Amelia's surgery was successful and after she updated the family, she headed to the gallery to get Scarlett.
That night, Amelia was quieter than usual and both Maggie and Meredith noticed.
"Alright, spill. Why are you acting so weird?" Maggie said after dinner, as soon as Scarlett and the kids were out of sight.
"What are you talking about?" Amelia said trying to play dumb as she put her plate in the dishwasher.
"You're being quiet, and you're never quiet," Maggie pointed out.
"Is it about Scarlett's doppelganger?" Meredith hinted at.
"Scarlett's what?" Maggie asked.
"There was this girl in the ER who looked just like Scarlett today, and when I told Amelia, it freaked her out," Meredith explained.
"I didn't freak out," Amelia said fast in defense.
"Amelia?" Maggie asked when she turned and noticed the woman staring into space. Amelia snapped out of it and turned to his sisters and said,
"Max is Scarlett's dad."
"What?" Meredith asked.
"Who's Max?" Maggie wanted to know. Amelia took a deep breath.
"An old friend of mine and he happened to show up in the ER today with his five year old son and two daughters," Amelia explained and then looked to see her sisters reaction.
"So Scarlett has a half sister?" Maggie asked.
"She has two. And a half brother apparently," Amelia told them with a sigh.
"You told me Scarlett's father was a drug related friend." Meredith recalled from their conversation in the supply closet when they first met Scarlett.
"I lied. I just said that so I didn't have to tell you that he was actually a good guy. It was easier to just say he was a drug related friend so I didn't have to feel as bad for not telling him," Amelia confessed.
"So you meeting Max had nothing to do with drugs
"Well, I went to school with Max's cousin who I bought from and she was the one who introduced us years later at her wedding." Amelia explained.
"Are you sill friends with his cousin?" Maggie asked.
"Andrea? No she died like ten years ago. She overdosed," Amelia said casually.
"How long were you and Max together?" Maggie wanted to know.
"We weren't really together. More like a fling or a friends with benefits situation. He was finishing law school and I was in med school when it all happened. That's why I couldn't keep Scarlett. He wasn't ready to raise a kid and neither was I," Amelia answered.
"Does Max know Scarlett exists?" Meredith asked.
Amelia shook her head and said,
"No, I never told him."
"Do you think you're going to?" Maggie asked.
"Tell him or Scarlett?" Amelia asked.
"Either," Maggie said.
That left Amelia thinking. She didn't want to blindside either one of them but also didn't know how to tell them. She hated that she was in this position. She thought she'd never see Max ever again. Or Scarlett for that matter. Guess she was wrong.
The next day at work, Amelia arrived to find Max waiting outside the hospital for her.
"Hey, Amelia," he called when he noticed her walking by the bench he was sitting at. She turned around, surprised to see him.
"Max, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I was hoping we could talk," he said and caught up to her.
"About what?" she asked, playing dumb.
Max took out his wallet and pulled out a picture. He held it out to Amelia and showed it to her. It looked like it was an old school picture of Scarlett.
"How'd you get this?" Amelia asked, assuming it was of her daughter.
"That's my 13 year old daughter, Alice. Doesn't she remind you of someone?" Max asked.
Amelia realized where he was going with this and said,
"What do you want?"
"After I met Scarlett yesterday I couldn't stop thinking about her. Her and Alice look like they could be sisters and-"
He stopped and took a deep breath.
"How old is Scarlett?" Max asked.
"She's fifteen," Amelia told him with a straight face. She shifted a little bit due to her feeling uncomfortable.
Max just looked at Amelia. He knew the timeline fit so he asked,
"Is she mine?"
That question made Amelia even more uncomfortable. She didn't plan on sharing Scarlett with anyone and she didn't want to give up any right to Max as a parent.
"First of all, she's mine. I think what you meant to ask was if you were her father," Amelia said to him slowly.
"Am I?" Max wanted to know.
Amelia looked at him for a second and then said,
"Yeah, but I didn't mean for you to find out like this," adding the last part quickly.
