It took the injured man some forty hours before he finally opened his eyes.

The wounds were not as bad as they had first seemed to Felipe, the arrows somehow managing to only cause minor damages. Doctor Hernandez pointed out that the indirect angle at which they had hit him also contributed to preventing them form affecting any internal organ. The head injury didn't seem worrisome, so he concluded that, most probably, the reason why he wasn't waking up had more to do with tiredness, malnourishment and the blood loss from his back wounds than with the bump on his head.

His family and Victoria, however, were more than a little afraid that they might lose him for good this time, and not even Doctor Hernandez's assurances he was actually healing faster while he continued to sleep managed to put their worries to rest.

In the meantime, some of the lancers were searching for Tornado - who had inexplicably managed to escape the stables where he had been held, and vanished without a trace - while some others were escorting the abducted women back to their families, in various parts of California. As for De Soto, he visited the De la Vega household the day after they had found Diego, courteously inquiring about his health, still partly unable to believe it was his former schoolmate they had found - and almost killed - the previous day.

The story the women told him about how he had helped them escape and remained back in an effort to give them the chance to get to safety was even more unbelievable, considering everything he knew about the caballero. On the other hand, Teresa also insisted that the Indians had spent much of their time training him before he felt ready to help them, and Victoria had mentioned that he had lost his memory. So, the Alcalde decided to attribute the caballero's unexpected bravery to the memory loss and the training he had received while living as a half-naked tribesman.

ZZZ

When Kaweewesh finally woke up, it was Victoria's face he first saw, the woman having fallen asleep in a nearby armchair while Felipe was resting in his room, Ramon had left for the evening, and Don Alejandro was taking a stroll to clear his worried mind.

He looked around, unable to recognize anything, feeling lost in a world which made no sense to him. The walls, the room, the sheets and covers, even the pillow felt strange after two months of sleeping mostly on the cold ground.

Moments later, he glanced at the white, long shirt he was dressed in, and immediately felt the need to take it off, an action which left him staring at his bandages. The wounds hurt, but not so much as to prevent him from escaping that strange place.

Victoria woke up at hearing the bed screech as he got up, and they both stood frozen for a few moments, staring at each other.

"You're awake!" She exclaimed as she also stood up, ignoring his nakedness as she reached to embrace him. He took a step back and fell on the bed.

"I just want to leave. There's someone I need to find." He told her.

"Someone you need to find? Who?" She wondered.

"Her name is Muwaar. I must make sure she is safe." He answered.

Victoria chuckled. "I'm right here, my love!" She told him.

He just looked at her, a puzzled expression on his face.

"No… I must find Muwaar." He repeated, certain that the woman had misunderstood him somehow.

"It's me! Don't you recognize me?" Victoria pleaded with him.

"I… I don't know you," he replied, him, himself, uncertain of his own words for the woman before him did seem familiar.

"No…" Victoria uttered as tears again started falling from her eyes. "Please, mi amor, you must remember me! I am Muwaar. You told me you loved me, that I had been in your heart since the first moment you saw me!"

He shook his head, unsure if to believe her. She seemed nothing like the woman he loved. Her face and hair were different, her clothes were strange. But he had only seen her face without the paint once, at the pond. Even then, she was all wet, the moonlight casting strange shadows on her face. Furthermore, her eyes did remind him of Muwaar's, and so did her voice.

Fearing he might soon decide to escape the hacienda he obviously didn't recognize, Victoria reached to kiss him, just like she had done on every occasion since that first night they had spent together.

"Muwaar!" He muttered as their lips parted, staring at her with a relieved smile on his face. Seconds later he was undressing her, pulling her to lie on the bed next to him.

"Now? But… You're injured!" She protested with some amusement.

He didn't care, barely even remembering the wounds, just happy to have the woman he loved safely in his arms and overwhelmed by a need to feel her even closer.

A little while later, Felipe hurried into the room at hearing moans coming from inside, took a few seconds to stare at the shape of the naked Diego making love to Victoria, then hurried outside, closing the door behind him. Once outside, he simply stared open-mouthed at the wall in front of him, trying his best to get rid of the image now forever imprinted on his brain.

"Felipe!" Don Alejandro called as he entered the corridor leading to his son's bedroom. "Has Diego woken up?"

