Disclaimer: I do not own Zorro, nor do I make any money from writing this story. Dialogue and situations used from the episode are property of ZPI, the rest of the story is my property and cannot be printed or used without my permission.
Author's Note: This is set sometime after A Woman Scorned, maybe a month. If you haven't seen the episode, just know that Victoria was jealous because another woman came to town and pursued Zorro. In the end Zorro kisses her in her bedroom…scandalous!
Thanks to Marla and Klingonkitten for the beta. My summertime of fun is almost over, so I hope everyone enjoys my stories and lets me know before I get buried in biochemistry. I love hearing from you all, and will miss you when school starts.
Zzz
Diego sighed as he rested his head in his hand and leaned on the table. He was tired. He'd escaped to the tavern because his father wouldn't let him sleep any longer. Zorro had barely reached home before dawn. Felipe got to sleep last night, even though the dedicated boy waited in the cave for him. Diego, though, wasn't getting his beauty rest. Victoria would be horrified.
Ah, Victoria. He couldn't doze at the tavern, either, because Victoria was always buzzing around. He'd be drifting away while she was in the kitchen, then she'd sweep out from behind the curtain, he'd catch a whiff of her perfume and his eyes would have to focus on her. He should have gone to The Guardian office to sleep, but…well, a man in love and all that.
Diego smelled her perfume again and Diego turned to find the source. He leaned back in his chair and smiled up at Victoria in surprise when she stood by his table grinning at him.
"Don Diego, if you're so sleepy, why don't you go home?" Victoria couldn't help but laugh. She'd caught the dreamy expression on Diego's face from across the room and had to say hi.
"Oh, I'm not sleepy. You just caught me daydreaming."
Victoria's smile got broader and she took the seat across from Diego. He found himself drifting again as he watched her sit. She brushed her hair off her shoulders and Diego's eyes flowed down the line of her throat and across her skin. She was flushed from the heat of the kitchen, and Diego's mind drifted further, remembering a time Zorro had put that blush on her skin. Would she blush the same if he pulled her to her feet right now and took her in his arms? He thought about her all the time. Did she dream of him?
Victoria watched him for a moment. He looked exhausted, but how could one man sleep so much? It was almost like he lived in some dream world, oblivious to the dangers of life in the pueblo. She almost envied him. He'd looked so happy. Last night Zorro had saved the day again. She'd heard commotion before dawn, and had opened her window to see Zorro handing over his prisoners to a sleepy Mendoza. Zorro had spent all night chasing those bandits. She hoped Zorro got some sleep. Diego slept enough for both of them, and she grinned again.
"So what do you dream about?" Victoria leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. Diego's eyes immediately dropped to her chest, and Victoria flushed for a different reason and her hands fell to her lap. Diego never looked at her like that. Guess he sometimes noticed she was a woman.
Diego scrubbed his hands over his face. He couldn't ogle Victoria. It was fine when she was busy. He could watch her without her knowledge. Now she was sitting only a few feet away from him. Her perfume was wrapping around him, muddying his brain. He had to stay aloof. He'd ruin their friendship if he didn't treat her with respect.
But he was so sleepy.
"You can dream about anything. Be anyone. Dreams are healthy."
Victoria leaned forward. "But what were you dreaming about?" She studied him. She'd been curious when she'd caught him staring into space from across the room. "Far away lands? A story you read? Do you dream about playing music in a concert hall or discovering some bit of science which will change the world?"
Diego smiled. She knew him well enough. She didn't know she starred in all his fantasies, though. "Perhaps."
Victoria leaned forward and propped her chin on her hand. "What do you dream about? Seriously? What does Diego de la Vega want?"
Diego mimicked her pose, then thought about leaning away again. Did she know what her scent did to him? There was some flowery soap she probably used, but he could still smell her underneath it. He wanted to kiss her skin, run his tongue down her neck to taste her. His eyes focused on hers and Diego remembered she'd asked him a question. If he didn't answer, she'd go away. He didn't want her to go away.
"Do you ever dream about being someone else?" Diego asked.
Victoria's hand fell to the table, surprised at the question. He was glad she stayed close, though. "I don't know. I don't think so. I sometimes dream I get to travel. Dream that I visit other places, but I like who I am."
