Warning…this chapter is a flashback to Brooke's accident. May need tissues to read this. Oh and the answer to who hit her is coming in this chapter to. Some of you have guessed it but I just decided who it was as I wrote this chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! As always…don't forget to tell me what you think of it…

Ashlee was in the girls' locker room getting changed after cheerleading. It had been a long day and she was looking forward to getting out of there. More than that, though, she was looking forward to spending the rest of the afternoon with Brooke. They had decided on a mother-daughter shopping trip and then dinner just the two of them.

Ashlee finished tying her shoes and grabbed her bag before she bounced out of the locker room, down the halls and out of the doors of Tree Hill High. It was a nice day out, the sun was shining brightly but Ashlee forgot her sunglasses so she was stuck shielding her eyes with her hands as she scanned the parking lot. She was looking for the familiar sight of Brooke leaning against the side of her light blue VW Bug convertible smiling back at Ashlee. However, Brooke wasn't there yet. Ashlee's shoulders slumped until she saw the familiar car about 10 feet away from the parking lot. The smile came back to Ashlee's face. If Ashlee had known what was about to happen, though, she never would have let the smile come back.

Barreling down the road in Brooke's direction was an old beat up pick up truck. The expression on Ashlee's face changed from happy to terrified the closer the truck got to Brooke's car. The driver continued down the road and with every inch gained, the truck swerved with more regularity and the jerking was harder than before.

Brooke was singing along to her favorite Britney Spears song as she drove down the road toward the high school. She was on her way to get Ashlee so they could head out for their afternoon of mother-daughter time. Brooke couldn't remember the last time they had an opportunity like today and because of that, she jumped at the chance. It felt like ever since Ashlee and Yadier started dating, Brooke saw less of her little girl.

Brooke was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the pick up truck coming right at her. Not until it was too late that is. In a last ditch effort, she tried to swerve out of its path but instead ended up getting t-boned. The last thing Brooke saw was the tear-streaked, fear-stricken face of her 17-year-old daughter.

Ashlee could see the truck heading right for Brooke's side of the car. She could also see that Brooke was completely oblivious to what was going on outside of her car. Desperate for Brooke to get out of the way, Ashlee tried to silently to tell her to move. That obviously didn't work, so she went for the next best thing, yelling as loud as she could. It didn't matter that people were staring at her or rushing from their homes to see what the screaming was all about. Ashlee just wanted Brooke to get out of harm's way.

"Mom! Look out!" Ashlee screamed. She was suddenly thankful that she was a cheerleader and yelling loud came easily for her.

Hoping against hope that it had worked and Brooke heard her, Ashlee closed her eyes for a split second. The next thing she heard were screeching tires and Ashlee's eyes flew open to see the truck t-bone Brooke. In the same way that the car crumpled, Ashlee crumpled to the pavement in a heap of screaming and tears. She stayed like that for a few minutes before getting up and running toward the car. Despite her logic, Ashlee was hoping that Brooke would still be alive.

"Mom! Mom!" she called desperately as she pounded on the remaining glass.

There was no response. Ashlee nearly lost it again when she saw all the blood. Pushing back the tears, Ashlee ran to the passenger side and tried hopelessly to open the door. It was stuck but she refused to give up. Ashlee took a minute to look up again at Brooke and was met with a surprise, Brooke was staring back at her.

"Hold on, Mommy, I'm gonna get you out of there. It's gonna be okay. You'll see," Ashlee said as she tried harder to open the door.

"I love you Ashy Bear," Brooke said before her eyes fell shut and her last breath passed through her lips.

Ashlee couldn't move. She couldn't breathe, it was a bad dream. It had to be. Hoping to wake up soon, Ashlee stood there, staring at the smashed car that held the lifeless body of her mother, her best friend, while the tears fell rapidly from her eyes. Another 10 or 15 minutes went by before Ashlee thought to call anyone. She started with the one she really didn't want to make, 911. After she had finished with that phone call, Ashlee broke down again before slightly catching her breath long enough to call her dad.

"Hey sweetie, I thought you and Mom were hanging out today," Chase said when he got to his phone.

"Daddy," Ashlee barely choked out.

"Baby what's wrong?"

"She's gone Daddy. It all happened so fast. I tried to warn her."

"I don't understand. What's going on? Where are you? Where's your mom? Let me talk to her."

"You can't talk to her. She's gone Daddy. I watched it happen!"

Chase was exasperated. Ashlee wasn't making any sense. How could Brooke be gone? What did Ashlee mean by that? Chase had been trying to find out just that but wasn't getting the answers he needed.

"Ashlee, where are you sweetie?" Chase asked again.

"About 10 feet from the high school. I'm sorry I didn't save her Daddy. Please don't be mad at me," Ashlee replied hoarsely.

"I don't know what happened or what you're talking about, Ash, I can't possibly be mad at you."

"Mom's dead. I saw the whole thing happen!"

Chase went silent on his end of the phone. It was his turn to hope he was stuck in a bad dream. Just like Ashlee before him, Chase realized it wasn't a bad dream but a bad reality.

"Stay where you are. I'll be right there."

"Okay I love you Daddy."

"I love you too Ash."

