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Character Profiles > Naomi Canning Morgana O'Reilly

Naomi Canning 2014-2015
Lives: 26 Ramsay Street
Lived: 24 Ramsay Street
Parents: Frank and Sheila Canning
Siblings: Gary
Occupation: Executive P.A., Event Organiser

The youngest child of Frank and Sheila Canning, Naomi always got a lot of attention, as the baby of the family, and although the Cannings weren't wealthy, Naomi grew up with a taste for the finer things in life. She quickly realised that finding a rich, older man was her ticket out of her dull life in Frankston and became involved with Charles Tranner, the married owner of an advertising company. Sheila was unimpressed with her daughter's actions and as it became clear that Naomi had no intention of ending the affair, Sheila contacted Charles' wife. Unfortunately for Sheila, her actions only served to destroy her relationship with her daughter and Naomi didn't speak to her for five years.

In 2014, Naomi arrived in Erinsborough and headed to Charlie's bar, where Sheila worked as the manager. That evening, Sheila was taking an extended break and Naomi found herself being served by the bar's owner, Paul Robinson. At first, Naomi didn't fall for his charms, believing he was just the bartender, but after learning that he owned the place and was also the local mayor, she agreed to have a drink with him, and the pair were getting on very well, until Paul found out who Naomi's mother was. Sheila took Naomi back to her home on Ramsay Street and asked her if this was just a social visit or whether she was in some kind of trouble. Naomi explained that the lease on her apartment in Sydney had ended and she was between jobs, so she thought that it was a good time to catch up with her mum. Sheila was unconvinced but, after five years with no contact, she was just happy to have her daughter back in her life, so asked her to stay. It didn't take long for Sheila to start snooping in Naomi's affairs, however, and Naomi had to make it clear to her mum that she wouldn't stick around if she felt like she was being spied on. Meanwhile, Paul also had second thoughts about seeing Naomi again, but she told him that she'd rather eat glass than spend time with someone who would judge her and her family so harshly.

Sheila's snooping continued when she spotted Naomi's laptop on the kitchen table, and found that her daughter had been looking at websites for art galleries, with Naomi claiming that she was thinking about looking for work at a gallery. When Naomi later caught her mum trying to access the information on a SIM card from her old phone, a huge argument broke out between the two women, and Sheila admitted that she felt there was something going on and she was worried for her daughter. Sheila accused Naomi of being involved with another married man, but Naomi denied this and said that she'd already realised that falling in love was a waste of time, and that financial security was the only thing that mattered. Sheila then asked if that was the only reason she'd returned to the family - to get money out of them - and Naomi angrily replied that it was, and that if Sheila could find $500 for her, then she'd leave and they'd never have to see each other again. Later, Naomi returned and apologised, saying that she wasn't really there looking for a handout, and Sheila said that she was just worried for her daughter, realising that she needed some support right now. The two women then called an uneasy truce, and Naomi agreed to stick around for a while and see if she could find some work in the area.

It wasn't long before Naomi had found a job as Toadie's P.A. at Rebecchi Law, but Sheila was immediately concerned that her daughter was more interested in her new, married boss. Naomi quickly made herself indispensable to Toadie, and showed signs of manipulation when she managed to change an important meeting with some Chilean clients, engineering things so that she'd be replacing Toadie's wife Sonya at the dinner. Although Naomi's main fear was losing the client due to Sonya's plan to question the Chilean mining company about their environmental policies, she found herself enjoying Toadie's company more and more, and the prospect of a nice, safe, suburban man became very appealing.

Meanwhile, Sheila's snooping continued, and she found an expensive painting at the law firm, which had been sent up with some of Naomi's other belongings. As Sheila pestered her about it, Naomi admitted that the painting had been a gift from Charles, and she'd continued seeing him even after Sheila had reported the affair to Polly, Charles' wife. Shocked to learn that the affair had only ended recently, Sheila began to despair of her daughter's behaviour, and things only got worse when a man turned up looking for Naomi - and it turned out that he'd been hired by Polly to get the painting back, as it had been bought with family money and she felt that it was hers. Naomi, however, had already sold the painting to Paul for $60,000, with a further $20,000 due when the paperwork turned up. Determined that Polly wasn't going to win, Naomi turned to Toadie for help. Having already told him about her past, and amazed when he didn't judge her like everyone else, Naomi was happy to finally have someone in her corner, only strengthening her growing feelings for her married boss.

