Spoiler alert for "The Recluse in the Recliner" … well, can you call it a spoiler if the episode hasn't aired yet? Let's clarify — if you are behind on episodes or staying 100 percent spoiler-free for the finale (meaning you haven't see any clips, hints, or cast interviews), you should probably wait on reading this one.
If you've watched Fox's YouTube clips previewing the episode, then please proceed. This is merely speculation and something I wanted to try before we find out what really happens.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bones.
"I need to get a few things from the house."
Unable to stop her jaw from falling open in disbelief, Angela stared at her best friend. "Seriously?"
"I realize it's in …" Brennan hesitated as she chose her next words carefully, "…a state of severe disarray."
"That's putting it mildly." Angela reached to grab Brennan's hand. "Sweetie, I really don't know that it's wise to …"
"I didn't ask if you thought it was wise."
Angela dropped Brennan's hand immediately.
"Will you take me?"
"Yeah." Angela nodded. "Yeah, I will. But first we have to go by the lab."
"That's not …"
"Some of your belongings were brought to the lab," Angela interrupted Brennan's impending protest. "Let's go see what's there first before we attempt to get into the house."
Angela had expected the drive from the hospital to the Jeffersonian to be mostly silent, but instead, she found herself listening to Brennan reciting a list of belongings that needed retrieving.
"Do you have a pen?"
"Yeah, in the glove compartment." Angela motioned. "There's paper, too."
"Good." Brennan opened the compartment, rummaging around for the items. "That reminds me … I need to add our car keys to the list." She clicked the pen and began jotting down items onto a notepad.
She was still furiously scribbling when Angela parked at the Jeffersonian and stepped out of the car. She stowed the list in her pocket and joined Angela in a brisk walk to the lab.
They entered, and Brennan used her key card – one of the precious few belongings that she knew was still undamaged – to ascend the platform, joining Hodgins, Cam, Daisy, Fisher, Arastoo, Finn, and Clark. Bewildered, she immediately looked to Cam. "What is everyone doing here?"
"Trying to salvage your stuff." Cam nodded toward the slabs and trays lined with items – some that Brennan couldn't recognize. A thick smell of smoke, burned plastic, and several other odors that Brennan couldn't quite identify hung in the air.
"We think we'll be able to get the smell out of some of the items." It was as if Hodgins had read Brennan's mind. "Still working on it, but we're trying."
Brennan recognized her jewelry box on near Angela's station, along with a several family photos, which were badly stained. She began to visually survey the rest of the items on the platform.
"Some of Christine's items look pretty promising." Daisy pointed to a makeshift clothesline, where several stuffed animals, blankets, and pieces of clothing were dangling from clothespins. "Angela washed everything, and Hodgins has sprayed all of it down with a compound that he …"
"How did all of this end up here?" Interrupting Daisy's explanation, Brennan glanced at the faces surrounding her. "Who brought it here?"
"We did."
Brennan turned to Arastoo. "But why?"
"We didn't want you to have to go back to the house."
"Of course I'm going back."
"Sweetie?" Once again, Angela reached for her best friend. "They're about to condemn the house."
"Yes, but …"
"That means they won't let you in there," Fisher helpfully stated.
"Then I need to hurry and get there."
"No, you don't," Cam corrected. "Wendell's there right now. He'll call if anyone from the insurance company shows up."
"Why is he there?"
Finn spoke up. "To keep them looters out, Dr. Brennan."
Fingers skimmed the rim of a coffee cup sitting on a tray — one that Booth had used that very morning before everything had gone to hell — Brennan let out a deep sigh. "I need to go there."
"I'll take you." Hodgins reached into his pocket for his car keys.
"Angela has already volunteered to take me."
"Well, she can come, too." Hodgins gave his wife a knowing look. "You're going to need her."
After seeing that her interns and coworkers had gone into the mess to retrieve what they could, Brennan questioned how the group had been able to enter.
"We had Caroline," Angela simply stated, clicking her seat belt.
"She kept the police out?"
"For enough time, yeah."
"But you said the house is about to be condemned. Why would anyone enter?"
"We wanted to get your belongings, Dr. B. Might as well try to save some stuff," Hodgins remarked. "And it's bad to let them sit there and leave things out in the open for thieves. Way too much temptation."
"But wasn't it unsafe?"
Hodgins shrugged and Angela gave a single nod. As Brennan sat in the backseat, she listened to Hodgins tell the story.
