Leah Patterson-Baker

Leah Helena Adara Patterson-Baker (née Poulos, previously Patterson) is a fictional character in Home and Away portrayed by actress Ada Nicodemou. Following the departure of Kate Ritchie, she is the fourth longest serving member of the current cast.

Character History
Leah was the only girl in her family and a self-described "tomboy", which she blamed for her getting engaged to Ted, a friend of her brother Chris. At the last minute, Leah decided she couldn't go through with the wedding and ran away. She ended up in Summer Bay after Vinnie Patterson picked her up as a hitch-hiker and invited her to stay with him and Tom Nash. Since they didn't know much about her, the boys were worried when a policeman turned up looking for Leah but it was only Ted, who had tracked her down. She convinced him to accept her decision and they parted friends.

Leah was an excellent chef, having studied under her father Theo who won his own restaurant, and quickly got a job at the Diner. She began to date Vinnie but decided it wasn't appropriate to be living with someone who she was involved with so moved in with Shauna Bradley and later Sally Fletcher. After a while they fell in love. Vinnie was known as the local clown and wasn't really going anywhere in life. Even though at times he annoyed Leah with his get rich quick scams, they ended up getting married and, with Ailsa Stewart having died, Alf ended up selling them half of the Diner. Their wedding was traditional with Greek Culture standard and they lived happy for a short while, but sadly it didn't last long as Vinnie was sent off to prison for a crime his father had actually committed. Before Vinnie was sent to prison Leah gave birth to her first child.

Leah had previously been at the center of a big storyline where she stepped on a needle on the beach, which she thought she may have contracted HIV from it as it belonged to a drug user, luckily she got the all clear. It was this incident that had first prompted Vinnie to propose to her; she asked him to ask her again when she got her test results back.

With Vinnie in prison she was left to bring up her Son VJ on her own. Vinnie asked Leah not to visit him and instead to pretend he was away on business. She even kept up the pretence with the other local mothers, worried they thought of her as a single mother, until her brother Alex convinced her it was nothing to be ashamed of.

Life with Jesse
Jesse McGregor returned to Summer Bay, having been in prison with Vinnie and agreed to keep an eye on Leah for him. Leah and Jesse became good friends and with Vinnie's continued absence they became very close, with Leah even referring to Vinnie as Jesse at one point. Leah's brother Alex Poulos became aware of this and was worried about the consequences. On the day of VJ's first birthday, Leah received a phone call saying Vinnie had been killed in a fire at the prison. Feeling that she had lost Vinnie a long time ago, she and Jesse soon became an item and he moved in with her.

The pair were together a while until her best friend Sally Fletcher was so desperate to have a child of her own that Leah offered to be a surrogate mother for her and Flynn Saunders. Jesse was somewhat put out since he had hoped he and Leah would have a child of their own. Leah became increasingly involved, eventually sharing a kiss with Flynn and asking him to let them bring up the child together (despite the fact that Sally was the biological mother). Even though she rocked her best friends marriage, they stayed together but it spelled the end of her relationship with Jesse.

When she gave birth to the child, she handed the little girl over to Sally and Flynn who named her Pippa after Sally's foster mother Pippa Ross.

Second Marriage
When Peter Baker arrived in Summer Bay he knew that Leah was familiar. It turned out that Vinnie was not actually dead, but infact the government put him into witness protection, but legally anounced his death. Vinnie did return on VJ's birthday but was not seen due to the fact he was in disguise as a party bear.

When Peter's brother Dan entered the show while Peter was in a coma after Sarah Lewis attacked him, the pair grew close and evtually started dating. Leah's life was in danger after she collapsed on a roadside, when rushed to hospital it was revealed that she was suffering from appendicitis, after this Dan asked Leah to Marry him, putting Vinnie behind her she said yes. (The legal implications of Leah marrying Dan in full knowledge that Vinnie was still alive was never addressed; possibly Peter sorted out the paperwork offscreen.)

Their marriage was the focus of many storylines as it was never plain sailing. First Dan's son Ryan caused trouble for the couple, and it was revealed that super-bitch Amanda Vale, Dan's ex-wife was behind Ryan's strange behaviour. The character was a recurring problem for the couple as she even tried to ruin her wedding day. Dan then became in debt due to his gambling addiction and spelled the end of their relationship because the money was meant to be used for IVF treatment. Leah had discovered she could not have children because of a mistake during the surgery for appendicitis. Because of Dan's debts Leah and her friend Rachel Armstrong briefly ended up being taken prisoner by one of his creditors but were rescued by Peter. When Leah did get pregnant as a result of the IVF she lost the baby when she contracted pneumonia, during which time Leah began to grow feelings for his brother, Peter but realised she loved Dan after she fell off a cliff. Even though the pair got back together they had more tough times ahead when Dan found out about her and Peter's kiss.

After this Dan turned to alcohol and got back with his ex Amanda for a brief period while Leah briefly dated Hugh Sullivan, Dan then fell asleep with VJ, resulting in him getting drunk and seriously ill. When Leah did not want anything more to do with him and filed for divorce, he drank more and eventually began drink driving. He had a major crash and was left critically ill, with it being briefly suspected he had tried to take his own life. Guilty Leah decided to give him a second chance after this and the pair reunited.

The pair are now not at the center of storylines but have got over their long running rocky patch. Leah still works at the Diner. When she found out Dan had been seeing an American woman named Gwen in secret, Leah initially suspected he was having an affair then learned that he had been offered a job in the States. Although reluctant to leave her home and friends, Leah eventually decided she needed to make sacrifices for Dan's sake and agreed to the move. Dan Baker is set to be killed off screen, leaving Leah a widow for the second time.