Chris Carmack warned us that things would “get worse” after the Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 premiere, which saw Link fighting for his life after an explosion in the Grey Sloan operating rooms. At the time, it was easy to assume he meant that Link’s recovery wouldn’t be a linear progression. It’s true that Link has had his low moments while accepting he won’t heal from his injuries quickly, but it turns out his warning extended to his partner, Jo (Camilla Luddington), who is the one at the end of peril as Grey’s goes on winter hiatus.

Jo thought her water was breaking in the penultimate episode. That was a false alarm, but the situation escalated in the winter finale when Jo felt short of breath during her check-up. Cardio was paged, and Winston (Anthony Hill) discovered that Jo’s heart is failing. She was rushed to surgery for him to install a pump in her heart that should correct the issue, but the surgery put the babies in distress. Winston was forced to do an emergency C-section — a procedure he hadn’t done since med school — to deliver Jo’s twins seven weeks early, while mom still wasn’t out of the woods.

The episode ended with Jo still in surgery, the ultimate fate of her and her babies still unknown. Both Luddington and Carmack joked that Jo and Link’s wedding at the end of Season 21 was a harbinger for terrible things to come (Grey’s hates to see a happy couple coming). It was unlikely that Jo’s high-risk pregnancy would go off without a hitch, but has this couple not been through enough trauma this season?

We’re still wondering if Link is going to make it back to the OR after the extensive injuries from the explosion. He’s in a sling for the foreseeable future, and so it’s still to be determined if he’ll have the dexterity in his arm and hands to pick up a scalpel again. Now he’s forced to watch as his wife goes in for a life-threatening surgery that could potentially kill her and their unborn children.

Fans have to wait until January for the results of Jo’s surgery, and Grey’s Anatomy understandably needed to make sure that viewers were invested in tuning back in two months from now. A winter finale needs an epic cliffhanger, but were there no other candidates besides Jo and Link?

They already had the Season 21 cliffhanger. They’ve been working through a major trauma for their family. Now we’re faced with the possibility that Link could become a single father of four? Or he and Jo potentially face the unimaginable grief of losing their twin babies before they’ve properly met. Even in the best-case scenario where Jo and the babies survive this surgery, the twins will be born almost two months early and have to spend the first several weeks of their lives in the NICU. It is going to be a stressful return to the season for Jo and Link, even under the most preferred circumstances.

I hope they have a therapist on speed dial and their vacation days saved up because these two need to get as far away from this cursed hospital as they can for a bit. If Jo and the babies make it through this ordeal, I think she and Link have earned a minimum two-season respite from any Grey Sloan disasters.

Of course, this is Grey’s Anatomy, so Jo is not the only one we are worried about as we head into the January premiere. The winter finale also revealed that Richard (James Pickens Jr.) has cancer. The type of answer wasn’t disclosed in the episode, but the scene was accompanied by a PSA from Pickens encouraging men, especially Black men, over the age of 40 to begin yearly prostate cancer screenings.

The PSA and the storyline are mapped to Pickens’ personal experience after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in January. He detailed his personal cancer journey to Black Health Matters, and now Grey’s Anatomy will pick up the mantle to spread more awareness about the disease and the importance of early detection through Richard’s storyline.

Related: ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Returns for Season 22 – With One Possible Cast Departure

Pickens is now cancer-free, but that does not guarantee the same thing will happen for Richard. He was also at the top of our list to worry about after the Season 22 premiere when he injured his head during the explosion. That concussion did not turn into a more serious brain injury, but he’s now got a battle ahead of him. If Jo and the twins make it through their surgery, will Richard pay the karmic price? That’s a dark thought, but over two decades of watching this Shondaland drama have prepared me for knowing they rarely put this many lives in danger and have every person make it out okay.

We have a stressful two months ahead of us, Grey’s Anatomy fans, and we should start emotionally preparing for a bumpy road even when the show returns. We don’t want the hospital drama to turn into a boring utopia where no one is ever in danger, but the real world is already trying. Please be gentle with our hearts, Shondaland!

Grey’s Anatomy returns Thursday, Jan. 8 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. All episodes are now available on Hulu.