Max sighed and took a seat at the bench they were standing by.
"Amelia she's fifteen. How come you didn't tell me sooner? I think I would've liked to know I had another daughter walking around," Max told her with a bit of a tone.
"I gave her up for adoption when she was born. Then, her mom died a few years ago and her dad died a month ago so I took her in," Amelia explained.
"I'm assuming she doesn't know about me since she didn't seem to recognize me yesterday," Max commented.
"She hasn't asked about her father yet," Amelia told him.
"When she does ask, you'll tell her about me, right?" Max asked.
"Of course," Amelia assured him.
Max nodded and said,
"I'd like to help set up a college fund for Scarlett," as he proceeded to take out his checkbook.
Amelia instantly got defensive and said,
"We don't need your money."
"It's the least I can do," Max tried to say, so Amelia replied with,
"Sorry, we don't want your money."
"Amelia-"
"I know I was kind of a shit show when you met me, but I'm a different person now. I'm clean and responsible and a world class neurosurgeon!" Amelia said proudly as she stood up.
"I believe you, I just want to help. She's my daughter too," Max offered and stood up.
Amelia sighed. She knew that she should've told Max about Scarlett sooner and she knew he had just as much a right to her as she did.
"Do you want to meet her?" Amelia asked.
Max eyed her carefully. He couldn't tell if she was serious.
"Amelia, I don't want to rush things. You can tell her-"
"No, I know, but do you want to meet her?" Amelia asked again, making sure to put emphasis on the you.
Max took a second and then said,
"Yeah, I think I do."
Amelia sighed and then said,
"I'll talk to her later today and see if she's up to meeting you."
A small smile appeared on Max's face and he said,
"Thank you."
Amelia nodded and then turned to go, but Max said,
"Wait, here's my card. In case she says yes."
Amelia took the card and looked it over before saying,
"You're a lawyer huh?"
Max nodded and said,
"I was going to be a lawyer and you were going to be a surgeon, remember?"
Amelia didn't know how to respond so she nodded with a smile and then turned and walked into the hospital.
While Amelia was in surgery, Scarlett arrived and was brought to the gallery to watch her mom. Amelia was working on her patient's brain while another doctor was working on the patient's leg. Scarlett could hear her mom and the other doctor talk over the intercom.
They almost seemed like they were flirting and Scarlett didn't know how to feel about it. She gathered from their conversation that his name was Linc and it seemed like he and Amelia were kind of a thing which is weird because Amelia never mentioned a significant other to Scarlett.
Once the surgery was over, Amelia went to get Scarlett and the first thing the teenager said as they started walking down the hall was,
"You didn't tell me Dr. Lincoln was your boyfriend."
Amelia stopped dead in her tracks and said,
"He's not my boyfriend."
Scarlett smiled and said,
"The intercom was on."
Amelia was speechless.
"So what exactly happened in New York?" Scarlett asked, since that's what Link and Amelia were discussing.
"We worked on a case together," Amelia told her.
"And?" Scarlett pushed.
"And he had the pleasure of meeting and having dinner with my family...our family," Amelia said awkwardly at the end.
Scarlett raised an eyebrow and said jokingly,
"So he got to meet the family before me?"
"Trust me, you don't want to meet the family," Amelia scoffed.
This was the one of first times Scarlett was being sarcastic and joking around with Amelia and the older of the two enjoyed it. It meant she was really starting to warm up to her. Amelia was worried Scarlett wasn't ever going to open up to her, but she felt like she didn't need to worry about that as much.
"So he's really not your boyfriend?" Scarlett questioned.
Amelia shook her head and said,
"It's complicated."
Scarlett just rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" Amelia asked. Scarlett's eyes went cold for a second as she recalled the last person she called her boyfriend. Amelia noticed the sudden change in Scarlett, but the girl quickly snapped out of her thoughts and said,
"Nope. I don't date."
