In Which There Is Just TOO DAMN MUCH For a Title

Season 6, Episode 22
The Hole in the Heart

(Blogger was down from noon PST til late last night. I was not pleased.)

Ok. Ok.

First, just a little something before the HOLY SHIT DID THAT JUST HAPPEN LET ME DIE moment(s): How he’s immediate to tell her she’s staying at his apartment, how she’s so ok with it and ok to obey him because she knows him well enough to know when to fight him and when to not, etc. etc., I know this happens all the time with them, and I know I mention it every time, but really, I just have to note it.

Let’s talk about the fact that she’s wearing his sweatshirt to bed. She’s lying out on his couch, alone, unable to sleep because she’s tortured by all these thoughts about Vincent, she doesn’t know what to think… and she’s wearing his sweatshirt. A sweatshirt that probably smells like him, or at the very least, whatever laundry soap he uses, which I’m sure she associates with him.

This is actually really irrelevant to everything, and is nothing more than pure conjecture, but whatever, I like the thought.

Anyway. This scene is just TOO DAMN MUCH. So, we go through it bit by bit.

“Come here, no no no, Bones, you’ve got this all wrong.”

She’s standing there, crying, saying she’s a horrible person because she thinks Vincent thoughts she was making him go away. And he can’t stand to see her like that. So much that he doesn’t just tell her she’s wrong, he physically pulls her down, closer to him.

(to those who were complaining about how he didn’t comfort her more in Doctor in the Photo, there’s your make-up  for that, take it or leave it. It upset him then to see her upset, and it upsets him now. It’s just that now, he can actually do something about it, and before, he could not.)

Really though, most of the actual conversation isn’t too important in regards to them, until afterward. They’ve said all that can be said at the point, but this… this is just too much for her. Words are not enough.

Just a “Can you just…?”, and he automatically responds “Yeah. That’s why I’m here”, annnnnd they fall into bed.

Now, what I originally wrote, while first watching this, was:

“Sflasdhfuishdfuisdhuifhsduifhsuidfhsuifhs fdeath forever”

(I know it doesn’t seem like it, but “death forever” is actually a good thing.)

Time to translate to Normal Person English.

This is a Very Big Thing for them. It’s more or less the closest they’ve been physically, and emotionally, well, it’s a pretty big thing to sob against someone’s chest while lying in their bed.

Remember what I was saying last episode about how they’ve reached a point where they are more or less comfortable with their intimacy? Yep, this is the consequence of it.

And a lovely (or ridiculously awesome, whatever, same thing) consequence it is.

 

They’ve been building this up so much til now, all this being-comfortable-with-their-intimacy stuff, that it’s not even a big deal that she does this, at all. She needs comfort, he has it to give.

And the very end. She’s sobbing in his arms, and he’s holding her, and you’re sitting at home flipping your shit. Which means you might have missed a subtle yet significant change in action. She’s sobbing, sobbing, sobbing… and then, she calms down a little. She rests her hand more flat on his chest. She turns her head so her head is on its side. She’s not sobbing anymore; she’s just lying in his arms. And he knows it. And they’re both just laying there, with each other. No excuses of “Oh well I was so emotional, that’s why I did that” can be used anymore.

That’s pretty fucking huge.

(and really though, not to belittle Vincent’s death or Brennan’s feelings about it any way, but I wouldn’t be surprised if part of why Brennan was so emotional (and part of what pushed her to get into bed with Booth) was her thinking about what if it HAD been Booth, as Brodski had intended. Again, it’s conjecture (yikes, I’ve been doing that a bit too much lately, haven’t I?), but it does make sense. Those thoughts of if it had been Booth would logically morph into feelings of being so grateful that it wasn’t him, and therefore would make her boundaries with him, both physical and emotional, less sturdy and inflexible.)

And now, we must tackle the really expensive (“million dollar” is so overused) question:

DID THEY HAVE SEX?

AND I HAVE THE ANSWER!

THE ANSWER IS…

~drumroll~

.

.

.

We can’t know for sure.

At least, not until one of them outright SAYS it (although, even then, who the fuck knows, Booth might still actually be in the coma and this is all one really long coma dream. Near anything is possible with this show.)

BUT, here’s the thing.

There is the long pause after Angela asks Brennan what happened with her and Booth,

and the look between Angela and Brennan once it’s revealed that Booth got Brodski,

and Brennan linking her arm in Booth’s at the end,

and Angela looking at them when Brennan puts her arm in Booth’s.

They didn’t give us one telling pause/look/moment like normal, they gave us FOUR.

And plus all that, there’s the clocks. In the sex scene in the season 4 finale, it was 4:47. Check the clock at the beginning of the scene when she goes to his room in this episode – yep, 4:47.

