As Buffy looks on, hugging the phone to her chest, the paramedics enter the house and lay Joyce out on the living room floor. One of the paramedics decides to intubate Joyce, and the other affixes a heart monitor to her chest. As Buffy tries to explain that her mother has been fine since her operation, the paramedics perform CPR. Buffy stares at them. Suddenly, Joyce coughs and closes her eyes. Buffy and I both can't believe it! I'm happy, but it's hard to believe -- she looked so dead. "We've never brought one back this far gone," says one of the paramedics. The ambulance rushes to the hospital. Joyce sits up in a hospital bed with Dawn next to her and Buffy standing beside her. "Good as new," proclaims a doctor. Wait! This is all happening too fast. Oh, god, it can't be true. And it isn't.

We cut quickly back to the living room, where the paramedics are still performing CPR. Buffy blinks and notices the flat line on the heart monitor. The paramedics decide there's nothing more to do, and one of them calls the time of death. As they stand and gather their equipment, Buffy sinks into a chair. One of the paramedics confirms that Joyce is dead, and that there was nothing Buffy could have done; she died long before Buffy found her. Buffy stares up at him, her eyes liquid with tears, and we see only the lower half of his face as he tells her it might have been a complication of the brain tumor and that her mother felt "very little pain." He's going to call the coroner's office to come for Joyce, and that Buffy should "sit, have a glass of water and try not to disturb the body." "I'm very sorry for your loss," he finishes, and they race off on another call. "Good luck," Buffy blankly tells the empty front door. We hear the ambulance drive away, and then we follow Buffy through the living room, where she finally puts down the phone, and into a back room. Wind chimes tinkle softly in a sunny window as Buffy suddenly drops to her knees and vomits on the carpet. She then painfully stands and walks into the kitchen to open the back door. We see her, all sweaty and ill-looking, staring into the back yard. We can hear faint noises of children playing and someone practicing arpeggios on a trumpet. Leaving the back door open, Buffy blindly fumbles a bunch of paper towels off the roll and heads back to clean up her mess. The wind chimes continue their tinkling. She kneels down and places the towels over her vomit. There's a rushing noise on the soundtrack as we watch the sickening yellow liquid soak through the towel. "Buffy!" It's Giles in the front door. "Is, is it Glory?" he asks. In response, Buffy monotones, "I'm waiting. The coroner's coming." Giles doesn't understand as Buffy mumbles about getting Dawn from school. He then spots Joyce on the living room floor and rushes to her side. "We're not supposed to move the body!" shouts Buffy, and the desperation and fear in her voice make her mother's death all too real for her. Buffy raises her hand to her mouth in horror. Giles wraps her in a hug as she stares at her mother's body.