[Warning: If you have yet to watch Thursday’s season finale of Bones, run — don’t walk — to the nearest emergency exit. Everyone else, onward and downward….]

Tonight’s Bones season finale solved two major mysteries that had been looming over the series in recent weeks: Yes, Booth (David Boreanaz) and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) did engage in comfort sex in last week’s episode. And yes, Deschanel’s real-life pregnancy will be incorporated into the show.

Plus, viewers got an answer to the biggest cliffhanger hanging over the entire series: After six years of will-they or won’t-they foreplay, Booth and Brennan are heading into next season as both a full-fledged couple and expectant parents. Put in TV business terms, the show’s producers not only blew off that pesky (and outdated) Moonlighting curse, but they kicked it in the groin. And we kind of love them for it.

That’s not to say, however, that we don’t still have questions. Because we do. Luckily, exec producer Stephen Nathan agreed to jump on the phone this evening for a quick post mortem and a preview of what’s to come.

TVLINE | First, please assure me that this isn’t going to be some kind of bait and switch. Brennan is really carrying Booth’s child, right?

It was not a dream. There is no alternate reality. What you see is what you get. They are having a baby. She is pregnant with his child. She [slept with] him in the previous episode and this was the outcome.

TVLINE | What impact did Emily’s pregnancy have on this story? Would you have gone this route regardless?

Emily being pregnant certainly figured into it to a certain extent. But [series creator] Hart [Hanson] and I were leaning toward this independently of that. The biggest problem we faced going into Season 7 was how to get these two people together while keeping the integrity of Brennan and Booth’s characters in tact. By going this route, we didn’t have to have them go through the traditional love-dovey stage where everything was wonderful and they understood each other and they got past their differences. That’s never going to be the case. They now are together but are essentially the same exact characters. They’re going to disagree on everything they disagreed about before, including how to approach their lives together, religion, family and now how to approach having a child. So we lose nothing but gain a huge amount with the reality that they are now together sharing the biggest thing in their lives.

TVLINE | So this isn’t just two co-workers having a baby together after a one-night stand. This is a full-fledged couple starting a family?

They are as much of a full-fledged couple as two unique and difficult people can be. Brennan is not a fan of marriage. Booth is somebody who’s always wanted to get married. These issues still remain. The tension that has existed in their relationship up to this point will continue. They’re now sharing something and they’re committed to each other in a way they always wanted and there’s no way to avoid that. They have to deal with the reality that they’ve gotten what they secretly wished for.

TVLINE | Will they move in together?

That will be addressed in Season 7. When we open in Season 7, it’s not Ozzie and Harriet. It’s not a perfect little domestic family situation. They haven’t figured out where they’re living, how they’re living and what their future is. They just know that they’re together.

TVLINE | How much time will have passed?

That’s something we’re still deciding. We will probably pick up a couple of months down the line.

TVLINE | This is a very unconventional path to take. I mean, these two haven’t been on a real date together and now they’re having a baby.

The reality is, Booth has been with Brennan more than he ever was with [a real girlfriend like] Hannah. Which is always the case when people work together in a high-pressure job. [By making Brennan pregnant] we avoid all of the [trappings] that people commonly associate with the Moonlighting curse, which is, “Oh, now they have to date,” or “Oh, now they have to hug each other and kiss and share desserts.” They never have to share dessert. [Laughs]

TVLINE | When you and Hart concocted this story, did you go to Emily and tell her that if she’s ever thinking of having a baby with husband David Hornsby now would be the time?

[Laughs] Not really. Because we still have the [prosthetic baby bump] that we used on Angela. We already bought that. We could easily re-use it.

TVLINE | How did Emily and David react when you told them this was the direction you were going in?

They were very, very happy. It allowed them to take a big step forward as actors with their characters. And it allows us to keep them precisely who they’ve been for the past six years, and yet move them forward without getting into the stuff where you kind of go, “Eww, now they like each other; there’s no point in watching the show.” Nobody really wants that happy domesticity. And I can’t foresee that ever happening with the two of them. Their feelings for each other are clear. Everybody’s known it for years, even though Booth and Brennan haven’t always copped to it.

TVLINE | Any concern about embarking on another season-long baby story on the heels of the Angela-Hodgins pregnancy plot?

We did have thoughts about that. But then we realized it can be an advantage, because this is really what happens to most people. Friends have a baby, and then they have a baby, and then you hear from the friends about how they raised the baby, then you want to kill those friends because now they’re know-it-alls. So the idea of them sharing the experience of having a baby could actually help the show, because they are not going to raise their children in the same way. And then we’ll also have other characters weighing in on it. We have Max around, who we think would probably be a very good nanny. [Laughs]

TVLINE | You pointed out that Brennan isn’t the marrying kind. Are you ruling out a Booth and Brennan wedding?

No. Not at all. That will be addressed and not resolved in the season premiere.

TVLINE | Did Fox freak out about this storyline?

As a matter of fact, no. They were fabulous. They were great. Everybody realized the [challenge] of getting them together. And we had to do it in a way that hadn’t been done before. And I do want to say that Bones is still going to be Bones. There are still going to be dead bodies and revolting remains. And [Booth and Brennan] are still going to be solving crimes. It’s not going to turn into a soap. They’re [personal] lives will be ongoing and we will focus on that, but we’re still a crime-odey.