"Return Engagement: Part 2" is the twenty-seventh episode of season 2 of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Dr. Mike has recognized the war-torn face of Andrew, a.k.a. David Lewis, the fiancé whom Dr. Mike had presumed was killed in the Civil War. Now, Dr. Mike is forced to choose between Lewis and Sully. Andrew denies that he is the man Dr. Mike seeks but Dr. Mike says David would never lie to her. After this, he admits everything, but it is difficult for him to rekindle with his former love since the war has had a profound effect on him, having robbed him of an eye and a lot of his hope, and seeing that he has been replaced by Sully was one of the reasons he chose not to admit his true identity to Michaela because he knew it would cause them both pain. Elsewhere, Horace keeps "losin' the mood" when it comes time to consummate his marriage with Myra. Everyone in the town gives the couple a chivaree. Meanwhile, Dr. Mike talks to Sully about David. She asks Sully "What are we going to do?" but he asks her "What do you want to do?" Dr. Mike then tells the children. She then convinces David to stay longer to give them more time to decide about the future. The Reverend gives Horace advice about doing it when he feels the mood. David tells Dr. Mike if she has no feelings for him, he will leave. But Dr. Mike asks him to stay. Sully and David argue and then fight. Dr. Mike says she needs time to think. Sully then breaks the engagement. Dorothy advises Dr. Mike to take some time to decide but don't take too long. Grace is blinded when a jar explodes. David performs an operation on Grace's eye with Dr. Mike's help and extracts a shard of glass. Sully and David then discuss being in love with Dr. Mike. Later, Sully goes to Dr. Mike and tells her he wants her to be happy and will be behind her whoever she chooses. David later invites Dr. Mike to come with him to Washington D.C. She admits that she loves Sully. When David asks "More than me?" she replies "Do you really want me to say?" David says he will leave the next day. Dr. Mike then goes out to see Sully and asks him to marry her.
This episode provides examples of:
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder; Averted with David who admits that he still loves Michaela even after all this time, but played straight with her, who has indeed moved on after seven years, especially considering that she thought he was dead.
- Beardness Protection Program: Mike didn't recognize David because of the thick beard he'd grown.
- Dead Person Impersonation: David is using the name of Andrew Strauss, a fellow soldier who died in the prison camp where they were both held.
- Did You Die?: Mike asks "You didn't die?" of David, to which he replies "No".
- Distressed Woodchopping: Sully engages in this when he thinks Michaela is about to return to her long-lost fiancé David.
- Eye Scream: An explosion causes glass to fly into Grace's eye and it's up to Michaela and David to save her vision.
- First Love: Despite having moved on, it's still clear that Michaela loved David very much.
- Insatiable Newlyweds: After Horace and Myra finally consummate their marriage, a deleted scene has the annoyed townspeople banging on the door of the telegraph office. A disheveled Horace finally answers, only to immediately slam the door in their faces when Myra calls to him in a come hither voice, much to their amusement.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: Horace keeps "losin' the mood" with Myra. When he confides in Jake, the Reverend, and Loren, we get the usual "It happens to every guy" line from the Reverend—"All men lose the mood sometimes", but of course, they all—including the Reverend!—vehemently deny it ever happening to them.
- Love Triangle: Michaela with Sully and David.
- Multi-Part Episode: "Return Engagement: Part 2" follows "Return Engagement: Part 1".
- Oops! I Forgot I Was Married: Mike finds herself engaged to both Sully and David as she realizes that since he's alive, theirs was never officially broken off.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: David reveals that he was held prisoner in Andersonville, a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp with such dreadful conditions that nearly one-third of its inmates died. She's horrified when he tells her this, but he refuses to go into any details - "I don't want to talk about that now", thus hinting to the viewer that his time there was particularly traumatic. He also mentions that the entire experience of the war and his capture left him unwilling to continue practicing medicine.
- You Do Not Want To Know: When David asks Michaela whether she loves Sully more than him, she asks whether he really wants to hear her answer. He takes the hint.
