Disclaimer: I do not own From Dusk 'Til Dawn, nor am I gaining profit from this story. These characters belong to the authors of their original creation and their re-imagining.

Notes: Scott spends some time with his sister and isn't always thrilled with how those two are fascinated with Kate. This chapter... I'm not super sure about it. I think the Fuller sibling interaction works, but I watched the first couple episodes like a dozen times. I'm open to thoughts.

This story has also taken on a very personal meaning for me now. I lost my Grandfather earlier this month, so some of this piece is going to be easier to write and some of it harder. Either way it is helping me heal. I cannot thank you guys in this community enough for being so supportive.

Die by Dawn:Pass On A Tradition

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Her screaming was so intense that he was certain his eardrums were going to start bleeding. She was thrashing uncontrolled, her spine arching, as her hands gripped at the sheets. "It's so hot!" Tears poured down her cheeks and he could barely hold her down. He realized that the Geckos had abandoned them, instead threatening the white-blonde Culabra with flowers braided into her hair.

"What the fuck did you do to her?!" Seth pulled a stake from one of his pockets and Richie already had the girl by the throat.

"N..N..Nothing that should have hurt her." The girl trembled; Scott could practically taste the fear pouring out of her. "I..I…I'm sorry. I don't normally treat humans. I only looked into her mind to see how the damage was caused. Any pain she's feeling…I…She shouldn't be in pain. It wasn't my intention...I don't cause harm. "

"I think, you did this on purpose…" Richie pulled his blade from his pocket.

Kate screamed again, Scott held onto her, trying to not to hurt her, but she was in so strong with the adrenaline racing through her veins. Her pupils were blown, somewhere between terror and agony. "Scott, please, hel...help me."

Scott lost his cool, and screeched at the other two men. "You idiots, she didn't do this on purpose. She's scared out of her mind." Neither of them moved, but they both looked at Scott, who continued, "Kate wouldn't want you to hurt her."

Seth reacted first, separating Richie from the snake healer and shoving her out of the hotel room. Richie paced over to Kate and helped Scott hold her down.

"Please, please, make it stop." Kate hiccupped. "…it…it hurts."

Scott remembered the sounds that Kate made when she died and this was worse. Anger was one thing, but her begging… Kate was all strength; she didn't beg, even when she was afraid. "Kate, we're gonna figure out how to help you. It's gonna be okay." He gripped her hand with his right hand and grabbed Richie's wrist with the other. "Tell her she's not in pain."

The younger Gecko hesitated looking at his own hand, third eye appearing, then at the crying Kate.

"Do it, Richard." Seth barked, "Can't be any worse than this." Seth grabbed Kate's other hand and tried to comfort her, "Easy, Princess, we got ya. Stay with us."

"I'm burning." She whimpered. "It's too hot."

Richie laid his hand on Kate's forehead, "You aren't in pain, Kate. This pain is an illusion, you just need to rest." She continued to thrash for another minute and Scott saw tears in Richie's eyes. Was he feeling what Kate was? "Kate, you need to listen to me. This is a nightmare; you aren't in any real pain. Just rest and when you wake up, you won't even remember this."

Suddenly her body went limp and Seth took her pulse nodding. "She's out for sure, but her pulse is strong. Think she's gonna be okay…Whoa, Richie, are you alright?"

Scott grabbed Richie as he wobbled on his feet. "Dude, you're burning up."

"I'm fine. She's got a strong soul." Richie cleared his throat. "I just need to sit."

Seth moved and let Richie sit on the bed next to Kate, "You relax. Scott, go check on the…the whatever she is out there. I gotta take a walk." Seth stormed out the door.

"Are you kidding me?" Scott scoffed and looked at Richie, who still looked a little out of it.

"Just let him go. He takes off; it's how he deals with shit." Richie dismissed and moved on the bed until he was laying down next to Kate, "He'll be back."

"That is my sister." Scott's voice was deadpan, just not liking the aesthetic in front of him.

Richie arched an eyebrow under his glasses. "Your point?"

"Just…" Scot was exasperated; did either of these idiots understand personal space? "Just don't do anything, okay?"

