Her eyes went immediately to her friend's face.
"How's Elijah?"
"Scared. Bruising on the arm."
Kathleen nodded, then shifted into operational mode.
"Private medical room reserved. Airport police are available if you want to make a report. Legal has preservation notices out. Passenger-services staff are collecting witness contact information with consent. Outside ethics counsel is engaged."
"Rebecca?"
"She'll be escorted to a company office, not through the public gate if we can avoid it. We don't want media interference with the investigation."
Naomi glanced toward the terminal windows.
Several cameras were already visible beyond the gate area.
"Too late for privacy."
"The passenger videos are everywhere."
Naomi looked down.
"How many views?"
"Last count, just under a million across reposts."
Naomi did not react.
"Do not build the company response around virality. Build it around facts."
"Understood."
Security officers walked to the rear galley.
Rebecca rose when they approached.
"Am I under arrest?"
"No, ma'am," one officer said. "You're being escorted to a private office so Skyward and airport authorities can document the incident."
Rebecca looked almost disappointed, as though arrest would have made her the victim she wanted to become.
She walked forward between them.
At row eighteen, Elijah was awake.
Rebecca looked at him.
For a second their eyes met.
Elijah moved closer to his grandmother.
Rebecca looked away.
No apology came.
That mattered, too.
The medical evaluation took twenty-seven minutes.
Naomi remembered the number because she found herself counting everything that day. Minutes. Messages. Witnesses. Red marks. The small factual units were easier to hold than the larger thing that had happened.
A pediatric nurse examined Elijah's arm in a private room near the gate while his grandmother sat beside him. There was tenderness and superficial bruising, but no fracture, no dislocation, no sign of deeper injury. The nurse photographed the marks with consent and documented Elijah's description in his own words.
Naomi stayed quiet while he spoke.
"She thought I was lying," he said.
The nurse nodded gently.
"And then what happened?"
"She grabbed me."
"Where?"
Elijah pointed.
"Did you fall?"
"Almost. My shoe got stuck."
"Did you hit your head?"
"No."
"Did anybody else touch you?"
"My mom hugged me."
The nurse smiled faintly.
"That kind is allowed."
Elijah smiled for the first time since the incident.