The younger man eyed him wondering what to do, then started signaling that there was something he needed to show him.

A moan was heard from inside the room, just as the old don also neared it, and Felipe intentionally dragged his feet on the floor, making a somewhat similar sound with his shoe, all the while pretending it had been him to cause the noise the first time, as well. When another moan was heard, he started pushing the protesting don towards the library.

"Felipe! Stop! We must go back! Something is wrong with Diego. I am quite sure I heard a groan coming from his room!" Don Alejandro stated just as they arrived in front of the piano.

The young man pretended he neither heard nor lip-read what his adoptive grandfather said, and, searching the room, he pointed towards the chessboard.

"Felipe! I don't have time to play chess right now! You must get Doctor Hernandez. I will go check on Diego." The don decided, and Felipe realized there was nothing more he could do other than tell him the truth and hope that he might be able to contain his temper.

So he started signaling. Don Alejandro first looked at him with some annoyance, eager to return to his son, but, as one of his signs drew his attention, he returned his gaze towards the young man.

"Diego is with Victoria, and he is feeling better?" He interpreted. "That is good news, Felipe! I can finally talk to my son!"

The younger man shook his head.

"No, I can't? Why? Because he is with Victoria?" He again interpreted his signs. "I am glad he's not alone, but I don't see why I can't talk to my son while Victoria is also in the room!"

Felipe stared at him somewhat embarrassed then made the signs for Victoria and nakedness.

"Because Victoria is naked? Why would she be…" As the meaning of Felipe's signs fully dawned on him, the old don hesitated on this feet, and fell back into one of the armchairs in the library. "They are…" he asked, taking a hand to his mouth. Soon, though, a smile crept its way to his face. "Do you know what this means, Felipe? Grandbabies!" He uttered as he started chuckling to himself. "But… But Diego is still injured, isn't he?"

The younger man shrugged his shoulders as he sat across the room from his adoptive grandfather.

"Come! Let's play a few games of chess!" Don Alejandro joyfully invited him.

ZZZ

It was early morning when Kaweewesh woke up the following day. After a few minutes in which he stared at the black locks on Victoria's head, he slowly got out of the bed, leaving her to sleep. He put on his brown-leather pants, which had remained on a chair near his bed since he had been brought to the hacienda, then made his way out of the room, curious to discover more about his new environment.

He first took a few minutes to stare at the carpet in the hallway, feeling it with his bare feet, then lifted his head to look at the paintings on the walls. Soon, his eyes fell on a painting of his family, done when he was just a child. Memories slowly started to make their way into his mind at that moment, overpowering the ones he had made those last two months, which now seemed but a strange dream. Troubled and head bowed, he started walking towards the rooms in the front part of the hacienda as bits and pieces of his life were rushing towards the forefront of his consciousness.

Just as he was about to round the corner to the main rooms, he bumped into his father, who was hurriedly making his way in the opposite direction than the one in which the tall caballero was heading. The impact pushed them both away from each other, the two De la Vegas bumping their heads as they impacted with the nearby walls.

Don Alejandro was the first to recover, and, after shaking himself up, he hurried to check on his son, whose bump seemed to have been much worse than his, especially since it was the second one he had gotten in just a few days.

"Diego! Diego! Can you hear me?" He inquired.

The younger man moaned as he looked at him.

"Father?" He asked checking his head for the spot hurting him. "What happened?"

"You bumped your head. Are you alright, Son? Do you remember who you are?"

"Of course I remember who I am." The younger man replied.

"Gracias a Dios! I'm so relieved, Diego!" The old don uttered.

"It's just a bump, Father. How much damage could it have caused?" The tall caballero replied with some amusement in his voice, trying to ignore the throbbing pain he was feeling both from his back and his head.

"In your condition, I am not sure. You are still healing, Son, and I'd rather you returned to your bed."

Diego looked somewhat puzzled towards the old don, then lowered his head to notice that his shirt was missing and his torso was bandaged.

"Why am I not wearing a shirt? And why am I bandaged? Also, where are my shoes? What happened to me?" He wondered as he felt he was missing something.

