Heartwarming / The Expanse

The Books

Babylon's Ashes

• The moment when Holden gets reunited with his parents (all eight of them) on Luna (Avasarala pulled a few strings to get them evacuated off the asteroid-ravaged Earth) and introduces them to Naomi.
• After Filip has a Heel Realization about his part in Marco's schemes, he decides to stay on Callisto and find work rather than leave with his father - and registers under the name Filip Nagata.

Tiamat's Wrath

• After losing Bobbie, his crew, and the Gathering Storm, Alex returning to the Roci and meeting up with Naomi after years of being apart.
• Holden and Naomi reuniting on the Roci, after they escape from Laconia.

Leviathan Falls

• When Holden realises that he needs to make a Heroic Sacrifice to get the ring station open, Naomi realises he's once again planning to do something he might not come back from. She asks him to let her fall asleep next to him one last time, and even though they're in a race against the clock, he does.

The Series

Season 1

Episode #1: "Dulcinea"

• Chrisjen Avasarala's introduction, where we see how she adores her grandchildren, as well as the casual ease of her conversation with her husband, Arjun, that speaks of a very long, loving relationship.
• Holden's feigned cynicism cracks after listening to the distress call over and over, leading to him logging the distress call despite knowing what the rest of the crew will think.
• Miller finding his principles after seeing a whole block poisoned because the slumlord who was bribing him cut corners on the air filters, and nearly spacing Vargas before telling him to keep the filters clean.
  • The trigger for this is Miller locking eyes with a little girl on the street who is coughing just like the people in the poisoned block. You can see in Miller's eyes that this is the moment when he decides "No more."

Season 2

Episode #5: "Home"

• Miller's Heroic Sacrifice, with him successfully convincing the "resurrected" Julie Mao to steer Eros into Venus instead of Earth. After the failure of all mankind’s greatest technological marvels, Miller saves the day by showing the trapped Julie compassion. What really clinches it is them embracing each other with a kiss as they head to their mutual doom.
  • It's not just that they have a Big Damn Kiss. They have a small damn kiss before Miller puts his head on her chest, with Julie holding him. It is a really tender moment before their demise.

Episode #13: "Caliban's War"

• Avasarala, Draper, and Cotyar are trapped in a dead-end room by gunmen, who offer to let Cotyar (the only one with a gun) walk out if he lets them have Avasarala, promising (falsely) that they won't hurt her. Avasarala tells Cotyar that if he accepts, she'll understand, but he owes it to her to keep up the fight and expose the man behind all this.
  Cotyar: I don't owe you anything!
  Avasarala: My son—
  Cotyar: Yes, your son. I failed at my job, and Charanpal died. I owe him. Not you. I'm paying him back by keeping his mother safe.

Season 3

Episode #6: "Immolation"

• The reunion between Prax and his daughter Mei. Additionally, Prax referring to Amos has his "best friend in the whole world."
  • Knowing how Amos struggles to connect with others emotionally, the look he gives as this is said is the definition of this trope.

Episode #11: "Fallen World"

• Klaes Ashford repaying his debt to Drummer for saving his life by spinning up the drum of the Behemoth, producing enough gravity to allow wounds to heal was good enough. But then he offers it to everyone trapped in the Slow Zone, regardless of allegiance.
  Ashford: This is Klaes Ashford, Captain of the OPA Behemoth. I have a message for all the ships in this infernal place. We are all victims of the same catastrophe. But the Behemoth is unique, this ship, my ship, can create spin gravity. So, I am able to offer it to all of you. Bring your wounded here so that they may heal. You will be welcome. Belters embrace all of you.

Episode #13: "Abaddon's Gate"

• When Amos casually admits to hating Ashford simply for being on the opposing side, Anna deconstructs his entire world-view in a few sentences, concluding that unless he and everyone else stops shooting each other and starts talking, the cycle of hatred will never stop, robbing them of a future. Amos has visible trouble processing it, but when Anna starts to walk away, he grabs her by the arm and utters only: "I won't let anyone hurt you." It is clear that he does not understand how she thinks and is quite certain that none of what she says applies to him at all, but still, there is a little voice in his head that tells him that this person in front of him is precious, a window into a world he'll never know, and well worth defending at any cost — in the only way he knows how.

