Ned's return after being Mistaken for Murderer and put in jail in Pushing Daisies. The girls make him a pie to celebrate, and even Deadpan Snarker Emerson has some kind things to tell him. Then when Ned and Chuck discuss phantom limbs (the phenomenon whereby a person who has had a limb amputated keeps thinking it's still there) Ned tells Chuck 'when I was in prison, I think you were my phantom limb'.
Mind you, Pushing Daisies is one long Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. A particular one is at the end of 'Bitches' when Chuck asks what Ned wants. He waits a couple of seconds then that adorable smile and simply says "You."
Another brilliant one is in 'Girth' when Ned acknowledges that his father was a jackass, but says that he misses him anyway. Then Vivian tells him that no-one in the area thinks about his father any longer, instead talking about what a wonderful man Ned grew up to be. She kisses Ned on the cheek, then he leaves, and the narrator informs us that "for the first time since he was a child, the piemaker missed something more than his past. He missed... his present."
Right after the climax to "Pie-lette," as Ned watches Chuck adorably kicking her murderer's corpse and running off, then realises that the warm feeling he's experiencing is "delight." Awwww.
Ned meets his half-brothers, at the end of "Dim Sum Lose Sum". He nervously introduces himself to them. They exchange glances; then simultaneously hug him. Ned looks stunned for a long moment before he starts hugging back. Awwww.
Lily and Vivian's Redemption in the Rain at the end of "Smell of Success", which only gets more heartwarming after Vivian's line "I think it's brave to try to be happy!". Cat Stevens's "Morning Has Broken" is the icing on the cake.
The end of the magic episode, where Chuck gets a chance to talk to her mother, even if it is by proxy: "even she could tell that you were an angel."
The scene in the Norwegians when Ned and Olive are dangling off a cliff, and Olive tells Ned that she's only sorry that Ned never looked at her like he looks at Chuck. And then Olive's reaction, the look of happiness and relief on her face when she hears that. The Narrator said it best: "Of all the words left unsaid, these were the ones that Olive Snook longed to hear most."
Two words, said to Lily and Vivian, with the potential to brighten their world: "I'm alive"
The flashback to the time where Ned was making pies at school and the rest of the kids joined in. Yes, it ended poorly but Ned was genuinely appreciated by everyone right then, bringing them a lot of joy and being praised in turn, with even Ingmar Todd (shown to be a somewhat sour character in his previous episode) helping out.
The Great Hermann's excitement at learning magic is real when Ned brings him back to life, and Ned granting his last wish to put in a bit of magic showmanship before touching him at the end of his minute "Now you see me....". From the same episode, Hermann finally bequeathing his book of magic tricks to Maurice and Ralston, only for the two of them to movingly make a copy for a longer-serving, more deserving assistant who wanted her own act.
Emerson getting to see his daughter for the first time.
All of The plastic wrap kisses between Ned and Chuck, as well as their plastic wrap hug while sleeping.
"And they both felt exactly as they wanted to feel: safe, and warm, and loved."
The flashback to a young Ned coming to the Charles house after his mother died, the second time. Lily immediately dropping her cold demeanor and embracing the now orphaned Ned. Then after passing him off to be comforted by Vivian she goes and finally embraces Chuck as well.
