in timeline mode playing my video clips to edit them , I click the "play" triangle which turns into a square. If i want to pause to say edit if I click the "stop" square it puts me all the way back at the beginning of where i started.
The behavioural difference however between stop and pause is controlled by the Spacebar stops at current playback position in the Program settings, Playback tab.
With the option turned off playback will always start from the beginning of the timeline, turned on playback continues from the timeline cursor position when stopped, or moved manually too a different time in the timeline.