His father doubted what to tell him, so he decided to say nothing until he had the chance to speak to Doctor Hernandez. "I'm afraid that the answer to those questions might be a little more complicated than you can handle at present." He, thus, replied. "For now, just rest and give yourself time to heal! At least you know who you are. That's a huge weight off my shoulders, although, I admit to be quite confused about your recent behavior. But there will be time for explanations, and I expect them in full… when you'll feel up to giving them. Now, come! Let's get you back to your room."

As the son quietly obeyed the father, he found it rather strange that the old don stopped just before entering his quarters.

"Diego," Don Alejandro said just before they parted, "Felipe told me what you've been up to yesterday evening, and I want you to know that I am not upset with you… as long as you promise to marry Victoria as soon as possible!"

The tall caballero's face drained of blood, certain that, for some reason probably having to do with the wounds he was feeling on his head and back, his adopted son had revealed to Don Alejandro that he was Zorro. "He told you? He shouldn't have… I would have told you once the danger had passed… You will keep it a secret, won't you, Father?"

"What danger? You don't fear Zorro might challenge you to a duel for her, do you, Son?" The don asked with a chuckle, the question leaving Diego completely dumbfounded.

"Why would I challenge myself to a duel? How would that even work?" He asked.

Don Alejandro was the one dumbfounded now. "What do you mean 'challenge yourself'? No… I said Zorro might try to challenge you…" The look on Diego's face confirmed that he had heard him right the first time. "You're… Zorro?" Don Alejandro inquired in utter disbelief.

"You just said Felipe told you…" The younger man replied unsure.

"He told me about you and Victoria… You are Zorro, and he knew about it, but I didn't?" Don Alejandro asked. "No… You must have really bumped your head hard, Diego!" He denied the very idea that his son was the pueblo's masked hero, chuckling at the thought, as he turned around and headed for his own room.

Diego watched him leave with some confusion, then entered his room, pensively closing the door behind him. He was just lowering his strange pants as he looked around for his nightshirt, instead finding Victoria looking at him from his bed.

"Where did you go? Come back!" She asked, lifting the sheet on top of her to reveal her naked body as she invited him to her side.

He didn't know how to react, so he rapidly pulled up his pants and turned his back at the young woman.

"Victoria, what are you doing naked in my bed?" He wondered, turning his head a little in order to rapidly glance in her direction.

"Victoria? What happened to Muwaar? Come back, my love… I will let you make love to me again!" She replied teasingly. "In fact, I will insist on it!"

"Again? Good God! What have I done?" He asked, trying his best to remember.

"Kaweewesh? Are you feeling well, mi amor?" She wondered.

"Kaweewesh? Why are you calling me that? Did I ask you to call me that instead of Diego? What's wrong with me?"

"Diego?" She suddenly stood up, gathering the sheet around herself. "You remember who you are?"

"Shouldn't I?" He asked as he now dared to half-turn towards her.

"You didn't last night… Wait… You do also remember you are Zorro, don't you?"

"Zorro?" He asked, staring at her, and, for several agonizing seconds Victoria feared he had now forgotten not only Kaweewesh, but Zorro, too, and perhaps even that he loved her. "How did you find out I'm Zorro?"

She breathed somewhat relieved. "I kissed an Indian man, and he proved to be Zorro, who proved to be you." The young woman answered with a smile at seeing his utterly confused face. "Do you still love me, or are those feelings also gone?"

"Gone? I don't think I could stop loving you even if I tried, Victoria." He answered as he kneeled next to the bed, looking at her. "I will always be in love with you."

Victoria smiled wickedly as she, once again, lifted the sheet, inviting him to join her.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked.

"We've made love tens of times during the last few weeks. Any uncertainty I may have had disappeared the first night I spent with you, when we made love under the waterfall and I found out that my Zorro was Diego and the two were Kaweewesh." She answered as Diego was searching his memories, slowly coming to terms with the fact that that strange dream was not a dream at all, but the last couple of months of his life. "We've made love on the floor of our house in the Indian village, twice we've made love in the woods, on our way back to Los Angeles, and, last night, we've made love in your bed. I don't care we aren't married in a church. You are mine in my heart, just as I am yours."

"Keweewesh…" Diego uttered as his mind lingered on the night they had made love in the hot pond. "It means 'fox' in Tongva."

