Know the phrase 'One-Hit Wonder'?

Describes me perfectly. *g*

I asked you guys to ask me what happens after the end of any of my stories and, of course, the only question that gets asked is 'what happens after Omiai'?

(Please don't take this as a complaint...I'm not offended or hurt. I just find it interesting that nearly two years later, Omiai is *still* the Only Thing I've Written in the larger sense of the fandom.)

Anyway, I'm willing to take that challenge on! If you recall, with The Oak Tree and the Cypress, I officially closed the Omiai-verse, so this isn't fic. It's more like the narrative outline of how I might imagine things. (But hey! If anyone wants to write it, feel free!)

This is an especially interesting exercise for me because I'm not a big planner. I've learned (through painful experience) to plot the bare bones of big stories in advance, but ultimately, I'm the Colin Mochrie of the fanfic world. Give me a prompt, give me loving feedback, and the words fly. Ask me to engineer a suspenseful and fascinating plot (with the ending known ahead of time) and I weep like a little girl. So what happened after Omiai?

Up until I wrote The Oak Tree and the Cypress, I had only the vaguest ideas. I knew Clark and Lex would remarry, but I had imagined that perhaps the Next Big Story (ha!) would be something to do with Clark becoming Superman and Lex having some part in it. I thought I might pick up the immuno-booster Krypto-vectors which were Dr. Uyeda's pet project, use them to make Clark very sick, and have the whole story from Lex's POV, trying to save him.

You'll note that this never happened.

As I said, I'm an improvisational writer, and the gimmick of the Omiai-verse -- the arranged marriage -- was over. I had no more cliches on which to riff, and the world was closed. That's why I struggled so much with writing my two codas - The Sink That Ate Christmas, and The Oak Tree and the Cypress. Writing something larger, even in a 'verse that had been insanely productive, was beyond me.

If I had to improvise what happened next, though? This is what it might look like:



Clark and Lex didn't get remarried right away, partly because Martha wouldn't approve and partly because Lex was paranoid that Clark would get cold feet, not having experienced enough of the world. According to The Sink That Ate Christmas, they married about a year after the end of Omiai, which would probably be around the middle of Clark's junior year.

Lex had big plans -- he wanted to wait until after Clark graduated, maybe even longer. But Clark got tired of waiting and in the end, they compromised and got married in November of Clark's junior year. No one wanted a big wedding, especially after the fiasco of Lionel's funeral, so things were relatively sedate, or as low-key as a billionaire's gay wedding could be.

They married in Smallville, but of course all the Metropolis media came to town anyway. Lex just happens to have a gorgeous but never-seen-on-the-show hall in the mansion, which was decked out perfectly for the wedding (including a crack security team to limit the number of paparazzi trying to get a shot of the wedding). It was a small affair, but lavishly done. Clark invited his parents, Pete, Chloe, and a handful of college friends. Lex invited his LexCorp cronies (who went on to become his top staff at LuthorCorp after the merger), including Ben the Funny Guy, but excluding Tina Greer. He also managed to convince Lucas to come, though things were strained between the two of them. (Lucas may well have been the villain in the never-to-be-aired sequel.)

Clark and Lex both wore tuxes, not matching (because that would be tacky, right, Clark?) and though Clark would have liked having Chloe up there beside him as a maid of honor, he guessed (rightly) that Lex wouldn't be very impressed. So there were no wedding attendants. They were married by Judge Ross, who did *not* refer to Clark as the bride.

Pete, however, *did* -- in his toast at the reception, which was held immediately following the ceremony.

The rehearsal dinner was at the Kent farm, and it was noisy and warm and Lex was completely ill-at-ease while Clark grinned his head off. There was a minor blow-out (according to tradition) after the dinner when Lex happened across Chloe and Clark in the barn loft. Chloe had been giving her blessing. Clark had been saying his farewells. And to Lex, it all looked very suspicious.

A short tumble in a haystack later (Chloe having safely escaped to the house), all was well again between the happy couple. But Chloe was and always will be a contentious point with Lex. After all, she was Clark's first love, even if she was the wrong gender.

Lana sent them a congratulatory bouquet on behalf of the Lionel Luthor Pride Fund (of which she was the chair). And Lois sent Clark a card which read, "*This* was the 'someone better' you were waiting for?"

Minutes before the ceremony, Martha opened the door into the room where Lex was getting ready. She didn't mean to interrupt, immediately apologizing for the intrusion. But as she backed out of the room, she noticed that Lex was hastily shoving a lead box behind a vase.

She stopped, stepping back into the room and closing the door behind her. The silence stretched between mother-in-law and son-in-law. Finally, he spoke. "I shouldn't miss him, but I do."

"My father wasn't at my wedding, either," she answered, truthfully. "Remember, when you leave one family behind you, you're joining another."

Lex's reply was abrupt, perhaps not as warm as it should have been. "How medieval," was his stilted remark, and Martha stiffened, and left in awkward silence.

Still, Lex had a compass in his breast pocket as he walked up the aisle, drawn like a magnet to his own personal true north, who was waiting for him at the front of the room.