Don Alejandro and Victoria returned to Los Angeles about four months after they had left, with no more incidents on their way back. Most of the people in the pueblo were looking forward to their return and most of the people in the pueblo were disappointed to see them arrive alone. No Zorro, no Diego, no Felipe accompanied them.

"What happened, Alejandro?" The Alcalde asked. "You haven't managed to find them?"

"Oh…we found them, alright!" Don Alejandro answered saddened.

"They don't want to return, then? You did not manage to persuade them?"

"No. And I don't want them to return, either. They now belong to Mexico City, my friend!"

"So it was all for nothing? The entire journey?"

"On the contrary, Francisco. It was the most useful trip I have made in my entire life."

"And Zorro? Didn't you convince him to return with you, Senorita Escalante?" Sergeant Mendoza asked.

Victoria glanced at Don Alejandro, then at Mendoza.

"He is married now, Sergeant." She simply answered and entered her tavern, heading directly for her bedroom where she could just be alone with her own thoughts and sorrows.

"I am so sorry you didn't manage to convince your son and grandson to return with you, Alejandro! Los Angeles was a better place when they were here." Don Francisco told him. "I am also sad to give you some other painful news."

Don Alejandro looked at him, wondering what he wanted to say.

"While you were away, we had trouble with some newcomers. It took us weeks to catch them. Two of my men died in the attempt and four more were injured…In all that time, they burned down three haciendas, yours included."

Don Alejandro's eyes widened. "What do you mean burned down? Is there nothing left?" He asked.

"The house still stands and some of the rooms were less affected than others, but much of it was destroyed, Alejandro. It was three weeks ago. Two of your men, who were staying in the house while it happened, were also burned and are still in a bad shape. I am so sorry, my friend."

"Dios! Who was injured? Where are they?"

"Matias and Pedro. After the hacienda burned down, they were brought to the hospital and Doctor Hernandez and the nurse have been staying with them day and night, which was lucky since Pedro developed a bad infection and almost died. They treated him with one of the Indian remedies they found in Diego's notebook and he is better now. Some of Emilio's men are also in the hospital, as well as Pelo and two of his servants."

Don Alejandro waited no longer and made his way to the hospital to check on his men. The two injured ones were a pitiful sight, the bandages applied by the doctor over their wounds covering almost half of their bodies, including a quarter of Pedro's head.

"We are sorry, patron." Matias uttered as soon as he entered. "It happened so fast…there was nothing we could do!"

"Do not apologize!" Don Alejandro asked them. "All you needed to do was save yourselves! It's just a house, we will rebuild it!"

"It was a good thing you weren't there, patron!" Pedro told him. "Your bedroom was among the first rooms hit and, considering how fast the fire got out of control, I doubt you would have made it…"

Don Alejandro was sad about the news, mostly because of the state of his men, but also because of the house his father had built, the home he wanted to leave to his son. But his son was never to return and, as it turned out, no home was left to return to. All that was left was an old man whose misjudgments came with higher a price than he had imagined.

After he left the two, he went to the tavern and ordered lunch, eating it silently while listening to the Alcalde's account of what had happened in the pueblo over the past four months. The population had been steadily increasing and so has the criminality. Victoria's helpers had been attacked several times, one of them having been raped by a drunken vaquero one evening. Her parents forced her to marry the man and, since the haciendado he was working for could not condone his behavior, he was dismissed and headed, together with his new wife, to San Bernardino. As for the gang which had been attacking the haciendas, their leader proved to be a newly-arrived landowner, who wanted to buy the best land in the area for as low a price as possible. He, thus, hired the men to terrorize the other dons into selling their properties and cared not for the lives affected in the process. Fortunately, the whole scheme was found out when a lancer overhead two of the bandits talk in the public baths, of all places. Don Alejandro listened and nodded, then, as soon as he felt up to it, rode to what was left of his hacienda.