(The first thing I thought when I realized this was “Hart Hanson, you magnificent son of a bitch.” (which is basically what I always think in regards to him, so.)

So, really, with all of this in consideration, it’s more than likely that they did, indeed, have sex. I won’t say for sure, though, because if there’s one surefire way to dig yourself a hole you can’t get out of with this show, it is to expect or to assume anything.

Even so, though, yeah, basically, they had sex.

Now, as there always are, I’m sure there’s some people out there who aren’t happy about this. “But but but I wanted their getting together to be a big deal!!!” First, we don’t really know if this is actually them “getting together”. It’s likely that they did have sex, yes, but we really don’t know what their “status” is. Yes, they might see themselves as “together” now. They also might not. They might see it as a friends-with-benefits situation. Or a situation that they just don’t want to label. Beyond that, though, I quote something I said earlier: “They’ve been building this up so much til now, all this being-comfortable-with-their-intimacy stuff, that it’s not even a big deal that she does this, at all.” The same goes for their getting together, I believe. It’s not to say that their getting together, with everything behind it and much of a long time coming it has been, etc., isn’t a big deal, but really… because there IS so much behind, because it’s been such a long time coming, it’s not a huge deal that it happens, because it’s so damn expected. We expect it. The squint squad expects it. Even THEY expect it, on some level. So for it to finally happen is just the next natural step (albeit a BIG step, but just the next step nonetheless).

And then there’s the “I don’t want them having sex for the first time just because she’s crying, just because Vincent’s died!” And that is actually pretty understandable. I get it. But, see… I feel like this was kind of necessary (or at least just needed, for a less absolute term) for this to happen at all. Brennan says “I think I did it because of Vincent” when she’s talking to Angela about getting into bed with Booth. Again, not to belittle his death in the slightest, but I think (going on the notion that they DID have sex), that acted as a catalyst for the both of them. Someone they both know just died right in front of them. They are in danger mode. Broadski is still out there. For all they know, he could be on a building aiming at them right then. Vincent’s dead, and there’s a still a chance that Booth might die, or Brennan even. From what she said about her thinking Vincent thinking she was horrible, it’s likely Brennan is regretting not appreciating him more, not being nicer to him, etc., and we all know her deal with regrets after Doctor in the Photo. It’s also possible that she’s simultaneously thinking about what if it was Booth as was intended, or what if it ends up being Booth? It is also possible that Booth is thinking of what if Brodski had shot at Brennan instead, or what if he decides to go after her next. The stakes for both of them at this point are basically as high as it gets in a non-immediate situation. And because of that, their guards are down as much as they’ve been in awhile. Either one of them could get shot by Brodski still. And as they’ve both learned, they do not want to have any regrets. They’ve both figured how it’s stupid to wait, despite their faults and concerns and walls, when it could all be over any minute.

The stakes are what did it.

(That’s not an absolute argument, because duh, of course there are other ways they could have had sex for the first time that involve no tears or death and it would still be entirely believable. It’s really not so much an argument as just an explanation about why I think this is a perfectly valid way for them to have sex for the first time.)

EDIT (5/16/11): I realize this is a very open thing, as of right now. Really, it could go either way. I've heard many convincing and valid arguments saying they did not have sex, and I acknowledge that it's entirely, 100% possible that that is true. However, based on what was shown in the episode, I believe the most logical theory is that they did have sex. I very well might be wrong, but based on what we know now, it's the theory that makes the most sense to me.

Now, normally, I would sum everything up, but I feel like that would just be redundant at this point, considering the lengthiness of this post.

Instead, I leave you with a mini-recap of their last on-screen moment of the episode:

So Vincent Nigel-Murray is being driven off, and everyone is leaving, and she slips her arm around his. Without looking, mind you. Without really even hesitating. And her reaching out for comfort in an affectionate manner like that in public is a very big step for her. Sex or no sex, they did experience more intense intimacy than ever before the night prior, even in the unlikely event that it went no farther than what they saw, and her arm-linkage is a result of that.

But, anyway. She stays staring off at the car as she does it, even though her eyes to flit down and away for a second, in a very “yes, I am actually doing this right now” manner. But it’s just for a split second, and her eyes go back to Vincent Nigel-Murray.

Booth, on the other hands, knows what we know, that it’s an unusual thing for her to just grab his arm like that in front of people. So much so that he actually looks down at their entwined arms when she does it, and when he brings his face back up – a slight smile.

And despite whatever activities it came from, this, her putting her arm in his, is a new thing, for her, for them. And they’re happy with it.

(also, is it bad that I alternately yell “HELL YEAH!” and “AHHHH!” whenever I watch her put her arm in his? No? Good.)