Disclaimer: These characters are the property of ABC Family Channel and New World Productions. For entertainment purposes only.
The Return of the Three Musketeers
The sun was warm on this lovely summer day in the Pueblo de Los Angeles. People were milling around the plaza going about their business stopping to say hello to each other. Victoria Escalante was standing on the porch of the Tavern, that she owned and loved, just finishing up sweeping the porch. Business was slow today, she only had one customer and he was just finishing up and about to leave. She started to enter the tavern when she noticed the coach coming. She hoped that the coach held customers. Behind the coach on top of Dulcinea rode Don Alejandro De la Vega. She smiled at him as he dismounted. "Hola, Victoria. How are you today?"
"I'm fine, Don Alejandro. What brings you to Los Angeles this morning?" Victoria greeted him with a smile.
"A glass of your delicious lemonade." Alejandro bowed and kissed her hand. "Diego said he would join me soon. He had to check on something at the Guardian."
"Well, then I will have a glass waiting for him."
They both walked into the tavern. Alejandro glanced around the room and was shocked to see it so empty. "No customers. It's such a lovely day; I expected it to be full."
"Well, I guess people are working outdoors today." Victoria sighed. "The coach just came so maybe I will have boarders tonight."
Just as she said that, four men and a woman entered the tavern. They took in their surroundings with glee. "This is quite quaint. I love it. Reminds me of the one back home in France. Doesn't it, Simone?"
"Quite yes. I'm getting homesick already." The woman named Simone answered.
Victoria approached them "Hola. What can I get for you today?"
One of the men bowed and took Victoria's hand and placed a slight kiss on her knuckles. "We are in need of some nice rooms and good food, my lady."
Victoria blushed. "Well, you are in luck I happen to have rooms available. Two for you gentlemen and one for the lady." Victoria hesitated. "Unless, of course, one of you is married to the lovely lady."
Simone stepped forward. "No, I'm not married. But I am engaged to one of these men." As she wraps her arm around the arm of one of them. The one who had kissed her hand earlier and made the nice comments of her tavern. He was average size with a mustache and black hair. Reminded her of Diego but not as tall.
"Are you visiting Los Angeles?" asked Alejandro.
"Yes we are, Senor." Simone answered. "My name is Simone DuPree. And this is Porthos. We are from France." She gestured to the three other gentlemen. "The curly blond is Athos, the curly black haired gentleman is Picotin, he's Porthos' manservant. And that…" pointing to a handsome man with straight, long brown hair "is D'Artagnan."
"Welcome to Los Angeles." Victoria then turned to Alicia who came out from the kitchen. "Alicia, could you get three rooms ready for our guests. Two for the gentlemen and one for the lady." Alicia nods and hurries upstairs to carry out Victoria's orders.
Picotin steps forward and asks "Could you point us in the direction of the De La Vega hacienda?"
"I could do one better, my name is Alejandro de la Vega." Alejandro shakes their hands. "What may I do for you?"
Picotin smiles. "We are looking for Diego. He was in France several years ago and he said if we were ever in California to look him up. So here we are."
"Diego is over in the Guardian office, checking on the paper. He should be here shortly." He gestures for them to sit and Victoria goes to get them all lemonade. "So, you knew my son when he was in France."
Porthos intercedes. "Oh yes, he was of a great help to us when we needed it. We will be eternally grateful to him and Le Renard." Victoria returns with the lemonade. Porthos smiles. "Thank you."
"My son, how so?"
"Well Athos, D'Artagnan and I are direct descendents of the original Three Musketeers. Our great grandfathers were the original Musketeers." Replies Porthos.
"And a tyrant, by the name of Count Jussac, took hold of our family home, the Chateau Bohmatan, by stealing the ring that proves our ownership. Porthos here was already in France. I called back Athos, from England, and D'Artagnan, from the United States, to help us get the ring back. Diego happened along when I was waiting for them to come. He unfortunately got dragged into the fight by mistake." Picotin relayed.
"My son, dragged into a fight. I'll believe it when I see it." Exclaimed Alejandro. "Go on."
"On the day that Diego arrived, Porthos came back drunk and Diego helped me to sober him up. Unfortunately that is when Jussac came upon us. Porthos started to fight him and all three of us got thrown into jail. They eventually believed Diego's story that he was just an innocent traveler and they released him but not without roughing him up a little. And that snake woman, Countess Emilee, took him in and nursed his wounds. He thought at first that she was a kindhearted woman but we soon found out, with the help of Le Renard, that she was bedding down with Jussac. Le Renard came and broke us out of jail and became our biggest ally. Diego left before the big fight started for our home but Le Renard helped us find the ring and reclaim what was rightfully ours." Picotin finished with a smile.
