Author's Note: I feel better now. I never know if my abrupt endings are good or bad. I'm glad many people enjoyed my initial ending, and others still wished for more. This story was begun for LaCorelli, so she gets her ending. Of course, that means in the future you never know what kind of ending you will get from me ;-) Maybe I should stop warning you, so you can get the full effect.

I'm also doing something I didn't plan on: making this story three chapters. There's not much to this one. I want to tweak something shortly after this chapter ends. I always planned on this being one section, but hopefully my idea will make it better. I'm having a rotten day and not studying, when I REALLY need to be, so I decided to post this part to cheer myself up. No one else has posted Zorro today, and someone said they wanted a new chapter a day.

Thanks to my patient beta Marla and to LaCorelli who gave great guidance when I went awry. Hopefully the finished product will be good. I am sorry Klingon, but by the time you supported my original ending, I'd already written the other. I hope you forgive me, your input is highly valued, and I hope the new ending is decent (though I do still love the originall).

zzz

Victoria slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Diego. Did Diego just kiss her? His hand was still cradling her cheek, his thumb slowly stroking back and forth in a hypnotic rhythm. Was she dreaming? She ran her tongue over her lips, and her eyes widened when his eyes dropped to follow the movement and filled with a heat she'd never seen before.

Wait…what? She gasped in air, but it didn't help clear the fog from her head. "What?"

Diego's hand came down to her chin, stroking over her lips slowly before resting his finger over them. "Don't say anything just yet, please. This isn't the time or place, and I'm sorry. It's the middle of the day, there are people outside. There's nothing more I'd rather do than to take you someplace we can be alone, but I know the tavern means a great deal to you. Juan just…"

Diego wrapped his arms around her and rested his forehead against hers. "You hugged him. You hugged him and I saw red. I can't keep quiet. You're all I think about. Dream about. I know it's dangerous. Please...everyone is talking about the matchmaker. If you accepted me as your husband…people would forget about Zorro. I'd make you happy, I swear. Please marry me." He paused, then hugged her tightly before stepping back without releasing her. "And never hug another man again. Ever."

"This is why you wanted to talk to me earlier?" Victoria asked, avoiding his eyes by watching him step back and take both of her hands in his. She looked at their hands. His should be smooth—he was a caballero who slept all day and read books and played music. But he wasn't, was he?

"I'm sorry. I should have considered the time, I know you're busy. I can be a little impatient." Diego squeezed her hands and released her, his eyes falling on the forgotten vegetables. "I thought if I helped you make lunch you wouldn't be as mad. I wanted to spend the day with you. I thought we'd talk later…but…" Diego picked up the knife, tried to peel another potato, but dropped it again in frustration when he chopped off a huge chunk. "Juan is the better choice. The alcalde is a fool, but what I've started is dangerous."

Diego sighed, still looking down at his cutting board. "I didn't know people talked about us. You never said anything." Diego pressed his fists against the table, fighting with himself. Then he picked up the knife and the small chunk of potato, carved it into a heart and set it on top of her tomatoes. "So there it is. You know. I can give you a good life, but my life is here. There will always be repercussions from Zorro, I can't get away from it. You could. Or you could come to the hacienda tonight for dinner. Yell at me all you want. Tell my father and watch him yell at me. I only hope you'll give me a chance. You said you don't love Juan. Please love me instead."

Victoria saw him glance up at her, read the love and doubt in his eyes before he bent back to his potatoes. She watched him peel a whole potato and reach for another, glanced back at the clean pan which sat drying on her counter. She picked up her knife and rested it against a carrot, but didn't seem to have the strength to slice into it.

"I hoped you wouldn't yell with an audience on the other side of the curtain. I never expected you to be silent."

Victoria glanced up at him again, but he wasn't looking at her. Diego de la Vega was intent on chopping potatoes in her kitchen. He reached over and pulled the knife from her lax fingers and went back to his task. Her legs felt weak, too, so she fell into a chair around the corner of the table to watch what he was doing.

"Afraid I'll cut myself again?"

Diego shook his head. "I was afraid you might stab me. You sit. I can do it."

Diego peeled the last of the potatoes and chopped them all into pieces. Her eyes followed his movements as he scooped the pieces up and put them into a bowl. His hands were huge…and this Diego didn't seem shy or awkward at all. She could sense a tension in him, and she grinned as she thought about him being afraid she'd stab him. Her mind still seemed clouded with shock, but she felt no anger.

Diego walked over to a wall when he ran out of potatoes and pulled down an apron, and Victoria rested her head on her hand as she smiled at him.

