Katarina and Heath spend the entire night in the hospital waiting for Katarina to be released. The doctors tell Katarina not to fall asleep because of a concussion, though they cannot tell whether it came from her first fall or her second. Katarina is also dealing with severe pain, a hand wound that needs ten stitches, a deeper wound on her leg, and the certainty that both injuries will leave scars.

By daybreak, the hospital finally discharges Katarina, but Katarina has to leave in a wheelchair because of her condition. As Heath pushes Katarina through the lobby, they discover a crowd of reporters outside the entrance, photographing them and waiting for a statement or a glimpse of the injured skater. Because the media attention turns Katarina’s private suffering into a spectacle, Heath immediately pulls back and goes to find another way out.

While Heath is gone, Katarina studies her reflection in the elevator doors. Katarina notices that she looks disheveled, exhausted, and unpolished, but instead of hating the sight, Katarina recognizes something authentic in it. Seeing herself stripped of the refined image she built for skating makes Katarina think of the fearless girl she used to be with Heath, and that contrast leads Katarina to a painful realization: she tried to become the perfect skater and the perfect partner for Garrett, even the next Sheila Lin, but the Lins have not shown up for her when she truly needs care.

When Heath returns, he tells Katarina that the hospital will let them leave through the ambulance bay and that a taxi can meet them there. Heath assumes they will stop at the hotel, collect their luggage, and arrange a flight, but Katarina interrupts him. Katarina says she wants to go home, making clear that her deepest need is no longer to protect her skating career or remain inside that world, but to return to the place and person who feel like family.