Criminal Case Fandom Events

“It’s a bit weird. Y’know, it’s my first time in America, and now I’m meeting your family for the first time. I mean, my first time meeting you in person wasn’t too long ago, and you met my family then.” Michelle Clayton-Scott commented as she and her partner, Cherri Arrow-Shepherd, walked through the woods to where Cherri’s family were currently situated.

“Hey, there’s a first time for everything,” Cherri playfully nudged their partner, “But I think our family dynamic is a bit simpler to understand compared to yours.”

“Uh-huh, and how many adopted siblings do you have again?”

“…Four…”

“And how many of them look like you?”

“I mean, Felix and I kinda look alike. To be fair, the bar is low. He’s the only one I share a skin tone with…roughly anyways, but I did dye my hair to look kinda like Gwen, and I’ve taken style inspiration from Hope.”

“What about…oh, what was the other guy’s name…Luke?”

“Oh, Luke? I guess growing up adopted by two dads is something we have in common, although I think he calls them his “foster dads”, so I don’t know if he was actually adopted. Anyways, we’re here now.”

Cherri pushed both of them through a bush to reveal a small campsite. There were four different RVs, one of which was their own, that they shared with Hope. Two men, one muscular and bald wearing a blue apron and t-shirt and one wearing a red sweater and missing one of his arms, sat at the campfire, waving at the two as they approached.

“Hey, Pops. Hey, Dad. This is my girlfriend, Michelle.” Cherri introduced the two men as they and Michelle both sat down on a bench.

“Ah, I’ve been wondering when we’ll get to meet her,” The bald, muscular man smiled, extending a hand for Michelle to shake, “I’m Ben Arrow-Shepherd, and this is my husband, Jacob Arrow-Shepherd.”

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Michelle grinned widely.

“I’ll call the rest of the group when I’m finished cooking dinner. For now, both of you kids, just relax and enjoy the fire.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Please, just call me Ben.”

“That is like half of one of my dad’s names, so no, thank you.”

“Oh, you have two dads yourself?” Jacob, the man in the red sweater, cocked one eyebrow as he took a sip of his beer.

“Yeah, I do. They’re actually in the city right now, meeting up with one of my dad’s old coworkers. I call them my aunts and uncles even though they’re not really my aunts and uncles.”

“Don’t worry about that. Cherri does the same with Priya and Zander.”

“Did someone call my name?” An Indian woman with long, brown hair emerged from one of the campervans wearing a yellow top and a white coat.

“Sorry, Aunty Priya, we were just talking about how Michelle calls her dad’s old coworkers her aunts and uncles, and Dad pointed out how I do the same with you and Uncle Zander,” Cherri explained, a little flustered by Priya’s sudden appearance.

“Oh, your girlfriend’s here. I never knew that. Zander, come say hi.”

A man with black hair and a matching leather jacket emerged from the same campervan as Priya did. The couple then sat beside Jacob to enjoy both the warmth of the campfire and the conversation that was happening.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Michelle. We’ve all heard so much about you over the…how long have you two been dating again?”

“Two years. We started dating around the same time I started high school, remember?”

“That’s right. Now, I remember. What about you, Michelle? Are you in high school as well?”

“Yeah, I’m actually doing my last year of my GCSEs next year. I’m considering whether or not I wanna do my A-levels afterwards.” Michelle explained.

“I’m assuming your GCSEs are similar to our SATs?”

“I’d say so. I don’t really know much about the American school system.”

“It is pretty much the same as the SATs.” Cherri clarified.

“See, this is why I love your kid. They’re so much smarter than I am.” Michelle chuckled, nudging Jacob playfully.

“Hey, you might not be the smartest academically, but I’m sure you've got some other smarts,” Ben reassured her.

“I mean, history is pretty much my passion. I love learning about ancient civilizations and how people used to live back then.”

“Oh, so I’m sure you’d get along well with Felix.”

“Well, I actually hope I can get along with everyone here.”

“Speaking of which,” Ben stood up straight as he removed the hot dogs from the grill in front of him, “Hey! DINNER’S READY!”

Once Ben finished his sentence, several people came out of the campervans. Michelle could recognise some of them, but others were a bit more unfamiliar. Another couple sat on the empty bench opposite Ben and Jacob, while a boy who came out of the same RV sat next to Cherri. Hope, pretty much the only one she recognised given that she and Cherri shared an RV, sat next to Priya and a man in a wheelchair pulled up beside the new couple.

“Michelle, this is Gwen and Pierce and their son Arthur, who’s the same age as us. I’m sure you know Hope since we share an RV, and that over there is Felix.” Cherri explained, pointing to each person as they sat down.

“Wow, that’s certainly a lot of people.” Michelle chuckled nervously as she took her plate from Ben. She took a look at it, noticed the hot dog and baked potato, and moved the hot dog onto her partner’s plate.

“It’s not as much as your family. Remind me of how many- hey, what’s wrong with the hotdog?”

“Oh, nothing. I just forgot to mention that I’m vegetarian.”

“That would be my fault, actually, but since that's the case, here.” Cherri grabbed their baked potato and put it on their girlfriend’s plate.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, I’m sure Pop will throw on another baked potato if we need it.”

“I think two hot dogs is enough food for you, Cherri, especially with the lunch I heard the two of you had.” Ben laughed.

“Yeah, I had a big lunch. You didn’t have much, though, Michelle.”

“The salad was the only thing I could eat,” Michelle jokingly whined, “Besides, I’m sure all this potato will fill me up.”

“Oh, trust me when I say Ben always gets the best potatoes for whatever the time of year is.” Felix, the man in the wheelchair, chuckled as he picked at his potato with a fork.

Michelle turned to look at Felix and almost fell out of her seat. She was not expecting him to be missing almost everything below his hips. She tried to collect herself, which elicited more laughter from Felix.

“Girl, you’re fine. You can ask if you want.” He responded, throwing his head back in laughter.

“Oh, okay…so…what happened to you?” Michelle asked, feeling bad for asking but feeling somewhat comforted by his approval.

“Got chomped on by a lizard man when I was in college. Y’know, normal college stuff.”

Michelle laughed along with the joke about his backstory before she slowly realised that he wasn’t exactly joking about the “lizard man” part. She looked at Cherri for an explanation for what exactly was happening.

“Guys, I…I haven’t exactly…explained everything to Michelle.” Cherri looked around, a little flustered.

“Cherri, what’s going on?” Michelle asked, confused.

“Michelle, I…I need to tell you something. You see, supernatural creatures like werewolves, vampires, and even demons are all real. That’s actually how I got the scars on my face, and my dad lost his arm and his wife. Don’t worry, though; not all of them are bad. Priya and Zander are both werewolves, and Pierce is a vampire. Oh, um, Hope is also a demon, but she is the one who killed the demon queen back in the day…or so I’ve been told.”

Michelle froze for a minute there. She could not believe this. This had to be a joke, right? She was just being pranked. Surely, the camera crew would come out of those bushes any minute now.

But there were no camera crews. There was no one pointing and laughing at her for falling for a silly prank. There was a sombre silence, indicating that this wasn’t a joke. The only thing she could muster up was a small “oh” in response.

“Don’t worry, kiddo,” Jacob scooted over to their bench and put his stub of an arm on her back, “That’s a completely normal reaction to finding this out. Most of us have had that reaction at some point, and most of us have lost something because of the supernatural. You’re lucky to figure this stuff out on your own.”

“Is…is it just an America thing or?”

“From what we know, there tend to be supernatural creatures all over the world. An old friend of mine was from Romania.”

“An old…supernatural friend of yours?”

“Yes, he was a vampire.”

“W-wait, aren’t vampires supposed to be immortal?”

“Not if you chop their head off. That’s what I threaten Pierce with sometimes.” Gwen joked.

“Do you actually?”

“Nah, I love him too much to do that to him.”

“Well, erm, this is certainly an eventful evening. D-don’t worry, I’m not leaving, but…thanks for telling me all of this.”

“As I said, it’s best you know now before something happens to you.” Jacob reached over his other arm and gave Michelle a pat on the shoulder.

“True, I don’t know what I’d do if Cherri got killed on the job.”

“Oh, they’re not allowed on the job since their face got slashed. Not until they’re an adult, at least.”

“I can still defend myself if someone attacks me,” Cherri stuck their tongue out at their dad, “Anyways, pops, any chance I can get another baked potato?”

“You’re not full after those hot dogs? Alright, one more baked potato coming right up. Anyone else?” Ben sighed, getting up from his seat and stretching.

“I’ll take one, sir,” Michelle spoke up before remembering Ben didn’t like being called Sir.

“What’s on the agenda today, dear?” Armand Dupont asked, sipping his tea as his boyfriend, Rupert Winchester, walked into the kitchen.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that both Amir and Jesper are returning to work today. Therefore, I have to look after Harpreet today.” Rupert replied, filling his mug with coffee and rubbing his nose bridge.

“Well, I wish you luck with that. If you need me, you may find me in my library.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“You’re-“ Just as Dupont was about to finish his sentence, a loud crash was heard from the hallway.

“DUPONT!” Dupont’s former coworker, Elliot Clayton, frantically burst through their front door with his daughter, Michelle Clayton-Scott, in tow, “Sorry for interrupting, but Amaya’s having another breakdown. Benjamin’s trying to calm her down right now, but I think we might have to take her to the hospital. Can you watch Michelle?”

“Of course.” Armand smiled, pretending as though he wasn’t just making fun of his boyfriend for taking care of a baby.

“Thank you so much. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

The door closed, and Rupert immediately burst out laughing. Armand gave him the side-eye but knew full well that it was just karma at this point.

Armand got up off his chair and made his way over to the toddler who was standing in his hallway, slightly confused as to what exactly was going on.

“Good morning, Little Michelle.” He smiled, trying to soothe any worries she may have had.

“GRANDPA!” Michelle's face lit up as soon as she realised it was him, giving him a big hug.

“Oh, careful, careful. You know you little ones can be a bit rough on my old bones.”

“Grandpa!” Michelle ran into Dupont’s library, eventually returning with a book, “Book!”

“You want me to read to you?”

“Yeah!”

“Alright, but how about we wait a little while? We have someone else joining us later.”

“Who?”

“Well, it’s a baby. More specifically, Grandpa Rupert’s grandchild, Harpreet.”

Michelle stood for a few minutes, attempting to pronounce the baby’s name herself, but ultimately gave up and stomped away. Armand gave a little smile. He could tell which father she got her stubbornness from.

He caught up with the toddler as she was sitting on the couch, looking up at Rupert with the occasional glance down at the oxygen supply attached to his nasal cannula. He knew the young child must be curious, but he found history easier to explain compared to biology.

After about five or so minutes of awkward staring while Dupont finished his tea, Rupert got up to answer a knock at the door, taking the oxygen supply with him. Michelle got off her seat, making Armand assume she would be following Rupert, and walked over to him, tugging at his shirt.

“Hm?” He answered, putting his mug in the sink.

“Why Grandpa Rupert have a box?” The toddler enquired, tilting her head like a confused puppy.

“Oh, it’s because he needs oxygen.”

“What oxygen?”

“It’s the thing we have to breathe in to keep us alive. Grandpa Rupert can’t take it in properly, so he needs a little extra help.”

“Wow,” Michelle replied, seemingly losing interest, as she quickly saw Rupert with the baby and immediately rushed over to see it.

Rupert and Armand both watched as the toddler awkwardly climbed up onto the couch, receiving a little bit of assistance from Armand. She then crawled over a little bit to peek at the baby over Rupert’s arms. Once she was up there, Armand had a little clearing to sit himself down, taking the book Michelle had picked out to read while doing so. As the toddler noticed, she began to turn her attention away from the baby and towards the book being read to her.

“Now, let’s see what you picked out for us today,” Armand had a look at the cover of the book, “Ah, the Stuart Period. I see you’ve taken an interest in local history. A fine choice, I must say.”

The toddler simply smiled in return before climbing up to peek at the book as her adoptive grandfather read it aloud to her.

However, this peaceful time would be cut short as the quiet reading was interrupted by Harpreet crying.

“Oh, my apologies. I was warned that her diaper had only been changed once today.” Rupert explained, leaving the room with the baby in tow.

Armand chuckled and nudged Michelle, “I’m glad your fathers never got me to change your diaper when you were a baby.”

“Why?” She inquired.

“Well, one of your fathers works from home, so he didn’t really need me to babysit you.”

“Oh. Is that why you babysit me now?”

“N-no, dear. It’s just that you’re a bit too big to go places like the hospital now. Your fathers are afraid going there might affect you for the rest of your life.”

“Why?”

“Because I know at least one of your dads is very protective of you.”

“Why?”

“He doesn’t want you to be affected by your childhood in the same way he was.”

“Why?”

Armand tried to hold back a hearty laugh, “Well, I feel that you’re a bit too young to understand that. Even so, I don’t believe it’s my place to tell you. If you are so curious, though, I will tell you this – not everyone is fortunate enough to have good fathers like you do.”

“Did you have a bad dada?”

“No, I didn’t. I had a very caring father. Now, shall we resume our reading about the House of Stuart?”

“Hm…yeah!”

---

Rupert could definitively tell you why he never had children, and he had just experienced every single one of those reasons in one day. He has spent pretty much every minute of the day running around the apartment, trying to keep Harpreet clean, fed, and entertained.

Now, he finally caught a break after finally getting the baby to sleep. She would only sleep in his arms, but he didn’t care as long as she was asleep. He walked into the kitchen, where Armand and Michelle were both fast asleep on the couch. He sat down gently, trying not to wake any of them.

Maybe he should take a nap himself while he still could.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, Rupert felt a small shake on his arm. He opened his eyes to see Michelle looking up at him.

“Oh, Michelle, I thought you were asleep.” He sleepily smiled at her.

“Can I hold the baby?” Michelle asked him, pointing at Harpreet.

“Hm? I’d usually ask her fathers for permission, but I think it’d be alright. Just be careful; she’s only a little baby.”

He gently lowered Harpreet into Michelle’s lap, keeping support of the baby’s head in case it dropped. He kept a gentle hold of her the entire time, afraid of what might happen if Michelle accidentally let go.

He watched as Michelle gently held Harpreet. The toddler smiled and cooed as if trying to communicate with the baby. Of course, she was asleep, so the communication wasn’t quite getting through. He saw a little sparkle in the toddler’s eyes, and it wasn’t just the lighting in the room. He almost felt comfortable enough to let her go, but he still wasn’t quite sure.

“Grandpa Rupert?” Michelle looked up at him yet again.

“Yes?”

“Um, when…um…Ha-Happy’s daddies coming back?”

“Oh, they’ll be back soon. Amir finishes work at five o’clock, and it is…four thirty.” Rupert almost cried hearing Michelle’s attempt at pronouncing Harpreet’s name.

“How long can I hold her?”

“Well, if you want, you can hold her until Amir gets back. That should be about forty minutes.”

“Can you hold her if she cries?”

“Of course I will. For now, though, she’s sleeping, and she seems very comfortable with you.”

“Yay! I like that she likes me.”

“I’m sure she’ll grow up loving her big cousin.”

“Who?”

“You, Michelle.”

“Oh. I’m gonna be the best big cousin ever! Even with Auntie Marina and Uncle Jonah’s baby!”

último día de la week,, quería agradecer por el apoyo a mis dibujos, me pone muy feliz eso!! gracias a todoss <33

CONTEXTOO todo hcs

los papás de benjamin son john scott y teresa herrera!! john es británico de londres y teresa argentina de santa cruz,, se conocieron en buenos aires cuando ella estaba de viaje de egresados y él justo fue de vacaciones al mismo lugar

john es pelirrojo y quiere un nieto igual porque no pudo con su hijo, los genes de teresa fueron más fuertes :v

fun fact: los nombré así a ambos por esta canción de arjona 😭 ELLA SE LLAMA TERESA Y ÉL SE LLAMA JOHN

BUENO CONTEXTO DEL GRUPITO DE BENJA

son 4, arthur roscoe, matthew dunn, lowell calingwood y benjamin scott (xd) tienen todos la misma edad menos lowell que es un año menor, calculo que benja es el mayor del grupo.

se conocen porque benja entra al colegio y se hace amigo de arthur, este ya era amigo de lowell y arman un grupito, después se une matthew al ser amigo de lowell!! aparte jugaban todos cricket así q xd

Another day, another empty letterbox.

Rupert checked his calendar. He wasn’t used to waiting this long for a letter. At this point, it had been several weeks since he sent his last letter. He knew it wasn’t an issue with the postal service; his colleagues had been receiving letters from friends and family abroad with no problem. He would usually pass it off as his boyfriend being busy, but that seemed unlikely at this point. He hadn’t taken this long to write before, and it wasn’t like the Bureau had too much work for him. Rupert had even seen his colleagues on the news, though Armand was nowhere to be seen in the photos and videos.

He closed the letterbox and was about to head up to his apartment when a familiar hand was placed on his shoulder.

“Yo, Rupert,” Amir Devani, Rupert’s apprentice, smiled at the older man as he turned around, “One of David and Alex’s old coworkers is here. She used to work for the Bureau; isn’t that awesome? You should join us.”

Once Rupert heard the Bureau being mentioned, he instantly agreed to meet her. He needed answers as to why Armand wasn’t answering his letters. There was no guarantee she would know anything about what was going on with him, but it was worth a shot.

