'Grey's Anatomy' season 13 return date, spoilers: Meredith and Alex to become a couple?

After the emotional midseason finale of "Grey's Anatomy," there are speculations that Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) will take their friendship to the next level when the series returns next year.

The first half of season 13 left off with Alex telling Meredith he might take a plea bargain and go to jail. However, Meredith did everything she can to stop him because she believes it's a huge mistake to just give up. Their emotionally-charged scenes led fans to believe that there may be some deep-seated romantic feelings between the two characters that viewers have yet to know.

After the midseason finale, viewers took to social media to share their thoughts on the episode. Although fans have yet to know Meredith and Alex's fate, most of them continue to freak out about a potential "Mer-Alex" relationship. Some fans even point out that it's a perfect romantic storyline given that Meredith and Alex have been in a platonic friendship for years now.

Earlier this year, executive producer Betsy Beers mentioned in an interview that the two characters' friendship might lead to something more. According to Beers, she herself has been a huge Meredith and Alex fan since the beginning. Given that the two characters are best friends, she revealed that there is a possibility for them to fall in love with each other.

"From my perspective, I understand the reaction because I think you also just love these two people and you want them both to be happy, and that's a natural thing too," she told E! News.. "But then there's so many Alex-Jo fans—like, the Alex-Jo fans are crazyballs! So it's nice—there's a little bit of something for everybody right now."

The 13th season of "Grey's Anatomy" returns to the small screen on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.