Joseph Gordon-Levitt, on being second || The Bear, Episode 8.

I know u have a billion requests but I'm dying fir a carmy x reader where she goes into labor

i have one here with willow but i'll write a first time one too with teddy!

Carmen knew it was coming soon, which is why he hovered. Why he rarely let you be alone, the thought of him missing it or something happening made him sick. Tina and Sugar both told him it was a long process, there's no way he'd miss it, but he was still anxious. Worried about a lot of things, thoughts that kept him up at night. Would he be a good dad? Would the birth go ok? What if something happens to the baby? What if something happens to you? What if he gets in a wreck on the way home? What if the baby died in her sleep?

Thoughts that had him throwing up all hours of the night. Your morning sickness was traded in for his own, worrying himself to the point he was sure he had an ulcer.

The phone rang, a Tuesday in August. Still sunny and warm, but with the golden glow that hinted fall was coming soon. Carmen was so busy, trying to approve the new seasonal menu, and for a moment his mind had slipped of all those anxieties. Until he heard your voice.

"I think I'm in labor."

"You think?" Carmen barked, harsher than he meant it to, a wave of guilt flooding over him. "What-What-What do you mean think? Are you ok?"

"Well, my water just broke." You frowned, looking at the puddled under your swollen belly. You paused, a hesitation laying thick in the air between the two of you over the line. "I think it's time."

Carmen was a wreck, swerving and punching the gas in and out of Chicago traffic to get the the brownstone, parking up on the sidewalk, HOA be damned.

You were calm, eerily calm to him, as he threw your bags, all your birthing things into the car, carefully helping you in. "Fuck!" Carmen huffed, hitting his horn for the third time in five minutes.

You gripped the side of the door, trying to breathe like your birthing coach taught you. "Carmy, please." You sighed, regulating your own heart rate. "Stop honking at people before we get shot."

"I'm just... Fuck, you know you think these fuckers would see hazard lights on and move, but everyone's so goddam stupid-"

"Carmen," You grabbed his hand lightly, thumb gliding over his inked fingers calmly. "Just relax. I haven't even really started having contractions, ok? We'll have time." How was it you were in labor and you were the one comforting Carmen? He felt like a jagoff, could practically hear Mikey and Richie's chorusing voices calling him that.

"I'm sorry." Carmen muttered, slumping back into the seat. "I'm just... I'm really fuckin' scared." His knee bounced, hand twitching towards the Spirit's in the center console. It was muscle memory, to reach for the cigarettes when he was anxious. He chose the gum instead, trying his best to cut back for when the baby was here. In case she'd have asthma or something else, and he just didn't want to teach her bad habits.

He wanted to be better. Be better.

Sometimes he wondered if his parents ever had ambitions like that. To be better, do better for their kids. If they did, they didn't stick.

"I know you are." You cooed lightly, running a hand through his damp curls, sweat accumulating at his hair line already. "You're gonna be a good dad, you know that?"

"I hope," Carmen smacked the gum with a shake of his head.

"I know." You beamed at him. "You already do so much for her anyways, and she's not even here, Carmy." He didn't say anything, just kept a white knuckled grip on the wheel, his free holding your hand.

"The only thing you'll be bad at is saying no to her, Carm. I already know that. You're too much of a softy." You giggled, poking him lightly in his bicep.

Carmen's lips twitched, the hints of a smile on his lips. You could feel the wave of a contraction, not overwhelming but uncomfortable, squeezing Carmen's hand lightly, shifting in pain. "What? Are you ok? You good?" Carmen's eyes darted from you to the road.

"Just a little contraction. I'm fine." You sighed gently, rubbing your free hand over the spot you could feel Teddy kicking. "They're still pretty spaced out, so we've got a while."

Carmen let out a shuddered breath, lips quipping in a smile. "She's takin' her time, already? We're doomed. She's gonna be just like her Mama. Late for everything."

You gasped, hitting his shoulder lightly. "And here I was being nice to you!" You bit back a smile. "I am not late for everything. I'm on time for the important stuff. Just late for the things I don't want to go to."

"Signing our marriage license?" Carmen lifted a brow. "You didn't want to do that-"

"-No, no, no! You dressed up and I looked like a bum, so I had to get ready!" You countered lightly, jabbing a finger at him.

"I didn't dress up! I wore jeans-"

"-And a nice button down. Not a t-shirt? That's dressing up, Carm, and you know it." You frowned at him. "I had a pair of bike shorts on."

"And you looked hot in them." Carmen grinned, eyes glinting when he looked at you, making you blush, heat rushing to your cheeks and chest. Your own nerves settling, your own what-ifs and fears of giving birth, of being a mother in general.

