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.
Title: Flames of Passion
Setting: After the episode One Special Night
Author's note: It's so cool that I'm writing an author's note. I love fanfiction but never posted anything till last night. Thanks for reviewing my other story, I'm tickled that people enjoyed it. I meant that one to be complete, but forgot to check the 'complete' box so I will write some more on that. I've just been watching the DVD's and writing little scenes, and I just found all this fanfiction here. If anyone has advice or anything let me know. This is a learning experience :) I hope you enjoy this chapter. I have a little more written and a little more to finish here.
"Where is he?" Victoria demanded as soon as a servant opened the door to the DeLaVega hacienda. She didn't wait for an answer and pushed passed the poor woman, yelling "Where is he? I'm going to kill him! Where is he?"
The few servants she encountered quickly moved out of the way as she searched the hacienda. Victoria had thought about Zorro's comment yesterday all night long. "Your smile almost quenches my burning desire." She'll quench his burning desire alright. She didn't believe it at first. Diego was NOT Zorro. But all night, she kept remembering things. How could she be so blind?
Now she was sure, and she was livid at her best friend for lying to her for three years! How could he do that to her? Last night she'd heard gunshots and horses, and knew Zorro had come to the pueblo last night. She never even saw him. How much time had she spent worrying if Zorro was even alive when Diego was sitting in her tavern without a care in the world?
"DIEGO!" She yelled. "Stop hiding!" Finally the servant who opened the door caught up to Victoria and pointed toward the library. Turning that way, she barged into the room "Where's Diego DeLaVega? I'm going to kill him!"
Turning a corner, she stopped abruptly when she noticed not one, but three men in the library. They all stood as she entered, and Diego had taken a few steps toward her to stand in front of his father and the other man she couldn't see behind Diego. How did she not notice how tall he was all these years? Diego just stood there with his hands up as if to defend himself… or to quiet her down. Like hell! She was going to skin him alive!
Suddenly the alcalde stepped out from behind Diego and she pulled up short. The alcalde looked on with curiosity as Alejandro quickly walked around Diego to ask her what was wrong.
Her face was red and flushed and she was breathing heavily she was so angry. She ignored Alejandro and glared at Diego. Then her eyes turned toward the alcalde and she tried to get hold of her emotions. No wonder he never told her—twelve hours after she finds out, here she is about to get him killed. She couldn't hide the worry from her face as she looked from DeSoto to Diego. Diego calmly shook his head just a tiny bit—how could he be so calm standing next to DeSoto? How could DeSoto be in Diego's hacienda and not know?
"Well, don't leave us all in suspense, Senorita. What has he done?" The alcalde looked up at Diego and laughed. "I'm exceedingly curious what Diego could possibly have done to anger you so much this early in the morning since he usually sleeps all day." Diego simply closed his eyes and bowed his head. He knew he shouldn't have said that last night, but he just couldn't resist. He was tired of all the secrecy. Now he had a mess to clean up, and he'd put Victoria and his father in danger.
Victoria calmed her breathing and looked at the concerned Alejandro. "I'm sorry. I never should have interrupted you. I didn't… I don't…"
Alejandro patted her gently on the back. "Nonsense, you're welcome any time. And I'm also curious about why you came." He glared at the alcalde as he lead Victoria to sit on the couch. "And the alcalde was just leaving."
"Don Alejandro, I assure you I can pay whatever you ask. Just a business deal, for the good of the pueblo. Just one horse. I know you have many."
Alejandro took a menacing step toward DeSoto. "Absolutely not. And you've no reason to believe one of our horses would be able to catch him."
"Catch him?" Victoria asked quietly.
Alejandro was still riled up. "Yes. The alcalde believes he could catch Zorro if he had a faster horse. I'm not selling him one."
DeSoto laughed. "I could arrest you for aiding a criminal. Last night I know I shot him." He turned to Victoria when he heard her gasp. "Yes, Victoria. Your precious Zorro." Smiling evilly at her distress. "But he got away because of that blasted horse of his." Diego stepped in front of Victoria and DeSoto took a step back before the taller man.
"If I don't buy one from you, I'll find one somewhere else. This isn't over De La Vega."
