Ramon and his niece were taking their afternoon nap together, the young man having fallen asleep while reading to Marisol, when Zorro entered the tavern through the upper passage leading to the kitchen. Victoria, who was working out her feelings while washing dishes, was the only one there.

"You wanted to see me, Señorita?" The masked man asked as he jumped to land next to her.

"Zorro?" Victoria inquired, surprised, her voice barely above a whisper. "I thought you'd come tonight." She muttered.

"And I was under the impression it was urgent…"

"Yes… No… It's…" She muttered before, looking around, she took a lamp, lit it, and headed for the pantry. Opening the door to the small, stuffy room, she entered and pulled Zorro inside with her, not even giving him the chance to realize what was going on. Victoria, herself, questioned her decision for a few moments, for the room was too intimate for the conversation she was meaning to have but she wanted a safe place for them to talk, a place where they would neither disturb her family nor be disturbed themselves, and the pantry was the most convenient option. "Zorro..." She asked once inside, "how do I take my coffee?"

"How do you take your coffee?" He repeated, completely baffled, wondering if he should make his escape right then.

"Yes…"

Considering the way she was eyeing him, the masked caballero was pretty certain she was setting a trap for him. Her best friend had had coffee with her many times, so he knew how she took it, or, at least, he had believed to know. But Zorro never had. "I'm not sure I understand the question..." He, thus, replied.

"It's easy." She answered. "Do I drink it with milk or sugar? How much?"

"How much milk and sugar? Should I know that?"

"We are engaged, so yes… But you don't, do you?" Victoria inquired, a mixture of grief and reproach in her voice. "You don't because you don't know me, just as I don't know you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… I mean… I can't believe I am saying this, after all we've been through…" she uttered, taking a hand to her forehead as if in an intent to make sure she was not actually literally losing her mind, "after almost eleven years spent waiting… But… Our kiss this morning clarified a lot for me. And I don't think we should marry each other."

"Because you didn't like that kiss? Or is it because I don't know how you take your coffee?" He asked increasingly puzzled, regretting he hadn't gone to sleep before coming to the tavern, seeing how his mind now seemed unable to process what Victoria was saying.

"Yes… Because of both those reasons and… And because I am no longer in love with you. That kiss I gave you proved it… At least to me. The truth is… I am in love with someone else." She answered to his surprise. "I don't know how I never saw it before. I was so convinced it was you, but then… I realized that I love your bravery, I love your sense of justice, and that you always seem to be where you are needed. Always there to save the day…"

"Victoria, my love, I'm not sure I follow…"

"I love all these things about you, but I don't know you. That's the truth. I don't. I know him, but I don't know you. Not really. I don't know if you liked climbing trees when you were a child, if you have brothers or sisters, if there were other women before me, if you snore or not, how you take your coffee, and what's your favorite food… I don't even know where you live. I don't know you." She declared, tears in her eyes. "And I know I made all those promises to you. I meant each and every one of them when I made them but… Now… It's not you… It's not you who I truly love, and I know that because every time I imagine you taking off that mask there is only one face I hope to see, the face of a man I know by now that you cannot be."

"Slow down! What do you mean?" He asked worriedly. "If not me, who is it you love?"

"Diego…" She slowly uttered to his surprise. "I love Diego de la Vega. I always have. I thought my feelings for him had changed after you came into my life… That it was you I truly loved now… But I was just lying to myself. I've always loved him and... all this time, while I let myself become infatuated with you, my feeling for him only grew stronger. And I think you saw that… You mentioned him a few times – trying to test me, no doubt – so you knew… Even if I was in denial… You've suspected it, all this time!"

He turned away from her and closed his eyes, sighing his relief. If Victoria was willing to give up Zorro for Diego, that meant she truly did love the man and had just chosen him over the hero. He regretted wearing gloves at that moment for he very much wanted to pinch himself, afraid as he was that he had fallen asleep on Tornado while riding back to the cave, and was just imagining that conversation. Shaking away his suspicions, he turned toward the young woman he loved. "I see…" He muttered, trying not to let her suspect his gladness. "And are you certain Don Diego feels the same about you?"

"No…" Victoria answered, saddened. "I'm not really sure how he feels about me. I know everything there is to know about him, except whether or not he also loves me. Truth be told, I am not even sure I deserve his love... You, on the other hand... You deserved to know the truth."

"I see…" he replied.

"I am sorry, Zorro… If you want me to keep my promises to you, I will. But…"

"You'd rather marry Don Diego instead of me." He continued for her, doing his best effort to seem sad. He wasn't very successful, but her eyes were in tears, so she hardly noticed. "In that case, I can only wish you good luck! And may you find your happiness, Victoria!" He said.

"I'm sorry…" She said softly, daring to raise her gaze. "I'm so sorry, Zorro!"

