Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds and intend no copyright infringement.
In his years in the field David Rossi had seen a lot, but nevertheless the sight of Jamie Talbot with slashed arms and legs in a cheap hotel room that indeed looked as if she had killed someone in there left a permanent trace in his memory. Blood spatters covered the floor, the walls, the furniture – even the ceiling. She hadn't tried to kill herself. Her sole intention had been to hurt herself. For a moment he found himself unable to cross the doorstep.
Hotchner reached out to her, but she shrank away from his touch. "It's okay, it's okay", he whispered. "Come, take a seat on the sofa."
She was trembling from top to toe. "It'll cost me a fortune to pay for this", she choked, covering her face with her cut and still bleeding hands. "They'll probably have to renovate the room."
"Jamie. Look at me", Hotchner said, more firmly now. "Why did you do this?"
"When I arrived here, a letter was waiting for me", she explained quietly, almost whispering. "It contained nothing but pictures of dark blue sky. I screamed so loud, the manager came and asked me what was wrong. I hate myself! I'm an idiot! How can blue sky scare anyone so much? I'm a worthless piece of shit… all my life I'm running…."She started tearing at the wounds on her hands with her own fingernails.
"The only piece of shit is the monster that does this to you", Morgan stated agitatedly. "Someone is terrorizing you. And we are here to put a stop on that."
Jamie looked at him and then at Rossi who was still frozen on the doorstep. "I don't need your help", she whispered, more to herself then to anybody else.
Rossi finally managed to enter the room. He felt extremely angry – not with the poor creature huddling on the couch but with himself. She had been innocent, damn it, and he had helped condemning her to a lifelong existence on the outskirts of society, constantly fighting for simple mental stability. "Get up", he told Jamie, positioning himself in the middle of the room. She shivered at the sound of his voice. "Get up!", he repeated with more emphasis. Hotchner moved away from her, retreating to a corner so she couldn't hide behind him. "Get up!", Rossi bellowed so sharply that she finally got on her feet, shaking wildly.
Morgan wanted to interfere, but Reid placed a hand on his shoulder and restrained him. "This is important", he whispered. "A decade ago Rossi broke all her defense lines in the interview sessions, proving to her time and time again that she was inferior. This feeling has stuck – that's why she reacts so panicky to the in themselves extremely harmless blue things. She has never been able to build up her defense lines again. What David is doing now is giving her a chance to dominate."
"Tell me what you think about me", Rossi told Jamie. She only shook even more. "Tell me what you think", he said again, more intensely now, slightly spreading his arms and turning his open palms towards her.
Maybe it was this peaceful gesture that did the trick, maybe it was the fact that after all these years she finally had the chance to speak her mind. Whatever it was, suddenly her whole posture changed and became more rigid, as if she had made a decision: "I hate you", she choked.