01x09 - Gaslight

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Tyrant". Aired: June 2014 to September 2016.*
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Bassam "Barry" Al-Fayeed, the younger son of a Middle East dictator, is reluctantly compelled to return to his home country (the fictional Abbudin) along with his American wife and children.
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01x09 - Gaslight

Post by bunniefuu »

Previously on Tyrant...

Jamal: I don't really like being president.

I would walk away from all of this.

Barry: That situation that you wanted me to handle...

It's done.

Jamal: Thank you.

Katerina: Are you getting the plane ready?

(shriek)

Barry: There will be no peace in Abbudin with my brother in power; he has to be removed.

John: So you want to have a coup, oust your own brother?

Yussef: Many of us have dreaded the day your brother took power.

Barry: What is this place?

John: Just a haven for weary travelers.

Lea: Lea Exley.

The coup's got about a week between inception and execution.

Barry: And what about the money and the media?

John: Hakim Bata.

Barry: Do you really want to bet your family and your country on my brother?

Molly: Then we all just go back?

Barry: Just you, Jenna and the kids.

Molly: No, we're not going without you.

Why would you stay here if Jamal won't even be president?

There's nothing you can do.

Barry: Molly, I'm taking his place.

♪ ♪

Barry: You should, uh, probably get dressed.

Molly: It's like a bad dream and I can't wake up.

Barry: In three days, it'll all be over, okay?

Molly: Please. Don't make me lie to their faces.

Barry: Jamal's throwing this dinner for our anniversary.

How's it gonna look if I show up alone?

Molly: Tell them I'm sick.

Tell them anything you want, just don't make me do this.

Barry: Molly, at this stage, anything that arouses suspicion...

Molly: And you're worried about your coup.

Barry: I'm worried about our kids.

Ziad: I didn't join in this because I want things to change.

That's not why I'm here.

I'm here because a change will happen regardless of what I want.

And the last man who is ever gonna allow this change is General Tariq.

If you want to move against your brother, you need to remove Tariq.

Barry: Which means removing a hundred-and-something members of his elite guard.

How the hell do we do that?

John: Jamal.

Barry: Jamal?

John: Make him believe Tariq's behind the coup.

Considering how loud Tariq's been about these elections, that shouldn't be too hard.

And we have enough truth working for us to help sell the lie.

Barry: What truth?

John: When Sheik Rashid was comatose in the hospital...

Jamal spent time with a friend.

Katerina.

(scoffs)

Well, add it to the long list of my brother's questionable life choices.

How does that undermine Tariq?

Ziad: I have a recording of a compromising conversation between your brother and this woman, Katerina.

Barry: You've been spying on my brother?

Ziad: For Tariq.

John: (chuckles)

It's a little late to get protective, don't you think?

And before you get all bent out of shape...

Maybe you should listen.

Jamal: Finally! I could eat my foot.

Nunez: Mr. President, tonight I have prepared for you a starter of lemon soup with edible wood cream cheese.

Rapido.

The wood itself is unique. It has a sponge-like quality.

And I have soaked it in honey overnight.

The yacaratiá tree is very rare. It only grows in the inner Parana Forest and is only available in Argentina.

Jamal: Until tonight.

Nunez: si.

Jamal: Nothing but the best for my brother and his beautiful bride.

Nunez: Please, enjoy.

Jamal: Look at us. A double date.

What took so long?

Barry: Well, your plate's been pretty full.

Jamal: Ah.

Never too full for family.

Leila: Are you all right, Molly?

You look pale.

Molly: Uh... (clears throat) I was born that way.

(laughs)

I'm fine.

Everything's wonderful.

Barry: Mmm, yeah, it tastes of, um... tastes of lemon.

Jamal (recorded): That's good, because I don't really like being president.

I don't think it's good for me.

(sighs)

I'm not very good at it.

Katerina: I don't think that's true.

Jamal: What I really want, Katerina, is just to be left alone, to sit on a beach, drink tequila and enjoy the company of a beautiful woman whom I love and loves me.

Katerina: Mmm. Yeah, that sounds good, too.

Jamal: Would you come with me?

Katerina: Stop teasing me.

Jamal: I'm not teasing you.

I would walk away from all of this in-in a heartbeat and never look back.

Have you ever been to the Maldives?

