"What? Of course I love Cas! That's why I married him!" Dean yelled.
"Oh, because every marriage is about love nowadays." Gabriel said. "Anyway, here's your chance to prove it. You've got to find your way out alive. Only one of the Castiel's will be allowed to leave. Can you tell the difference between a fake and the real?"
Dean frowned. "But... We know which Cas is which."
Gabriel laughed, once. "Not for long." He said. Dean glanced at the real Cas, puzzled. Gabriel clapped his hands and the holy fire went out. Cas ran across the room to Dean and they hugged, tight.
"I love you." Dean whispered.
"Oh, one last thing. You can have Sammy. I don't care about him."
They turned to face Gabriel as he clapped a second time and they all collapsed on the floor, unconscious.
Dean groaned as he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Cas sat in a chair opposite him, still unconscious. The second thing he saw was another Cas. Also unconscious. He frowned. He looked around the room. They were sat in chairs in a circle in the basement where Cas had been kept. Two Cas', Sam, Bobby and himself.
"Bobby. Bobby!" Dean called. "Wake up!" Dean wriggled his hands, trying to escape his bonds. He struggled for half a minute before he was free. He got up and went round the circle untying everyone. They were all out cold. Dean stood staring down at the two Castiel's. If only there was some way of knowing which was which before he woke them. Sighing he sat down in between their chairs and waited for them to wake up.
A few hours later and Dean had fallen into a half-sleep while waiting.
"Hello Dean." Cas said.
Dean jumped up and clutched at Cas. "Cas? Cas! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Dean, I'm fine. Dean! Calm down! I'm okay." Cas laughed at Dean. "Calm down."
"Wait, so are you the real or the duplicate?" Dean asked.
"The real as far as I'm aware but I'm getting the feeling that this Cas will think he is the real too..." Cas admitted.
"Awesome." Dean said.
Shortly later everyone was awake and they were sat in a circle in silence. Dean kept looking between the two Castiel's, hoping to spot a difference.
"Dean. They're identical." Sam said tiredly rubbing his eyes. "Give up with the staring."
"No, there has to be some way of knowing."
Cas, well the first one to wake up, had been right. Both of the Castiel's believed that they were the real one.
"Dean-." Sam started.
"No. Just no Sam. There must be a way." He interrupted. "There has to be a way." He repeated, more to himself than to the others. No one spoke for another ten minutes.
"Okay." Dean said, breaking the silence. "Sam and Bobby, you need to go. Just leave. Gabriel can't stop you from doing that."
"Dean. No. No way. We're not leaving you here." Sam said.
Bobby sighed. "You're a damn idjit, boy. Why did you have to mess with the angels."
Dean and both Castiel's looked at Bobby in shock.
The First Castiel to wake up spoke first. "You call falling in love, 'messing with the angels'?" He queried, looking at Bobby in confusion. "Because I don't. You don't choose who you fall in love with. Do you think I planned on being in love with a human hunter with abandonment issues?"
"Hey! That's not fair!" Dean interrupted. Cas grinned at him continuing.
"Because I didn't. But it happened. And you know what? I don't regret it. Not for a second." Cas said. "I love him. Oh, and he didn't 'mess with me'. He just loved me back."
Bobby blinked. "Well, I still think you're a fool but fine. If your love can get us into this I sure as Hell hope it can get us out."
"I do not have abandonment issues." Dean grumbled. Cas winked at him. The Second Cas watched them, confused. He didn't understand. If he was the real Cas then how did the other one know exactly how he felt, exactly what he was going to say to Bobby, exactly how he acted around Dean. It didn't make sense. He looked round and noticed Sam staring right at him. He raised his eyebrows at Sam. Sam shook his head, looking away.
"Got something to say, Sammy?" Dean asked, having seen the whole thing.
"No." Sam said quickly.
"If you've got something to say Sam, then now would be most helpful." The First Cas said.
"How do we know there is a way to tell? How can we possibly tell the difference between two guys that both have the exact same thoughts, memories and feelings?" Sam asked.
Dean sighed. "I'm not sure we can." He said softly.
"Then why-."
"Why am I trying?" Dean interrupted Sam. "Because I have to! I can't just walk out of here. I have to take one Cas with me." Dean got up and stormed off to the other side of the room.
Eventually the Second Cas got up and walked over to Dean. He put his arms around Deans waist and didn't say anything. Dean put his head down on Cas' shoulder and Cas rested his head on top.
"It's okay. It's okay." Cas said over and over in a kind of hushed chant. "I'm here. It's okay. It's okay."
Sam laughed humourlessly. "That's great. Especially considering you might not be real." Dean threw a dirty look at his brother. Sam raised his eyebrows. "Well we were all thinking it." He said darkly.
"Okay that's it. What is up with you Sam?" Dean spat. "Ever since we got here you've been off."
"Maybe it's something to do with that fact that you got us stuck in this mess?" Sam snarled back.
"Or maybe, this is about Gabriel." Dean said nastily. Sam flinched and narrowed his eyes.
"What do you know about that?" He hissed.
"Everything." Dean replied.
"Liar. You don't know anything." Sam said quickly.
"I know everything, Sam. Everything. And God, I wish I didn't." Dean said looking away from Sam.
Sam flushed. "You little hypocrite." He spat at Dean.
"At least my angel is good." Dean retorted. "You chose the bad guy. Besides, didn't you hear? He doesn't care about you."
"Shut up. Shut up!" Sam yelled. "Gabriel isn't the bad guy! At least, he wasn't always!" Sam protested.
"Yeah but he was by the time you-."
"Shut up Dean." Bobby interrupted. Dean looked at Bobby, hurt, but Bobby wasn't looking at Dean; he was looking at Sam. Dean glanced back at Sam and he realised that Sam was hastily trying to cover up the tears in his eyes.
"Sam..." Dean began, in a softer voice.
"Just leave me alone, Dean." Sam said turning his back on him.
AN: Yes, I know. TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE NIGHT, AREN'T YOU LUCKY. These chapters have a lot of dialogue, and I hate it. Sorry about that. I always end up doing this and it annoys me. I'm just better at writing speech than I am description. I should probably work on that. Anyway, I'm rambling. I hope you are still enjoying this no matter how much dialogue there is! Thanks for reading, leave a review with advice or whatever you want to say to me! Much love x
