A/N: Hello out there:)

It's been a while since I last saw Into the Woods but I'm still in love with it...and I'm also really sad about the Baker's Wife's death.

So I've decided to change the story -or at least its end - and I'm going to start with the "Any Moment" scene.

I'm changing that one too, though.

Well actually mostly everything that happened after the wedding and the giantess walking into the kingdom changes.

The Baker's name is George and the Baker's Wife is called Elizabeth.

Pls review from time to time.

cu

IceK

Chapter ONE

Terrible Moments

"One-Seventy-one, One-seventy-two, One-Seventy-"

She whirled around when she heard the leaves rustling behind her.

There was the sound of hoof-clapping on the moss and then he stood right in front of her.

The Prince.

He gave her a lopsided smile that made her breath hitch.

Then he slipped out off the saddle and was eye to eye with her.

"H-hello. Your Royal Highness.", Beth finally managed to press between clenched teeth.

"Well, hello."

His voice sounded loud in the silence of the woods.

"Hello again.", Beth let out a small chuckle.

The Prince frowned. It was just a small frown, one that didn't form lines on his perfectly smooth forehead.

"We've met before.", the Baker's Wife said quickly when recognising his confusion, "Actually."

His frown deepend a little bit as he stepped closer, "Well yes, of course."

Beth smiled.

"Yes.", she breathed.

Her fingers traced alongside the scarf around her neck. It was a distraction from the prince in front of her.

"You must be here to", she stopped for a second and tilted her head to one side, looking at the prince in confusion. His clothes didn't look as if they were very useful to- ,"to slay the giant."

The Prince frowned even more. Now there was a little line on his forehead, Beth recognised.

"The giant?", he asked.

"Yes. Haven't you heard? That- We have a giant in our midst.", Beth answered and pointed at the gigantic footprint some meters away from them, "Not an earthquake."

The Prince nodded, "Of course. The giant."

He took two steps closer to her.

Beth felt her breath hitch in her throat.

Has she ever been so nervous?

"It's a lady giant.", she bursted out with a laugh, "Which is...very unusual."

The Prince laughed with her, "I should think so."

The Baker's Wife stared at her feet for a second, then lifted her gaze and gave the Prince a shy smile.

"And why are you alone in the woods?", he asked and took a hold on the same tree trunk where Beth's hand was.

"Um...", she started, getting more and more nervous with every step the Prince made towards her, "Well, I came here with my husband. And we were..."

The Prince's gaze brushed off of her and he looked around for a second.

"Well, you see; It's a long story.", Beth said rather quickly to not bore him away.

But he'd already turned around.

"And he would let you roam alone in the woods?", he asked.

It did sound concerned, didn't it?

Beth took a deep breath, "Well, no, actually. It was my choice."

The Prince turned around again.

His eyes lid up, "How brave."

Beth frowned.

"Brave?", she laughed nervously when the Prince stepped closer.

"Yes."

And then his lips suddenly were right behind her ear and brushed the sensitive spot behind her earlobe.

"Don't you know that anything can happen in these woods?"

Beth's heart was pounding fast.

"May I kiss you?"

It had came over his lips fast and quietly but it sent shivers down her spine nonetheless.

Beth was determined to say no. She couldn't. She wouldn't.

She was married, after all.

But it didn't pass her lips and then they were already sealed with the Prince's lips.

They were warm and wet and clearly not those of her husband.

Beth pulled away, eyes widened and breath uneven.

"No.", she whispered.

But there he was again, his lips on her neck just beneath the thin cloth of her scarf and his hands held her head in place.

"Please don't.", Beth said.

When the Prince didn't stop, she shove him away.

"I said no.", she bursted hotly and straightened her posture, "I do not want you to kiss me."

Her hands trembled.

"Why not?", the Prince asked. His eyes were filled with lust and Beth felt more and more uncomfortable under his gaze.

"I'm married.", she answered.

The Prince stepped closer to her. This time, she backed away.

