A Family Twofold

by iceangelmkx

The optional sequel to "Tranquility." During a trip to Palaven, Garrus thought that the smuggling bust operation he was asked to help with would be simple and straightforward. However, a discovery during the bust would not only shake Garrus to the core, but could also potentially change his and Shepard's lives.

A/N: Hi everyone! Welcome to the short sequel to Tranquility! You don't necessarily have to read Tranquility to read this story, though it may reference the prequel here and there. Also, I know I said I would have this out 'some time this summer.' Well, a few days after summer is better than no post at all.

For those who have read Tranquility, this story is a bit darker than its prequel was. The next couple of chapters after this one will reflect that. If you want to know the details before reading those chapters, do not hesitate to PM me.

Enjoy the story!

---

Chapter 1 – Arrival in Palaven

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are now beginning our final approach towards Cipritine. We ask that you remain on board during docking procedures until given the all-clear."

Palaven came into view as the civilian ship began its final approach towards Cipritine, the planet's capital. It wasn't all that different from Earth, though there was definitely less blue... and a lot more radiation.

Standing by the window in a private room on the ship, the former Commander Shepard took in the sight before her. "I forgot how nice the view is," she said aloud. "Remind me again... when was the last time we were on Palaven?"

Behind her, her turian mate, Garrus Vakarian, was going over their luggage to make sure they had everything. "Not long after Solana gave birth to Lukus," he replied, referring to his sister and nephew respectively. "That was... almost a year ago. Has it already been that long?"

"Yup," Shepard said. "As I've said before, dear; the older you get, the faster time flies."

"Uh huh," Garrus grumbled. "And why do humans say, 'time flies' anyway? I keep imagining a wall clock flying across a room every time you say that."

Shepard chuckled at that thought before she shrugged. "Beats me. We've been saying that phrase for ages."

Garrus shook his head, though the way his mandibles flared out from each side of his face indicated his good humor. "You humans have a lot of strange sayings."

Shepard snorted. "And how long have you been around me?"

"Let's see," Garrus started as he scratched his chin with a gloved talon. "We've been living together for the last two years. Before that, you spent most of the previous year in the hospital, then we worked together on and off during a three-year period. That makes it about six years now."

Shepard's eyebrows shot up at that. "Six years? It's been that long already?"

"Why?" Garrus said as he eyed her. "Did time 'fly by?'"

Shepard rolled her eyes, but her lips turned into an amused smirk. Then it faded just as quickly. "In a way, but I also feel like we've known each other much longer than that."

Garrus walked over to Shepard to join her at the window. The ship they were on had just broken through Palaven's atmosphere, but neither them paid attention nor noticed the close-up of Garrus's home world. Instead, they stood close and looked into each other's eyes in silence before Garrus reached for Shepard's cheek and brushed it with one talon. Shepard's eyes fluttered at the touch and she leaned into it a little bit instinctively.

"It does, doesn't it?" Garrus soon agreed. "And it's been a hell of a ride, hasn't it? Even with the peace we've had for the last two years."

Shepard nodded. "Yeah. It has." She then grinned. "It makes you wonder what else is in store for us."

Garrus leaned in closer so that his mouthplate was barely an inch away from Shepard's lips. His free hand wrapped around her waist while the hand stroking her face moved to cup her cheek. He gazed at her with steel blue eyes filled with longing, love, and adoration.

"Whatever it is," he murmured softly. "We'll find out together."

Shepard smiled warmly, already feeling good about the two of them exploring the future together. She leaned in closer to Garrus and her lips just started to touch his mouthplate when the ship suddenly shook violently. Enough force sent the two of them stumbling sideways into the middle of the room. Garrus managed to keep himself and Shepard, who held onto him for dear life, from falling onto the floor.

The ship shook a bit more before all was calm again. It was another few seconds before the intercom turned on. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We apologize for that mishap, we ran into an unexpected pocket of strong turbulence. Please remain as you were until all docking procedures are completed."

Garrus let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Oh... good. Glad that wasn't an attack. Imagine that... us discussing the future and then, BOOM! It's over." He looked down at Shepard as he gently rubbed her back. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Shepard replied before she pouted. "I was just thinking how Joker would've never let that mishap happen on my ship."

Garrus chuckled at he patted her back. "I know you miss your favorite ship and pilot. And last I checked, the Normandy is under Vega's command now since the Alliance promoted him to Lieutenant Commander and gave him his own team."

Shepard groaned a little. "Yeah, well... the Normandy's still my baby even though she's all grown-up now."

Garrus laughed. "I wonder what EDI would've thought of that."

"Something tells me she's already aware."

