Author's Note/Disclaimer: This is my first Into the Woods fan fiction. First of all, I'd like to say that the music for this show is simply amazing (Sondheim is indeed a musical genius), and I have fallen in love with this play despite the fact that I've never watched it live on stage. I would like to let everybody know that this is more of an experimental story, since I have some other ideas for this including a midquel and a possible collaboration with my little sister for a sequel.

Note, I am using the clever idea of taking the original cast actor's name for the baker as I've seen in other fan fictions, so hopefully that will not confuse anybody that he is named Chip. You should also know that I am using the BakerXCinderella pairing in the more or less distant future for the characters. I find this to be a likely pairing for the baker who is left a widower at the end of the story, and Cinderella who has left her prince as well. Lastly, I own none of the characters from this fabulous musical. Thank you, and enjoy!

*S. Snowflake


I Wish

Part I: Cinderella's Wish

It was seven years since the giant's landing in the woods; seven years past was the great disaster that destroyed the lives of the people who lived in that simple woodland town. Much had changed since the catastrophe, though generally it was for the better for the few surviving inhabitants. Just as he had intended to do the day when he and his band had conquered the giantess, the local baker repaired his cabin. He, of course, had the help of the other refugees, the former princess Cinderella, a young lad named Jack, and the feisty girl Little Red. Their cottage sat in the middle of the reconstructed village beneath the woods. The baker was by now married to Cinderella, and the three children accepted them as their guardians. All of the members of this "family" had lost their own family members, and so they together were the only family that they had left.

The baker and Cinderella tidied up their baking kitchen/living quarters together that calm autumn day. Cinderella occasionally glanced out the window at her adopted children playing outside between aiding moments of helping her husband with baking his bread. Her husband's little boy showed no sign of maturity yet, being the adorable seven-year-old he was, but looking upon the older ones, she was upset. Little Red and Jack were no longer the young children they had once been. Jack's voice was now a tad deeper, like the baker's, and he was somewhat stronger than he had been as a lad. Red was simply lovelier than she had been, and no longer could be referred to as "little girl". What charming children they had turned out to be, which was why it broke Cinderella's heart so much to imagine losing them.

"Cinder, are you alright?" the baker asked, noticing his wife's deep frown.

Cinderella turned around slowly, her brown hair flowing over her shoulder. "Oh, of course, Chip. Why wouldn't I be alright?"

"Well, you seemed sad to me," the baker Chip replied and hugged Cinderella's shoulders. "You can tell me anything you know."

"Yes, yes, I do know, Chip." She sighed between her statements. "Do you ever feel sad when you look at our Little Red and Jack growing up so quickly?"

Chip shrugged and returned to kneading some dough for supper bread and dessert cakes for Red. "Maybe just a bit, Cinder, but they have to grow up one day. Where would we all be if we didn't have to grow up?"

"But I'll miss them," Cinderella said. "It seems like only yesterday we were telling them about how they were not alone in that dark corner of the woods, and now they've grown up and are going to leave and get married themselves. I don't want to see Jack mistreated because he lacks a fortune. And Red may be strong enough to fend off a wolf now, but I think that a prince is far more treacherous."

The baker shuddered briefly, thinking of his adopted daughter Red in the clutches of a lustful prince, but then used his better judgment and set the dough into the oven to bake. "I have only one idea of who those two could ever marry, and they don't have to look any farther than the other's face to see who."

Cinderella raised her eyebrows, but did not add to that. "I guess I'm just feeling a little down about these things lately. Since the giant's landing, I've seen them as my children, and I feel like I have to let them go when I've only known them for seven years. I-I almost wish that…oh, forget it."

The baker's brow creased and he turned away from the dough on the counter top. "You wish for what?" he asked Cinderella.

"Oh, it's nothing, Chip."

"No, really Cinder, tell me," Chip insisted. "Wishes are powerful things. We should know that."

Cinderella looked to her husband and nodded. If anyone knew what wishes could do to someone, it had to be them. She had wished to go to the king's festival those seven years ago, unknowing that she would meet her prince charming and soon after lead him on a chase, and eventually be caught through her slippers as pure as gold. As for Chip, he and his first wife Joanna wished for nothing more than a child, and had gone on a grand adventure to get their wish. Little did either the princess or the baker know that their wishes would partially result in the attack of a giant and the departure of their respective spouse; hers by divorce, his by death.

"Well, I-I wish that, m-maybe… we could have a child," Cinderella concluded with a stutter and looked to her husband for a response, but did not receive one. "I mean, I don't know. We've been married for more than a year, and I'd just want to know if…" she paused, characteristic of her unsure nature. "Our son will be so lonely when his big brother and sister are gone, and then what will we do?" She paused again, and sighed. "Oh, forget it, I'm being foolish."

Chip stared at Cinderella intently when she stopped talking, then decided to hold her hand. "You're not being foolish, Cinder. Joanna said something very similar to me once. She wanted a child, and eventually convinced me that I did, even though I wasn't sure if I knew what to do if we ever had one." He looked down at his worn shoes, remembering his beloved first wife Joanna. The sting of pain at her death still lingered from seven years gone by. "-But, Cinder, is this what you really wish for?"

Cinderella paused, wondering if she was really speaking from her heart's desires or if she was making another careless wish as she had in the woods. With careful consideration, she smiled and decided.

"Yes, I really do, Chip."

The baker looked back into their eyes. "-And you know that the witch's curse may have been lifted for my son, but it may still linger on this house."

"Yes, I know that," replied Cinderella. "But I still want to try."

Chip smiled. "Then it's settled, as long as you're sure."

Cinderella grinned and hugged her baker husband tightly with a small laugh. "Yes, I am sure."

And the two of them stood awhile, embracing in the kitchen, hoping that soon their small wish would be granted. They knew all too well how things would change if it did, and how frightening a spell's backfire could be, but it was their wish all the same.

"Wishes are children…

Wishes come true, not free..."