Author's Note: Thanks for sticking with this story, guys. Aprilki was so inspiring she finally got me to write the one scene which I couldn't write which was holding me up. This pushes it over 20,000 words, folks! Awesome. But, you have to review if you want more :) I hope this doesn't disappoint. The entire thing's been written for ages except this one part. Enjoy!


The silence quickly became uncomfortable, and Victoria finally broke eye contact with Diego to turn back to look at his father. Well, the look of confusion was gone. So was the look of concern for his wounded son. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest, and Victoria was afraid to identify the emotion she now saw in Alejandro's face. "Don Alejandro?" she prodded quietly.

Alejandro walked over to the window and watched the sun climbing into the sky. "Will you leave us alone for a moment please?" Victoria looked at Diego in concern, but Diego was staring at his hand resting against the white sheet covering his lap. He flexed and wiggled his fingers slowly, as if it took great concentration. She squeezed his other hand to get his attention, but he didn't acknowledge her. She stood and took a step towards the Alejandro's stiff back, but Alejandro didn't turn around. "Felipe, please take Victoria home."

"But…" she objected loudly, then looked around the room. No one looked back at her. "I don't want to go home," Victoria finished quietly. The silence seemed to grow louder. "I want to help. I want to stay here…" she trailed off when no one in the room seemed to hear her. Felipe finally looked up from watching Diego for some instruction, and gently took her elbow to lead her out of the room. She resisted at first, then let Felipe pull her toward the door, till the last moment waiting for Diego to say something…or even to look at her. Neither man moved or said anything, even after Felipe closed the door and leaned close to listen. Holding his hand out to Victoria, they both walked quietly to the library to wait out the storm.

Diego was pleased he wasn't feeling any pain or tingling in his fingers. With his arm and shoulder supported as it was, he almost forgot he was injured. That thought, of course, made him try to move his arm. As soon as he lifted his shoulder, pain radiated from the hole in his back and he lost control of his fingers. Maybe he should stay in bed today. Just tell everyone to come over tomorrow. They'd lived like this for years, no one would notice a few more days. Nobody cared how many times the alcalde tried to kill Zorro, this time would be no different. He held his arm tight to his chest and scooted down in the bed, wanting to lay down.

He must have gasped or made some sound of distress, because Alejandro unfolded his arms to come help his son lay flat on the bed again. He even dipped a cloth in the nearby bowl of clean water to wipe the sweat from his face as Diego closed his eyes tightly to wait out the throbbing pain. But that was as far as his sympathy went. Alejandro threw the cloth violently back into the bowl, splashing the wall and furniture with water as he went back to stand by the window. Diego watched the bowl teeter on the edge of the table, the water rocking it back and forth until it fell to the rug with a thud.

Diego looked at Alejandro's stiff back and decided to just lay here quietly. His father had mentioned the other day Victoria had a temper. Diego knew Alejandro had a temper, too! He'd been on the receiving end of it quite often since he'd returned to California. Mostly it was because of Diego's inaction. He didn't really understand why his father was mad now that he knew Diego was a man of action. He held his breath to listen as he barely heard Alejandro whisper.

"Send the boy to college…he'll grow up. Learn some responsibility." Alejandro muttered to the window.

"Father, if you're talking to me I can't hear you," Diego said mildly.

"And when have you heard a word I said?" Alejandro rounded on his son, who now wondered how much it would hurt to bury his head underneath the pillow. "I said I sent you to college to grow up and learn responsibility. Not learn to lie and play dress up!"

"Play dress up?" Diego asked, incredulous. Of all the things he imagined, this was not one of them. He thought maybe his father would be a little upset his son had a price on his head and was labeled an outlaw. Maybe concerned for the knife wound in his back or god forbid a little proud to learn his son was not a coward.

"What did they teach you over there? You obviously forgot how to honor your father. Your mother and I raised you to be honest. As reckless as you were as a kid you at least were always honest with me."

Alejandro glared down at his only son, trying to get a handle on his chaotic thoughts. Memories kept flashing through his head. Diego fell off his horse and let Victoria travel alone. Diego got lost on the way home. Diego wanting to finish a book rather than confront the alcalde. Diego trying to fight with a sword. Any brief light of pride was quickly extinguished. Lies. They were all lies.

"I thought…" Diego started.

"You thought?" Alejandro interrupted. "When did you think? Tell me when did thinking ever happen when you decided to lie to me and risk your life every day to don some…secret identity. What precisely did you think? You're my only son. You're all I have!" Alejandro's voice cracked a little at the end, but he glowered at his son to make sure he knew he was still in trouble.