"Don't get all papa-bear on me, Scott." Richie yawned. "I'm not the Gecko that spent three months bouncing around Mexican motels with her. I'm just tired, I wasn't kidding about her soul being strong. Go check on Chu'si before the sun gets too high and she burns up."

Scott wasn't too happy about being dismissed, but complied. All things considered he was the best choice to go talk to the girl. He opened the door and winced at the bright sun, thankfully it wasn't high enough in the sky to be a problem, yet.

Chu'si was cowering against the outside wall, still terrified. Scott motioned for her to follow and opened the door of one of the other rooms. Abandoned motels had their perks, plenty of space. He helped her sit down on the bed, "Are you okay?"

She nodded slowly, her fingers rubbing over the La Diosa pendant that hung from her neck.

"What happened?" He questioned. "I thought you could help her."

Chu'si shook her head, "I can't. I thought I could, but I can't. I'm sorry for your sister, I truly am. All the souls she touched are still a part of her, for better or worse."

.:.

Scott woke up shaking his head to clear the dream away. At least his subconscious had a new favorite memory to put on replay, seeing Kate die over and over again for months had eaten away at him. Now he was waking up to either the memory of finding out she was sick or the failed attempt to help her. At least there was some variety to his nightmares.

He stretched and blinked, the curtains blocked the direct rays of the sun, but not all of the light, giving the room an eerie yellow glow. He had gotten here hours before Kate and Geckos, in fact, he had gone and got groceries after exploring the house and grounds thoroughly. He'd gotten quite a tongue lashing from Richie, after he admitted that he got in by breaking a window, but he rolled his eyes and reminded Richie that his upbringing hadn't included lock-picking. Of course he'd been quickly informed that Kate was a natural at picking locks and maybe he just needed to apply himself.

The place was definitely set up for a Lord of Nine, fully stocked, with well, everything, even a panic room in the basement. If you were looking for it, it was probably in a room somewhere. He should get up, he didn't always sleep the day away and he wanted to spend time with his sister.

Scott could smell coffee and decided to see who was up at eight. It didn't surprise him that that it was Kate sitting at the kitchen island, sipping from an oversized coffee mug. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, but she was tugging at an errant lock, her eyes looking at something on the counter.

"Morning." He bumped into her as he walked by, glancing at the 3x5 notebook.

Her smile was sleepy, but happy. "Good Morning." She tapped her coffee cup, "There's coffee in the pot, Jamaican Blue, Daddy's favorite. I was so surprised to find it, but there's like a million different coffees in that cupboard."

Scott shook his head, "I never got a taste for the stuff." He grabbed a glass and poured himself a glass of tomato juice.

"Really?" Kate arched an eyebrow.

"What?" He shrugged, "Mom and I used to drink it with a tablespoon of apple-vinegar in it, every morning."

"Ugh." She wrinkled her nose, "Gross. Why would you drink that?"

"I don't know. We liked it, it was our thing."

"Still gross." She motioned for him to sit on the stool next to her, "I need you to help me with one of the things on my list."

"Oh." He winced; he didn't want to think about her list. He didn't want to think about why she had a list in the first place. He nodded finally, realizing that she was waiting for an answer. "Yeah whatever you want."

She sighed, "That's gonna get old. I told Seth that last night after we came inside. It was so late, like three in the morning, I think. I don't know why I'm up already. "

"It was one. You forgot the time change."

"Huh." She mused out loud, "I'm all screwed up."

"If the shoe fits." He teased before recoiling from her nails, as she pinched him, "Ouch. Watch the talons."

"Be nice and you won't get pinched." She smirked and retied her ponytail.

"So what am I helping you with?"

She held up the notebook and pointed to one of the lines, written in her handwriting. The list seemed to alternate between Kate's delicate cursive scroll and Seth's chicken scratch.

"I'm surprised Seth let you have that. Isn't it tethered to one of his pockets?"

"It's my list." She defended, before sipping her coffee, "Plus he was still sleeping when I grabbed it."

Scott rolled his eyes and ducked away from another swat of his sister's hand.

