Another reason I believe IMHO that TPS is expecting to get Gabriel back (as a Foster Child - hey, why not make a little money from the state on it?) is something else that has been bothering me.
TPS, if I recall correctly, admitted that she was looking up getting a new ID and SSN on her computer - and claimed it was because EJ wanted to disappear. If EJ is as intelligent as her family claims, why couldn't SHE look up that info on the computer herself? IMHO, TPS is the one who wanted EJ to disappear, so that EJ wouldn't be around by the time the dust settled and TPS had Gabriel in her own care. Because if EJ was still around, TPS couldn't take a chance that she would recognize Gabriel.
Here's my personal theory on the case from the start. It all began long before EJ came into the picture. TPS's adopted daughter started asking for a baby brother or sister. Since there were no other family members that TPS could get a baby from, she asked her adoption contact in TN to hook her up with gray market adoption groups, which the friend did.
When TPS learned how expensive it was to go that route, she started looking for other options. She joined groups (like the LDS group), posted on surrogate mom sites, etc., as well as keeping her eyes open in public for struggling young mothers that she could convince to give up her baby.
TPS found the perfect mark in EJ. TPS tried to convince EJ at the airport that if she really loved her baby but couldn't take care of him, she should give him up for adoption. Oh, and by the way, I'm looking to adopt a baby myself, so let's talk.
EJ thought it would be a way out of her troubles - her only hitch was to get LM to give up his parental rights. TPS told her that she could convince him. When TPS realized he wasn't going to be easy to convince, she had to come up with a more devious plan. TPS hammered into EJ that if LM was such an abusive boyfriend (a story EITHER started by EJ or put into EJ's head by TPS to get leverage with EJ), he would eventually hurt the baby as well, so they had to go to Plan B.
In Plan B, EJ skips town with the baby, and TPS convinces LM to sign away his rights (because the papers won't be legal anyway, don't you know) in order for EJ to bring the baby back. And since the most important thing was to keep the baby safe, Plan C was already planned as a contingency - only TPS's Plan C differed from EJ's.
EJ's Plan C was to adopt the baby out into the gray market and then disappear. After all, his safety was the most important thing, right? Oh, and since she already had contacts, TPS told EJ not to worry, that she'd set up the whole thing for her.
However, TPS's Plan C was for the baby to be "adopted" by a couple that SHE arranged to take him into hiding, so that she could ensure that TPS would end up with Gabriel at the end of it all. TPS had to make sure that EJ would never come back, and told her how to get a new identity so she could disappear and never return to see that Gabriel made his way eventually back to TPS.
When EJ got to SA, she posted that her "bubba was starting to crawl" as code to TPS that she arrived safely and was ready to start Plan B. When TPS realized that Plan B wasn't going to work with LM, she called EJ at the hotel, which the babysitter overheard. When EJ asked "what am I supposed to do, bring him back?", TPS told her that Plan C was activated and be ready to hand the baby off.
The handoff took place, but to try to keep LM from looking for Gabriel, EJ told him that she killed the baby and threw him in the garbage in the green diaper bag (TPS's story she concocted to try and avoid any searches for him). EJ deliberately left all of Gabriel's things EXCEPT the diaper bag in the room, so it would appear that her story was true. EJ then took off, with her new identity, thinking that she would never see or hear from her son again. Her downfall would be gloating on her facebook about her new life, not realizing that LE would track her down that way.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Gabriel has been handed off to the couple TPS arranged to take him. They go into hiding, waiting for some kind of sign (media signal, particular facebook posting, etc) that it was safe to bring him back. TPS goes public to try and get the story out quickly, so that it would die down quicker and she would get her baby boy back again. But things backfired, and the more TPS appeared in the media, the more her story changed, finally making her a person of interest. With being such a moral, Christian woman (as she touts herself to be), TPS figured EVERYONE would believe her and not consider that she was involved in any way.
TPS never gets upset about Gabriel being missing because SHE knows WHO has him, although not where he is. EJ doesn't even know WHO has him, since TPS set everything up, and isn't aware that the plan all along was for TPS to get Gabriel back in the end - only under a new name and identity.
So the couple who have Gabriel are in hiding, unaware of what's going on with TPS. I think if they knew that TPS has been "caught" by LE for her involvement, they would give Gabriel to someone to take to the police so that they wouldn't be found to be involved, if they can be linked to TPS. I suspect that they are just taking care of Gabriel, waiting for the sign to come from TPS to bring him back to her.
Anyway, that's my personal theory of the case. I don't know if any of it could be corroborated by sightings, timelines, etc. Just my two cents. :twocents: