A/N: Abbreviated version of parts of the actual episode, plus a few little extras that weren't in the episode, and suspicions.

CHAPTER TWELVE – Zorro Rides

Victoria tracked and found Jose and the horse thieves. She watched the camp from a place above. "Jose Macias, a horse thief. Well, I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes."

Toronado leapt the canyon. Zorro saw from a distance that Victoria had two guns in her belt. Victoria said aloud, as if Jose could hear her, "You're coming in, if I have to bring you in myself."

A thief spotted Victoria and tried to sneak up a rock in front of her. She shot the gun out of his hand. It startled him, and he put his hands up. The leader of the horse thieves heard the shot, and wondered what was going on.

"After you, Senor," Victoria kept her second gun trained. She followed him down into the ravine, where she found Jose. She was very angry.

Meanwhile, Zorro was still tracking Victoria. He saw her shoot the gun out of the hand of one horse thief and tried to get a good vantage point, while a confrontation in the camp continued. He continued to slowly close in while mounted on Toronado. So far, I've been able to stay in the saddle. I hope I can keep my promise to Felipe to stay in the saddle, Zorro thought.

Jose said, "Senorita Escalante!"

"I have nothing to say to you, Jose Macias. I trusted you with my life savings!" Victoria trained the second gun on Macias and the leader of the horse thieves.

"Let me explain!" Jose was desperate. He wasn't a horse thief, but how could he get the Senorita to believe him?

"There's nothing to explain! Now I know what you're all about. And I'm taking you all in for horse stealing." Victoria was adamant.

The leader laughed. "You've got a lot of spirit, little lady. I like that. But tell me, how are you going to get all of us back to Los Angeles? We outnumber you."

Jose said, "He's right."

Victoria suddenly realized the predicament she was in. "Yes, well… If anyone tries to make a move, they'll get a pistol ball right between the eyes."

The leader smiled and said, "You haven't got the nerve."

Toronado whinnied. Zorro's voice came out of nowhere, "Trust me, Senor, she has the nerve!"

The leader unsheathed his sword.

Zorro replied, "I'd be delighted to cross swords with you, however…" He brought Toronado closer. Toronado reared back and knocked the sword out of the leader's hands. That angered the leader so much that he jumped up and knocked Zorro out of the saddle.

They both landed on their backs with a cry from Zorro as his leg absorbed shock from the fall. The leader immediately got up and picked up his sword. Zorro struggled to get up. He tried not to favor the right leg, but it hurt. Waves of pain, one after the other went through the leg. I only hope I didn't re-break it. I don't think I did, but this sure didn't help, he thought. Victoria was looking elsewhere, at the men and at Jose, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zorro grab his leg in obvious pain. There wasn't time to do anything about it – but it made her think. Wait a minute…she thought, but she was drawn into the action and had no more time to give thought to what she thought she saw.

Victoria took that opportunity to point her gun at Jose. "Don't move!"

Jose was desperate. "Please Senorita, you don't understand!"

The Leader said to Zorro, "The fight is over, Senor!" At that moment, another member dragged Jose's wife Julietta over. She uttered small cry of fear. A member of the gang held a knife to her throat.

Victoria was shocked, and lowered the pistol a short way. "Julietta!"

Jose said, "I was trying to protect my wife and children! The stolen horses were making the getaway difficult…."

Meanwhile, Zorro held his leg and grimaced. The fall had sent shockwaves of pain through his barely healed leg. He tried putting his weight on his left leg, which was situated on a small rise from the bottom of the canyon. He stood awkwardly, but tried to look casual.

Jose continued his explanation to Victoria. "…So I hid them in my corral. After you posted bail for me, I went home and discovered they had taken Julietta and the children. They left a note saying that if I didn't bring the stolen horses to their secret hideaway, I would never see my family again!"

Trying to hide his pain, Zorro said through gritted teeth, "Once again, we learn to presume a man's innocence until he's proven guilty."

Victoria apologized. "I'm sorry, Jose. It's just that all the evidence pointed towards you."

The Leader replied, "It is a waste of time! Throw down your weapons or the Macias woman dies! Muy pronto!"

Zorro's anger seeped out. His leg was throbbing now, and he needed to finish this. "Senor, you picked the wrong day to try my patience!"

Zorro brandished his whip and disarmed the man who was holding the knife at Julietta's throat. Another crack of the whip and the leader's sword, which was Zorro's sword, came back to its owner. The leader picked up another sword, and the fight began.

It's all in the footwork, Zorro thought. If I can keep moving, I can keep the weight off my leg for an extended period of time. He landed a knockout punch with his left hand, and the leader was out for the count.

Victoria heard a three-part swish, and knew that the leader was getting Zorro's 'signature.' Then, she looked and saw someone behind him. Victoria cried, "Zorro, look out!" He whirled around to face the man who had held the knife. He now had a pistol, and pointed it just inches from Zorro's face. Victoria pointed her pistol and fired, hitting the man in the arm. In case that wasn't enough, Zorro landed another knockout punch.