"Don't be. Never be sorry for following your heart! It will never lead you astray." He answered as he brought her hand to his lips to kiss it, then left, while Victoria remained alone in the pantry to wonder why he hadn't even tried to convince her she was wrong.

ZZZ

Zorro returned home to find a worried Felipe waiting for him. "What happened?" He asked.

"With the prisoners or with Victoria?" Diego inquired as he took off the mask.

Felipe seemed unable to choose, so his father did it for him.

"Well, I was proved right when it comes to the prisoners and discovered there is a plot afoot to assassinate the Governor on his way here. He's due to arrive in San Pedro on Monday morning. Cabrera had intercepted the message but agreed to give it to my father when he realized he had been deceived." Diego said as he was exchanging his black shirt for his white one. "As for Victoria," he continued, "the reason why she wanted to talk to Zorro was so that she could tell him that she's no longer in love with him, but with another, a fact that kiss she gave you earlier helped prove."

"What? No! I… I will talk to her! I won't let her abandon you like that!"

Diego chuckled. "There's no need, Felipe! Especially seeing how the man she loves is me…"

Felipe looked confused, so he continued.

"You see, Victoria decided to break her engagement to Zorro in order to be with Don Diego. For once, Zorro has met with a stronger opponent. All thanks to you…"

"Really?"

Diego nodded, then, after checking that the library was empty, he signed for his son to follow him to the hacienda. "I think we should both get some rest now. With the Governor due to arrive soon, I suspect we have a few long days ahead of us." He muttered as they headed for their quarters.

ZZZ

Victoria spent that afternoon and evening guilt-ridden and unsure of her decision. Zorro didn't hate her and had simply accepted her decision, yet, on the other hand, he hadn't asked for his ring back, either. Thinking about that, she started wondering whether it was because her masked hero didn't believe that Diego would marry her. If he'd turned out to be right, did that mean that there was still a future for her and the mysterious outlaw? Did she want that future, after all, no matter who the man behind the mask would turn out to be?

"You don't seem like yourself today, Victoria." Jessie noticed. The doctor had stopped by to look for her husband, and the taverness convinced her to stay for dinner, seeing how Ignacio was still helping Don Alejandro interrogate the prisoners.

"I… I might have committed the worst mistake of my life." She said.

"Oh? And what is that?"

"I broke my engagement with Zorro." She confessed.

"You did what? Why? I thought you loved him!"

"I thought so, too… But, then, I guess I realized… I love another…"

"I see… And that other man… He wouldn't happen to be a certain tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed caballero, by any chance?"

"How do you know?" Victoria inquired.

"For a while now Doña Maria has been trying to convince us you and Diego are in love with each other..."

"She has? But I only realized it a few days ago… Does she think Diego might also feel the same about me?"

"Anyone could tell you that, my dear! It's enough to notice how he looks at you when he believes nobody's watching. I, myself, have been paying attention for weeks already, since your brother and I suspected... Doesn't matter. We were wrong, anyway. But, trust me! Diego wants nothing more than to put a ring on your finger."

"You… You really think so?" Victoria asked, unbelievably happy.

"I'd stake Ignacio's life on that!" Her friend answered.

The taverness chuckled, grateful. "I should go talk to him…" She decided as she stood up, then sat back as she remembered that she had just kissed another man right in front of Diego that very morning, her smile turning into a fearful look again. "Maybe I should wait till morning, though…" She muttered. "Bake him a pie first to smooth things over…"

ZZZ

The following morning, after spending the night mostly awake, imagining how her conversation with Diego might go, Victoria woke up early to prepare the caballero's favorite pie, then, after her niece also woke up, readied her for Sunday mass. Once it was over, together with her brother, she joined the De la Vegas and the De Sotos as they headed for the hacienda.

Neither she nor Diego talked much on the way or after they arrived home, for everyone was concerned about the Governor's visit and a possible new attack, so the conversation revolved around that subject. When they finally changed the subject a while later, the caballero took Marisol to visit the injured foal – who was, by that point, already on his feet, trotting in the corral.

The lunch itself was rather awkward for the taverness, as Jessie kept trying to subtly get her to confess her feelings towards Diego, pushes she did her best to ignore. From time to time, though, she caught herself staring at the caballero, glances the other women in the room could hardly miss. Nor could they miss her rather slow reactions and pensive mood.

"Alejandro," Doña Maria said just as they were finishing their desserts, "how about you take Marisol for her siesta today? You could tell her about Gulliver and his travels."

Don Alejandro gave her an inquisitive look, for putting Marisol to bed at siesta time each Sunday was usually Victoria's task.

"Is he the one who went to an island filled with ve'y tiny people?" Marisol asked and the older woman nodded.

"I hope you don't mind, Victoria. My husband misses your niece a lot whenever she's not here." She continued.

