I love when actors do this out of a genuine love for the potential of a character

Frakes and Sirtis did this with their characters as well in TNG.

Aside from the initial introduction to their past relationship, the writers wanted to leave it in the past so that they could explore other stories. But the actors played it up every chance they could get.

That still didn't stop the writers from pushing Troi and Worf together toward the end for some bizarre reason. But if not for the actors' efforts to keep things alive throughout the run of TNG, Troi and Riker may not have ended up together in the end.