diff --git a/bin/_mocha b/bin/_mocha
index 6f118e44b5..f7e8d18892 100755
--- a/bin/_mocha
+++ b/bin/_mocha
@@ -171,9 +171,10 @@ program.on('require', function(mod){
   requires.push(mod);
 });
 
-// load mocha.opts into process.argv
-
-getOptions();
+// If not already done, load mocha.opts
+if (!process.env.LOADED_MOCHA_OPTS) {
+  getOptions();
+}
 
 // parse args
 
diff --git a/bin/mocha b/bin/mocha
index b35e87c8d2..7e53e51d65 100755
--- a/bin/mocha
+++ b/bin/mocha
@@ -8,8 +8,13 @@
 var spawn = require('child_process').spawn,
   path = require('path'),
   fs = require('fs'),
+  getOptions = require('./options'),
   args = [path.join(__dirname, '_mocha')];
 
+// Load mocha.opts into process.argv
+// Must be loaded here to handle node-specific options
+getOptions();
+
 process.argv.slice(2).forEach(function(arg){
   var flag = arg.split('=')[0];
 
diff --git a/bin/options.js b/bin/options.js
index 6e12d51672..9d1a18a23e 100644
--- a/bin/options.js
+++ b/bin/options.js
@@ -34,4 +34,6 @@ function getOptions() {
   } catch (err) {
     // ignore
   }
+
+  process.env.LOADED_MOCHA_OPTS = true;
 }