The strongest memories flooded her mind when Billy took her hands; chiefly of the night they met in the emergency department at St. Andrew's. In those moments before she knew who he was, when he was simply a broken-hearted man who had just lost his sister, and the way she'd felt looking into his eyes as she stitched him up. All of the troubles with Alex and Ilya hadn't changed any of that, but it had cast a shadow of self doubt over Eva when it came to Billy. Now, mercifully, she found herself in the place she was before. No pretense, no secrets, no one with a gun to her head. She knew exactly what she wanted, and where she wanted to be.

Drawing her dark brown eyes up from their hands, she met his and spoke with a new conviction.

"You gave me back control of my life; and so I chose to stay. Like you said, we have shed blood for one another; and I would do it again without a moment of hesitation for you, for Integra, and for anyone that you consider family."

She squeezed his hands that held hers.

"I'm in, and I'm not looking back."

Billy smiled and nodded.

"Good, that's settled then. So.."

He got up and went into his dining room and fumbled around through a drawer for a minute before returning to the kitchen.

"Here, these are yours."

He placed two set of keys on the table.

"That one is for the HQ, you and I will be going there together in the morning and you can have your office."

He pointed to the other set of keys.

"That is for a building that we own that you can do what you want with. You just tell me how much stuff costs and it's done."

Billy smiled then and sat back down.

"I would say this calls for a celebration, but it's very late, so we can wait until tomorrow if you'd like."

"Wait- office?"

She looked up from the keys before her with a confused glance to Billy.

Billy nodded.

"You've been around longer than almost anyone. I trust you, and most important I'm not sure I could do this without your expertise. So, you get an office. If Integra is my right hand man, you would be my left one."

Billy chuckled at that.

"You're about the size of my left arm anyway."

He put his elbow on the table and wiggled his fingers toward Eva then.

"Why, don't you want an office? You're gonna need one to do business out of right?"

Truly, Eva was a bit dumbfounded, but she gave him a smile and nodded.

"Of course, an office would be extremely helpful- for many reasons. I suppose I just didn't expect that you would..."

"Trust me this much" was the way she wanted to end that sentence, but she stopped herself. She could tell from the sound of his voice and the look in his eye that fences were mended. It was time for her to let it be.

"Thank you. I can get to work right away on arrangements when I see the building you have in mind."

She yawned, unable to fight it anymore, and gently rubbed her forehead.

"I think my body is lodging a formal protest. Perhaps I should get some sleep."

Billy smiled.

"You would know of all people when it's time to go to bed. I promise I won't make too much noise while you're sleeping, but I am going to clean these up first."

He picked up the dishes, and put them in the sink before turning around and embracing Eva.

"Night doc. See you in the morning."

With that he went back to the sink and began to wash.

Back in the bedroom, Eva laid down in the bed, careful not to jar her stitches too much. Sleep would overtake her quickly; but in the moments before it did, she thought about all that had just transpired over a bowl of cereal. With one embrace, Eva had become a completely new person. The past was now gone. She owed Billy her life, and those of her parents. Pledging hers to his organization was the most sure of herself she'd been in months. 

Her eyelids were heavy. She pulled the heavy blanket up to her shoulder and drifted off to sleep more soundly than she had in a very long time.