"Yes. You already told me that." She replied. "What I don't know is how you know that. How come you speak their language fluently?"

"I learned the dialect spoken by the natives living in this area when I was a child. I used to sneak out of the hacienda and go play with my Indian friends." He answered. "I learned a lot from them… teachings which served me well since I put on the mask."

Victoria nodded with a smile.

"You're not mad at me for keeping my secret? For deceiving you?" He asked.

"I probably should be. But I was so relieved when I found out… and I had weeks to think about everything. I understand why you did it; why you deceived us all. And I don't care what people may think or do. I spent too long a time being afraid about things which have not come to pass. All I want now is to be with you. Every day, every waking hour, I just want to be in your arms." She answered, looking intently at him.

That was when he stopped hesitating and stood up, locked the door, then joined the woman he loved under the sheets. As he took her invitation, Victoria discovered that making love to Diego was even better than making love to Kaweewesh, although they were one and the same.

ZZZ

"I insist on talking to your son!" De Soto stated a few hours later, as he was about to head towards Diego's room.

"You have no right! My son is still recovering from his injuries, the same injuries which made you almost shoot him, had it not been for Victoria!" Don Alejandro replied in a loud voice which resounded throughout the hacienda, blocking the way, as Ramon, who had just arrived to see Diego and to talk to his sister, was trying to help in his effort to detain the unwelcomed intruders.

"Don Alejandro, either you willingly let me speak with your son, or my men will force you to allow me to speak with your son!" The Alcalde declared, signaling two lancers who immediately pointed their muskets at the don and at the young Escalante.

Realizing he could not stop him, the caballero got out of the way, hoping Diego and Victoria had heard his protests and had had enough time to get themselves presentable. He didn't particularly fancy having to hear malicious rumors about his son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law.

De Soto, followed by his two lancers, Don Alejandro and Ramon, headed for Diego's bedroom and pushed the door open to reveal Victoria, half-covered in a blanket, reading in a chair by the caballero's bed. His former schoolmate seemed to have just woken up as he heard the Alcalde enter, and yawned while rubbing his eyes.

"Buenos dias, Ignacio! How thoughtful of you to visit me!" He uttered with a smile, as Victoria looked defiantly towards the new arrivals.

"How do you know who I am? The Señorita said you had lost your memory!" De Soto asked.

"I just recovered it this morning, although now I seem to have some trouble remembering the last couple of months." Diego replied, not yet certain about what to tell the Alcalde about the time he had spent with the Indians. "Victoria did her best to fill in some of the blanks, and I've been making progress, but I still have a lot to remember. Including how I, apparently, learned to use a bow and arrow, and what had happened to have caused me to lose my memory. But I am hopeful that it will all return to me in time."

"I see… You are quite lucky to have the Señorita's devotion." De Soto stated suspiciously. "Had it not been for her, you would have, most probably, been dead already. By the way, Señorita, how did you know it was Don Diego under all that face paint?"

"What? You think I would be tricked by a little paint? I've known Diego since I was a child, Alcalde! I would have recognized him, and his voice, even if he had ten layers of paint covering his face and body, and ten layers of pelts on top of that!" She stated confidently.

"Yes… Yes, I'm sure you would have, Señorita." The official replied, partly satisfied with her answer. "But then, why did you not also tell the other women who he was?"

"He was half-naked and believed himself an Indian! At first I had no idea what to make of his behavior, until I realized he had lost his memory." She answered. "Then, I kept hoping he'd just remember who he was at some point, and thought it better to pretend I had no idea it was him, nor tell the others, so that he wouldn't feel embarrassed."

"I see…" De Soto uttered, still unconvinced. "But there is also the matter of your relationship, if I may call it that... The… other women, they all said that the Indians had forced themselves on them after having claimed them as their own. I understand you, Don Diego, while thinking of yourself as one of them, claimed Señorita Escalante."

"You're not insinuating that my son forced himself on Victoria, are you, Alcalde?" Don Alejandro asked, rather scandalized.

"He most certainly did not!" She hurriedly confirmed.

"A woman who has been raped doesn't show the kind of devotion Victoria has been showing to Diego these past few days!" The old don continued as De Soto was glancing between the taverness and Don Alejandro.