"Anyways, we are going to take care of one of these this morning. I want to pass on a tradition." Her smile brightened, almost mischievous. "So you are gonna learn to make Curl-Your-Toes French Toast."

"Oh, Gram Fuller's recipe." He got her smile now. Gram Fuller was a little on the crazy side. He only had a couple of memories of her. One memory was of her making this French toast, with Kate, after he got shooed out of the kitchen and the other was of her telling him about her days as a roadie for REO Speedwagon. He always thought that his father might have been a little embarrassed of some of Gram's wild stories.

"Yup, she taught it to me and I'm gonna teach it to you. As long as you got everything on the list." She stretched her arms over her head.

"I did; I wondered what some of that stuff was for." Truth be told when he was grabbing the groceries, fake ID completely needed for some of the Gecko add-ons, he'd wondered if this wasn't what Kate had in mind. "Are we gonna make enough to share? I mean Richie doesn't really need to eat that much and Seth lives on coffee and whiskey."

"They both like to eat, Seth's a sucker for a good steak or burger and Richie loves anything with almonds or sweet potatoes." She knew a lot about them; well she had been traveling with them for about two months. "We'll both make a batch."

"That doesn't sound like they're French toast people."

"Bite your tongue, I don't know anyone who didn't fall in love with it after they tried it." Kate stirred her coffee and set the spoon on the counter.

A thud at the side of the stairs got the siblings attention. Seth descended the last few steps, hair standing on end and no shirt, but, thank god, actual pants. The Geckos, on top of having zero concept of personal space, weren't big on modesty either. And Scott really tried not to think about those facts when he thought about Kate traveling with them.

"You want coffee?" Kate asked. Seth grumbled under his breath, no real audible words, but he took Kate's cup from her lifting it to his own lips. "Oh, that's got creamer in it." She warned him. He sipped it and handed back to her immediately, his upper lip curled as he went to retrieve his own cup.

"Rude." Scott remarked and Seth ignored him.

"He's not awake yet." Kate chuckled, "If there is anything I've learned traveling with Geckos it's that you don't talk to Seth before he's had his first cup of coffee."

Seth gave Kate a thumbs up, then regarded Scott, over his cup coffee, "What the hell are you doing up anyway?"

"Good Morning to you too, Asshole." Scott growled.

"Is this how you wanna start…"

"No." Kate cut Seth off putting her hands up. "We are not starting anything this early. Scott and I are going to make breakfast and you need to make yourself scarce."

Seth arched an eyebrow, silently questioning Kate.

She slipped off the stool she was sitting on and explained, "I'm passing on a secret recipe, so unless you became a Fuller last night, shoo." She motioned towards the stairs with her right hand.

"A little early to be getting ejected, Seth." Richie caught Kate's outstretched had and kissed her knuckles. "You making our Sweet-Kate mad already this morning?" Richie laughed; thankfully this Gecko had the decency to be wearing clothes.

"I've had exactly two sips of this coffee." Seth growled. "It is too early for all of your shit. Why the fuck are you even up?"

Scott scoffed, "He thinks we need to sleep all day."

"He never listens or pays attention for that matter." Richie rolled his eyes. "I'm awake because of the coffee, it smells amazing. You want to grab me a cup; or are you gonna bitch about it?"

Seth poured a cup, "You want cream and sugar in it too, Holly?"

"Holly?" Scott questioned as Richie flipped Seth off.

"Holly Go-Lightly, Breakfast at Tiffany's." Kate explained to intercept another impending fight.

Seth handed Richie a cup and reached for Kate's, "You want a refill, while I'm playing wait-staff?"

"Please." She handed it to him and looked at Richie, "You're both getting removed from the kitchen. I'm teaching Scott a secret Fuller breakfast recipe."

"Awe, Kate, don't keep secrets from family." He pouted.

Kate shook her head, "Sorry, Curl-Your-Toes French Toast, is a Fuller only recipe, but you do get a homemade breakfast out of it, so no griping."

The Gecko brothers exchanged a look, before Seth cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, what is this recipe called again?"