He lifted a carrot and his knife. "Carrots?"

She nodded, still unable to comprehend California's most eligible bachelor chopping vegetables in her kitchen. Rather well, too. She lost her smile as she followed his movements. The man was an expert with a knife. With a sword, too. She was a cook, and she was sitting here doing nothing.

She stood and grabbed a pot, and Diego dumped the potatoes in when she held it up. She heard the chopping stop as she went to the stove, caught him looking back at her when she turned around. He immediately ducked back to his task, and Victoria rushed to save some whole vegetables for later before he sped through her entire stock.

Wanting some space, she started working at the stove. It didn't help, she was still incredibly aware of him. If only she could figure out what to do about him. The chopping stopped, and Victoria held her breath, not sure what else he could do. She liked it earlier, when they stood side-by-side chopping vegetables like a normal couple.

Normal couple? Hardly. She could feel it when he walked over and stood too close behind her. Why did she want to lean back against him? She pointed at the counter next to her and pulled a towel off some dough. "You can punch the bread down."

"Punch the bread?" Diego stared at the blob of dough as if she were speaking another language.

Victoria moved to show him what she meant, but he took his time moving out of the way. Diego seemed to radiate heat, and Victoria was hyperaware of him as they bumped into each other. Victoria knew she was bright red as she punched the bread and folded it over. She hoped he thought it was from the fire, and she ran back to her place over the stove. He was still only a few feet away, though, and her skin still tingled from his presence.

Victoria glanced over at him, easily seeing his muscles flex beneath the thin shirt he wore. His rolled up sleeves revealed muscles she never imagined to be on such an academic man. His sleeves fell down, hiding her view and Victoria shook herself. He was so intent, completely focused on this mundane task she'd given him.

And she had been mesmerized, too. "That's enough!" She pushed at him and Diego held up his hands in apology and stepped back. Victoria covered the dough with a towel and looked at her friend.

Her friend? He'd just proposed. Dough and flour clung to his fingers and cuffs. She wet a cloth and began to clean him up.

"I'm sorry. Your shirt is getting ruined."

"Victoria…" He took the towel from her when she ignored him to focus on his hands. "Querida…"

Victoria's eyes flew to his and she took a step back. "I don't know, okay? You come in here wanting to talk and I think you just want to tell me about a horse or a story or a book or something, and—"

Diego stepped into her, his hands cradling her face as he covered her mouth with his. She opened her mouth to speak and Diego pressed the advantage, his tongue sliding in to taste her. Her fingers clenched in his shirt, and his arms slid around her waist to pull her close as their world narrowed to only this space, only this moment. Her fingers dug into his hair as she kissed him back, and she wondered what she had done to deserve this.

Diego hugged her tight, then kissed her lips gently before pulling away to look at her. He smiled. She looked completely dazed, her lips swollen from his kisses and a blush brightening her face. "I love you. This morning when I came to the tavern, I wanted to tell you that I love you. I want to tell you that I love you every day for the rest of our lives. It's that simple. When you decide you can forgive me, when you think you can love me, too, we can worry about the rest."

Victoria's fingers fussed with his collar where her hands were still around his neck. She toyed with his hair again, because she could, running her hands through it to smooth it down. Diego closed his eyes in bliss at the gentle massage, and Victoria ran her fingers over his face.

"Are you really Zorro?"

"Do you doubt it? Or are you afraid?" Diego tugged her close again when her eyes narrowed. "I am, too, Querida, but we deserve our happy ending."

"How do you know it will be happy?" Victoria asked, but didn't wait for an answer before wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his chest.

Diego stroked her back, glancing anxiously at the curtain and thinking of the real world which can be harsh and unforgiving. "All that matters is you. The timing is right. DeSoto is new. I'll rally the caballeros. After what happened last week with him trying to execute Mendoza, we'll have the regiment on our side as well. We'll put my father back into office."

"You say that as if it's easy." Victoria glanced around her kitchen. "The matchmaker brought three men in three days, all excellent prospects for me. None of them were landowners."

"So?"

Victoria closed her eyes, happy to be held. He was the same man, she told herself. Diego was her friend. They talked all the time, he supported and helped her when she wanted to do something different with the tavern. He respected her as a business owner, always treated her as an equal. She didn't think Alejandro would care, either.

Diego rubbed her back some more, keeping the world from intruding, but then he pushed her away. His hands on her shoulders made her flush, and she flicked an invisible spec of something off his shirt to avoid his eyes. One of his hands smoothed up her neck and tilted her face up for another kiss, this time gentle and full of affection.

