A noble cause:

Picard was growing more upset by each passing second. Dr. Crusher needed to return immediately to the Enterprise. She was endangering the entire away team.

-"Dr. Crusher, I command you to immediately transport back to the Enterprise."

-"I am not going to leave these people here. I have a man here who is close to death. You can transport Worf and Data back. They don't have to stay, but I am not going to argue about it any further. Crusher out."

Picard was infuriated that she would be so reckless, not just with the lives of the away team, but also with her own. "Transporter room, do you have a lock on the away team?"

"Yes, sir."

-"Go ahead and beam up the away team."

-"Even Dr. Crusher?" the lieutenant asked innocently.

-"Yes, even Dr. Crusher" Picard replied back tersely.

After a long pause, the lieutenant replied, "Sir, I have the away team. However, it appears that Dr. Crusher did not want to return. She is still down there."

"What do you mean? How is that possible? Transport her back immediately."

"Sir, I believe that Dr. Crusher took off her com badge to avoid transport."

Picard was furious. Although on the outside he appeared only slightly flustered, inside he was raging at this woman.

"Number 1, you have the bridge." Picard stormed off the bridge and marched down to the transporter room.

He took the combadge off of Worf and directed the attendant to transport him down to the surface. When he arrived, he saw Dr. Crusher and noticed that she had just finished saving the patient that she was working on.

"Dr. Crusher," he yelled. "Is your patient in stable condition?"

"I think so,…"she started… but even before she could finish her sentence, the captain put Worf's combadge on her and tapped his com badge. "Two to beam up" he stated.

Beverly was stunned beyond disbelief when they arrived in the transporter room. "How could you do that, Jean Luc? There were people on that planet that needed my help."

The captain was in no mood for any more discussion on this matter. "Beverly, I am your captain. If I give you an order, I expect it to be followed."

"If you gave reasonable orders, I would obey," she shot back.

"Lieutenant, go ahead and beam me down to the surface. I have more people to save," Beverly commanded the transport operator.

"Belay that," Picard shouted. He was growing irritated with the doctor's disregard for following the command structure of the ship. He was absolutely not going to let her take advantage of their personal relationship to disregard his orders and put her own life in danger.

"Mr. Worf," Picard instructed calmly, "I have some urgent matters that I must attend to at this moment. Please escort the Doctor to the brig while I finish these matters."

"You wouldn't dare!" the doctor cried.

"Oh yes I would, and should. If you are not going to follow orders, then you need to be somewhere that I know you will be safe. I am not taking any chances." He stormed out of the transport room and went back to the bridge. Worf gave Beverly an apologetic glance before he escorted her to the brig.

—

It took a little longer than expected, but after several hours, he was able to visit Dr. Crusher in the brig. He inhaled deeply and sighed before he entered the code for the brig. When he entered the room, he watched Beverly give him a cold and infuriated glance.

"Are you here to humiliate me further, Jean Luc?" she asked.

As he punched the code to let down the force field, he replied, "You know I had no intention of humiliating you. You are one of the most valuable crew members on board. When you refused to cooperate, I had no choice but to make sure that you would not beam down to that planet again."

"I had people to save," she replied tartly.

Jean Luc sat down on the bench next to Beverly. "I have people to save, too…and that includes my Chief Medical Officer. I am sorry Beverly, I know that you wanted to save more people, but I could not risk losing you. If I were to lose you on that planet… if someone were to kidnap you, I don't know what I would have done. I need you on this ship."

"Are you talking about me as your CMO, or as your friend?" she asked quizzically.

He grabbed her hand, "I am talking about both," he replied softly.

It had been a long and stressful day. When Jean Luc touched her hand and spoke so softly, she knew that everything had been forgiven. Her eyes started shimmering with tears, and she quickly wiped away one that had fallen.

Jean Luc stood up and reached out his hands to help Beverly. "Come on now. All is forgiven. Let's go have dinner together."

Beverly smiled. "Okay. Jean Luc…I am sorry that I behaved so irrationally earlier."

He smiled and without a second thought, he placed his hand behind her head and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.