When Polly then came to town, determined to press charges against Naomi for the theft of the painting, a fight soon broke out between the two women, with Sheila even stepping in to defend her daughter. However, with Charles still supposedly out of the country, there was no way for Polly and Naomi to get hold of the documentation to prove who actually owned the painting, but Naomi decided to try and tempt him back by sending him some naked selfies. The plan worked, and Charles soon turned up in Erinsborough, believing that Naomi might want to resume their affair. She strung him along, asking him to sign a document that proved her to be the legal owner of the painting, and which he agreed to show to his lawyer. After learning that Charles had been flirting with Toadie's cousin Georgia and had invited him back to her hotel room, Naomi realised that he was never going to change and decided to just be honest, so told him that she only needed him around to sign the painting over to her. When Charles hesitated, Naomi realised that he had no intention of signing, and so she called in Toadie to mediate. Charles explained that the painting didn't belong to him, but to the family trust, so he couldn't help, but when Toadie threatened to take Charles to court, dragging his name through the press in the process, he agreed to speak to Polly and try to come to an arrangement. Charles' lawyer then contacted Toadie and agreed that Polly would drop the theft charges against Naomi, if she dropped her case against Charles - but the Tranner family would get to keep the painting. Deciding that it was worth a $60,000 debt to Paul if it meant never having to see Charles again, Naomi agreed to the deal. Sheila was pleased to hear what her daughter had done, and told her that maybe in future, she'd stop chasing after rich, married men, and find herself a nice reliable bloke in the suburbs, who'd treat her well. With her mum's words ringing in her ears, Naomi looked over at Toadie and realised that maybe she'd already found that man.

After some disastrous attempts at internet dating, Naomi found a new way to get Toadie's attention, when she pretended that she'd earned herself a stalker, following a singles' night at The Waterhole. Although Toadie was sympathetic and encouraged her to go to the police, Sheila was more suspicious of this convenient new way her daughter had found to get close to Toadie. To prove her mum wrong, Naomi contacted Lee Barnes, the concierge at her old apartment building in Sydney, and arranged to pay him $500 to be caught fleeing number 26 as she and Sheila arrived home. The plan seemed to work, making Sheila feel guilty for doubting Naomi, but outside, Toadie spotted Lee as he was running from the house, getting a good look at him as his baseball cap fell off. As Toadie managed to give a good description to the police, Naomi gave completely different information about her stalker's appearance and hoped that she'd gotten away with it, but then Lee turned up at the house and told her that he wanted danger money, and was upping his payment from $500 to $5000. After attempting to sell her belongings online to raise the cash, Naomi went to Paul and asked if she could get back the lastest instalment of her loan repayment. With Paul depressed over the murder of his niece Kate, Naomi then hatched a new plan and stole his car keys. She then met with Lee and told him that she'd found something that would fix up their debt, and left the keys with him. Lee fell for it and took Paul's car, and Naomi then contacted him again, asking to meet as she had something else for him. She then showed him some photos she'd taken of him stealing the car, and warned that she'd go to the police if he didn't drop the blackmail threats. The plan worked, and Naomi again managed to cover her tracks.

Meanwhile, with her stalker story earning sympathy from Toadie, and problems in his marriage worsening, Naomi started plotting to make her move on him. With Sonya spending a lot of time with Brennan, helping him through his grief after Kate's murder, then supporting Bailey and his secret drinking was exposed, Toadie was beginning to feel neglected. Callum's departure had only made this worse in the Rebecchi household, and as the constant tension and arguments continued, Naomi suggested that some time apart might work, with Sonya going to spend a few days on her own. Naomi then made her move, spending the evening eating pizza and watching wrestling with Toadie and, as he demonstrated a wrestling move on her, she leaned in for a kiss. Toadie was horrified and Naomi found herself sacked from her job as he realised that she'd been planning this move for weeks. Sheila, who'd had her own suspicions for a while, went to the Rebecchi house and immediately realised what had just happened. She was furious with Naomi and a fight later broke out between the two women, with Sheila accusing Naomi of bringing on her father's fatal heart attack, as he'd been so shocked to learn of her affair with Charles. Naomi then moved out of number 26, and was planning to leave Erinsborough for good, but Kyle - who was unaware of Naomi and Toadie's kiss - managed to get her a room at number 24 with Brennan. When she found out that Naomi was still around, as she had no money to leave, Sheila gave her daughter a cheque, suggesting that it had been a mistake for her to come to Erinsborough in the first place. Naomi, however, decided that she wanted to leave on her own terms, and ripped up the cheque.

