In the early days of script development, James had been excited to give Phoenix a love interest. He didn't know why, but people loved kissing scenes and so he intended to give the audience their fill of them.

"Jamsie," Alicia peered over his shoulder and spoke while James jotted out ideas for the script. "You've got to show the people that chivalry is not dead."

"I read an article today saying that chivalry is benevolent sexism" replied James matter of factly "And it's effects are insidious, causing people to think lowly of women."

"It doesn't matter what people think of women," said Alicia equally matter of factly "It matters that everybody knows that Phoenix loves Annabelle."

"Don't worry, Alicia," said James "People will start complaining about how thick I am laying it on"

"I know you will do fine," said Alicia "All my friends love you, so I am sure that you will be able to get Annabelle to love Phoenix too"

He wrote a scene where Annabelle could be seen putting a bouquet of flowers to her nose to breath in the flowery goodness. He doodled a picture of it on the writing pad next to him. In another scene, Phoenix found Annabelle at a picnic. She laughed as she tied ribbons in kittens' hair.

Of course, the best feature of Annabelle was the way that she could be used to demonstrate Phoenix's strength. James needed her to tell the audience about how Phoenix made her feel. Annabelle represented safety and security because that is what Phoenix brought her.

James thought about domesticity and the reality of Zilby's world. Somehow the two didn't fit in well together. Annabelle would somehow have to raise up above the pollution, overwork and rampant consumerism that she lived in.

The most dialogue for Annabelle could be found in a conversation she had with Phoenix's mother. She taught Annabelle the best way to appreciate his taciturn nature even when at times he did seem emotionally distant. Annabelle graciously understood that Phoenix's love was the best kind and that his lack of communication skills will somehow be made up by his "passion" – whatever that meant.

By the time it came to casting, James already knew that Annabelle had brown curly hair and long slender legs. He gave her a love for tennis as a character quirk.

But James mainly thought about Phoenix. Phoenix was a good alter-ego. He was muscular and he wasn't brave because he felt no fear. James loved reading books and writing poetry. The only fights he ever got into were battles of words. James could be a formidable warrior when it came to battling with feelings. James could cut you down and toss you aside, when you tried to use your self-esteem as a defence.

He had in recent years tried to be more compassionate, and honour the honour of those he disagreed with, but still, sometimes the words came slipping out his mouth anyway. James felt angst when this happened.

Phoenix needed a love interest. Now James had never had a girlfriend. He had never even had a special friend that he had to explain away the amount of time that they spent together. This didn't worry James, but observation told him that many would be worried about Phoenix unless he had a reason to fight.

And this is where Annabelle came in. James chose the name Annabelle because it reminded him of a ballerina. He saw a delicate creature spinning around in a tutu. The soft music drifted air, he imagined petals and satin sashes.

Annabelle was the type of woman that it was impossible not to like, unless of course, you were one of those horrible people that wanted women to have substance and individual personality. She represented trust, she represented loyalty, she represented a listening ear.

Annabelle was very good at listening; she was also very good at "building people up" that is to say she often told people that they are great. In particular, she told Phoenix that he is great. Half of the conversation she had with him involved her telling him how wonderful he is. The other half involved her agreeing with him.

James realised that he would somehow have to write passionate family-friendly scenes. It was all going to be wink, wink, nudge, nudge. This was the part of the work that James felt the most awkward, in fact in hated it. Sex had always seemed to him to be of an inside joke and he wasn't sure if he got it, or if other people were just lying about how funny they found it. It was this point he felt that he was most likely to be exposed as some sort of fraud, although he didn't know why as he had never presented himself as some sort of sexual maverick.

Andrew had already caught on and was teasing him about it. Sometimes James wished that he had rather picked Paul for the part of Phoenix, but the truth was that Paul was too whiny for the part of Phoenix and things were better the way that they were, even if it meant that James sometimes had to put up with Andrew's machismo.

Now James had to approve the images for the show's advertising. There was one of Annabelle and Phoenix that James found particularly evocative. Phoenix was crouching over Annabelle. They were put in contrast with one another.

James remembered how Monica, who took the photos, had Andrew stand on during the shoot while Vanessa crouched below them. James knew that Monica had stayed up through the night on several occasions tweaking the lighting and the colouring to ensure that the photo had exactly the right mood.

Not that your casual observer could tell that so much work had been put into the photographs. An outsider would be fooled into thinking that the photographs represented reality unaltered - that was the genius of Monica's work.

The photo had a magnetic quality to it. He understood it was something that he would not have been able to create. He just didn't think the thoughts that the photograph suggested, and he was pleased to see that somebody else had managed to do it for him.

Alicia walked into the office. "Oh, are you looking at the photos? Are you?" she said, "They great, aren't they? Phoenix is exactly what a broody manly man should be, and Annabelle is just so gracious. I would know because I am such klutz in comparison. You know Vanessa still goes to ballet classes every Wednesday after shooting. You can see it in the way that she moves."

"I believe she studied dance," answered James.

"She wanted to, but her mom talked her out of it" corrected Alicia "Did English instead, she used to sneak off to the drama campus in her spare time. You should talk to her she has ten and a half stories for every minute. What are you doing by the way and can I help you?"

"I'm just changing some minor plot details now that we have the crew cast" replied James "You know so that the words matched the mouths that they are saying them and no you can't help. So, don't talk to me about it."

"It's a pity that Vanessa doesn't sing well otherwise I'd suggest the scene where she walks through the park singing, while the birds and the squirrels come out and play with her hair"

"It's supposed to be a polluted environment where no living thing can survive without assistance" answered James.

"Cockroaches can survive nuclear bombs. I'm sure they would be life left in the park" said Alicia, maybe not focusing too much on the image of the cockroaches playing with Annabelle's hair.

"The story focuses on Phoenix, not Annabelle," said James shortly.

"Men. Men, men, they are so boring," said Alicia and in response, James raised his eyebrows.

"Not you little brother!" said Alicia mortified, "You're the best, not boring at all. Do you want to have some curry? I have some leftovers."

"You know I don't like spicy food" answered James.

"This isn't hot, not at all." replied Alicia "I didn't put in chilli powder like the recipe said because I thought that I might have leftovers and I know that you don't like spices and I wanted to give some to you. Something you'd enjoy "

"I'll have a plate," James conceded.

"Excellent I'll go fetch it and bring it here, although I think they might it might be better if you had a break and ate at the table. Rest your eyes a little bit etc. They say it does wonders for creativity when you walk."