No one in the plaza moved for a long time. Then Alejandro released Victoria and she ran up behind him, turning Diego to face her instead of the retreating ex-alcalde. He smiled down at her worried expression. "I thought you promised to stay at the hacienda?" She smiled, unashamed, then pulled him down so she could kiss him. Diego rapidly got over his surprise, dropping his sword so he could wrap his arms around her and take control of the kiss as he lifted her off her feet. They were completely oblivious as more people filled the plaza and Diego could care less. Victoria loved him. The alcalde was gone. Zorro was pardoned. And Victoria was most definitely kissing him. He loved feeling her fingers in his hair. He wanted more, though, and he refused to put her down as he shifted his grip to drop his gloves to the ground.

He vaguely heard his father call his name as he felt the soft cotton of her shirt hinting at the softer skin beneath. He stepped away from whoever touched him on the shoulder, still intent on Victoria's mouth. No more kissing her hand, or tame quick kisses he stole as he ran away from fear of discovery. Victoria's initial shock as Diego had coaxed her mouth open with his tongue was gone, and she had relaxed into his body and started to tentatively explore him, too. His fingers clenched against her as someone had the audacity to actually grab his shoulder and shake him. He growled angrily as he pulled away from Victoria's mouth. He glared at his father, who just glared right back at him. He looked back at Victoria, her glazed eyes and her swollen lips and grinned. He watched her for a few seconds until her eyes focused again, and she turned bright red as he slowly lowered her back to the ground.

He looked around, knowing they were the center of attention and still not caring. Victoria hid her face against his chest and he refused to release her from his embrace. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I think I just ruined your reputation. Now you have to marry me." She chuckled, still breathless. He tucked her snuggly under one arm as he turned to face his annoyed father.

He saw Felipe pick up his sword, and knew he'd never hear the end of it. Diego might be a little obsessive about leaving weapons in the dirt. Now not only had he been disarmed, but he'd also thrown his sword on the ground twice on purpose. He sobered when he saw Felipe's grim face, though, as the boy wiped the dirt and blood off the blade. He had also been quite clear about not drawing blood when it was often unnecessary. He didn't think the chest wounds were too bad, but he'd put a lot of force into the strike to DeSoto's hand.

"I'm not sorry, Felipe. I did what I thought I had to do," Diego said quietly. Felipe nodded, then walked over to the small pool of DeSoto's blood on the ground and kicked at the dirt till it was unrecognizable.

"No one blames you, son. I think most people here are surprised you didn't kill him. I'm proud of you." Alejandro reached up to his son's cheek, and squeezed his neck affectionately. Felipe also smiled understandingly up at Diego, and held out Diego's sword. Diego looked at the sword, then at his hands full of Victoria. He shrugged and held Victoria tighter. With a quick movement, he released the scabbard from his waist and handed it to Felipe. Felipe smirked at Diego, and strapped the legendary sword on himself. He swept Zorro's hat off the ground and stood tall as he put it on.

Diego chuckled and looked around, wondering what was supposed to happen next. Most of the men were gathered around Capitan Sebastian, getting the news of the war and trying to plan for the future. Sebastian looked over at the De La Vegas several times, and finally broke away from the crowd to approach Alejandro, Felipe, Diego and Victoria.

After brief introductions, Sebastian addressed Alejandro. "They tell me you acted as alcalde before."

Alejandro looked at the crowd of men, who all looked back at him. "Yes, why?"

"Everyone here seems to be in agreement that you should take over for DeSoto. At least for now…I know your son was born here, but the Mexican government wants to have Mexican-born officials. You would run things until a replacement was found, but for now… It may be awhile before we get to replacing government heads in pueblos as far out as this one. I've spoken with Mendoza and his men and they will stay on to protect the pueblo under your management. What do you say?"

"Well, I don't know," Alejandro said, shocked. He looked at the crowd of men and they all smiled and nodded at him, obviously wanting him to accept.

"Go ahead, Father. It'll be fun," Diego encouraged.

As his father was surrounded by congratulations and talk of politics, Diego pulled Victoria further away from the crowd. She hadn't let go of him since she'd attacked him. He smiled contentedly, realizing he'd been smiling a lot today. He knew the reason, and he didn't want to let her go.

"Victoria," he waited until she looked up at him. He took a moment to caress her cheeks, loving that he was lucky enough to be in this position. "Victoria," he began again, "I want you to come home with me." He lifted her face back to his when she blushed and looked away. "The padre is right over there. We could get married right now." She held his gaze for one charged heartbeat, then she became fascinated with the collar of his shirt as he loosely wrapped both hands around her waist again. "I will be a good husband to you, Victoria." He said to the top of her head. He leaned down a little, trying to get her to look at him again. "I love you, more than words can say."

Victoria pushed away from him a little to look up at him, but didn't step out of his embrace. "But…everything is happening so fast."

"Querida…life is short. I've wanted to marry you for over two years. That's not fast." Victoria nibbled on her lower lip, thinking hard at the same time she drove Diego crazy. He didn't want to push her, but he also knew he didn't trust himself to let her sleep alone tonight. "Everyone is already here to attend if you don't want to sneak away with me." He grinned devilishly at her, telling her the choice he'd prefer, and she went back to studying his shirt.

His right arm fell weakly away from her, leaving just his hand barely caressing her waist as if he couldn't bear to break the connection. "And look at them." He nodded to the crowd. "Everyone is busy. I'm wounded. Who's going to take care of me? I can't even lift my arm!" he whined pathetically.

He felt guilty at her immediate flash of distress as she turned him around to examine his back. Diego spun the rest of the way around without pause and took her in his arms again, smiling broadly at her but still relaxing his right shoulder and arm. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion at him, leaning away from him with her hands on her hips. "You didn't seem to be in too much pain a few minutes ago," she scolded.

He shrugged one shoulder and smiled down at her some more. "Pain's relative." When she didn't seem amused, he continued. "Victoria, I'm high on you and adrenaline and full of medicine right now. Tonight and tomorrow I promise to be in agony and act injured so you can take care of me."

Victoria studied his face. So confident that everything was perfect, but there it was again. Act injured. Diego rubbed her back gently, pleased when she stopped leaning away from him, resting her arms on top of his and keeping eye contact. "Diego, four days ago I didn't even know who you were." Diego sobered as he made himself listen and be patient while she examined his face. "How do I know who I'm marrying? I've been on my own all this time, and now Diego De La Vega wants to marry me. It's not that simple."

Diego's face dropped. "I thought… I did ask you to marry me, didn't I? I didn't dream that?" Victoria turned her head and looked at the ground, trying to sort everything out in her mind. His hands fell limply to his sides, the heartache causing more pain than any knife. "You said yes?"

Victoria crossed her arms over her stomach to keep from shattering as he took a small step away from her. "Diego, you were intoxicated this morning. You just said you're intoxicated now!" She raised her voice as Diego frantically shook his head and reached for her again, but she just swatted his hands away. "Four days ago you were acting like a pacifist. Lying to me about who you were." She held her hand up to silence him, quieting her voice again considering their location. "Three days ago I wanted to skin you alive. Today you planned to face an entire garrison alone when you obviously cannot even hold a sword."

Diego looked to the sky for assistance, pacing a few steps away then coming back to invade her personal space again. Her arms came up to block him so he just caught her by the elbows, reminding himself to gentle his grip as her hands tensed on his arms defensively. "You're the only one here who does know who I am." He said earnestly. "The drugs aren't making me say things I don't feel. Years ago in my own garden…before you jumped me…I suggested you marry Diego. I wanted to marry you! You fry my brain, not drugs and not pain. I was in perfect health when I chose to give away my identity. If I'd told you the night before, do you think a bench could have kept me away from you?"

She looked at the violent storm in his eyes and realized the bench had been the ruse, the character Diego had created had been the real barrier between their beds that night. "So...what? You were lying to me to protect me?" She shook her head, swaying on her feet a little when he released her abruptly, pacing away again.

"All of this—" he spread his arms to encompass the entire pueblo, black cape flying as he turned back toward her "—has been for you. Someone had to get you out of jail, remember? You forget, I know you, too. You jump in front of bullets for me. You're thrown in jail for me. If I'd told you who I was you probably would have asked me to make you a black outfit, too, so you could ride with me! As it is I'm terrified every day something will happen to you, how could I possibly tell you the truth?"