When Sonya returned to town after her time away, Toadie told her everything and she was appalled to learn of Naomi's attempts to steal her husband. When they came face-to-face at Lassiter's, Naomi suggested that it was only a matter of time before Toadie looked elsewhere, as Sonya had been neglecting him for months - and Sonya delivered a slap to her rival. Though relations were at an all-time low for the Canning women, Sheila still went to see Sonya and warned her not to do anything like that again. But with Kyle and Georgia struggling to plan their wedding with Sheila and Naomi refusing to be in the same room together, Sheila found herself being ostracised by the family, and Kyle warned her that she would no longer be welcome at the wedding unless she tried to patch things up with Naomi. Feeling terrible for the trouble she was causing for her mum, Naomi realised - after a few words from Sonya - that she had to be honest, and she told Kyle, Georgia and Chris about the kiss with Toadie. She then presented them with a list of her other past indiscretions, and said that they were the only true friends she'd ever had, and she didn't want to lose that. They all agreed that although they couldn't condone what she'd done, none of them were perfect either, and they'd be hypocrites to act like they were.

After a disastrous attempt to flirt with Brennan and a few more awkward internet dates, Naomi found a couple of new distractions, as she was offered the role of manager by Kathy Carpenter as she planned a new homewares store in Erinsborough, and started a new flirtation with teenager Josh Willis. Having just quit school, Josh was looking for work and Naomi offered him a few hours helping her to get some products up to Kathy's hotel room at Lassiter's. Naomi couldn't help but notice Josh's toned body and as they got into the lift together, things got passionate. But as her secret fling with Josh continued, Naomi was disappointed when Kathy decided against opening her store in Erinsborough, leaving Naomi unemployed again. However, some more new opportunities came her way, when Sheila asked her to move back into number 26 and then, more surprisingly, Sonya asked her to return to her old job with Toadie at the law firm. Naomi accepted the offer, but it was clear that the old friendliness and banter between her and Toadie would no longer be a part of their workplace. It soon became clear that Sonya wasn't comfortable with Toadie and Naomi being alone together, as she kept making excuses to call in on them, and was caught checking her husband's email. Toadie understood Sonya's actions, and in an attempt to fix the problem, he took on student imogen Willis, giving her a part-time job that would hopefully mean that he wouldn't be forced into working any late nights with Naomi.

Just as things seemed to be calming down for Naomi, and she might finally be building some bridges with her mum, she exposed her mum's new boyfriend, Alan as a cheat, who was dating men behind Sheila's back. Annoyed at her daughter's interference, Sheila decided to forgive her, only to find out about Naomi's secret fling with Josh, exposing it to the Willis family in the process. With everything out in the open, Naomi quickly realised that she didn't actually want to be with Josh, it was just the thrill of having to hide it from everyone. Naomi then admitted to her mum that she was actually still in love with Toadie, and was struggling to be around him all the time. After quitting her job, Naomi was surprised when her mum announced that she'd paid for her to take a holiday in Hawaii and get over her heartache.

While Naomi was away, the residents of Ramsay Street started to receive mysterious letters, detailing the terrible things that Sonya had done in her past. Though Naomi seemed like the obvious culprit - as she had reason to dislike Sonya and had access to the information about Sonya's criminal convictions at the law firm - she was ruled out as she was overseas. As Sonya's ordeal worsened, Naomi made a sudden return to town, and when Georgia then found one of the poison pen letters in Naomi's suitcase, along with the bill from a Melbourne apartment she'd been staying in, she was the prime suspect once again, but as Toadie confronted her, it seemed like the real letter writer was actually over at number 30, in baby Nell's bedroom. With Sonya's former friend Erin Rogers revealed as the stalker, Naomi was able to start moving on with her life again, enjoying flirtations with Brennan and a new job helping Paul to organise the inaugural Erinsborough Festival. There was drama closer to home too, when her older brother Gary, having turned up while she was away, got caught up in a dodgy deal with Paul, leaving Gary in prison and Sheila in a hospital bed, after the stress of the situation gave her a heart attack.