The house was, indeed, still standing, having been built in brick, but the interior was almost completely destroyed. Pieces of unusable furniture still littered the entire place as his men had started the clean-up and the renovation with their patron's bedroom, desperately trying to make it usable by the time of his return. Diego's room, which Don Alejandro had left intact after his son's departure, in the hope he might, one day return, was the least affected. It did, however, shown signs of the fire that had engulfed the curtains and dirtied the walls before being put out. As he was roaming through the house, he heard a rider coming and the door suddenly opened as Victoria entered with a gasp at seeing the place.

"Pilar…Pilar told me…" She said, shocked to see the magnitude of the disaster. "I am so sorry, Don Alejandro!"

"Yes…I am sorry about your helper, too, Victoria. I'm just glad it wasn't you!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Anita…I know what happened to her…"

"What happened to Anita?"

Don Alejandro looked at her and realized Pilar hadn't gotten to tell her about that, as well. She probably left as soon as she heard about the fire at the hacienda. He thought.

"Francisco told me she was raped and her parents forced her to marry the man. I understand they are now in San Bernardino."

"No!" Victoria exclaimed. "No…That can't be! She was in love with Carlos, the shoemaker's son. Her parents couldn't have forced her to marry a man who did that to her!"

Don Alejandro said nothing, just shrugged his shoulders in a gesture reminiscent of a younger, less self-confident, Felipe, as he continued studying the remnants of his once-sumptuous hacienda, until his eyes fell on the library. Amazingly enough, the wall where the books were had been left almost untouched by the fire, despite the fact that the furniture in the room was completely destroyed. Remembering his conversation with his grandson, he made his way towards the fireplace and looked for the hidden lever. As he pressed it, he saw the panel behind sliding and making way for a person to pass through it, so he did. The corridor was immersed in darkness, so he immediately turned around to get a candle, then, after taking some time to study how the panel closed, he pressed the candleholder and started lighting all the existing candles as, followed by Victoria, he made his way towards the main room. Once there, after making sure it was as full of light as it had once been, when Diego was working on his experiments, they both stood in awe, studying every detail, until their eyes fell on a small shelf near the desk. Unlike the other shelf in the room, this one was not filled with books but with notebooks. Taking one out, Victoria opened it to find it was a record of Diego's adventures as Zorro, so she took another, then another, and so on.

"They are all his journals; accounts of his time as Zorro." She told Don Alejandro.

They just looked at each other and each took one, beginning to read randomly, yet soon realized they were doing it wrong. Those accounts needed to be read in the proper order. Truth be told, reading them was an invasion of privacy and they shouldn't have been reading them at all without Diego's consent, but neither of them thought about that.

"Felipe was right." Don Alejandro uttered as he started reading about the circumstances leading to Diego creating Zorro. "He put on that mask to save us and then just couldn't give it up, knowing there were others who needed his help."

Victoria listened to him as he was reading. Those journals were a window into the soul of a man they both loved. For Victoria, they were also a way to somehow keep him close to her, despite the distance and the wife between them.

During the entire journey, all Victoria thought about was Diego and, more often than not, the night they had spent together. She was aware that the first time with a man was going to hurt, and it did, but he stopped and gave her the time she needed for the pain to slowly subside, so that she could enjoy feeling him inside of her, making love to her so passionately, until she felt like every fiber of her being would just explode. For a few minutes, she even thought he might have changed his mind, that he might be unable to leave her after having made her his; after he had given himself to her. Victoria had even hoped he would tell her he would cancel the wedding and never leave her side again. She would have truly done anything to prove she was worthy of him. Yet, when he left that morning, as soon as he woke up, she realized it was all lost, that he had meant every word he had said and it was no longer she whom he loved. Victoria didn't blame him, though, since she had long since put the blame on herself for all the ways in which their romance had gone wrong. She was just grateful that, despite their past, despite all the sufferance she had caused him, despite himself, Diego came and gave her the most wonderful night of her life. She also hoped he had given her something more, as she prayed there was a baby with his eyes growing inside of her.

ZZZ

"Are you happy?" Diego asked Isabel, with a large grin, during their meal. She had come to his classes and the two of them headed out for lunch afterward.