John: This is what we tell your brother Tariq's been spreading to his officers.

Jamal: And just like that, my brother was off the market.

A married man.

Not just married.

Eloped with Molly Olsen.

An American blonde.

Now let me tell you, hearts broke that day in Abbudin.

Remember what you said, Bassam, the night you called to tell me?

You said...

You had found a woman who accepted you for who you really are.

Moralistic.

Self-righteous.

Holier-than-thou.

Leila: Jamal.

Jamal: But also protective. Wise.

And most important: Loyal.

Barry: So we poison the well between Jamal and Tariq.

Then what?

Ziad: Tariq and his elite guard...

Their annual retreat to Wadi Ganoub is in three days.

John: They'll all be in the same place at the same time.

Easy to lock down.

So that's your play.

You have three days to turn Jamal against Tariq.

Jamal: So, to my brother and the woman who makes him a better man.

Want to smoke a cigar with me?

Barry: Sure.

Leila: I can ask them to make you a hamburger.

Molly: What? No.

No, thank you.

I-I'm... so tired. I pulled a double shift at the hospital.

I... I'm still recovering.

I guess I'm not 20 anymore, huh?

Leila: Not to worry.

There'll be many more nights like this.

Birthdays, victories.

More reasons to celebrate together with family.

Jamal: If you can't get away to Cuba...

Bring Cuba to you.

Barry: Hmm.

Speaking of travel plans, this m*llitary retreat to Wadi Ganoub... are you, uh... are you planning to go?

Jamal: And watch them march circles in the sun?

No, thank you.

Barry: Maybe, uh... maybe I should go.

Jamal: You?

Why?

Barry: You know what, forget it.

Jamal: Tell me.

Barry: Well, I was just thinking, um, maybe we should have a presence there, you know.

Eyes and ears.

Jamal: Mm. That's what I have Tariq for.

Why do I need eyes and ears on my own men?

Barry: You're right.

It's nothing.

Jamal: Now I know it's something.

Tell me.

Barry: If some of your own men are... are questioning your fitness to lead, then... then we need to address it.

Jamal: Questioning my what?

Who told you this?

(Barry sighs)

Barry: It was John Tucker.

Jamal: Bring the Amriki here. I want to hear him say this to my face.

Barry: Okay, I'll, uh... I'll set up a meeting for tomorrow morning.

Jamal: No.

Now.

Molly: I feel sick.

I'm trying to see things from your perspective, Barry.

I really am. I mean, I watched you and Jamal laughing, and I tried.

I-I tried to be like that, but Leila kept talking to me about wanting to spend more time with me and the kids, and all I could think was, what's gonna happen to her?

Barry: She will be fine, okay?

They both get asylum in a neutral country. And if Jamal cooperates, they keep their money and their dignity.

Molly: This is a coup, Barry, not the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

People will die.

Barry: Molly, what matters now is getting you and the kids back to the U.S. Okay?

I need you to sit down with John Tucker and go through visas, protocol and the itinerary, okay?

Molly: You know what freaks me out more than anything?

How good you are at this.

How easily this comes to you.

The lying.

Barry: I have to go.

John: (sighs)

I hope this is, uh, worth the ambien I had to spit out to get over here.

What sh*t has hit what fan?

Jamal: What is this about my Generals questioning my fitness for office?

John: You told him that?

Jamal: My brother's got my back.

More than I can say about my so-called allies.

John: No, no, no, no.

We were sh**ting the sh*t.

I had a few too many Abbudin libres, and I repeated something that I obviously should not have in front of... no offense, Barry... an inexperienced civilian.

Jamal: Repeated what?

John: Grumblings and grousing, the stuff of subordinates everywhere.

I thought Barry understood that it was just gossip.

Jamal: Gossip about what?

John: We should speak in private.

Jamal: Listen, anything you have to say, you can say in front of my brother.

John: Well, uh, some rumor about you and a hooker.

I just... I feel ridiculous even repeating this.

(sighs) Um...

That when the Sheik was in the hospital, you were looking to run off with... this hooker to the Maldives or some damn place.

(Jamal laughs)

I told you, it's laughable.

Jamal: Uh...

Who told you this?

John: One of my sources.

Jamal: You mean one of your spies.

Bring him here, and I will deal with him spreading such a story.