"Looked better in the dress." Carmen added, lifting your hand to kiss the back of your knuckles. You rolled your eyes lightly, heart fluttering. The white sundress you'd put on, patterned with a floral print but the only white dress you owned, and Carmen had swooned. Flipped it up and fucked you in the back seat after you'd signed it.

"Surprised I didn't get pregnant after that." You grinned, breath hitching at another contraction, dull but stronger this time.

Carmen's eyes cut to yours, thumb running over your knuckles at the pressure. "Can't believe we're having a baby." Carmen muttered, flicking on the turn signal, the hospital in sight.

I think people see Black people and POC as simultaneously incapable and overly capable. So they treat them as children and as threats-both undeserving of respect and humanity. You see this with how Richie treats Sydney, for example. And I think that's why most people have no problem with his treatment of her. The reality is that Sydney is much more competent than he is and he knows it. He is fully aware of it and that's why he degrades her, and Carmy too. That's why many viewers don't want her with Carmy. Because she is the shit. She is young and impatient and green but she is great. And that's why she is impatient because she sees her own potential and wants to grow it because she knows she can do it. She is not only talented, but she also has the skills and work ethic. It's both that she is innately good and has worked to become the best. And to be quite honest, most people are very much content with mediocrity. And that's the thing about Carmy and Sydney-they aren't. They absolutely are not. And that's a big part of the reason why they are so immediately connected. That's why Richie is so bothered by both of them. And that's why, in a larger sense, there is such a problem with Black people and POC. Because a lot of us have been taught that mediocrity is not acceptable. In fact, for a lot of us, it is intrinsic not to be mediocre. And mediocrity is a core tenet of whiteness, all while touting greatness for just being white. For existing. So it makes total sense that a lot of viewers would see this young, Black woman, who immediately can go toe to toe with someone as great as Carmy, and be seen as an equal and someone deserving of respect and even love eventually, and be threatened. They are cut from the same cloth and they see it and know it deep down and people are mad because they themselves aren't part of that fabric. They are mad that someone like Sydney is.

You spitting. I’m ready to pass a collection plate because this sermon is the truth.

You’re essentially saying they know they’re losers like Richie and are upset like he was when he was called out. They heard her taunting him and started hollering because those rocks hit their target: white mediocrity.

Deep down, many of these white people who coast of white mediocrity feel inferior because they know they wouldn’t be where they are without white supremacy. They wouldn’t be successful, they wouldn’t be viewed as attractive, they wouldn’t have friends, etc without a racism structure backing them. They need that to thrive in the world.

But people like Sydney, how dare she succeed and exist in a world that tries its best to make it hard for her to be great. How dare she be beautiful and viewed as such? How dare she be confident in her own talent and not apologize for it or diminish herself. How dare she challenge someone for being rude and disrespecting her.

Richie expected to be handed the family business NOT because he knew what he was doing, but because he was Mikey’s best friend. There is literally nothing that supports the idea that Richie can run the restaurant. Nothing. This man relies on a toxic system that was the backbone of a failing restaurant. He has no idea what’s going on with the finances, takes shortcuts in repairs, and de-escalated tension with violence.

Not only could Carmy cook, he ran the best restaurant in the entire country. And he chose Sydney as his sous chef. Sydney repeatedly showed time and time again that she was the right choice. How she got the brigade running, improved the skill set of the other chefs, de-escalates various situations, on her feet thinking, etc.

He’s one of those entitled fucks who thinks he’s entitled to a POCs success and opportunities because he wants it. He doesn’t actually put in any work, yet he wants the acclaim and attention. Then feels resentful because they’re doing well and he’s convinced himself he was “robbed.”

We see this all of the time in real life. White people get handed shit they aren’t qualified for and no one questions it. Black people work our asses off and we’re said to be getting “hand outs.”

Sydney worked at so many fine dining places that Carmy said she had some serious “heat”, so much so he thought UPS was another fucking fine dining place.

The actual cooks in the kitchen respected Sydney eventually, but the man who was only hired because his best friend owns the kitchen and can only use the cash register is talking about her as if she’s come intruder? As if she doesn’t belong there? Lololololol

I’ve lived in neighbors with white people, I’ve gone to school with them, and I’ve worked with them. One thing they will always have is the audacity.

To protect and defend Sydney means to admit that they are lacking and that’s the last thing they’d admit. They hate and resent Sydney for challenging the system and refusing to be less than her best. They hate her for wanting more and not kissing their asses whenever a white person is upset or she makes a mistakes.

It makes sense that they’d idolized the epitome of toxic masculinity. Someone resentful that they’re being phased out of life because they don’t add value to others. Richie knows he has to adapt or he’s not going to survive, but they haven’t made that connection yet. Life will always keep moving forward, the question is: will they move too or be left behind?

Others are resentment because they allowed themselves to be walked over and thinks others should be okay with that behavior as well.