In a science lab aboard the starship known as the Vancouver in another galaxy a young science officer was studying an unusual parasite. The scientist in question was a science office named Barbara, Bradward Boimler's ex-girlfriend, and she was startled by an unusual sound. Barbara turned to see if she could see the source of the sound but saw nothing and when she turned back, she was shocked by the sight of Boimler standing in front of her. Barbara was stunned and asked Boimler what he was doing here as the Cerritos was nowhere near the galaxy she was or even heard the Cerritos crew was coming aboard. Suddenly Boimler shouted "Boo!" and burst into an explosion of confetti to reveal that it wasn't Boimler but the legendary troublemaker, Q. Barbara guessed he was the Q she read about with Q replying in his usual jolly tone, "That's right little girl it's me the one and only, Q. Please hold your applause until the end. Yes, I know I'm amazing but I came to ask you for your assistance in a little experiment." Barbara replied, "I know about you Q. I read about your encounters with Captain Picard and his crew so I know that any experiment you're planning is either dangerous or insane." Q simply replied, "Well I never knew my adventures with Picard were so well known I hope your textbooks at least accurately described my handsomeness. But I digress, I need your assistance as my experiment involves a little friend of yours named Boimler." Barbara angrily replied that if he was going to harm Boimler he would pay with Q giving a devilish smile.
Q explained, "Of course not. You see I conducted an experiment with Jean Luc on the emotion you humans call love and it yielded some interesting results. I've also been observing Bradward and his group of friends on the Cerritos. They may not be as well-known as the Enterprise and Jean Luc but, they are certainly much more entertaining especially Mariner. However, I want to try my experiment again but with a twist and you are one component I need." Barbara was intrigued and while she didn't want to participate in Q's experiment, she was going to be involved anyway. Q explained that Boimler may have found a new girlfriend and wanted to see how Barbara wanted to react to this. Barbara replied, "Look Q I don't know what you're planning but Brad can date whoever he wants. Is it Mariner?" Q simply replied, "Now now I don't want you to spoil the fun before the experiment begins but we need just one more person for this experiment." Without any notice Q snapped his fingers and the two were teleported himself and Barbara to Vacanza Beta, more specifically it was in Jen's beach house where she was doing yoga in the living room. Jen was confused but she recognized Q as he had boarded the Cerritos and Q introduced Barbara with Barbara explaining she was just caught in Q's craziness. Jen asked in an angry tone what Q was planning and he replied, "Well Jen to do that I'll need to go back a bit." Q made an old school movie projector and movie screen appear and he showed the moment where Jen and Barbara broke up with their romantic partners on the Cerritos.
Once the presentation was finished, he explained, "You see you two have quite a bit in common. Barbara dumped Boimler to focus on her new pet project even after he tried so hard to become the cool guy, he thought she wanted. Jen, you dumped Mariner when you believed she sank the Cerritos' reputation when in actuality it was the whole ship even when she told you right to your face, she didn't do it. However, Boimler and Mariner seem to have bounced back but you two are still stuck alone. While I never fully understood romantic relationships between you lesser beings, I do understand that no one likes to be alone. So, care to see what your former partners are up to? Well, you don't get to decide roll the clips." Q showed what Boimler and Mariner were doing at this very moment on Vacanza Beta: Boimler and T'Lyn were watching an old earth movie with T'Lyn intrigued by Boimler's commentary, Mariner and her new girlfriend Serena were having a breath holding contest where Mariner was the winner and the two girlfriends shared a kiss. Q then showed a clip from the Cerritos where Mariner was talking with some of Jen's friends and was uncomfortable with them telling Mariner they found Boimler sexy. Barbara was a bit irritated but tried to brush off the clips by replying in a passive aggressive tone, "Brad and I broke up he can date whoever he wants even if is some slut in security. And his vacation buddy is a Vulcan I doubt she knows what love is like." Jen replied, "Same. Mariner can date whoever she wants. And by the way that whore she was making out with isn't even that hot." Q was intrigued by the reactions as he was also getting a glimpse getting the results he expected as the two girls were obviously upset that it seemed their former romantic partners had found more suitable partners. Q expressed his opinion, "Well aren't we quite the catty ones but jealousy is to be expected. I believe that is the right emotion in this context after all your exes did trade up while you two are still single." Q was pushing every single emotional button he could push to get an emotional reaction from his guinea pigs.
While Jen was trying to stay cool, she angrily replied, "For you information that girl Mariner is with wishes she had an ass like mine. Second, I dumped Mariner and have chosen to focus on my career so being single is my choice." Barbara also lost her cool and angrily replied, "Yeah, I didn't dump Brad I just ended the relationship since we wouldn't have time for us because I was studying the parasite infecting him. Oh f$&* I'm a terrible person. He was like the best boyfriend and tried to be what he thought I deserved. I dumped the sweetest guy on earth." Barbara started crying at this revelation with Jen realizing her mistake in dumping Mariner and sadly cried out, "Oh god, what have I done I dumped the sweetest girl on the ship. She practically said the ship was her family. She was the only girl who could shut up my annoying friends and had the most amazing ass on the ship. Plus, she was the most amazing kisser I ever dated." Q noted their reactions and reached his conclusion: Love can evoke anyone to great lengths of sadness or stupidity. Q materialized a box of tissues and offers them to the crying Star fleet officers who gladly accepted. Q stated, "Well it appears I've gotten all that I needed but perhaps I may have pushed a bit too far. I suppose I should try to cheer you both up. Perhaps I've picked up a bit more of humanity from my former teacher than I realized." Q began another presentation showing some clips from the happy moments of the relationships of Barbara and Jen including: A beach day Mariner and Jen shared in the holodeck, Boimler and Barbara birdwatching, Mariner and Jen working out together, Boimler and Barbara enjoying a spaghetti dinner, and Mariner and Jen sharing a kiss during the Deep Space Nine debacle then falling into unconscious. Jen and Barbara realized that their exes deserved some apology or at the very least a phone call. Q snapped his fingers and the two Star fleet officers were returned to their previous positions then the two reached for their padds to call their exes.
Back on Vacanza Beta, rain was coming down where Boimler and T'Lyn were vacationing so they were on the couch watching old earth movie while wearing sweat pants and shirt. The movie they just finished watching was the 1977 film The Deep and T'Lyn was quite intrigued. T'Lyn said to Boimler, "I must admit Bradward humans have produced some rather interesting media though it does show how the emotion of greed can drive one to destruction. Though I was intrigued by how primitive earth culture was just a few centuries ago." Boimler replied, "Agreed. Commander Ransom got me into some of these old earth movies and he seemed very interested in this one but I wasn't all that engrossed." T'Lyn replied, "I agree. I was personally more intrigued by the earth film Die Hard and I would very much enjoy seeing the sequel to that film." As Boimler was readying the Die Hard sequel he was receiving a communication on his padd and was surprised that when he picked up it was his exe Barbara. Boimler was a bit stunned but T'Lyn used a Vulcan calming technique to calm him down and introduced herself. Barbara introduced herself as Boimler's ex- girlfriend and explained that she called to tell Boimler that she was sorry for the sudden breakup with Boimler stunned by her apology. Barbara explained her whole Q debacle which didn't confuse Boimler who calmly replied, "Yeah from what I read and my previous experience he is the biggest ass in our universe and his. It's kinda nice to hear from you again and it would be nice if we could start over as friends." Barbara replied, "I would like that very much. I really looks like you changed for the better Brad and I hope T'Lyn appreciates you for who you are." T'Lyn replied, "While I do not show emotion as much as humans, I am happy to be vacationing with Bradward. From my research on him he is very much a dedicated star fleet officer and has earned his current title of junior lieutenant. I also observed his admirable qualities up close and can safely say he is a good friend and a great officer." Barbara ended the call by saying the two made a lovely couple leaving them both a bit confused with T'Lyn breaking the silence by saying, "While it would be unusual a romantic relationship but with you Bradward it would be rather fascinating. You are visually pleasing and a loyal friend." Boimler was stunned and replied, "Same here T'Lyn. You're beautiful and one of the smartest girls I've ever met. Maybe we could just start with a kiss." Slowly the two leaned in for a kiss just a bolt of lightning ripped across the sky as a new relationship was born.
Mariner and Serena had just returned from their aquatic adventure for the day and were about to clean the ocean water off their bodies. Mariner had just disrobed when she received a communication on her padd ask she threw on a towel then answered the communication. Mariner was surprised to see that it was Jen suddenly Mariner's smile was replaced by a slight frown. Mariner was about to end the communication but Jen interrupted saying, "Wait Beckett before you hang up, I want to say that I'm sorry for what happened." Mariner replied, "You don't get to call me Beckett it's Mariner, Jen. Second you damn right your sorry after calling me a liar right to my face especially when I wasn't lying, about to lie, already lied, or lied about lying. I told you the truth and you just dumped. me" While Mariner was going on with her angry rant Serena walked into her room flirtatiously saying, "Becky what's taking so long the shower is awfully lonely without you." Thankfully Serena was wearing a towel when she noticed Mariner was on her padd with Serena now in the shot. Mariner broke the ice and awkwardly introduced her current girlfriend to her ex-girlfriend. Serena greeted Jen and subtly implied that Jen was not as attractive or busty as herself with Jen calmly suppressing her anger. Jen explained her adventure with Q and how it made her think about how badly she ended things so she called to apologize. Mariner was understanding of Jen's revelation and accepted Jen's apology then suggesting may the two could still be friends. Serena injected into the conversation saying, "Well sometimes when things are crazy, we make some bad decisions. I mean after my outpost scientist ex dumped me, I got drunk and spray painted the side of her outpost as well as peeing on it. Not something I'm proud of but it wasn't the stupidest thing I've ever done while drunk." Jen and Mariner both admitted they've done stupid things while drunk so the three parted on friendly terms as Jen ended the communication and went back to her yoga. As Mariner ended the communication, she thanked Serena for being so chill while dealing with her ex and Serena returned the compliment. The two share a kiss just as the sun was beginning to set and just as their towels fell to the floor.