"Do you know what bothered me most?"
"What?"
"The miles."
Naomi closed her eyes.
"The ten thousand miles?"
"Yes. My mother was dead, and somebody decided airline points were an answer."
"They weren't."
"No."
"We are reviewing compensation separately. But I also know money can't give you back that hour."
Janet's voice softened slightly.
"No, it can't."
"Is there anything you want the company to understand that isn't in your statement?"
Janet thought for a while.
"Don't train people to be nicer after they hurt somebody. Train the person standing next to them to stop it while it's happening."
Naomi wrote the sentence down.
It became the opening line of Skyward's new intervention module.
The legal process moved more slowly.
Rebecca's employment termination did not determine criminal guilt. Airport police completed their report and referred it to prosecutors. The videos were clear, but prosecutors still interviewed witnesses independently, reviewed medical records, and considered whether Rebecca's physical contact met the elements of battery under applicable law.
Her attorney argued that flight attendants held broad authority to direct passenger movement and that Rebecca believed she was maintaining cabin order.
The prosecutor responded that authority did not eliminate proportionality.
An eight-year-old walking toward his mother on a flight with the seatbelt sign off was not an immediate threat.
The case proceeded.
The early headlines predicted felony convictions, federal prison, and sweeping civil-rights charges.
Reality was narrower.
The state filed battery-related charges and a child-endangerment count under a theory that survived preliminary review. Federal civil-rights authorities continued examining the discrimination pattern but made clear that hateful language alone did not automatically create a federal criminal case.
Naomi welcomed that distinction publicly.
"We should not invent legal consequences to make a moral point," she said through counsel. "The facts are serious enough."
Rebecca's lawyer requested a negotiated resolution.
Prosecutors offered one that included an admission to unlawful physical contact, probation, counseling, community service, and compliance with any administrative aviation consequences.
Rebecca rejected it.
She wanted a trial.
Her attorney later explained that she believed a jury would understand the pressure flight attendants faced and distinguish poor language from criminal conduct.
Naomi did not speculate publicly.
Privately, she thought the decision revealed how completely Rebecca still centered her own intentions over everyone else's experience.
Dennis Morrison's matter developed along a different track.
Forensic review of Skyward's systems confirmed he had accessed complaint records before corporate assigned him to the incident. Investigators also found that after learning the case was escalating, he sent a message to a former subordinate asking whether certain "old junk attachments" could be removed from an archived complaint queue.
The subordinate refused and forwarded the message to legal.
That act became more important than any executive speech.
One employee had seen the system being tested and chose not to cooperate with a questionable instruction.
Dennis eventually faced charges related to records tampering and obstruction under the laws applicable to the investigation. Those charges were not based on protecting Rebecca emotionally. They were based on specific conduct involving evidence and access.
Naomi insisted Skyward say that every time reporters asked.
"Nepotism is an ethics problem. Obstruction requires evidence. We have to know the difference."
During those months, Elijah returned to school.
His arm healed quickly.
His fear did not.
For several weeks he sat near classroom doors whenever possible. He asked teachers before leaving his seat even when permission was not necessary. At a school assembly, he became anxious when an adult volunteer blocked an aisle and told students to stay put.
Lila Grant helped him practice phrases.
"I need you to explain the rule."
"Please don't touch me."