"I like who you are, too." Diego's eyes dropped to the table as he scolded himself, but he was so tired. And she smelled so wonderful. Her eyes were bright with curiosity and possibilities. He wanted to share his dreams and the possibilities they could create together.
"I think you would like to travel. There's so much to see." Diego tried to take the attention off his slip of a compliment. "There are jungles with trees so high and dense the sunlight never touches the ground. Birds so bright and colorful you just can't capture it in a painting. Gardens which stretch for miles, with flowers of every color you could possibly imagine. Waterfalls so high you can't see the bottom, but the mist from the water crashing below creates a million little rainbows when the sun hits it." I'd love to show you, he silently added, and his smile dimmed as he looked back at the table.
Victoria was silent, captivated by his words. She tried to imagine all that he had seen in his travels, wished she had gone with him. Where had that come from? Victoria brought her thoughts back to the present. She was happy in California. The trip from Spain had been miserable for her parents, and she knew it had cost them a lot of money. She'd never go back, and most of the time she was okay with that. She saw Diego's smile dim.
"What about you? Dream about being someone else?" Victoria laughed inside when she asked. Diego had enough money to be anyone. Do anything.
Diego ran a hand along the wooden table. "All the time," he said, his voice so despondent she wondered where his good mood had gone. The man was a contradiction. He'd stand up against the alcalde one minute, then insist on getting his beauty rest. Diego was as temperamental as a woman.
Victoria smiled and put her hand over his. She didn't mean to upset him. "Who do you dream about? Come on, tell me!"
"No, I'm tired today. I wasn't dreaming pleasant dreams." Diego turned her hand over and stroked his fingers over her palm, just once, then put his hands in his lap.
Traces of heat from his fingers lingered on her hand and she stared at it for a moment before looking up again. "You looked so happy a minute ago. What happened? Who do you want to be?"
Victoria's hand hadn't moved, and Diego's eyes traced over it, up her wrist and slowly back up to her face. He imagined she was reaching for him. Why had he let her hand go? She wanted to know what happened. How could he tell her he was jealous of himself?
He laughed bitterly. It was his own fault. "Sometimes I wish I were Zorro."
"Zorro?" Victoria's surprise was apparent in her squeak. Why did he want to be Zorro?
"Zorro's an idiot. But, sometimes I dream that I'm him." Long enough to kiss her again. To see if her skin smelled different up close. In different places. Had he said that out loud? He needed to go to bed. Victoria shouldn't hear this.
But she had. Her hand had withdrawn from the middle of the table, and both of her hands were clenched into tight fists on the tabletop. He chanced a glance at her face and tried to remember what he'd said to make her angry. All he could think about was her, didn't she know that? How was a man to think when she was so beautiful, so sharp, so protective of the pueblo he worked so hard to defend?
"What do you mean Zorro's an idiot?" Her back was stiff, her eyes narrowed as she glared at him.
She was smiling a second ago. He'd told the truth, why was she mad at him? "Of course Zorro's an idiot."
Victoria gritted her teeth and wondered how bad for business it would be to toss Diego out of her tavern. "Why did you dream you were him if you think Zorro is such an idiot? He's saved your life more than once!"
"He hasn't saved my life. He's ruined my life." Diego sighed as his eyes traced over her face. "He gets to kiss you. You're nice to him. You wouldn't get mad at him like you get mad at me. And he is an idiot. Kissing you in your bedroom…and he left. That's got to be the most idiotic—"
Victoria's chair scraped against the floor as she stood, her cheeks a deep red as she reached across the table to grab what was left of Diego's drink and toss it in the man's face. Did people know Zorro had been in her bedroom? She put her hands on her burning cheeks as Diego wiped at his face with his napkin, but there hadn't been enough liquid left in his glass to jolt him awake.
Finally he pushed his hair out of his eyes and he looked at his stained napkin as if he was not surprised. Victoria was always mad at him. That's why he wanted to be Zorro again. He simply put his head down on his folded arms, and Victoria wondered if the man was talking in his sleep. "You'll probably throw my mother's ring back in my face, too. Yes, Zorro has ruined my life. He's the biggest idiot in California."
Victoria collapsed back into her chair, staring at the top of his head. People didn't know. Zorro knew. Zorro knew he'd been in her bedroom, and Zorro had given her his mother's ring. She glanced around the tavern, but no one was looking at them. Diego hadn't reacted to her outburst, so no one had noticed. No one else had noticed her entire world had just turned upside down.
