AN: This is a companion piece to my other one-shot "Best laid plans." I would like to dedicate this story to the magnificent IcyWaters who had suggested it.
The salty sea air blew in through the window of Raquel Toledano's San Diego hotel room, making the white, lace curtains flutter in the breeze.
It was so peaceful here, Raquel mused as she packed the last remaining items into her trunk. She could hear the seagulls cries and the waves as they crashed against the shore. The smell of the sea was strong in the air but it wasn't unpleasant. Yes, this was paradise.
Of course she had been here before, when they first had arrived in California but for some reason the port city hadn't held the same charm then as it did now. And that reason was Jose Sebastian Varga, the Eagle.
Raquel moved to the window, staring out out the surf but not really seeing it. Instead, in her mind, she saw her husband, Arturo, standing tall and proud as Governor of California with her on his arm, while their children played on the lawn of the governor's mansion.
But it was only an illusion, a foolish dream that had almost cost her her life and that of her husbands.
When a man had approached her at their farewell party in Spain before their journey to California and made promises to her that sparked a fire in her, she jumped at the chance whole heartily, never once stopping to ask questions or consider the consequences.
For her own misfortunes and for those of so many others, she had no one to blame but herself. It shouldn't have been a difficult choice, on whether she should live or die. Her death would be a stepping stone in bringing justice to those the Eagle had wronged but instead of feeding her to the wolves, Zorro decided to let her live.
Zorro. Don Diego de la Vega. The very notion was laughable. Don Diego didn't weld a sword and he avoided conflict at any cost. Yet he was always asking questions; questions that a pacifist should have no business asking, like with the letter she had changed.
Senor Fuentes had suggested he was Zorro and they even went as far as to arrest him on that charge but when the real Zorro had rescued him, she once again had deemed the notion foolish. Now she realized they had been right all along.
While it still puzzled her that he could manage to free himself from a locked jail cell without anyone being the wiser, she could not over look the evidence presented before her when she left Los Angeles.
Don Diego had all but admitted it to her when she realize he had been wounded. A wound that was similar to the one Zorro received while rescuing her from the Eagle's brood.
She had sat in stunned silence for a full ten minutes before laughing out loud. She was glad there were no other passengers with her because she was sure she looked like a crazy woman.
The idea was so absurd she still wasn't sure if she truly believed it or if it was merely a conjuring of her mind. No one else had seemed to realize what was happening.
But perhaps it was better that way. Zorro may be an outlaw with a price on his head but that did not make him a villain, not a s she was. He fought for the rights of the people, while the Eagle worked to destroy them. Raquel secretly wished Zorro well, be he Don Diego or not.
A sharp rap on her door pulled her from her thoughts and she smiled, she would know that knock anywhere. Still smiling she opened the door to reveal her husband Capitan Arturo Toledano. He swooped her up and placed a slow kiss on her lips before she even had the chance to utter buenos dias.
Raquel felt lightheaded and giddy by the time her feet touched the ground again.
"It fills my heart with joy to see you again, my dear," Arturo said.
"As it does mine," she replied.
Raquel may have been wrong in her actions but she could honestly say she only acted with Arturo's best interests in mind.
Despite her harmless flirting, she really did love her husband and wanted him to become the best man he could be. She thought that if she could deliver these things to him he would be proud of her.
It was only now, after the burden of the Eagle had lifted from her shoulders that she could see that he has always been proud of her and he has always loved her. It was just one more thing she did not deserve but was grateful for nevertheless.
"Why was I only now told of your arrival?" Arturo asked.
"We arrived so late last night, I didn't wish to disturb you." She said, smoothing a stray hair from his forehead. "You need your sleep too, you know."
"I could not sleep a wink all night from worrying about you. When you did not show up on schedule yesterday I thought something might have happened."
"Nothing happened, my darling. Just a slight accident on the road that delayed us. Not to unlike the one we had encountered when we first arrived in Los Angeles." Arturo frowned, deepening the wrinkles in his forehead that she loved so much and she knew he was thinking about the coat of mud he had ended up wearing that day.
"Do not remind me of that, my dear. It is something I would much rather have forgotten." Raquel couldn't help but laugh.
The ship bound for Boston was scheduled to leave by mid-afternoon giving them more than enough time to enjoy a late lunch in the tavern.
"Are you sure you were not too lonely by yourself, my dear." Raquel placed her teacup in her saucer and smiled at her husband.
No matter how many times in the last hour she had tried to convince him that she had been perfectly fine in Los Angeles, he still seemed to worry.
"Arturo, you worry for nothing. Don Diego was very kind to look in on me and make sure I had everything I would need. He didn't say as much but I know you put him up to it Arturo, you needn't of bothered you know."
"I know but I knew I could trust him to keep you safe." Raquel's brow furrowed.
By all outward appearances Don Diego was a pacifist; many called him a coward who would run from a fight given the chance. She may have known otherwise but that didn't change the way he was perceived.
Raquel thought back to nearly a week before Arturo was called away to San Diego. The magistrado, another of the Eagle's henchman, had tried to frame her husband for murder. Zorro had stepped in and Arturo and Zorro had ended up fighting side by side.
When the fighting was done, Arturo had Zorro in his grasp, the masked outlaw had been unarmed and it would have taken no effort at all for Arturo to have him arrested but for some bizzare reason, he let him go.
At the time Raquel had merely marked it down as gratitude for saving him but now she wasn't so sure. Had Arturo discovered the identity of the man behind the mask? It would explain why he trusted Diego so much with her care despite his pacifist persona.
"There was one day I had a bit of trouble," Raquel said hesitantly.
She hadn't intended on telling him about being held at gunpoint and had even managed to bribe Sergeant Garcia with a bottle of wine to keep it out of the official report but if her theory was correct, this just might help prove it.
"Oh, when was this?" "The day before last. It really isn't worth mentioning." Too late now, she thought.
"It was just a simple wrong place, wrong time situation. I had quite by accident found myself in close proximity to the men who had stolen the gun power from the northern presidios." There was no need for him to know the whole story. Arturo's eyes went wide and he dropped his fork, which clattered across his plate.
"What?" His raised voice made her jump and caused a few eyes to glance over in their direction.
"Why wasn't I informed of this? Why was it left out of the report?" Raquel placed a hand on his arm, hoping to calm him.
"Do not blame Sergeant Garcia. I asked him to keep it out. And I wasn't hurt in anyway, Zorro rescued me."
"Zorro?"
"Si. He made sure I wasn't harmed. Though he may be a bandit I feel I can trust him, almost like the way you trusted Don Diego."
Arturo's mouth curled at the edges as he tried to suppress a smile. Raquel recognized that look, he wore the same look every time he had a surprise for her and was trying to keep himself from giving it away.
Raquel knew then her suspicions were confirmed. It had been weeks since that day and he had never acted on his discovery, not even telling his wife. She supposed that was for the better.
Suppressing her own smile she continued to eat her breakfast in silence. There was no need to confront him about his knowledge just as she saw no reason to share hers. They would both be leaving for Spain in a few short hours and the fox would soon become just a distant memory.
While Arturo was occupied, Raquel raise her glass in a mock toast and remembering the children's song in the Pueblo de Los Angeles silently said,
"Here's to the fox, whoever he be, may he live long and merrily."
As the last rays of sun were beginning to disappear from the sky, husband and wife settled down in their cabin of the Boston bound ship as it sailed out into sea, leaving California behind them.