Station 19 Just Tried to Pull a This Is Us with Chief Ripley

Station 19 just tried to pull a heartbreaking This Is Us-liketwist on usby giving Ripley (Brett Tucker) a delayed heart attack. The fire chief and Hughes (Barrett Doss) finally made a breakthrough in their taboo relationship and were tossing around the idea of getting married during Thursday's episode, but tragedy struck before an official engagement could actually be nailed down.

Ripley sacrificed himself to get a captain from another Seattle fire station out of a dangerous coffee house fire. While he initially seemed fine, the Seattle F.D. fire chief collapsed the following morning after picking up flowers to make his engagement to Hughes official. Luckily, Grey's Anatomy's Glasses (Jake Borelli) was at the same flower shop and found Ripley collapsed on the sidewalk.

Station 19's Barrett Doss Reacts to the Grey's Anatomy Crossover Heart-Wrenching Twist

The previews for the next episode confirm that Ripley is alive and show that his case will be the center of Station 19's half of the next Grey's crossover, on Thursday, May 2. But he can't reach Hughes to tell her why he missed their breakfast, leaving her to think he was rejecting the proposal she gave him at the coffee house. Making matters worse, he's warned that if he leaves the hospital his heart could stop.

That's not something to be taken lightly. In fact, a smoke inhalation-induced heart attack is how This Is Us killed its patriarch, Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) during their second season. If Station 19 decides to also go that tragic route, who knows if Hughes will ever recover from that kind of tragedy. Plus, we really love them together. How about let's not end them with such a terrible tragedy?

Station 19 returns Thursday, May 2 at 9/8c on ABC.