Well, Diego thought silently, it's really too bad Victoria was missing how well her plan was turning out. Alejandro looked to the closed door, as if he could read Diego's thoughts. "You said you lied to Victoria. She didn't know. She found out," he said quietly. Alejandro kicked a table and some books fell onto the floor unnoticed as he raised his voice. "That's even worse. How can my son make love to a woman and never even tell her his name!"

"Now, wait a second!" Diego interrupted. Alejandro stopped, and looked openly at Diego, waiting for an answer. Diego stared up at his father, and couldn't think of a single thing to say. He grunted angrily at the pain but untangled his legs from the sheet and stood up. His foot caught in the sheet and Alejandro reached down to help his son out of bed. Diego shrugged him off. "Don't help me, remember you're busy yelling at me right now." Diego walked away from his father to check out the sunrise himself.

"Right, you don't need any help. You can do it all yourself."

"The alcalde stabbed me in the back. He didn't hurt my legs," Diego groused. Diego watched a hawk searching for breakfast for a moment before turning back to his father. "Yes, I lied to you. I didn't want you to worry about me." Diego pleaded with his father to understand. He'd had his fill of accusations and guilt and yelling and hurt he'd caused this week.

"So I don't worry about you, but it's ok if one day my only son doesn't come home?" Diego didn't have a response. Alejandro sat down on the bed, pulling a pillow into his lap as he spoke softly. "They had a funeral for Zorro." He stroked his fingers over a spot of blood, not looking up. "During the funeral Zorro just popped out of the coffin like it was any other day. Felipe told me you were in Santa Ana. Then he disappeared. You were gone for five days." Alejandro set the pillow back at the head of the bed and waited for an explanation from his silent son.

"The soldiers spooked Toronado with gunfire. He reared and I fell into a canyon. It was a long five days. Toronado and Felipe saved my life." Diego saw his father sitting on his bed, looking old and sad, and finally could empathize. He'd known Victoria would be angry, no doubt about that. He figured his father would be angry, too. But he hadn't counted on the hurt. Maybe he had been immature. Overconfident. He tended to forget the times he almost died, concentrating on the good he did and the adventure of it all. "I'm sorry. I wrote letters, like the one I imagine Felipe gave you telling you I'd gone out of town. I wrote another one in case… I see now that wasn't fair to you. I didn't see a way to protect you and the people if you knew who I was. You would have wanted to help. Given something away. You're just like me…you can't sit by and let people be abused. But someone had to work within the law. If I'd dragged you into this mess, it would have been much more dangerous."

Diego forced himself not to break away from his father's penetrating gaze. "And you don't think the alcalde would have assumed I knew if he ever caught you? You're my son! I would still have been found guilty. Only this way I couldn't help." Alejandro looked at the floor again. "After that trip you were in bed with a cold. I guess you didn't have a cold."

"No, I had…a few things broken. I'm sorry. I haven't been sick since before I left for college. The times I stayed in bed were all lies, too." Diego picked up the chair from the corner and brought it closer to the bed. He sat near his father, both staring at the floor in silence.

"Where do you keep Toronado? I imagine you have a place somewhere…"

"There's a cave behind the fireplace." Alejandro nodded, amazed he'd forgotten it was there.

"I'd like to see it." The clock in the corner ticked loudly in the silence.

"Toronado's an excellent stallion. I'd like to show you what he can do." Diego said. He started playing with his fingers again. He'd always thought once his secret was out, Alejandro's disappointment in him would melt away and they'd be the closest father and son in the world. Now they sat close together, all his secrets exposed and he felt like he was eight years old again getting scolded for not stabling his horse properly at the end of a ride. "I always wanted you to know. I wanted you to see me for who I was. I didn't think it'd go on this long."

"Now I'm not sure how I didn't see it. I couldn't understand how you could forget so much about riding and tracking. Always falling off your horse and getting lost." Alejandro consciously relaxed and stretched his shoulders, letting out a brief laugh. "I guess I know what you can do. Zorro is truly a magnificent athlete." Diego smiled briefly at his father, still unsure if he was forgiven. Alejandro placed a gentle hand on his son's shoulder. "I'm proud of you, son. I never could have seen this happening when I sent for you to come home."

"I didn't want to leave. I thought California would be boring." They both chuckled at that.

"I guess what's between you and Victoria is your business. She seems to have forgiven you. I still have many questions, but maybe now is not the time," Alejandro ceded, looking at Diego's pale face and the occasional grimace of pain he couldn't hide. "Please lay down and rest. You can tell me what happened later. I'll go get you some more water and some juice or something. Do you want anything?"

Diego settled his head back into the pillow. "Just Victoria," he replied quietly as he closed his eyes.