"Oh yes?", he said and reached out for the woman's hand.

His fingers closed around hers and with one stroke he ripped the wedding ring from her fingers.

Beth groaned in pain. The ring had fit perfeclty on her finger, too lose to leave a mark, too tight to slip over her joint.

Tears sprang into her eyes when he threw it behind him into the leaves on the ground.

"But I can't see a ring."

When the Prince neared her and pressed his lips onto hers, Beth was about to cry.

He pushed her against a tree and she hit her head hard.

His lips were hot on her neck and his hands were hard on her breasts.

When he took the scarf from her neck, the first tears slipped from her eyes.

"Please. Please don't.", she begged.

And she didn't stop begging.

Not when he pulled his...manhood out off his trousers, not when he pushed her skirts up and touched her with his dirty hands, not when he thrust into her until he'd finished.

She didn't even stop when he stepped back and mounted into the saddle, riding away from her.

When there was only silence in the woods, she fell onto her knees and sobbed.

She'd lost her wedding ring, she remembered.

*Baker*

He heard his son's cries when he'd counted back to thirty-four.

That innocent, piercing sound always made his heart ache.

He fastened his steps and neared the clearing where his wife and he had started the step-counting.

Three pairs of eyes snapped towards him when he stepped out off the darkness.

"Did you find him?", Little Red Riding Hood asked as she recognised the Baker.

George shook his head, "Did my wife?"

Cinderella stood up from her place next to Phin, "She hasn't returned yet."

George frowned, "Really? How come that?"

Little Red shrugged.

Slowly Cinderella lifted the small baby boy up and approached the Baker, "He hasn't stopped crying since you and your wife left."

George carefully took Phin from the maiden in front of him.

"He never calms down in my arms.", he said with a small smile, "Just in my wife's."

Cinderella smiled at him, "Oh, it will change. My father always told me that there was a time when I would do nothing but crying in my mother's arms because she smellt like milk."

Slowly George sat down onto a tree trunk and rocked his son back and forth in his arms.

It didn't help.

"Maybe he is hungry.", Little Red suggested some minutes later, "It must be a while since your wife has last nursed him, right?"

George shrugged, "I really don't know. The time wasn't a thing I've been worrying about much lately."

The girls nodded knowingly.

Little Red sat down on the tree trunk next to Cinderella and slowly leant against the young woman.

Cinderella smiled and put one arm around her.

George's eyelids fluttered. Was it night? Was it morning? He couldn't say.

And he couldn't sleep. Because Phin wouldn't stop crying and screaming.

George turned his head and looked onto Little Red whose had laid on Cinderella's shoulder. The girl had fell asleep moments ago.

But the sudden rustling of leaves near to them woke her up again.

And all of them stared into the darkness and tried to see who -ore what - was coming their way.

George could see Little Red reaching for het knife.

Then two branches were pushed aside and-

"Beth!"

The Baker jumped up and almost ran towards his wife with a huge smile on his lips.

But when he saw her tears and her destroyed hair do and the blood that ran down the inside of her leg, his smile faded and he shuddered to a halt.

"My god.", he whispered, "Beth, what happened?"

She stood there, trembling, on weak feet and didn't move.

She just stared at him with an intense look, filled with sadness and something that he couldn't describe. Was it guilt? Was it anger?

Then suddenly, she lowered her head and stared onto her hands.

"I lost it."

Her voice was low and rough.

George frowned in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Beth's eyes slowly watered and she rubbed her hands together nervously.

"The ring."

It was right; the ring that she used to wear on her hand was missing.

Quickly, George approached his wife and pulled her into a hug. She tensed under his touch.

"It's okay.", he said, "That happens."

"But it means everything to me!", Beth whispered and a tear slipped over her cheek.

"Then we will search for it."

But Beth shook her head forcefully, "No way I'm going back there."

And something in the way she'd said that made George frown and he took his wife's hand.

"What happened out there, Beth?", he asked quietly, "Tell me."

But she shook her head again and instead stepped closer to Cinderella who held Phin.

