Felipe had a rather bad cold. Nothing to really worry about, as Don Alejandro clearly pointed out. However, given the bond between Diego and his adopted son, as well as all the times the younger man had taken care of him, even risking his own life on occasion, the new father could hardly avoid being a little overprotective.

So, after having made sure that Victoria was all set for the evening, and after that awkward conversation with his former schoolmate-turned-adversary, Diego mounted Esperanza and headed home. There, he stabled the horse and headed for his son's quarters.

"Felipe!" Diego called at entering his bedroom, seeing that the younger man was comfortably prompted up in bed, doing some reading. "How are you doing?"

The younger De la Vega shrugged his shoulders and just smiled at him with an expression betraying resignation on his face.

"Do you need anything?" The father asked as he neared his bed, putting a hand on his forehead.

Felipe shook his head and signaled that he only needed to rest.

"You still have a fever, Felipe!" Diego informed him, although the fever he was referring to was quite low. "I will bring you some willow bark tea and stay with you, alright?"

Felipe shook his head again, then signaled that he will drink the tea but he just needed some rest, so there was no need for anyone to keep vigil on him.

Diego sighed and headed for the kitchen. While making the tea, he asked Maria to also fix a light dinner for his patient, then took everything to his room. The younger man drank the tea but refused the food, signaling he couldn't eat it at that time, so his father moved the tray to a desk by the window, then sat in a chair next to the bed, asking if he wanted him to read him something.

Felipe signaled that he didn't, then asked Diego to go to Victoria's Christmas party, stating, once more, that all he needed was some rest. The tall caballero pretended to give in, and headed for the library, where he remained reading for an hour, then, as his son had fallen asleep, he returned to Felipe's room, resolute to keep vigil on him, whether he wanted or not. While doing that, he took up some reading, the turning of the pages eventually waking up Felipe. Upset with the fact that Diego was not listening to him, the younger man made his adoptive father promise to go to the party and stop worrying about him.

After being rather unceremoniously kicked out of his grown-up son's room, Diego reluctantly made his way towards the kitchen, where he asked Maria to keep an eye on Felipe. Then, after refreshing himself, he put on a dark blue suit, a fresh shirt and a black cravat, mounted Esperanza and proceeded to the cave. Some ten minutes later, just as the sun had finally set, Tornado exited without a rider, his saddlebags filled with Zorro's things.

Felipe fell asleep again minutes after his adoptive father exited his room, only to be disturbed about an hour later by a conversation taking place outside his window. At first, he had thought it was a discussion between some of the vaqueros and turned in his bed, hoping to go back to sleep. Then he heard the word "rob" and he suddenly felt less sleepy. Silently getting out of bed, he thus headed for the window.

"Are you sure they are all gone?" He heard an unfamiliar voice utter a question in a low tone of voice.

"Si. I saw the old man in town and the younger one I saw leave a couple of hours ago. There's only the cook we need to worry about but I doubt she'll be hard to overpower." Another man said.

"We'll have a great Christmas this year, amigos!" A third one announced as Felipe saw them put on their bandanas to cover the bottom half of their faces.

"Ready?" The second one asked. "Sancho, you stay guard. Tavio, you come with me!"

"Si, jefe!" They exclaimed and took their positions.

Felipe's eyes grew wide as, a few moments later, he heard Maria screaming. Thinking fast, he exited and ran towards the cave, blocking the sliding panel behind him. He was hoping that Tornado was there and he might, thus, be able to warn Zorro, but the black stallion was not in his stall, so the young don paced the place for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do.

There were several courses of action he could take, he realized, as he changed his nightclothes for some of his old servant clothes he still had hidden in the cave.

His first option was to exit through the cave's back entrance and make his way to the pueblo. But he was too weak to run all the way and, by the time reinforcements would come, it might have already been too late. Furthermore, he dreaded leaving Maria behind, alone with the thugs.

His second option was to fight them. He might have been able to pull it off, even to defeat him since his skills with the sword were almost as good as his father's. However, if the thieves had guns, as they were most certain to possess, then his swordsmanship would have been useless against them. Diego had always told him that things and money are not worth a man's life. Furthermore, even if he'd get the chance to fight and won, it would have been difficult to explain his swordsmanship later on without giving way the man who had taught him everything he knew.

That left him with his third option: use everyday items and a few of Diego's experiments to catch the bandits. He had to be careful, though. He couldn't use any of Zorro's tricks because they were a dead giveaway, and he couldn't use the substances which might have harmed the thugs (like acids or poisons) since his father probably wouldn't approve of that. Causing damages to the hacienda, such as by fire, was also out of the question, so his options were rather limited.