"No… No, of course not, Señor… However, if that didn't happen, there are still some very disturbing testimonies that they shared a house during their stay there, and I'm afraid the rumor mill…" De Soto replied with fake unease.

"The rumor mill will be glad to know that those same concerns the entire pueblo seem to suddenly share about Victoria's reputation are what led my son to propose to her already! I was, in fact, just heading to town to talk to the padre about setting the date for their wedding." The old caballero stated to Ramon's surprise, who just stared inquisitively at his sister, but did not utter a word.

"So… She accepted? But, Señorita… You always said you were in love with Zorro!" De Soto uttered, again looking suspiciously towards his former schoolmate.

"It was not Zorro who risked his life to save mine this time, but Diego! And while he never tried to force himself on me - as the Indians did with the other women who had been abducted - during the time we spent with the tribe and on the way back, we became much more to each other than the friends we used to be." Victoria stated, interrupting the white-haired man just as he was beginning to put things together. "For all Zorro cared, I could have just as well been raped or even died at the hands of those men, since he didn't even bother to come after me!" She then muttered with fake ire.

De Soto smiled inwardly at the taverness' anger towards her former love interest, and decided to lay a good trap for him during her wedding to Diego. Taking his goodbyes, he left followed, once again, by his men and Don Alejandro who, true to his word, headed straight for the church, happy that neither Diego nor Victoria contradicted him in his decision to have them marry as soon as possible, but, mostly glad no one else seemed to have noticed Victoria's skirt lying on the floor, just behind the bed.

Ramon remained in Diego's room. "I'll give you two ten minutes, and, at their end, I want you ready to return with me to the tavern, Victoria." He said firmly, his normal good-humor practically gone. "Diego is obviously feeling… much better. I'm sure you can stay away from each other until you are married." He uttered, as he gazed towards Victoria's skirt on the floor. She turned red at following his gaze and coming across that same piece of clothing, but said nothing, just nodded.

The youngest Escalate brother exited the room only after giving the injured caballero a disapproving look, but was wearing a smile as he reached the front of the house, as well as the conclusion that she had only ever been in love with one man and, despite the circumstances, he couldn't have wished for a better brother-in-law.

Diego and Victoria exchanged an amused grin after he left. A little over ten minutes later, the young woman was meeting her brother in the De la Vega library, a huge smile on her face.

ZZZ

Considering their unusual circumstances, Padre Benitez agreed to officiate the wedding the following day. Ramon Escalante proudly escorted Victoria down the aisle to place her hand in Diego's, and neither one hesitated when they were asked if they wanted to marry each other.

Their wedding was followed by three more, as some of the other women who had been abducted from Los Angeles proved lucky enough to have also gained the love of good men.

De Soto saw another of his traps fail, but, just as many of his citizens, started to suspect Zorro was no longer around. What had been the fate of their masked legend people didn't know for certain, although many speculated. Some were convinced that he had fallen victim to the Indians; others believed he had left the territory broken-hearted after failing to find Victoria. Finally, a few, such as Mendoza, Ramon, Teresa and several of the other women Diego had helped return to the pueblo, realized that their masked hero had simply married the woman he loved, and, unless he felt it absolutely necessary, he might never again don the mask. They kept that knowledge for themselves, though, just as the Sergeant didn't tell anyone that he had released and followed Tornado the night the stallion had escaped, watching from a hill as Felipe de la Vega led him inside a hidden cave.

ZZZ

Don Alejandro only believed that his son was Zorro when Diego showed him the cave, the same day he told his family the entire story – or, at least, all he remembered – about the time he had spent with the Indians.

It had all started the day he had freed the American trapper. On his way home, he had come across an Indian woman who had fallen into a river and was about to drown. Trying to help, he jumped in to save her, but, just as he managed to get her to safety, the current took him, carrying him towards a rocky part of the stream where he got injured and hit his head on the rocks. The Indians found him and saved his life, taking care of him in return for his help saving the woman who proved to be the chief's wife. They had also found Tornado, whom Diego remembered seeing at the campsite in the first days after they had saved him, while he was in and out of consciousness, but the stallion fled their camp after a couple of weeks, from then on keeping himself at a distance. The caballero had noticed him on occasion, but, as he didn't remember anything about his previous life, he did not realize that the steed was, in fact, following him. When he had stopped doing so and decided to return to Los Angeles, Diego didn't know, just as he had no idea why Tornado had headed for the lancers instead of going home to Felipe. The stallion had, however, proven wise in taking that decision, since it was De Soto and his men who saved him, Victoria, and the other women. Had the steed only brought Felipe, they would have all been lost that day.

