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"What happened, Father? What is so urgent?" Diego asked as Don Alejandro was dragging him to the table near the stairs, where Victoria was drinking her second large cup of coffee for that afternoon. The looks the other patrons gave her were not lost on him, nor was the clear embarrassment on the taverness' face.

"Victoria!" Diego exclaimed when they reached her. "Are you alright? What's wrong? Has someone harmed you?"

"What do you care?" She asked, looking at him defiantly.

"Victoria!" Don Alejandro chided her.

"Will you tell me what happened?" Diego addressed his father this time.

"Victoria and the new arrival, Senor Duncan, had a little too much to drink, and she fell asleep in his room." Don Alejandro explained as his son's face darkened.

"If he laid a finger on her…!" Diego threatened, completely forgetting the character he was playing for everyone in the pueblo.

"You'll do what?" Victoria asked, causing him to turn back around. "It's all your fault, Diego!" She continued, as he looked at her dumbfounded. "If you hadn't gone riding with that… with that… woman… none of this would have happened! What do you see in her, anyway? And what happened between the two of you to make you lose five buttons?" She inquired, eyeing him spitefully.

"Nothing happened! How can you even ask that?" He protested, their voices loud enough to silence the tavern.

"Well… not nothing!" Mya chose that moment to intervene at realizing she was witnessing a quarrel between lovers. Victoria, unaware of her intentions, stared intently at her as if she wanted to kill her. "I tried to seduce him, got him shirtless, but he opposed my advances, and ran as fast as he could! Or will you deny it?" She addressed Diego.

Some of the patrons burst into laughter at hearing her comments, imagining the caballero running away from the beautiful woman.

"Well… Not ran, as much as rode… And only because I needed to get help…" He was about to explain that he needed to get her dressed, but was too much of a gentleman to actually reveal that part to others, knowing it would completely destroy the woman's reputation. While she claimed she didn't care about it, he was not willing to cause her any harm.

"Yes! Of course, you needed help!" Victoria chuckled, having decided on her own version of the story. She had been right about the woman, but completely wrong about him. As she realized that, her expression changed and she simply stared lovingly at Diego. "I think I got drunk because I was jealous of you!" She confessed. "I almost ended up in another man's bed because of that poor decision! What am I saying? I did end up in another man's bed!" She exclaimed, taking her hand back to her face to hide behind it.

"But nothing happened," Duncan stated, taking advantage of the silence to state his version of events. "I did try to kiss her, and she pushed me away… so hard that I hit my head and was knocked unconscious. But I had no idea that she was not available… And I meant no disrespect to the Senorita."

Diego turned to eye him, assessing the truth of his words. Satisfied that the man seemed genuinely regretful and concerned about Victoria, he turned back to look at her, wondering how to proceed from there. He had believed it was yet too early to start courting her, having ended her romance with his masked self only a little over a month earlier, but that belief was mainly due to his conviction that she would reject such a proposal, since she still loved Zorro. Her jealousy, however, proved the contrary. At that point, Diego, therefore realized that the perfect opportunity to court the woman he loved had just presented itself and, should he fail to grab it might give her the wrong message and annihilate his chances to one day make her his wife.

He stared at her, assessing his options, as shy smiles crept on both their faces. Soon enough, they transformed into chuckles.

"So… you are jealous… of me?" He asked, hoping that such a disclosure would not make people start to suspect the truth about him. "But I thought you still love Zorro!" Diego asked, hiding the joy he felt at her words behind a puzzled look.

"I had thought so, too! This comes as much of a surprise to you as it is to me!" Victoria answered.

"It's because of… Diego that you've been behaving so… so… recklessly lately? And here I thought it was because of Zorro!" Don Alejandro remarked with a renewed perspective on things, while more chuckles were heard from the nearby tables.

Diego tensed a little when his father uttered that phrase, but only Victoria noticed, and she misinterpreted that reaction.

"I can't explain it myself…" she told both De la Vegas "but, yes… it was all because of Diego. I didn't like to see you with another woman…"

"So… What do you want to do about it?" The tall caballero asked the one he loved, ignoring everyone else in the room.

"Then why don't you two get married, and put an end to all this nonsense?" Don Alejandro suggested. At their confused stares, he continued. "Well, obviously, you are in love with each other, even if it seems hard to believe it… even to admit it." He uttered as his grasp of the new reality in front of him started to improve. "Otherwise you" he pointed at Victoria "would not be so impulsive and misguided as you've been recently, and you" he pointed at Diego "wouldn't just run away from beautiful women throwing themselves at you… or, come to think about it" he continued "it might not be that out-of-character in your case, Son…" more chuckles were heard from the nearby tables. "Still," he continued, ignoring the other patrons "even you must admit that you need a wife like Victoria, to keep you… grounded and, if you are lucky, awake some passion for life in you! And Victoria, you know I've always considered you as a daughter. Nothing would please me more than fro you to become a member of the family."

