Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) has a lot of explaining to do to Atticus "Link" Lincoln (Chris Carmack) on Grey's Anatomy — for starters, the baby, you know, the one that she's pregnant with and he thinks is his? Welp, it's not his. Unfortunately, the timeline of their relationship doesn't lie: The father of Amelia's baby is actually Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd). But on the Season 16 winter premiere of Grey's Anatomy, Amelia just couldn't work up the strength or find the right moment to tell Link the truth.
Amelia has had one of the best character arcs on Grey's Anatomy when it comes to growing, learning, and moving on from past trauma. Amelia has survived addiction, the deaths of her newborn baby, fiancé, and brother, and a brain tumor. Grey's Anatomy showrunner Krista Vernoff hinted at the beginning of Season 16 that Amelia's experiences this season will continue to be "growing opportunities," and boy, have they really lined up some big moments for her. Amelia and Link have fallen into a relationship that's good and grown-up, but, given that this is Grey's Anatomy, they can't just ride off into the sunset. In the Season 16 winter premiere, she was about to tell Link the truth about the baby's paternity, but then Owen and Teddy (Kim Raver) swooped in to announce that they were engaged. Talk about the wrong time to throw a landmine into that situation.
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Amelia knows that Owen will always "do the right thing" when it comes to his family and his children, so if Owen found out that Amelia's baby was actually his, it could ruin this nice little engagement and happy ending that Owen and Teddy have set up for themselves after, I don't know, a billion years of will-they-or-won't-they-ing. Amelia has to be cognizant of that fact — she and Teddy just talked about it. Amelia cares for these people, and she does want them to be happy.
Admitting complicated truths can be cathartic to the person holding the secrets, but sometimes, it's selfish. Right now, Amelia telling Link and Owen about the baby's paternity would maybe make her feel better and get it out in the open, but the cost is so much greater to everyone else. The stakes are higher. It would ruin Owen and Teddy's newfound happiness, and it could also take Link away from Amelia — the most stable relationship she's had, uh, possibly ever.
Granted, Amelia's baby deserves to know who its father is, and Owen deserves to know that he's expecting another little one. But Link is so excited! It's a boy! He wants to name him Scout! And Owen and Teddy are so happy, finally! Just when things are starting to settle down at Grey Sloan — at least for these couples — Amelia's paternity issues are about to really shake it up. She might keep this secret (again, understandably) for a little while longer, but eventually, like everything else does on Grey's Anatomy, the news will come out. And we'll all have to see where the pieces land when it does.
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