Not another word was spoken before Ashlee and Chase both closed their phones. Ashlee stared at the car, blinded by tears as she waited for EMTs, police and Chase to arrive. It seemed like eternity before anyone was there. The police and EMTs arrived almost simultaneously. Then while Ashlee was talking to the police, Chase showed up. Despite being in mid-sentence, Ashlee took off running toward Chase when she spotted him. The tears that she had been so desperately holding back, broke free once Chase had his arms wrapped tightly around his daughter.

"Daddy, I'm sorry. I tried to warn her. She couldn't hear me I don't think," Ashlee sobbed into Chase's shoulder.

"You did what you could. Nobody is gonna blame you for what happened to Mom," Chase said softly as he stroked Ashlee's dark hair.

Chase was sitting in the chair closest to Ashlee's head, tightly holding one of her hands. Nathan, Haley, Ezra, Jordan, Nick and Leo were all scattered around the rest of the bed. Lindsay was laying on one side of the bed next to Ashlee and Shannon was on the other side.

"Come on, Ash. Wake up girly," Lindsay said, her voice cracking with emotion and tears falling down her face.

Everybody was sitting around the room when there was a knock on the door. Nobody seemed like they wanted to get up so Nathan made his way over to the door. He opened it to find himself standing face to face with a Hispanic looking kid who's eyes were puffy and red like he had been crying.

"Can I help you?" Nathan asked curiously.

"Yeah, can I come in and see Ashlee?" he asked.

"Who are you? How do you know my niece?"

Lindsay got up when she heard Nathan questioning the visitor. She was relieved to see that it was Yadier.

"Let Yadi in Nate. He's Ashlee's boyfriend," Lindsay said.

Nathan nodded. He figured that if anyone would know who this kid was outside of Chase or one of his nephews, Lindsay would. He was just glad that it wasn't Lucas trying to snake his way into the room. Although he was a bit surprised that Connor, John, Riley, or Tommy hadn't been there to see how Ashlee was doing.

Yadier walked toward the bed upset to see his girlfriend lying motionless and fighting for her life. He grabbed her hand that Chase wasn't holding and brought it to his lips, kissing it softly.

"Babe, come on, don't give up on yourself. Come back to us sweet girl," Yadier pleaded tearfully.

Ashlee suddenly found herself looking down at the scene in her own hospital room. It completely freaked her out because of who was standing next to her.

"Ashy Bear, you need to go back to them. I love you sweetheart but it's not time for you to join me here," Brooke said to her daughter.

"But Mom, I don't want to go back without you. It's too hard there without you. I couldn't even go to New York cause I miss you so bad and feel like the reason you didn't get to live out your full dream was because of the accident," Ashlee responded.

"Is that what you think? Do you really believe that the accident was your fault?"

Ashlee didn't say anything she just nodded. Brooke frowned at Ashlee as she pulled her in for a hug.

"It wasn't your fault. Please let go of that thought. If you want to go to New York and follow in the footsteps I took, that's up to you. But please don't stay in Tree Hill because you are holding yourself responsible for my accident. Remember Ashlee, when all else fails…"

"Be cute. I know Mom. But it's not the same without you. It doesn't mean anything if you're not with me."

"Ashlee go back. I'll see you when it's your time. I love you sweetie."

"Mommy just tell me one thing."

"What's that Ash?"

"Who hit you?"

Brooke's head dropped. She had been waiting for that one. It was going to break Ashlee's heart to tell her the truth.

"Lucas."

Ashlee felt anger rise up in her. That son of a bitch lied to her. He was going to pay.

"I love you Mommy but I have something to care of down there."

"Ashlee, no, don't do what I think you're thinking about."

Ashlee didn't say anything. She just placed a kiss on Brooke's cheek before everything faded before her.

Ashlee stirred slightly in the hospital bed catching the attention of everyone in the room. After everybody hugged or kissed Ashlee and Chase had given her some water did she speak.

"I know who did it," she said.

"You know who did what?" Chase asked.

"I know who killed Mom."

The whole room went silent. Every pair of eyes focused on the dark haired girl in the hospital bed waiting for her to speak.

"Baby, who killed your mom?" Yadier asked gently.

"Lucas."

As she expected, each person in the room, especially Chase, Ezra, Nathan and Haley were boiling with anger within seconds of her dropping the name from her lips. Then suddenly the room erupted with talking and emotions. Ashlee lie on the bed in the arms of her boyfriend as they watched everything unfold before them.

"Ashlee, I love you," he said softly as he kissed the side of her head.

"I love you too," she replied.

"Marry me?"

Ashlee turned and looked at him with shock in her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't want to, just that she hadn't been expecting that one.

"Ashlee?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you hear me?"

"I heard you."

"What do you say then? Marry me. There's no one else I'd rather be with and after I heard you were here fighting for your life, I knew that when you woke up I would ask you to marry me."

Ashlee still didn't speak. Instead, she put a hand on each side of Yadier's face and brought his lips down to hers and kissed him with more love and passion then she knew she had in her. When breathing became a problem they pulled back. Yadier looked expectantly at Ashlee who smiled brightly and nodded her head. He grinned at her and kissed her again.