All was silent for several minutes after the alcalde left, and no one moved. All the fight seemed to have drained out of Victoria at the thought of Zorro getting caught and she sat limply on the couch staring at nothing. Diego was afraid to turn around and face her, and Alejandro was clueless to the tension in the room.
"Victoria, can I get you something to drink? Then we can talk." He looked at his son, then at Victoria who was once again glaring at Diego's back as if she wanted to drill holes in it. "Diego, did you do something to upset Victoria?"
"Father, can we have a few moments alone, please?" Alejandro looked between them, noticing Diego still didn't look at Victoria. It seemed Diego must have done something because Victoria's face was turning red again and she was clearly furious again. He told his son good luck and left them to it.
Diego still wasn't turning around. Victoria glared at his back some more and stood up. Her entire body was tense and she clenched and unclenched fists at her sides as if trying not to hit him. "Look at me." When he still hesitated, "You're a liar and a fraud and if you don't turn around this instant-" Finally, Diego turned around. How could she not have known all this time? The eyes were the same, only she'd never seen them expressing such misery before. She realized now Diego never seemed to look her in the eye. If he had, she would have known. She looked at his hair. She'd always wondered what it was like under the mask, always wishing she could touch it as they kissed...
She shook her head to bring herself out of her daydreams. He'd kissed her at night and lied to her the next day! She took the few steps to stand in front of him and put everything she had into a slap across his cheek. She felt hot, angry tears pricking her eyes as he offered no defense. He just looked down, as if he still couldn't bare to look at her. She latched onto her anger again. "You always have pretty words. Say something!" She emphasized this with a punch to his arm.
Her eyes widened as he flinched, and she watched in horror as his pristine white shirt started turning red. She remembered the alcalde's words and forgot some of her anger. She gently pulled the fabric away from his arm. "Are you alright?" She asked quietly.
She looked up and was surprised to see he was finally looking at her. "I'm fine. Well, my arm is fine. I'm sorry about everything. I'm not sorry about what I said yesterday, though. I thought…" He looked around, remembering where he was. He held out his hand, "Come with me. We can't talk here." Expecting to be lead out of the library and maybe into the garden, she was shocked when he just walked toward the fireplace.
Once in the cave, Diego watched as she walked around, gently touching things as they both stalled the coming confrontation. He couldn't think with Victoria finally here in his cave, with Diego and not Zorro. Her anger made her even more beautiful, and he reminded himself he was in trouble and needed to think of something to say. Diego walked to the back of the cave to give Toronado some apple pieces. The slight pain in his arm reminded him how the horse had saved his life again last night, and he gave the stallion some strokes of thanks before gathering his courage to face Victoria.
She was standing behind his desk and he blushed as he realized what she was holding. "Yes, well…" he stammered as he pulled the drawing, obviously of Victoria, out of her hands and turned it facedown on the desktop. "I guess I have some explaining to do." He gestured and she took a seat. She wasn't looking at him, but at least she wasn't hitting him anymore so he took that as a good sign.
"So, should I start with apologies or from the beginning?" Still hoping for a pleasant conversation rather than an inquisition.
"Well, let's see…" Victoria started pleasantly, but she crossed her arms in front of herself to try and keep together. "We went to Santa Paula together. We spent the entire night alone in a windmill when I was trying to figure out why you never do anything." She laughed angrily. Diego cringed inside, wondering why he had to love such a hot-tempered woman. "You said you did lots of things. Poetry. Painting. Did you have a good laugh? All those years. You were sitting in my tavern laughing at me when I was worried sick about you."
Diego rounded the desk quickly and dropped to his knees in front of her. He wanted to take her hands, but put his hands on the arms of her chair when she cringed away from him. "No—"
"Then explain it then. How you can claim to love someone and lie to her every day? Rich man's son, playing dress up and flirting with the tavern girl."
"Querida stop, please."
She almost slapped him again at the endearment. She pointed her finger an inch from his face. "Don't talk about love. I thought Diego was my best friend. That Zorro and I had a future. I trusted you both. But there is no future. I came here to tell you I never want to see you again. I don't need explanations. I'm going home."