"Who is Le Renard?" Victoria asks. She can't believe Diego didn't tell us this story. Thinking back she realized that Diego didn't tell them much about his trip to France.
"In French, Le Renard means 'the Fox'." Picotin states. "In your language, he's Zorro."
Victoria glances over at Alejandro and both of them are shocked. How could Zorro be in France at the same time as Diego, unless? Victoria couldn't believe what she was thinking. Could it be possible? Alicia comes down and announces that their rooms are ready. Alicia then shows them to their rooms so that they can put their bags in their rooms and freshen up from their long trip.
"Alejandro, if Diego and Zorro were over in France at the same time, does that mean that Diego is Zorro?" Victoria asks Alejandro who is still stunned.
"I guess it does, Victoria. The only one who can answer that is Diego."
"Answer what, Father?" Diego says as he enters the tavern with Felipe behind him. Both Victoria and Alejandro look at him and then at each other. They don't know what to say to Diego.
Alejandro finally breaks the silence. "Oh …oh nothing, Diego. There are some people here to see you."
"Oh, really. I wasn't expecting anybody." Diego is quite perplexed on why his Father changed the subject. They were clearly talking about him when he entered the tavern. He gave Felipe a puzzling look. Felipe only shrugged his shoulders.
Porthos was the first to come downstairs. Noticing Diego, he greeted him with a warm handshake. "Porthos, what the devil are you doing here?"
"Hey, you said if we were ever in California, we could stop by. So we did."
"We?" Diego cocked an eyebrow.
"Yes, D'Artagnan, Athos, Picotin and Simone are here with me." Porthos lightly punches Diego's arm with laughter.
"They're here also." Diego shot a glance at this Father and Victoria who were still looking at him with quizzical eyes. He wonders just what his friends from France told them of his trip a few years back. If he knew, then maybe it would clear up his puzzlement on why his Father and Victoria looked shocked about something.
"Oh, Yes and excited to see you. Oh and Simone and I are getting married."
"Congratulations, Porthos. I'm happy for you both." Diego patted him on the back.
"Yeah, after she got over the disappearance of Le Renard, she quickly realized I was the man for her." Porthos took another swig of his lemonade.
"Oh." Diego said as he took a drink from his glass also.
"Hey, you said you were a friend of his. By any chance could he be here in Los Angeles? We never got a chance to thank him for his help."
"Well, I don't know. We weren't that close."
"Nonsense." Porthos shot him a glance. "If you traveled to France together, then you must be close."
Diego glanced at Porthos then at Victoria and his Father and tried desperately to change the subject. "So how was the trip here to California?" He hoped that Victoria and his father haven't put two to two together, but from the looks of disbelief that he has been receiving from them since he walked in, he doubts that very much. He realizes that his secret is out, well at least to those two it is. And no lie is going to change that. But how to convince the group from France not to divulge that both he and Zorro were over in France at the same time to anyone else, especially the Alcalde, is the one thing he has to think hard on.
"…then Simone got sick halfway through the trip. But other than that the trip was good." Diego didn't even realize that Porthos was speaking until then. He was so caught up in his thinking that he didn't even notice that Athos and Simone had joined them also.
"Oh, that's too bad. The ocean can be a little tricky at times. If you are not used to sailing, it could make you quite sick." Diego then acknowledges Athos and Simone and extends his congratulations to her.
"Thank you, Diego." Simone looks away and at Porthos with a smile.
"Can I get anybody anything to eat? I can bring out a big plate of tamales for you all to share." Victoria turns to leave and disappears into the kitchen without even waiting for a response. Diego watches her go wondering how she is taking the divulgence of the secret that he so painstakingly safeguarded over the years. And from the looks of it, not very good.
Alejandro excuses himself to go help her. Diego hangs his head and sighs.
Porthos looks at Diego and questions. "Did we do something? Victoria didn't look too happy."
Diego shook his head. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. I, on the other hand, may have."
"Diego, we're sorry. We just told them of your adventure with us in France. We didn't think that it would cause you trouble." Porthos looked at him with concern.
"Oh you did nothing wrong. I just had neglected to tell them about that part of the trip. I didn't want to worry them. But if you please, don't mention it to anybody else." Diego looks toward the kitchen wondering if he should go in there. "If the Alcalde should find out that Zorro and I were in the same place, then he may get the idea that I may be Zorro and I could be in more trouble then I want to be in. Can we keep this our little secret?"