"Happier than I ever thought I would be!" She answered with a similar smile on her face, caressing her belly which was now rounder, a clear indication that a child was now occupying that space. "Here!" She said, handing him a large book she had been carrying. "I brought you something!"

Diego took it to have a look.

"You still like medicine, don't you?" She asked. "It is the newest compendium of gathered knowledge in the field. It was just published in Paris two months ago."

Diego's eyes sparkled as he turned towards her to thank her for the gift.

"Here! I also have something for you!" He said, taking a white rose from his jacket and handing it to her.

"I'll never tire of them!" She answered.

"I, however, might become jealous to see my wife accepting flowers from another man, Diego!" Enrique stated with a sly smile instead of a salute, as he neared their table.

"Unfortunately, unless you want to challenge me to a duel…and find a way to win, there's not much you can do to stop it, my friend!" Diego stated with a grin, standing up to shake hands with Isabel's husband. "Congratulations on the baby! Miguel just told me his Isabel is also expecting." He stated as Enrique took a seat next to his wife.

"I know! Isn't it wonderful? Isa and I used to wish, when we were growing up, that we'll both raise our children together. I can't believe it is actually happening!" She stated. "Diego, do you have any news of your father? I feel terrible for how I behaved…I had no right…And what do you know of Victoria?"

"No news so far, but it hasn't even been four months and you know it takes some time for the mail to arrive from California. I just hope they arrived safely. I still blame myself for not having gone after them. Perhaps I could have changed their minds and convinced them to stay here. Although, considering the letter my father left me, I am not sure any of them want to see me again."

"I can't believe that, Diego! They love you." She stated.

Diego knew his father did love him, in his own way, as he always did, even when he felt disappointed with his son. Victoria, however, was a different story. The morning after they had made love, when he abruptly left her room due to her obvious regret for the deed, he was still upset with her and with the entire situation. Most of all, though, he was upset with himself, since his actions had not been worthy of the caballero his father raised him to be. He had given in to temptation and hurt the woman he loved in the process, maybe even annihilating any chance for a future together.

It was Isabel who, during their discussion that fateful morning, when each of them decided to escape the people they loved after spending the night with them, convinced him to give himself and Victoria another try. When she informed him that she had decided to marry Enrique that very day, any trace of sorrow or rage Diego still felt suddenly dissipated, as he realized that, hadn't it been for Victoria's actions, Isabel wouldn't have had the courage to break the engagement, nor accept that the man she wanted to be with was not him. In fact, what Victoria did, was free them from each other, since neither one had the strength to do it otherwise and they would have ended up unhappily married to the wrong person.

"You deserve to be happy, Diego!" Isabel stated, reading his thoughts again, as she sometimes did. "Perhaps I should go to Los Angeles and get Victoria to come back!" She suggested.

"You're a bit too pregnant for such a trip, Isabel." Diego stated. "However, I have decided to return to Los Angeles, myself, anyway. I have already booked passage on a ship to San Pedro and I will be leaving as soon as the semester ends." He informed them.

"You will? But you will come back afterward, won't you?" Enrique asked him.

"I don't know about that. It depends on how things go while I'm there. I expect I might be gone at least a few months." Diego answered.

Just as he said that, Felipe barged in the tavern, looking for his father, and headed for their table.

"There's a letter!" The younger man said. "It's from Grandfather! I brought it as soon as I could." He added, handing it to Diego as he sat next to him, smiling at Isabel and Enrique as "Helo".

Diego opened it and started reading, his expression changing from serene to upset and ending in disappointment and sorrow.

"What does it say? Did something happen to them?" Isabel asked as she saw those transformations.

"No. Thank God they arrived back safely. However, the hacienda was burned down, criminality in Los Angeles is on the rise and…and Victoria decided to marry Don Pablo Punzon…The wedding is due to take place…tomorrow, apparently." Diego stated and got up from the table, excusing himself and informing everyone he needed some time alone.

Felipe remained there almost paralyzed, taking the letter to read it for himself. "She did it again!" He uttered as he finished.