---

The majority of the Grimsborough Police Department was crowded around Grace, asking her a flurry of questions regarding her work at the Bureau. If Rupert wanted to get closer to her, he knew he would have to wait.

However, his patience was growing thin. He needed to know what was going on with Armand. He needed to know if he was still alive or even just busy with work or travel. He silently begged for an opening, a way for him to get close enough to ask her some questions.

“GRACE!” Amir called out, “I GOT A FRIEND HERE WHO WANTS TO MEET YOU!”

Grace got off her seat and walked over to Rupert. He started mentally preparing himself to ask her the question. He just needed a few words. He couldn’t mess this up.

“I hoped you’d be back, Amir.” Grace smiled warmly at the lab assistant.

“Yeah, I just need to get old Rupert here out of his apartment.” Amir nudged his mentor playfully.

“Good afternoon, Miss Delaney,” Rupert extended a hand to shake, “I’d like to ask you a question about a person who works at the Bureau if you don’t mind.”

It was a bit wordier than he had intended, but at least he had gotten his point across.

“Oh, well, out of what I know, I’m the only one from Grimsborough. There was a member from England, but I doubt you’d have any interest in a teenager.” Grace explained, trying to figure out who he was talking about on her own.

“He’s not from England. He’s Swiss, actually. His name is Armand Dupont. Would you happen to know how he’s doing right now? Even where he is at the moment?”

“Armand Dupont…” Grace’s face fell upon hearing the name, “Rupert, I am so sorry.”

Don’t.

“It may be best for us to talk about this in private.”

“No, it’s alright.” Please, don’t say it.

“Alright, if you say so…”

Please, it can’t be.

“I’m sorry, Rupert, but Dupont…Armand…passed away.”

No.

“He was shot in the chest during a confrontation with a criminal. They managed to remove the bullet, but his body couldn’t take the surgery.”

No.

“He died the same night we accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. I wish he could’ve been there with us, but…”

No. No! NO!

“Thank you for the information, Miss Delaney,” Rupert said, brushing past everyone else as he left the room.

Once he left the room, Rupert felt as though the floodgates were about to burst. He rushed himself somewhere private, his laboratory and closed the door before collapsing to the ground. Tears started flooding down his face as he curled up in a ball on the floor.

He couldn’t believe this. It couldn’t be true. His love couldn’t be dead.

Was it wrong that he didn’t want to believe that anything was real anymore?

---

How long had he been on this floor?

Rupert didn’t know how long he had been crying on the floor. For all he knew, it could be anywhere between five minutes and five hours. He couldn’t get up. His legs felt like jelly anytime he tried. Even using the table didn’t help. He just kept falling back down to the floor. It was as though he was trying to climb his way out of a hole, but he kept sliding back down to the bottom.

He still couldn’t believe the news. He still didn’t want to believe the news.

Did he have any choice?

A knock at the laboratory door. He didn’t have the strength to open it himself.

“Come in.” He called out, not bothering to try to get up again.

The creak of the door and then the clicking of heels filled the room as Grace approached him.

“Sorry to bother you.” She began, her face solemn.

“It’s fine; I’ve just been sitting on the floor for…I’ll be honest, I have no clue how long it’s been now.” He sighed, burying his head in his hands.

“I just thought I’d find you to give you this.”

Rupert looked up to see that Grace was handing him a folded-up piece of paper. He took it from her, unsure if he should unfold it.

“I found it when we were clearing out Dupont’s library. I thought the address seemed familiar, so I decided to keep it on me in case. It seemed important.”

“Thank you, Miss Delaney,” Rupert gave her a weak smile, “I mean it. Thank you.”

“Of course. Feel free to call me if you need anything else.”

Rupert nodded as he watched her leave his laboratory. He finally mustered up the strength to pull himself up onto one of the chairs in his lab. He got up, turned on one of the table lamps and took a deep breath before unfolding the letter.

My dearest Rupert,

I’m writing to inform you that I have received your last letter. However, there is more I wish to tell you.

I miss you. I have this horrible feeling that I may never see you again, but given that we will be in America sometime soon, I hope to have the opportunity to see you again. I miss sitting next to you as we read books and occasionally told each other about our interests.

Even if we never meet again, I hope that you know that I love you.

The letter ended there. Incomplete, but even just seeing the handwriting again made Rupert tear up.

He had been so afraid – afraid that Armand had fallen out of love with him, afraid that he had become too busy for him, afraid that losing his love was going to be the same as him losing his life.

In actuality, his love was alive. Sure, he had physically passed away, but his spirit lived on in this letter.