My Daughter. My Eva.

In the Lab

"Eva! Don't play with that sweetie, that's medical waste." I scolded, pushing my accident-prone daughter away from the pile of needles and tissues she was rooting through. "But muummm! It's fuuunnnn." She whined, grabbing at my arm and shaking it to emphasise her point. I laughed and ruffled her hair. "That's not the point, it could make you ill. Now be a good girl and wash your hands." "Oh ok..." She replied, storming off in a huff. 'Only ten and she's already acting like a moody teenager. I wouldn't have it any other way." I thought contentedly, returning back to the experiments I was performing before Eva ran in demanding to play; I promised I would, but work had to come first.

"Mum! I've done it now! Can I help you? Pleeeaaassseee?" Eva asked, sticking her clean hands out infront of her to show me, staring up at me with those big, grey eyes of hers. I couldn't resist. "Oh ok then. Here, put on some gloves and hold this."

∆timeskip to after experiment∆

"See? Bacteria can be fun!" I protested, adjusting the lens of the microscope we were using to look at thousands of gram-negative bacilli in a wound swab. "For you maybe." Eva chuckled, jumping off the stool she was standing on. "Now come on! I wanna play!" She added, tugging off my lab coat for me before hanging it up and dragging me out into the garden. I picked her up and swung her around making both of us dizzy before falling to the ground dramatically (making sure Eva wasn't hurt of course) stating, "Oh no! I'm too old! I'm gonna die of dizziness!" "Mum, I know your bluffing." "Am I though? You can't take that risk." "Oh ok then." Eva replied, finally playing ball only to fall into my master trap. I jerked forward tackling her to the ground and tickling her all over. We both laughed. Those were the days.

It grew dark shortly after so we had to go in and wash ourselves down (Eva had pushed me into a mud puddle so I had to pull her in with me) before I tucked my sweet, sweet daughter into bed with a story and walked down to the kitchen for a nightcap. I rooted through various different mugs until I found my favourite, a wonky disfigured one made of clay by Eva in primary school. It may not be the prettiest one I had but it's the thought that counts. I filled the mug up with warm hot chocolate (I would have mixed some whiskey in but I had to actually go to work tomorrow) and walked through to the living room to sit on the sofa and warm myself further by the fire. As I sat I looked around the various pictures of Eva pinned up on the wall, a one I took accidentally when she was mid-sneeze (it embarrassed her so I kept it), a one of her getting a donkey ride on the beach - an expression of pure joy on her face, when she won the top prize at the science fair (I helped her quite a lot with it so I would have been annoyed if she hadn't have won). Speaking of the science fair, I had a massive argument with her science teacher, Mr. Simmonds, there. He taught her that respiration was just breathing (It most certainly is not. It's the process that all living things - whether they breathe or not - go through to create the energy they need to live. I would go into more detail but then I'd be "boring people to death" as Eva puts it.) which I was *extremely* annoyed about. Stop spreading misinformation to my daughter, seriously.

I finished my hot chocolate rather quickly and went to bed. I woke up bright and early at seven and grabbed some coco pops (Don't judge me, I get them for Eva) from the cupboard to have for breakfast. At eight I woke Eva up and got her ready for school; She made a fuss about saying goodbye to the squirrels in our backyard who for some reason hadn't shown up so we were a tiny bit late but hey ho, that's life. I couldn't help but smile as she ran off into her lesson, not looking where she was going so she could wave goodbye to me. Ah Eva, she's always been my light in the darkness. Like when my partner of three years did a runner, funnily enough because I found out I was pregnant with Eva. He was a child trapped in a man's body. He couldn't handle the responsibility. But I survived on my own. I wish he could see me now, a successful career in Microbiology, a wonderful daughter. He'd be jealous he ever gave it up.