The group had summoned Caroline and had all signed waivers acknowledging what they were doing was dangerous — and they didn't care. They waived their rights to any future lawsuits for damages and physical harm caused by exploring the house's wreckage. Brennan was surprised to learn that Daisy had gone in first – according to Hodgins, the interns had held a serious discussion about recovery efforts in route to the house. Daisy had declared she was the lightest and thus it made the most sense for her to go first. With a makeshift harness rigged and held by her male counterparts, she had fearlessly explored for weak boards and holes, using a can of spray paint to highlight unsafe spots.
When curious neighbors and members of the press showed up, Wendell declared himself in charge of security. Within an hour, he had a security detail made up of himself, a few cousins, and members of Booth's hockey team. According to Hodgins, Wendell had only left the premise for a period of about six hours, rotating the others on a set schedule.
Sure enough, as they pulled up to the house, Brennan recognized her former intern's car parked nearby, and saw him sitting in the front lawn, armed with a bottle of water and a cell phone.
To say that her house was in 'a state of severe disarray' was the understatement of a lifetime. As she walked up the pathway to the front door, Brennan wasn't sure she had ever been more inaccurate with a description.
The mighty hut seemed to be barely standing after a serious assault. As she stepped into the entryway and heard the sound of water dripping, Brennan couldn't help but gasp and remember her initial reaction to the first time she saw the home:
She and Booth had been talking about Pelant when Booth opened the door to their future home. Brennan's speech on catching Pelant had been promptly interrupted by Booth's search for the light switch and the sound of dripping water.
"Booth? The mighty hut appears to be leaking."
Unfazed, Booth promptly assured her he could fix it. "Listen, I told you this place needs a lot of work, so you'll have to use your imagination." In his hurried frenzy to find a light source, he had mistaken Brennan's, "Oh my god … Booth" for one of sheer disbelief and dismay.
Had he taken the time to glance at Brennan's expression, Booth would have been able to read her instantly and realize she wasn't upset.
Yes, the mighty hut had been in bad shape before, but this was far was worse than anything prior to its major renovations. As Brennan looked around, she saw remnants of her life – their life – utterly ruined.
The walls, including one hallway that she and Booth had painstakingly sanded, spackled, and repainted not even two years ago to cover a Christine masterpiece created with markers and a pair of child scissors, was completely missing, save for part of the wooden framing. Artifacts were smashed, as were some of the dishes and bake ware in the kitchen. The upholstery on all the furniture was clearly ruined, either by fire, smoke, bullet holes, water, or a combination of all four.
Quietly, Angela and Hodgins began to pick up what they could – taking belongings out of the house and placing them into bins to take back to the lab. Leaving Brennan to wander through the main floor, under Wendell's watchful gaze, they continued their relief work.
"Bren?"
Brennan did a half turn and found Angela thrusting a soft, stained object into her hands. Though she knew the stuffed animal would never been the same, Brennan smiled through her tears at the sight of Christine's rabbit – a gift given right after her birth from Hodgins, Angela, and Michael Vincent.
"Thank you," she whispered, clutching the item to her chest tightly.
"Christine will be glad." Angela's eyes reflected tears as well. "She's asked for it. Daisy spent an hour in her room looking for it."
"I was supposed to send it with her that night." Brennan wiped her eyes. "I forgot to put it in her bag."
"Well, all that matters now is that we have it." Angela gave the stuffed animal a gentle pat on the head. "And hopefully, that magic potion that Hodgins made back at the lab will take care of the smell."
The stairwell was the first thing that truly made Brennan want to weep. Booth's stadium chairs, tossed from the hall into the staircase, had survived – mostly. The plastic from one chair was melted into the bottom stair, and Brennan briefly found herself wondering if Hodgins could successfully remove the set without further damaging the chairs or the stairs. She placed Christine's rabbit down on the floor and set her foot on the first step.
In vain, Hodgins tried to prevent her from going any further. "Dr. B, it's really not safe. A lot of the upstairs blew up."
His words took Brennan right back to her earlier flashback:
"You don't want to go over there. That part kind of blew up. It's where the marshalls breeched."
There was a brief silence as Brennan continued to glance around, and then turned back toward Booth. "It's perfect."
"What?"
"I can see the bones, Booth. The bones of the house. It's going to be wonderful." A beautiful smile spread across her face as she watched his upset look turn to one of excitement and relief. "I can imagine it whole."
The mighty hut was no longer a symbol of Booth and Brennan's mightiness. This time, their enemies had destroyed what the couple had worked so hard to establish and rebuild. A mere shell of what it had once been for Booth and Brennan, the house was a skeleton — with bare, exposed, and broken bones. They had been vanquished.
Brennan's dreadful confession audibly spilled out as she stared at the remnants of the staircase. "I … I can't imagine it whole."