Vala was used to Daniel being upset, distressed, angry, even shouting at her. But this time it had been different, he had yelled at her and sounded beyond angry. When he asked her if she thought that he could ever have "serious feelings" for her it was as if she had been punched in her stomach. Vala felt herself double over in pain though she knew that no one had physically hit her. It was a questions that she had never wanted asked and never wanted him to answer. Vala thought that there wasn't anything worse that he could have said. It made her face that he didn't and never would love her. That how much she loved him would never matter. After that she hadn't really listened to what he said next. She could tell by his tone and the words that got through to her how angry he was. She could tell that he was detailing her faults, how unworthy she was, why he could never have any type of relationship with her, etc.

Then she discovered that there was something worse that Daniel could have said. "And this whole ... flirty ... sexual ...thing that you do, that's just your way of having a laugh at my expense!" If he thought that she was laughing at him and trying to humiliate him then he was right. They were wrong for each other. She pulled her sweater over her head, stood up and left. Vala didn't run but she moved quickly not allowing him to see her face. Once she was in her quarters she went and scrubbed the tears off her face. She washed her face with so much force that she left bright red marks on her cheeks.

Daniel watched Vala close the door behind her and felt a pain in his stomach. It felt as if he had been punched. He hadn't expected her to leave like that, without saying a word. But he hadn't expected her to sit there on his bed so quiet and still. She didn't respond to any of the things that he said to her, about her, about them. Vala said nothing, didn't defend herself, didn't tell him that he was wrong, and didn't join the fight he seemed to be trying to provoke. He heard himself lash out at her, saying anything to try and get her to react. He didn't seem to be able to stop himself, being unfair, cruel and then crossing over to horrible lies. However, even at his worst Daniel was very good at repressing his thoughts, feelings and deep emotions. Once he kept himself from going after Vala, following her out his door, running to catch her before she could escape him, it was only minutes before he started to push his urges down where they would hopefully never be able to surface. He was able to convince, after only the briefest of pauses and minimal self-doubt, himself that he could face the "Vala problem" later. That he only had to apologize for shouting at her and they could return to normal (whatever "normal" was for them).