John: He wasn't spreading it, he was reporting it.

And I don't burn my sources, Mr. President.

I'm breaking protocol even sharing that much.

It's nothing. It's a rumor that's gonna be forgotten in a week.

Jamal: Well... (clears throat)

Thank you, John.

That's all I need to know.

(sighs, chuckles)

Listen, um...

I wouldn't lose any sleep over this.

Jamal: That will be all.

Go back to sleep.

John: Mr. President.

(door opens, closes)

Jamal: High-ranking officers are using this to discredit me.

Barry: Well, then call in Tariq, ask him directly.

Jamal: No, no, no, no, no.

Barry: Why not? We're talking about his elite guard.

Jamal: Who won't scratch their balls without clearing it with him first.

They wouldn't gossip about me without his tacit approval.

Barry: So what are you saying?

Jamal: Opposing these elections to my face is one thing, but spreading rumors behind my back?

Tariq wouldn't do that unless he had a reason.

(sighs)

Father never trusted him.

He was always looking over his shoulder.

Barry: Look, I'm-I'm sure there's an explanation for all of this.

Jamal: Bassam, you are not the one he is plotting against.

Barry: Jamal, uh, I'm the last person to defend our uncle, but... planning a m*llitary coup?

Okay, I'll, um...

I'll do some digging around, see if there's anything unusual or suspicious. But... don't jump to any conclusions.

Please.

Barry: Jamal's definitely rattled about Tariq.

He's running around checking the Palace for bugs.

Hakim: I may have been followed.

Barry: But you lost them.

Hakim: I think so.

Yussef: You think so?

Ziad: If you were unsure, why did you come?

Hakim: I could be wrong.

John: About having ditched them?

Hakim: About being followed.

Barry: It's all right. Sit down.

Ziad: Is everything in place to jam the internet servers and the cell towers at our m*llitary retreat?

Hakim: All is set.

Now, please, catch me up.

Ziad: Tariq has summoned a dozen tribal leaders.

He plans to recruit them.

Hakim: For what?

Ziad: For his plan to rig the election.

He's basically buying their votes.

Barry: Which we're gonna make Jamal believe is Tariq securing their support for a coup.

Look, we're all nervous. We're all taking a risk, but we're taking it together.

You all right?

Yussef: The bids for the desalination plant have come in.

Jamal: Let me guess, they are too high.

Barry: 'Cause they know you have oil.

Jamal: Tell them they either lower their bids or we accept one, let them build it, then nationalize it and toss them out on their ass.

Anything else?

Yussef: I... Uh...

Jamal: Come on, Yussef, I haven't got all day.

Yussef: It's come to my attention that your uncle has been reaching out to tribal leaders.

As I am official liaison to the tribes, I was contacted by one who was confused about this change in protocol.

Am I being relieved of the tribal portfolio?

Jamal: Not at all.

I asked my uncle, uh, to do this, unofficially, for reasons I can't discuss.

Yussef: I see.

Jamal: I have only the greatest continuing confidence in your service, exactly as my father did.

Yussef: I'm relieved to hear it.

Jamal: So, if that's all...

Yussef: Thank you, Mr. President.

Jamal: Why is Tariq contacting tribal leaders, and why the secrecy?

Barry: I'll find out.

Jamal: I'll tell you why.

To line up their support for my overthrow.

The whisper campaign, now this secret outreach... you still think he's not plotting against me?

Barry: I don't know what to think.

It's probably nothing, but we need to be cautious; we don't want to tip our hand.

I'll press Tucker for his source.

Jamal: I am relying on you, brother.

You are the only one I can trust.

You know that.

(sighs)

Leila: Jamal, what was so important you needed to meet me all the way out here?

Jamal: Did anyone follow you?

Leila: What?

What's going on, Jamal?

Last night you were joking and kidding at dinner, then you went off to talk to Bassam, and then you had the late meeting with Tucker.

Jamal: Shh, shh...

Leila: What's going on?

Uh...

What are you doing?

Jamal: I need to make sure no one is listening.

Leila: Why? We have people for that.

Jamal: No one I can trust.

Come, sit.

Leila: You're scaring me, Jamal.

Jamal: Sit.

Leila: You are being paranoid.

Jamal: I'm being careful, and you should be, too.

