He knew he wasn't really supposed to be out on his own, given his condition still wasn't great, but Jesus decided to take a walk along the beach to help clear his head. He had dodged a bullet with Emma. After he rejected her in anger at Ana's engagement party he regretted it instantly. He had known Emma for so long. Everything was set up so perfectly, they started out as friends but they had always had feelings for each other. Plus, Marianna adored her and the two of them were best friends, that was super important to him considering how much he cared for his sister. And after Emma was so attentive to him when he got his TBI he knew she had to be the one for him. I mean that's what it was always like in the movies right? They always overcome obstacles and then end up together in the end. They had to be destined for each other. But he had ruined it all that night when he shared his true feelings of wanting to be with her forever. He was angry because she didn't feel the same. He was still mad about that. Why didn't she? She was supposed to be his soulmate. Wasn't she supposed to love him as much as he loved her? Nevertheless, he knew he couldn't be without her, so when he got the chance to talk to her at prom he lied and told her exactly what she wanted to hear. That would at least keep her with him until he got his head fixed and he was back to being himself again. He looked out over the beach and thought about love. It had been so easy to have it before his TBI. Now that he was deemed "broken" by everyone he knew it was a lot harder to keep that love. Everyone was just waiting for the old Jesus to come back. But what if he never did? What if Nick had killed the old Jesus and this is the closest anyone would ever get to him again? He tried to concentrate on the distant sounds of the waves crashing against the sand and he took a deep breath. Why does love always have to be so hard for me? He thought. Why am I never good enough for the girls I like? Why do I always have to fight to keep the hearts of those I love? Am I just destined to be alone? He looks up at the sky and sends up a little prayer. Please, if I'm destined to be alone then fine, let me live alone and broken. It's better than worthlessly fighting for something I know I'll never have. But, on the off chance that you do have me being in love with someone forever in your plan for me, whether that be Emma or someone else, please, I'm begging you please send me a sign!

Jesus was roughly interrupted from his silent prayer when a girl crashed into him. He stumbled a bit, but thankfully this girl wasn't really that big so she didn't have enough force to push over the larger teen. He looked down at the girl who had run into him and met her gaze. She had creamy peach skin with light blonde hair that was pulled into a side braid and she looked up at him shyly from where she was pressed against his chest with the brightest blue gaze he had ever seen. He never thought he would see a shade of blue that matched the sky so perfectly. He thought only Emma's blue eyes could shine so brightly, but this girl's eyes had hers beat. He gently held her in his arms and realized she was a rather skinny girl. She wasn't all skin and bones but she also didn't have that much meat on her either. She wore a loose blue long sleeve t-shirt and with the sleeves white. On the front in blue letters was the number 49 written in the same style as a jersey but the shirt she was wearing wasn't a jersey. She wore blue jeans, white converse, and had a medium sized pink backpack on. She was about the same size as Marianna, but maybe a little shorter and looked around the same age as him and his sister. The pink blush on her cheeks increased as the two of them stared at each other longer and neither of them made a move to move.

"S-sorry." They both say and move to the right together, attempting to pull apart but only causing them to still be in the same position but now a step to the right. Both of them had their faces heating up now.

"It's fine-" They both say and move together to the left, again, leaving their position unchanged.

Jesus smiled, starting to become very amused by this predicament. His smile must have been contagious because the girl pressed up against him smiled too.

"I'll just-uh." He says and backs up but at the same time she moves forward.

He takes a step forward and she moves back. They both look at each other and laugh. Finally she took a step back and so did he and they both pulled apart, ending the awkward surprise physical contact.

"Sorry about running into you and...everything after." The girl says and nervously plays with her braid. "I have ADHD so...y'know, awkward." She says and laughs nervously.

"It's a-alright." He tells her with some slight difficulty and plays with his thumbs. "I've got it to, and something else but uh...I get it." He says and smiles at her and shrugs. "You off to school?" He asks, pointing at her backpack.

"Uh, yeah." She says and smiles confidently.

He smiles confidently, crosses his arms over his chest and informs her "That must suck, having to start class at 4:30 in the afternoon?" Her smile falls and she seems nervous.

"I-I uh meant I'm coming back from school." She responds in a slightly unsure tone.

"You sure about that?" He asks and she sighs and her shoulders drop and she stares at the ground.

She hears a whistle blow and she suddenly perks up and turns around, on high alert like a gazelle that was about to be charged down by a lion. But there was no one behind her.

"Whoa calm down, just the lifeguard." He tells her. "You're at the beach."

"Oh yeah...right." She says and smiles at him.

"You okay?" He asks.

"I-I'm fine." She says then takes a few quick steps forward and gets behind him. Jesus turns to face her. "I've just got to get going." She says and before she takes off Jesus notices a toothbrush poking out of one of the zippered pockets of her backpack.

She runs down the sidewalk again for about a minute before it registers for the teen what's going on. Jesus had no idea what force pushed him to start running after her, but nevertheless here he was, running after a runaway foster girl in an attempt to do...something? His brain hadn't caught up to that part yet but he knew he wanted to halt this girl and find out what her deal was. He decided as he caught up to her it's because he wanted to help her.