Diego's breath had evened out. If Diego was Zorro, he had every reason to be tired. Alejandro and Diego had come in for an early lunch yesterday after a long morning working on the ranch. Diego was tired then. Had he not slept at all in the last two days?
If he was so tired, why was he in her tavern? But she knew. He'd been watching her. Diego was in the tavern all the time, because he wanted to be near her. And sometimes she was so condescending to him… Her heart stuttered and beat erratically as her mind raced at all the implications. If Diego talked to anyone else when he was like this, he'd be caught.
She stood again, gently this time, and shook his shoulders. Her fingers stroked his hair, unable to resist that forbidden pleasure she'd dreamed about so often. She bent to call his name, trying to get him to wake enough to walk upstairs. Diego stayed in her tavern often when there was trouble in the pueblo, but then stayed in his room rather than get involved. Now she knew if she had checked on him, he wouldn't have been in his room. She shook her head, determined to get him to a safe place to sleep before she started thinking too much.
Eventually he sat up and looked at her blearily. She pulled him to his feet and Victoria was shocked at how solid he was. The man was all solid muscle, and she tried not to blush as she wrapped an arm around his waist to lead him upstairs. Used to escorting drunks or near strangers, Victoria had a hard time not thinking about the man leaning on her as they entered her nicest room, where Diego usually stayed.
She left the door to his room open as she helped him to the bed where he collapsed like a stone. Unable to move him to the pillow, she gently lifted his head and moved the pillow to him to make him comfortable. She lifted one heavy leg at a time to the bed, and she stared stupidly at his feet which hung over the footboard. How often had she stood next to Diego and overlooked how tall the man was?
She went to the wardrobe to get a blanket and spread it over him. She had to touch him again, and she leaned over him to smooth his bangs out of his eyes. Diego caught her hand and she nearly jumped out of her skin, but he was still asleep. "Don't be mad at me, Querida. Always mad at me..." She pushed his hand beneath the blanket and smoothed it over his chest.
She shook herself out of her thoughts and quickly escaped to the hall. She couldn't show favor to him. Until she figured it out, no one must suspect that Victoria finally knew the identity of the hero of Los Angeles.
Victoria saw ghosts of Diego and Zorro everywhere for the rest of the day. She'd be in the kitchen and stare up at the window Zorro used to sneak out. There was a small painting of a vase of flowers by the door which Diego had painted her for her last birthday. When she went into the pantry, she wondered how often Zorro had hidden there, waiting for a chance to see her despite the dangerous soldiers lurking in her tavern. She opened a cabinet for a mixing bowl and found herself stroking a hand over the wood. The cabinet was unique…shelves moved and slid and Diego's design had saved her a ton of room in her kitchen. She'd never asked him to do it, but it was an amazing piece of craftsmanship. He hadn't taken money, told her it had been an experiment and he had no use for it.
Who was this man? She pulled a chair up to the table in the center of the kitchen and sat staring at her hands. She waved goodbye to her assistant without looking up. The tavern was nearly empty, she could close for siesta. She had laundry to do, beds to make up from the few guests she had last night. She could prepare some food for later, wash the leftover dishes. She could go out for a ride or walk around the pueblo. She could take a nap. That brought her thoughts back to the one person in her building, sleeping upstairs.
He'd been sleeping for more than two hours now. She'd had two hours to try to sort out her feelings, what she knew about Diego and Zorro, but she was still just as confused as she was when she heard Diego knew Zorro had been in her bedroom. Her twiddling fingers stilled. What had he said? Zorro was stupid. Why? Because he kissed her in her bedroom and left. Did he regret kissing her? Or had he not wanted to leave? She put her hands to her cheeks and knew she'd turned bright red.
Growing up with only a father and two overprotective brothers made sure no boys got near her. Running a tavern made her overhear just enough to make her wonder, but Zorro was the first man to spark her imagination. She'd never kissed anyone before Zorro. She remembered every kiss, every touch. Before that night, he'd touched her face, kissed her hand. A few times he'd held her in his arms and gently kissed her lips. Always respectful, even when she'd dreamed of more. He was the one who said it was important to wait until his mission was over, that he wouldn't risk her reputation which he knew was so important to her.
