"I'm not eating it and that's final." Alex stated flatly as he stared down at the strange assortment of food sitting on the table in front of him.

"Oh come on Alex, just try it." Mulder urged his young lover. "Look, Walter wants us to try new things, let's do it to keep him happy, okay?"

Alex shook his head, a stubborn set to his mouth told Mulder that there was no way he was going to be able to convince Alex to try the food that Walter had so carefully prepared.

Not that Mulder could blame him of course, the food did look pretty gross to say the least.

The meat pies did not look so bad, but the kangaroo steaks and emu fillets looked awful. And as for that damper, Jesus it looked like a giant scone gone wrong.

But it was the black stuff that was smeared on pieces of bread and toast that really made Mulder want to heave. Vegemite, that's what Walter called it. Well whatever it was, it looked like crap, and probably tasted like crap into the bargain.

"Come on guys, dig in." Walter called cheerfully from the kitchen. "I want to see clean plates or you won't get any pavlova for dessert."

"Why do we have to eat this Fox?" Alex hissed, leaning over the table. "Why can't we have normal food like steak and potatoes and apple pie and..."

"Borscht, and goulash." Mulder finished off with a grin.

"It just so happens I like borscht and goulash." Alex replied icily. "And I don't like this." He pointed at the array of food in front of him.
"Alex, Walter has gone to so much trouble." Mulder said. "You know ever since he retired from the FBI he has been bored. That's why he took that International Cuisine course to keep himself busy."

"I know that." Alex replied crossly. "I was the one that encouraged him to take the course, remember? It was all right when they covered Asian cooking and then Cajun cooking and then when they started on East European cooking that was okay too. German and French, fine. English, great, but this? Uh huh, this is going to far."

"How's it going guys?" Walter chose that moment to walk into the dining room of the small neat house that the three of them shared. He stopped when he saw the untouched food still sitting on the table.

"What's wrong?" He asked, sounding hurt. "Don't you like it?"

"Sure, sure we do Walter." Mulder said quickly, shooting a glare at Alex. "We were just waiting for you so we could all start eating together."

The worried look left Walter's face. "Great, well I'm here now so, dig in." With that, he took his seat and began to heap the various foods onto his plate. Both Mulder and Alex watched him, then tentatively they began to help themselves to the food themselves.

"Try the kangaroo steaks, they are really tender, oh and the emu isn't too bad either." Walter said as he cut into the meat on his plate. I sauteed them both in a white wine sauce. Hey did you know that the kangaroo and emu are both on the Australian coat of arms?"

"Fascinating." Alex muttered bad temperedly. Carefully he placed a tiny morsel of kangaroo steak in his mouth and started chewing. Suddenly his face cleared.

"Hey, this isn't too bad." He said. Mulder nodded in agreement, the meat was actually quite tender.

Next they both tried the meat pies that Walter assured them was an Aussie staple. They tasted quite good as well. The meat inside the pastry was rich, the gravy nice and thick and not too runny.

Neither of them liked the damper though, they both agreed that it was too dry and floury so the three of them set it aside.

Next was the Vegemite sandwiches. They sat there next to the Vegemite toast looking black and oily and just plain awful.

"Well, who's going to be first to try it?" Walter asked cheerfully as he lifted the plate of sandwiches up to pass around the table. Both Alex and Mulder froze, neither one daring to look at each other.

"Oh come on, don't be scared." Walter said impatiently. "Kids in Australia eat this stuff all the time. Just try a piece."

"No way." Alex said firmly. "There is no way I am putting that...stuff into my mouth. God Walter, it looks like...like..."

"An oil spill." Mulder finished.

"It's actually quite good for you." Walter told both his lovers. "It's a rich source of vitamin B. Now I want you both to at least try it. Just one piece...come on."

"Oh Walter do we have to?" Alex whined. "Come on, we tried everything else."

"Yeah Walter, show some mercy huh." Mulder chimed in. He had been happy to try everything else but asking them to eat Vegemite was just asking way too much.

"Just try a little, then if you don't like it, I'll throw it away and we can go straight to the pavlova, okay?"

Alex and Mulder exchanged looks, then they both sighed. The things they did to keep the man they loved happy.

Reluctantly, they both reached over and took a piece of bread smeared with the foul smelling stuff and closing their eyes, they both took a bite.

"YUCK!" Alex and Mulder threw their pieces of Vegemite bread down onto their plates at the same time, both their faces screwed up with disgust.

"Oh Walter, that was horrible." Alex spluttered.

"Water...I need water." With that, Mulder dashed to the kitchen to rinse the taste out of his mouth. Alex in hot pursuit behind him.

Both of them swallowed glass after glass of water, trying to get rid of the taste. Neither of them had drunk this much since Walter had made that Indian curry and had put too many peppers in it.

Finally after several glasses of water later, Mulder and Alex emerged from the kitchen, their eyes still watering from the after effects of the Vegemite.

Walter was still sitting at the table, frowning down at the plate of sandwiches in front of him.

"Hmmm, I must have put too much on the bread." He mused thoughtfully. "Sorry about that."

"Can we just get to the pavlova now please Walter?" Alex pleaded.

"Sure, you both sit right there and I'll go get it." With that, Walter got to his feet and headed towards the kitchen.

*********