Title: Committed (to the Cause)
Words: 2562
Pairing: Sara/OMC, Laurel/Oliver
Genre: Action/Romance
Status: part 1 of 2

Summary: Sara and David go missing after their engagement party and Laurel and Oliver, who have had a tempestuous relationship the past couple of months, must work the case together.

The event was Sara and David's wedding. They hadn't known each other long, but Sara told her that it was true love. And that it was important. And that they needed to be their for each other. After all, she would always be there for Laurel.

"I'll have a glass of champagne, please," She told the bartender and he smiled at her. Oliver walked up, "and a shirley temple for the lady," She said in a smarmy voice and Oliver looked amused.

He looked at the glass the bartender gave her. "Back to alcohol? Thought you were on the sober train."

"Trust me, Ollie, I'd be much more unbearable sober," She told him as she held up her drink and cheersed it to an imaginary thing. "And the last thing anyone wants is making a scene. That was always Sara's job." She said as she sipped on her champagne and looked at David and Sara who were cutting cake and being happy. "Besides Sara just hitched herself to a guy she barely dated. She doesn't even know anything about him. I've known enough heartache to know real love when I see it and those two," She said as she looked at them so happy and wonderful. "They don't have it."

"Are you sure you're not just jealous that your baby sister got the altar and to wear the wedding dress before you did?" He asked her. He could hear the spite in her voice. She didn't believe in Sara and David that much was obvious, but it seemed to go a lot deeper than that.

She narrowed her eyes at him and looked disgusted with the thought. "This is not a competition between Sara and I."

He chuckled a little. Oh, it had always been a competition and he knew it. But Sara wasn't the issue. It was about Laurel feeling like Sara always won. "So why are you keeping score?" He asked her. "She's happy. And maybe it wouldn't kill you to show a little support." He told her.

Oh he should have known better than to make it a challenge, because she got that look in her eyes like she wanted to win. "Support?" She asked him, daring him to say it again. "Oh, I'll show you support."

She used him as a steady shoulder as she climbed up on the stool she had been sitting on and he realized he probably shouldn't have challenged her. She took a fork and a full champagne glass from the next roaming waiter that came across them. And then she was clinking the glass. Oh, god.

"Ladies and gentlemen," She started and Oliver stood there shocked at what he cause, "honored guests, my name is Laurel Lance, and most of you may know me as Sara's sister, aka the maid of honor. And when Sara and I were little, we made each other a promise. We would never get married until we found our soulmates."

Sara beamed at this. "The one person in the whole world we destined to be with," Laurel continued. "Which is why you can't take a ten year old on their word," Laurel said.

"Okay, come on," Oliver said as he picked Laurel up and put her down behind him while everyone gasped, shocked and aghast at what Laurel had said. "What I think Laurel is trying to say is that you can never predict when you're going to find the one you love completely. And that David is that special someone for Sara," He said and everyone cooed. "I've known Sara the seventh grade and in all the years, the Lances have known the Queens, I have never seen Sara as happy as she is with David." Laurel rolled her eyes, but no one paid her any mind. "Congratulations to David and Sara." He turned back to Laurel. "How was that?"

Everyone loved that toast. Except Laurel. She looked back to the bar. When Oliver came back to her, he smiled. "You weren't supposed to take over. And that was lame." She told him.

"Come on, Laur." He said, giving her his hand, "We're getting you home before your father has something to say," He told her. She grudgingly gave him her hand.

Laurel woke up the next morning and unstuck her head from a leather couch and looked around as she threw back the sheet. "Oliver!" She yelled.

"Good morning, Laur." Oliver said with a smile as he handed her some coffee and aspirin, "Thought you might want these,"

She tossed the aspirin in her mouth and took a sip of coffee. She looked over to see her dress from the night before on the chair facing her. "Please tell me we didn't." She told him.

He shook his head. "It's been awhile since I've experience the Laurel Lance hungover hysterics," He told her as he took the dress off the chair and throwed it in her direction, "No, you were a big girl lawyer and got dressed all by yourself. In the kitchen, but it was your choice,"

"You know you could have taken me to my apartment. Or left me at the hotel. I would have been fine," She argued with him as he opened the blinds and let the light in and it hurt so much.

He smiled at her, a little angry. "Your father was at your apartment and I didn't think you really wanted to deal with him, drunk when you are supposed to be model AA recovery story. And I don't think Sara and David would have wanted to deal with the Katy Perry sing-a-long. God knows I didn't." He told her a little bit angry, but ultimately in good spirits.

"Oh god," She said as she realized what time it was, "Sara's gonna kill me. I was supposed to at a dress fitting this morning."

"Do you need my help?" He asked her as she put her heels on.

She shook her head, "No, Ollie, you may have held my hair, and thank you for that, but I do not need you to hold my hand. I can drive a car."

"You don't have your car here," He told her.

She looked at him, "What?" She asked.

"Hungover. Means previously too intoxicated to drive. As a lawyer would say. So I didn't let you," He told her.

She sighed, "Thank you for the ride,"

They raced to Sara's place quickly and Laurel opened the door with her key. "Sara," She called. "Sara, you know what Laurel likes to see? Not naked bodies. Clothes are good. On everyone." She said.

"David," Oliver as he looked at the bedroom. They weren't home, but the bed was covered in roses and there was champagne and light music. "I have no idea, he was so romantic," He said to Laurel.

Laurel looked in and found handcuffs. Interesting. Pink fuzzy handcuffs. She'd seen things like it before, but she hadn't seen them in relation to sara. "Guessing Franky gets a little skanky," She said as she put them on her hands.

Oliver looked back to Laurel to see what she was talking about and seeing her in the handcuffs, oh god, it wasn't good. That was definitely not good. Seeing her in the handcuffs triggered something definitely in him. Laurel was a lawyer and she'd almost never been in handcuffs, but she looked absolutely divine in those. He couldn't let her know that she was getting to him though.