"Curl-Your-Toes French Toast." Kate stirred the coffee that Seth gave her and sipped it. "It was our Gram Fuller's recipe. She worked with a band before Daddy was born… Radio or Rider…"

"REO Speedwagon." Scott interjected before she could make it any worse. "And she was a roadie. How could you forget all the cool stories she told us about that?"

Kate rolled her eyes, "I remember Daddy cutting her off from telling the stories more than the actual stories."

Richie chuckled and motioned for Seth to follow him. "Come on let's check out the media room, see if they've got any decent movies."

Seth nodded and Scott watched him rub Kate's shoulder as he walked by her. He could still hear the brother's talking as they ascending the stairs. Seth first, admonishing Richie that he still needed to call Kisa about them staying there and Richie firing back that he'd do after sunset. He also heard Richie reminding Seth that Fuller siblings probably wanted to spend some time with just each other. Kate was already opening cupboards and pulling down the tools they'd need to start making breakfast.

"I was thinking we'd make hash to go with it. You want to start cutting up the peppers and onions, while I peel potatoes?"

He chuckled and pulled the items out of the fridge. "You just don't want to cry."

"I've done plenty of that the last few days." She rinsed off the potato peeler and handed Scott a knife. "Cutting board is in the skinny drawer next to the stove. We need a trash can."

"I think it's under the sink." He pointed out, Kate was facing away from him and he watched her shoulders rise and fall with her deep breaths. "Kate…"

"I'm okay, Scott. It just sneaks up on me sometimes." She gripped the sink and tried to choke down her sob.

Scott walked over and wrapped her in a hug, letting her cry into his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Kate. I wish I could…"

She shook her head against him and her fists gripped his shirt. "I just need a minute."

It wasn't fucking fair; she shouldn't have to deal with her impending death. She deserved a break. From sheltered girl, to hostage, to whatever she was with Seth, to Culabra hunter, to murder victim, to puppet for an evil queen, and finally to bank robber/honorary Gecko; Kate didn't deserve this. She already sacrificed herself, already made this walk. To find out her body was going to fail her, it just wasn't right. Seth had been the one that called and told him about Kate. By the time he'd gotten to the hospital, they had run Kate through all sorts of the tests and scans and she was sitting calmly in a bed, looking out window at the Del Rio skyline.

.:.

She turned and looked at him before he even said her name and opened her arms to gather him up in a hug.

He started to cry, didn't even care that he was crying. He held onto to her, whole body shaking. When she'd died in front of him he couldn't mourn her and when he'd gone back for her body it was gone. He hadn't let himself grieve; instead he buried the memory and tried to forget everything. When she'd reappeared as Amaru, it was knife straight to his heart; how many times did he have to watch her die?

"Just one more time and bonus no evil queen to steal my body this time." Her voice was soft as she rubbed his back, he didn't even realize that he asked the question out loud.

He pulled away from her sharply, incredulous look plastered on his face. Did she think this was a joke?

"Richie didn't think that was funny either." She handed him a tissue to wipe the tears away.

"Where the hell are they?" Suddenly realizing that the lizard boys had left Kate alone.

"Richie is talking to the doctor about treatments and Seth was here, but he was angry, so I told him to go cool off." She picked at the hospital bracelet.

"When is Seth not angry?" He knocked her hand away from the bracelet, "Don't pick at that."

"I'm the big sister you know." She smirked, before admitting, "I'm worried about you. I don't want you to be alone."

"I've been there before." He looked away, but she turned him back to face her.

"Scott, this isn't your fault."

"How long?" He hadn't wanted to ask, but part of him just had to know.

She bit her lip, before answering. "Depends, there's this treatment that if it works I'll have like four or five years, but if not it'll be closer to two years." She gripped his hands tightly. "It'll be okay. I mean, I'm not scared. I just wish I could be there for you."

"You don't need to worry about everyone else. It's okay to be selfish for once." He squeezed her hands back and ventured the question that had been on his mind for over 400 miles. "Maybe we think about…" He trailed off, but he knew she got his meaning when she shook her head and tears leaked from her eyes.