He crept carefully towards her again when he saw tears come to her eyes, gently cupping her face in his hands. "No, no—I'm sorry Querida…please don't cry…I didn't mean it…I didn't mean to yell." He softly kissed her forehead and a tear that fell. "You are everything to me. Maybe I just don't know how to handle that and don't do a good job of it. Nothing else matters, Victoria. You are all that matters. I'm nothing without you."

A few more tears fell and he held her to his chest again, happy she didn't protest. "I swear I'll never lie to you again. My back hurts and my fingers are numb sometimes, which is why I lost the sword but I'm honestly not worried about it. Today I came with 40 men to stand behind me, and I honestly believed DeSoto would cower and run away."

He spoke faster, trying to make up for every difference between the Diego she knew and the real Diego. "I have a few scars, and I haven't had the flu since I was a child. Every time I lied about being sick was because I had an injury I couldn't hide. I prefer the piano, but I keep up with the violin because I know you like it, and that makes me happy. I never go out of town to tune it. I don't care about clothes or clouds, but I love the stars and science. I'm a better tracker and rider than my father, and I don't get lost. I love to fence and I do hate to fight—I'm just not afraid to." They stood like that, arms wrapped around each other loosely with his chin resting on top of her head as he gave her time to meld the two men into one. He waited for her to look at him.

"I love coconut fish …and I don't like trotters." He smiled hopefully when she did. He wiped away the traces of tears on her cheeks. "I told you to marry Diego years ago because I wanted to marry you…but when you kissed me I took advantage of you. I thought I could keep you safe and still love you from behind a mask. Still be your friend. I was wrong. I'm sorry."

"That was quite a speech." Victoria said after awhile.

"I'm sorry about that, too. You deserved someone to talk to. A companion…but all Zorro ever did was come to steal a few kisses. I shouldn't have done that."

"OK, stop it. This isn't confession and…" she took a deep breath. "…and I did forgive you." She placed a hand on his cheek affectionately. "Thank you for telling me. But no more secrets. You're too good at it for my peace of mind. But I do love you. And trust you." He nodded emphatically that she could trust him.

He smiled and pulled her closer as she rested her hands on his chest. The black silk was just a thin barrier, and she froze a minute later realizing she'd been caressing his very appealing muscles. Maybe she wasn't so immune to him as she appeared. She carefully placed her hands innocently on his shoulders, but the fire in his eyes as he looked at her said it was too late. She was caught by the seductive look in his eyes before his gaze dropped to her mouth again. With renewed hope, he wrapped both arms tightly around her and she shivered as she held his gaze.

"Is it wrong to want to start our new life together immediately?" One arm moved almost indecently lower, his hand caressing her hip as his voice dropped. "I want to make love to you. I want to fall asleep with you in my arms tonight. I want to wake up holding you tomorrow morning. I want to take you to Paris…Madrid…Rome…anywhere you want to go. For two years I've worried about the pueblo. Now I just want to be with you."

It took several moments for Victoria to catch her breath at the vivid images he created in her mind. Then Diego held his own breath as he waited for her answer, trying to show everything he felt for her in his eyes. She pulled out of his arms and watched devastation turn quickly to determination as he began to protest and reach for her again. She put both hands over his lips before he could say anything. "Go tell your father and Felipe. You've been sneaking around for two years. Sneaking away today won't surprise anyone. I'll go talk to the padre."

She blushed as he kissed the fingers against his lips, then he cupped her face to steal a quick kiss before turning away to approach his father. He stopped a few steps away and turned back to her. "Should we invite Ignacio? He could be my best man!"

The End

Author's Note: Thanks everyone for reading this story. It was fun to write, and most excellent to read all your reviews about it. I'm looking forward to writing several more stories, because I'm addicted to the comments now. Sorry, but I marked Goodbye to DeSoto as complete because it was just a mistake that I didn't the first time. I was going to continue it, but now I'm putting that in another story.

Question: How do I get to the reviews page where I can see all the reviews AND reply to everyone? I know I've seen it before…

Thanks again, everyone who read and enjoyed and reviewed!