"No problem, your secret is safe with us." Porthos looked at Athos and Simone and they both agreed. Athos piped up and said "We'll let the other two know also."
"Thank you." Diego smiled back. "You will all have to come to our hacienda for dinner tonight."
"We would love to." Simone smiled back. "We also would like to see more of this beautiful pueblo you talked so fondly of."
"Maybe you can borrow some horses from my Father's stable and we could all go for a ride tomorrow. Maybe Victoria would want to come along also." Diego said with glee in his eyes. "But if you will excuse me, I need to go talk to my Father and Victoria. I think I have a lot of explaining to do." He winks at Felipe and disappears behind the curtain.
Victoria is crying in Alejandro's arms when Diego enters. Diego is taken back by Victoria's despair. "Victoria, I …"
"Diego, you have some explaining to do." Alejandro growls as he guides Victoria over to the bench and sits down.
Diego sees the big plate of food and goes to the curtain and calls for Felipe. Felipe runs over to him and Diego hands him the plate and tells him to bring it to their guests and keep them company. Felipe nods and takes the plate and leaves.
"Father, I'm sorry." Diego leans against the fireplace and looks into the fire. "What do you want to know?" Diego readies himself for the barrage of questions.
"Ok." Alejandro takes a deep breath. "Are you Zorro?"
Diego wasn't expecting that question. He had assumed that they automatically knew he was Zorro. So could he get out of this one, or does he want to get out of this one? He thinks of Victoria and looks at her. She is looking at him with longing in her eyes. Did he see what he thought he saw there, could he have a chance with her? With that in his heart, there was only one word he could say. "Yes."
Alejandro bowed his head and Victoria gasped. "How long?"
"Since the beginning. Since I returned from Spain." Diego started to pace the room. Victoria noticed the change in him immediately. He was no longer the weak willed caballero she was so used to seeing everyday. He was a more confident, strong man. The man she sees in Zorro. She was finally meeting the real Diego. The mixture of both Diego and Zorro. She smiled. She couldn't help it; she loved this man standing before her.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Victoria wiped away her tears.
"To protect you both from the repercussions of my actions." Diego sighed but he was encouraged by her smile. "The Alcalde wouldn't hesitate to hurt you because of me. If he couldn't get me, then he would go after you. And I just couldn't live with that fear." He looked down. "As long as you didn't know, I could go on with Zorro and not worry about the Alcalde taking his anger out on you or Father. Please forgive me."
"Oh I forgive you. And I assure you, you will be making it up to me for the rest of your life." Victoria gives him a warm smile and swats him on his arm.
Diego smiles back. "And I will do my best in making it up to you with all my heart." He looks at Alejandro. "Father?"
Alejandro lifts his eyes to him and smiles. "I'm so proud of you Diego." He stands up and hugs his son with all the love a Father could. "You will be explaining for the rest of your life but now we have guests in the other room that came all this way to see you. Vaminos." He bounds out of the kitchen.
Diego looks at Victoria and holds out his arms in a very Zorro like fashion. "Victoria, I love you. You know that, right?" Victoria runs into his outstretched arms and is reveling in the feel of his arms. "Yes, I know that. And I love you also. I'm just glad that it was my best friend beneath the mask."
"Victoria, I promise I will find a way that we can be together without the mask and without suspicion." Diego smiles and reaches down and kisses her with all the passion that he can muster.
"I promised my friends from France that I would take them riding tomorrow, maybe you can come along." He looked in her beautiful eyes. "Would you like to come along? I think you would get along with Simone. She runs a tavern of her own in France."
"I would love that." Victoria smiled back up at him. "And maybe that will start some rumors among the citizens of Los Angeles. Who knows? Maybe I can suddenly want to get married and can't wait for Zorro any longer. We'll figure out something but for now I am going to enjoy being with the man beneath the mask."
"But not too much, at first." Diego cocked an eyebrow. "Come on; let's get back to our guests."
Diego and Victoria enjoyed the rest of the stay of the Three Musketeers and as promised they did not tell anybody else the story of Diego's trip to France. They eventually left to return to France and Los Angeles went back to normal. Diego began to openly court Victoria and people were shocked to see Victoria openly accept Diego courting her. But eventually they realized too that Victoria couldn't wait for Zorro forever. Six months later everyone was gathered at the church for the wedding of the year. Victoria was finally marrying her best friend. Nobody was the wiser that Zorro was not as heart broken as everyone thought.
Alejandro was never happier in his life then he was when he walked Victoria down the aisle. Until a year later when he was finally bouncing that Grandbaby on his knee that he wanted so long ago.
The End!