Season 4

Episode #1: "New Terra"

• Holden's eight parents crowd around to talk to Naomi and tell her how much they wish to see her in person. Then they awkwardly try to speak to their son's girlfriend in her native tongue, which is both heartwarming and hilariously mortifying.
• After all of the tension between Drummer and Ashford in Season 3, they were beginning to become Fire-Forged Friends, but end up on opposite sides in "Abaddon's Gate" when Ashford is serving as a Well-Intentioned Extremist antagonist. However, now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, the two of them are indeed genuine friends. What's more, Drummer totally forgives Ashford for his actions in that episode, knowing that he was genuinely doing what he thought was best and had only good intentions.

Episode #8: "The One-Eyed Man"

• When Fred Johnson chastises Drummer for casting the deciding vote to spare Marco Inaros instead of killing him, Ashford immediately defends her and insists that she made the right call, despite having previously made clear that he thought it was a grave mistake. Whether he's since changed his mind to genuinely believe this or is just trying to support Camina, it's still a pretty sweet show of camaraderie, and she looks grateful for it.
  • After Drummer quits working for Johnson, Ashford is offered her position as captain, but he turns it down in favor of hunting down Marco, and invites her to come with him. Though she declines, she gifts him with a bottle of fine wine (though he asks her to hold onto it until he comes back), and they part on very friendly terms. Sadly, though, this is the last time they ever see each other, since Marco manages to capture and kill Ashford.

Episode #9: "Saeculum"

• Holden bonding with the Investigator/Miller has several moments of this, especially once Miller's true consciousness and personality takes over. It's clear that Holden feels bad about the way things ended between them before Miller died, and he takes the chance to bond with him almost every time they talk. When it's clear that Miller is going to have to die again—this time to shut down the protomolecule structure—Holden's last words to him are describing what rain tastes like, which Miller was wondering about in the season premiere (which Miller had originally asked Holden on Eros all the way back at the end of Season 1), and he explicitly calls Miller his friend multiple times.

Season 5

Episode #1: "Exodus"

• Bobbie funding the trip of Esai's bereaved family to fulfill Esai's wishes. Esai's wife is positively sobbing with gratitude when she thanks Bobbie.

Episode #9: "Winnipesaukee"

• Throughout Season 5, Amos has shown that he only cares about his and Clarissa's well-being. But, at the compound in New Hampshire, not only does he allow the servants onto the escape ship at Clarissa's request, he risks his life to try to save Hutch even though he had already reached the safety of the ship.

Episode #10: "Nemesis Games"

• Pretty much everything about the Roci crew reuniting:
  • Holden's and Naomi's reunion when she's recuperating from her many injuries, the first time they've been together since the season premiere. When Holden reveals that he never listened to her If I Do Not Return video because he couldn't accept the thought that she'd died, she plays it for him, and it turns out to be a heartfelt confession of how much she loves the Roci and its crew, especially Holden, and encourages them to continue forward and build on what she had with them. It works fairly well as a eulogy for Alex, too, and ends with the two of them sharing a long embrace.
  • Just the fact that this is the first time all season that Holden, Naomi, and Amos have all been onscreen together. Holden greets Amos by calling him "brother", and Naomi gives him a very long hug.
  • Amos brings Clarissa aboard the Roci as a new permanent crewmember, knowing there's nowhere else for her to go. And while he mostly tricks him into "agreeing" to it, Holden, though clearly not enthused about it, doesn't object.
  • Holden and Naomi during pretty much the entirety of the celebration on Luna. After being separated for so long this season and going through so many ordeals (with Naomi in particular being put through the wringer), it's obvious that they're overjoyed to be together again. They share several kisses and loving looks, take every opportunity to be near each other, and when they're sitting on the couch, he has his arm around her and she has her hand on his leg.
• Amos saying goodbye to his childhood friend Erich. Despite everything that might've happened in the past, the tension between them is gone by the end, with Erich even offering Amos an opportunity to start a new life with his organization somewhere beyond the Ring. Amos politely declines, wanting nothing more than the (now very rare) bottle of Earther tequila Erich has...which they somehow manage to smash on the floor even in the low gravity of Luna. Earlier in the season, this might've caused a bigger fuss, but after everything they've gone through, all the two of them can do is laugh about it.