ZZZ

"You are doing the right thing, Victoria…" Don Alejandro encouraged her, despite feeling quite distressed himself, thus unable to seem genuine to the young woman. "That baby of yours needs a father and you need a husband. Don Pablo agreed to wed you, even knowing about the child…and the pregnancy is starting to show..."

"I know…It's just that…My son has a father!" She answered, looking at herself in the mirror, dressed all in white.

"Diego is married to another woman. He should have never …"

"I asked him to! And I prayed for this baby, as well, Don Alejandro. He may belong to another now, but, this way, I will see him every time I'll look into my child's eyes and I'll remember he once loved me!"

"A child to be raised by another man…That baby of yours should be my heir, Victoria, God knows I want nothing more than to see my grandson grow up. But if you don't marry Don Pablo, you will be labeled a woman of low morals and your child will be a bastard his entire life. I, for one, would not want that for him, no matter how much all this pains me!"

"Of course not…" She answered, still hesitating. "Could you just give me a few minutes?"

Don Alejandro left the room and made his way towards the taproom, where he sat down, saddened to have to give Victoria away to a man who was not Diego.

"Why the long face, my friend? Don't tell me you'd prefer to be at the bull auction in Santa Barbara, rather than at Senorita Escalante's wedding!" Don Emilio asked him as he sat down in front of him.

"How do you think our sister will react when she sees us there?" A young man sat at a nearby table asked his twin brother.

"I wonder how she and our future brother-in-law will react to our news!" The other man said.

"Trust me, my friend! Had it not been for this wedding, Santa Barbara is exactly where I would be right now. Unless my son was here, in which case I would have sent him instead." Don Alejandro stated, as he started feeling a strange pain in his chest.

"Do you believe it's true? What Fernando said about the professor?" The young man who spoke first asked his twin.

"Don't you? It makes sense!" The brother answered.

"Alejandro?" Don Emilio asked when his friend put his hand on his chest and slowly fell down to the floor. "Alejandro?! Somebody get Doctor Hernandez!" He shouted and two of the De la Vega men present in the establishment hurried towards the hospital.

Don Alejandro heard him call his name at first but he could hardly react. As he fell to the floor, all he could do was whisper his son's name seconds before the darkness enveloped him.

Everyone in the tavern stood up to look at him, forming a circle around the don. The doctor arrived in no more than a minute after Don Alejandro lost consciousness, but, realizing he wasn't breathing and he had no pulse, he asked for someone to bring Padre Benitez.

"We might be able to help!" One of the twins said, encouraging the other.

Everyone in the room stared at them incredulously, but let them pass and watched as they took charge of the situation. Hesitating a little at first, one placed his hands on Don Alejandro's chest and the other started breathing air into his lungs, coordinating their moves. By the time Padre Benitez arrived, Don Alejandro was breathing on his own again, starting to regain consciousness.

"What you just did…" Doctor Hernandez asked, "where did you learn to do that?"

"Our professor taught us at the university." One of them stated proudly.

"That is what Don Diego did when he helped Don Homero's wife." One of the lancers present at the scene told the people gathered around the old don, who was still lying on the floor.

"You know Don Diego?" One of the two young men asked.

"Of course they must know him! He is from Los Angeles!" His brother told him.

"You are students of Don Diego de la Vega?" Sergeant Mendoza asked from the crowd after listening in to their conversation.

"De la Vega? No senor. We are students of Don Diego Sánchez." One of the young men stated.

"Diego Sánchez?" Don Emilio asked, looking puzzled at the two young men. "He's not the same Senor Sánchez who rides a black horse named Tornado, is he?"

"Si, senor! I do believe he is the only professor by the name of Sánchez in Mexico City." One of the twins confirmed. "The senorita knows him!" He added, indicating towards Victoria.

Ignorant to what was happening and intrigued by the quietness of the taproom, Victoria had exited her room and, seeing Don Alejandro lying on the floor, hurried towards him, kneeling by his side, as the doctor was listening to his heart rate, determined to arrange for him to be taken to the hospital.