Diego pretended to ponder the idea, then silently agreed, looking expectantly towards Victoria.

"I believe this is when you decide whether to propose…" She informed him.

"Marriage? Isn't that a bit too… sudden?" Diego asked her, dissimulating his happiness with how things were going, since he knew it was important to continue acting like the weak-willed, studious caballero he had spent the last decade pretending to be.

"Nonsense!" Don Alejandro again felt the need to give them a push. "You've been best friends since you were children! You know everything about each other," Diego's mind silently contradicted him, but his face did not betray those thoughts. "What reason is there to wait? Neither of you has any other commitments; you are already past the appropriate age for marriage; you like each other's company and, as I had already mentioned, despite having taken your time to realize it, you are in love, aren't you?" The old don continued. "So… What are you waiting for, Diego?"

"I don't even have a ring!" He replied, trying to give the impression that he was not certain he wanted to take that step.

"Oh… Miguel!" Don Alejandro called the vaquero who was accompany him "I will send him to fetch the one your mother left for you to give to the woman you'd want to marry. You know which one…" He said, addressing his son, whose face instantly drained of blood.

"I know!" Diego exclaimed trying to stop his father from saying anything more. "I would, however, prefer to give Victoria… a new one… I'll can go buy one right now in Senor Murillo's shop!"

"Nonsense, Son! That ring is a family heirloom. It's gorgeous, Victoria, and it will look beautiful on your finger…" Don Alejandro carried on.

"Why don't you let her judge that for herself?" Diego asked, fidgeting for real this time.

"I'm sure you'll love it!" Don Alejandro stated and Diego let out a breath he was holding, thinking he might be out of the woods. He was wrong. "Miguel!" Don Alejandro exclaimed as the man got there. "Go to the hacienda and ask Maria to get you my wife's wedding ring – she knows where I keep it. It has a big emerald in the middle, surrounded by diamonds! Then get here as fast as you can!" The don instructed his man, who just nodded and hurried to leave.

Diego briefly considered having someone steal the ring on the vaquero's way back, but realized it was already too late, as he glanced at Victoria.

She had been smiling at both De la Vegas during the discussion, then her countenance slowly transformed into wonder and confusion at realizing Don Alejandro was describing the ring Zorro had given her, then taken back.

There was no way for Diego to miss that realization and the obvious conclusion she had already reached.

"May I talk to Victoria in private?" He asked, offering her his hand.

She hesitated for a moment, than looked at him angrily, but allowed Diego to guide her towards the back of the tavern. From there, they silently walked some fifty feet away from the pueblo. In all that time, the taverness didn't take her eyes off of him for even one moment, attentively studying his face for the very first time, and wondering how come she had never noticed the similarities before. Then she remembered how he had tested her, pushing her into revealing to him her feelings towards Zorro, into revealing to Zorro how she felt towards Diego, taking back the ring and the promise that went with it and her wonder soon turned into anger.

After they made sure they were alone and nobody was watching or eavesdropping on their conversation, she slapped him with all the force she could muster, feeling her entire body trembling with rage.

"I probably deserved that." He agreed with her reaction, rubbing his face.

She crossed her arms and didn't say a word, turning her back to him.

"I never intended to really let you go. I just thought that, by giving you up as… him, I might have a chance to court and win your affections the only way that would allow us to get married." He explained.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" She puffed, turning around to look into his eyes.

"No. I thought it best not to. Not even Father knows…" He conceded.

"You are the most deceitful, maddening…" She started to accuse him, but Diego spontaneously took her into his arms and kissed her. He put all the love and passion he felt for her into that one kiss, and left Victoria breathless. "That doesn't mean that I forgive…"She uttered, as soon as their lips parted, but he kissed her again, making her completely forget how upset she was with him at that instant, just as his father, followed by Sergeant Mendoza and several other people, exited the tavern to find out what was going on and found them that way. Victoria gave in and crossed her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss even further.

"Am I to understand that a talk with the padre would be in order?" Don Alejandro asked.

Diego ceased his attack on Victoria's lips, and just looked at her with the most adoring look he could muster.

"Yes." She replied, while staring back into his blue eyes. "And tell him to marry us as soon as possible!" She added, looking at Don Alejandro. Turning back towards Diego, who embraced her, she whispered. "But don't think I won't make you suffer for what you've done!"

"I'm looking forward to that!" He replied, making her blush, then offered her his arm, around which she wrapped her own, looking possessively towards the man she was soon to marry.