What Did He Do?
A/N After the episode I saw many people speculating on if Hodgins would follow through on destroying the jump drive. For me it was a foregone conclusion he'd do so once he said he would. This is one possible way I imagine it could play out.
He turned the car into the drive way and waited for the garage door to rise. Once it was opened he pulled the car into the garage. They all exited the car and as they were walking into the house he turned to his family and said. "I need to do something in my office. It'll just take a few minutes. If the two of you get ready for our Christmas season kick-off I'll be with you before you can settle in front of the TV."
She gave him a questioning look, but off his pleading expression didn't voice her thoughts. Instead turning to their son she said. "Come on Buddy, a quick shower then into your special Elf watching pajamas and you can help me make hot chocolate and popcorn. We'll make the kind in the pan with the top that puffs up."
Michael Vincent's face lit up. "Yes!" They walked toward the side of the house containing the bedrooms and bathrooms, while Hodgins headed in the opposite direction to his home office/lab.
When he reached his desk he turned on the desk lamp then booted up his laptop. He pulled the jump drive from his pocket and plugged it into the USB port. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he opened his folders; once the drive appeared he right-clicked on it. Hodgins paused again and thought of his promise to Booth and resolutely selected Format then made appropriate selections and clicked Start. Since this was just a jump drive, not a hard drive this was really all he needed to do to get rid of that data, but the paranoid, master conspiracy theorist in him couldn't stop there.
He ejected the drive, and then forcibly broke open the casing on the drive. He separated the outer case from the circuits and dropped it to the floor to stomp on it with his boot smashing the plastic into pieces; then he scooped the pieces up and dropped them into the trashcan. Next for the inner workings; je located the memory chip and laying a piece of paper on his desk centered the memory chip on it. Next he moved to the lab part of his home office and located a small hammer. Back at his desk he smashed the memory chip several times basically pounding it into powder. The simple act of hammering released some of the tension brought on by what he was doing.
Hodgins returned the hammer to its proper place then wadding up the paper with the smashed chip inside with plans to toss it. The rest of the circuits weren't important and were just thrown loosely into the trash along with the broken case. Content that he'd followed through on his promise and destroyed the drive Hodgins made his way to his bedroom so he could join his family in their Thanksgiving night tradition.
He quickly showered and pulled on the pajamas his wife had purchased for him; pajamas that would match (or at least complement) his family's sleepwear. He then made his way toward the kitchen where he knew his wife and son were preparing their movie watching treat.
Before he saw them he could smell the popcorn and hear it popping. There was another familiar sound too, and as they came into view he could see Angela and Michael Vincent standing together, her hand covering his smaller one on the handle of the popcorn pan shaking it on the heat element of the stove as the top puffed with the popping corn. Microwave popcorn might do most nights, but on special occasions only Jiffy Pop would do. "Hey there, looks like the popcorn's almost done. I think I see and smell the hot chocolate too. "
Michael Vincent nodded solemnly. "Yes, we made the hot chocolate first so the marshmallows would have time to melt and it would cool down a little so we didn't burn our mouths when we tried to drink." He beamed up at his mother after he said this, and she winked back at him. "Oh, we forgot to get down the popcorn bucket and it's time to take the popcorn off the heat." This said as his mother was already guiding his hand to take the pan off the stove.
"I'll get it." Hodgins replied as he was already pulling the bucket out of the cabinet. They filled the bucket and Michael Vincent carried it, while Hodgins carried two mugs of chocolate and Angela carried the third. They settled onto the sofa with Michael Vincent in the middle, he had the popcorn bucket balanced on his lap while he held the mug of hot chocolate in both hands. Lights out, Hodgins cued up the movie and they settled in to watch.
As the movie started Hodgins was watching his wife and son instead of what was happening onscreen. He was happy with them here, and he was content with his decision. First his decision to tell Booth what he discovered, and his decision to put the fate of the drive in Booth's hands, and finally his decision to honor his promise to Booth and completely destroy the jump drive. Yes, he was happy with his decisions.