Victoria looked very satisfied with herself. "A woman's work is never done!" A third bandit got up from the ground, and she clobbered him with the butt of her pistol.

Zorro gave her a wave-salute. As he did, the leader rose from the ground. "Behind you! Victoria warned. He needs eyes in the back of his head, she thought. I guess today, I'm the eyes he needs. Besides, he looks like he hurt his ankle or his leg or something when he got knocked off Toronado. He seems to need all the help he can get – he doesn't seem to be his agile self today. Wait a minute – his leg? No…it can't be…can it? She didn't have any more time to think, but was drawn into the action.

The leader threw a knife at Zorro. He knocked it away with his sword. Now unarmed, with no other weapons in sight, the leader ran off. Victoria looked down at the man on the ground, then to the Jose and his family, all together now. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Zorro limping back to Toronado. She took mental note of it, but her attention was elsewhere.

Victoria inquired to Jose whether he and his family were all right, to which they replied, "yes, gracias."

Now that he was back on Toronado, his weight was off the leg, and the pain started to subside. Zorro felt his expression return to normal.

Victoria looked at him and said, "I was right. He was innocent."

Zorro replied, "You saved my life. How can I ever repay you?" His breathing had also returned to normal.

Victoria quickly thought of a way. With a demure smile, she said, "You could start with a kiss."

Without thinking, he answered, "That would be my utmost pleasure." But as he raised himself up in the saddle to dismount, he remembered how hard it would be, and didn't want to take the chance of her learning his identity. He wasn't sure how much she had already seen – and he knew it would be difficult and would hurt – so he decided to stay in the saddle. He wanted to avoid more pain. Being thrown ingloriously out of the saddle had caused the leg to ache and throb. Sorry, Victoria. I'll make it up to you when I stop limping, Zorro thought.

"Uh…on second thought, I better chase that bandit, before he gets very far away." He gave her a small smile, then turned Toronado around and rode away.

Victoria looked slightly annoyed. Uh-huh, she thought. As Zorro rode away, she said aloud, "Isn't that typical?" She shook her head with a half-amused smile. "He'd rather be out chasing bandits." She did a double take to the Macias family, and smiling, went over to shake Jose's hand. In the back of her mind, an outrageous thought crossed her mind, but she dismissed it.

Zorro hurt his leg. Diego broke his leg. It's the same leg. Nah….it can't be, can it? She'd had thoughts like this before, like when Diego quoted a line of poetry during their night's stay in the windmill, only to have Zorro 'misquote' the same line the very next day. And she lay in bed nights wondering why Diego, who was so forceful in Santa Paula, was so insipid the rest of the time. Oh true, she could remember a few, isolated incidents when Diego showed he could be a real de la Vega, like when he first came home from Spain, and when he attempted to fight Sir Miles Thackery, the snobbish and nasty English swordsman, but they were few and far between.

And another incident came to mind…when Alejandro came to the pueblo dressed as Zorro. At first, she seemed to think it was true, but as his execution came nearer, she kept looking out for 'her' Zorro, the strong, young man of vigor who she was in love with. And when he threw off the priestly robe disguise, her heart fluttered in her chest. Yes! Yes! That's 'MY' Zorro! I'm so glad he came, she thought. But the gnawing in the back of her mind…where did Alejandro get the Zorro costume. How? She'd visited him in jail just hours before his execution, but couldn't get a straight answer from him.

Diego explained that he'd somehow hit his head, and that he'd been reading Cervantes' Don Quixote at the time – and knowing that Zorro was the local equivalent to Don Quixote, he somehow managed to duplicate the costume and ride into the pueblo as Zorro. They decided to tell the people of the pueblo not to mention the incident to Don Alejandro – to save him from embarrassment. But, she thought, the costume was real. Where could he have gotten it – in his condition – he must have had some kind of concussion. Where…unless…hmmmmmm.

Z

Because the leader was on foot, it didn't take Zorro long to catch up with him and guide him back to camp, where he handed the man over to Victoria and Jose. Because his leg still pained him, he said as little as possible, and made no attempt to dismount.

"Here you are Victoria, Jose. Please add this to the rest of your trophies and take them to the alcalde with my compliments! When you're on the same side, you two work well together!"

Zorro saluted her with his two-fingered wave, smiled, and rode off. Victoria harrumphed as she watched him go. Isn't that just like him? One of these days, when I get my hands on him…I'm gonna make him talk to me for more than one minute!

She remembered the cave and the day she spent there, and the dinner they'd had together like 'normal' people. She wished she could live that day over again…and this time, the alarm system in the cave would not go off…and she'd finally be able to put a face to her masked querido. She now felt she had some solid 'proof' to lend credence to her 'suspicions.'

TBC