#medq

"He's armed!" she shouts, and Lin Tao's eyes widen fractionally. Qin Ming stops dramatically, nearly falling over with momentum, and throws his arm out to keep Dabao from moving forward any more. She bumps into the barrier, not wanting to move lest that gives the suspect a reason to lash out.

"Where are the others?" she whispers to Qin Ming, who shrugs, his gaze firmly fixed on the man in between them.

The suspect is twisting wildly to either side, trying to keep his eyes on all of them, but it's proving difficult, considering that Lin Tao seems to be approaching him slowly, trying to corner him in. Qin Ming isn't moving, and neither is Dabao, though she's frozen out of fear, rather than a strategic interest.

"Drop the knife," Lin Tao commands, his voice low and steady. He's in a defensive stance, arms forward as though to placate the suspect, like he's trying to tame something wild and unpredictable.

The man looks towards Lin Tao, then back at Dabao and Qin Ming. He flexes his fingers around the knife handle, and then, in a slightly off-kilter movement, lunges towards the two of them, probably assuming (correctly) that they're the least threatening option.

Qin Ming braces himself to fight off the man, but he doesn't get a chance. Lin Tao leaps forward, grabs the raised arm of the assailant, and yanks him backwards. The man yelps, and then switches the knife into his other hand, swinging around and swiping at Lin Tao's torso. Lin Tao jumps, arching his back so that the blade misses him, and tries to sweep the man's legs.

They grapple, Lin Tao attempting to press the man towards the alley wall in order to pin him there. Qin Ming is tense, as though he's trying to find an opening to help, but there really isn't one unless he wants to run the risk of distracting Lin Tao.

Dabao clenches her fists, feeling helpless. She knows that Lin Tao is more than capable, but she hates just standing there, watching. She looks around desperately for reinforcements, and her heart swells when she sees Lin Tao's subordinates rounding the corner.

"Over here!" she shouts, waving, and Qin Ming turns to see who she's calling to, and that's when Dabao realizes her mistake, because both the suspect and Lin Tao are also looking that way, torn from their fight for a moment to observe the change in the situation.

The suspect comes to his sense a second sooner, panics, and, using Lin Tao's distraction, takes the opportunity to punch inwards, and Dabao gasps as Lin Tao folds around the strike, a sharp gasp of air escaping between his lips.

"Lin Tao!" she yells, and Qin Ming whirls around again, just in time to see the suspect pull away, and Lin Tao drops to his knees, body curled around the area where he'd been hit.

The suspect flees, weaving around Lin Tao, who makes a fumbled attempt to grab at him, and then takes off down the alley.

"Go after him!" Lin Tao shouts at the other officers, who nod quickly and sprint in the same direction. He's still on the ground, but seems otherwise okay, and Dabao has a moment of hope, thinking that maybe he just got punched, maybe nothing bad has happened, maybe—

Her stomach falls as Lin Tao looks down at his stomach, uncurling slightly to reveal the knife handle sticking out of him, and then collapses onto his ass, legs splaying outwards.

Qin Ming disappears from Dabao's side in a second, throwing himself down next to Lin Tao and lifts him off of the cold pavement, propping Lin Tao up against his shoulder. Lin Tao's face has gone remarkably pale, and his hands are wrapped around the knife handle, blood slowly being squeezed through them.

"Don't touch it," Qin Ming orders, and Lin Tao makes a face at him.

"I'm not stupid," he says, "I'm not going to pull out the knife."

"Good," Qin Ming says, "Don't." He looks up at Dabao, who hasn't moved yet. "Call an ambulance."

Dabao nods, and reaches into her pocket with shaking fingers, pulling out her phone and dialing 120.

"Hello," she says shakily when the operator answers. "I... my friend's been stabbed." She gives the operator all the information she knows, hardly recognizing what she's saying, too busy staring down at Lin Tao, Qin Ming's arms the only thing keeping him upright.

Qin Ming is saying something to him, and Lin Tao is responding, which should be a good sign, but Dabao can only see the blood that's slowly seeping through Lin Tao's shirt, and the way his face is getting whiter and whiter. This isn't good. This is very much not good.

"Medics are on their way," the operator says, finally, and Dabao thanks her and hangs up, finally forcing her feet to unglue from the ground and move.

She crouches down on Lin Tao's other side, glancing up at Qin Ming, who's focus is entirely on the man in his arms. He's got one arm wrapped around Lin Tao's shoulders, and the other one is getting covered in blood as he tries to keep pressure on the wound.

