diff -u b/date.js b/date.js
--- b/date.js
+++ b/date.js
@@ -30,22 +30,24 @@
   if (this.$end.length == 0) {
     return;
   }
-  this.selects = {};
-  this.bindClickHandlers();
-  // Start out with identical start and end dates.
-  this.syncEndDate();
-  // Hide the help text about blank end date values being the same as the
-  // start date; users with JS enabled will never see blank values for the
-  // end date.
-  $('.js-hide').hide();
+  this.initializeSelects();
+  // Only act on date fields where the end date is completely blank or already
+  // the same as the start date. Otherwise, we do not want to override whatever
+  // the default value was.
+  if (this.endDateIsBlank() || this.endDateIsSame()) {
+    this.bindClickHandlers();
+    // Start out with identical start and end dates.
+    this.syncEndDate();
+  }
 };
 
 /**
- * Add a click handler to each of the start date's select dropdowns.
+ * Store all the select dropdowns in an array on the object, for later use.
  */
-Drupal.date.EndDateHandler.prototype.bindClickHandlers = function () {
+Drupal.date.EndDateHandler.prototype.initializeSelects = function () {
   var $starts = this.$start.find('select');
   var $end, $start, endId, i, id;
+  this.selects = {};
   for (i = 0; i < $starts.length; i++) {
     $start = $($starts[i]);
     id = $start.attr('id');
@@ -56,8 +58,49 @@
       'start': $start,
       'end': $end
     };
-    $start.bind('click.endDateHandler', this.startClickHandler.bind(this));
-    $end.bind('focus', this.endFocusHandler.bind(this));
+  }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Returns true if all dropdowns in the end date widget are blank.
+ */
+Drupal.date.EndDateHandler.prototype.endDateIsBlank = function () {
+  var id;
+  for (id in this.selects) {
+    if (this.selects.hasOwnProperty(id)) {
+      if (this.selects[id].end.val() != '') {
+        return false;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return true;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Returns true if the end date widget has the same value as the start date.
+ */
+Drupal.date.EndDateHandler.prototype.endDateIsSame = function () {
+  var id;
+  for (id in this.selects) {
+    if (this.selects.hasOwnProperty(id)) {
+      if (this.selects[id].end.val() != this.selects[id].start.val()) {
+        return false;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return true;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Add a click handler to each of the start date's select dropdowns.
+ */
+Drupal.date.EndDateHandler.prototype.bindClickHandlers = function () {
+  var id;
+  for (id in this.selects) {
+    if (this.selects.hasOwnProperty(id)) {
+      this.selects[id].start.bind('click.endDateHandler', this.startClickHandler.bind(this));
+      this.selects[id].end.bind('focus', this.endFocusHandler.bind(this));
+    }
   }
 };
 
diff -u b/date_api/date_api_elements.inc b/date_api/date_api_elements.inc
--- b/date_api/date_api_elements.inc
+++ b/date_api/date_api_elements.inc
@@ -367,7 +367,6 @@
     $element['#element_validate'] = array('date_select_validate');
   }
 
-  $element['#attached']['js'][] = drupal_get_path('module', 'date') . '/date.js';
   return $element;
 }
 
@@ -443,7 +442,6 @@
     $element['#element_validate'] = array('date_select_validate');
   }
 
-  $element['#attached']['js'][] = drupal_get_path('module', 'date') . '/date.js';
   return $element;
 }
 
diff -u b/date_elements.inc b/date_elements.inc
--- b/date_elements.inc
+++ b/date_elements.inc
@@ -294,6 +294,7 @@
     case 'date_select_repeat':
       $element[$from_field]['#type'] = 'date_select';
       $element[$from_field]['#theme_wrappers'] = array('date_select');
+      $element['#attached']['js'][] = drupal_get_path('module', 'date') . '/date.js';
       break;
     case 'date_popup':
     case 'date_popup_repeat':  
@@ -318,6 +319,8 @@
     $element[$to_field]['#required'] = FALSE;
     $element[$to_field]['#weight'] += .2;
     $element[$to_field]['#prefix'] = '';
+    // Users with JS enabled will never see initially blank values for the end
+    // date (see Drupal.date.EndDateHandler()), so hide the message for them.
     $description .= '<span class="js-hide"> ' . t("Empty 'End date' values will use the 'Start date' values.") . '</span>';
     $element['#fieldset_description'] = $description;
     if ($field['settings']['todate'] == 'optional') {