It's Castiel's turn in the medical ward, but Sam has something to tell him before he gives up his shift.
Castiel took a breath, readying himself for the sight he knew awaited him within. The friend who'd very nearly died by smiting not two days previous. A friend no doubt still mottled in enough livid bruising to disturb the most stalwart of hunter. Who at that very moment was still badly in need of every assistance the angel could offer. And more.
Knowing Sam would be in need of a respite from his tireless vigil, Cas released his lungful and entered their medical ward. Face as unperturbed as he could make it.
"Uh, healing time already?" Asked the brother as he rose from his hunched seat by the bed.
"Yes, I am sufficiently rejuvenated," Cas confirmed, even as the now all too familiar weight of their angel warding pressed in upon him from all sides.
"That was quick, right? Are you sure-"
"Sam, you know I would not risk overextending my abilities. Not when Dean and Michael are both in stable condition," the angel reassured, allowing his friend to study him for signs of fatigue before gesturing to the bed and its currently sleeping occupants.
"I am though rather eager to be on with it."
"Oh, right, of course- I-I'll get out of your way," the hunter said, stepping aside for the healer.
"Thank you," said Castiel as he walked past, already busy gathering his concentration for what promised to be a slow and tedious exercise in prioritization. The once again maximized wardings forcing Cas to pick and choose through only the most serious of afflictions. Frustrating him to no end when even then, he was able to little more than soothe the worst of them.
Still, improvement was improvement, so the angel threw himself into the work and did his best to ignore the constant suppression threatening to thwart him at every turn.
When he was satisfied he'd done all that he could for the time being, his focus once again widened to include more than just the damaged entities before him and, with just the hint of a start, Cas realized that he had an audience. Of one. And when said audience asked to speak with him privately, Castiel didn't hesitate to step outside the medical ward with the man.
Once outside easy hearing range of their injured charge, the hunter turned to the angel and took a deep breath.
"I saw Dean," the Winchester said. Straight faced and serious.
"But that's not right," Cas said with an involuntary frown. "Dean's not ready- His soul is not yet stable enough for such strain," he argued as he shook his head in dismay.
"Well, that's basically what Michael said, but he let Dean out anyway and... and he was right: Dean wasn't ready," Sam informed, face betraying more than his fair share of familial concern. "I've never seen him like that," the brother admitted, sounding rather haunted as his eyes cut back the way they'd just come. "I mean, he just laid there, staring at nothing until... It looked like he'd slipped back into a coma, but then he said my name a-and- and we spoke, briefly, and then he was just... gone."
"And that was when Michael returned?" Cas asked, perplexed but wanting to be sure of the timeline.
"Yeah, but," Sam said with a likely unconscious scratch to the back of his head, "in a weird way, it kinda felt like he never left? Like he was still there, in the background."
"Hm. That would go quite a ways to explaining both his current exhaustion and Dean's unexpected and premature appearance," Cas posited, now fully understanding why his heavenly relation had not roused through his most recent healing session.
"What're you talking about?" Asked the friend who's face was awash with mounting concern.
"It would explain how Dean managed to remain conscious long enough to remember himself. Let alone form coherent speech," Cas informed, keeping his tone gentle so as not to further disturb his friend.
"What do you mean, Cas? What would explain that?" Sam asked, patience worn understandably thin by so many hours, or perhaps months, of constant, unrelenting stress.
"I mean that Michael was buoying Dean; lending him strength; giving him a leg up; bolstering his soul so that he might speak with you," Cas explained, not stopping until he was sure Sam understood the concept.
"So, Michael was... being nice? For once?" Sam clarified, face scrunched in disbelief.
"As outlandish as it may sound, it would appear so," Cas agreed with a puzzled face flex of his own. "That, or he made a tactical decision meant to curry favor with his favored warden. Either way, he expended valuable energy to allow you some small piece of mind."
"...He did look pretty beat afterwards. Even fell asleep in the middle of insulting the family name," Sam informed with a half formed, somber smile.
One which Castiel found himself mirroring, naturally.
Then, after a long, comfortable moment of quiet, the hunter lifted his chin and spoke.
"I think it's about time we found him a permanent vessel."
Castiel couldn't stop his eyes going wide at the statement. Only speaking once he was sure of what he'd heard.
"You're comfortable with Michael possessing someone else's-"
"A vacant vessel," Sam cut in. "Remember Ruby? She found a no victims vessel and that worked out great."
"Yes, well, as powerful as Ruby was, she did not possess a fraction of the destructive power that Michael possesses. Letting him loose upon the world in any sort of vessel would be tantamount to-"
"No one's talking about 'letting him loose upon the world', Cas," Sam insisted in a tone heavy with reproach. "I'm talking about us having a chance at peacefully evicting Michael... and Dean getting his body back."
"...Oh. Of course," Cas breathed, not at all sure how he'd missed something so basic- so simple- so obvious.
"I- I know we haven't had time for a- a team huddle, because of the post smiting scramble, but if you and me and Mom brainstorm... I have a feeling this could work. For everyone."
At that, Castiel gave an earnest nod and motioned towards the medical ward.
"Michael will not wake for quite some time. Mary will soon leave her room in search of sustenance. I'll put on a fresh pot of coffee and we'll have this 'team huddle' in the kitchen."
"Wow, um, okay," Sam started, looking rather flummoxed. "I'll start on an omelette then?"
"I believe Mary would approve," Cas said with a small smile. Glad that Sam had an appetite.
"Breakfast it is, I guess."
"Breakfast and team huddle," the angel reminded as the two of them turned for their destination.
"Right, and coffee," the hunter reminded.
"Yes, and I promise not to burn it this time," Cas said, going through the proper procedure in his mind to prepare himself for his upcoming task.
"Uh, yeah, Mom'll definitely appreciate that."
So with a quick, shared chuckle, the two picked up the pace in order to ready their meeting space for the arrival of the third member of their team.
Finally, everybody's had a chance to rest up and the team's ready for saving Michael and Dean round two!