While at the Brady Pub, Rafe realized he and Arianna were being watched. However, they were both shocked when they discovered just who was watching them – Gabriela, their younger sister. “Gabi” explained that their mother had sent her to Salem to check in on her siblings who seldom phoned home.
Although Rafe was happy to see Gabi, Arianna was hesitant to let her stay when Gabi announced she’d be visiting for an extended period while on winter break from school. She also mentioned their mother was visiting their grandmother for the holidays and wouldn’t be at home to care for her. Rafe didn’t want her to be alone and, with a little coaxing, Arianna set Gabi up in a vacant room above the Brady Pub.
Gabi made quick friends with the other teens in Salem. She also became smitten with Chad Petersen-Woods. They soon began to date, but Chad abruptly ended things when his ex-girlfriend, Mia, told him that she wanted to get back together. Gabi was upset by the breakup, but remained focus on school, her part-time job at the Brady Pub, and keeping up with her siblings’ hectic lives. Over time, Gabi formed a close friendship with Will Horton and even went to a Salem High formal as his date.
In the fall of 2010, Gabi was devastated when Arianna was killed by a hit-and-run driver. She leaned on Will for support, but was shocked to find out that a distraught Arianna had ran into the street after a fight with him. Will explained his actions and they quickly patched up their friendship. Soon afterwards, they shared their first kiss. As their relationship slowly blossomed, Gabi was there to support Will when his brother, Johnny, was diagnosed with cancer.
Will and Gabi's relationship continued to go well and they decided to take their relationship to the next level after graduation. The two spent the night together. But, soon after Will became distant. Gabi tried many times to get Will to sleep with her again, but she sensed that something was different in their relationship. She finally made the decision to end their relationship in the fall of 2011.
To take her mind off the break-up, Gabi took a job as a receptionist at Quinn's Intensity Day Spa. She also began to have feelings for her ex, Chad; and proceeded to try to break up Chad and Melanie.
First, Gabi came up with a story about a stalker following her and leaving her threatening notes. Worried for her safety, Chad insisted that Gabi stay with him for a while. Eventually, Melanie and Abigail started asking Gabi questions about her "stalker" so Gabi stepped up her scheme.
Second, Gabi hired a guy named Andrew to pretend to be her stalker. He "attacked" her in public where Chad could see it. Her plan worked well. But, soon Andrew wanted to step it up and planted a rat in Gabi's food. Worried that he was going to far, Gabi told Andrew to pull back. But, he didn't listen.
Andrew kidnapped Melanie and kept her captive in his basement. He brought her food, but would not let her escape. He wore a mask each time he was around her. Gabi found out about and was upset. But, when Andrew promised to release Melanie after Gabi earned Chad's love, Gabi agreed to stay quiet.
Andrew sent an email to Chad from Mel's phone saying that she was going to visit her mom in Europe. Chad didn't think much of it. But, when Melanie didn't return Chad's calls, he got worried. Chad soon discovered that Mel didn't go to Europe. The police began looking for Melanie. They tracked her to Andrew's house. But, Gabi warned Andrew that the police were coming. So, Andrew hid with Melanie under the tunnels of Salem. When the police arrived and his house, Gabi faked like she had been drugged and the police assumed that Gabi was a victim too.
Melanie was able to get hold of Andrew's phone and call Chad. Gabi was standing right next to him and encouraged him to go down and look for her while she called the cops. Chad agreed. But, rather than call the police, Gabi went searching for Andrew too. She found him and Melanie first. Just as Andrew was going to tell Melanie about Gabi's involvement with the scheme, there was a huge explosion in the tunnels. Andrew seemed to get away. Melanie and Gabi were eventually connected with Chad and Brady and the four made it out of the tunnels.
Andrew was retrieved and brought to the hospital. With his dying breath, he promised Gabi that Chad would find out what she did. Chad overheard the conversation and ripped into Gabi. He didn't want to burden Melanie with the news that Gabi betrayed her, but he told Gabi to move out of the country and leave them alone.
Feeling sorry for herself, Gabi ended up meeting up with an equally-depressed, Will. The two ended up sleeping together. But, both agreed that it was a mistake the next morning. Chad continued to remind Gabi that she would pay, but never went to the police.
Gabi moved on when she met Nick Fallon, who Caroline had given a job at the Brady pub. Gabi and Nick started dating, making Chad even more mad, as Nick had previously kidnapped and stalked Melanie. One night, Chad saw Nick with Melanie's scarf and assumed he'd hurt Melanie again, so Chad assaulted Nick. Gabi broke it up and took Nick to the hospital.
Gabi had confided some of her misdeeds to Nick, so in an attempt to keep Chad from harassing her further, Nick made a deal with Chad- Nick wouldn't go to the police about Chad's assault, if Chad wouldn't go to the police about Gabi's involvement in Melanie's kidnapping. Gabi thought that she was in the clear and looked forward to a happy future with Nick.
However, when Gabi fainted one day at work, Nick rushed her to the hospital. Gabi found out that she was three months pregnant. Knowing that the baby couldn't be Nick's, Gabi told Will that he was the father of the baby. Will and Gabi discussed their various options including marriage, adoption, and abortion. Will told Gabi that he would support any decision that she made. Gabi decided that she wanted to get an abortion.
The two of them did not have enough money on them for the abortion, but Will was able to acquire the money through no-questions-asked loans from Lucas and Sonny. Will drove Gabi to the clinic, but she did not go through with the abortion. Rafe and Sami discovered that Gabi was pregnant, but assumed that Gabi's boyfriend, Nick, was the father.
Nick presented Gabi with a proposal -- marry him and keep letting everyone think that he is the father of the baby. Gabi agreed and the two of them convinced Will that this was the best move for everyone. As soon as Will agreed, Gabi and Nick went forward with their wedding plans, with Sami stepping in as their wedding planner.
But on the day of their wedding, Chad exposed Gabi's secret -- that Nick was not the father of Gabi's baby. Will, reluctantly, admitted that he was the father. Sami was furious with Gabi. Rafe was angry with Will. And Nick was worried that his plan to keep gay Will out of the baby's life was now in jeopardy. So, while Gabi worried about her secret getting out, Nick hatched a plan.
He had overheard Lucas scream at Will, "I went to jail for you!" Nick began investigating why Lucas had been in prison. Nick also planted a transmitting and recording device on Will, then sent a text to Lucas prompting the two to have a conversation where Nick found out that Will was the one who shot E.J. in 2007 and the police still had evidence of it in their evidence room.
Nick had papers drawn up for Will to sign that would release all parental rights to Gabi's baby and just waited for the right time. That time came when Gabi started having labor pains while talking to Sami. Gabi and the baby were fine, and despite Kayla saying that dehydration contributed to her labor pains, Nick used Sami's temper as an excuse to set his plan into motion. Without Gabi knowing the details, Nick blackmailed Will into signing away any paternal rights to Gabi's baby.
Later that same day, Nick went to Gabi and asked her to marry him. The two were married two days later in the Horton living room. A few days later, Gabi found out that Will had signed his rights away. Nick explained to Gabi that Will was doing what was right to keep Sami away from the baby. Gabi agreed and looked forward to a happy life with Nick, though she did wish that he would open up to her more about his time in prison.
