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As an unaccompanied acoustic guitar plays "The First Noel," Carter heads out the ambulance bay, past an extra shovelling extremely fake snow.
Carter walks, with his head down, through the dark streets, to the El.
Having apparently just showered, Carter gazes at himself in a foggy bathroom mirror, then walks into his adjoining bedroom, pulls his blackout curtains (the sun having begun to rise), and climbs gratefully into bed, under the thickest damn duvet I've ever seen. Well, maybe the second biggest. You know in The Sound of Music when it's raining on Maria's first night there and all the kids come to her room and tell her what they did to all the other governesses they hated, including putting frogs in their beds, and then they leave and she whips back her covers to make sure there isn't anything there? That thing is folded in half and it's, like, a vertical yard of feathers. When I've watched the movie as an adult, all I ever think is, "Where can I get a duvet that thick? I mean, talk about your Bed, Bath and Beyond!" Anyway, Carter's bed linens look like that. And, of course, no sooner has his head hit the pillow than his pager, on his nightstand, starts chirping. He growls and reluctantly reaches over to check it, then flops back down, defeated.
An OB nurse hangs up the phone and tells Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen that an anaesthesiologist will be there in a couple of minutes. Chen already looks really tired and is sweating a little. Janet "Dr. Amy Aquino" Coburn -- the only obstetrician in the hospital, evidently -- tells her to relax, and reaches south of the border (down Mexico way) to report that Chen is dilated to four centimetres, completely effaced, and at zero station. Chen looks tense. Dr. Aquino and the nurse move away and a smiling Carter knocks at the door. He pokes his head in and asks to come in; Chen exhales gratefully, tearfully thanks him for coming, and tells him that she didn't want to call him and waited as long as she could in order not to wake him. He sits next to her bed and clutches her hand, gently assuring her that it's okay and that he's not working. Man, I don't plan to have kids, but this Carter is exactly the kind of person I'd want at my side if I did. He's calm and reassuring and quiet and supportive and...well, cute, also. Dr. Aquino tells Chen that she's going to rupture her membranes and get her started. To distract her, Carter asks when she went into labour, and Chen says it was midnight and that she took a cab to the hospital. Dr. Aquino's done, and Chen allows a little sigh of discomfort and then breaks down, choking, "You know, I thought I could do this myself, but I can't! I can't!" Carter puts his other arm around her shoulders and sweetly tells her that she doesn't have to. See? That's what I'm talking about. She has a contraction and squeezes his hand, breathing through it; Dr. Aquino tells Chen she's doing great, and Carter beams at her proudly, looking very excited to be there with her, considering he's going on no sleep. He asks Chen whether she's taken any birthing classes, and she says she took a Lamaze course. He talks her through it, and she breathes and finally throws her head back and screams, which evidently cues the credits.