Soon, the civilian shop docked into Cipritine Port and it was another fifteen minutes before the passengers started to disembark. Shepard and Garrus were one of the last to leave. Since they only plan to stay here for a week, their only luggage were their own backpacks and a very large wheeled suitcase that Garrus pulled behind him.

The couple walked slowly primarily to accommodate Shepard's lingering injuries. Although she was walking a bit faster and longer these days, her legs and hips still needed to work with the rods and bolts that kept them together thanks to the bones breaking and shattering at the end of the Reaper War. To this day, Shepard still couldn't remember anything after the death of her mentor, David Anderson. Sometimes, she wondered whether or not that was a blessing.

Shepard's days on the field were pretty much over, but her new job as an N7 Advisor for the Alliance was fulfilling in its own right. She was still a soldier in a way, but was still helping others, mainly new and current N7 recruits. It kept her busy and she mostly spends her days working at home with an occasional trip to either Rio de Janiero or Vancouver.

Garrus himself was still an advisor for Palavan's Primarch, Adrien Victus. They wouldn't be seeing Victus for this trip since he'll be off-planet meeting with politicians on Eden Prime, but the Primarch hoped to stop by their home on Earth soon.

Soon, Shepard and Garrus past through customs and retrieved an enviro-suit and sunblock for Shepard to protect her skin from the planet's radiation. Once that was done, they headed to the commons area where Garrus's father, Castis Vakarian, was waiting for them.

Castis met them halfway before he outstretched a hand towards Garrus. "Welcome home, son," he greeted as the younger Vakarian shook his hand. "How was the trip?"

"A little shaky at the end, but fine otherwise," Garrus answered.

Castis flared his mandibles in amusement. "I'm not surprised. It's been very windy here today." He then turned his attention to Shepard and they both shook hands. "How is everything, Shepard? Hope Garrus here hasn't caused too much trouble lately."

"All's well," Shepard replied. "And lately, Garrus has been peachy." The older turian gave her a perplexed gaze and Shepard quickly realized that he didn't catch what she meant. "Peachy," she explained. "It means 'good.'"

"Ah, I see," Castis said. "Well, let's get going. Xarius is eager to see you, Garrus."

They began walking out of the commons and towards Castis's skycar. "Only Xarius, huh? Not Solana or even Lukus?" Garrus asked with a tilt of his head, a habit he picked up from Shepard over time.

"Of course your sister and nephew are excited to see you, even though Lukus is still too young to remember much," the older turian answered. "But your brother-in-law mentioned wanting to ask you something important. Xarius won't go into details, but I suspect it has something to do with the current criminal case he's working on with his team."

That got Garrus curious. "Do you know anything about the case he's working on?"

"Not much believe it or not," Castis responded. He then lowered his voice so only Garrus and Shepard heard him. "But the gist of it involves a potential smuggling ring. He won't even say how close he is to cracking the case nor why he wants to talk to you about it."

"Guess I'll find out soon enough," Garrus said.

Soon they were in the skycar and headed to the Vakarian home. "Oh, by the way," Castis started when they were halfway there. "Be careful around Lukus. He's still teething and will bite anything within reach when he feels like it, including your limbs."

"Oh, fun," Shepard uttered with a wince, knowing how sharp even baby turian teeth can be.

"Don't worry, Shepard," Garrus said with a grin. "I'll protect you from my nephew trying to bite off your tissue-thin human skin."

"Uh huh, very funny," Shepard grumbled.

"Well if it helps," Castis began. "He bit his doctor's arm during his last check-up and that doctor is a salarian. Left nasty-looking marks, but he didn't break the skin. We've been working on stopping him and distracting him with teething toys, but well... easier said than done."

"That's... comforting... I think."

Garrus chuckled. "You'll be fine."

Finally, they reached the Vakarian home. Already, Solana, Xarius, and Lukus were waiting for them by the front door. Solana held Lukus in her arms and Xarius waved at them as they got out of the car.

"You made it!" Solana called as soon as Shepard and Garrus reached them.

"Welcome back," Xarius greeted as he shook Garrus's hand followed by Shepard's. "How was the trip?"

"Aside from the turbulence we hit," started Shepard. "Not bad at all. How are you two?"

"Good," Solana answered. "I'll finally be working at the hospital again in two months. What about you?"

"My walking got a little better since we were last here. Other than that, same ol', same ol'." Shepard gazed up at Garrus and noticed the pride on his face as he looked at his nephew, who's crest was beginning to grow since they last saw him at just a month old. The sight of Garrus interacting with Lukus, for some reason, made her heart swell.

"Well hello there," Garrus said to the young turian, who stared up at his uncle from his mother's arms with curious green eyes. "Looks like you got bigger since I last saw you. Pretty soon, you'll be learning to snipe like Uncle Garrus and then kick ass like Aunt-"

"Ahem!" Solana coughed. "Language, Garrus."