"Isn't that his father?" One of the twins whispered to the other, pointing towards Don Alejandro, not quietly enough for Mendoza not to overhear.

"Yes, I think you are right." The other one replied, also whispering. "He and the senorita were always attending his classes when they were in the Capital. I almost didn't recognize him! I can't believe we saved his father! Now he'll have to be merciful with our grades when we return! Maybe he'll even accept us in his fencing classes."

The Sergeant fell on a chair as the fuss continued in the tavern and the twins eventually left when the stagecoach they came in departed on its way to Santa Paula.

Don Alejandro was taken to the hospital and Victoria ignored her wedding plans and accompanied him, only to return an hour later, leaving his side at his insistence, just thirty minutes before the ceremony.

Opening her wardrobe to take out the veil, tears begun falling from her eyes as they fell on the red dress she had from Diego. In the four months they had been apart again, she never once stopped thinking of him, thanking him in her mind for giving her that child she so desperately wanted. Thinking of him and of their child, she also remembered the question he once asked Don Alejandro "Do you truly believe I would ever accept for a child of mine to be raised by another man?" She pondered over that question for a few minutes, somewhat confused. Then she remembered something else, something Don Alejandro had told her when they were discussing his son and the woman he should marry. He had pointed out, on that occasion, that Victoria had always been faithful to him. With those thoughts running rampant through her head, right at that moment, Victoria decided to remain faithful to the man she loved. Taking off her wedding dress, she put on a yellow blouse and a red skirt and headed for the taproom where Don Pablo was waiting for her.

"Why have you changed, Senorita?" He asked her. "We should be getting married in ten minutes!"

"I'm afraid that won't happen, Don Pablo." Victoria stated.

"We've been planning this wedding for over a month! If you are not in your wedding dress, standing next to me at the altar in ten minutes, you will have a lot of begging to do, Senorita, if I am to take you back! And we both know what will become of you if you don't go through with this marriage." He threatened her, his shyness all gone as his true temper made itself felt.

Victoria looked at him defiantly. How could she have ever imagined marrying such a man? How could she ever imagine being with any man other than Diego, for that matter?

"May I have your attention, please?" She asked the patrons in her establishment.

There were only her faithful clients there at that point, Mendoza still brewing on the bench he had fell on over an hour earlier, most of the others just there for the wedding. Every noise ceased when she asked, as the people turned towards her.

"I would like to inform everyone that I am pregnant. The father is Diego, to whom I have once been married. I have only spent one night with him while in Mexico City, a fact which should serve to end all speculations about the reasons for the Annulment; and I don't intend to ever accept being with another man, which should speak loud enough about my own morals."

"Is it true, senorita?" Mendoza asked her as if awaken for a dream, only reacting at hearing Diego's name. "Was Don Diego Zorro?"

She was surprised by his question, just like all the other people in the tavern, who had not yet made the connection.

"He was, Sergeant." She answered after taking a moment to think. If anyone's jaw hadn't dropped at her first statement, it were surely touching the ground at that point. "And we all drove him away. If you are still looking for scapegoats, look towards me, towards his father, and, most of all, towards yourselves. Zorro left because of how we all treated Diego.

As for our baby, I know he will be born outside a marriage, which is just my fault, since I was unable to realize the truth and to see his father for the amazing man he is. But this baby is still Diego's child, so I expect you all to, at least, show him the respect you owe the man who risked his life so many times for each and every one of us! Am I making myself clear? You may treat me as you want, but no one will ever be unkind to this child!"

About a week later, as everyone in the pueblo was coming to terms with the revelation about Zorro's true identity, Don Alejandro and Victoria both found themselves at the center of a lot of fussing. In the absence of their hero, all the people Diego had helped were now directing their gratitude towards his father and the taverness.

Unwilling to let her remain in the tavern alone, particularly since the news had spread fast and he was fearing for her and his grandson, who was, after all, Zorro's child, Don Alejandro invited Victoria to move to the hacienda and she accepted when the caballero agreed for her to occupy the room which had once been Diego's.