"Indeed. I very much like having you both at the hacienda as much as possible." The don said, realizing what his wife was doing and hoping he was not being too obvious. "Come, my darling! I'll tell you all about Gulliver and his adventures." He then said as he stood up and went to take the child into his arms.

Marisol consented with a smile and waved her goodbye at Victoria, Diego, Felipe, Ramon, Ignacio, Jessie, and Doña Maria.

"How about a horse race, Ignacio? I'll race you to Tres Esquinas and back." Jessie asked her husband.

"What do I get when I win?" He inquired.

"When I win… You get to obey my every command for a full week."

"I'm a better rider than you are." De Soto informed her. "You hardly stand a chance…"

"We'll see about that!" She answered as she stood up and, Ignacio on her heels, headed for the stables.

"Well," the elderly Doña said soon after her son and daughter-in-law were heard leaving at a gallop, "I am rather tired myself. I hope you'll excuse me, but I also feel like I need some rest. An hour or two, perhaps… Ramon, Felipe, you two look rather sleepy yourself. You should also head for your chambers..." She suggested. "Victoria, I hope you won't mind us leaving you with only Diego for company… I'm sure he can… entertain you… Unless you're also feeling tired…"

"Not at all!" Victoria hurriedly replied.

As Ramon stood up, smiling at the older woman's obvious intentions, Felipe gestured that he needed no rest, and could remain with the two of them.

"Nonsense, my boy! You have dark circles around your eyes," Doña Maria remarked, despite the fact that he looked perfectly rested. "You need your siesta even more than I do…" She insisted.

The younger man glanced inquisitively at his father, who nodded with a wink, so, resigned, he followed Ramon and the older woman towards the back of the hacienda.

"Perhaps you two can take a walk in the garden, or go for a ride, as well… I'm sure you'll think of something to do during the siesta." Doña Maria suggested as she and the younger men were heading away, giving Diego a complicit glance.

"I was, actually, hoping to get to some gardening today…" The caballero admitted. "Would you care to help me?" He then asked Victoria.

She nodded with a smile, glad they'd be spending some time alone together.

Standing up, the caballero offered her his arm and, as she linked her own around it, he guided her to the garden at the back of the house, where he started checking on the flower pots there.

About half an hour they passed discussing gardening, or, rather, him talking about gardening while the young woman was trying to gather her courage to talk to him about a very different, and far more delicate subject.

"Diego," she muttered at one point, "have you ever… I know we… No… How should I do this?" She questioned out loud.

"Do what?"

"Ask you… I wanted to ask you… If you might consider…"

"Accompanying you on your next trip to San Pedro?" The caballero inquired as he glanced back and noticed how nervous she was, inwardly grinning to himself. "Of course! When are you planning on going?"

"I don't know… I… That was not what I was going to say…"

"Oh? You're going to Santa Paula, then?"

"No! Diego, will you just let me talk?" She asked, her nervousness giving way to frustration.

"I'm sorry! Of course. I'm all ears!" He answered, turning around and looking expectantly at her.

Victoria looked him in the eyes and the nervousness seemed to return. "I was going to ask… if you… If you would consider… courting me."

"Courting you?" He looked at her making his best impression of a very baffled man. "What about Zorro? You seemed quite in love with him just yesterday morning."

"I already told him. I told him that…"

"That?"

"That it's not him I'm in love with…"

"Not him? Then who?"

"You!" She retorted, raising her tone at him in frustration. "I'm sorry… It's just… I love you, Diego. It might have taken me a while to realize it, but I can't imagine my life without you… However, I don't know if you feel the same, and… and I need to know!"

"I see…" He said as he started slowly pacing the garden. "But are you sure you see me as more than just a good friend… or a brother, perhaps?"

"I never saw you as a brother! Dios! You're so frustrating at times!"

"I am?"

"Yes! Right now, for example. I have just confessed I love you; that I have decided not to marry Zorro after so many years waiting for him; that I chose you… And you won't just tell me if I was right in doing so. If there was even a choice for me to make… If you believe there is a future for us… Will you start courting me or not?"

Diego didn't want to court her. He wanted to lift her into his arms, take her to the padre so that he'd marry them right on the spot, then bring her back to the hacienda and spend the next few days and nights making love to her. But that was not a realistic option, at least not at that point. "I… I am not sure that is a good idea, Victoria." He, thus, answered.

Victoria stared at him, then adverted her eyes. "I see... I was wrong, then. I'm sorry to have disturbed you..." She said as she started in the direction of her wagon, wanting so much to get away from him that, for a moment, she forgot that Marisol and Ramon were taking their siesta inside the house.

The caballero hesitated, then headed after her, reaching her just as she got to her wagon. "Wait!" Diego said as he caught Victoria's hand.

