Sometime later
Angel noticed a copy of a newspaper from Port Charles, New York, had been left on his desk. The frontpage headline read "Arms Dealer Dies In Drug Bust" and included a picture of Kellie.
Angel's jaw dropped as he read the article about Ethan being shot by the PI he had been blackmailing after he and his men had opened fire on the Port Charles Police Department attempting to arrest him for trying to make a deal to ship drugs with alleged crime boss, Sonny Corinthos.
"Is that Kellie?" Cordelia asked seeing the front page when Angel flipped to the inside pages to finish the story.
"It is and that icky stalker?" Cordelia said, taking the paper from Angel.
"I wasn't done reading that," Angel said
"You weren't reading fast enough," Cordelia said, "Oh my god. I know we were hoping for jail time. But you know dead means he really can't bother her ever again. Ooh and look here, it says the case against Ethan was built based on tips and information one Kellie Riley Corinthos….Corinthos why do I know that name?…it will come to me…. But look our plan to have Willow go computer hacking worked…brilliantly….I might add….oh shut up."
Cordelia was speechless for moment and then tried to speak…"She…she….she….."
"She what?" Gunn asked, walking in, "And which she are we talking about?"
"The brunette with a penchant for guns, knives, and threatening the people trying to help her," Angel said.
"Oh, Kellie with the stalker that Lorne wouldn't let you threaten him as a vampire," Gunn said, "Did we finally get news about what happened to her once Oz dropped her off in New York?"
"Her father is freakin' Michael 'Sonny' Corinthos!" Cordelia finally blurted out, "The whole time she's supposedly all alone and she has the godfather of the east coast as her father. She had access to professional hitmen the entire time."
"In all fairness, I didn't get the impression Miss Kellie had ever had contact with her father during her brief stay with us," Wesley said, browsing through an old journal as they talked, "And perhaps that wasn't how she wanted things handled."
"And he's still dead," Cordelia said, "Some of the details on this bust are sketchy. But I guarantee you, some part of her hoped setting that freak up to be arrested would result in exactly this outcome, him six feet under. Her hands are clean."
"She's got you there, Wes," Angel said, "Kellie had some pretty brazen and bold plans. I wouldn't put it past her. Wait, you've already read the paper, Wesley."
"Lorne gave it to me when I was the club last night," Wesley said.
"Figures Lorne would have a bead on whatever newspaper would turn up information on her," Gunn said.
"And she got shot and left the hospital without telling anyone," Cordelia said.
"And that surprises you with how sore she was when she came here and tried to leave multiple times," Angel said.
"That's not entirely true," Wesley said, "Police and the D.A. are able to contact her. She just doesn't want to be found."
"Or doesn't want anything to do with her father," Gunn said, "I thought maybe she knew who he was and chose not to tell him she existed."
"So coincidence that she ended up in Port Charles with her father or did she finally seek him out to get help?" Angel asked.
"Or did her resident baddie nudge her into Port Charles?" Gunn said, "Thinking he could use Kellie to try to and take over her father's territory."
"Damn," Cordelia said, "She was in Port Charles for awhile before it came out who her father was. Questions were raised after she donated blood to her half-brother who was stabbed by Ethan. Blood bank was low on his blood type and she was the only match at the time."
"Exactly as I thought. I knew I'd run across the town of Port Charles at some point," Wesley interrupted absent-mindedly.
"Is that a watcher's journal?" Angel asked.
"Not officially," Wesley said, "Several years ago, Port Charles had a vampire terrorize some of the town, Caleb Morley also known as Stephen Clay."
"The rock star?" Cordelia asked, "He's a vampire? Figures. Whatever happened to him. He just kind of dropped off the face of the earth."
"Was. Long story short the Watcher's Council intervened in some obscure fashion," Wesley said, "He was attracting a lot of attention and a family of vampire hunters killed him, but then he was brought back when a vampire hunter was resurrected to bring balance. Anyway, vampires are gone, but I'm not entirely sure what happened there when Caleb and his wife disappeared from Port Charles."
"I guess it's a good thing we gave Kellie a stake then," Angel said, "I assume a slayer before Buffy was in Port Charles."
"Uh no," Wesley said, "There were no official slayers in Port Charles. Though the Kovich family, the vampire hunters, males and females, call themselves slayers."
"Say what again?" Cordelia said, "isn't it one girl….."
"Yes," Wesley said, "Records say this Kovich family somehow got their own powers to fight vampires that is passed on through the family. We have yet to determine the source of that power. They just happened to call themselves vampire slayers. They're not under the watcher's council, but we kept on eye on the town. Lots of strange things, an attempt to freeze the world, rumors of a space alien, lots of people back from the dead, high instances of twins separated at birth and cases of amnesia, and an unusual numbers of psychos and sociopaths."
"Some of kind mystical hot spot?" Gunn asked.
"Undetermined," Wesley said, "Some of those psychos and sociopaths are why the Watcher's council keeps an eye on that town. If they found out about vampires…."
"They'd be trying to make themselves vampires or utilize other dark magic," Angel said.
"Precisely," Wesley said, "No wonder the powers that be gave Lorne a strong premonition or warning when he read her to keep any assistance to Kellie strictly human."
"Might also explain why he got such a good read on her without her singing," Gunn said.
"Anyone else think, we should go check out this Port Charles," Cordelia said.
"Not on your life," Lorne said as he joined them.
"Ah come on," Cordelia said, "She solved the problem herself basically and…"
"And nothing," Lorne said, "It'll have to be enough that Nightingale is free of that lunatic. You all have to accept that our paths and hers have separated."
"Lorne has a point," Gunn said, "She hasn't contacted us since she left. When she and Oz parted ways, nothing."
"If she wanted to reach back out she would," Wesley said, "I don't think she wants to. She honestly has enough on her plate without throwing vampires, werewolves, and other creatures into the mix."
"She could have at least sent a thank you note or something?" Cordelia said as Fred came in with the mail, which included a package.
"I'll take that," Cordelia said, grabbing the package from Fred and looking at the shipping labels, "Do we know anybody in Canada? It's marked to Angel Investigations. No return sender on the label."
"Just open it and see." Gunn said.
"Here you open it," Cordelia said handing the package to Angel, "In case it's cursed or something."
"Thanks," Angel mumbled, opening the package.
"Well what is it," Cordelia asked.
"There's your thank you note," Angel said, handing Cordelia a postcard from Niagara Falls.
"Thanks for the help, signed KC," Cordelia read.
"Going by Corinthos now," Lorne said, "Interesting choice. Anything else in the box?"
Several stacks of hundred dollar bills," Angel said, "And she returned the stake I made her take when she left."
"Wait, she paid us," Cordelia said, "Yes!"
"Should we send the stake back to her," Gunn said, "She might need it one day if she ends up back in Port Charles from what Wesley said."
Lorne shook his head, "Give it back to her if you happen to run into her again."
"You just said our paths and hers separated," Angel said.
"Right now, yes," Lorne said, "Doesn't mean they couldn't cross again in the future."
The End
Author's Note: Happy Halloween! Thank you for reading. It certainly was interesting to write this story knowing Angel, Cordelia, and the rest of the Angel Investigations couldn't actually solve her problem at that time and then also end up with Kellie mostly unaware that vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural beings exist. There are a couple of other plot bunnies rolling around in my brain with the potential to write a couple of follow ups to this in the future. So the possibility is there. Anyway, hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween.