James Collins

Born and raised in Staten Island, New York City, James Collins - almost always known as Jim - moved to Boston when he was eighteen to major in Public Relations and currently works as Press Secretary to Massachusetts state senator David O'Brien. His attitude towards life is probably best described as that of a child who figured out that being a grown-up was the best game of all, and he spent most of his teenage and early adult years building up a reputation for serial dating and generally knowing how to have a good time. However, he'll be quick to point out that he's only fallen in love once, and has now happily settled down with his fiancée Kitty.

Standing at 5'11'', Jim Collins is almost the exact same height as his other brother Thomas - in fact, placing both of them side by side, you'd be hard-pressed not to realise straight away that they were related. Of the two, however, Jim is usually considered slightly better-looking, if only because he always comes across as very comfortable in his own skin. His straight, dark brown hair hair is always cut short - though not excessively so, usually tousled and just brushing his ears - and his clean-shaven face is complemented by baby blue eyes as well as a seemingly ever-present smile, which can range from mischievous to carefree and relaxed. He owns a pair of glasses, and usually needs them for working up close to a screen or reading, but isn't often seen wearing them - more often than not, they can be found lying on his desk at work.

Having never been particularly good at sports or even vaguely interested in going to the gym, Jim keeps in shape mainly from walking around Boston and will happily admit to not being particularly strong or muscularly well-defined. He does, however, seemingly have a knack for managing to dress well whilst making it look almost effortless - at work, he'll often be found in smart black trousers with a shirt and tie, whereas when going out he'll often opt for jeans and an open-collar, occasionally with a fine gold chain dangling around his neck.

His older brother wouldn't hesitate to describe him as such, but labelling Jim as immature is perhaps a little unfair. What is true, however, is that whilst growing up - particularly if compared to his precocious brother - Jim definitely made the most out of his childhood and teenage years, usually getting into quite harmless trouble with his group of friends, amongst whom he was known as klutz who was always playing pranks and cracking jokes. To this day he remains a very playful and fun-loving spirit, adamant on not taking anything too seriously and keeping a smile on his face regardless of any problems he might have. Under the surface, however, he's actually not particularly good at dealing with the tougher aspects of life, and often needs a steady hand to guide him through when his inner strength falters.

Perhaps because his brother always insisted on putting him down throughout their childhood, Jim has a tendency not to believe in his own abilities and will often mention that he's not particularly intelligent - in truth, he's smarter than he thinks he is, and has an uncanny eye for observing human nature as well as an ability to think laterally in order to come up with alternate solutions to just about anything. He's also, perhaps rather unexpectedly, a teetotaller and hasn't been near alcohol since an unpleasant incident at an eighteenth birthday party, where he found out about his best friend raping a girl whilst drunk. Having always seen the world very much in black and white, Jim has trouble distinguishing the shades of grey in between as well as an inherent desire to do good, which can occasionally lead others to take advantage of his innocence and gullibility.

One aspect of his life where he isn't at all naïve, however, is in terms of relationships. From the time he discovered girls were interesting again around the age of fifteen, Jim has had a string of girlfriends, but they never seem to last beyond a date or two. Well-versed at the dating game and a passionate lover, Jim's problem has never been women breaking up with him but rather the fact that his fear of commitment leads him to disappear whenever it seems as though any relationship might be getting remotely serious. His brother has theorised several times where said fear might come from - perhaps the fact that Jim's particularly fond of his freedom and doesn't own so much as a wheeless - but if pressed Jim will probably admit that the most likely reason that he's afraid of actually falling for someone is because it makes it so much easier to get hurt.

Despite his dating habits and a healthy appreciation for the female figure, however, Jim has never been unfaithful or two-timed anybody, and his almost blind loyalty extends to his family and close friends. Although he started working in politics almost by accident, he's also loyal to his country and patriot at heart in the best possible sense, occasionally causing him to come into conflict with his own ideals whilst treading the murky waters he often finds himself caught in working for state senator David O'Brien.

James Collins was born in Staten Island, New York City, as the youngest son of Benjamin Collins, of Irish-Jewish descent, and Sally Collins, with an English lineage that can be traced all the way back to immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island. Perhaps quite fittingly, Jim celebrates his birthday on April Fools' Day, and it was evident from a very early age that his personality was almost the polar opposite of his older brother Thomas, who by the age of about thirteen practically had his entire life already planned out. Despite this, however, Jim and Thomas were inseparable throughout most of their childhood, although Jim had a tendency to get on his older brother's nerves on occasion. For his part, Jim looked up to Thomas a great deal, and could never understand when his brother and best friend occasionally decided to shut him out. Jim always had a very good relationship with his mother, however, and Sally has admitted in the past to cherishing the fact that one of her sons didn't want to grow up before his time, perhaps contributing to Jim's continual occasionally childish nature.

Once he'd reached Elementary School, Jim soon realised that Thomas was going to pay little attention to his younger brother in front of his friends and ended up having to find his own circle to fit into. Easy to get along with and willing to make friends with just about anyone, Jim actually wound up more popular than Thomas by the time he got to Middle School - not that his social status at school was something that particularly concerned him. Despite having a mother who was an accountant, at school Jim found that he was terrible with numbers just like his brother was. Perhaps taking after his father, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jim's strengths were always in the more creative subjects - he loved History, Drama, Art and, above all, English.

Once he was old enough to move to High School, Jim, who was feeling relatively comfortable and confident with his position within school, had his entire world shattered when Thomas announced he'd been accepted into New York University and was moving away from home. Having never known anything different, Jim had already begun to feel a growing distance between them due to Thomas's recently acquired girlfriend, Faye Brown, and ultimately took Thomas's departure hard, finding it difficult to accept such a drastic change in his relationship with his brother. Only a year later, Jim became an uncle at the age of sixteen when Faye gave birth to his brother's daughter, Nadia Collins. Still definitely a teenager whilst Thomas was already an adult, the best way Jim found of dealing with his confusion was to decide he wanted a change of scenery. After having scored reasonably highly on his SATs, Jim had a choice of colleges to attend in New York, but ultimately opted to study for a degree in Public Relations at Boston University.

Although still definitely a New York City boy at his core, it didn't take Jim long to gain a fondness for his new home, and he'll often describe his years at college as the best and worst of his life. He made friends easily and soon found out that he always had to be on his toes as far as Boston girls were concerned, but it wasn't until he was planning to pull a prank on the librarian with a group of friends that Jim met the one Boston girl he'd never be able to get out of his mind. He first spotted Kitty Stewart reading a book with another ten piled up in front of her, and credits himself with knowing there was something different about her as soon as he approached her. Although she was studying for the same degree Jim was, Kitty was a Junior rather than a Freshman, and seemed to barely tolerate Jim's presence even if she spurned any of his romantic advances towards her. Nonetheless, he continued pursuing her for a few months, even sending flowers to her dorm - leading Kitty to send a note back saying she didn't like carnations - before he eventually found out that Kitty had recently started to date obnoxious pre-Law student Robert Saunders. Begrudgingly accepting that a friendship was all he could ask for, Jim ultimately decided it was better than nothing but nonetheless lost count of the times he saw Kitty and Robert together and a part of him wished he was in the other man's shoes.

After Kitty had graduated, Jim found he barely heard from her during his remaining two years in college and wouldn't speak to her again until after his own graduation - unbeknownst to him, Kitty had fallen pregnant not long after leaving Boston University and subsequently had a miscarriage, leading her to split up from Robert and accept a job working for the public relations department of the O'Brien law firm. Much to Jim's own surprise, he soon found himself working as Kitty's assistant and enjoying every minute of it - he would no longer flirt with Kitty outright, but joking about his own feelings to her face became almost daily routine, although he never expected it would necessarily come to anything. When Kitty's High School friend David O'Brien invited her to become the Communications Director for his political campaign, Jim followed her and wound up as Press Secretary, a job aptly suited to his good rapport and patience with journalists. It was only as recently as 2114 that Jim heard from his brother Thomas again, who had been estranged for a while, and found out that Thomas had split up with long-term partner Faye Brown. Having convinced Kitty to hire a new employee, Jim suggested his brother should come to Boston and start fresh - in fact, Thomas ended up moving into the same apartment building as Jim and also joining the O'Brien political campaign, a situation which in Jim's opinion is almost as great as when he and his brother were growing up together in New York.

If his relationship with his brother returning to how it was before was more than Jim could have asked for, however, one thing that he definitely didn't see coming was that a fake date with Kitty - concocted in order to waylay a tabloid that thought she was having an affair with David - would turn into something a lot more real than he'd ever expected. Granted, it took a bullet fired during the armed robbery of a grocery store to pierce his abdomen and a lot of time before he managed to get beyond a kiss, but despite his own insecurities about an actual, serious relationship, Jim wouldn't hesitate to admit that he's never happier than when he's with Kitty Stewart. Having proposed to Kitty in December 2116, he moved out of his apartment in East Boston not long after to live with his fiancée in Beacon Hill.