Summer Bay is no stranger to messy love stories, but next week’s episodes of Home and Away promise emotional fallout that could redraw loyalties, fracture families,

and leave more than one heart in pieces. At the center of the storm are Dana Matheson and Sonny Baldwin, whose attempt to “end things” after weeks of danger

and desire proves far more complicated than either expected. Dana may have told Sonny goodbye, but goodbye, in Summer Bay, rarely means gone.

Love Born in Crisis

Their connection was never simple. Sonny entered Dana’s orbit under the darkest of clouds — injured, frightened, and under protection as he prepared to testify against members of the River Boys. Violence had already rippled outward, leaving trauma in its wake and placing anyone near him at risk.

For nurse Dana, compassion blurred into chemistry. What began as care became conversation, and conversation ignited something neither could easily extinguish. Friends warned her. Family begged caution. Yet proximity has a way of making fear feel secondary to feeling.

Even when Sonny tried to pull back, convinced she deserved safety, Dana stepped closer.

Harper Draws the Line

No one has been more vocal than Dana’s sister, Harper Matheson. To Harper, the equation is brutally clear: Sonny equals danger. She has watched her sister get pulled into escalating situations, culminating in terror that finally pushed Dana to end the romance.

Harper believed — hoped — that would be the end of it.

But grief has a memory, and desire doesn’t evaporate on command.

The Night Everything Slips

Trying to reclaim normality, Dana joins Harper for a girls’ night at Salt. Laughter flows. Music hums. For a moment, it seems possible she might truly move forward.

Then Sonny walks in.

Across the room, history reignites. A look lingers too long. A breath catches. Harper sees it immediately — the gravitational pull undoing weeks of resolve.

Dana tells herself she wants closure. A conversation. A tidy emotional period at the end of a dangerous chapter.

What she finds instead is a door swinging open.

When they finally speak, Sonny is gentle, respectful, even supportive of her decision to walk away. But mutual maturity can be its own kind of aphrodisiac. The air changes. The unfinished business between them becomes undeniable.

Harper interrupts before the moment tips too far — dragging Dana home, determined to protect her sister from herself.

It doesn’t work.

A Knock at the Door

Later, Sonny stares at his phone, debating whether to call. Fate answers for him.

Dana arrives.

She claims she wants the closure they discussed, but honesty is already dissolving into proximity. Words falter. Sparks win. They fall into each other with the inevitability of a tide returning to shore.

Afterward, reality creeps back in. Dana suggests she should leave, but footsteps in the apartment make retreat awkward. Staying feels easier than explaining.

By sunrise, the secret is already unraveling.

Morning After, Bay Style

At the coffee cart, Harper’s suspicion hardens into certainty when Dana appears beside Sonny, rumpled and bright-eyed in a way that says sleep was scarce and emotions were not.

Irene Roberts reads the situation instantly, offering caffeine and compassion in equal measure. Harper, meanwhile, can barely disguise her fury.

Dana, perhaps recklessly, pokes the bear — insisting it was closure, nothing more.

But closure rarely repeats itself later that evening.

“Just Friends” — Until They Aren’t

When Sonny casually announces he’ll be at the surf club, the invitation hangs between them like a dare. Harper reminds Dana of the rules she herself created.

Just friends.

Dana nods.

Hours later, those rules lie in ruins.

A game of pool becomes an excuse. An excuse becomes another night. By the time dawn threatens, Dana has crossed the same line twice, and it’s getting harder to pretend she doesn’t know exactly where it leads.

Sisterly Explosion Incoming

Harper’s worry turns to alarm when Dana’s bed remains untouched. Instinct overrides politeness. She heads straight to Sonny’s door — and what she hears confirms everything.

The confrontation that follows is volcanic.

Harper demands her sister leave. Dana, caught between defiance and shame, must decide whether protecting romance is worth detonating family peace.

What Happens Now?

This is the question gripping viewers: will Dana walk away again, or has the point of no return already passed?

Sonny offers passion, understanding, and a bond forged in crisis. Harper offers safety, loyalty, and the reminder of what nearly happened last time.

Dana stands in the middle — heart racing in two directions.

In Summer Bay, choices echo. And next week, one woman’s search for closure may ignite consequences none of them are ready to face.