A/n: There's something about cheesy ABCFamily shows that just pulls me in. I don't know what it is really. I think Gabi and Josh are sweet and adorable.

Gabi wasn't the only one that could pack up and leave. He was a self employed millionaire, he could damn well take off whenever he wanted. He hated that she had a good reason for abandoning him, a good reason for still keeping him at arm's distance when she came back. He hated that he couldn't be mad at her, not really. More than that, he hated that he didn't love her any less now than in those bliss filled moments of ignorance before he'd gotten her soul crushing voicemail.

At first he told himself it was only a short visit to see his mother, that he would make it a long weekend, spend a few nights in his childhood bedroom and look up a few friends from high school. He was kind of a legend there, it would be salve for his wounded ego.

He dropped in on his mother, surprising her in the kitchen. The smell of cinnamon hanging in the air had transported him back to age five, sitting on the counter as she rolled out her snicker doodles. He'd never talked much about his mother with anyone, although Gabi had managed to pry loose a few accidental remarks, usually in the middle of feeding him some intensely caloric and delicious thing. His mother's specialty was anything and everything baked, and Gabi was the only person who ever came close to replicating the taste of home his mother was able to create. It was no surprise to anyone that he was an adorably tubby kid, double fisting muffins and sneaking into the cookie jar when no one was looking.

When he walked through the back door (not the front door, that was for guests and holidays) his mother dropped her flour covered hands to her apron in surprise, absentmindedly using the red checked material to wipe them off. The motion was familiar and so simple, a twinge of sadness zipping through him as he stepped into her eager embrace.

"Josh! It's so good to see you. What are you doing here?"

Relief coursed through him when he heard the greeting. Today was a lucid day, or so it seemed. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled at him, full recognition in her features. He needed her to be present today, and thanked God she was. He gave her a squeeze, wanting desperately to pour out his heart, to cry tears of lonely frustration on her shoulder. Instead he pasted a fake smile on his face, unable to infuse his voice with real happiness. "I just missed you... missed this."

He gestured to their surroundings, taking in the warm glow of the yellow lights in the kitchen, the sound of music drifting in through doors to the living room. She listened to show tunes when no one was around, singing at full volume and twirling around in her socks as her voice warbled along with the recording.

Her eyes narrowed at the wistful tone in his voice. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, he knew that. Trying again, he cleared his throat. "I just had to get away from the insanity of the city... the coast... California is just so... exhausting."

In a way it was true. At heart Josh was a midwestern boy, liking the quiet empty streets of his hometown more than the bells and whistles of the street cars in San Fran. He'd spent hours and hours sitting in his room writing code, hacking into databases for fun. The quiet serenity of his cramped bedroom was a pleasant environment to work in, one that he couldn't seem to recreate in his penthouse. His life had taken him so far away, and it felt good to be here, like a warm blanket draped across his shoulders as he sipped on hot chocolate.

His quiet answer didn't satisfy Beth Kaminski though. She simply reached up and brushed the hair back from his forehead, taking a good look at her boy. "I have a fresh batch of muffins about to come out, a test run for the Christmas baskets in making this year." She pulled a chair out from the kitchen table. "We'll have a tasting... and you can tell me all about her."

Josh looked around. She was cooking, alone? The oven was set to three hundred and fifty degrees, a little light bulb inside illuminating the sugar crystals forming on the tops of her muffins. His eyes flicked up to the digital readout, relaxing a tiny bit at the sight of the timer ticking away. "Where's Mrs. Peters?"

The live-in nurse was supposed to be here at all times, in case his mother got confused, in case she couldn't remember which medicines she'd taken. He paid Andrea Peters, and well he might add, to make sure his mother stayed safe and happy.

"She's in the garden, pulling weeds."

His shoulders dropped, tension flowing out. He'd been spoiling for an argument, something to rail about so he could forget the anguish pulling at him from all angles. Instead he sat down in the chair, looking at his mother rather sheepishly.

Of course she knew something was up, she'd been so inquisitive when he'd told her about breaking things off with Caroline. Too inquisitive, really. She'd never shown an interest in the aloof beauty before. He'd decided not to mention Gabi then, for fear that she could read his thoughts on the sound of his voice. But now it was different, there was nothing to lose, nothing to gain. It just was. And he needed to get it all out in the open.

"She's the most amazing person, all sunshine and optimism, and so so full of love for everyone around her." He smiled, unable to keep the warmth from pooling in his stomach, spreading out through his limbs like heated honey. "But she's a total disaster, stumbling blindly through life, dragging everyone around her into these ridiculous situations. She makes my life... She makes it feel like everything's in high def, colors are brighter, food tastes better..."

His mom was frowning now, the corners of her carefully painted mouth pulling down in confusion. "Then what's the problem, Josh?"

"I'd do anything for her, and I mean anything."

"That's a problem?"

He sighed, running his fingers through his hair until it was standing on end. "She has big dreams, things she's thought about since she was little, things that I could probably hand to her on a silver platter with as little as a few phone calls."

Understanding finally dawned on the older woman. She nodded sadly. "But she would hate that."

"Yeah."

"And you can't not help her?"

"I just want her to be happy. Why can't she see that? She'd have everything she ever wanted. Is that such a bad thing?"

"Josh, sweetheart, I love you but sometimes you're an idiot."

Gabi's first though when she walked into Josh's apartment, was that something was not quite right. The lights in the living room were off, no rustling sound of other people milling around going about their morning. It was still and silent, and more than a little unsettling.

Her heels clicked on the tile of the kitchen, echoing strangely in the quiet. She could even hear the ticking of the clock on the wall, each second passing with an audible click. Dropping her bag on the floor, she reached for the ipad on the kitchen counter, unlocking it with the deft swipe of two fingers.

