She was so perceptive that it sometimes still stunned him. People assumed she couldn't see the obvious but oh she could. Better than most. It was all there in the things she said and if people would just listen. Because she had John Watson right. It wasn't that the grief was unfounded. He had every right to feel as he did. But he used people. Perhaps without thinking but he clung to them, hoping they'd see him through but not helping himself. And you could not have one without the other. He'd learned that the hard way. "He sees only his own pain. That's the problem of course. In a place like this, the people that are here, there's no time to be that inwardly focused. I believe the man needs help but I hope he's strong enough to take the rough with the smooth." he said.
And this poor girl thought she was dangerous. In truth she was, there was something in her powerful enough to make her attack without reason, to blindly hurt. A trigger, and he wanted to help her. Find that trigger, work out a way to disable it and go from there. Let River be River again, master of her own destiny.
"I'll try to help. I understand the mind in ways others don't and nothing I will see would shock me. You know me River, you know the other side of me and if you're willing to have me help you then we can do that. You and me, we can find a way to give you back the control they took from you. I think its the best thing to do, don't you?" He thought maybe it would be best if he had something to focus on. Something to be beyond the darkness or the thing holding it back. If he could help this girl then maybe, just maybe there was more he could do. "Talk to me, while I'm here, tell me how it happens, what you remember. I need to know the story that makes up you, and if you are willing to tell it then I will listen. You need fear nothing from me."