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Conquering Fear	By : emmarae3579 Category: S through Z > Zorro Views: 2148 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Zorro, and do not make any money from writing this story.

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Conquering Fear
Author’s Note: This story is rated mature for sexual situations. Since you're on this site, I imagine you're okay with that.

Feedback is encouraged, especially since this is my first attempt at writing sex.

This story has become very precious to me, and I hope you enjoy it.

zzz

Zorro grinned and hopped up on the counter in Victoria’s kitchen early one morning. She hadn’t seen him yet, so he simply enjoyed watching her. As Diego, he couldn’t watch her…and she never watched him. She only cared about Zorro. Diego had been in town a lot this week. He’d even spent an afternoon in jail for annoying the alcalde. If Zorro or someone else was threatened by the alcalde, Victoria took up arms in their defense. If Diego was arrested, she treated him like a foolish child who brought his own punishment down on himself. Hardly seemed fair.

Victoria turned, froze, and fell back against the counter to look at him. Zorro shook his dark thoughts away. Now, her eyes were alive when her gaze washed over him. But why today did that look start a pain in his chest? He was taking a risk coming to the pueblo just to see her, so he needed to pay attention. Wanted to enjoy this time with her. Zorro hadn’t been needed in so long, he didn’t know when he’d get this chance again. The small grin on her face was worth everything. He refused to let his depressing thoughts mar these few stolen moments with her.

“Zorro?” Her voice was soft, and she glanced at the curtain separating the kitchen from the rest of the tavern and her smile slipped. His smile grew when she walked over to him, and Zorro jumped off the counter to take her in his arms. He was disappointed he didn’t get a kiss, but she looked worried—maybe she was worried about Diego! Before he could ask about it, she did. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Does something have to be wrong for me to come see you?” Only after he said the words did he realize it was true. He frowned and hugged her tightly so he didn’t have to see the emotions so plainly written on her face.

“Sometimes it seems like it,” Victoria whispered into his shoulder.

“Well, today I just wanted to see you.” He stroked her hair and enjoyed holding her in his arms. He heard a noise from the corner and jumped in alarm.

Victoria nearly laughed at him. She turned to face the little girl sitting at a table playing with a mess of flour and dough. Little Nadia slapped happily at the mess on the table and then went back to examining the dough stuck to her fingers. “Her brother is sick today, so I told her mother I would watch her for a little while,” Victoria said as she walked over to the toddler and stroked her hair back from her face. All day she’d been reminded that she had no family, and no face to the man she loved---the man who claimed to love her.

Zorro felt something tug at him, and he rubbed at his chest as if he could rub away the sudden ache there. Victoria leaned against the wall behind Nadia, watching the man who stood frozen in her kitchen. “See anything you like?” Victoria taunted, with more than a hint of sadness in her eyes. It didn’t escape her attention he was looking more at the toddler than her.

Zorro watched her from across the room for a few minutes. “Victoria…”

Victoria stood away from the wall and grabbed a towel to start wiping at the little girl’s fingers. “Never mind.”

Zorro took a step toward them but Victoria stopped him. “Just leave before someone finds you here and one or both of us get arrested.”

“Victoria,” Zorro started again but didn’t finish. He flinched at her glare. “You know why—“

“I know you’ve chosen a life without me.” Victoria didn’t look at him, instead concentrating on picking bits and pieces of dough from the little girl’s dress. The toddler extended her tiny fingers and giggled as Victoria wiped up the gooey mess, and Victoria suddenly found herself close to tears.

“Querida, that’s not what I’ve chosen,” Zorro said, surprised and panicked at the tone of her voice.

Victoria helped the little girl off the chair and picked her up when she held out her arms. She hugged the child tightly as she watched him. “Everything we do is a choice. You call me Querida, but you come to me with a mask hiding your face. You could come to me without it. You choose not to. That’s your choice, not mine.”

“And you choose to ignore the man behind the mask every time you see me,” Zorro responded, surprised himself at the sharp retort. Victoria’s eyes widened, too, but Zorro couldn’t seem to stop his words. “Maybe you choose to ignore the obvious so you don’t have to admit you know who I am. You can’t love the ordinary man without the mystery and danger of loving a legend.”