"Victoria, I want to marry you. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. I should let you go with Juan," Diego shook his head and scowled toward the curtain, "but I'm selfish. I can't stand to see another man touch you." He rubbed his thumb over her lip and took her hands again with a sigh. "I don't like politics. Maybe I should have been more outspoken as a De la Vega instead of putting on the mask. Zorro took care of things, so my father and the others got lazy. We'll change that."

"And will they still listen to you if you marry a tavern owner?"

"I'm Diego de la Vega." Diego smirked, puffing up his chest and straightening his collar. "I can marry whoever I want."

Victoria tugged at her hands and Diego held on, pulling her hands around his waist again and kissing her when she appeared ready to protest. When she melted into him again and her fingers dug into his back, he forced himself to pull his lips from hers. She'd never had a problem with his class before.

"I'm just a man, Victoria. I like to read. I like playing with chemicals in my lab, and yes, I know how to make bombs and tear gas. I'm also fairly good at convincing people I'm a coward. I tried to use my knowledge and skills to help people. That's all. The people made Zorro a legend. My grandfather gave me a birthright. I'm just an ordinary man in love with the most beautiful, most passionate woman in the world. Nothing else matters."

Victoria wondered how she overlooked him for so long. It would take some time to get used to this new Diego. She blushed, remembering it didn't take long for her to kiss him back. "I'll ask Elena to cover the tavern tonight. I'll come to your hacienda." She forced her nerves down and smiled. "I don't think I'll yell too much."

Diego rubbed the back of his neck. "Good, then you can protect me from my father."

"What do you mean?"

"He doesn't know either. If Zorro is going to retire, he needs to know."

Victoria nodded, as if the earth wasn't still spinning beneath her feet and everything made sense. "Okay. So I guess for the first time, I know when I'll see you again. Around seven alright?"

Diego's face fell. "You want me to leave?"

"You want to stay?"

Diego smiled. "Of course I want to stay." He glanced down and lifted his apron. "I'm already dressed for it." He pushed up his sleeves which had fallen down again. "Want me to wash the other pan?" He reached out and displayed his earlier handiwork. "See? I did alright, didn't I?"

Victoria shook her head but was smiling as she took the clean pan and put it away. "You really want to wash dishes?"

Diego scratched the back of his head. "I could, but…"

"But…"

Diego glanced at the table where he remembered standing close to her. "Isn't there something we could do together?"

Victoria blushed, thinking he'd read her mind. She liked standing next to him, too. Maybe they could talk some more. She felt different when she was near him. She turned and went outside to pick some fresh herbs and nearly rearranged her entire kitchen so he could chop things up and stand next to her at the stove while she cooked.

Time passed quietly. Diego chopped his herbs, even the onions, without complaint. He fetched anything she requested, did all the heavy lifting, and even washed the other pan. Most of the time, though, they simply enjoyed being together without danger, without a deadline, and without barriers between them. Elbows, hands, arms and shoulders often got in the way, since both of them tried to share the same space.

Diego came back to the table where they were working after checking on the rising number of guests in her tavern. "It's getting crowded," he said, as if it was the end of the world.

Victoria smiled and bumped her elbow against him. "That's a good thing."

Diego shrugged and pouted at the table. "If nobody came, we could have a private lunch."

Victoria shook her head. They'd spent so much time apart, she was amazed at how jealous Diego seemed to be now, not wanting to let her out of arms reach.

"Here, try this." Diego dug a spoon into the pie he'd proudly made and lifted a bite to her mouth. He immediately forgot about the pie and leaned toward her lips, but Victoria leaned away.

"Pie." Victoria grinned up at him. "I want to try the pie."

Diego sighed. "Fine." Diego tried not to notice how her lips closed over the spoon, concentrated on not leaning forward to lick her lips for her.

Victoria closed her eyes to judge his creation, but nearly forgot what she was going to say when she opened them again to see the heat in his eyes. "It's…" Diego reached a hand up to wipe the corner of her mouth and licked the chocolate off his thumb.

"It's…" Diego prompted, as if he touched her lips every day.

Victoria cleared her throat. "It's very good." He smirked and dipped some more (rather flat) cream on top of his pie. "For a first attempt," she added.

He scowled at her, deeply offended. He played with the white stuff he knew was supposed to be fluffier, but knew it didn't look like her pies. "I did everything you told me to," he whined.

