Jean-Luc Picard isn't a romantic.
The Starfleet commander is not pleading on the Prime Directive or debating other planets' customs, but instead instructing someone to go down to a different world or power up the warp drive. Even the way he requests his tea (Earl Grey, hot) from the replicator sounds like a serious order. Who would know that a person who can be easily imagined giving orders in his sleep has the ability to feel—and is crushing on medical officer Beverly Crusher?
Picard and Crusher can go from flirting awkwardly at prom to arguing like a married couple for ages. While they have been mentioned countless times in fan fiction and were apparently married and divorced in an alternate universe, what Trekkies were interested in seeing for seven seasons of Star Trek: the Next Generation was kind of unexpected.
There have been many scenes between Crusher and Picard that suggest more than just a professional connection, but there are others that seem to imply that these two people must be an entity. Make it so.
When Crusher is infected with the Lust Bug, it's a surprise.
The Naked Now, Season 1 Episode 3
Picard, raged at the thought of an infection plaguing the Enterprise, invades Crusher's office, slapping her robe off, all hot and bothered, purring "I think I've become infected myself, Captain."
Crusher's response to a stoic Picard when he asks what having this infection is like is comical. She admits that it is a form of intoxication that rids you of superior judgment, and comes right out with telling him how she finds him extremely attractive (at least for the time being). He doesn't seem to get the hint even when she starts unbuttoning her collar.
Picard is waved off with a tone that isn't reserved for Lwaxana Troi when Crusher says a suggestive goodbye in the entranceway.
Straight Out of a 1940s Romance, that Holodeck Simulation
Season 1 Episode 12: The Big Goodbye
When you enter a simulation that invites seduction, you get a nearly speechless captain and the doctor he lusts after trapped in 1941, with him looking like Dick Tracy and her sending off serious Old Hollywood vibes. When Picard notices her after his interrogation, it's as if nothing and no one else is in the room.
Crusher teases him like an ingénue in a vintage film, slowly and seductively taking off her sunglasses as she stares deep into his eyes from behind a veiled hat. Picard's response? "I must say you wear it well." When she continues to tease about taking a tour of his office, you know it's not for the machinery.
During a storm in an alien jungle, they both fell down a pit.
The Arsenal of Freedom: Season 1 Episode 21
Crusher and Picard are fired at and end up tumbling into a pit in a jungle on the planet Minos when attempting to free Riker from some sort of alien trance induced by hostile extraterrestrials.
Even though he isn't a reassuring person, Jean-Luc Picard suddenly goes into protection mode. There's an element of something more than concern when he calms the doctor who has now encountered herself in a medical emergency. Of course, she still has to deal with this curmudgeon giving her actual orders to stay awake. But even with him acting as the captain in this situation, he sometimes lets go of that persona.
The way they look into each other's eyes speaks much louder than anything they say. It's too bad the spell breaks when he discovers a view screen is hidden in the bushes.
A Seductive Picard Imposter's Date Night
Allegiance in Season 3 Episode 18
Picard is kidnapped by aliens and held captive on their ship while an evil imposter morphs into his doppelgänger, yet in this episode, the captain tells him something is amiss, almost as he gives an order.
Picard has a tendency to shy away from anything that has to do with relationships and emotions in general, but this time, he is literally not himself. The suspense is intense. While she does allow for a kiss when Picard switches on what may only be described as somewhat romantic elevator music, she then officially calls it a day.
Sigh, these are the things we do in the name of professionalism.
After a bar fight, Picard became all emotional.
Sarek, the third episode of Season 3, has been released.
Picard appears to be displaying emotion for the first time since a Vulcan bar dispute in Ten Forward. This is evident in how their hands are almost, but not quite, touching on the table. Then the captain explodes with everything he's kept locked up in his ribcage for most of his life.