Leila: Why? What's happening?

Jamal: We have enemies inside the Palace.

I will tell you when I know more.

Until then, be careful what you say and... trust no one.

Jamal: Bassam, how do you know this isn't part of Tariq's plan, getting me out in the middle of nowhere so he... he can k*ll me?

Barry: Ziad's on our side, okay?

He went to Tucker because he's opposed to what Tariq's planning.

Jamal: Why didn't he tell me?

Barry: He'll explain.

And if you don't trust him, trust me.

Jamal: I trust this.

Barry: See? He's on his own. You can put the g*n away.

Jamal: Wait here.

Barry: Look, let me come with you.

Jamal: No. I need the quiet of my own counsel.

Why should I trust you?

Ziad: It's your choice, Mr. President.

All I can tell you is the truth.

Jamal: Tell me, what does my uncle want with these tribal leaders?

Ziad: He is bringing them to the retreat in the desert, where, either by bribe or force, he will enlist their support for his plan to unseat you and install himself.

Jamal: You have been Tariq's right hand... why not stand with him in this?

Ziad: Look around you.

All of this is ruin of the past.

That's his way.

Your way is about the future.

A future I want for my country, my people, my children.

Jamal: Do you have officers you can enlist... men you trust?

Ziad: I do.

Jamal: How many?

Ziad: Enough to do whatever is required.

Jamal: Once Tariq and his elite guard arrive at the m*llitary retreat, lock them down, at which point, you will assume my uncle's position as head of Abbudin's m*llitary.
(Jenna laughing)

Emma: Isn't that weird, though?

Jenna (laughing): Yeah, so weird.

Emma: I know.

Oh, hey, mom, um, so I'm wearing yellow underwear, I'm in love with my math teacher, and I'm gonna go trekking around the world with aunt Jenna.

(whoops)

Jenna: It's a game.

Emma: It's called two truths and one lie. You do it.

Molly: Jenna, I need your passport...

I have a meeting at the embassy tomorrow to expedite our exit visas.

Jenna: Be right back. (clears throat)

Molly.

Listen, the more I think about going back with you guys, the crazier it seems.

Why can't I just stay? It's not like there's not...

Molly: We've already been through this.

Jenna: You've been through this.

Mol, is there something you're not telling me?

Because you're-you're not yourself.

Is something going on with you and Barry?

I mean, I suck at relationships, but you'd have to be...

Molly: Shut your mouth.

I mean it, Jenna.

We're not in America, so just keep your mouth shut and get me your passport.

Leila: Bassam?

You have to tell me what happened between you and Jamal the other night.

Barry: What makes you think something happened?

Leila: Don't play games with me, Bassam.

Jamal is many things, but he's never been paranoid.

Either you tell me what's going on, or I will find someone who will.

What?

Barry: Members of the elite guard may be plotting against him.

Leila: I don't believe it.

Anyway, Tariq would squash that.

Barry: Tariq's behind it.

Leila: That's insane.

Tariq has promised Khaled he would watch over Jamal.

He would never do this.

Barry: Do you know that?

Leila: I know Tariq.

Barry: Maybe not as well as you think.

Tariq's been questioning Jamal's capacity to lead.

Leila: Based on what?

Don't pretend there's some indignity too great for me to bear.

Not at this point, Bassam.

Barry: The rumor is, Jamal's been with a woman.

Leila: That wouldn't be the first time.

Barry: He was with her that day the Sheik was in the hospital.

Tariq claims to have a recording of Jamal telling her that he never wanted to be president and asking her to run away with him to the Maldives or somewhere.

Tariq is using this to undermine Jamal's authority with his elite guard.

(sighs)

Jamal came to me that day.

He asked me to go with him.

But I laughed it off.

Like some annoyance.

Like I do.

"Be a man," I said.

(panting)

We have to protect him, Bassam.

You and I... we have to protect him from his enemies and from himself.

Barry: Yeah.

Leila (crying): I can't breathe.

(sobbing)

Barry: I'm sorry.

Barry: So, how did we lose Jenna?

Emma: Late night last night, I think.

She's sleeping off the effects.

Sammy: Well, she's gonna miss the beach if she's not careful.

I'm gonna put my suit on.

Barry: Listen, I was thinking, uh, instead of the beach, maybe I could steal you guys for the afternoon and take you somewhere special.