Garrus cleared his thoat. "Eh... sorry."

"Can he even understand that?" Shepard ended up asking.

"I'm not sure, but I'm not taking the chance," Solana replied.

"Come on," Castis encouraged as he headed towards the front door. "Let's head inside."

With that, the five adults, and baby Lukus in Solana's arms, headed inside the Vakarian home. Shepard and Garrus headed up to Garrus's old bedroom to bring up their belongings before rejoining the rest of the family in the living room downstairs.

"Shepard," Solana started as soon the former Commander and Garrus were downstairs. "I'm making a simple casserole for us for dinner tonight. Unfortunately, it's not dual-chilarity. I did find something at the market for levos, a frozen dinner called a... 'pyz-za?'"

Shepard smiled as she realized what Solana was trying to say. "Pizza," she corrected. "That's usually the popular choice for humans."

"Oh that's a relief to hear," Solana said. "I'm especially happy to hear that pizza is a popular human dish."

"Except now I'm curious to know whether or not the pizza has any toppings besides cheese," admitted Shepard.

"Toppings?" Xarius asked with a tilt of his head.

"Oh yeah, that's how we customize our pizza," Shepard explained. "The standard is usually either pepperoni and cheese, or just plain cheese. Other toppings you can add are mushrooms, spinach, sausage, ham, anchovies, chicken – which is better with a barbeque sauce instead of tomato sauce. There's been this nearly two-century-long debate amongst humans over whether this fruit called a pineapple should be even considered a pizza topping. Some say 'yes.' Others say, 'it's an abomination of mankind.'"

Solana chuckled. "That sounds like a silly thing to debate over."

"It is silly," Shepard agreed. "Especially considering how this debate has lasted much longer than most human wars in the past three centuries combined. Something tells me this will last until the end of time."

"Which side are you on?" Xarius ended up asking.

"Well I, personally, hate pineapple, so I can't really say whether it'd be good on pizza or not."

"If it wasn't for my amino acids, I'd try that just to see which side of the debate I should take," said Garrus. "What does it taste like?"

"From what I remember," Shepard replied. "It's a mixture of sweet and tart. It also leaves behind a prickly sensation in your mouth because it contains an enzyme called bromelain, which actually breaks down protein. In other words, the fruit is slowly eats the inside of the mouth."

Shepard wasn't surprised when all four turians gave her a horrified look. "The fruit... eats you back?" Castis uttered.

"Yeah, but it's such a small amount that sometimes you hardly notice it unless you eat a lot of it. And once it's inside the stomach, the enzyme is digested, so it won't eat our insides or anything."

"That's a relief," Xarius said.

"Speaking of food," Solana started as she got up and passed Lukus to Xarius. The little turian began to chirp a bit as he grabbed hold of the edge of his father's cowl. "I'm going to start dinner. It should be ready in about an hour."

"Sounds good," Shepard said.

Later, after dinner was over (and Shepard discovered that the pizza in question had pepperoni on it), Castis volunteered to clean up the kitchen, encouraging his kids and their mates to relax tonight. While Shepard and Solana, taking Lukus with them, decided to settle on the porch outside to chat about what they've been up to for the past year, Garrus went with Xarius to the small office upstairs, finally getting the chance to talk about whatever case Xarius wanted to talk to Garrus about. The two men sat down in the only two chairs in the room. Xarius sat at the chair next to a desk while Garrus sat on a lounge chair across from his brother-in-law.

"So," Xarius started once the two of them were settled. "Want to dust off your C-Sec badge and join me on a smuggling bust tomorrow morning? 'Just like old times,' as they say?"

Garrus laughed. "Yeah, according to Shepard, that's apparently my 'motto.' After 'calibrations.'"

It was Xarius's turn to laugh. "Yeah, Solana mentioned something about 'calibrations' some time ago to me when she and I first met."

"Well, I'm sure you would've heard it out of my mouth sooner or later."

"That is true." From there, Xarius became serious. "Anyway, in case you were wondering, I'm asking you to join me on the bust because I know you have a lot of experience with this sort of thing during your C-Sec day. Plus, even though we have plenty of man-power for this bust, it turns out that it's a little bigger than we though. We need just a few more with experience on the team, even with a small team from Blackwatch joining us. That's why I came to you."

"Sounds like a big deal if Blackwatch is involved," Garrus mentioned. "That explains why Dad didn't know the details. I thought that was a little unusual."

"Yes, usually I keep Castis in the loop, especially when I need advice, but in this case and under my chief's strict orders, we need to keep a tight lid on it since we can't afford to let anything leak out. Only those who will be involved in the operation are in-the-know."

"I don't blame you for not mentioning it to Dad in that case," Garrus agreed. "Since you mentioned that it was a smuggling bust, what merchandise are we talking about here?"