That night, he'd been different. The jealousy and deception of those few days had set off a desperation in both of them. That night, the kiss he'd given her had not been gentle. He hadn't pulled her into his arms, he'd pressed her back into her bed. He hadn't only kissed her lips, and her breasts felt heavy as she remembered he hadn't only touched her face. She'd gasped at the new sensations and called his name, and Zorro had frozen.
Almost as if she'd burned him, Zorro had leapt off of the bed and turned away from her. She'd clutched a pillow to her front and watched his back as he pressed his hands against the wall. He'd slammed his hands against the wall and turned to face her, still leaning against it as if that was the only thing keeping him in control. She'd dropped her eyes to her lap, confused. She'd felt ashamed at what had just happened, yet disappointed he had stopped.
He'd seen the tears come to her eyes and had dropped to his knees in front of her. He'd said he was sorry, but she hadn't been able to tell him she was not. Then he'd reached into his pocket. When she saw the ring he was holding out to her, she'd set the pillow aside eagerly. His mother's ring, it had been a promise that she never had to doubt his love. A promise that one day, he would reveal himself and stand up with her in church in front of God and everyone. That one day, she would know his name and not call him Zorro when he kissed her. He had seen her doubt and struggle over the other woman, and had brought her a ring and given her his promise.
That night had been re-lived many times in her mind and in her dreams. It seemed she wasn't the only one who thought about it. She'd been shocked when Diego had looked at her with interest this afternoon. Interest? Hunger. She'd seen it in his eyes at the table for only a second before he had masked it. What was she supposed to do now? Would Diego remember what he'd said? Could she hide her knowledge even if she wanted to?
She was about to find out, because she heard a noise upstairs. Was she even sure? She went to hide in the pantry, trying to remember everything she'd heard and seen today. Why was she so certain after a few seconds of conversation?
She heard footsteps on the stairs and backed into the corner of the pantry as she started to panic.
Zzz
"Victoria?" Diego's voice echoed in the empty tavern. He scrubbed his hands over his face and through his hair, trying to wake up. He didn't even remember falling asleep, and knew he needed to be more careful. He should probably go home and check on Toronado, since the stallion had had a rough night, too. He brushed at his clothes, trying to get comfortable and make himself presentable at the same time after sleeping in them.
He heard a crash and raced into the kitchen, completely awake now. "Victoria?" he called when he didn't find her.
He heard more noise and threw open the curtain to the pantry to find Victoria sitting in the corner, covered in rice and flour and a few other unidentifiable substances. Diego couldn't help but grin as he leaned one shoulder against the door jamb to watch, not offering to help one bit. She was so adorable, sitting in the corner looking guilty as if she were a child. Of course, from his vantage point she was definitely not a child. Maybe he could bring her a wet cloth and help her wipe the food off of her clothes. Her skin.
Victoria glanced up at Diego and sighed, leaning her head back into the corner. She wasn't the type to panic and was embarrassed, especially now that she'd knocked everything off one shelf. And there was no doubt. As soon as Diego had opened the curtain, she'd known. His grin was one she'd seen often while Zorro was fighting the alcalde. The look of heat which crossed his face when his smile dimmed and his eyes ran over her was also familiar. Seeing him also solved another question. There was no way she was keeping silent. She wanted to see that look. She wanted to know what he would have done if she'd called Diego's name instead of Zorro.
"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help me up?" Victoria reached a hand up to her hero.
"I don't know. You're a little messy. I wouldn't want to get my suit dirty," Diego laughed but he did take a step closer, the curtain closing behind him and blocking out the rest of the world.
He lifted a hand to help her but froze when his face was hit with a handful of flour. "How's your suit now?"
"Why Victoria Escalante!" Diego blew the bitter dust out of his mouth and wiped his eyes in shock. "That wasn't very sweet of you if you expect me to rescue you."
Victoria would remember this day forever. She'd worried all night about her hero, but his continued exhaustion had stripped away Diego's proper façade. She knew it was a façade, looked forward to getting to know the real man behind both of his public personas.
"I think I knocked over the sugar, too. You might find something sweeter if you helped me up." Victoria waggled her fingers at him, and blushed because she wanted to hold his hand and feel his skin. She'd touched Diego before, as a friend, but knowing this was the man who starred in her dreams had her itching for even an innocent touch of his fingertips.
