Fresh Eyes, New Mind (CRIMINAL MINDS FANFICTION)

Chapter 4 : Talked Down, Heading Home |EDITED|

Nicki's POV

As I stood in that basement, with a gun being aimed at my chest, I began to slightly panic. I knew that I had to study her behavior, then talk her down slowly from there. I smiled nervously. 

"You're nervous," I stated, "if it makes you less nervous, we can sit down and talk. You can still keep me at gunpoint, but you might be more comfortable." I offered, smiling softly.

She hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. I want you to walk upstairs to the living room and sit down on the first seat on the couch." I nodded, lifted my hands, and followed her directions to a tee. 

"Good, good. Now, what do you want to talk about?" She inquired, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"I, I think that you should choose. I mean, I'm pretty sure you're the one in charge here, Tessa." I said, stuttering slightly. I was lucky, my attempt at stalling helped.

"Um, I, I didn't want to hurt those people. I swear I didn't. It, it just happened and I couldn't stop and everything was so loud and distorted. I didn't know what I was doing until after it was done." She ranted, shaking her head frantically.

"I know, Tessa. I know you didn't want to hurt those people. You're a good person, you're just a person who is hurt and confused, right Tessa?" I asked, starting to get nervous. The more panicked and frantic an unsub is, the more likely they are to do something drastic.

Tears filled up in her eyes, and she nodded hysterically. I began inching closer to her, and, thankfully she allowed it.

I, hesitantly, reached an arm out towards her. She flinched, causing me to pull back my arm a bit, before reaching around her shoulder and pulling her to me. The force of my action sent the gun flying to the floor, but I didn't move to cuff her or restrain her in any way.

I continued to hug her, rocking us back and forth until she calmed down enough to form a coherent sentence.

"Tessa, you need to get help. I need to call my friends in here so they can make sure that happens, okay?" I asked, waiting for a response. 

All I got was a nod.

"Okay. They're probably gonna be a bit rough, and they're gonna have to put handcuffs on you. But it's only in case your head gets really loud again, okay?" This time, she responded vocally.

"Yeah, it's okay."

"Alright, you stay right here, Tessa. I'm going to the door to call them, okay? You just stay right here."

She listened as I walked to the door, stepping out and yelling.

"Everything is alright! You can come in now!"

I waited on the front steps as the locals ran in to cuff her. I motioned Aaron over to me, needing to make sure she would okay.

"She needs professional help, not jail. Please make sure that happens. Please." I begged, absolutely hoping he agrees.

"Absolutely. She needs it." I hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, Aaron. I appreciate it." I pulled back and walked to the team. "You guys did great. I'm glad I could be of assistance in this case." I told them all, leaning on the car.

"We did great? You are the one who put yourself in danger, Talked Down the unsub, and managed to get out perfectly fine!" Rossi exclaimed, completely shocked.

I laughed lightly. "Yeah, I suppose I did, didn't I?"

"Wait, why did you say this case? Aren't you staying?" Morgan asked, and Reid looked down. Suddenly, everyone's attention was on me. I shrugged.