AN: I really hope you all enjoy this, I've worked on it for so long and I finally finished it! Updates weekly.

The evening drive from Kansas City to Baldwin City was one spent driving on back roads over the plains. There weren't many other cars that made this journey, so Alex was mostly alone on the dark highway. He pushed the button on the steering wheel again to change the radio channel. He didn't get good cell reception out here otherwise, he would listen to the music from his phone. Unfortunately, the radio was just the half static filled sound that was either country music or pop, neither of which were his favorites. As he flipped to another channel, the radio cut out as a call came through. He saw Meredith's name light up the screen on the car dashboard and quickly hit the accept call button.

"Hey Mer. what's..."

"Jo's gone!" Meredith said in a frantic voice.

Those two words made him almost hit the break as Alex's heart stopped. "Gone, what do you mean she's gone?"

"She's missing. Link and I can't find her anywhere. She's not answering my texts or anyone else's, I've tried calling her, and she won't pick up. She didn't show up for work this afternoon, and she didn't call Carina, or Bailey or anybody else. She's just gone, Alex. She's gone!"

"Okay, okay, well, something must have caused this, right?" Alex asked as Meredith hadn't told him anything about Jo's life now. "Is there anything that's happened recently, anything that's changed? Anything that could make her want to leave?"

He could barely focus on the road ahead of him, but he kept going. He figured that the sooner he could get back to the farmhouse, the sooner he could help Meredith find Jo. His mind raced with the possibilities of what could have made her want to run. It had to have been something significant, as Jo stopped running long ago. Even when Paul showed up, she didn't run. However, that was back when he was there with her. Now she was on her own.

"I don't know," Meredith said, letting out a breath, her voice still filled with worry.

"Well, start from the beginning. When did you notice she was gone," Alex said as he picked up speed on the dark road, gripping the steering wheel tightly. Luckily, he was just a few minutes away from the farmhouse.

"When she didn't show up for work this afternoon. Link and I tried to call her, but she wouldn't pick up, so we called her boyfriend, Tom. She's been seeing him for a few weeks, but I'm sorry Alex," Meredith said with a sigh, knowing exactly what was going through his head.

"It's okay, it's good that she's moved on," Alex said, trying to convince himself that he meant what he said. "What did he say? Does he know where she could have gone? Did anything happen between the two of them?"

"No, he said that everything was fine. He said they met up at the park and had a good time together, but she left early to put Luna down for a nap."

"Luna?"

"Yeah, Luna is Jo's daughter. She officially adopted her back in August. Luna was the daughter of one of Jo's patients and a NICU baby. Jo had been looking after her since her mother died in May of last year. God, if anything happened to Luna, Jo would never forgive herself, but if anything did, they would have shown up at the hospital, not just disappeared," Meredith said, still trying to make sense of it all.

"Okay, well, did you check the Loft? Is anything missing? Jo has a folder that she keeps taped to the bottom of the cabinet behind the couch and a backpack hidden in the closet. Are those still there?" Alex asked, Jo always kept a go bag and the folder.

The emergency bag and folder had all their important documents, her Social Security card, birth certificate, medical records, food, water, clothing, and medical supplies. It used to be just her stuff, but after she proposed, Jo added all of his important documents to the folder and made a second go bag for him too. It was one of the things that made him realize that when she said she didn't want to go anywhere without him, she meant. When he left, he took his documents and left hers there. He left her there.

"I don't know, Link and I went to her penthouse, Jo's new place. It looked mostly intact, but her suitcases, some clothes, and some of Luna's stuff were missing. That's why I called you. I wanted to ask if you knew any place where Jo might go or if she had contacted you at all or just anything?" Meredith asked, seeming more desperate than before.

"No, I haven't heard from her. I'm sorry, but maybe I'll give her a call and see if she'll pick up for me," Alex said as he pulled into the driveway. Jo always picked up for him, but that was before he left her.

As he pulled into the driveway, Alex let out a sigh. He tried to rack his brain for any place that Jo would go, but all he could think of was home, Seattle. When he pulled up in front of the house, he realized there was a rental car parked in front of the garage. As he looked up at the porch, he saw a figure sitting on the porch swing with a baby in their arms. It was Jo.

"Mer, I think I found her," Alex said as he grabbed his phone and ran out of the car, his heart racing in his chest as he climbed the porch steps.

He knew it was Jo from the moment he saw her, and as he got up to the top of the steps, he paused. There she was, sitting on the porch swing and gently rocking it back and forth, holding a sleeping Luna in her arms. He remembered the night that she showed up on his doorstep after her fight with Myers. Back then, she was sitting on the porch swing, shivering in her hoodie. Just like she was now.

Just like she had that night, Jo was staring straight ahead. He could only see half her face, but as she turned to look at him, her eyes full of tears, and he saw the bruises on her cheek. They were starting to form in back patches along her cheekbone and she had a split and bloody lip.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go," Jo said as the tears started to fall again. She looked away from him and down at Luna as she held her closer.

"Alex, Alex," Meredith yelled into his ear as he didn't realize he was still holding the phone.

"I found her, Meredith. Jo's here in Kansas," Alex said as he slowly walked over to her. She refused to meet his eye again as she held her hand over her face and cried.

"Is she alright? Is Luna with her? Are they okay?" Meredith asked, as panicked as she was when she first called him.

"Jo, what happened?" Alex said as he kneeled down in front of her, he reached out and put his hand on her knee as Jo just shook her head.

"I was so careful. I thought he was good, but he wasn't. I didn't think, I didn't think it would happen again," Jo said as she just sobbed even harder.

"Mer. Jo and Luna are safe with me, but I gotta go. I'm going to take care of them, I promise, but whoever Tom is… he needs to be in jail," Alex said as Jo finally looked up, her eyes were still brimming with tears, but she nodded.