Then she walked faster and ahead of Amelia to avoid the rest of that conversation and she walked up to Maggie who was waiting for them at the main entrance.
After dinner that night, Zola asked Scarlett for help on her homework since her mom and aunts were busy cleaning up. Scarlett didn't spend that much time with the other kids in the house, but lately, her and Zola have been making an effort to get to know each other.
Once everyone went to bed, Amelia started to think about how to bring up the whole Max thing to Scarlett. She was laying in bed and Scarlett was on a mattress on the floor.
"Amelia?" Scarlett asked quietly.
"Yeah," Amelia said.
There was a moment of silence as Scarlett was trying to figure out how to ask Amelia this question that she's been thinking about since she found out who Amelia was.
"Scar?" Amelia asked to make sure the kid didn't fall asleep.
"Do you know who my dad is?" the girl blurted out.
Amelia didn't answer right away so Scarlett said,
"If you don't, it's fine. I was just curious."
Amelia sighed. This was going to be easier than she thought.
"Remember yesterday in the pit you met my friend Max?" Amelia asked.
"Yeah," Scarlett said, unaware of the turn this conversation was about to take. Amelia took a deep breath.
"Well... he's also your biological father," Amelia told her carefully and slowly.
"What?!" Scarlett exclaimed in almost a whisper and sat up.
She looked over at her mom. The room was dark, but not pitch black.
"Max and I weren't anything serious, it was-" Amelia started to say as she too sat up.
"Complicated?" Scarlett asked.
"Yeah," Amelia said with an apologetic look. Then she continued and said,
"I was in med school still and Max was finishing up law school. It didn't seem practical to-"
"Keep me?" Scarlett asked.
Amelia knew she was going about this all wrong already. She got out of bed and joined her daughter on her's.
"Letting you go was one of the toughest things I've ever had to do. You know I love you and always have, right?" Amelia asked sincerely.
Scarlett didn't respond.
Amelia tucked a piece of hair behind Scarlett ear and said,
"I wanted to keep you, but that would've been selfish of me. I couldn't give you the things I knew you deserved. And Kelly and Carson could. When I met them, I knew I made the right decision," Amelia said softly.
"Did Max know you were pregnant?" Scarlett asked.
"At the time, no. But he figured it out yesterday after he met you," Amelia told her truthfully.
"What do you mean?" Scarlett asked.
Amelia took another deep breath and said,
"Max has one son, who you saw yesterday, and he also has two daughters. Apparently one of them looks just like you."
"So you talked to him?" Scarlett wanted to know.
"He showed up at the hospital today and we talked," Amelia replied.
"What did he say?" Scarlett asked.
"Well, he wants to meet you," Amelia informed the girl.
Scarlett didn't know what to say and Amelia noticed her hesitation so she said,
"It's completely up to you though, we don't want to force anything onto you-"
"I want to meet him," Scarlett said confidently.
"You sure?" Amelia wanted to make sure.
"Why not?" Scarlett said with a small smile.
"I'll call him tomorrow and schedule something," Amelia said back with a matching smile.
"You'll be there too though, right?" Scarlett wanted to clarify.
"Would you like me to-"
"Yes," Scarlett didn't wait for Amelia to finish her sentence. There was no way she was going alone to meet this man again.
Amelia smiled and then kissed Scarlett on the head and said,
"I love you."
Scarlett smiled and then laid back down as Amelia got up and went back to her bed.
"Goodnight," Scarlett called.
"Goodnight," Amelia said back.
The next morning Amelia made sure to call Max and let him know Scarlett was interested in meeting him.
While Scarlett was eating cereal, Amelia walked downstairs and over to her after getting ready for work and said,
"Ohh, I talked to Max and he's free tonight if that works for you."
Maggie and Meredith exchanged glances.
"Tonight?" Scarlett repeated as a question.
"Yeah, I figured we could get dinner and catch up," Amelia said.
"Umm yeah, that works for me," Scarlett said as she tried to hide her excitement.