Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher are the ultimate "will they, won't they" romance in science fiction. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, shippers of the Starfleet captain and chief medical officer patiently waited for seven seasons to see Picard and Dr. Crusher get together on screen, only to have their hopes dashed when the show ended and they never wound up as a couple. As a result, the closest Trekkies ever got to seeing these two share their feelings and lives together occurs during the last season. The first instance is when the pair are implanted with Kesprytt "psi-wave" devices in the episode "Attached." The second is when they are married and divorced off-screen in a paradoxical future during the series finale "All Good Things."

Despite their romance mainly occurring within the subtext of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Picard and Dr. Crusher get their happy ending in the non-canonical novels published by Pocket Books. In the "Typhon Pact" cross-over series novel "Paths of Disharmony," the now-married couple share a son, René Jacques Robert Francois Picard, born aboard the Enterprise-E and named after Picard's deceased relatives, his older brother, Robert, and his nephew, René, both of whom tragically died in a fire in 2371, around tens years before the events of the novel. Furthermore, their son is also named after Jack Crusher, Beverly's first husband and the father of René's half-brother, Wesley Crusher, as Jack is a diminutive for Jacob or John.

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In "The Needs of the Many," a non-canonical novel that ties in with Star Trek Online's video game, René marries William T. Riker and Deanna Troi's daughter, Natasha Riker-Troi. Interestingly, he decides to become a vintner, sticking with the tradition of his family's wine-making business on Mars rather than following the example of his parents and becoming a space explorer, an occupation his cousin and namesake wanted to pursue when he came of age.

Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation know the history of René and Robert Picard from watching the Season 4 episode "Family." Jean-Luc's brother and nephew lived on Earth at Château Picard, a vineyard and their ancestral home in Labarrère, France, established by Jean-Luc and Robert's father, Maurice Picard. After receiving news that his brother and nephew died in a fire, only to be survived by René's mother and Robert's wife, Marie Picard, Jean-Luc realizes that his family's lineal descent ends with him.

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The revelation of their deaths, in particular his nephew's, understandably causes the Starfleet captain immeasurable pain. Although the events of the novels are not canon, the Picard name luckily continues with the delivery of his and Beverly's son, René. Additionally, it continues well past his birth when Jean-Luc's three grandchildren are born in "The Needs of the Many."

Still, optimistic shippers of a canon romance shared between Picard and Dr. Crusher are waiting in readiness to see their silent affair of the heart potentially come to fruition on Star Trek: Picard. Nevertheless, the jury is still out on whether Beverly will appear on the show or not, though Gates McFadden has recently said that there's a "good chance" she'll turn up in Season 2 of the series. However, since she is yet to be mentioned, fans shouldn't hold their breath waiting for closure between the two almost lovebirds. Nor should they expect René Jacques Robert Francois Picard ever to become canon unless it turns out that Dr. Crusher is keeping him a secret from Jean-Luc on Star Trek: Picard or if there's an out-of-left-field time-warping paradox episode that makes it so.

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