Many thanks to Arallute for some of the actual words that Rita Blue speaks below!

ERRAND OF MERCY

Standing at the glass to June Osborne's ICU hospital room, where she lay unconscious.

Mark Tuello: Well, it didn't take much to get you back here. It's a long way from the Rock River Bridge to here… If you don't mind me saying, I thought that it was all over between you and her, Commander.

Nick Blaine: Chancery thinks I'm here to do with sales, New Bethlehem and all. A lightning trip, so to speak. I grant you the immediacy of this trip will be an issue for some there… Commander Lawrence won't bat an eye, I'll tell him I met up with those who were interested, and that I was making one last attempt to woo June.

-pause -

Mark: Woo!? Ok, this is where I step back. I have many questions, but as my people tell me, Commander, I have to focus. I suggest you do as well…... - pause - they're taking her to a regular ward after this.

Nick: … and him? Luke?

Mark: He's giving a statement to the police. The TPS seem to be rushing things, I'm not sure why, but the Police Service doesn't seem to be treating Mr. Bankole as a mere witness.

- silence -

Mark: Forgive me, Commander, but you've not asked about who might have done this. - pause - Do you know who did this? - silence - The driver is under guard in another part of ICU. The police say they'll bring Mr. Bankole to Ms. Osborne's room when they're done with him. So….. if you need a minute…. I'll step away…

Nick: It's probably better if she doesn't know I was here.

Mark: That's your business, Commander. - pause, leaving - I'll give you some privacy.

Blaine went in, sat, and caressed Osborne's hand. He fiddled with his tie, looked around anxiously, then stood and kissed her forehead. That was the kiss he should have given her earlier. Back then, that was the first time he'd not been sure she would return it, so he hadn't tried. He knew he was never going to defect, not in the sense of coming to Canada. He knew that she was never going to give up on Hannah, but that Gilead was getting more dangerous by the day. Then again, so was Canada.

He thought, 'Damn geography'.

Hours later, back at the Rock River Bridge, where Nick stood solidly in the middle, planted right at the painted USA/Canada line…..

Mark: Now that we've fulfilled our part of the bargain….. I have some papers for you to sign, they outline the agreement. - pause - If it were up to me, I'd take you at your word.

Nick: I'm not sure what my word is worth right now.

Mark: I look forward to working with you. You have the thanks of a grateful United States of America.

Nick: I'll do my bit, you just keep her safe.

Mark: Just don't be stupid. Me, I will do everything I can.

Nick: That's not good enough. Gilead wants her to suffer. They'll keep coming for her, then her family. There's a few back there I want to punch.

Mark: 'They'!? You and me, we're on the same side, then? - pause - If I may, Commander, please don't do anything rash. Lay low. Doing something self-destructive now, would not be a clean way to get out from under our accord. It would be a good way to get you killed.

LOVELY RITA

Rita Blue: Is this a 'date', Mr. Tuello?

Mark: No, no, no, Ms. Blue. My apologies.

Rita: - beaming a smile - I'm just messing with you, Mark. - soberly - Gilead is not done with me yet. It's not something you get over.

Mark: I just thought that meeting over dinner, it would take away form the chaos at the Consulate. It's been a zoo there…. Gilead keeps us busy. - soberly - Canadians are turning, Rita.

Rita: -sat and pulled herself up to the table - I never had the luxury of a panic attack in the Waterford house, Mark. I knew marthas who did - 'fall apart', I mean. They were dragged out to the driveway and dispatched. - pause - I've saved my panic for Canada.

Mark: Look, I get it, I've heard it all.

Rita: You've heard it all, Mark, but no offence - you don't get it. Okay. - put the napkin in her lap - Things are coming apart. I don't know how much longer I can hang on. This is not the Canada that welcomed me so warmly. It's bringing back all the ugliness that I've tried to shut out.

Mark: I need to pick your brain. About Nick.

Rita: Me, I'm with June. You never know that you need to flee until you do.

- silence -

Mark: Nick?

Rita: Ah. Consulate business. Over dinner. - pause - There's your first mistake, Mark. Asking about Nick - without asking about Luke or June.

Mark: I need you to tell me, then. I'll be the first to admit that I don't 'get' most of what drives the people I'm responsible for here. - pause - All while Canada is turning on us….

Rita: I love Luke. Him, Moira, Emily, Sylvia, Erin …. they've welcomed me like you won't believe. I love that little girl, Nichole….

Mark: Nick's? Is it really his?

Rita: - silence - He thinks so. But no one needed to ask until Mrs. Waterford was with child. - pause - So, what does Mark Tuello need to know, so that he can manipulate Nick Blaine? Well, it was a good start, bringing him here to Toronto to see June and her injuries.

Mark: I wouldn't call it, 'manipulate', Rita. It's all written out, all agreed to.

Rita: Okay. Have it your way. - pause - Nick and June, they are not over each other. That, Mark, is simple geography. Get Nick living here and see how quickly the inner, Gilead-demons pull the two together. Again.

