Suddenly jared from sleep it took John a few minutes to figure out what it was that had woken him in the middle of the night. Looking to his right he saw Carson and a nurse gathered around a bed struggling to hold something down. Realizing it was Kilik they were struggling with John, as quickly as he could, bolted out of his bed and was at Carson's side in an instant. Placing a hand on the doctor's shoulder John gently but firmly pulled the Scottsman back. With a quick glance from John the nurse got the hint and stepped back as well.
"Kilik...Kilik!" John laid his right hand on Kilik's shoulder while shrugging the sling off his left arm.
At the sound of John's voice Kilik who had been keeping a close suspicious eye on Carson and the nurse snapped his gaze towards John, a questioning look on his face.
"Easy, it's ok. You're safe now, we both are." John moved his hand from Kilik's shoulder to comfortingly cup the side of his face. "Nobodies going to hurt you, I give you my word. But Carson here," John inclined his head towards Carson, "Needs to look you over ok?"
Turning his gaze back to Carson, Kilik shook his head while inching closer to John.
"Ok how about I do it?" John held his free hand up to stop Carson's protest. "Look doc I've been in here enough times and through it enough times I think I can do the basic stuff and you can instruct me on any thing I don't know how to do."
"Aye, Major you're probably right." Carson gave a quick nod and went to gather the things John would need.
Following Carson's instructions John quickly checked Kilik's temperature, pules, blood pressure, stiches, arm, and ribs, Satisfied for the time being Carson left the two alone.
A few hours later Elizabeth entered the infirmary to find John hapazardly perched on Kilik's bed, arm around the boy's shoulders, both sound asleep. Poking her head in Carson's office she found the doctor going over some files. A small knock on the open door got the man's attention.
"Dr. Weir what can I do for you?" Carson greeted.
"Just came to see how your patients were doing." Elizabeth lowered herself into one of the visitor chairs.
"Major Sheppard's doing fine in fact I'll probably release him later today if he behaves."
"And Kilik?"
"To be honest I'm not exactly sure. Essentially he's fine but after last night I'm wondering if I missed something."
"How so?"
"Well last night he woke up and when the duty nurse and I approched him he began fighting us and made as if to yell and scream but no sound came out, it was like that the entire time even when Major Sheppard stepped in and calmed him down Kilik made no sound at all."
"And you think there might be something wrong with his throat?"
"The initial exam didn't show anything, but then again we weren't looking for anything specific either. I'll need to run some more tests to be sure."
"Don't bother." John's voice coming from the doorway startled the two doctors, they hadn't heard him get up.
"Major?"
"Kilik's mute as far as I can tell. The entire time I was in that prison I never once heard him make a sound neither had Talen or the other prisoners. I'm not sure if that's cause he was born that way or if it's psychological, but I'm pretty sure it's not cause there's something wrong with his throat."
"You're probably right Major, but I'd still like to take a look just to be sure."
"He's not gonna be very pleased about it, but I'll do what I can to help." With that John left the office with Carson and Elizabeth in tow.
Retaking his spot on Kilik's bed John wasn't surprised when the kid kept a close eye on Carson - heck it'd taken the kid at least a week to trust him. What did surprise John was Kilik's reaction to Elizabeth when she came to stand on the other side of his bed. Instead of tensing up and trying to move away Kilik just gave her a quick glance then went back to watching Carson like a hawk.
Shaking it off and filing it away for later John got back to the business at hand. After about half an hour of conjoling, reasurance, and creative thinking John, with some help from Elizabeth, was able to convince Kilik to let Carson close enough to do an exam.
"So doc what's the verdict?" John asked later once they were back in Carson's office.
"He's fine. I can't find anything wrong with his throat, he should be able to talk." Carson answered as he sat down in his chair.
"So then there's a good chance it's psychological?" Elizabeth interjected.
"Aye that would be my guess, but I'm no psychologist, so it would probably be a good idea to consult with Dr. Heightmeyer. At this point all we can really do is let Kilik know we're here for him and that he's safe."