"According to intelligence, illegal drugs and weapons," Xarius explained. "All in crate boxes of various sizes to be send through a private spaceport on the east end just outside Cipritine. The transport is bound for Omega."

Garrus groaned as he placed a hand over his forehead. "Omega... it's almost always Omega..."

"I'm pretty sure you're aware that once any illegal merchandise passes through Omega, it makes it that much harder to retrieve them for evidence, let alone bust the culprits. Speaking of the culprits, the smugglers weren't in uniform, but we were able to ID three individuals – two turians and a batarian. All three are confirmed members of the Blue Suns, and all have outstanding warrants out for their arrest by C-Sec."

Garrus sighed, finding himself remembering not only the ten men he lost during his Archangel days on Omega, but also how the Blue Suns' former leader had used a gunship to fire off the rocket that scarred his face. "Well... no need to try to further convince me. I'm in."

"Excellent," Xarius said. "I'll send you the files with more information through an encrypted channel on your omni-tool. In the meantime, here's the gist of what's been planned for tomorrow – Currently, we have an undercover investigator as well as a few hidden spies watching over the private port in case of any immediate changes that might affect the operation. We know for certain that the transport with be departing for Omega around one-hundred hour. the team will meet up at the Cipritine Police Station at sunset tomorrow night to discuss the plan and each operator's assignment. A small team from Blackwatch will be meeting up with us as well. From there, we'll be heading over to the port to sweep in, arrest the culprits, and retrieve the merchandise for evidence. Obviously, there's a lot more detail to that as you know."

"It sounds like a good old fashioned bust, that's for sure," Garrus answered. "How many are we expecting to arrest?"

"At least twenty, hence why the operation is a little bigger than we though, especially against myself and my team of eight," Xarius replied. "But there may be more involved. And, of course, a few might manage to evade arrest simply by not being there at all due to good timing on their part."

"That's hopefully the worst of it and everything else goes as planned."

Xarius nodded in agreement. "That's what we always hope at times like."

Garrus leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. "You sure your team will be all right with me joining on the operation. I mean, granted I have the experience, but I'm still a stranger to them."

"You have nothing to worry about," Xarius assured him. "First of all, I'll be escorting you so it's easy for everyone to know right away that you're with me. Of course, I'll explain why you're there once we're all at the meeting point. Besides that, not only does everyone know that you fought alongside Shepard during the Reaper War, but you're also one of the most respected turians in the hierarchy, especially as an advisor to the Primarch. Your work at C-Sec would also show your experience in this type of operation if anyone looked at your records. That alone will give them confidence in your abilities."

"They'll probably also notice that I'm not exactly 'by the book' like my father was," Garrus pointed out.

Xarius's mandibles flared out into a grin. "Yeah, Castis did mention that to me."

Garrus rolled his eyes, feeling a tinge of annoyance he hadn't felt since working under his Dad during his C-Sec days. "Of course he would..."

"Hey," Xarius spoke up. "I know it's been mentioned that I'm by the book as well, but to be honest, it's because of the stupid politics game I'm forced to play, especially now with a bondmate and a son to take care of. I hate it as much as you do and, hopefully, politics doesn't get in the way after this bust is done and over."

"Especially if those we arrest tomorrow end up going free for whatever reason," Garrus grumbled.

"As far as I know, no one's corrupt enough to negotiate like that with the Suns," Xarius explained. "The worst of them, from what I've heard according to some of my deputies, were killed during the Reaper War."

Garrus huffed at that. "I guess that's one good favor the Reapers did for us."

"Maybe. But if for some crazy reason they go free due to politics, maybe the Primarch can help?"

"I'm not sure that would work," Garrus replied. "I mean, I know Victus would work with me the best he could, but he can still be overruled by some hierarchy loophole."

Xarius sighed with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Yeah, it was just a thought. But anyway, right now our focus should be on the operation. We'll worry about the aftermath of it at a later date."

"Agreed," Garrus said with a nod. "Just send me the files and I'll read up on them tonight after Shepard goes to sleep. Knowing her, she'll push for details, especially since she knows that you wanted to talk to me since we landed here."

"Just tell her what I told Solana and Castis – promise to talk about it in full as soon as the case in over. To us, that's the point when all the criminals involved in this smuggling operation are thrown in jail."

Garrus nodded. "I agree."

As Xarius began to send the files through an encrypted channel, Garrus's mind remained on tomorrow night's smuggling bust. The plan seemed easy. Meet up, plan everything, get in, surround the port, arrest the smugglers. Easy enough... but those thoughts only served to remind Garrus, from his own experience as both a C-Sec officer and working under Shepard, that any straightforward plan like this usually didn't go as easy as it should've been...