Mark: Then I need to tell you what's next for Luke and June. We have to get them out - out of Toronto. While things are good for going. Somehow, to Hawai'i where they can be watched better - as far from Gilead's….

Rita: ….. well then, don't fly them. Gilead is well practised at blowing American planes from the sky…. evacuate them in a crowd, in plain sight where they can be easily missed.

Mark: I was right to pester Rachel Tapping to have you read-in….

Rita: Gilead is a harsh teacher. I don't get that from the Consulate. - pause - If you really wanted to figure out Nick, you would have asked me sooner. - pause - Luke discounts June, he doesn't mean to, but that's the gist of it. Me, I'm Catholic, I never knew how much until being enslaved. Marriage, that's a sacrament, Mark. Involutile. 'Let no man put asunder', that sort of thing. But man oh man, Gilead puts asunder all it touches. Marriage there is a rape machine. Me, I don't blame God for that. Gilead, they put God on The Wall.

Mark: Rita? I'm not Catholic. - dinner was served, conversation was between bites - I need us to focus, on Nick.

Rita: Sorry. That's not what I wanted to say, to go all Pope-y on you. But if you want to talk about Nick, I have to talk about June. And about Luke. - pause - Luke, he disses Nick. Right in front of her. Luke continually negates June's very real feelings for Nichole's father. Which, by the way, no 'man' has the right to put asunder, either….. Nichole is entitled to her father. I honour the sanctity of what Luke and June are, but I honour the sanctity of who Nick is to Nichole ….. but Gilead!, fuck!… it's the worst of Catholicism, Luke believes that since he's the husband, he 'gets' her better than anyone else. That's not Catholicism, that's guilt. Luke believes he's making up for his perceived failures….. namely, June's enslavement, and Hannah's kidnapping.

Mark: Rita, apologies for rushing you, but I need to know about Nick. And I need to know quickly. Nick may be spiraling out of control. If he does something rash down there…

Rita: I am talking about Nick! Luke thinks that he needs to make June's decisions for her, something that Nick only tried once in Gilead….. ok, ok, Nick tried to get her out, twice, without her consent. What Nick didn't 'get' was that June - back then at least - was not leaving without Hannah. He made decisions for her there that she didn't want. Like Luke. She's surrounded by chauvinists! He told her that she put lives at risk. She didn't care. He told her she was going to die in Gilead.

Mark: - pondering - Nick has not delivered on Hannah has he?

Rita: No he hasn't. He can't. - pause - Both men are driven by the same guilt. At least Nick understands the playing field, though. Both know that they have to accommodate June for that. Luke was horrified that June (and Emily) would murder, Commander Waterford. Nick wasn't. Luke has since accommodated June, but not because he 'gets' it.

Mark: This is a lot, Rita. - pause - Is there anything I can actually use here?

TL AND TN

Rita: That's up to you, Mark. - pause - Back at their house, when I visited before the murder, before Emily dishonoured her own marriage, abandoning wife and son for revenge down south…. back then us ex-pat Gileadens, we were with either Team Nick or Team Luke.

Mark: What!? What the hell is that!?

Rita: Whoever is scripting this dystopian drama, he is Team Luke. Even tried to make it seem like Nick and June were giving up on each other. Even you, you're preparing to evacuate Luke and June from Toronto. I'm sure that Luke would be happy that you're on his side.

Mark: Side!? What are you talking about?

Rita: You asked! - pause - You asked for my thoughts. - pause - June? June, she is Team Nick. There, I said it. What else can I say? She's not even on the side of the ethereal entity who scripted all this.

Mark: So we have to protect Nick, is that what you're saying? - pause - He's married, Rita. I met his wife, at the Lawrence's. She's pregnant, Rita. I saw her, before the door was slammed in my face. But he's married. Don't you defend marriage? Holy smoke, my Southern Baptist granny is rolling in her grave right now, you even defended marriage between Sylvia and Dr. Malek!

Rita: Nick's is a Gilead marriage. - pause - Nick's second, if you must know. His first? To a fifteen year-old. Pure Gilead, so that men can rape. Who herself was murdered, by Gilead. - tears- I still have nightmares, I was a bitch to that girl. - tears - My priest, he has forgiven me - a number of times. It never took. If the Sacrament of Reconciliation won't touch Gilead, then maybe I'm not as Catholic as you think.

Mark: - the check arrived, Tuello tried to pay, his Consulate VISA card was declined. He asked Rita for cash, which she had - You may need to come out to Hawai'i, Rita, for Uncle Sam to repay you. - pause - I still don't get it, though.

Rita: - stood, looked at a text on her phone - Good Lord! They're going to charge Luke!

Mark: It appears I now have two men to worry about. Nick, now Luke. - pause - Next time you pray, Rita, pray that Nick does nothing rash. Our Delta Force, it now has no capacity to go get him.