Leave it to Grey's Anatomy to make fans shed tears even with an unplanned early finale! The ABC medical drama aired its season 16 finale episode Thursday after cutting the season short due to the coronavirus crisis and amid all the rollercoaster moments of the episode, fans couldn't help but notice a subtle callback moment to none other than an old fan-favorite character, the late George O'Malley (yes, you read that right!).

The episode, titled "Put on a Happy Face," featured plenty of surprises, including (spoiler alert!) an official diagnosis for Richard Webber and an unexpected twist in the Owen-Teddy-Tom love triangle. But the highlight of the finale definitely came when Amelia Shepherd went into labor to deliver a healthy baby boy but since her boyfriend and baby daddy Link was in surgery, it was up to Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) to help her out with the delivery. In a sweet callback to an old Grey's scene, Miranda then stepped in to sit behind Amelia during the delivery yes, exactly in the same way that George O'Malley (T.R. Knight) had done for Miranda way back in season 2!

Needless to say, Grey's fans couldn't help but tear up over the sweet and unexpected throwback moment to an old fan-favorite character, with many viewers taking to Twitter to express their emotional reactions over the sentimental scene.

"Okay JUST realized that Bailey helped Amelia through labor the SAME WAY George helped Bailey through labor," one fan wrote above a side-by-side photo of the two scenes. "Bailey climbing up on the table with Amelia sure was a callback to her labor with George ... and I am crying," another viewer tweeted, before adding a crying face emoji.

As longtime fans might remember, George O'Malley was among the many Grey's characters who have been killed off from the show, with actor T.R. Knight exiting the medical drama in 2009 due to a "breakdown of communication" with show creator Shonda Rhimes. Before George passed away in the first episode of season 6, however, the sweet moment in which he helped his mentor Miranda Bailey through her delivery was definitely one of the most memorable scenes in season 2 with Miranda even naming her son, William George Bailey Jones (known as "Tuck"), after him!

Of course, with such emotional moments in the season 16 finale, fans are now left wondering what's in store for the next season of Grey's Anatomy. Commenting on what's to come for season 17 of the show, Grey's showrunner Krista Vernoff made sure to tease that the writers are already brainstorming lots for the next upcoming episodes.

"I have a feeling that their stories are going to change some, from what we had planned, and that well repurpose some of what we had written and use it in the early episodes of Season 17," she said in an interview with Deadline.

Well, while we count the days until the next episode of Grey's, I guess we still have a lot to recover from especially with that sweet George O'Malley throwback, which we'll definitely be crying over for at least the next few weeks (if not months)!

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'Grey's Anatomy Fans Are so Emotional About This Callback to George OMalley in the Season Finale - GoodHousekeeping.com