Every since I first watched Star Trek, Doctor Crusher has been my favourite character. Beverly is played by the gorgeous and immensely talented actress Gates McFadden and featured in six seasons out of seven of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994). She also appeared in all four TNG movies.
Not only is Beverly beautiful and friendly, but also intuitive and a highly skilled doctor. She is the USS Enterprise-D and -E Chief Medical Officer and always manages to save the day if the crew are faced with some alien virus. At first the producers intended her to be a minor character (ship's doc and Wesley's mom), however, that soon changed. Doctor Crusher soon gained a background story that revealed her to be an accomplished dancer and actress (much like Gates!) and not merely a doctor. She has a great sense of humour and can beat even Will Riker at poker!
Beverly isn't afraid to break the rules or even the Prime Directive to help her patients or friends. An orphan, widow and single mother she has also proven herself to be a very strong person, and capable on the bridge of the Enterprise as well as in sickbay. She does what's right, not what's easy and doesn't give up on anything or anyone.
On the whole Beverly is a very passionate and determined person, who knows how to have fun despite all the responsibilites she has as a mother and a doctor. She is an amazing character and an inspiration - she's my hero.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard met Beverly Howard in 2344 and fell in love with her. However, she was soon engaged and then married to his best friend and colleague, Lieutenant Jack Crusher. Even after Jack's death in 2354, Jean-Luc vowed never to reveal his feelings, not wanting to betray his friend or hurt Beverly.
In 2364 Jean-Luc became the captain on the USS Enterprise-D, with Beverly as his CMO. He was a little uncomfortable at first, wondering whether his old feelings would surface, but after learning that she had requested to serve under him he decided to let her stay. Over the next seven years they became very close friends and had many romantic close calls - but in 2370, TNG's seventh season, in an episode called 'Attached,' the two of them were captured and fitted with psi-wave devices that allowed them to hear each other's thoughts. Beverly found out about how Jean-Luc loved her once, and although he claimed that he didn't have those feelings anymore, it was plain to see that he did, and that she maybe even returned them.
That episode ended with Bev and Jean-Luc still just best friends, and aside from a kiss in the series finale they stayed that way for the rest of TNG and the movies. The producers wanted to keep Picard free for movie plots such as Insurrection, so they never explored the P/C relationship much.
However there are many fans such as myself who think that the story isn't over, and that Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard are MEANT TO BE TOGETHER. They are IN LOVE and should have been allowed to show it!!
So that is why people, like me, write Picard/Crusher fanfiction stories: to show the world what we imagine could have happened to every aspect of their relationship - the deep and meaningful, the sweet and adorable, and the physcial! - if Beverly could only have said what she's been meaning to tell him all these years...