"After everything that I did as Amaru…" She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I just couldn't live like that. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." He hugged her again. "I just don't want to lose you, again."

"I know."

.:.

Her breathing was choppy for a few more minutes as he held her silently, finally she drew in an unsteady breath. She moved away from him and wiped her eyes, before washing her hands. He handed her a towel and the two stared at each other for a long beat. "You know what really sucks about this?"

"Everything." He answered plainly.

"Well yes. But honestly, it's trying to figure out what I really want to do. There are things I know I can do and that I want to, but there are also things that I know I can't do, like get married and have kids…" She trailed off, peeling the first the potato, "And honestly I don't know if those are things I actually want or if it's a remnant of something I wanted in my old life."

"You know it's only been eleven months since the Twister." He started chopping the first of the peppers.

"Feels like a lifetime."

"Kinda has been." He tossed the pepper seeds in the trash. "Remember when Mom didn't scrape out the pepper seeds and Dad wouldn't eat the hash?"

Kate laughed softly, "She was mad for days. I don't think our house was ever that quiet. You hid in my room."

"Hey, Mom never got mad, so when she was mad, it was scary." He started on the onions ignoring the burn of his eyes.

They were silent for a few beats; the only sound in the kitchen was rhythmic chopping. "I want you to go back on the road."

"What?" He stared at Kate in disbelief.

"Music is your dream, it makes you happy." She answered continuing to prepare the potatoes.

"Yeah but, Kate, I mean it can wait."

"No." She barked, handing him one of the potatoes to chop and looking him in the eyes. "I do not want you putting this on hold for me. I've got time and we've got time. I'm not even letting the Gecko's off the hook. We are not putting our lives in a full stop because of a stupid timeline, that could change. Besides, one of the the…" She looked back to the counter where her list should have been, but it was gone. "He's gonna protect it like the Hope Diamond." She commented disbelieving, before finishing her thought, "One of the things on my list is to see you perform with your band. I can't do that if you stop."

He fidgeted slightly then sighed, "Okay."

"Good." She smiled brightly and patted his shoulder, getting a guilty look, "Oops. I just got potato juice on your shirt."

He smirked and returned the favor wiping his hand on her face.

"Eck, Scott!" She squealed and grabbed a paper towel. They put the hash on the stove and Kate started barking orders as they got out the ingredients for the recipe. They were laughing and picking on each about everything.

"How did you end up being the cool one?" He asked suddenly.

"Huh?" She was whisking the eggs in her bowl.

"Well, I mean I'm touring with a relatively successful rock band, but you… You're a bank robber." He just couldn't help laughing again over the situation.

"Bonnie with two Clydes." She added a tablespoon of vanilla to her bowl and handed him the measuring spoon and bottle. "Don't worry, I'll be careful. I know how the movie ended."

"Like either of them would ever let you get hurt." He reminded her.

.:.

"Holy shit."

"Come on, Seth, you can't refrain from swearing to express yourself once in your life?" Richie rolled his eyes at his brother as he took bite of the breakfast, before exclaiming, "Holy shit."

Kate and Scott exchanged a silent high five and flashed identical smug smiles. "Can I have my list please?" She requested of Seth, who handed it over and took another massive bite of the French toast. She flipped through the paged and handed Scott the tiny pen, Seth kept in the spine of the notebook. "Can you cross that one out for me?"

The table was silent for a beat, as he lined through: Pass on a tradition. He looked up at other pair of siblings, "I'm not making this for you two ever again, so unless you can con her into it, this is the last time you're ever getting that. So I'd enjoy it."

They flipped him off in perfect synch and Kate's laughter echoed in the kitchen.

Seth took a sip of his coffee and asked finally, "So what's the plan for today, Princess?"

Kate yawned, "A nap, first of all. Maybe on the beach? And watch the sunset later?"

Scott finished his bite, "There's a fire-pit on the beach. We could have a fire and camp out tonight."

Her eyes lit up, "Yes! We just need to grab hot dogs and stuff for S'mores."

"Already got it." He grinned, and grunted as Kate hugged him tightly, "Hey, what are little brothers for?"