When Natalie Morales joined the ABC drama in Season 20 as pediatric surgeon Dr. Monica Beltran, viewers speculated that the doc was a

love interest for Caterina Scorsone’s Dr. Amelia Shepherd. At first, Monica and Amelia butted heads over a surgery, but there was also a

spark between the pair that eventually grew into a friendship. However, Monica and Amelia’s relationship never went beyond the platonic

 

 

before Monica tragically died in the Season 22 premiere. Instead, freshly divorced Monica landed between the sheets with Winston during a Season 20 hookup that was as brief as it was unexpected.

“I was surprised. I think we were all surprised. I don’t know what that was still. Maybe I shouldn’t say that, but it was very out of nowhere for everybody,” star Anthony Hill, who plays Winston, tells Soaps.com. “I think there might have been other reasons for that that I’m not aware of. I don’t know, but it was kind of like, literally, out of nowhere on the page, and ‘Here we go.’”

“Storyline-wise, I was like, ‘Huh, OK,’ and it’s just kind of all over the place,” Hill shares, adding that the show’s writers like to “try to throw curves at us, too, just like the audience. And I think that’s kind of a healthy way to be.”

Hill isn’t sure why the Winston/Monica relationship ended so abruptly after only a couple of episodes to never be mentioned again. “I don’t know why that happens, how that happens. I’m not in the writers’ room,” he says. And with so much left unexplored between the two characters, “I kind of wish that we would have spent more time on that and with that, selfishly, because I like working with Natalie. But also, it was interesting. She was such an interesting character. Winston and Beltran together kind made you go, ‘Huh?’ I didn’t know if I liked it or didn’t like it, but that kind of made me lean in a little bit. So I would have loved to focus on that more, but it wasn’t in the cards for now.”

Despite how the storyline unfolded, Hill is grateful that he got to act opposite Morales, no matter how briefly. In fact, you might call Hill something of a Natalie Morales fanboy. “Natalie is so incredible. I don’t want to be like, ‘I was honored to work with her,’ because that sounds weird, but I kind of was, because I’ve watched so many of her films and so much of her work over the years,” Hill confesses, “and I’m like, ‘Oh, I get to do scenes with Natalie Morales. This is really cool,’ as a fan. I didn’t tell her that, so this is weird that I’m probably saying this now, but I’m a big fan of hers. So it was cool for that reason.”