As Naomi's flirtations with Brennan looked like turning into something more, it took them both by surprise and they started to back off, with him unsure if he was ready for something serious after Kate's death, and Naomi just unsure if she could be in a serious relationship, having always been the mistress. After deciding to become an official couple and make a go of things, Naomi and Brennan soon found that they were struggling to find time together, with his return to the police force and her work for the festival. And as the hugely successful festival came to a close, Naomi was surprised when Paul offered her a permanent job as his executive P.A., then revealed to her that he was suffering from leukaemia, and that only she and Dr Nick Petrides, the oncologist who was treating him, were ever to know about it. But both Paul and Naomi were unaware that the diagnosis was a lie, and that ruthless Nick had faked Paul's blood charts to try and force him into opening a cancer research centre in Erinsborough. As Paul began to realise what cancer sufferers went through, and the important work that Nick did, he agreed that the council could have another look at the research centre proposal, but Naomi was more concerned with Paul's health, and as she started to spend more and more time with him, her relationship with Brennan was already suffering.

As she stuck by Paul, Naomi's feelings for him continued to grow, and she began to sense that he felt the same way about her. When Brennan then came down with a nasty cold, Naomi quickly grew tired of his childish attitude to being unwell, and told him that their relationship was over. A horrified Sheila, who'd long been unable to hide her delight at the possibility of having Brennan as a son-in-law, tried to get to the bottom of the matter, and was appalled when Naomi confessed to her feelings for Paul. Things quickly took a more serious turn when Paul suddenly collapsed in the bar and was taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Meanwhile, Georgia had been edging closer and closer to the truth about Nick's fake diagnosis, and finally found evidence that he'd simply copied the blood work from a previous patient when diagnosing Paul. She confronted Nick in Paul's hospital room, and though at first everyone refused to believe what she was saying, doubts soon started to creep into Naomi's mind, as she knew that Georgia would never lie about something so serious, and she also began to question the timing of Paul's diagnosis, just as the research centre had been turned down. With Nick now claiming that he'd 'miraculously' cured Paul of his cancer, the truth finally came out and he was caught by the police as he tried to flee. As Paul then tried to come to terms with what had happened, Naomi stood by him and, once he was released from hospital, they began to think about going on their first official date. However, Sheila was determined that her daughter would come to her senses, and so she went to Paul and told him that he wasn't good enough for Naomi, and he knew, deep down, that he'd just end up hurting her. With Sheila's words ringing in his ears, Paul then told an upset Naomi that he'd been confused and that he wanted nothing more than friendship from her.

With Brennan still interested in Naomi, Paul started secretly helping him to win her over, actually giving him bad advice in the hope of putting Naomi off. After a terrible afternoon spent learning how to service a car, a confused Naomi found out what Paul had been up to after seeing a text on Brennan's phone. After ending things for good with Brennan, Naomi hoped that Paul's actions showed that he still wanted to be with her, but he explained that he couldn't take the risk, as he always managed to mess up his relationships, and he didn't want that to happen with her. Back to just being Paul's PA again, Naomi couldn't resist interfering as they dealt with the letters Paul had written to his children when he wrongly believed that he was terminally ill. Though Paul had decided that he no longer wanted to get back in touch with his long-lost daughter Amy, Naomi decided to send the letter on to her anyway. As they dealt with some other business, and Paul managed to buy back the hotel after impulsively selling it to the Quill Group, he celebrated by kissing Naomi, then quickly apologising. As Naomi asked Paul why they couldn't at least try to be happy together, he was unable to come up with a reply, and they arranged to have dinner together. However, before things could get that far, Paul was in for a shock when Amy turned up, warning that she didn't want him to have any part in her life, and he was left furious with Naomi for going behind his back and contacting her. Though things didn't go well as Paul attempted to get to know Amy, Naomi and Daniel were sure that father and daughter would both regret it if they didn't at least try, and so Daniel flew down to Sydney and brought Amy back with him. Joining Amy was her son, Jimmy, and Paul was overwhelmed to realise that he was a grandfather. As relations finally started to improve for Paul and Amy, he continued to be angry with Naomi for her interference, and she was forced to point out to him that what she'd done was for his own good, and that he might never have met his grandson if it weren't for her. As Paul realised that she was right, he and Naomi reached a new understanding with each other - they would remain professional with each other during business hours, and she wouldn't interfere in his personal life, but their relationship was finally back on.