Felipe thus looked around the cave and identified the only things he could use: ether, which his father had used before as an anesthetic; a type of glue Diego was, at the moment, experimenting with; soap and water, which he could mix together to create a slippery surface.

He had to think fast. While getting to the cave he had heard the thieves asking Maria if there was anyone else in the house and, by then, she must have probably confessed Felipe was there, and they would have started searching for him.

There were plenty of things to steal in the house, but most of the valuable things were kept either in Don Alejandro's bedroom or in the library. Soon enough he heard the men search for him in the rooms next to the exit and looked through the spyhole to see them realizing that the main door had not been bolted, thus assuming he had left the hacienda. Just as they were studying the courtyard, though, thunder was heard and, but minutes later, a downpour started. At about the same time, Tornado entered, without his rider, through the back entrance to the cave and silently headed for his stall. A piece of black cloth was hanging from his saddle horn, the established signal that Zorro was fine and had sent the horse home himself.

"It's dark, cold, it's raining cats and dogs, and he is ill. I doubt he'll survive to get reinforcements, even if he tries to go to the pueblo." He heard one of the thugs say as he returned to the spyhole after inspecting and de-saddling the mount.

Maria, whom they had dragged with them, tied up and gagged, started crying as they said that, and Felipe had to admit he had a good point, for which reason he was lucky to have so easily abandoned his first option.

Felipe thus took a deep breath and thought about what he needed to do. The first problem was that he was, at the moment, stuck behind the fireplace, unable to exit into the house. Fortunately, that particular issue was soon solved as the thieves decided they had plenty of time to adequately search every room and should start with the quarters inhabited by the master of the house.

ZZZ

After leaving the cave that evening, still mounted on Esperanza, Diego followed his favorite stallion into town, keeping his mount some two hundred yards behind him. He, thus, carefully made his way towards Victoria's stables, where he hid Tornado, making sure he would not be easily discovered. Doubling-back a few hundred feet, he then made his official return to the pueblo, just as the night's fiesta was starting and the tavern was filling with people.

About an hour and a half later, when people were already beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol they had already consumed, he silently slipped away unnoticed, then headed for the stables, changed into Zorro's clothes, and silently returned to the tavern's kitchen with a request for Victoria who wasted no time in complying, then headed for the prison.

The Sergeant did not hear Zorro come in, so, when the black-gloved hand of the pueblo's hero woke him up, he almost fell off his chair.

"Buenas noches, Sergeant!" The black-clad man greeted him, as he took an index finger to his mouth to indicate that they needed to be quiet.

"Zorro!" The lancer exclaimed, his voice merely a whisper. "What are you doing here? There's no prisoner for you to set free! Even the Alcalde is convinced you will not show yourself tonight, but only tomorrow!"

"That is, indeed, good news, Sergeant. It means I can just waltz out of the office without ducking bullets for once! However, I do believe there is a prisoner here, my friend. And, since I can't set him free, I thought the least I can do is bring him some of the delicious food and wine everybody seems to be enjoying at the tavern!"

"You did this for me, Zorro? You… you risked coming here just to bring me some of Senorita Escalante's food?" Mendoza asked, confused at seeing the basket. "But… How did you know? The Alcalde didn't even let me have dinner tonight! I thought I would starve to death!"

"That would certainly be unjust! Enjoy your dinner and Feliz Navidad, Amigo! I must take my leave!" He replied and, careful not to be overheard, headed towards the door.

"Feliz Navidad, Zorro!" The Sergeant answered with a friendly smile, at seeing him leave right through the main entrance.

No gunshot was heard and only a couple of lancers even seemed to notice him when he exited into the plaza, yet failed to raise the alarm as he was already mounted on Tornado, heading out of town.

Half a mile away, seeing how he was not being pursued, he doubled-back and returned to Victoria's stables, changed back into the suit he had worn as he came into town and, after tying up a piece of black cloth to his saddle horn, sent Tornado to the cave.

Diego was, at least, happy to have been able to provide his friend with some food and good wine, oblivious of the fact that, not more than five minutes after his departure De Soto had found Mendoza enjoying his gift and forced him to throw everything away, leaving the poor Sergeant in an ever deeper depression than the one he was already in before Zorro had stopped by.

Just a few minutes later a first flash lightened up the sky, warning about the coming storm. Many of the people who had come to attend the party had already left by then, and those who remained inhabited the nearby houses, so they silently took their goodbyes and hurried to their homes, leaving only Diego and Don Alejandro to keep Victoria company.

"I hope you have free rooms," Diego told her from the porch, watching the downpour, "since it looks like we are staying overnight."

The taverness smiled at him, not at all disliking the thought "All the rooms are free." She answered. "You may have your pick."

The two men helped her clean up, then all three of them headed towards their rooms.