What Does Zooey Deschanel's Guest Gig on Bones Tonight Mean for the B&B Romance?

Actress sisters spill about their family reunion on tonight's Christmas ep of the beloved Fox romantic-procedural series

Prepare yourselves for excessive cuteness, TV fans, because tonight is the night when Zooey Deschanel guest stars on Bones with big sis Emily Deschanel! This very special Christmas episode features Zooey D. as Brennan's long-lost cousin Margaret, a return visit from Ryan O'Neal as Brennan's miscreant father and some heartwarming developments between Brennan and Booth (David Boreanaz).

The sisters talked to reporters recently about "The Girl in the Goop," and here's what Emily spilled about how this family-oriented installment of Bones changes the romance between our favorite forensic anthropologist and her favorite G-man:

So what brings B&B closer together (and maybe even close together under the mistletoe?), according to Emily Deschanel: "The episode brings up a lot of questions for Booth and Brennan. Any time characters have a breakthrough on some level, that either Booth or Brennan has some kind of breakthrough, then that brings both of us together. And you'll see in the episode Brennan has a new level of compassion and starts to have a paradigm shift in how she's looking at certain situations. So Booth holds her hand through that. When you go through something, it changes you; it's profound in a way. Christmas brings people together, so as much as Brennan resists that aspect, she usually ends up together with people in the end on Christmas." Awww, all in the holiday spirit!

Now, how did this family reunion come about in the first place? According to Emily D., "[Bones show runner] Hart Hanson came with the idea. He had the idea for a Christmas episode and told me some things about it, that [Zooey] would be my relative, one of the two living relatives in my life."

And after Zooey D. comes by and stirs up that "breakthrough" for B&B, is that the last we'll ever see of her? Zooey said, "I don't die at the end of the episode." Series producer Emily D. told baby sis Zooey, "You're one of my favorite employees. We'd love to have you back. Anytime. I think it's open-ended for a reason. We'll see. It took us five seasons to figure out when Zooey could come on the show, and it may take five more seasons."