Ridiculous Question I Should Have Long Since Learned the Answer To

Say you’re quoting a passage from a text, and within that passage, the author uses a parenthetical citation to refer to another text. Do you:

(a) Quote the passage exactly as printed in the text, including the citation?

(b) Quote the passage without the citation, as though it weren’t there, thus protecting the flow of the author’s writing?

or (c) Quote the passage without the citation, but with an ellipsis in its place?

None of these three options seems quite right to me, and I honestly can’t remember how I’ve resolved this issue in the past. Probably by avoiding it. And none of the online MLA guides I’ve found have any help to offer, so I’m resorting to blegging. Also, apparently, posting a lot today, in a mad effort to keep from feeling as though I’m being radically unproductive.