Disclaimer Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

Normally I don't buy into this pomp and circumstance…stuff. Ask my team, I'm a pretty straightforward kinda guy. Diplomacy is not my strong suit, but I'm never gonna be accused of blowing smoke up anyone's ass either.

Usually I do my best to avoid formal functions. There's always a way out. Someone has to be on duty, or go blow something up. And so what if I happen to have an uncanny knack at being that someone.

I won't bail this time however. And seeing as this is sorta my fault, I really can't anyway. Besides, I'm kinda looking forward to it. It's not often that someone catches Carter flatfooted.

I can't wait to see the look on her face when Hammond makes his announcement. We've had the idea that this was coming for quite a while. It's not the first time her name's been up for promotion. But this time she was a shoe in.

Hammond and I have always spoken highly of her, but more so after this last year. She's been through a lot of crap in the last twelve months, first with that snake crawling into her head, then with her dad and all. Nobody'd have thought less of her had she bailed, stayed Earthside or even retired. But she didn't. She just dealt with things and moved on.

There are times when I miss that wide-eyed captain I pushed through the gate. But then I'm reminded that she's been replaced by a confident, competent officer and I couldn't be more proud. Carter, and Daniel and Teal'c are right up there with Hammond and Fraiser in that small group of people that I trust implicitly.

The Secretary stops talking and I glance at my second, standing there with a polite look on her face. Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun. My palms are sweating and I fight the urge to check my pocket and make sure the clusters are still there. I'm giving her my old ones, something I'll only admit to if she happens to ask. It's not that I'm mushy or anything but…well I'm hoping they bring her luck. Given how many times we've died or nearly died, I think we can use all the luck we can get.

Hammond starts to talk and I feel my heart start to pound. God, I hate making speeches, coming across like one of those dumb as a stump bureaucrats. But I can grin and bear it…after all, if the Captain, oops, Major can put up with me, I can sure as hell take a minute to tell everyone just how proud I am of her.

~Fin~

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