A/N: I know I'm still introducing characters, but there won't be too many more. Also I think I'm going to do pictures for all the fandoms. I did one so far for DOA, which shows Tina Armstrong, Kasumi, etc. Also, just a warning, even though I've added people, there will still be character death.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Wellington Arms

All of the other groups had returned from their separate runs, and now were milling about trying to find which group they belonged to. There were six groups starting to form, seven if you counted the ones staying behind. Nerves were running rampant, and the taste of anxiety filled the air. One of the most important rules they'd established from the beginning was being broken; pregnant women were going on a supply run.

Group One was going to the reality beginning to crumble into dust. Buffy was in charge of Group One; Cordy had 'seen' it. She was taking Tina, Rachel and Nora with her, for slayer support, NCIS Agent Jethro Gibbs, FBI SSA Aaron Hotchner, Graham and Gunn, for hunter support, and Marcus and Draco for Wizard support. Dawn would be their Witch. Buffy hadn't wanted to take the Wizards, but Cordy said their magic would be really amped up in the upcoming reality, and even in their own reality it was fairly the same.

Group Two was heading back to Miami, and Faith had taken the task with pleasure. Leaving the Arms meant killing, and that was right up Faith's alley. Faith had Kasumi, FBI Agent Jennifer JJ Jareau and Roller Derby girl Bliss Cavendar with her for slayer support, Oz, Derek Morgan, Sam Axe and Michael Weston for hunter support, Ginny Weasley and Theo Knott for Wizard support, and Kit was her Witch.

Group Three, led by Rona, was heading to Los Angeles. Her slayer support was Christie Allen, Mia Toretto, who had lived in LA, and NCIS Agent Ziva David. She was taking Connor, Dean, Sam and Brian O'Connor for hunter support, Fred and George Weasley for Wizard support, and Carlos was her Witch.

Group Four was being led by Vi, and was heading to New York. The slayers going with her were Helena, Brittany and police officer Juliet O'Hara; her hunters were Jordy, David Rossi, NCIS Agent Callen and NCIS Agent Hanna. The Wizards going with Vi were Tonks and Charlie Weasley. Her Witch would be Andrew.

Group Five would be led by Caridad and they were going to Vegas. Her slayers were Ayane, Remy Hadley, NCIS Agent Kensi Blye and Kate Beckett. The hunters going out with her would be Alex Donovan, Jack O'Neill, Teal'c and Bass Armstrong. Her Wizards were Luna Lovegood and Blaise Zabini, and her Witch would be Fran Rowan, teacher at the New York High School for Performing Arts. Willow had been working with the woman and she was a natural at portals and shields.

The last group going out, Group Six was Kennedy's group. Her group would be the group with the expectant mothers. Her group would be heavy with slayers, perhaps untrained, but slayers none the less. The group would also be heavy with hunters. The expectant mothers going out were Samantha Finn, Hermione Granger, Quinn Fabray, Anita Sanchez and Elizabeth Burke. The slayers joining the group would be Alexis Castle, police officer Grace Russell, Maxine Denver, Michelle Welton, Denise Dupree, Temperance Brennan and SSA Emily Prentiss. The hunters going with the group were Xander, Riley, Puck, Finn, Karofsky, police officer Carlton Lassiter, ex-con Vince DeLaurio, NCIS Agent Tony DiNozzo and NCIS Agent Tim McGee. The Wizards going with them were Neville, Severus, Bill Weasley, Oliver, Viktor Krum and Adrian Pucey. Willow would be the Witch for this group, and this group would be going to the Mall of America to clean it out. The Wizards had shown them the ability to shrink items to minute sizes, and this would come in handy.

There were longing looks from different members of different groups, some couples split up to go on different missions. Puck pulled Rachel in close to his body before she could move over to the group going to the different reality. "I just want it to slow down so we can have some time together," he murmured.

She squeezed him back, "I know. I want that too, Noah. I hope you know that. I just want some time to be with you without all this crazy."

He looked down into her upturned face and smiled. "Well, I gotta admit, I sort of got used to handling crazy, being around you and all."

Rachel wrinkled her nose at him, and stuck out her tongue, but then she leaned up and kissed him. "I'll see you soon, Noah. Stay safe."

"You too, Rach," he whispered.

"Keep Finn and Quinn safe."

He saw the worry in her eyes. "I will," he nodded. "I promise."

Tina Armstrong's arms were locked around Xander's shoulders and her mouth was sliding against his in what was a very steamy kiss. When she finally pulled away, they were both slightly panting. "Hopefully, they'll have you back to you're normal color by the time I get back home," the blonde drawled.

He grinned his crooked smile at her as he walked away, backwards. "The green is a lot lighter; I'm not nearly so frog like now."

They didn't speak again, both used to battle and chance. They both knew that they were going out and it was possible they were going to battle. They both knew there was a chance one or both of them wouldn't come back. There were others sharing similar looks; Sam and Kasumi, their relationship fresh and just beginning, much like Tina and Xander, yet shy and quiet in its sweetness, Bill and Fleur Weasley, married with a little one, already survivors of an impossible war.

Rick Castle moved nervously from foot to foot. First he moved to Kennedy. "You'll watch out for my little girl, right?" he asked.

She looked him in the eye and responded, "She's a fighter now, your little girl, but she's also one of mine to watch over, don't you worry about her. She'll be coming home safe and sound."

He knew she couldn't necessarily keep that promise, but he also appreciated that she would make it. Then he moved over to Beckett. Esposito, Lanie and Ryan were already talking to her. "Beckett?" his voice had a strange quality to it.

Kate turned to look at Castle. His face had a pinched look to it and she knew he must be making himself sick with worry over Alexis. "What's up, Castle?"

Before he could rethink, before he could change his mind and make some foolish, yet witty, comment about stopping to gamble while in Vegas, his arms had settled around her waist, and his mouth was on hers. For a moment she stood shocked, not reacting to his kiss, but in almost an instant she relaxed into him, her arms winding around his neck, one hand moving up into his hair. When finally he pulled back he looked at her from half lidded eyes.

"We'll talk about that when you get back, but use that as incentive," he muttered to her. There were cheers and whoops all around them as people ribbed the two.

"Way to go, Dad!" Alexis called out.

Martha beamed, "Now that's the son I raised."

Castle rolled his eyes, dropped a light kiss on her lips and moved away, dragging his mother with him.

Those staying behind, settled back to watch as six portals twinkled into existence. Most held babies or soothed the children who'd had their lives torn apart over the past three days. They waited in the room long enough to watch their friends and in some case family members disappear before turning to head off to their own duties.

House moved into the infirmary, Wilson at his side, to find Cuddy, Rebecca Stroud, Camille Saroyan, Nancy Puckerman and Janet Frasier feeding the incubated babies. There were still a few patients in beds even with the healing they'd received from the Healers. Mostly they suffered from fatigue or malnutrition, and these were things that couldn't be healed. They weren't wounds. The whole thing was fascinating to the diagnostician, but he kept that part to himself.

Rachel, Cuddy's daughter lay sleeping on a cot beside the woman, and a small thin girl with dark hair and dark eyes hovered near Nancy .

"Is that baby gonna be okay, Mama?" the little girl whispered.

"I don't know," Nancy answered truthfully. "They were left alone without anyone to watch over them for a long time in baby time. Babies in general have to have a lot of attention. These babies might not make it, sweetie."

Wilson winced at the honest answer the woman gave the child.

"Think she should've lied?" House snorted as he moved past his friend to look over the baby the nurse was feeding.

Nancy looked up at the two men, knowing they were both doctors. "My kids are gonna hear enough lies in their lives without me adding to them. I'm not gonna tell Sarah that this baby's gonna live, only to have her heart break if he doesn't," she told them, her chin lifting up a bit with defiance.

"Ignore both of them, Nancy," Lisa said tiredly. "I don't even know why they're here."

"We thought we might be able to help," Wilson responded.

"I was bored," House corrected. "Who was the genius who grabbed their charts?" he asked as he read through the baby's chart.

"My son's girlfriend," Nancy murmured waiting for the doctor's response.

"Rachel," Sarah said the other girl's name with awe. "She's one of the new slayers. She kicked butt even before, and she can sing better than ANYONE, and she's beautiful, and the coolest, and when they won Regionals and they saved us from the zombies attacking the bus I was all gunked up, but she let me wear HER shirt from the competition."

House snorted. "Must wear the pants in the relationship."

Sarah sneered, "Puh-leez, my brother, Puck, is a TOTAL BADASS. He could like kick everyone's butt here!"

House looked at Wilson, "I like this kid."

"You would," Wilson muttered.

House put the chart back on the outside of the incubator and looked at Sarah. "Looks like this time it's good news. "This kid's in good shape minus some missed feeding."

The little girl beamed at him, her two front teeth missing, but only making her cuter. "He's a good baby. I think we should name him Isaac."

"Why that name?" Lisa asked from where she sat.

Sarah looked at the woman who was taking care of another of the babies, while her own slept. "Because it means 'He will laugh', and I think this little baby, all these babies, should have a lot of laughter in their lives." This statement silenced the room.

Ken Tanaka stood outside in the sunshine and stared into nothing. This was what his world had turned into… nothing. He'd lost his girl… no, he had to keep reminding himself, HE'D dumped her, not the other way around. He took himself back to his original thoughts. No girl, no home, no job… what was the point of surviving this stupid apocalypse anyway?

He felt something wrap around his calf and freaked out before he realized it was a toddler.

The little boy was obviously mixed race, some blend of Asian and Caucasian, and he grinned up at Ken and chuckled.

"Where'd you come from?" Ken asked gruffly.

"Da!"

Ken's eyes widened. "Nope, not me."

"Da!" the little boy yelled.

"DJ! Oh thank God!"

Ken turned to see a woman in her mid twenties approaching. There was no doubt she was the boy's mother, her long black hair hanging shiny and straight down her back. Her dark eyes were crinkled as she frowned, but even frowning, her face was lovely. She was tall, but still a few inches shorter than he was and she had a womanly, curvy body encased in low slung jeans and a top that showed off her pierced navel.

"Is he bothering you? I am so sorry!" her voice was rushed as she joined him.

The boy, DJ, looked from his mother to Ken and pointed at Ken. "Da!"

She winced, "Sorry, sorry, he's going through this thing, he thinks every guy is his dad."

"Where's his dad?" he asked. "I'm sorry, I didn't think. Did the zombies get him?"

"God, I hope so!" she chuckled. "Actually, no, or I guess I don't know, Dan left us a long time ago. Before Deej was born. It's just me and him. I'm Judy, by the way," she told him and held her hand out to shake.

He shook her hand and then waited for her to wipe it on her jeans, but it never happened. "Ken Tanaka."

"It's nice to meet you, Ken," she smiled at him sincerely as she swung DJ up into her arms. "So, have you found what you want to do around here yet?"

"Not really. I was a football coach previously. Don't really need football coaches."

"No, but you could work with the guys in charge of supply runs to work on defense maneuvers," she suggested. "I work with plants. Love 'em. I'm going to be working over in that area over there that's been sectioned off." She pointed to an area where the weird little elf things had put up a waist high gate. "Maybe grow us some vegetables. Try my best at least."

"That seems really good and useful," he told her as they walked. "I'll bet there's gonna be a lot of heavy bags and stuff for you to lift… I could help with that."

Now Judy beamed at Ken. "That is the sweetest thing I've ever been offered, and I'll take it. Between you, me, Anita, Neville and whoever else helps out, we're going to make this garden amazing!"

Mercedes sat on the stage in the empty auditorium and thought of all her friends that had just headed out to places that could end up hurting them. "I know you're up there," she stared upwards, directing her words to a higher power. "If you weren't then both my parents would be gone, all my friends would be gone, heck, even I would be gone. I know it might be asking for a lot, but, well, I'd really appreciate it if you could take care of my friends that are out fighting to save lives right now. I keep thinking, I should have gone with them, and then I start wondering which one I would have gone with. Sort of hard to believe, right? Not so long ago most of 'em annoyed me, but now, now it makes my stomach ache, my heart cringe at the thought of losing any of them… even Rachel," she smiled wryly. "Girl's crazy, but she certainly worked her way into my heart. Please, please take care of them… all of them." Mercedes finished her plea and lowered her head.

"You think He's listenin'?"

The deeper voice startled Mercedes and she looked up to find one of the boys from New York talking to her. So far it was really only the blonde dancer girl, Alice, who'd copped an attitude with the Glee kids. Mercedes couldn't hear any sarcasm in his question so she answered, "Isn't He always listening? I mean, sure, bad things happen, sometimes really bad things happen, but that doesn't mean He's not up there or not listening."

"Didn't seem like He was listenin' when he took my lil' sister… or when this new Hell started."

"He didn't cause this, human beings did." She watched as he lowered and sat on the edge of the stage near her. "How did your little sister die, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Caught in a drive by."

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I know that don't mean much, but I am. I lost my mom two days ago. I didn't see it, but my dad did."

"I'm Malik, Malik Washburn."

"Mercedes Jones."

Faith was the first through the portal entering the Maternity Ward of Miami General Hospital. Her eyes were moving even as she slid to the side to allow Kasumi, JJ and Bliss through. It was hard for her to believe that this was the only place showing up with life signs. But then she remembered that the signs were fluctuating on Willow. Some would appear and then disappear moments later. Willow wasn't sure if that meant they were dead, zombies or under some sort of shield. Faith had a feeling they weren't the only survivors out there. The military was very good at looking after its own ass.

Oz, Derek, Sam and Michael had moved through the portal cautiously, and she felt confident in their ability to keep themselves out of trouble. The two she was worried about were the Wizarding folk; Ginny and Theo. They came through the portal, both a bit shakily, and Faith wondered for a moment if the magic of the portal interacted with their own magic. Kit was the last through, and she took the normal measures of fortifying the portal and shields around it and her.

"All right people, we're in the Maternity Ward. That means the nursery with those babies are on this floor," Faith announced. "We can't be sure there aren't any zombies on this floor, so watch your back and your partner's back." Then she was silent and they were moving. Faith had told her group unless they were in fear for their lives or found something that was vitally important, they needed to keep their mouths shut and their eyes open. She had to admit she was expecting to have to tell Bliss, or one of the Wizards to shut up, but so far so good.

The group moved stealthily, and listened for any sound, and there it was. It was a thready sound, a baby on the point of exhaustion pouring out its misery in cries. Faith and her crew followed the sound and soon found a blocked off nursery. There was a blonde woman in with the babies; she was dirty and looked as if she hadn't slept for days. She moved from baby to baby, but it was obvious there was too much to do for one woman.

They hadn't come across any zombies yet, and that surprised Faith. Someone had stacked heavy metal desks, filing cabinets and whatever else they could move in front of the doors. Faith tapped on the glass, gaining the woman's attention.

The blonde's head whipped around in surprise and her mouth formed an 'o' as she saw them. Faith wasn't too keen on making noise, so she gave the woman the thumbs up sign and she and her team got to work moving stuff away from the doors.

That's when there was a hiss and something slammed into Bliss, knocking her to the ground. Suddenly it wasn't just Faith's team in the hallway any more, but also a group of four zombies. The zombies weren't acting like the zombies they'd come across previously. It was almost as if these were thinking creatures. As what was once a Latino man threw Kasumi into the wall, Ginny and Theo both blasted the creature with green flames that made the thing shriek and shudder; it also turned the creature's attention onto the two conjurers.

Bliss and JJ were working on the zombie that had knocked the younger girl down, and it was turning out to be hard work. Faith had turned to face a red-haired zombie, dressed in Armani and broken sunglasses that seemed to realize she was the biggest threat. He was probably a good lookin' dude when he'd been alive, now his face was covered in both his blood and the blood of his victims; something had torn a long strip of skin from his left cheek. The last creature had been cornered by Oz, Morgan, Axe and Weston, and even though this one was faster, stronger and smarter, they were making short work of it.

Faith had thrown a hard right, cracking the red-head's neck, not that it would stop it, when she heard the screams. The creature had gotten three good hits in on her, claws raking her arms, luckily protected by the leathers they were all wearing, but one of the strikes had hit her face, and she was almost positive it broke her cheekbone. She didn't let the screams break her concentration, instead moving faster, spinning around the man, wrapping both hands around his head and snapping until all the vertebrae broke. Then she ripped his head off.

She only took one breath before turning to see who needed her next. Her heart twisted to see that the Latino zombie, destroyed now, had ripped out Theo's throat. Ginny sat next to the boy's body sobbing. JJ and Bliss were just now shoving a broken IV pole through the head of their zombie a tall brunette man who'd once been dressed impeccably, and Oz and his group had managed to bash in the head of their foe, a bald man in a ripped suit, a badge still attached to his belt.

Purple handprints marked Bliss's neck from where the first zombie had tackled her. JJ had taken a few hits and was limping, and the entire right side of Kasumi's face was purplish-red and swollen. The men had fought with some distance between themselves and their target so they didn't look too bad. Faith moved to where Ginny knelt next to Theo's body. "Ginny, I know this is hard and I know this sucks. It hurts and it's wrong, and there are so many other things that should have happened instead," Faith spoke softly. "But this happened, and in the next few minutes, he's gonna come back as one of those things. And that's scary, Ginny, that's scary because it looks like it's mutating. They're getting faster, stronger and smarter."

"I know," the red-head whispered. "Would you do it? Please?"

Oz moved forward, pulling Ginny away, and letting her cuddle into him and hide her face in his chest. She only jumped once as the sound of the gunshot exploded in the silence.

Faith was grim as she returned to clearing the doorway. "Did anyone get bitten?"

"I did," Kasumi said softly.

"Anyone else?" Faith asked.

Everyone looked at each other, and then those who hadn't been there for the Powers message eyed the Asian slayer.

"Knock it off," Faith snapped. "Slayers, luckily, are immune to the Angelspawn infection. We can die, but the infection can't turn us," she punctuated the sentence by tossing the last desk clear across the room in her anger. She opened the door to find herself facing the blonde holding a handgun similar to her own. "I really don't appreciate coming to save people and having said people point guns at me."

The blonde was an inch or two taller than Faith with dull green eyes. Her face was shadowed and her clothing soiled. "Were any of y'all bit?"

"None of us are gonna turn into one of those things," Faith held her place in the doorway. "We came to save these babies, along with anyone else we found still living."

Tears began to pour out of the other woman's eyes. "We work forensics. When everything started going to hell we headed here, H's son was in for surgery… it was Eric who remembered the babies. Everyone was changing around us too quickly. We were all going to fortify ourselves in here, but then they got bitten. Before they lost who they were, I was in here and they shoved everything they could in front of the doors. I've been tryin' to take care of these babies for days; I'm not sure how good I'm doing. There were two in NICU and they didn't make it."

"How many babies are there?" Morgan asked the woman.

"Six."

"Well, let's get you and these babies back to HQ. We got doctors there, as well as food, shelter and clean clothes," Faith promised.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Faith."

"She's one of the good guys," Sam Axe spoke, for once sarcasm lacking in his speech.