And happy birthday (yesterday) to Baby Girl Carter! I’m so excited for Nick and Lauren, as I’m sure we all are! I know everyone just wanted them to have a healthy baby, regardless of gender, but it’s no secret that most of us were hoping for another Backstreet Girl. I can’t wait to see the first pictures and find out her name!
For those of you who are reading my current story, I have to confess that I have been privately freaking out just a little bit since finding out Lauren was pregnant again because of how closely the dates aligned with my made-up timeline for her pregnancy with baby “Arya.” Like, literally, my outline says they conceived on New Year’s Day, and I was only a week or so off. I started writing A Heart That Isn’t Mine last July, several months before their miscarriage and way before this baby was conceived, but it did cross my mind that Lauren could become pregnant again in real life while I was still writing the story… and sure enough, she did! I’m not particularly superstitious, but I have harbored some guilt over the stillbirth subplot. This is the problem with writing “real person” fanfic, especially the kind of stories I write – sometimes life imitates art just a little too closely for comfort. Killing real life Backstreet kids is the one line I will not cross in my stories, so I’m extra thrilled, relieved, and thankful that this one finally made her way safely into the world. Congratulations, Nick and Lauren!
In celebration of this wonderful day in the fandom, I’m updating early! Chapter 37 of A Heart That Isn’t Mine has been posted. I will probably still post another chapter this weekend, so stay tuned for more soon!