A few months later, as the Mexican troops took over California, De Soto embarked on a ship destined for Spain. About the same time, after the new, elected alcalde issued a full pardon for the pueblo's legendary hero, Tornado found his way towards the De la Vega coral, where he spent the remainder of his life furthering his line and only ever allowing Diego and Felipe to ride him. Nobody else even tried.

The secret to Zorro's identity was never publicly revealed, even though there were very few those who still harbored any doubt about it a year after California became a Mexican territory, especially since Diego started behaving more and more as his true self, even carrying his sword on occasion, and had taken on riding Tornado everywhere.

ZZZ

"Don Ignacio!" A fellow traveler exclaimed one morning at seeing the former Alcalde of Los Angeles looking at the infinite blue as they were crossing the Atlantic Ocean back to Spain.

"Señor Rubio." De Soto greeted. "I haven't seen you in a few days."

"Well… I've been rather busy working on my dictionary." The man replied.

"You are writing a dictionary?"

"Si, Señor! It was my main purpose for going to California, in fact."

"Really, and why is that?"

"Because one can't find Gabrieleños anywhere else." The man replied with a chuckle. "My dictionary, you see, is a Spanish-Tongva one. I think that, considering the rate at which they are disappearing, efforts should be made to learn as much as possible about the Indians of the territory, before everything about them is lost."

"I doubt anything is worth preserving." The former alcalde replied.

"But you are wrong, Señor! There is much to learn from them… from the use of plants in traditional medicines, to their customs, beliefs, way of life…"

"Señor, they are savages… "

"Savages, true, but savages who have learned to use nature to their advantage. For example, you know there is a tribe near Buenaventura who uses foxes to hunt? They even worship the sacred Kaweewesh, the First Fox who they believe taught their ancestors the art of hunting."

"Did you say Kaweewesh? Is that the… name of their made-up god?" De Soto wondered, remembering that the women who had been abducted had mentioned initially that the only name they knew their guide under was Kaweewesh, and had no idea he was Diego de la Vega. The fact that Victoria had not shared that information had bothered him at the time, but he ended up accepting the taverness' explanation, adding to it the taverness' strange nature and the possessiveness she had always shown towards the caballero.

"No… It just means fox… zorro in their language." The man replied, causing his companion to feel his knees weaken.

"It means 'zorro'?" He asked, just to make sure he had heard right.

"Si, Señor… Are you alright, Don Ignacio?"

"Yes… I'm fine…" He stated, looking pensively at the waves.

THE END

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AN: Hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it, then re-writing it some 20 times J and writing an alternative version of it with which I am still not 100% happy. If I ever will be, I might just post that one as well.

I know some of you were puzzled by Don Alejandro's reaction to the idea of Diego and Victoria having sex since most of the ff stories describe him as very strict on the subject. I don't think the show gives us any real clue as to how he would react, though, so it's up to the ff authors to decide. In my view (although possibly quite funny) it would have been complete nonsense for him to burst into the room to stop it. It would have been embarrassing for the three of them, caused a scandal if the help would have overheard him, and Diego didn't even know who he was at the time… Anyway, I thought his hope to get grandchildren soon would supersede any burst of outrage, and he must have heard by then rumors about Diego and Victoria having shared a home at the Indian village, so marriage was unavoidable.

PS: Gabrielenos was the name attributed by the Spanish colonizers to the Tongva natives of the area around Los Angeles, who were, for the most part, converted to Catholicism and used as labor force by the Mission. They wore no pants in the pictures I found online (at least while living in tribes), but they all did in the show, so I decided to accept that as canon, although it's historically inaccurate. I just couldn't have Diego dressed in a leather or straw skirt - not even he could pull that off!

Also, there was no tribe using foxes to hunt as far as I know, or worshiping any fox for that matter - not even the black-clad one :P. I just made that up to serve my ending.

Do leave a review if you liked the story, just to make me happy. :)