Well you were perfectly right, my dear --it needed to be there! I can be stingier than I should be with the sweet bits because I worry about things getting too soppy, (I went for years and years of my writing life refusing ever to use the word "heart" in any but the strictly anatomical sense, for example, and can still probably count on one hand the number of times I've allowed it.) But sometimes soppiness is required and appropriate and it allowed me to get in all kinds of important information about the state of the Watson.
Sleep-cuddling FTW! is what I'm saying.

And I'm so glad you like it. This is the one chapter I've really had severe "close eyes and press post" syndrome about. (And then "bite nails and gently mope" syndrome.) Which seems to have meant I posted it with an awful lot of mistakes. Bah. Fixed now, I hope.

>>"I shall never have had enough of anything to do with you." Yes. Exactly.

You know that conversation we were having about their future (*repeats happy-universe "No Mary! Too painful!" reassurances*) I thought it was important for him to say something that, whatever happens -- even if they were to mess things up and hurt each other before they were through -- would always be completely true. And that is! (Shut up, Doyle, we all know those "Holmes was totally alone in that Sussex cottage, no Watson, no siree" stories were lies.)

>> I can't wait to see what you write next.

Thank you very much! And...I think I've just bloody gone and had an idea while replying to comments. It would be nice to write something more adventurey, I think. But I'll have to let it brew while I bask in "OMG I actually finished it" for a while.