She half-turned to look at his hand holding hers, the feeling of his touch weakening her knees and making her wonder how could she have taken so long to admit the truth of her feelings. Raising her eyes to stare at him, her glance froze the caballero for a few moments. There were tears about to fall down her cheeks, and he felt his heart sinking. If there was one thing he could never stand, since the day she had spent crying in his arms over her father's and brother's departure, was to see those beautiful eyes of hers in tears.

"I just meant that… There is someone out there intent on killing me, Victoria, and he has yet to reveal himself. If I started courting you, I might put you at risk." He explained himself.

She continued to stare at him, then fully turned to face him. "Is that the only reason why you think it a bad idea to court me?" She asked.

Diego slowly nodded.

"Not because you don't love me?"

"Oh, Victoria... I've loved you for as long as I can remember." He confessed, no longer able to hide that particular truth after her own confession.

"That can't be... You almost married someone else while in Spain! And that Magdalena woman... The real one, I mean..." She said, shaking her head.

"Yes... Well... Magdalena looked very much like you. In my inebriated state, I thought she was you, which is how I ended up in her bed..." he confessed, a confession that made her turn completely red at realizing the tall caballero desired her, something that, for whatever reason, she had never truly considered before, believing she was the only one to have certain fantasies about the two of them. "As for Zafira..." he continued, "my father had just written to me to say that he had arranged for you to get married. I started courting her because I believed you were forever lost to me..."

"I didn't marry that time because I kept thinking of you, and I decided to wait until you'd return to see... to see if... perhaps... you would want to marry me..." She said, new tears glittering in her eyes. Then another thought crossed her mind. "But... But that woman you told me you loved... the one in love with another man..." The caballero just stared at her, raising his eyebrows, his expression making her realize what he had meant. "It was me? Diego, why have you never said anything?"

"You have been rather infatuated with a certain masked man you kept comparing me with..." He complained. "And you always found me wanting..."

"I was blind... I didn't know how you felt... If you would have said something…"

"You would have just given up pining for Zorro and redirected your affections towards me?"

"Yes… Maybe..."

"Or maybe you would have rejected me, thus breaking my heart and destroying our friendship... I didn't want to risk that."

She stared at him, doing her best to hold back more tears. Diego was right. Had he said anything, had he tried to declare his love before she realized how much she loved him, she would have rejected him. In fact, she had almost done exactly about half a year earlier. Almost, because Diego had not tried, on that occasion, to confess his love, despite what she had thought. All he had wanted was to invite her to go with him and Felipe to Monterey to attend Manuel Hernandez's wedding – or, at least, that was what she now believed. "You must think I am such a fool!" Victoria muttered.

Diego shook his head. "You're not a fool, and I would never think that of you. You're the bravest, kindest, most intuitive, and wonderful woman I know. Besides, I do have a secondary reason why I never said anything."

"What reason?"

He sighed but didn't answer. Instead, he wiped a tear from her cheek.

His touch seemed so familiar to her that a shiver went down her spine and her eyes refocused on his lips.

It was all Diego could take. Leaning down, he brushed his lips against Victoria's. The young woman slowly linked her arms around the caballero's neck, parting her lips and allowing him to deepen the kiss, at first not realizing why it all felt so natural.

Lost in the moment, none of the two heard the De Sotos galloping back.

Ignacio and his wife stopped their horses abruptly, about fifty yards away, as they saw the two of them like that.

When Victoria finally understood who she was truly kissing, she opened her eyes to stare at Diego while she allowed her lips to let go of his. Moments later, she fainted.

"You've never kissed me like that!" Jessie chided her baffled husband.

Ignacio glanced at her, then back at Diego, who had meanwhile lifted Victoria into his arms and headed with her inside the house.

"But… But I thought he didn't love her…" He mused. "And she is supposed to love Zorro…"

Jessie shook her head and signed to him to start again towards the hacienda, though both of them forgot about their race.

Leaving the horses just outside the main entrance, they headed for the house. There was no one in the front rooms, nor could any noise be heard from the back of the hacienda.

"Where could they have gone?" Jessie wondered, her voice so low that it barely carried to Ignacio.

"I don't know…" Her husband said as they made their way towards the back garden.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

AN: Vic does have a propensity to faint when Zorro gets unmasked, doesn't she? I had no idea she'd do so also in my story before the scene was finished... Especially since she didn't faint even once during the GroundFox Day story and he unmasked a lot in those chapters... Not sure what came over her this time...

And if you're wondering about her reaction, you should know that I never liked exaggerated reactions to Vic discovering Zorro's true identity, so don't expect any shouts or broken vases in the next chapter. My inner child may find those funny, but the adult in me is almost never amused by them.

I hope you are still enjoying this and keep the reviews coming. It is thanks to my reviewers that I publish so often, after all :)