Josh's breakfast order was nowhere to be found, the message screen a glowing white expanse. She'd gotten so used to him using the thing to send her thank you notes and various non-food related anecdotes, that her heart sank when there was nothing.

She pulled out her phone, to see if she was somehow missing something integral, but it was still dead. She heard a faint noise coming from upstairs. Someone was singing, off key, to Alanis Morrisette, voice cracking on the higher notes. It was definitely not Josh.

Her feet carried her up the steps, two at time, before she could even think about what she was doing, the sound getting louder the closer she got to Josh's bedroom.

The music seemed to be coming from Josh's bathroom specifically, the caterwauling singer getting louder as the song reached its peak. Looking around for a weapon, Gabi snatched up one of Josh's umbrellas before cautiously pushing the bathroom door open a crack and peering in.

There was someone in the jacuzzi tub, filled to the brim with foamy bubbles. Feeling brave she lunged into the room, umbrella held up for protection.

She was greeted by a blood curdling scream and the sopping wet slap of a loofah hitting her right in the face. It was quickly followed by shampoo bottles and bars of soap flying through the air, most of them thudding harmlessly in the floor in front of her.

"What the hell are you doing here! Get out, get out, get out!"

"Elliot?"

He glared at her, readjusting the bubbles for maximum coverage. "Yes Elliot." He gestured at her, talking to himself. "It can see... If only it knew how to knock."

She dropped the umbrella, confusion replacing the fear on her face. Wiping away the errant bubbles, she asked, "Where's Josh?"

"You didn't get his email?"

Suddenly Gabi was sheepish. "Well, uh, you see my phone was dead and I couldn't find my charger, and I kind of maybe don't have internet at home because I forgot to pay-"

"Oh my god, I don't care about your day to day failure at adulthood." He rolled his eyes, weighing bath beads in his heads as though he were contemplating throwing them at her too. "Josh went to see his mom, he won't be back until next week. I'm house sitting, and unless you're going to make me french toast, your services are not required."

"His mom?" Filled with frank curiosity, she took a step toward the tub. Josh almost never spoke about her, and when he did there was always a wistfully nostalgic tone to his voice, almost the same as when she spoke of her own mother. It kind of broke her heart, but she knew not to pry about things like this.

Elliot threw his hand but, halting her forward motion. "Not an inch closer!"

She rolled her eyes, spinning in her heel to leave. Hand on the doorknob, she paused, "Who takes a bubble bath at eight in the morning?"

"GET OUT!"

It only took three days of Josh not responding to her texts for Gabi to starting googling him… deep googling. Someone had scrubbed the internet clean of any background information. Undergrad was as far back as she could go, and it was there that she found a tiny blurb in a school newspaper that mentioned his hometown. Some blink-and-you-miss-it little community two hours outside of Chicago.

And yet, there still wasn't any concrete information that this is where his mother actually lived now. She pulled up google maps, just out of curiosity, to see how long the drive from San Francisco to Chicago was. Her eyes widened at the screen. Shit… over two thousand miles. Driving out there on a whim was not an option.

Another two days passed before she was pricing plane tickets… just pricing… she didn't actually have five hundred dollars laying around. All of this was just enough to distract her from what she really wanted to think about. Why had he left? It couldn't be because of her. They were on seemingly good terms the last time they'd spoken, a bit awkward, but in a good place.

She frowned, tapping at the keyboard absentmindedly. Maybe it was odd that Josh was able to go from absolutely crushed to acceptance in such short conversation. The days after had been hectic and too full of tasks to really stop and talk. They'd existed in each other's space, but barely interacted. Had she been oblivious?

The front door to her apartment, Sophia nearly kicking it down as she struggled with her bags. "A little help, Gabi?"

Gabi snatched up a few of the falling bags. "What is all of this stuff?"

"Um… groceries… hello?" She swung a canvas tote filled with apples in Gabi's general direction. "You said you'd help make pies for the charity bake sale at my new firm."

Gabi set her bags down with a thunk on the kitchen counter. "Oooh, right, right… I forgot."

"Gabi, what is with you? I've been talking about this all week. I need to make a good first impression with these people."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I'll get right on it."

Sophia, stopped, slowly putting down the rest of her bags. "Is something wrong?"

Gabi bit her bottom lip, wondering how much she should tell her friend. "Josh is gone."

"Yeah.. vacation.. so what?"

"I don't think it's a vacation. I think he ran away."

"Um, what now? Can you repeat that?"

"He ran away, from… me."

"That's a little dramatic, even coming from you."

"He won't answer my texts, or my emails. It's like he dropped off the face of the planet, except he hasn't. Elliot still talks to him almost every day. Which I know, because the psychotic little publicist likes to text me and rub it in my face." She was wringing her hands now, beginning to pace back and forth. Her worry was spiraling. "What if he never comes back? What if he moves to Chicago and creates another startup there? I'm sure he'll find a new personal chef. Chicago is crawling with chefs! Sophia, what the hell am I gonna do?"

"Alright, calm down, jesus. You're like a runaway freight train sometimes."

Stopping abruptly, she turned to Sophia, a bright smile spreading across her face. "That's it! Soso Rodriguez, you're a genius!"

Sophia narrowed her eyes, approaching her excited roommate slowly. "What?... I mean, I know I am, but… why exactly do you think so at this very moment?"

"Because… I can't drive to Chicago, it's like a million miles, and plane tickets are outrageously expensive… but I know I can get a round trip train ticket for a reasonable price."

"You're not going to Chicago. You don't even know where he's at. I have pies you need to make!"

Gabi was already on the computer, happily clicking away. "Don't worry. My train doesn't leave until Monday… I have plenty of time to make your pies, and torture Elliot until he gives me Josh's mom's address."