Buffy clears some more plates, and we follow her into the kitchen. Joyce laments having burned a pie, and Giles offers to open another bottle of wine. Buffy quips that she just wants them to "stay away from the band candy," causing Giles to cough and leave the room. "You are a demon child," teases Joyce. They share a sweet moment, and as Buffy accidentally dumps the pie on the kitchen floor, we cut to the present. Close-up of Joyce's pale, pale face. Buffy runs to the couch and shakes her mother, repeating, "Mom. Mom. Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!" in increasingly panicked tones. Is it allergy season? Because I seem to have a little something in my eye. Could be cat dander, I suppose. Let me just make sure to pull the box of tissues a little closer. The shaking having provided no results, Buffy leaps up and runs into the kitchen for the phone. She pants desperately as she dials 911 and manages to stutter to the operator, "It's my mom. She's not breathing!" As Buffy gives her address to the operator, she walks back into the living room. The operator says she's sent an ambulance and Buffy, still panting and holding back tears, demands, "What should I do?" The operator suggests CPR; Buffy sobs that she's forgotten it, but as the 911 operator starts to give her instructions, Buffy seems to recall. "I can do this," she tells herself, and puts down the phone so she can pull Joyce flatter on the couch. She tilts her mother's head back, breathes into her mouth, and begins chest compressions. Suddenly there's a snapping noise and Buffy, alarmed, stops doing CPR. She grabs the phone again and tells the operator, who assures her she "might have cracked a rib" and that it's not important. "She's cold," Buffy tells her in a confused childish voice, and there's a terribly painful and ominous pause on the other end of the phone. Um, sniff -- playing with the cat earlier must really have kicked up some dust in here, because my eyes sure seems to be watering. Maybe I should vacuum? "The body's cold?" asks the operator, but Buffy corrects her, "No! My mom." She wants to know if she should warm Joyce up, but the operator tells her just to wait for the paramedics. Buffy stands and looks out the front window. We can hear traffic pass by, and the operator still talking indistinctly on the other end of the line. Buffy raises the phone to her ear and calmly tells the operator she has to make another call. She hangs up the phone, and we get an extreme close-up of the keypad. Pause. Then Buffy dials a number and when Giles answers, she says, "Giles. You have to come. She's at the house." She hangs up and lowers the phone, staring vacantly at nothing. She opens the front door, and we can hear the ambulance siren drawing nearer and then pulling up in front of the house. Buffy walks back into the living room, leaving the front door open. She notices that Joyce's skirt has been pulled up over her thighs, and gets a panicky look. Looking over her shoulder to make sure the paramedics haven't come inside, she pulls Joyce's skirt back down.