify what happened in Chimera – hence the title. Bellerophon was the figure from ancient Greek mythology who slew the Chimera.

by Melora

Prologue

It was balmy, late summer afternoon in Colorado Springs. The park was filled with children running about, yelling and laughing with their friends, while their mothers watched from a safe distance. The children and mothers were too absorbed in their busy lives to notice a man in khakis and a light blue cotton shirt walking across the park towards a picnic table hidden in the shade of a group of trees. He inconspicuously sat down and waited by himself, contentedly watching the children play.

After a couple of minutes, another man wearing a dark suit and sunglasses mysteriously appeared and took the seat opposite him.

"Detective Shanahan...it's been a while," the man in the suit announced.

"Yeah, well...things have been slow lately. The SGC has been out of commission and only returned to active status a couple of weeks ago."

"So we've been told. I cannot tell you how disappointed my superiors were to hear that O'Neill had been given command. They were hoping he would remain permanently in stasis."

Pete shrugged nonchalantly. "Not really much of a surprise to me. But then again, I've gotten to know more about SG-1 over the past few months. His teammates would have done practically anything to save him. And as for making him a general – it was bound to happen sometime." Pete stared pointedly at the other man. "Wanna tell me why I'm here?"

A sly smile appeared on the man's face. "We recently learned that Teal'c will be moving out of Cheyenne Mountain soon."

Pete nodded. "Yeah...I'm going to his apartment warming party later this week."

"Excellent," the man replied. "You will of course use the opportunity to gather all the information that you can."

"Of course," Pete repeated.

"Our employers would like you to do something else."

"And what might that be?" Pete inquired.

"The information you provided on the capture of Osiris was invaluable. Because of you, we now know that Area 51 has a Goa'uld hand device equipped with Asgard beam technology. We also know that there is a Goa'uld ship cloaked in Earth's orbit. Both fit right into our current plans." He paused briefly and looked casually off into the distance before continuing, "The Trust feels that your relationship with Colonel Carter has been a highly profitable one, but it could be even more beneficial if you took the relationship to the next level."

Pete seemed neither surprised, nor upset by this news. In fact, he remained completely composed during the man's speech as if he had been expecting these instructions for a long time.

He knew instinctively what the man was asking him to do. "You want me to ask her to marry me?"

"Precisely, Detective," the man replied before quietly rising and disappearing into the shadows.