Author's Notes: Okay, I'm going all cheesy and honeymoon-y on you now. The next one will still be just the two of them travelling, but it'll be a bit darker, so I thought I'd make it up in advance. And plus, I couldn't resist – in the time zone where I live, it's the morning of the third of July and I thought I'd give my American readers a bit of a wink.

As for that, by the way, I'm not American, so if something about the celebration is out of place, blame it on the fourteen centuries that have passed since your time. My knowledge about the Fourth of July ends with history facts and a vague idea of fireworks and everything else is the impression I've got of it from Percy Jackson and Yahoo Answers, so I hope you like it.

Day Twenty-Seven: Watching Fireworks

The sky was starless - or at least so it seemed - but that wasn't that much of a surprise. After all, it was New York in the early thirty-fourth century - the pollution was certainly not as significant as it had been in the twenty-first and yet, the lights of the city were too bright for the stars to shine down at them.

"I still can't believe it," Jack said as they made their way to Long Island through the crowd. "First of all, you've been everywhere and everywhen and you've never been in America? And second... really? We could be anywhere. You could choose the most peaceful place in the Universe, considering everything that has happened to us, and you chose New York?"

"You said it's my choice," Ianto objected indignantly, glancing sideways at Jack in disapproval. "You lost the right to judge said choice once we get out of the TARDIS, and not only because you decided it was my choice but also because the Doctor left. And plus, I've never seen the fireworks."

Jack thought that it was perhaps a good idea to introduce Ianto to television some time soon and explain to him that the Internet could be used for more than researching potential aliens and looking for suspicious people's backstories and maybe, maybe, next time they'd pick a better place than the Fourth of July to satisfy his curiosity over something that could easily be seen online. He was also well aware that Ianto would never pick some place up in the mountains or something like that; whatever he said about it, Ianto was a city boy through and through. He liked jogging in the park in the early morning and that was about as close to mother nature as he'd probably ever get, and big cities fascinated him. For all of his closed attitude to the outside world, he loved the feel of the crows around them.

And New York wascrowded, even more so right now, but they had quite some time to get to the beach they'd picked and Jack couldn't say that he didn't enjoy the walk. The lights of the city were flashing all around them and the night summer air was breezy and full of anticipation. He had never got the idea of festivities like this one, especially when they marked something that had happened so long ago – nearly two millennia now, and they were still celebrating it as if they had signed the damn thing hours ago.

They were both wearing clothes made from some recycled fabric everyone seemed to use here, and Jack felt as if he were a part of the people around them; suddenly and unexpectedly felt their presence stronger than he had ever since he'd been made immortal. He wasn't a supervisor of humanity now; he belonged here, even if it was a place and time he'd never visited before.

His hand, where it was holding Ianto's, tightened its grip and he turned his lover around so they could face each other and they both stopped in their tracks. It was the middle of the street, but nobody seemed to care – there weren't all that much cars around anymore.

"Thank you," Jack said before leaning in for a kiss – a slow and thorough, too, because he wanted Ianto to catch on to the feeling poured in it. "For all of this."

A small, pleased smile curled Ianto's lips. "I thought you didn't like the idea."

"I thought so too," Jack said warmly. "But you just always know best, don't you?"

Ianto laughed as if it were obvious. "Of course I do. Haven't you heard? I know everything."

o.O.o

The beach was just as full of people – if not even more – as the main streets of the city, only here everyone had mostly settled down for the night and there were campfires in front of every small group of people that had formed. Long Island had changed significantly since the last time Jack had been here – which, admittedly, had been in the fifties. The nineteen-fifties, too, and quite some time had passed since then. Jack looked around himself to see that the sun was just setting, several lonely fireworks already making their way to the sky, even though the major show hadn't started yet.

"You've really never seen that?" He asked curiously, turning to Ianto. "The fireworks?" They were sitting next to each other, Jack's arm over Ianto's shoulders and Ianto's around the Jack's waist as the Time Lord stared unseeingly into the water. He shook his head.

"Never. Well, I think I might have – once or twice in films – and I've visited Earth several times before, but we were in the middle of a war by that time, so I suppose they didn't have a lot of time for festivities. It would be a bit ironic, huh? Celebrating Independence Day while Daleks are trying to take over."

"Yeah. Pity that Americans don't understand irony, right?" Jack said, repeating something that Ianto had once told him. The man laughed heartily. "Where did you get that one, actually?"

"A book I read long ago," Ianto answered, toying with the straw of the cup he was holding. "I don't even remember the name. Although, there was something–"

"What?" Jack asked. Ianto was suddenly on guard and the Captain didn't like that. After all, they had purposefully picked a place and time where simply nothing could go wrong. "What is it?"

Ianto shook his head. "Never mind. Must have been mistaken. Like I said, not really important. But I thought that watching fireworks on the beach was pretty honeymoon-worthy," he continued. Jack could recognise jumping from topic to topic when he saw one, but he was pretty sure that Ianto wasn't even aware of doing it, so he didn't press the matter. "You know,'s romantic and all."

"That it is," Jack agreed softly, pressing Ianto even closer to himself just as the scenery before them – as if by command – was suddenly lit up from everywhere; millions and billions of stars lighting up the sky just for them.