He might actually have hit him if Sam wasn't working out the timelines on that. A year after his death, tracking Sam down wouldn't have done much good, what with him being without a soul and all. Another year and that was when Castiel had opened Purgatory.

Reaching up, Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. "We...you could have come to us, you know. Not just...carved out your Grace and did this." He made a motion to himself. "Which, by the way, seems to have had one hell of a time delay on it. It only actually started working in the last few months."