Victoria grinned. Diego also got distracted often. So did she. "It's fine. Cooking takes talent."

"Really? So let me taste yours."

Victoria pulled her hands out of the dessert she was making by hand. "It's not done yet. My hands are dirty."

"Your hands are amazing."

Victoria coughed, hopefully not turning quite as pink this time when he looked at her like that. Unable to help herself, she picked up a slice of something and held it out to him. Instead of taking it, he took her wrist and brought her hand to his mouth. His lips closed around the orange slice, but his tongue licked out to taste the sauce on her fingers as well. "Delicious."

She couldn't move, but Diego hadn't released her wrist anyway. So she waited, enjoying the tingling sensations shooting out from where his tongue caressed her fingers. He kissed her hand again, in a way that Zorro never had. He stepped forward, one hand going to her waist to pull her closer as he held her other hand where he wanted her. He kissed her palm, his tongue licking over her again and sending shivers down her spine.

Diego released her hand with another lingering kiss, and Victoria stared at it in dumb fascination. Her other hand rested on his chest where he'd pulled her close, and she glanced around her kitchen. It didn't seem real, as if she was in a dream. But Diego's chest was hard beneath his shirt, his body radiating heat as he pulled them closer together. She glanced down at the table, at the food they'd prepared as a couple.

Victoria smiled, then reached her hand back down to pick up another small piece of fruit. This time not trying to be neat, the sauce dripped down her hand and onto his shirt, but neither noticed. His lips had already closed over her finger, and she felt it all the way to her toes when he sucked at the sauce. Her fingers rested against his lips as he chewed, her eyes fascinated with his neck as he swallowed. Then his tongue once again touched her skin, following the path of the sauce down to her wrist. Her breath grew shallow as he lingered, his lips and tongue making sure he did a thorough job.

Diego released her wrist, and a second later his hand reappeared, this time his finger coated in chocolate from his pie. She blushed as she glanced from it to his eyes, but he didn't give her time to hesitate. His finger caressed her lips, painting first the top and then the bottom with chocolate custard. Her eyes grew wide as his arms wrapped tightly around her, pressing their bodies indecently close.

"Diego?" Her voice was weak, unsure, her eyes filled with a confused fire.

Seeing how much he affected her, no disguise, no adventure, put ideas in his head which would disgrace them both. He didn't care. He bent to her lips, his tongue licking at the chocolate only once before he pulled her closer, pressed inside so he could taste her. She made another sound, and Diego's fingers clenched against her waist as her fingers found his hair and his control snapped.

He bent his knees, pressing her back against the table and smoothing his hands down her hips, groaning himself when her soft bottom filled his hands. Wanting more, his hand came up to her neck, angling her head so he could take the kiss deeper, his tongue caressing hers as vivid images flashed in his brain of what all he'd wanted for so long. She gasped for air, and he gave her room to breathe as he kissed his way down her neck. He lifted his head to look at her, to admire the blush which covered every inch of the skin he could see. One hand caressed the ribbon at her bodice, smiling when she stopped breathing at his touch. His other hand clenched on her waist before lightly traveling up to rest just below her breasts.

Victoria's eyes opened wide, her hands finally seeing reason even if her brain wasn't working properly. She grabbed his wrist before it could go any higher, and Diego's hand fell away when she looked down at his other hand still toying with her dress. He changed her grip to hold her hand, and his finger once again came up to her lips, this time to wipe at the lingering chocolate he hadn't cared about when given the choice to kiss her.

He lifted the small bit of chocolate to his mouth. "You taste much better than this pie."

Diego enjoyed the blush which lit her cheeks, but she ducked her head and he felt a little pushy. He smoothed his hand over her hair and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get carried away."

"Carried away?"

Diego felt her tense and try to jump out of his arms when Juan intruded once again. Diego turned to glare at the officer. Eventually he let her go, disappointed when she stepped away from him. Diego reached a hand out to touch her shoulder, then glared at Juan again. "Wait in the tavern. The kitchen is off-limits to guests, and you're not welcome here."

Zzz

Author's note 2: Not really a great chapter ending, but it was the only place I could see. Save me from myself. I'm grouchy and not studying and annoying classmate friends. I'll cheer up if I get reviews, even negative ones cause I really want to improve.

Now I wonder…if Juan is in the navy, do you think he's ever been to Madrid? What kind of rumors might he heard, hmmm? Yeah, that's totally a tease. Review if you want to. Have a nice weekend. Thanks also to my buddies on the Facebook group, who are helping me with stories they haven't even read yet.