The walk from the hotel to the Jefferson Memorial along the Tidal Basis was brisk, but neither John nor Sherlock minded. It was like any other winter day in London, only sunnier.

John had noticed a thrilling phenomenon while on their trek. John had been used to always nearly running when he was with Sherlock. The taller man's long stride was about the length of one and a half of John's. Therefore, Sherlock was always slightly ahead of John and John was always rushing to keep up. But now, they walked side by side. Sherlock had slowed his pace to John's during the walk. John wasn't sure whether it had been intentional or not, but he grinned at it nonetheless as he reached out and grasped Sherlock's hand.

Sherlock started at the touch and looked down at their connected hands before he looked up at John and grinned as well. John leaned over as they walked and kissed his lover on the cheek. Their pace slowed and Sherlock wrapped his arms around John. John kissed his mouth longingly. As the kiss deepened, John thrilled at the thought that they were very openly, very publicly snogging. He thought about how Sebastian had never publicly kissed Sherlock in public before he pulled away grinning. Sherlock looked at him briefly, blinking owlishly for a moment before he turned to look at the statue of Thomas Jefferson that towered over them.

"This building was designed by John Russell Pope and built by the Philadelphia contractor John McShain. Construction of the building began in 1939 and was completed in 1943. The bronze statue of Jefferson was added in 1947. There was much controversy about so much of this memorial. It's a wonder it ever got built," Sherlock went on quickly. John recognized the nervousness for what it was, but let Sherlock continue, "Construction began on December 15, 1938 and the cornerstone was laid on November 15, 1939, by President Franklin Roosevelt. Pope had died in 1937 and his surviving partners, Daniel P. Higgins and Otto R. Eggers, took over construction of the memorial. The design was modified at the request of the Commission of Fine Arts to a more conservative design.

"Construction commenced amid significant opposition. The Commission of Fine Arts never actually approved any design for the Memorial and even published a pamphlet in 1939 opposing both the design and site of the Memorial. Many Washingtonians opposed the site because it was not aligned with L'Enfant's original plan. Many were upset because quite a few well established elm and cherry trees had to be removed for construction.

"In 1939, the Memorial Commission hosted a competition to select a sculptor for the planned statue in the center of the Memorial. They received 101 entries and chose six finalists. Of the six, Rudolph Evans was chosen as the main sculptor and Adolph A. Weinman was chosen to sculpt the pediment relief situated above the entrance.

"The Jefferson Memorial was officially dedicated by President Roosevelt on April 13, 1943, the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birthday. At that time, Evans' statue had not yet been finished due to material shortages during World War II. The statue that was installed at the time was a plaster cast of Evans' work painted to look like bronze. The finished bronze statue was finally installed in 1947, having been cast by the Roman Bronze Company of New York.

One of the last American public monuments in the Beaux-Arts tradition, the Memorial was severely criticized even as it was being built, by those who adhered to the modernist argument that dressing 20th century buildings like Greek and Roman ones constituted a 'tired architectural lie.' More than seventy years ago, Pope responded with silence to critics who dismissed him as part of an enervated architectural elite practicing 'styles that are safely dead.' As a National Memorial it was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966."

"You sound like a Wikipedia page," John said on a giggle.

Sherlock tried to give him an affronted look, but the smile behind his eyes and the blush on his cheek betrayed him.

"It does, doesn't it?" Sherlock said on a smile.

"Yes," John said, "you wouldn't even know this, normally. Normally, you would have deleted it like you did the Solar System."

"We're not going to go on about that again, are we?" Sherlock said with a grin. John smiled back. It was one of their oldest and most silly arguments.

"Not today, Sherl," he smiled as he tugged on the hand that Sherlock had not untangled from his, "Today, I just want to listen to you talk as we enjoy the city."

"There is so much here to see, John," Sherlock said sincerely, "We could spend a lifetime here and never see it all."

John grabbed Sherlock's other hand and turned him to face him.

"That sounds like a great idea."

Sherlock's eyes softened for a moment before the resolve came back into them.

"We can't, John," he said seriously, "I have to destroy the rest of Moriarty's syndicate."

"We," John said gravely. When Sherlock looked at him in askance, John said again, "We have to destroy the rest of Moriarty's syndicate…You're not alone any more, love."

Sherlock smiled slightly, "Right. We. I do like the sound of it, John."

They looked at each other silently for a moment, thoughts of what was to come running through their heads. John hoped that Sherlock truly was including him in those plans. He finally turned away from the intense grey eyes and looked out over the Potomac River Tidal Basin and the surrounding tree-lined walkways.

"I would have thought there'd be more snow," John said with a smile, "It is Christmas, after all."

"Well, from what I have observed, John," Sherlock said, returning the smile, as they began walking away from the memorial building, "this part of the country doesn't get a whole lot of 'sticking snow' until much later in the season, around mid to late January and later. But it has also been unnaturally warm for this part of the country for most of the past year, so it has been exceedingly dry. We might be lucky and get a bit of snow tonight."

"Well, I hope it waits until we're back at the hotel. It might be beautiful to watch, but I don't think either of us are really dressed for it."

"We can keep each other warm," Sherlock said with a smile as he pulled John to him and turned them down the path to the next memorial. John wrapped his arm around Sherlock's waist and hugged him tightly as they walked together, Sherlock still matching his pace.

"Yes," John said lowly, "I'm sure we can."

Yes, three, count them, THREE chapters in the same night! Don't get spoiled now! I know I've kept all my lovely readers waiting for what seems like forever and again, I apologize...I can only say that while I have been given SO many hundreds of ideas, Doc and I really have not had a whole lot of together time these past weeks...However, now that the boys are finally out of the room, Doc and I figured it was time to continue their other adventure: exploring the beautiful city of Washington, DC...

As always, love is very much welcome...as are reviews, comments, criticisms and critiques! You are loved...please return! ;-P