He recognizes that tone her words take, the shift in her body language. He’s spent enough hours beating himself up for his own stupid goddamn mistake, chasing after the Joker without backup and getting himself killed, to recognize the same in her, and that recognition resonates deeply in him. She’d tried to help, and her efforts went sideways. She’s just a kid - a civilian, he thinks, so what action could she have possibly taken to stop or prevent such a thing from happening?

“Hey,” he says, gently, “there’s nothing you could’ve done. Don’t blame yourself, OK? If you wanna blame someone, put the blame where it belongs.” Easier said than done, he knows that, and much easier said to someone else than himself.