"Give him to me.", she whispered.

With a quick glance to the Baker, Cinderella handed Beth the little boy.

As soon as Phin was fully in her arms, Beth turned away from all of them and sat onto a slim tree trunk and buried her nose in her son's blanket.

"Beth, please.", George started, "Talk to me."

But Beth shook her head again.

Perplexed, George sat down next to Cinderella and watched his wife talking to his son in a low voice.

When a few little birds landed on the branch of a tree near them, Cinderella suddenly jumped up.

The rest of them winced.

"Here you are, my little friends.", Cinderella said. Little Red and George looked at each other in confusion.

The birds chirped and Cinderella smiled at them.

Then she frowned, "What did you say? Jack? Where is he?"

Her eyes lid up and she turned around to the Baker and Little Red.

"I know where Jack is.", she said happily, "The birds will lead us to him."

Little Red nodded slowly, "That's...great."

But Cinderella had already turned around to the birds again.

"The Prince?"

George saw his wife flinching at that.

He frowned. What was the matter with her?

"Where...? Well, I didn't see him in a while. Since, since...well, you know, the wedding...", she shook her head, "Anyways. Have you see him? With...WHAT?!"

Cinderella whirled around to Beth, her eyes widened.

"Why didn't you -?"

But Beth had already started crying.

Her fragile body trembled with her sobs and she clutched her son to her chest as if her life would depend on his closeness.

George jumped up and approached his wife quickly.

Cinderella eyed her birds one last time.

"Yes.", she said, "Yes, find him. And then bring him here so I can...do whatever I'll do."

She knew, the birds wouldn't be able to take him here, but she asked for it, nonetheless.

The birds flew off.

Slowly George took Phin from his wife's arms and handed him over to Little Red.

Cinderella took two steps to where Beth sat.

"What happened?", George whispered.

Instead of his wife, Cinderella answered.

"It was the Prince.", she said. Tears sprung into her eyes.

George frowned, "What did he do?"

Beth snuggled closer and threw her hands around his neck.

She breathed in deeply but the tears didn't stop falling.

Cinderella sighed.

"He-"

Beth whimpered and George took her hand and squeezed it, then he focused on the maiden in front of him.

"He...", the young woman took a deep breath, "molested her."

George's eyes widened.

"Raped her, even.", Cinderella continued in a low voice.

By this time, Beth had sat herself onto her husband's lap and cried into his shoulder.

"My god.", George whispered, "Oh my god, Beth."

He carefully stroked over her back and placed a small kiss on her temple.

"He took the ring from you, didn't he?"

Beth leant back a little bit and rubbed over her sore eyes.

"I-",she swallowed hard, "I told him to stop kissing me."

She lowered her gaze, "I said I was married. And-"

Her breath hitched and tears sprung into her eyes once again, "And he ripped it off my finger and threw it way. He said he couldn't see a ring that would prove my marriage."

Beth sobbed out.

Tears spilt over her face and she buried her face into George's shoulder again.

Little Red shifted awkwardly next to them.

Phin hadn't stopped crying and he reached out for his mother with his tiny little fingers.

Whilst Beth seemed to calm down a little bit, her son cried even harder.

"I-", Little Red started, "I know it's bad timing, Mrs Baker, but-"

Beth nodded, "I know, I know."

Slowly she reached out for her son and took him into her arms.

She unfolded the thin white blanket and wrapped Phin into the blue one so he wouldn't catch a cold while she placed the other blanket over her shoulder so that her chest was fully covered when she opened her dress on the front and nursed her little son.

The tears didn't stop falling, dropping onto the dark blue blanket.

George laid an arm around his wife and kissed her temple.

In the distance leaves rustled and footsteps hushed closer to them.

"The witch is dead!", Jack said with a huge smile on his face when he appeared from the trees, "And so is the giant."

He was disappointed when no one looked up to cheer with him.

Only the Little Red Riding Hood gave him a small smile.

"How...great."