There was a stunned silence. All eyes went from Gabriel to Castiel, and back again.

"You heard me." Gabriel (or the person they believed to be Gabriel) sounded like he'd just sprinted a marathon, breathing ragged and shoulders heaving. "Give. Me. Back. My. Vessel."

"Um... no." The angel previously thought of as Castiel grinned, shoulders suddenly slumped, hands in his pockets, a grin on his face. "I mean, you can come here and fight me if you want, we're both kind of trapped, but damn if I'm not enjoying being tall." He grinned, as a very comfortable armchair materialised next to him. He sat down, draping his legs across one o the arms, shooting a winning smile at Not-Gabriel. Not-Gabriel marched over him and punched him, shoulders still heaving. Not-Castiel reeled a little, rubbing his jaw.

"Good arm. But you know you're only hurting your precious Jimmy, right?"

Not-Gabriel let out what could almost be called a scream of rage, before raising his arm. Not-Castiel flicked his hand lazily, sending Not-Gabriel back ten feet and hitting the wall next to Dean. Bobby grabbed a nearby book, and began chanting in Latin. Both angels looked at him, Not-Gabriel relieved and thankful, Not-Castiel confused.

"What's that?"

"A power-limitation spell." Not-Gabriel grinned, defiantly. "We can't use our powers."

That was all the invitation Sam and Dean needed. They each grabbed an angel and tied them to the kitchen chairs, which was not easy, but now the angels had been robbed of all their powers, they were at least on the same playing field. Not-Castiel glared and Not-Gabriel.

"It's your fault. You start a fight with someone that's bigger and stronger than you and then get your buddies to play dirty tricks? Come on, Dad raised you better than that."

"Enough." Bobby slammed the spell book down on the table, glaring at both of them. "Now does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

"He stole my vessel!"

"Wait, wait..." Dean held his hand up. "Just to clarify, who am I talking to?"

"Castiel." The newly identified angel said, looking hurt. "You... you couldn't tell?"

"Uh..." Dean shifted, slightly embarrassed. "Hey, no one else noticed. He's a convincing actor."

"Oh Honey..." Gabriel (apparently) crossed his legs and batted his eyelashes. "I wasn't acting..."

Castiel's head snapped round, torn between death glares and wide eyed horror.

"You had better be attempting humour... Dean, please tell me he's attempting humour! What did you do?"

"Nothing, no, he's trying to be funny." Dean soothed the panicking Castiel, which wasn't helped by Gabriel mouthing phrases like "oh Dean" and "trip to O-city" while licking his lips. Bobby slammed the book again, in an attempt to regain order.

"Gabriel! Stop tormenting your brother."

"But it's so much fun..." Gabriel wheedled, having the time of his life. Castiel turned to Sam and Dean, a deep hurt in his eyes.

"So he locked me up in Heaven, stole my vessel and came down here pretending to be me, and none of you could tell the difference?"

"In fairness," Gabriel leaned in as close to Cas as he could, "Jimmy didn't notice the difference either."

Castiel gasped, and tried to shuffle away from his brother, looking up at Dean imploringly.

"Please, tell me you noticed something was wrong?"

"Yes, actually." Bobby held the list in front of Castiel's face, and watched with a sort of detatched amusement as the angel's face went from anger, to outrage, to shock.

"Meg?" He yelled, trying to kick his brother. "Meg? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What?" Gabriel rolled his eyes, still grinning like a Cheshire cat. "I killed Crowley, didn't I? Plus, I bet Jimmy's had a much more fulfilling time as a vessel now I'm taking care of his needs."

Cas muttered something in enochian, which earned a shocked, slightly impressed look from Gabriel. Bobby slammed the book three times, growing exasperated.

"Now look. As much as I want to know how in the hell you're still alive..." He pointed an angry finger at Gabriel, who winked at him, "And how long you've been posing as him..." he pointed at Cas, who at this point was resembling a wedding cake that had been left out in a torrential downpour, "I think we first of all need to get you back in your proper vessels, if anything just to stop this damn confusion."

"You should have thought of that before you took our powers away." Gabriel grinned, wriggling in an attempt to get comfy. "What are you guys going to do, give it the old "ade due demballa" and zap us back with bargain bucket hoo-doo?"

"Yeah." Dean nodded, hitting him on the back of the head. "Pretty much. Now you need to ask your meat suits to hold on tight."

A few minutes of Bobby reading Latin, Sam painting runes on the floor and Dean liberally applying herbs and spices to a cauldron later, there was a deathly, absolute silence. Followed by deathly, absolute noise. White light filled the room, washing out all sense of space, blinding everyone; they were deafened as two high pitched, high frequency notes resonated through their ears. It was a wonder their brains didn't explode...

Then, just as soon as it started, it was done with. All angels back to their own vessels, the ropes burned away but still contained to the room by various other spells. Sam and Dean looked at each other, visibly shaken.

"Ok then..." Dean cleared his throat, sitting down heavily on a nearby chair.

"Now." Bobby sat down too, staring at the angels. Cas looked quite happy to be returned to Jimmy, but Gabriel was clearly annoyed at losing his own game. Bobby glared at him. "Talk, trickster."