"Wait!" He tells her and grasps her forearms gently before she crashes into him again. "You're a runaway aren't you?" He asks as he bends over a bit to try to be closer to her eye level and she looks at the ground. "I could tell from the toothbrush in your backpack. If you are running away I won't try to stop you. I'm adopted, and I have an adopted sister who was a runaway too once. Do you need any help?" She looked back up at him.

"No. I think I'm good. But thank you..uh...what's your name?" She asks him.

"Jesus." He answers after a moment and holds out his hand for her to shake.

"Erin." She says with a smile

She takes his hand and he tried not to laugh at how little her hand was in his but he couldn't help himself and he snickered.

"What's so funny?" Erin asks.

"You're so tiny." Jesus tells her and laughs and she frowns and crosses her arms.

"I'm not that small. I'm just two inches below the average height for girls. I think." She adds after her confident statement. "Besides, you seem really tall for a guy. What's the weather like up there in the clouds stretch?" She quips back at him.

"Pretty good." Jesus says. "The air's always cleaner the farther your head is from other people's asses." He quips back and bends over and holds his sides as he laughs at his own joke and Erin bit her lips to try to keep from laughing at his ridiculous joke but eventually she just couldn't help it and she ended up laughing too.

Jesus's face hardened when he saw a police car rounding the bend on the street, coming closer to where he and Erin were.

"Can cops see you?" He asks.

"No." She answers seriously.

"Then quick come with me." He tells Erin and slings an arm around her shoulders and walks her down to the boardwalk, standing slightly behind her so that the police in the car would have a harder time seeing her.

"Is the car gone?" She asks as they reach the railing. He looks behind them and nods.

"All clear." He tells her.

"Thank you." She tells him and he smiles.

"No problem." He says. He notices an ice cream stand and gets an idea. "Want some ice cream?" He offers and she looks confused.

"You're offering me food?" She asks.

"Yeah why not. Life on the run must be pretty tough. I'll get you something. My treat." He offers and she blushes and smiles at him.

The two of them walk down the boardwalk licking their matching ice cream cones.

"Where did you run away from?" He asks curiously.

"From a home in San Francisco." Erin says casually and Jesus spills some of his ice cream down his chin, surprised by her answer.

"San Francisco?" He repeats in a shocked tone. She nods. "When did you run away?"

"About a week ago. That's why I don't want the cops to spot me. My picture's still probably going around the state." Erin explains to him and Jesus nods in understanding.

"So did you run all the way here from San Francisco?" He jokes.

"Yeah actually I did." She says seriously but he doesn't seem to pick up the seriousness in her voice and laughs. "You think I'm joking?" She asks.

"Wait you're not?" He asks her.

"No. I've always been alone. My feet and whatever I can fit in my backpack are all I've got." She tells him and Jesus immediately feels sorry for her.

He couldn't imagine how she must have felt. At least he'd always had Marianna. But this girl...being alone her whole life...

"Not anymore." He says without thinking and she looks confused.

"What?" She asks, not understanding what he's saying.

"You don't have to be alone anymore." He tells her. "I'm going to help you." She laughed.

"Seriously?" She asks. "Look you're being really sweet but I don't need your charity." She says. "I can take care of myself. Besides, I've kind of already accepted the fact that I'm a lost cause. I'm not even worth your time. Thanks for the ice cream Jesus." She says and gives him a warm smile before continuing to walk down the boardwalk.

He sighed and looked down at his melted cone and tosses it in the trash. He watched Erin leave and processed what she said. Then, it clicked for him just how similar they were. They both had ADHD, had trouble connecting with people, liked the same flavor of ice cream...He thought about that little prayer he made earlier. His eyes widened when he realized...

"Wait!" Jesus calls after her and runs in front of her again and she stops walking. "I know how you feel. I'm kind of going through the same thing right now." He says and then takes a deep breath and starts to explain "I recently got a TBI and it's screwed up my whole life." Her eyes widen and she gasps. She must have some medical knowledge, he thought.

"I-I'm so sorry. It must be really hard for you and your family-" Erin says and he interrupts her.

"Yeah I know it sucks." He says in an unintentionally slightly rude tone. He was sick of the sympathy speech. "It's made my life really difficult and I really hate when people try to do things for me out of charity or treat me differently because now I'm 'special needs'. So instead of offering you to stay with me for as long as you need until you get back on your feet and all that bs how about I just offer for you to stay the night, unless you've got somewhere else to stay-"

"I actually did plan on staying somewhere." She tells him and his heart deflates.

"Oh. Okay then." He says, trying to hide his sadness.

"But your place sounds a lot better than my plan of curling up next to a dumpster." She adds and her heart warms at the sight of him getting visibly excited and happy.

"Alright then, let's go home." He says and offers her his hand to take.

She smiles at him and takes it. This time he doesn't make some comment about how tiny her hand was. He smiled when he realized how perfectly it fit in his. This was meant to be. He thinks to himself. As they walked back to his house and then at one point decided to race his mind was swimming with hope and excitement. Their chance encounter was the sign. Of that he was certain. He hoped she would stay more than one night, because he knew now the true nature of their meeting. God had sent him this girl, this guardian angel to help him learn how to get Emma to love him as much as he loves her.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first part! The next will come soon! I'd also really enjoy some feedback so I can make this a better story for you guys and know that people like my story!