Uh-oh. That was a mistake, Zorro thought as her eyes flashed. He moved to block her exit when she tried to walk past him out the door. “Querida, I didn’t mean that.”

“You wouldn’t have said it if you didn’t mean it. Move,” she ordered.

Nadia frowned and stretched a hand toward his masked face, and Zorro reached up to intercept her. Nadia’s hand wrapped around his index finger and he stared, captivated, before Victoria grabbed the sticky fingers and walked around him. Victoria bent down outside at a bucket of water and set the girl on her feet. She tried to compose herself while she cleaned the tiny hands, then let the girl continue playing in the water as she stood to face her masked bandit.

She crossed her arms to keep herself from reaching for him. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to strangle him or hug him, but she knew she was miserable. “So you see me when you’re not playing Zorro.” She paused, but Zorro didn’t say anything. He dropped his eyes and studied the ground at his feet. “Must be nice.”

“Nice?” Zorro laughed harshly and leaned against a wooden post at his back, looking up into the sky to gather his thoughts. It didn’t work. “You think it’s nice to be around you all the time when all you talk about is Zorro? When it shouldn’t be that hard…” Zorro bit his tongue sharply and wondered why he was being such an idiot today. He shook his head and tried to start over, but Victoria had heard enough.

“Shouldn’t be that hard to what? Figure out who you are?” Victoria asked as her arms tightened around herself. “All the time? You’re around me all the time and you don’t tell me? While I worry if you’re safe or what you’re doing and why you can’t be with me if you love me?”

Zorro took his hat off and hit his head on the hard surface behind him to try to knock some sense into himself. When that didn’t work, he put his hat back on and took quick steps towards her. She put her arms out to block him, so he took hold of her hands and held tight when she tried to shake him free. “Victoria, I’m saying things all wrong. Maybe…”

They both turned when they heard a squeal of joy from the little girl, but it wasn’t anywhere near Victoria. In a perfect moment of terror, Zorro saw the toddler racing across the road after a cat at the same instant a cart was bearing down on her. The next thing he knew, he had the fragile child in his arms and the cart plowed into his back before he managed to get out of the way.

He frantically ran his hands over the girl’s limbs, murmuring words of comfort to the crying child while he made sure she was alright. Vaguely he heard the driver of the cart run up and start apologizing, and then Victoria was lifting the little girl into her own arms and holding her close. He managed to stand with the man’s help, and was glad the plaza held no soldiers, because pain was starting to kick in after the initial rush of adrenaline.

Expecting to see happiness or gratitude on Victoria’s face, he frowned because she looked angry and near tears. “Victoria, she’s alright.”

“You called her by her name,” Victoria accused softly as she tried not to let fear and concern take over. Zorro accepted his crumpled hat from the driver and tried to figure out what she was talking about. “Thank you for saving her. I never told you her name. You know us, but I do not know you. Please leave before someone notices you are here.”

“Victoria, I’m not leaving with you angry. We can go back into the kitchen and talk,” Zorro tried to bargain with her. He stumbled a bit and the man bent to help him stand.

“You need to go to a doctor,” the driver said.

Zorro had no hope of reading the storm of emotions in Victoria’s eyes. Victoria turned and saw soldiers spilling out of the cuartel. “Forget it,” Victoria said, pleading now. She was angry with him and hurt, but she didn’t want him captured. “Please get away. Unless you want to tell me who you are so I can come make sure you are alright.”

Zorro watched her for several moments and ignored excited calls to arms from the alcalde. He finally took a deep breath to whistle for Toronado, but his lips were numb and no sound came out. The chill in her eyes as she looked at him had turned his entire body to ice. “I just wanted to see you,” Zorro said. Victoria stepped back as Toronado raced in to the rescue without being called, and the driver was kind enough to give Zorro a boost into the saddle.

When he got back to the cave, he was glad Felipe wasn’t around. His mask, hat, gloves and sword were discarded in a trail to a cot he’d set up against one wall. He fell into it and lay as if he were dead. Seeing Victoria with that child… Would their son have his blue eyes? Would their daughter like to cook like Victoria or be a fighter like him? Now he wondered if it would ever happen. He almost hoped the pain in his chest would kill him and put him out of his misery.
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Conquering Fear