Emma: Better than the beach?

Barry: A Bedouin village about an hour from here.

Sammy: Okay, so not better than the beach.

Barry: It's where your grandfather was born, where you you guys are from.

Sammy: Okay.

Yeah, sure.

Emma: Yeah, I'm in.

Mom, you, too?

Molly: Uh, I have an appointment at the embassy today, so...

It's okay. Have a good day with your dad.

Emma: Okay.

Sammy: All right.

Barry: I'll see you guys in the garage in ten minutes.

(sighs)

You okay with this?

Molly: You should have told me.

It's just one more secret.

(scoffs)

Molly, it's not a secret. It just...

It occurred to me this morning. I thought it was a good idea.

Molly: That what?

All of a sudden, our children are Al Fayeeds?

Barry: They are Al Fayeeds.

Molly: You've denied that their whole lives.

Even when they came here, you brought them as guests, and now they're natives?

Barry: Look, if I can't tell them what I'm doing, then this is my best defense...

To show them their country, what I'm fighting for.

Molly, I don't want my kids to hate me for what I'm doing.

I want them to be proud of me.

I want them to understand.

John: Sorry for making you wait.

We have been on a conference call with the secretary.

That's a man who likes the sound of his own voice.

Molly: Your wife Dana...

She's still at Betty Ford?

John: Day 37, yes.

Molly: I'm guessing she's not the first state department spouse to wind up in rehab.

John: Occupational hazard.

Leaving home for years at time, living from post to post.

There's a price.

Molly: And now it's my family's turn to pay.

John: I should have introduced you. This is Lea Exley.

Lea: Nice to meet you. I'll be handling your security once you're stateside.

Molly: How could you think this was a good idea?

My husband is a pediatrician.

Lea: Your husband came to us.

We didn't go to him. We tried to talk him out of it.

Molly: Not hard enough.

You could have said no.

That might have stopped him.

Lea: Mrs. Al Fayeed, I appreciate that all of this is a little disorienting.

Molly: You have a real gift for understatement.

This isn't disorienting. This is...

(laughs)

John: I'm sorry.

Lea: I, uh, think we should review protocols sooner rather than later.

Our people will meet you at LAX and take you through passport control, and then they'll transport you to a safe house where we'll have security...

Molly: Wait a minute.

What safe house?

Lea: It's just outside Ashland, Oregon. I've never been there myself, but I understand it's quite nice this time of year.

Molly: We already have a home.

Lea: Whether your husband succeeds or fails, you'll be exposed to potential reprisals.

Whatever the outcome, this is your new normal.

And I think the sooner you accept that, the better off you'll be.

Jamal: Tell the tower to authorize takeoff.

Ziad: Proceed with takeoff.

Tariq: Mr. President, what could possibly be so important you felt it necessary to pull me off the plane to Wadi Ganoub?

Whatever it is, can't it hold?

My men are waiting.

Jamal: I promise you, you will get where you need to go.

Air traffic controller: m*llitary transport is wheels up.

En route to Wadi Ganoub.

Tariq: Jamal, what are you doing?

I'm supposed to be on that plane.

Jamal: I've had it explained to me a hundred times, but I still don't understand how something so big, so heavy... can soar through the sky with such ease.

Man... playing god.

Wanting to fly with the birds.

(g*n cocks)

Ziad: General Tariq, you are hereby under arrest for treason.

Tariq: Jamal, what is this about?

I've done nothing.

Soldier: Let's go.

I'm being set up. This is insane.

Don't believe them.

They're playing with you.

Don't be fooled.

Your brother is the traitor.

Jamal, I urge you.

Jamal!

Barry: First cup goes to the host.

Shukran.

Sammy: Shukran.

Emma: Shukran.

So you and Jamal used to come out here?

Barry: Yeah, with my father.

We'd drink tea, listen to the Bedouin tell their stories into the night.

My father knew all of their names.

He knew how many kids they had.

He knew if it had been a good season, everything.

But the thing that I remember most was him laughing.

Always laughing.

Was...

It was not something that we heard very often, but here...

People here laugh a lot.

Once or twice a year, the rains come and flood the bottom of the wash, and everyone rushes down there, and they collect as much of it as they can before it disappears.