Oliver saw the mail on the inside of the door that hadn't been collected. And Laurel went over to the computer and looked at the IMs and the emails. She opened a video that went loud with er obnoxious that she'd apparently IMed to Chloe. "Chalk that up to the drunken stupor," She said, and looked thoroughly embarrassed. "Ollie, look at this."

Oliver came over and looked at an email which read:

From: Starling City P.D.
To:
Subject: Car Impounded

We're looking for a Sara Lance and David Frank. Your car has been impounded for obstructing a street cleaner. You have 90 days...

"So wait, they didn't even come home last night?" He asked.

She looked at the email. "Doesn't look like it. You should call Felicity. See if she can figure out where they went."

"Right," He told her and did exactly that. "hey, Felicity, Sara and David didn't come home last night. Could you see if there was anything weird. The engagement party was last night, and that's where Laurel and I saw them last."

"How is she?" Felicity asked. "Heard there was a mishap with the speech she was giving."

He looked to Laurel who was looking through drawers and trying to find anything in the apartment that connected where Sara and David would have gone. "She's better now. She'll be the best if you can tell me where they went."

"I'll see what I can do." She told him.

He hung up the phone and looked to Laurel. "She's doing her magic. We should go back to the Cave and be there when she learns what's what."

"Right," She told him.

He took her by the shoulders. "We're gonna find them."

They went back to the foundry and smiled as they saw Diggle and Felicity typing manically on keyboards, "Please tell me we have some good news."

"Depends on your definition of good," Diggle said as he looked up at Oliver. "I've been through the recent records at the Hospital and the Police Station, they're not there."

Felicity maneouvered her chair to look at Oliver and Laurel. Laurel wasn't impressed and gave Felicity a flat look. "Right you want actual good news. And in that case, I don't have any. But I do have a pattern. About fifteen couples have gone missing in the last 8 weeks. Nothing overt connects them, except that they were engaged and had an announcement in the paper."

"Who would prey on people during the happiest time of their lives?" Laurel said as she crossed her arms and gave the papers back.

Oliver looked at Laurel, "So you agree they're happy?"

"Can we not do this now, Ollie? My sister is missing." She said to him.

Oliver looked at Laurel who clearly looked like she was taking on a lot of guilt. "Look, Laurel, it's not your fault."

"If I hadn't had too much to drink. I would have been there to stop whatever this is. I mean we called the Police. You know that they won't declare them missing for 24 hours. And I wasn't there to help them. I could have stopped this," She said as she tried desperately not to let the tears come.

Oliver grabbed her arm and looked into her eyes. "Or you could have been gone too. Right now, what matters is your safe. And that we find them. And we're going to find them." He said and looked to Felicity who turned back to her computer and desperately started working the key again.

"Oh, oh, oh, I'm good. I'm so good. You should call me, Truly McGood, because that's how good I am," Felicity said excited as she turned to them and none of them were pleased. "So I was checking out the transaction history on all of the cards. And I tracked the vendors they went through for the wedding, they all had a bunch of them in common, including," She told them. "A jewelry store. A bakery. And a wedding stationary store just to name a few."

"Can you print a list?" Laurel asked. A lead. A lead meant promise.

Felicity looked at the printer. "Done and done. You now have all the vendors in Starling City which might have something to do with this." She told them. "Nail the bad guy okay?"

"Oh, trust me," Laurel said as she drew her jacket over her. "We will."

The search did not go well. Laurel was cranky. Partly because she hadn't eaten all day. Partly because all of the couples kept asking her about how she felt being married. "If this were the last place on earth and I had a need of a pen and paper, I would not come here," She shouted at the owner and Oliver looked amused.

"You can't just yell at everyone. I know it's not in your nature to be super polite, but you're making people less willing to work with us than the should be." Oliver told her as he righted her down the street.

Laurel looked him in the eye. "My sister, your ex lover, and her fiancee are gone and could be hurt or dying or worse. and you want me to worry about polite?"

"Exactly why we need to stop wasting time," He told her.

We need answers and we are running out of parts to put in the clock. So what do you suggest we do?" She asked him. Honestly, anything was better than nothing at this point.

"You should go back to the foundry and see if Felicity has the background checks done, while I handle the rest."

Laurel shook her head. "Oh no, you're not getting rid of me. I'm in this all the way. You're coming with me. Or I'm going with you."

"Look, Laurel covering more ground might help us." He said to her. Honestly, he didn't want to see Laurel in another wedding store.

Laurel thought about it for a moment and then her face lit up. "Wait," She said. "This person. They're preying on couples. I mean they've had a fairly big pattern." She said.

"Don't you even say it Laurel," He told her.

She wasn't dissuaded though. "If we go in there like a happy couple, ready to be married, then we can have them working on us. They're bound to make a mistake eventually." She told him.

"Except no one would believe you and me as an engaged couple." He laughed a little.

She just shook her head and smirked at him. "Oliver Jonas Queen, will you marry me?" She asked him with a devious smile.

He looked less than enthused about the idea, but it wasn't a bad plan as far as hair brained plans went. "We should make sure that Diggle and Felicity know so that if we go missing, they know what's going on."

He called Felicity. "So Laurel and I are playing married for this guy. Just make sure we don't go missing." Oliver told her.

"You're kidding, right? You and Laurel are like world war III right now."

He pressed his lips into a line and sighed. "This person is preying on couples. And we can be one."

"Try not to kill each other."

"Goodbye Felicity," He told her.

Felicity Chuckled. "Congratulations on your happy engagement." She said and he clicked off.

"Okay they know." He told Laurel. "Where to next?"