There's a sheen of sweat on Lin Tao's neck and forehead, and his smile is shaky when he tries to reassure her. "I'm fine, Bao-ge."

"You're not," Qin Ming says sharply, before Dabao even has a chance to. "You got stabbed."

"I thought you liked blood," Lin Tao murmurs, his eyes flickering lazily in Qin Ming's direction.

"Well, whose blood is that?" Qin Ming demands, giving a pointed look at the knife handle, and stain of red surrounding it. "I don't like that blood."

"Picky," Lin Tao mutters. "My blood isn't good enough for you? You want corpse blood, is that it?"

"I'd rather have corpses," Dabao says, trying to keep the joke up, but failing if the way her voice shakes is any indication. "They don't bleed nearly as much as you do."

"Well, maybe you'll get a corpse sooner than later," Lin Tao mumbles, his eyes slipping closed for a moment, and Qin Ming jostles him sharply. "Ow."

"Don't say that," Qin Ming says, sounding upset. "Don't joke about that."

"Mm," Lin Tao says. "You're right. S'not very funny, is't?" He blinks a few times, slower and slower, and Dabao puts her hands on his arm, squeezing.

"You can't go to sleep," she says. "You have to stay awake until the ambulance gets here."

Lin Tao nods, but his eyes stay closed, forehead creasing in pain, and Dabao adds her hands on top of Qin Ming's, putting even more pressure onto the knife wound.

"It's shock, probably," Qin Ming murmurs. "Not blood loss." He looks towards the mouth of the alley. "Where's the damn ambulance?"

"Language," Lin Tao mumbles, and then shivers, proving Qin Ming's theory correct.

Dabao shrugs off her jacket and lays it on Lin Tao's chest. It doesn't seem like much, but she doesn't know what else to do.

It does serve to make Lin Tao open his eyes, and he frowns, trying to shrug the jacket off. "You'll be cold."

"You shut up," Dabao says, tears pricking at her eyes at the realization that, even when he's the one injured, Lin Tao will still be looking after her. "You need it more than I do."

"Okay," Lin Tao agrees, and then lets out a strangled sound as Qin Ming shifts his weight.

"Sorry," Qin Ming says. "I don't want to hurt you."

"No shit," Lin Tao replies.

"Language," Dabao says, replanting her hands on Lin Tao's stomach.

"Baobei'll like my scar," Lin Tao mutters. His eyes are closed again, but since he's talking, Dabao doesn't insist that he open them again.

"Your dog will not care," Qin Ming says bluntly.

"She'll think it's hot."

"She won't."

"You have to be able to go home and show her, then," Dabao says, and nearly starts crying then and there, just thinking about what would happen if she had to go and tell Baobei that her owner wasn't coming back. How would she explain that to a dog? She can barely comprehend the idea as a human.

"Stop," Lin Tao says, patting her arm clumsily, and leaving bloody fingerprints there. "Stop cryin'."

"Stop dying then," Dabao retorts, dashing her tears away with the back of her hand.

"M'not," Lin Tao protests. "Ming-er would be much more excited if I was."

"I would not," Qin Ming says sharply, as though the very idea is horrifying, which it kind of it.

Lin Tao nods, a little resignedly. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Qin Ming tells him through gritted teeth. "Just stop making jokes about it."

"M' trying to lighten the mood," Lin Tao says, and then, "Oh, look. Lights."

Sure enough, the sound of sirens finally break through Dabao's senses, and she looks over to see an ambulance pulling up next to the opening of the alleyway, paramedics leaping from the cab and pulling a stretcher from the back. She feels relief seep into her, and bows her head towards the floor, breathing shaky.

"See?" she says. "You'll be fine."

"Always am," says Lin Tao. "Don't worry."

The paramedics work quickly, pulling Lin Tao away from Qin Ming and packing fresh gauze around the knife handle, lifting him on the stretcher and rolling it towards the ambulance, leaving Dabao and Qin Ming standing in the alley, bloody and exhausted.

"We should go to the hospital," Dabao says.

"He'll be in surgery, probably," Qin Ming mutters, his arms dangling limp at his sides. Lin Tao's blood is soaked into his shirtsleeves and smeared across his suit jacket.

"Then we'll be there when he gets out," Dabao says, taking Qin Ming's hand and holding it tightly, not minding the way that their palms squelch together, tacky with drying blood.

Qin Ming shudders. "We should clean up." He pauses. "We should see if they caught the suspect."

"There'll be time for that later," Dabao says. "Right now, we're needed elsewhere."