Authors Note: Please let me know what you think of this, complaints, suggestions; any feedback would be helpful as long as it is constructive. Story has now been beta-read by the wonderful Iona.

Prequel to this is -
"Window to the Soul" complete

This leads into three other fics, in this order.
"The Days Today" complete
"The Perfect Pair" work in progress
and "An Occasion to Remember" in planning

Spoilers: For Season One

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Stargate in any incarnations of course and I'm not making any money, this is just some harmless fanfic fun.

He paced back and forth across his lab impatiently, hands laced behind his back.
He'd been dumped.
Kate had dumped him.

It wasn't something out of the ordinary, women had always ended the relationship where it had even started. It surprised him because he'd thought it improbable she'd be the one to end it, after all, she liked him more than he liked her.
And it seemed that was what she thought the problem was; in a way.
She'd accused him of being in love with another woman.
He'd denied it, of course, said it was ridiculous.

He didn't love Kate Heigthmeyer, he knew that for sure, they'd only been going out for such a short time and he could be pretty sure he'd know if he was in love with someone else. You couldn't not know something like that.

But that hadn't convinced her.
She'd stood silent, looking at him accusingly. Head tilted, arms crossed, eyes studying him.
And he hadn't said anything, not feeling the need to express his thoughts twice.
Her gaze had perturbed him.
She was so sure of her facts, almost waiting for him to admit to 'it'.
As if she'd found a proof of the truth of her beliefs strong enough, she'd stumbled off to her own area of Atlantis.
He guessed that was why it was bad to date your shrink.
She'd overanalysed, seen things that weren't there. She didn't even say who she believed he was in love with.
She'd thought it so clear that she'd wanted him to say it out loud, but he didn't because he had no clue, therefore she was wrong.

She'd also been upset at his lack of intimacy.
Which had been an insult considering he'd told her things not just as his psychologist that very few had heard. She knew things that he'd only told very select friends and colleagues, like Sam Carter and Elizabeth.

She'd been annoyed too at how he could drop things between them just because Elizabeth asked for something.
He'd tried to explain that he had responsibilities to the base and if Elizabeth asked for something, he couldn't drop it all for Kate. Surely the well-being of the base should have come first?
She obviously didn't think so.

He hated that he'd ever got into this thing with Kate. He'd first seen her after the events of the storm, when the Genii had attacked.
Sheppard had persuaded a concerned Elizabeth to order him to get help for what had happened to him, for the torture.
He was annoyed with Sheppard poking his nose into his personal matters at first, but he had to admit it had helped because Kate understood him half of the time, though not the half he spent talking about experimental physics.

Since her forte was body language, semantics, ways people expressed themselves, listening and watching people, knowing what to say, what to ask...

...And that was apparently how she'd come to the conclusion that he was in love with another woman.

He felt the anger welling up once more. Hadn't she appreciate how tough it had been to talk to her in the first few sessions, tell her his feelings as if the two were close friends.Yet she'd looked at him that day as if she knew what he didn't, as if he was the one who was wrong, in denial.
She presumed to know him better than he knew himself.

Whilst he could see Kate was a wonderful woman, outshined by very few others, he hadn't told her everything.
He hadn't mentioned certain details like his attitude at the SGC towards Carter.

It had been exactly because of this. Because he didn't want her professional opinion forced upon him and it seemed too bad that that had been why she'd broken up with him, even though she barely knew him at all. But he was sure that she was the one who had lost something brilliant.
He bristled; he wasn't the one with the wrong facts.

Finally he left his lab, walking in the direction of the command room, to seek the solace of his closest friend. Elizabeth always knew what to do.

A/N: Sequel to this now posted up and complete, called "The Day's Today"