In the weeks that followed, Paul and Naomi faced their share of problems, including her feeling rejected when Paul cancelled a date to spend time with Jimmy, and Paul struggling to go public with the relationship, worried about what people would think of the mayor dating his personal assistant. Naomi's past with Charles Tranner also came back to haunt her, when Paul found a potential new client for Lassiter's in the form of Mary Smith, a conference organiser. Mary knew Charles Tranner and felt that it would be better for Paul's reputation if Naomi wasn't involved in the deal, so Paul lied to her and kept her out of things. When Naomi found out the truth, she was hurt and quickly realised that mixing the personal and professional sides of her life wasn't working, so she resigned as Paul's assistant, and relaunched Naomi Canning Enterprises. One of her first jobs was organising the launch of Erinsborough's new daycare centre, but the event ended in disaster when a bouncy castle came loose from its ropes and, wrongly believing that Nell was still inside, Toadie was left badly injured as he tried to jump on. With Toadie left paralysed, and unsure of when he might walk again, Naomi realised that she was to blame for the entire thing, as she'd broken the terms of the lease of the castle, by having Kyle move it from its original location. However, whilst Naomi was happy to own up to her mistake and face the consequences, Paul did his best to find a legal loophole so she didn't face charges. Furious that Paul would go behind her back like that, he asked her outright if her behaviour was because she still had feelings for Toadie - she explained that, while she wasn't in love with Toadie any more, she still had a lot of respect for him, and felt terrible that he was in hospital because of her. But as the Rebecchis began to realise that they were going to face some serious financial problems, and Toadie began to feel that someone had to take responsibility, he considered suing Naomi, but changed his mind at the last minute.

Naomi was in for another life-changing event when Paul suddenly proposed to her, and, taken aback, she accepted without thinking it through. With Paul wanting to go public with the news, Naomi struggled to hide her fears, admitting that she wasn't sure that she was ready for marriage, having always been the other woman, and having seen so many other marriages fall apart recently. When Paul then started talking about Naomi changing her image and finding a more suitable career for when she became the mayor's wife, she was furious and ended up bumping into old flame Josh at Off Air Bar. They then spent the night together, but when Daniel found her engagement ring in the Willis bathroom, it wasn't long before Paul found out what had happened. As they prepared for family and friends to come over for an engagement party, Naomi was surprised when Paul forgave her for cheating and they decided that they would continue as a couple, but call off the engagement. Wrongly believing that Paul had forgiven Josh too, Naomi was taken aback when Josh was suddenly arrested for dealing illegal peptides. With Josh insisting that, although he'd sold them in the past, he hadn't done it in months and must have set up, Naomi smelt a rat and suspected that Paul had something to do with it. She eventually found proof amongst Paul's possessions, the DVD of the bar's security footage, showing Conrad Leveson planting the pills in Josh's bag, and handed it in to the police, claiming that she'd found it. She managed to keep Paul's name out of it, but told him that she couldn't forgive him for this, and their relationship was over.

After a few days away in Sydney, Naomi returned with a new outlook, her fancy hotel making her realise that she deserved a nice lifestyle, so she'd just have to work hard to achieve it. Having applied for her dream job, working for the PR department of U.S. Wrestling Incorporated in Los Angeles. Her excitement soon became to wear off, however, and doubts set in, but Sheila encouraged her to attend the interview, where she was successful. After visiting Toadie to offer some more financial support, Naomi spoke to Paul, who lashed out at her after learning that she was leaving for good, and that there was no chance of a reunion. She then decided that she needed to get her revenge on Paul, and, as she was still networked to Paul's computer from her days as his executive assistant, she copied several files onto a memory stick and gave it to Imogen, telling her to use it to bring Paul down. As Naomi's car arrived to take her to the airport, she was surprised to find that it was a limousine, and was even more surprised to learn that she'd actually been employed as the company's Head of PR, with her own assistant. Naomi then said her goodbyes to Sheila and to Kyle, and left Erinsborough, excited to begin the next chapter of her life.

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