I mean, imagine that.

Imagine living without any constant source of water.

That's the amazing thing about the Bedouin.

Even in the desert, they choose land over water.

(sighs)

And my father would look out over this view and say to me, "never forget, Bassam."

"This is where you come from."

I'm really sorry that I kept all of this from you guys.

Sammy: So why are you telling us now?

Barry: It just hit me that you're the same age that I was when I left, and I guess I wanted you to understand before you left that... you guys are not visitors here. You're not tourists.

This is where you're from.

♪ ♪

Emma: Oh, my god. Dad?

Barry: What?

Emma: A plane full of Abbudin elite guard officers just crashed after takeoff.

There are no survivors.

Jamal: My fellow countrymen, it is with great sorrow that I confirm reports of a plane crash resulting in the loss of over two dozen of Abbudin's elite guard.

This is truly a national tragedy.

Investigators are on the scene, probing the cause.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the brave victims.

Barry (quietly): What the hell happened?

John (quietly): Ziad was acting on orders from your brother.

Barry: That wasn't the plan.

John: Well, apparently Leila whispered into Jamal's ear that a roundup was... insufficient.

Ziad couldn't disobey Jamal's order.

It was the only play.

Jamal: But should signs ultimately point to this having been an act of terror...

Barry: Mass m*rder is not what I signed up for.

John: It's not surgery, Barry, it's a coup.

sh*t happens.

Jamal: You cannot terrorize the people of this great country.

I will not allow this or any future v*olence to disrupt our nation's historic march toward democratic reform.

And we're off here.

Thank you Mr. President.

Leila: Excellent speech.

Jamal: Thank you, my love.

Everyone, I need the room.

Cameraman: Of course.

Come, everyone.

Leila (quietly): Thank you, Bassam, as always.

Barry: This is not what we discussed.

Jamal: This way is better.

A lesson to those who would question my rule.

Barry: By k*lling dozens of men and your own uncle?

Jamal: Come with me.

See, Bassam?

I don't m*rder family.

No matter how treacherous.

How traitorous.

So tell me, uncle, how does it feel being inside the cage where you kept so many?

Tariq: This is madness.

Jamal: You know what is madness?

Spreading rumors about me to your men.

Tariq: I didn't.

Jamal: No?

Like the tribal leaders you didn't invite to your m*llitary exercises behind my back.

Tariq: It was for you.

Jamal: Me?

Tariq: Yes.

To buy their support for you.

To guarantee the outcome of this absurd election your brother has poisoned your mind with.

Don't you see what he's doing?

Are you so blind?

Bassam's been wanting to get rid of me since he got here.

He's manipulating you like a child.

And now he's convinced you I'm a traitor.

When my only crime is opposing him.

Ask yourself, whose interest is served by this false charge?

Who is the real traitor?

Jamal: Are these the hands of a child?

The fists of a child?

(Tariq shouts)

(Tariq coughs)

Jamal: Slander my brother again, and it will be your last utterance.

Family or no.

Tariq: Well played.

Though I'm not surprised.

You were a k*ller when you were nine years old, and you still are.

Barry: You betrayed my father.

And I'll see you stand trial as a w*r criminal if it's the last thing I do.

Tariq: I know your soul, Bassam.

k*ller!

I know who you are!

(footsteps approaching)

Barry: Molly, I had nothing to do with the plane.

Honey, you have to believe me.

Molly: I believe you didn't pull the trigger.

But don't lie to yourself.

You're the one who started this.

Do you know we have to live in a safe house now?

In our own country.

Your children are gonna live in fear for the rest of their lives.

Are you okay with that?

Barry: In a week, two weeks, you're gonna be back here.

Molly: Here.

Where, after tomorrow, we'll be in even more danger.

Where Jamal, Leila, Ahmed, half the country is gonna want you dead.

You're gonna get k*lled.

(panting)

Barry: That is not gonna happen.

Molly: You don't know that!

Barry...

Honey...

Listen to me, okay?

For the sake of our family, us, the four of us, the only family you had two months ago, I'm asking you to come home with us.

I'm begging you to come home with us.

Just let whatever happens here happen without you, okay?

Please, Barry.

Come on. Just come home with us. (kissing)

Come home with us, please. (sighs)

(whimpers)

Don't expect us to come back.
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