When they give each other the names Beverly and Jean-Luc, he soon recites his characteristic denial of human emotions. In non-typical Picard fashion, he breaks down crying and confesses he wants to feel. He even tells Crusher she loves him with tears streaming down his face.
When Picard was caught consuming coffee with another lady, she apologized.
Qpid from Season 4 Episode 20
Crusher may keep her cool most of the time, but she nearly loses it when she stops by Picard's quarters only to see his one time fling Vash having breakfast with him. That's all you need to know about the way her eyes flash from Vash to Picard and back.
The captain is also irritated. He stammers, "This is Beverly... Dr. Beverly... Dr. Beverly Crusher." Crusher kills him with her comeback, but she only gets more savage from there. She just casually mentions that she and the captain often have a morning cup of (definite Earl Grey) tea together, and lets Picard's guilt do the rest.
By the way, this is the same episode when the crew is thrown into a Robin Hood situation and Worf (in tights) declares, "I am not a merry man!" It's the medieval sci-fi crossover you never knew you needed.
Picard's Affair with an Alien Made Picard Jealous
The Host in Season 4 Episode 23
Because shortly after the whole Vash incident, Crusher has to get involved with someone other than Picard. That person is a humanoid alien ambassador.
Crusher discovers that she has actually fallen for a parasite that is simply using her lover's body as a survival weapon. Picard is surprisingly kind, but the way he gazes deep into her eyes implies more than sympathy. He clearly knows what happened during Crusher's alien encounter in the bedroom.
Captain, you have been friendzoned.
Picard's Arranged Marriage That Has Came Out of Nowhere
Season 5 Episode 21: The Perfect Mate
When two people who are into each other and refuse to admit it, the most telling thing about them is when they fight like a stereotypical old married couple.
Don't get Picard started on the Prime Directive. Of course, this is what Crusher does in a situation where she and the captain are arguing over a woman from an alien civilization who is offered to Picard in marriage to put an end to centuries of conflict. There are undertones of jealousy even as they discuss political correctness on another planet.
If she had no feelings for him, you can only imagine that Crusher would be so enraged by Picard's arranged marriage, regardless of the Prime Directive.
In "Attached," there is a picard and a crusher scene for just about every picard and crusher scene.
Attached: Season 7 Episode 8
When things get uncomfortable and stale because you've both been kidnapped by aliens who surgically fitted you with mind-reading implants, things can get a bit hazy.
Picard would never admit to liking Beverly, even though she was still married to his (late) best friend. Guilty. As he spills his guts, he finally reveals why he's constantly on and off with Beverly, besides the fact that showing emotion isn't something normally associated with Picard. He promised himself that he'd never reveal what he'd done to her even after she died. He certainly wasn't thinking about it when he kissed Crusher on the lips
Picard's and Crusher's Ghostly Lover's Confrontation
Season 7 Episode 14: Sub Rosa
Never mind the disturbing weirdness of this entire episode, which boldly goes beyond what sci-fi horror has never seen before (who knew you might still be haunted by a ghost in outer space?).
When the ghost that calls himself Ronan passes on to Crusher like a family heirloom, and after she lets Picard in on some of grandma's journals that read more like erotica, he makes a somewhat subtle joke about a genetic predisposition to a high libido. Unfortunately, the captain quickly finds himself in a jealous rage over this phantasmal entity that is really something called anaphasic life-form.
When the Thing Everyone Was Waiting for Finally Happened
Season 7 Episode 25-26: All Good Things
Picard and Crusher had been sent to the point that the authors must have gotten the hint by the last episode of The Next Generation.
Crusher and Picard switch roles in a roleplay scenario where the captain gives him orders in the form of warm milk and eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, before she announces that she will send him home if he doesn't get some rest already. There is the usual awkward silence reserved for teenagers, followed by nervous hands kissing, until finally, the kiss everyone waited seven seasons for happens.
What might have transpired between these two next was left to the imagination for decades...but maybe they will finally give in to the tension between them in season 3 of Picard.