Little by little
Tom watched as Nick walked away from him, after their brief encounter on the fifth avenue. During their 'talk' Tom got the feeling that something had changed about Nick, He no longer seemed like the same person that Tom had met a year ago. Gatsby death, seemed to have more of an affect on him then he had thought. Mentality shrugging to himself, Tom put the matter out of his mind; It no longer affected him since he was leaving, and he figured that he would probably never see Nick again anyway. After he had finished his wonderings, he headed back to Daisy, then the two left together, running from the mess that they had inadvertently created, and to a new start.
Five Years Later…
Tom, Daisy, and their eight year old daughter walked down a street that was filled with colourful stores, and people passing through from place to place. As Tom and Daisy browsed over various items on display in front of the shops, their eight year old daughter Pammy was viewing the street in interest. Usually Pammy would be left at home with a nanny, but since they had just moved to Minnesota, her parents hadn't had time to hire a new one yet. But, while Pammy had grown into a curious young girl, her parents Tom and Daisy hadn't changed in the past five years, Tom was still the blunt, brutish man who thought of himself first, and Daisy was still the same shallow, careless woman that would run and hide while someone else would clean up her mess.
The Buchanan's had spent the last five years in Chicago, but had to leave recently after another catastrophe that originated from Tom and Daisy's restlessness.
As they continued down the street, something caught Daisy's attention, and she peered through the crowd, managing to catch sight of a familiar face.
"Hey Tom, Is that Nick?" Daisy asked, pointing over to him.
Tom followed Daisy's pointed finger and sure enough, he saw Nick further along the street, wearing a bright white suit which stood out compared to the dark drab of the street.
"It is Nick." Daisy confirmed, not waiting for Tom to respond. "Why, we haven't seen him since…well, since Pammy was three years old.
"He seems to be doing well enough. Lets just leave him be." Tom told her gruffly, not wanting to meet Nick again under any circumstances.
"Don't be silly." Daisy told him, before waving at Nick and calling his name to catch his attention.
Nick himself looked around in surprise at the sound of his name. When he saw them, his expression went from happy to firmly neutral.
"Tom, Daisy." He said stiffly
"Nick." Tom replied with equal formality
"Nick! We haven't seen you for years!" Daisy said excitedly, completely unperturbed by his manner. "So how have you been?"
"Fine." Nick replied "So why are the three of you down here?"
"We just arrived here from Chicago" Daisy told him.
"From Chicago? You didn't move because of certain insinuating circumstances did you?" Nick asked, half joking.
Daisy shook her head, but Tom shuffled uncomfortably.
Not missing Tom's reaction, Nick got on one knee to look face to face with Pammy.
"And you must be Pammy, I haven't seen you since you were three years old." He said, holding out a hand "I'm Nick."
"Hi Mister Nick." Pammy replied, eagerly shaking his hand.
"Well, I must say, it is a surprise to see you both again." Nick commented as he got back to his feet "Especially since you both disappeared five years ago."
"After Gatsby's…" Daisy paused for a second to collect herself "Death, we moved to Chicago to avoid the bad memories of everything that had happened."
"So why did you end up leaving?" Nick asked
"One of our friends, Jennifer, committed suicide. She was a close friend of ours, and her death hit us hard." Daisy told him, before saying in a lower voice "But between us, I think she was having an affair with someone."
"Don't be ridicules Daisy." Tom interrupted quickly.
Daisy just shook her head at his response, not letting him sway her decision. Pammy was starting to wonder in boredom, so Daisy took her hand, and told Tom and Nick that she was going to take her to one of the shops to stop her from wondering off.
"You were having an affair with that woman, weren't you?" Nick said, confronting Tom as soon as Daisy was out of earshot.
Tom didn't respond, but his expression was enough for Nick to draw a conclusion.
"Damn it Tom! Haven't you learnt anything by now?" Nick said angrily. "Don't you realise the damage that your actions have?"
"Five years ago, your affair with Myrtle ruined several people's lives. Did you ever wonder what might have happened if you had actually tried being faithful to Daisy?" He continued heatedly "Daisy would have been a lot less likely to have responded to Gatsby as much as she did if you hadn't cheated on her. And because of that, both Myrtle's and George's lives would have never been affected, Myrtle would never have been hit by a car, and George would never have gone mad with grief, to kill Gatsby and himself.
"I don't think I like your attitude Nick." Tom interrupted him gruffly, trying to stop the tirade.
"Whatever." Nick replied, brushing off his comment before continuing "Now another woman is dead, and her husband has probably gone mad with grief himself."
"I gave him some money before I left." Tom said to defend himself.
"Of course! And money fixes everything." Nick told him exasperatedly, the sarcasm dripping from his voice, "You should know yourself, that money amounts to nothing in the end, no matter how much you have."
"If you continue this, more people are going to be affected, and things are going to get just as bad, and you can't run forever." Nick told him, calming down somewhat.
By this point, Tom had heard enough and, just like whenever he becomes confronted by something that he didn't want to deal with, he went for the retreat.
"I don't have to stand and listen to this!" Tom said angrily, before storming off to find Daisy and Pammy.
Nick watched him storm of with a mixture of anger and pity is his gaze, it was unlikely, but maybe Tom would eventually stop running and see the truth of his words, but he got the feeling that if it did happen, it wouldn't happen for a long time yet. But he had planted the first seeds of doubt in Tom's course of life, and little by little, it would nag at the back of Tom's mind, but wether he listened to it or not was up to him.
Nick started to walk back down the road, which was starting to feel the affects of a light rain, and he gave a happy whistle as he walked away, he had found peace after escaping the hopelessness of New York, and he couldn't help but hope that Tom and Daisy might find it too.