Diego did reach down and clasp her hand, and she felt the shock of it clear to her toes. He pulled her to her feet easily, so fast she stumbled forward. He caught her upper arms and she steadied herself, brushing ineffectively at the flour now stuck to his jacket.
Diego told himself to let her go. He didn't feel the flour and the hard grains of rice stuck to her arms, he felt the hot skin beneath and he wanted to feel more. He could take off his jacket to shake off the flour, let Victoria brush at the flour on his shirt instead. She might have read his mind, because then she did reach under the jacket to brush his shirt off.
The fleeting touches burned him, and his hands vividly remembered when they had caressed her breasts over her own shirt. Had his touch burned her? He planned to take a step back and wound up taking a step forward, rice crunching beneath his feet.
"Where did you say the sugar was?" His deep voice was barely over a whisper, like it was drawn out of him against his will.
His eyes dropped to her mouth, and one of his hands came up to stroke her cheek. His thumb wiped at some flour, but he wasn't doing a good job getting it off her skin. Victoria found she couldn't draw a complete breath, her lips parting when his thumb brushed over her chin, barely touching her lip.
Victoria's eyes caressed his face, and she told her hand to move. She wanted to feel his hair, touch his lips. She'd managed to brush aside his jacket, felt his heartbeat beneath the thin cotton of his shirt. Now her hand had a death grip on the ruffles of his shirt and she couldn't seem to move. "Diego…"
Her whispered plea for more seemed to have the opposite effect on Diego. His hand fell from her cheek, and his other hand brushed food off of her arm before he took a step back. He glanced up at the broken shelf and tugged at his jacket as if he was uncomfortable, straightening his shirt where she'd gripped it. His guard was back in place, and Victoria felt devastated. She didn't want him hiding from her anymore.
"I can fix you a better shelf than that. I think there's one in our pantry which isn't being used."
"I thought you wanted me to call you by your name."
Diego barely showed a reaction to her statement, continuing his examination of the mess in her pantry. When he looked at her, the fire in his eyes was banked.
"What?"
"I thought if I called you by your name you'd kiss me again." She wanted him to lose control again. Outside of the pantry, the world was dangerous. Names and identities and emotions were powerful things which could get him killed. Right now, though, they were safe. Later would come. Now, she wanted to know that Diego loved her, that she inspired passion in a real man with all his masks stripped away.
Instead, her words narrowed his eyes in confusion and he took another step back from her. She panicked again when his back hit the curtain, and that thin barrier shivered and threatened to let the real world into her little haven. "Don't leave." Diego took a step back into the pantry, glancing behind him in an attempt to figure out what Victoria was talking about.
"You have a question to ask me." Victoria felt the flush on her skin as she put a finger under the chain around her neck and pulled. "A promise to fulfill." She lifted the chain over her head and his mother's ring dangled in between them, saying a thousand things they'd never said. She could see denial and protest begin and knew she wouldn't like what he was about to say.
"Don't," she ordered, deciding she didn't want to hear it. "Was it a lie, then? Are you about to tell me you're not Zorro?" Victoria felt a calmness settle over her. She knew him. She could tell his thoughts before he said anything. "Going to tell me it's too dangerous? Ask me how I figured it out?"
Diego finally met her eyes, and his silence confirmed everything she said. "None of that matters. The only thing that matters is do you, Diego de la Vega, love me? Do you want to marry me, or was it all a game?"
Victoria let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding when Diego fell to his knees in front of her. "It's not a game." He brushed at some flour on her skirt, slowly reached up to take her hands in his, his long fingers pulling at hers until her hands were completely wrapped in his warmth before he looked up at her. "I love you."
The corner of Victoria's mouth turned up in a small grin. Revelations and declarations hiding in a pantry, covered in flour and who knows what else. "I love you, Diego."
Diego stood so quickly she backed up a step in surprise, then backed up more as Diego pushed her back against the wall. "I like it when you say my name."
Victoria brought a finger up to trace over his mustache, remembered the feel of it against her lips and against her neck. "Prove it. Show me you're smarter than that idiot Zorro."
And he did.
Zzz
AN: Once again, hope it made you smile. If it did, I hope you review.